Dear Friends,
A small importing company recently put on a tasting of over 75 wines made in and around Vienna. For the most part, they represent terrific quality/value rapport. Of all the wines presented those of Rainer Christ from Weingut Christ struck me as among the most delightful, interesting and well priced Austrian wines I have tasted in the last few years.
Vienna is the only capital city in Europe which has important vineyards within its city limits: around 1500 acres in fact. Soils vary enormously from one site to the next and even within the same vineyard, resulting in a wide range of styles and quality. The Christ family has been growing grapes in Vienna for more than 400 years and has recently achieved 1st class status under the leadership of Rainer Christ, the handsome head of the family who speaks flawless English and bears a striking resemblance to Michael Wetherly from NCIS (for those who care). Total plantings are a mere 23 acres. Most wine lovers have known for some time that Austria produces superb dry white wines from Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and in some regions Sauvignon Blanc. Austrian red wines are much less known and tend to be relegated to 2nd class citizenship.
Aficionados know that shockingly good red wines can be made from Blaufrankish and Zweigelt, Austria’s indigenous red grapes. Top restaurants with adventuresome cuisine have been adding fine Austrian reds to their lists and discovering that clients find them to be both interesting in themselves and wonderful with food. Still, a taster has to work much harder to find Austrian reds of truly international status than to find first rate whites.
Among Rainer Christ’s excellent wines, the sole red, with the intriguingly named of Mephisto stood out. I always taste and re-taste before I seek information. If I really like a wine I want to know all about it. If I don’t I simply do not care--unless it cures diseases and extends life.
What struck me about Mephisto was its altogether successful combination of immediacy and depth. I walked away from the table and returned 30 minutes later to check on my original impressions.
Confirmed! The wine has the bright, expressive intense fruit of a Sonoma Zinfandel with the firmness, spine and texture of a good Bordeaux. It turns out that it is 50% Zweigelt (Austria’s Zinfandel) and the rest a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The vines are solidly middle-aged: 45 years on average. So what do you experience when drinking Mephisto? A theoretical blend of a Rosenbloom Zin and a classified St. Julien. It worked for me and will work for you. It is just about the most satisfying $25 bottle of red wine I have tasted in some time.
For those of you who care, the 2006 Mephisto was the winner of the Vienna Wine Competition in 2008. The first vintage was 1992. How do you get $50 worth of red wine for $25? Buy bottles of the 2006 Mephisto.
2006 Weingut Christ “Mephisto”
25.95 per bottle, no minimum for purchase.
Limited quantities- First come first served.
Does not include local tax or delivery / shipping. Pick up option is available (please inquire).
We ship to 48 states.
Please reply with desired quantities and Mary will confirm your order.
Bob Millman
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Here we enter the seasonal juncture which presents itself as an unpredictable, mutable, ever-changing force – leaves under foot, crisp air – a heightened sense of the elements, minerality, aromas so elegantly fermenting, weekends of wood-fires and contemplation. We folk of the Thoreau Wine Society have been busy making correlations between hiking and wine – particularly in conjunction with what we would drink with various vantage points. Recently my dear friend and honrary TWS member Anne and I took a spontaneous journey to Asheville, NC – to explore the southern hills
of the Great Smokey’s and Blue Ridge mountains. Along the Appalachian Trail, as we traversed the ridged border of Tennesee and the Carolinas, stopping by a spectacular blue-green panorama pregnant with fir trees and jagged ridges, I muttered sotto voce “Champagne’ – ‘Come again?’ – If you were to ask what I would drink with this view, I would say Champagne – a nervous, lush, racy, precise champagne, equal parts restraint and sex – a balance of sensations – both invigorating and soothing, prettily perfumed and mysterious, yet earthy, alive and rugged.
The story of Stephane Coquillette is very common in Champagne. The family’s grapes were once sold in some percentage to the bigger houses, many of whom haven’t always been obsessively engaged with what they put in their wines, rather relying on a sugary dosage to retain consistency. The big houses offer familiarity, a well-marketed label that makes people feel safe, and labels are certainly important. But if we think of wine like we do hiking, we wouldn’t want to repeat the same trail in the same season on the same day every time, and we certainly wouldn’t want a virtual trail – so perhaps, when you experience this champagne and others that are made individually and in small production (the same idea of estate bottled – a popular term in California), and not part of the hundreds of millions of bottles made for Moet, Veuve, Heidseick, Besserat, Ayala, Piper, Mumm, Pommery, Roeder, Ruinart, Taittinger, Pol Roger, and Perrier-Jouet, you just might run into what strikes you as rare beauty – perhaps a door opened
in your range of sensations that you might have never known was there.
