Dear Friends,
Down on the illustrious south Jersey Shore. A beautifully peaceful setting, almost idyllic, but the general culture of food and drink leaves much to be desired. What happened en route to the new world? Why were we unable to import the priority of garden and farm fresh ingredients, the search for wines that are subtle and unique, enjoyed at long-lingering meals as a cultural standard? Since you read this letter, I can assume you are endowed with the grace to take an active interest what you consume and from where and who it comes.
In this instance, Bob (Mr. Millman) and I discovered and tasted these surprisingly excellent wines from the Drome Department (which is slightly north of Avignon in Provence), we debated, discussed, analyzed and we simply loved the outcome.
Dick Vermeersch, a former organic grocer in Antwerp, turned race car driver, then viticulturalist, has taken his former lives and brought them all into his winemaking philosophy. Having bought a farmhouse in the Provencal foothills of Mount Ventoux, he and wife Ann, who studied Oenology in Chateauneuf du Pape, have set about making the highest quality, most authentic, low yielded (sometimes 25 hl/ha), organic but sturdy wines as is to be found in this part of the world.
While there are many lovely wines coming from the winery, we picked their Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc. This is not your typical Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc (if you can even call CDR Blanc ‘typical’), but is alive, has real vibration and tension. From beautifully healthy vineyards, which Dick treats with great respect, the varietals in this white are Roussanne, Marsanne, and Clairette. Grown on limestone and clay soils, gently foot-pressed, and picked at just the right moment before it becomes over-ripe. The aromas are indeed delicious, as Bob reacted: “This is France;” you can smell the sun, and there are charming little hints of lime and white peach. Being a southern white, the wine is rich, but also balanced, neither hot nor clunky. The bottles are adorned with the winery's slogan: 'Powered by Nature.' Bravo, Monsieur Vermeersch.
Made in tiny quantities, first come-first served.
$17.85 per bottle. Not including tax and shipping.
Please reply with desired amounts, easy account set-up info – if
you haven’t already done so – and please refer some friends – we
have received excellent feedback from our very happy clients.
Ciao,
Mary Taylor
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Dear Friends,
When I started the Thoreau Wine Society a few years ago, I winged it – my wine career had consisted of schlepping in stores for other people, writing auction catalogs, pouring La Landonne in other people’s glasses (about which I can’t really complain), yet I felt a genuine passion for wine – a passion that led me to France and beyond, during which I've spent a chunk of my life now meeting vignerons, tasting, eating, drinking with them in their world – gaining insight about the French perspective on flavor, timing, the simple art of each meal, the idea of subtlety and nuance, ideas that
can be far from our framework. Nonetheless, I find many Americans who live by such passion, driving many of us together, quite a diverse global group indeed, compelled by this gift of excellent cuisine.
My dear friend Bob and I have tasted around the world together (he could be standing in Mounir Saouma’s cellar at this moment) – and we have similar (but not matching) palates, although he accuses me of liking a touch more French oak from certain producers than does he – I don't totally agree, but vive la diversite!
In my attempt to get organized and make this grass-roots newsletter work, I have invited Bob to offer some of his tasting notes. He has far more experience than I and has volumes of opinions. Thus I hope you will welcome these missives, which will ideally come one to two times weekly. If you have arrived on this list and don’t want to be here, I welcome you to gently hit the unsubscribe option.
Here is Bob’s latest review (eventually, I will need not introduce him). Try some of his offerings, and some of mine, and compare:
CHILEAN SANCERRE?
Chilean Sancerre? Aren’t the vineyards of Chile and the eastern Loire valley in France about 9000 miles apart? How can a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile be anything like a S.B. from Sancerre? When it is made by Claudia Gomez from the Garces Silva winery in central Chile a mere 9 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.
Marketed under the label Amayna
Attracted by the label and the bottle—all sales begin with the eyes—I walked over to the Amayna table at a very recent trade tasting of Chilean wines. The S.B. was the first and perhaps the best wine I tasted over the course of 2 hours. Never having tasted the wine before, I was immediately struck by the subtle, elegant, inviting bouquet of fresh herbs, grapefruit peel and the aroma of the sea. Tasting confirmed the attractive qualities on the nose. This was truly
a wine synthesizing soil, fruit and ambient conditions. It smelled and tasted more like a good Sancerre than any other Sauvignon Blanc I have tasted from any other region than the Loire.
