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Florida Jim Rocks!
I've never met the gentleman, but many cognescenti consider Florida Jim the penultimate internet wine guy. A top review from Florida Jim can catapult a producer to startdom, as did Florida Jim's review of Eric Texier's 1999 Côte Rotie. Florida Jim seems to be a dedicated wine nut who has stayed above the various fights that go on at all the various internet wine sites and everyone respects his judgement, even when they disagree with a particular tasting evaluation.
Today, I was handed a copy of Florida Jim's tasting note on the 2000 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet from Brad Harrington's West Coast Wine Net. Mr. Jim's tasting note reads:
The primary elements of this wine, on both the nose and palate, are rainwater, lemon oil, grapefruit, mineral, and white pepper with secondary elements of custard, herb and pineapple. It is light bodied and almost weightless on the palate but very well concentrated, intense and exhibits lively acids. Perhaps, most remarkable is its ripeness; very few Muscadet that I have tasted have come close to this level of ripeness. It is also integrated and texturally smooth; has a flavor profile that shows both depth and breadth of palate, is clearly of the earth and its place, and, has exceptional length. When allowed to warm close to room temperature, it is one of the finest white wines I have ever had. Delivered to my door, it costs slightly less than $9 a bottle (by the case).
It is presently available at Chambers Street Wines in NY (212-227-1434) and my case will be gone very shortly. Importer is Louis/Dressner Wines.
Being aware that there is entirely too much hyperbole involved in the description of wine, let me say that, if I was afforded but one white wine to drink day in and day out, this would be it. Ready now but will last. Crisp and clean.
This is not only great Muscadet, this is great wine.
My highest recommendation.
Best, Jim
Thank you Florida Jim, on behalf of Marc Olliver (Domaine de la Pépière) and Joe Dressner (Louis/Dressner Selections).
The Entire Wine Industry is Waiting for The Mail to Arrive!
It happens every two months.
We may not like him, but the entire industry is dependent on his wine reviews. What scores well, will sell well. Money will be made and lost depending on what is written in the current issue.
At Louis/Dressner, we have a special FedEx subscription rate which allows us to see the private newsletter before everyone else in the trade gets their copy. That is, everyone else in the trade who does not have a special FedEx subscription.
The magazine is here in my hands. A huge section on the Rhône. Every importer and every distributor who gets good scores will be sending out faxes and e-mails galore. Retailers will do the same. The Three-Tier Schnook System (see my article by clicking on the link at the top of this page) System will be in full splendor.
The issue also has the top ten list of the year's wines. Since I have been running a lot of lists here, it seems only fair to run his list:
===========================================================================
10) 2000 Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive
This could be higher in the list, but for perenniality
9) 2000 Mâcon-Montbellet, Domaine de Roally
Unexpectedly nudging out its sister the 2000 Mâcon-Villages
8) 2001 Beaujolais Nouveau l’Ancien Vieilles Vignes, Terre Dorées
Unheard of - an unconscious wine
7) 2000 Touraine “Brin de Chevre” Menu Pineau, Clos du Tue Boeuf
Somehow surpassing the stupendous 1999
6) 2000 Beaujolais Chardonnay (black stripe), Terres Dorées
Jean Thevenet take note
5) 2000 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords VV, Domaine de la Pepière
They say it is not ready yet. They are right.
4) 1999 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords VV, Domaine de la Pepière
This the subversive entry.
3) 2000 Quinta da Pellada Dão Touriga Naçional (100%)
Paraphrasing Descartes in the Replies: study a glass of this for the next six months.
2) 2000 Touraine Le Buisson Pouilleux, Clos du Tue Boeuf
Didier Dageneau is now asking Pierre Overnoy for advice on how to get signed on for a stage with les Puzelats.