Young Stephane is a fourth generation Champenoise – a tough bunch – for it was in Champagne that Genghis Kahn was finally defeated, the region later to be dug for trenches in the First World War. He took over this winery and
is now bottling Champagne under the family name. We are now in Chouilly, a Grand Cru village in the Cotes des Blancs, just south-east of the major shipping town of Epernay. Their ten different parcels equaling roughly six
hectares of vines, (in such a small but world-class environ) shares that famously deep chalky limestone ‘roche-mere’ which makes Champagne the greatest sparkling wine region in the world, giving to fabulous minerality and vigour. Coquillette works his vineyards by hand and inlays the rows with bark to prevent weeds and erosion (hence, no synthetic chemicals). Most importantly this multi-vintage cuvee is released after several years of ageing, and is unequivocally sumptuous and every bit about which I
fantasized overlookng our great national park.
Stephane Coquillette ‘Cuvee Diane’ Blanc de Blancs Brut NV
$58.50 per bottle – the best price I am finding on the web and a big
discount from us to you.
We will grant 10% off on 12 bottles. Grab a case for the season!
Tax and shipping not included. Please see our clear and wonderful new
shipping/delivery policy:
http://www.thoreauwinesociety.com/deliveryshipping.html
Please reply with desired amounts – and please tell friends!
Slainte,
Mary Taylor
ThoreauWineSociety.com
Hit it Bob:
A CALIFORNIA MERLOT (!) YOU CAN DRINK WITH PRIDE AND PLEASURE
It wasn’t that long ago that Merlot was the most popular red wine in America. Besides, anyone who knows anything about wine knows that Merlot is the key grape in Pomerol where it is the basis for a half dozen of the sexiest, most expressive and expensive red wines made on this planet. But then came Pinot Noir which supplanted Merlot this decade to such an extent than many wine lovers will not even admit to ever having purchased a bottle of Merlot. Fashion is fashion. But quality transcends current sensibilities which change every 10 years. In the meanwhile many fine Merlots and Merlot based blends are being produced both on the west coast and of course all throughout Bordeaux. The trouble with many new world Merlots is that they are too soft and easy, lacking the structural spine of Cabernets and the elegant acidity of Pinot Noirs.
It is always a pleasure to taste a Merlot which is a real wine, not just fermented grape juice. Mary and I recently encountered an example of an excellent Napa Merlot at a trade tasting. This Merlot is from an artisinal, under-the-radar winery called Baxter. Established in 2002 by the father and son team of Philip Baxter Sr. and Jr., their goal is to make wines exclusively from single vineyard sites with vines of sufficient age, to allow fermentation on their own yeasts and to age them in neutral small barrels until ready for bottling. No fining or filtering is ever done. Currently the Baxters produce 2 excellent Pinots from northern sites, 2 Cabernets, a Zinfandel and 1 Merlot from a vineyard called Rodgers in Oakville. The style of the wines is decidedly European with an emphasis on texture, length and classical balance. The Baxters eschew the sweet, lush, juicy style popular with the wine press. This is the 2nd time I have tasted these singular wines and my admiration for them has not diminished.
The 2004 Merlot, just released was aged in 2 and 3 year old barriques for 36 months. Why so long? Because they liked the way the wine was evolving and felt no need to bottle it before their palates told them that it was ready. How old fashioned. I was deeply impressed by the firmness and smoky power of the wine. No fat, plumy sweetness here. This Merlot seems to be more about the vineyard than it is about the grape. The grape as transmission of site and conditions—the very goal of classical winemaking. This is a serious, interesting, engaging Merlot which will convert doubters in but a few sips. Congratulations to the Baxter’s for demonstrating what Merlot can be at its best! Neither inexpensive nor expensive, the 2004 Baxter Rodgers Vineyard Merlot is $32.95. Ask yourself what kind of wine you would get at a restaurant for under $35. Nothing even close to the Baxter Merlot, that is for certain. In my opinion the 2002 Baxter is the equal or better than the vast majority of Merlots retailing for $50-60. Enjoy this Merlot marvel with a roast Rack of Lamb. Or a roast chicken from Bouley (12.95)’s bakery.
29.95 Limited - First come first served.
Does not include local tax or delivery / shipping.
We ship to 48 states.
Please reply with desired quantities and Mary will confirm your order.
Bob Millman
ThoreauWineSociety.com