The lady in the purple pants pouring the wine was none other than the winemaker and vineyard manager Claudia Gomez. I told her that except for the warmth on the finish, served blind I would have said Sancerre. She smiled and told me that she had worked in Sancerre for almost 4 years, half of the time at one of the most famous estate in Sancerre, Alphonse Mellot. She has translated her experience from Sancerre to Chile brilliantly! With the price of good Sancerre moving into the $30-40 range, the price tag of $21 seems reasonable to me. There are of course many S.B.’s from various parts of “the new world” which retail for less. Frankly, the Amyana buries just about any New Zealand, South African, Austrian or American Sauvignon Blanc I have tasted. I can not recommend this lovely wine too highly. For about the price of a worthy Sancerre at a wine bar, you can buy a bottle of the Amayna and not have to leave a tip! Buy 6 bottles. You will be happy you did.
AMAYNA Sauvignon Blanc, Leyda Valley 2007
$19.99 per bottle
Applicable tax and delivery / shipping not included.
Please reply with desired amounts.
First time buyers, I will return your response with easy account set-up info.
Slainte and Many Thanks:
Mary and Bob
Mary Taylor, Bob Millman
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Gosh I was tired when I wrote this, looking back, I can hardly understand my own language- oh well, I hope you can sense how excellent this wine is:
Dear Friends,
Jean-Pierre Charlot was pulling out of the Voillot winery
one morning, when a sweaty jogger mobbed him with an American accent:
'On s'est rencontre a NY, je dois venir pour un degustation!' Round
trip from Beaune to Pommard is about 7 kilometers and if you are eating
and imbibing like you should be in France, I recommend taking a little
run
through the vineyards, along the sloping Cote de Beaune. One may
learn a great deal this way - the way the vineyards puzzle together, who
is out plowing, what stage the vines are in, which of the better parts
of the slope melt the snow away first..
I have been meaning to write about Voillot wines forever as these are such subtle delicate, feminine, aromatic, perfumed beauties. We have reached into the cellar for some older vintages, and while the wine changes from vintage to vintage, these have been consistently pure, touching the bedrock of what Volnay and Pommard is all about. In operation for 5 generations,
acquisition of the Voillot family in 1870, still producing about three barrels per year.
From Bettane and Dessauve: "For many years, Jean Pierre Charlot has vinified some of the finest and most balanced wines of Volnay and Pommard…aging reveals with a high degree of accuracy the type of the year and soil."
I chose this wine purely because it shook me when I tasted it, the aromas unfolded themselves gradually and I lingered for several moments amidst a huge walkabout tasting. Again, at the Grand Jour de Bourgogne, (which I recommend for any budding Burgundy lover), this Pommard expressed it's haunting depth of Burgundy fruit. This is a soft round Pommard, not tannic and tight like some of it's brethren. 2006 is still open and drinking, and I love the vintage for it's classic structure in comparison with the warm 05's and the sometimes odd 04's (among which there are wonderful wines to be found, nonetheless).
The price stood firm at $84 and I'm not seeing it on wine searcher for anything less. And thus, when I realized I could get this price I jumped for joy:
$58 per bottle / or $320 for 6. The wine is extremely limited, first come first served. Will be available for delivery and shipping within 2 weeks.
Please spread the word, and develop your friends' appreciation for great wine - it so deeply enhances one's quality of life. Simply reply with desired amounts.
Slainte,
Mary Taylor
Dear Friends,
We know the cliche, that wine brings people together, and the more you grow your passion and knowledge for what you are drinking, the more you find yourself with friends who share a level of interest, thereby augmenting the excitement at each repast. On my wine-passion road, I have delightfully frequented highly focused wine tastings - often blind, and always hosted and attended by aficionados, specialists, buffs, their sometimes bored-looking dates, while the room remains totally engaged in the 12 or so glasses in front of each person for the better part of two hours in fervent discussion. In Manhattan, there have been extraordinary evenings at the Executive Wine Seminars - 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape blind, 1999 Barolos, 2004 Zind-Humbrecht, etcetera. 'EWS' has been operating for at least 25 years, invariably having been co-hosted by Bob Millman, who is joining us as a writer and roving wine-finder for the Thoreau Wine Society.
