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
