Wine & Words

I'm always getting into trouble for being too straightforwardly outspoken. I did it again the other night at Back Bay Cafe. The lady said she wanted "a glass of Chardonnay," a vague descriptor that usually says "I like a not-too-dry white wine...but Chardonnay is the only one I know." So I asked her what kind of Chardonnay she usually drinks. She replied, "Well, I usually drink Kendall-Jackson." That's when I put my foot in it. I blurted out, "That's too bad." I realized immediately from the look on her face (I'm not totally insensitive) that she took my comment as a criticism of her or at least of her taste in wine. I quickly backpedaled. "I don't mean it's too bad you like that wine...it's just that it's a style that has flooded the market and...it's too bad people don't know what other kinds of lovely wines can be made with the Chardonnay grape." I could see I had made some headway...that look of "tell me more." I continued with, "I've got a very nice Chardonnay from Burgundy, a 'white Burgundy' that I'm featuring this week. I could let you have a taste and see if you like it. If you don't, we'll try something else." Seemed a fair enough offer, so she accepted. I went and got the open bottle of Renaud Saint-Véran that we were Featuring last week and explained the whole thing about white wines in Burgundy being Chardonnay and reds being Pinot Noir, but the French (being the French) put the place the grapes are from on the bottle, because you're supposed to know what grape comes from there.  I could see I was digging a deeper hole, so I decided to let the wine speak for itself. She tentatively sniffed the glass, looked up and said, "It smells good." Then she took a taste and I saw one of those revelatory moments I love to provoke, when someone's world of wine opens up before them. "That..is...wonderful! Pour me a glass." Whew. I started out being a jerk and managed to pull back into my preferred role of James the Wine Guy, bringer of good vinous tidings.
Back to my blurted comment about "Kay-Jay" wines. It's not that Jess Jackson and company aren't excellent winemakers...they are. Their "Highland Estates" line gets very high marks for finesse and clarity. But those cost $35 and up...at the winery. That's not the ubiquitous Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve wines that you see in the (better) grocery stores for around $15.00 a bottle (or $35/bottle at your restaurant table). So when I commented that it's "too bad" the lady liked this wine, I was really suggesting that it's too bad that the ready availability and marketing clout of a large organization like K-J keeps people from trying wines from different areas of the world or even different areas of the U.S.. Remember how nice was the Charles Smith Eve Chardonnay from Walla Walla, Washington?
This week we're Featuring what continues to be my "go to" California Chard, along with another white Burgundy that will give me more opportunity to work some tableside magic with my trusty red corkscrew. Then we're going to try a delicious California Zinfandel from the Paso Robles region alongside a new introduction of Primitivo from Puglia in the boot-heel of Italy. More about that relationship when we get there. First, the Chards.
 
Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay (Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay, California) Regular Price $17.50/ Feature Price $14.00
We last Featured this one in our "All American" selection for July 2008. Though the price has gone up a couple bucks in two years, what I wrote about Wente Family Vineyards is still true today:

Wente Vineyards is California's oldest family owned and continuously operated winery. Founded in 1883 by C. H. Wente, the winery is now managed by the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family. It is the first winery to bottle a wine labeled "Chardonnay" and many of California’s Chard growers still plant the "Wente Clone."

The vineyards, in the Livermore Valley above San Francisco Bay, benefit from the cool morning fogs that give good crisp acidity to the grapes. And the wine is still a great representative of relatively inexpensive California Chardonnay that has style and elegance...and not just a big advertising budget.
As for the evocative name "Morning Fog," I like what they say about it on their website:

Each summer morning, fog billows inland through the Golden Gate, pushed by Pacific wind streams into the bowl of the San Francisco Bay. Here, it forms deep fog banks that rest on the East Bay Hills. In just one place, the Livermore Valley, with its unique East-West orientation, the fog banks come further east, cooling the air as it goes. This daily phenomenon creates the Mediterranean or Marine climate found in less than 1% of the world’s land mass. And it makes the San Francisco Bay and Livermore Valley appellations ideal for growing wine grapes that are beautifully balanced.

The winemaker, Karl D. Wente, takes these cool weather grapes and ferments half of them in French oak barrels and the other half in stainless steel, to maintain the purity of the fruit. He leaves the wine "on the leas" (with the grape skins and yeast) for 7 months to develop richness of flavor. The result definitely has a California accent, but it has finesse and class, as well great food pairing ability. It's a California Chard I'm proud to pour.
 
Domaine Alain Normand Macon la Roche Vineuse Blanc 2008 (Burgundy, France) Regular Price $21.00/ Feature Price $16.80
Now for another of those white Burgundies I'm always recommending. We Featured the 2007 vintage of this wine a year ago as "Another Great White Burgundy." The wine speaks for itself, so you'll have to come in and listen.
Meantime, I want to share with you what one of my favorite wine websites, The 30-Second Wine Adviser, had to say about how this wine from the tiny appellation of Macon La Roche Vineuse might be affected by the new rules for the naming of French wines. (If you have no interest in this sort of wine geekerie, just scroll down to the Zinfandels...and come in and try the wines for yourself).
 
The French get real
The tradition-bound rules of French wine naming have put some great wines at a distinct disadvantage in the larger international world of wine marketing. Recall the little trick about white Burgundies and red Burgundies -- you just have to know. The Wine Adviser describes the new proposed 3-tier system thus:

• The third (bottom) tier will consist of "vins de table" (table wines). Beginning with the 2009 vintage, "vins de table" will be allowed to show grape variety and vintage on their labels. Grapes may be blended from any part of France. There will no longer be any constraints on production methods, for example on yields and irrigation, other than those of international wine industry norms (e.g. the banning of flavouring additives, certain chemical stabilisers, etc.) It is hoped that this will permit the appearance of French commercial wine brands to compete with those of the New World. The old regional "Vins de Pays" designation will disappear progressively after 2009.
  
