Bacchic
Reflections
December 2020: Cellar
Treasures: Franciscan Magnificat 1993,
a special year for me so I have a mixed case that I've
just broached: The Magnificat '93, a Meritage blend
(65% cabernet, 22 merlot, 18 cabernet franc) made me
extremely happy: richly aromatic of spicy red and black
currants, cedar, which followed through in flavor, silky
smooth in texture, balanced, smooth, long appealing
finish. Decanted, with 30 minutes airing; absolutely lovely!
Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1983, Howell Mountain - at 11.2% alcohol I thought this might be gone
(after 37 years); a cool, rainy year, but No!
Utterly smooth, with lively blackberry flavors and simply
delicious. Winemaker Paul Draper noted on the back label "....the
grapes matured at lower sugars, an excellent formula for
elegant, claret-style wines...accessible now but structure
and balance should extend its aging over the next 5 or 6
years." !!! Fine job, Mr. Draper!
Wines for holiday feasts
Roast or
grilled beef/lamb, rich stews: Meritage (Bordeaux blends), which tend to be
more accessible due to inclusion of merlot, cabernet franc,
petit verdot, softening youthful cabernet sauvignon
Venison:
Syrah from the Rhone Valley, such as Crozes-Hermitage,
Cornas, Cote Rotie
Duck,
Goose: Pinot Noir, especially Russian River
Valley, Nuit-St. Georges, Corton-Renard, Pommard
Turkey:
lighter Pinot Noir-Elk Cove, King Estate, Adelsheim,
Meiomi
Ham:
Beaujolais-Villages 2019 (cooled), dry rosés,
especially rosé of pinot noir
November 2020: who would have thought....that we'd still be here, in touch electronically
but not around the table, which I miss more than
ever. I can't say I'm looking forward to the
holidays--reluctant to fly just yet and even if I could --
how to visit with friends at safe distance, outdoors, in
the dead of winter? "O wind, if Winter comes,
can Spring be far behind?" (Shelley, Ode to the
West Wind) As the saying goes: Hope Springs
eternal.
Meantime, I continue to draw on
my cellar, with such as this: Charles Krug
1992 Generations Meritage blend, a nice surprise
with its vibrant fruit, smooth texture and very appealing
finish, a tribute in part to its forty percent cabernet
franc with its attractive red fruit flavors. 1992 was an
average vintage, a lesser one by most counts, but as ever,
selection of best lots can lift the quality of such
wines as it did for this 29-year-old red.
And more recently...
Merry Edwards 2009 Pinot Noir, Georgann Vineyard,
Russian River Valley. It was quite good when I
opened it, but the next night it was dynamite!
Smooth, rich in texture, flavors of ripe summer berries
tinged with a subtle accent of smoke and
cinnamon. Great with roast cornish game hen.
Wine in the Time of
Pandemic
The way things have changed--it's so strange. I didn't
realize quite how much it means to me to be able to gather
round a table with friends, enjoy a good meal and some good
wines, often older vintages from my cellar, good
conversation that gets livelier as folks relax, feel at
ease, open their hearts and minds in a convivial
setting---safe.
I'm reminded of
something one of our most esteemed gastronomes, M. F. K.
Fisher, wrote: "There is a communion of more than our bodies
when bread is broken and wine drunk."
Now it's not possible....and
it appears this will go on for weeks more. Weeks--if we're
lucky. I'm reluctant to open fine bottles when I can't share
them. I can't drink a whole bottle myself--or don't like
to--because I like to feel well the next day; I haven't had
a real hangover since my first terrible one some forty years
ago (mint juleps, too many, too fast on a hot summer night
in New York). Sometimes older wines, those from the 1990s,
and 1980s especially, don't taste as good the next
night--they've lost a little fruit, the tannins, acids and
alcohol are more prominent. Not always, of course; sometimes
they taste better. Many wines in the twenty to
thirty-something age range have surprised me (see B.E.'s
Discoveries). I like to catch these wines at their
peak, or as near to it as I can figure.
Tonight, however, I'm
celebrating. A publisher has accepted a book I co-edited
representing several years of work. Because of the reasons
stated above, my everyday wines with dinner are usually
moderately priced but carefully chosen, selected
because--near as I can tell--they are honest, soundly made,
with few additives.
And I've made an
important discovery. Tonight, with my braised lamb shank
(grass-fed), I opened this:
Chateau Ste
Michelle 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley,
Washington.
Oh my! It is lovely. Almost 33 years old. I retrieved it
mid-afternoon, stood it upright and decanted it about 45
minutes before sitting down for dinner. Deeply aromatic,
with ripe dark berry aromas, it was vibrant in flavor--those
same dark berries shining through, utterly smooth, with a
long and lingering aftertaste of bright fruit, a hint of
oak. So well integrated. Wonderful rich color.
I could cry--not
to be able to share with friends I know would enjoy it. A
little over half a bottle left--we'll see how it is tomorrow
night. The aroma, I must add, persists, even in the empty
glass.
Normally, I have
wine with dinner most evenings--a couple of glasses,
anywhere from 8 to 10 ounces; like I said, I want to be
alert in the mornings at my writing station. Usually one of
the moderately priced wines I've recommended on my website
as Best Buys or Wine Buy of the Week.