1) 2000 Touraine La Tesnière Pineau d’Aunis, Thierry Puzelat
Here's what: At the start of the year, back when the scene was set for a Pineau d'Aunis-Menu Pineau dialectic, I had the rare opportunity to taste a wine that was hors-memoire. I made this note (forgive me for quoting myself):
"First was a rosé from 1911. There was no label, but it had been marked rosé, the cork was stamped with the year. The bottle was clear, hand-made (not symmetrical) and had the deepest punt I've ever seen.
We guessed the wine was Côt because of its deep cherry core. It had a sense of sweetness to it, and probably a touch of residual sugar, I suppose it was a demi-sec. The colour was deep garnet red, which apparently is what happens to a rosé with 90 years of age – or at least this one. Later, with air it took on some orange tones at the edges. Also with air the wine came stunningly alive. It was not perfect balance so much as purity that kept this wine intact for so long."
Now that I have tasted La Tesnière Pineau d’Aunis I know what this wine from 1911 was. Yes, Pineau d'Aunis, and maybe even from La Tesnière, but if not, then certainly very close by.
===========================================================================
Comprehensive notes from a comprehensive source.
All our thanks to Jeff Connell and the The Jeff Connell Quarterly
Wine Review and Agricultural Digest (TJCQWRAD) for the interesting text and observations.
Don't Miss the Louis/Dressner Hospitality Suite at the Beverage Retailer Show!
All you retailers out there.....
Mark this on your calender.....
March 3rd through March 6th....
Remember, don't miss the Louis/Dressner hospitality suite in Room 609 of the Bellagio Hotel!
Viva Las Vegas!
Pictured above are industry leaders Joe Dressner and Denyse Louis
Extensive Tasting Notes from Eric Texier on his 1999 Hermitage!
Just received an important e-mail transmission from Eric Texier about his 1999 Hermitage:
"I did my final assemblage of Hermitage : gooood."
Seattle Wine Personality's Top 10 Louis/Dressner List
This person is a household name on the Seattle Wine Scene, but has requested anonymity.
1. Thierry Puzelat 2000 Pineau d'Aunis La Tesniere
2. Breton Bourgueil Perrieres 1999
3. Francois Pinon Vouvray Premier Trie 1996
4. Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet "Cuvee Buster" 1997
5. Eric Texier Brezeme 1999
6. Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Mont Damnes 1999
7. Clos Roche Blanche Gamay 2000
8. Terre Dorees Beaujolais Nouveau Vieilles Vignes 2001
9. Marechal Savigny-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes 1999
10. Chateau d'Oupia "Les Heretique" 2000
Yet Another Top 10 Louis/Dressner List Submitted by Yet Another One of America's Most Famous Wine Journalists
Yes, the writer requested anonymity. But here is the list, which the writer told me was in no particular order:
Domaine des Terre Dorees L'anciene VV 2000
Thierry Puzelat La Tesniere Pineau d’Aunis 2000
Eric Texier Seguret 2000
Domaine Viret St. Maurice Maretois
Pierre Breton Bourgueil: les Perrieres
Clos Rougeard Saumur Champigny Clos 1998
Mas des Chimere 1999
Quinta de Pellada Touriga Nacional 2000
Clos de la Tue Boeuf la Buisson Pouilleux 2000
Domaine de Roally Mâcon-Village 2000
There is a pattern developing between all these lists.
The most important one is the rise of the Puzelat boys -- Thierry and Jean-Marie are on everyone's list. Both the Tue Boeuf estate and Thierry's new négoce business.
We started working with the two of them for the 1998 vintage. It was a short vintage where they had frost. 1999 was a horrible vintage with lots of rain. 2000 was a decent vintage and we are blessed with a range of terrific wines. All the micro-vinifications of tiny terroir, forgotten cépages, and all the refusals of the Touraine and Cheverny syndicates to give them the AOC have paid off this year.
All our thanks to the Puzelat.