• The second tier will consist of "vins de territoire" (territorial wines). Into this category will fall the more ambitious artisan-produced wines which are "vins de pays" at present; existing regional appellations such as "Bordeaux" and "Bourgogne," and regroupings of existing lesser AOCs. An example of the last is the regrouping into "Côtes de Bordeaux" of the appellations Blaye, Castillon, Cadillac and Francs. As many as 50 to 100 appellations are expected to disappear in the next few years. The creation of new appellations will not be allowed.
  
• The first (top) tier will consist of "vins de terroir" (terroir wines) which will reinforce the AOC system at the top level. The intention is to guarantee quality as well as origin. New style-tasting committees for accepting or refusing wines will replace local vignerons, considered too subject to complaisance with poor quality and jealousy of outstanding performers, with presumably more independent judges such as journalists, oenologists, wine merchants and the like. The AOCs will draw up new specifications to replace existing decrees; it is intended that these should be in place for the 2008 vintage.
  

Now, let's have a short-form look at that obscure French village. While I don't know of specific plans for Macon La Roche Vineuse, it's the type of tiny, obscure appellation that seems likely to disappear under the new regulatory system. If La Roche Vineuse were to disappear into a broad "Macon" or even broader "Bourgogne" appellation, would producer Alain Normand continue to hand-craft this crisp, defined and minerally Chardonnay that surely speaks with an accent unique to "the vinous rock"? Or would the necessities of the marketplace ensure that this fine wine eventually ends up as part of an anonymous blend? I'd like to believe that passionate artisans like Normand would stay the course, counting on his name and reputation to sell the wine to a small but devoted audience. But who knows? While the big French producers are likely secure in their reputations even through a storm of change, you have to wonder how the small, less-known properties will fare.

If we keep supporting people like Alain Normand because they are making beautiful wines at prices we can afford, they are bound to fare well. I say, "Let's drink this wine."
 
Zinfandel/Primitivo
DNA studies showed that the grape we know as Zinfandel in California is identical with a grape known as Primitivo in the boot-heel of Italy. Since much of California's agriculture, including the growing of grapes, was started by Italian immigrants, it seemed reasonable to conclude that Primitivo came to California from Italy and underwent a name change to Zinfandel. No one ever explained how that happened, though. And what does "Zinfandel" mean?
Then the plot thickened. Viticultural sleuths discovered that Zinfandel's genetic footprint is also the same as the Crljenak Kaštelanski grape (don't ask me how to pronounce it...any Croats in our readership?) of Croatia. Turns out Croatia is the original home of many of the grape varieties we use for wine and (the plot thickens even more) some bright light who speaks Croatian has suggested our Zinfandel is a corruption of tzinifándli (czirifandli), a Hungarian word derived from the German Zierfandler, a white grape (Grüner Sylvaner) from Austria. So that's about as clear as the Pamlico River, eh? Whatever the route the various clones of Primitivo/Zinfandel took to get to the U.S. the family resemblance is clear as soon as you taste the two wines together. And that's what we propose to do -- compare them side by side.
 
Peachy Canyon Incredible Red 2007 (Paso Robles, California) Regular Price $15.50/ Feature Price $12.40
Sometimes California Zinfandel wines can taste like a mash-up of grape and cherry jelly...and I'm not even talking about the mistake that is known as "white" (i.e. pink) Zinfandel. Those California grapes get so ripe basking in the West Coast sunshine that they lose the acidity and dry finish that make a wine food friendly. Not so this elegant red from the Central Coast's Paso Robles region. It's waiting for a big plate of barbecued ribs.
In 1982, when they moved to Paso Robles with their two sons, Joshua and Jacob, in search of a better life, school teachers Doug and Nancy Beckett had no idea what was in store for them in the beautiful oak and orchard canyons. Now, more than 25 years later, Josh and Jacob are part of the winemaking operation that has become Peachy Canyon Winery.
Their Incredible Red is sourced from their own vineyards, as well as grapes of several vineyards of their valley friends and neighbors. On their own 100 acres, the Becketts use sustainable growing practices that include support of beneficial insects, aggressive leaf canopy management to control mildew, strict water management, and netting to keep the birds from eating the best grapes. Those grapes are then hand picked and sorted, and after fermentation the wine is allowed to age gently in oak barrels (French, American and Hungarian oak). For this release, 4% of Petite Sirah was added to the wine to give it depth and complexity.
I think this is exactly what a California red wine should be...bold but not cocky, self-assured but not arrogant, dry enough but with good spicy fruit. Well done, Becketts.
 
Matané Primitivo (Puglia, Italy) Regular Price $16.50/ Feature Price $13.20
This is a new one for us, and we think it's really going to be a hit. The name is a combination of the first two letters of the names of Maria, Tara & Neil Empson, the family whose importing business has made a specialty of bringing well-made, small vineyard Italian wines to American wine drinkers. I think it's pronounced like the French/English "Matinee."
The wine is 100% Primitivo grapes that were grown and vinified by Filippo Baccalaro, and I wish they'd named it "Baccalaro" to go with the row of "Bacchantes" dancing on the front label. This is full-bodied, rich and sunny wine, reflecting the warm Mediterranean ambience of Puglia, the "boot-heel" of Italy. It will pair with hearty Italian fare or pair it like you would a red Zinfandel -- grilled meats with spicy or fruity sauces.  No summertime barbecue should be without "Zinfandel's Mama."