As those of you who have been following this newsletter can grasp, we find the most passionate, and most informed, involved, experienced wine people, and Bob is a great mentor to me in wine and other matters of the soul - so take it away, Bob:
ST. URBANS-HOF ESTATE RIESLING 2008: A WONDERFUL DRY RIESLING AT A PAINLESS PRICE
"Nik Weis has proven himself a master at judging balance in Riesling.” David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate
Nik Weis, the gifted, energetic and charming gentleman who runs his family’s estate in the Mosel has been producing stunning Rieslings for a decade. In the last few vintages, his wines have rightfully gained worldwide recognition. Blessedly, Nik has kept his ego in check and his prices reasonable. He produces each year a dry estate Riesling
made from grapes grown in 2 of his vineyards—one in the Mosel and the other in the Saar (the home to Scharzhofberger, Germany’s most famous vineyard), The Mosel supplies the infectious fruit and the Saar the crisp, enlivening acidity which is essential to German Riesling. I tasted the 2008 recently and was stunned that such a reasonably priced Riesling could offer so much character, intensity, and freshness. Finishing dry but with an abundance of Mosel fruit—pear, peach, apple along with floral and spicy overtones, this Riesling can be sipped with pleasure as an aperitif wine or served with a wide variety of Asian influenced preparations. And what will all this cost? $14.95. That is not a typo. Buy a case—your palate will say thanks.
PS—for those who like to know this sort of thing, the 2007 version of the wine was number 56 on the Wine Spectator’s 100 Best.
Offer will close once the wine is sold – first come, first served. Please order accordingly, we do our best with re-orders, but usually the wine is available in very small quantities.
14.95 per bottle, 3 bottle minimum, tax and delivery not included –
we can calculate shipping costs if you send your details.
If you have yet to set up your account, simply reply to this email and I will send painless account set-up information.
Make it a Glorious Weekend,
Bob Millman (and Mary Taylor)
Thoreau Wine Society
ThoreauWineSociety.com
mary@thoreauwinesociety.com
Dear Friends,
These last few glorious weeks of spring have found me back on Yankee soils – soaking up this verdant splendor – a bike ride in my lovely hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, drinking an illusory glass of lilacs, tulips, chirping soft winds, the perfume of spring – delighted to be back to my roots for a time. And thus, I celebrate this with an offering of the very best American wine I can think of.
The true spirit of anti-establishment artisanal American wine-making has been substantiated by the Lett family in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It was David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyards, in 1966, the first to plant Pinot Noir, Gris, Chardonnay, who,
original Eyrie vines are now over 40 years old, the style of wine has remained consistent: elegance, balance, coolness, nuance, tertiary aromas that are influenced by earth, rocks, minerals, nature, yeasts, the elements underfoot when you are out in the fields and forests, rich in herbaceous sweet fruit.
Some time ago, I was invited by the Lett family to join them on a vineyard tour. We walked beyond their white wooden house, enshrouded in pines, up over a hill along a trail, and came to a slope planted to vine. David and Jason brought several marvelous older vintages while Jason showed us in great detail how the vineyard works as an entire eco-system – the grasses, the worms, the buds and shoots, minimally disturbed, all work together to make the Eyrie fruit full of character and nuance, done in a spirit of authentic small-production. At that
time, David was using his oxygen tank, but the enthusiasm he maintained as he described the first clearing and planting, those 40 some-odd years ago, had seemingly not waned. Sadly David passed in 2008, and it is now his ever-so dedicated son Jason (who holds an advanced degree in Botany) who now heads the property with as much
passion as his father.