Last
week I opened an even older wine: Jordan 1979 Cabernet
Sauvignon from Alexander Valley in Sonoma. I tasted
this wine in barrel and liked it so much I split a case with
a friend when it was released in 1983. I suspected it was
over the hill at age forty, having followed me through
various cellar locations. Admittedly, it was past its peak;
ten years ago it would have been more vibrant. My wine notes
indicate I liked it very much in the fall of 2003, with its
thrust of blackberry flavors. Now quite mellow, the fruit
gently sweet, but still a rather graceful old fellow
These older wines,
however, have been a revelation, a surprise that worries me
a bit: they are so clean, so balanced--and I feel so
well after consuming the same amount that I have
regularly. Why? I believe it's because
they are clean--free of additives of any kind--none
of the dozens of additives that are permitted in wines made
today. Wines in the 1980s from reputable producers were made
from the juice of fermented grapes, yeast added to get the
process started (generating alcohols of around 12.8 to
13.5 percent alcohol), the wine then aged in oak barrels.
That's it. No coloring agents, stabilizers, flavor
enhancers, preservatives. Yes, I know there were some
producers who used those things back then, but not the ones
interested in a wine that could reflect the plot of earth it
came from or the deft touch of a winemaker who respected the
grape variety, its intrinsic character, what it might
bring to a blend.
Simple, sound, honest -- that doesn't mean they are not
complex, with layers of flavor that emerge as they air, and
bloom. They compel a certain attention--you don't gulp these
wines. Not to get over-precious about it, but they do make
one pause, prompting the recognition there is something
special in the glass.
And I notice with the current wines I drink, the everyday
sort that I can afford, that I sometimes feel a heaviness, a
vague discomfort after a glass or two. Is it my imagination?
The difference isn't--but okay, there's something else about
these older wines: they were made with attention,
and an intention to make the best quality the
winemaker could. I knew many of these winemakers, walked
with them in the vineyards, tasted with them from barrels in
the cellars or from bottles in a tasting room or over lunch
or dinner. I saw their dedication, and perhaps that's the
difference. The juice of the grape--like most of nature, be
it the flowers we grow, or the fruits and vegetables we
eat--respond to that attention and it comes through in the
wine.
Shall we see their like again? There are signs. Ever since
the turn of this century, and a decade before in some
instances, there has been a growing move toward organic
vineyards. And an increasing number of winegrowers are
turning to the somewhat mysterious, somewhat mystical
practices of biodynamics. These involve labor-intensive
techniques, replenishing the soil with natural organic
preparations that — here’s the somewhat mystical and
controversial part — attract cosmic influences that unleash
the life forces in the earth and the plants. “So the earth
may be healed,” wrote Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the
Austrian philosopher, scientist and visionary who laid down
biodynamic principles for farming in the early 20th century,
paving the way for the eco-movement in this one. Biodynamic
“preps” are mixed with spring water, stirred vigorously for
one hour to intensify their potency, then sprayed on the
soil, enhancing root systems and soil fertility — in effect
boosting the immune system of the vine to better withstand
onslaught from pests, weeds and disease. In some vineyards
sheep are kept to graze cover crops in spring, their little
feet also aerating the soil. Nesting boxes for bluebirds and
purple swallowtails help control
insects.
Astonishingly, it appears to work — growers find not only
stronger vines, but also positive effects on wine aromas and
flavors. “Biodynamics deals with how we might seek to
harmonize our farming practices with the subtle forces of
the universe,” innovative winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny
Doon once said, “following the astronomical calendar,
availing ourselves of free cosmic fertilizer, you might
say.”
It all
might seem a bit “woo-woo” except for the fact that some of
the world's most prestigious wine estates have embraced
biodynamic practice —Domaines Leroy, Leflaive, Dujac, Comte
Lafon in Burgundy, Zind-Humbrecht, the top name in Alsace,
Château Pontet-Canet in Bordeaux, Chapoutier in the Rhône
and numerous others. Biodynamic farming in Europe—both in
foodstuffs and wine—is huge and growing. And it has gained
adherents in this country too.
Of course a wine
doesn't have to be made from organically grown grapes or
biodynamic vineyards to be good. There are sound, honest
wines made today—but how does one know for sure what is in
them? There's no ingredient labeling for wines—except for
sulfites, which are much less used today anyway because
wineries are more hygienic. Let us hope that as the earth
heals during this enforced pause from some of humankind's
destructive behavior, we'll be able to taste the difference.
Here is a selection of wines made from organic or biodynamic
vineyards that I can recommend: prices range from
$12 to $22, though well beyond that for Burgundies and
Bordeaux. Most can be found online. Any wine available in
your state can be ordered through your local wine merchant.
Splitting a case--or half case--is a great option.
Bonterra Syrah, Mendocino, also: dry Rosé, Merlot,
Cabernet Sauvignon ($12-18)
Domaine Bousquet Malbec, Pinot Noir, Argentina ($15-18)
Château Bousquette St. Chinian(dry rosé, red blends,
Languedoc ($12-$22)
Domaine des Cèdres Côte-du-Rhône ($15-17)
Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Meysonniers, Rhône
($19-$22); many, if not all, Chapoutier wines are biodynamic
Hecht & Bannier Languedoc Rouge and Rosé $12-$17
King Estate Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, Oregon ($14-25)
Kreydenweiss Pinot Blanc Alsace ($19-23) biodynamic
Domaine Leflaive Macon-Verzé ($60-100) Leflaive
is 100% biodynamic
Pierre Sparr Riesling, Alsace ($15), Crémant d'Alsace
(sparkling, $16)
Robert Sinskey Pinot Noir, Carneros ($40-50)
Pierre Morey Meursault, Pommard Burgundy ($72-95) biodynamic
Jolivet Pouilly-Fumé Loire also
Sancerre ($20-24)
Torino CUMA Malbec Argentina ($10-14)
Troon Vineyard Vermentino, Oregon ($18)
A votre santé!
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