There does exist big, hot, extracted, clunky, monolith Pinot’s from the Willamette Valley nowadays (to please those wacky consumers) but these are certainly not those. Eyrie wines can age, and are well known by long-lived enthusiasts – I believe there remains two dusty bottles on the mantle of one of the greatest Burgundy domains – to
commemorate the best of what has been drunk at that legendary table.
I decided to offer 2 wines – and allow you to choose a combo, or just pick one.
Eyrie Estate Pinot Noir 2006:
Low yields, made from twenty year-old estate fruit, aged in neutral
French oak for nearly two years. The wine rolls around the glass with
such a soft perfumed ease – aromas of fall leaves, sweet earthy
strawberry fruit, acidity to make it Burgundian in style – simply
lovely – (92 points in the Wine Advocate, although if David were
still with us, he would shoot me for using a score to talk about his
wine).
$31.99 per bottle
Eyrie Estate Pinot Gris 2007:
Planted 40 years ago, aged in stainless steel on it’s yeast cells,
natural malo-lactic fermentation (will explain upon request). The wine
is so pure, so alive and vigorous, leesy, bakery smells meet shiso
leaves, pine cones, just gorgeous! (A 91 from Tanzer).
$19.99 per bottle
Shipping and delivery available throughout the US. Local tax and
delivery not included.
Please reply with desired amounts and I will confirm with you.
Slainte,
Mary Taylor
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Dear Friends,
It’s certainly high time that I’m sending my latest wine newsletter, just in time for irrational and exuberant stock markets and a reported increase in consumer plonk-buying. As I maintain, the best way to save money on your wine purchasing is to buy and drink less but better and jettison those cases of ‘yellow monkey’ that led you down a dark path – here’s your chance for retreat.
Domaine de l’Ecu Muscadet sur lie ‘Expression de Gneiss’ 2006 from Guy Bossard
Another finding thanks to the great Bourgignon Vignerons who prefer to explore other regions whence dining, and it was thus a dinner party held on a wintery night in Beaune that we were offered this bottle. I was surprised at the general excitement over the Bossard wine, because in my experience, Muscadet has been a light and insignificant aperitif – yet there is a huge following for the top producers of this Melon de Bourgogne raisin that can be aged for upwards of twenty years, giving complex and yet fresh aromas that are enticingly mineral. Towards the spring, in the Breton town of Guerande, known for their wonderful grey salts, I rediscovered this wine while picnicking on incredible shellfish, bulots, oysters, spider crab – this wine was coruscating it’s loveliness throughout lunch and I was thrilled that the money spent on great food was well complemented. ‘C’etait une tres bonne association.”
I am not afraid to assert that Guy Bossard is the top producer of Muscadet. A doyenne of Bettane, La Revue, and so forth – in the US, it is Tanzer to whom I would immediately turn for a review on such an intellectual wine. His 90 point review of the 2005 ‘Gneiss’: “Light yellow-gold. Dusty, precise, mineral-laced citrus and quince
aromas are lightly kissed by peppery spice. Elegant, finely etched lime and pink grapefruit flavors show good depth and purity in an elegant, racy package.”
Having been certified organic in the mid-70’s, Monsieur Bossard is a pioneer, then going to biodynamics in 1986, when most of the hip, young biodynamic producers were learning their abc’s (think French
accent). This 17-hecatare, fifth generation domain is situated smack dab in Sevre et Maine, in the gorgeous hamlet of le Landreau. Using compost, moon cycles, hand plowing, hand-picking (bien sur!), 45 year-old vines, the wines of Guy Bossard have won many a blind tasting (the Hermine d’Or) and the great Matt Kramer has said “If Burgundy's Domaine Leroy made Muscadet, it would be Domaine de l'Ecu… The prices are absurdly low.”
Of the three cuvees, I chose the ‘Expression de Gneiss’ – gneiss refers to the sub-soil of granite and schist, the wine tends to have elusive herbaceous aromas, a stony fresh juicy minerality, salinic, alkalinic, citrusy, granite-inflected, bright, and yet broad and rich. One of the best wines I’ve found thus far.
$19.99 per bottle.
Straight from carefully temperature-controlled storage. Shipping and applicable tax not included (we do not charge for out of state tax). Offer will close Tuesday. The wine will be available for shipping, delivery or pick-up within the next 7 days.
Account set-up is simple: if you would like to order, please reply with desired amounts and I will reply with easy account set-up info.
ATTENTION: We are going to offer less frequent, but less expensive $8 Manhattan deliveries. If you are interested, I will coordinate with you. Think of this as an excuse to order more wine!
Please refer some wine-drinking friends, in support of small unique things.
Slainte,
mary
Mary Taylor
Thoreau Wine Society
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Dear Friends,
Just a quickie - as I'm on the road (train leaves for Verona in an hour), however I don't want to pass up on this beautiful wine that the very talented wine-writer Jacqueline Friedrichs turned me onto, and one that we tasted among friends in Beaune who agreed that it deserves very high marks. I have tasted a million Sauvignon Blanc's in my life and my biggest complaint is that many are full of grass and 'pipi de chat' flavors that don't exactly turn me on.
The incredible (and sadly recently deceased) Didier Dagueneau made Sauvignon Blanc in a style that gave integrity to the variety and the terroir - like Dagueneau wines, this also offers aromas not in your face, but with classic French nuance and substance.
I recently sold a Gamay by Merieau that people loved, and I think the Sauvignon Blanc is something particularly wonderful. Golden-hued, both racy and creamy, balanced and pure - fruit that has finesse and energy (as opposed to dullness, which I am seeing too often lately in lower priced wines). Low yields for Touraine, (45 hectolitres), up to 60 year old vines, indigenous yeasts - enjoy with oysters, fish, goats cheese, ya know. An exceptional value.
Jean-Francois Merieau Touraine Sauvignon 'L'arpent de: $15.25 per bottle / 3 bottle minimum.
PS, if you receive this email and do not wish to, please unsubscribe below. Conversely, if you like this service, please pass it along.
Please reply with desired amounts, and easy account set-up info if you have yet to do so.
PS, I'm keeping the last Montcalmes offer open for a few more days!
Don't be shy)
A Tutti,
Mary
Mary Taylor
ThoreauWine Society.com
Dear Friends,
Writing from a typical rainy Saturday in Beaune. I normally would try to send a message during the week, but sometimes when you are in the middle of business, wine is not the email you've been waiting for. I hope this finds you in a snug weekend disposition. I have been reading up on the idea of impermanence, which in wine terms aligns with the ethic that we should make our choices carefully - perhaps rather than consuming vast amounts of plonk, we exchange that for smaller amounts of beautifully-made wine to be savored slowly - a metaphor I hope I can remember when life takes off on Monday.
A friend and I are en route today to the southern metropolis of Montpelier to participate in a biodynamic wine fair - as we seek more of a grasp on the region by eating and making merry with the local winemakers, who I often neglect in this newsletter - being so partial to northern appellations. However there is a lot of singing terroir in the south and as I've discovered from the Burgundy gang, who gets giddy when this wine is found on a local list, that one of the best wines that come from the south of France is made by the Domaine de Montcalmes who makes one single poignant staggering Syrah blended with 35% Mourvedre and Grenache.
Having worked at the renowned Domaine de la Grange des Peres, winemaker Frederic Pourtalie returned to the family business which, at the time (in the mid 90's) was selling grapes from their 25 hectares to cooperatives. Having realized the potential of the appellation and of his own passion, Frederic set out to weed through the family's vineyards, aiming to make small quantities of carefully made juice from this limestone rocky terroir, perfect for minerality, often getting as low as 10 hectolitres per hectare (the average is 40-50) meaning he encourages the vines to produce the best fruit even is that means losing half of it. There is enough average wine in the Languedoc and Frederic did not want to add to the pool - and thus here is a wine made from selected clusters - vines that were not producing to their potential have been replanted, only the best parcels are even picked, then aged in 1-3 year old barrels bought from Romanee-Conti.
By winies in the US, this domaine is considered 'Up and Coming.' But here in Europe, it is already among the ranks of the greats (the British have long-since discovered it!). Made in tiny quantities (i.e. first come, first served).
As we last tasted the magnificent 2005 vintage, my companions and I marveled at it's elegance. Tasting notes simply say: 'Fluidity, grace, presence, finesse, long lovely finish, no heat, equilibre (balance)." In restaurants and at home we've had older vintages that are just so pure and delineated - we've found in this wine just delicious haunting tertiary aromas, depth, focus, and pure fruit.
Please feel free to drink now, or cellar for 10 years
"Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored
forests and meadows which surround it. We need the tonic of
wildness." -Thoreau
Domaine de Montcalmes Coteaux de Languedoc 2005:
$33.95 per bottle /
$195 per 6 bottles
Straight from carefully temperature-controlled storage. Shipping and
applicable tax not included (we do not charge for out of state tax).
Offer will close Tuesday. Will be available for shipping, delivery or
pick-up within the next 7 days.
Account set-up is simple: if you would like to order, please reply
with desired amounts and I will reply with easy account set-up info.
Bon Weekend,
Mary
Dear Friends,
This past summer I found myself at a medieval fest in the ancient Loire Valley village of Chinon. The streets were packed with locals, musicians, and red-faced teenagers; the looming caves and chateau ruins were open for a walk-through, café’s were bustling, long-haired men in old sheaths were parading wild boars on stakes headed for the rowdy feast to come that evening. I had been traveling the region, tasting with vignerons, as I do, and my wine friends thought this a proper affair to show me an evening of tourism.
Being of the most beautiful villages, Chinon is nonetheless known far more for it’s surrounding vineyard-laden hills, and mineral-driven, rich, red spice Cabernet Francs. As I’ve asserted endlessly, the Loire Valley has experienced a renaissance of small-production, low yield, organic winemaking and Chinon is an epicenter of this action – with younger idealistic vignerons working in a hands-on attentive way to highlight the gravel limestone soils and bring complexity to their wines. Of the greatest Chinon producers, Philippe Alliet sits at the top of the heap (according to La Revue de Vin de France, all of my winemaker friends, and well, me).
In New York, the other night, I went to a tasting of big-name, hundred-dollar Cabs. The wines all had portentous tones that felt cheaply manipulated. When every wine speaks edgeless density, high-alcohol, and chocolate-blueberry syrup – I’m left uninspired. When you travel through the vineyards of Chinon and Bourgeuil, you see farmers, vines, small houses, no state-of-the art marble laden winemaking facilities. The expenses that are faced by these small Loire domains are the lowering of their yield’s, extending the ageing-time in barrel, accessing the best vineyard slopes – and making the best possible wines. There are no marketing departments here, for it is up to us consumers to do our research
Philippe Alliet wines are found on winelists even across the country in my home-base of Beaune, most notably at ‘Bissoh’ my favorite Japanese-French on the peripherique, run by Sachiko and her husband who moved to Burgundy to be near the vines – she has a dynamite cellar of Loire, Burgundy and Rhone – and every time we eat there we order the Alliet Chinon, if we are lucky enough to find one.
Being a grand vigneron, Phillippe Alliet is a humble sort. He knows Cabernet Franc inside and out, having studied the grape versus the soil and ageing process for decades. I would proudly slip a bottle of his Chinon in among grand cru’s. There is so much complexity and liveliness jumping out of the glass – reminds me of the smells of Chinon itself; when one walks in the vineyards there is a redolence of wet cigar leaves and earth. The wine couples that sexy funkiness with a deep red richness, mineral, pepper - meaty, sweet and balanced – aromas to chase around as the viscosity oils up the glass with delicious nuance. A friend likened the aromas to waking up next to a perfumed lover. We are talking real wine, fresh and alive that speaks.
I chose the entry level Chinon, because I find it to be as delightful and alive as the cuvee’s and the Vielle Vignes, and yet slightly less expensive.
Philippe Alliet Chinon 2006 $22.50 per bottle – straight from the cellar door.
3 bottle minimum.
Available within 7 days. Please reply with desired amounts. I
deliver and ship almost everywhere. We do not charge for out of state
tax. If you have never ordered, please let me know your interest and I
will reply with easy account set-up info.
We are all trying to stay in business – please refer some friends. The crisis calls for the support of real independents – so we don’t lose the best parts of our culture.
Shortly and Sweetly,
Mary Taylor
ThoreauWineSociety.com
“The place in which I fit will not exist unless I make it.” – James Baldwin
Dearest Good People,
Getting back on American soils for the first time in a few dozen fortnights. Luckily Continental offered 'It's a Wonderful Life' as a movie option which duly prepped me for this state of consumer anxiety as well as this freezing snow storm on the east coast. I have a handful of great wines in store - it's just the getting around to sending an email that seems to be the problem. A friend told me that they were confused by these emails, because it wasn't clear how to order, which I will delightfully clear up for anyone who is on this list and doesn't quite understand my garrulous writings on wine: I spend a large chunk of time in France and I keep my ear to the ground as relates to excellent winemakers - I then taste their wines (the hard part). My taste (which I've refined over a few decades) tends toward nuanced old-world aromas and delicacy. If I appreciate a wine in particular and can get a good price, I send an offer such as this.
If you happen to be interested, you can reply with the amount of bottles you might want. If I don't have an account on file I reply with what info I need to set up an account. Wines can be shipped anywhere in the US (with some slight exceptions) - or there is a pick up option. All is done in the spirit of prudent simplicity (that's where Thoreau comes in).
Let's get to another excellent find. The wine intelligentsia in Burgundy tuned me onto Sylvain Loichet, a passionate kid from Chorey. The stodgy London merchants are taking interest, because Loichet wines are showing-up some of the great producers. However, Loichet is unheard-of in the US. When I say kid, it's because Sylvain is 25 - and has a one-tracked mind for making the most pure, hand-made, naturally-composted, biodynamic range of wines - like the best of his contemporaries, he's an idealist, a junior Coche-Dury perhaps. While the market calls for mass-product wine, I say drink less and better (but within reason).
This odd-sounding commune of Pernand-Vergelesses has a tough name to swallow (there are no monkeys on the label to ease the consumer). However this quaint little village just north of Beaune has been producing haunting pinot noir and chardonnay for centuries – and with the influx of idealistic winemakers, one can find wines here that have the ripeness and depth to hold up to the looming grand cru of Corton Charlemagne (which sits in both Pernand and Aloxe-Corton). I like the 2007 vintage in the Cote de Beaune whites - because I find them to have more energy (aka: minerality) and charm than some prior vintages.
Sylvain comes from an industrious family of Carriere's - stone workers, who have owned vines for several generations, the grapes of which they historically sold off to a local negociant or two, that is, until Sylvain got to be of age. He found passion in the work of making wine from start to finish, and after graduating from Beaune's Lycee-Viticole and then some years working, coincidentally, with Olivier Merlin, he took back the vineyard contacts and started this domain in a garagiste-style cuverie. Four vintages later, he has won the rightful respect of his peers, more and more praise from the press, and a little 12 appellation, 30,000 bottle operation. I think what makes his wines so vibrant and beautiful is that he is extremely focused but not systematic; he chooses details such as his percentages of new oak, lees contact, or whether he will do a gentle fining, based on the vintage - which means he needs to be hyper-attentive - as
demonstrated by his permanently raised left eyebrow.
While I loved the range we tasted on that chilly February morning, I chose the Pernand because I found that it had a particular brooding quality without being closed - more inward, woven, structured for a white - and yet vibrant, mineral, floral and elegant. Only recent oak is used here, which serves to highlight the broad and silky notes. I was delighted with the complexity and nuance here, meaning that the aromas entice you to chase them around in the glass - not because they are so obvious but because they elude and then reveal themselves. Aromas that are present but not in-your-face (where the ‘haunting’ bit comes in) and that's what I call a great wine. Luckily I was able to negotiate a price that is the best in the US –
$34.50 per bottle. One bottle minimum. Go ahead and try a single
bottle if that is all your budget calls for.
Please reply with desired amounts - and thanks for reading.
Slainte,
Mary
mary taylor
ThoreauWineSociety.com
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