Top 10 Louis/Dressner List Submitted by Florida Tasting Group
While I am always suspicious of group wine judgements, we did receive the following submission from a tasting group in Southeast Florida:
1. Domaine de Roally Mâcon-Village 2000
2. Mas des Chimères Côteaux-du-languedoc 1999
3. Thierry Puzelat Pineau d’Aunis la Tesnière 2000
4. Domaine des Terres Dorées Beaujolais Blanc 2nd Bottling 2000
5. Quinta da Pellada Touriga Nacional 1999
6. Pierre et Catherine Breton Bourgueil Trinch! 2000
7. Eric Texier Brézème 1999
8. Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet 2000
9. Château d’Oupia VDP Hérétiques 2000
10. François Chidaine Montlouis Clos de Breuil 2000
The tasting was held last week at the Trianon Bonita Bay Restaurant in Bonita Bay, Florida. This restaurant is affiliated with the Internation Chaine des Rôtisseurs, a prestigious organization of culinary and wine lovers.
The tasting group was kind enough to post a virtual tour of the Louis/Dressner tasting on the internet. Click here to go to the link, then scroll down to the graphic of the Louis/Dressner Top 10 Vote
Below, are some of the participants hard at work:
Many professionals, and long-time tasters, agree with the old Jules Chauvet dictum that all the best tastings are conducted outdoors.
Top 10 Louis/Dressner List from a Wine Connoisseur in Milwaukee, Wisconson
A Milwaukee reader, asking anonymity, has sent in the following list:
1. Pierre Breton Bourgueil Perrières 1999
2. Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet 2000
3. Eric Texier Côte Rotie 1999
4. Pierre Breton Bourgueil Trinch! 2000
5. Quinta de Pellada Touriga Nacional 2000
6. Clos de Tue Boeuf Sauvignon VV Buisson Poilleux 2000
7. Clos Roche Blanche Côt 1999
8. Eric Texier CDR Seguret 2000
9. Mas des Chimères Coteaux-du-Languedoc 1999
10. Les Hérétiques 2000
Though the reader requested that I not print his name, he is a well-known Milwaukee collector and active in La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.
The Most Beautiful Baby of the Year 2001
The verdict is in.
Mason Polaner.
Son of Doug Polaner and Tina Fischer.
Doug and Tina are two of the three principal owners of Douglas Polaner Selections, a wine distributor in New York and New Jersey.
We have reserved 18 Jeroboams of Hérétiques for the lucky lad to enjoy on his 18th birthday.
Three Months
Parents of young children mark the passing of time first by weeks then by months. Anniversary milestones are noted and celebrated at three weeks, two months, two and one-half months and numerous other small milestones. As the child gets older and being a parent becomes more familiar, we mark the time in years and the years eventually blur into each other and we wonder how and when the child becomes an adult.
It is three months since the attack on the World Trade Center. Working everyday in downtown Manhattan, it is hard to accept that it is only three months. The downtown that was so dynamic and so explosive before September 11th is tentatively back, at least above Canal Street. But go below Canal Street and the city is still a ghost town with decontamination trucks regularly spraying the streets and the stench of destruction still in the air, following the direction of the day’s wind.
The biggest physical change in downtown New York is all the sun. There is sun everywhere at odd times of the day. Rays of intense sun that no one can recall seeing before. On the Thursday after the attacks, I walked around Nolita, where I work, and called my wife to tell her how there was an unnatural sun, a post-nuclear sun. My wife told me to come home uptown.
The most unusual time of the day is sunset. Before September 11th, the sun was blocked all over downtown by the long shadow of the Twin Towers. There are now delightful rays hitting all the sidestreets near my office, brightening streets that were dark every afternoon– Mercer, Wooster, Greene, West Broadway and to the east Mott, Elizabeth and Mulberry. My desk faces the sole skyscraper in Queens, the Citicorp Center, which was lit like a lightbulb, bathing in sun, last Thursday at 4:00 pm. I look out at this building every afternoon and it has never been so bright and so alive.
Three months have gone by, there are thousands of people dead, there is sun everywhere and time is still measured in months, weeks and days.
New Cosmic Wine Brand Sweeps Nation!
The latest issue of the Beverage Buyer Industry reports that Louis/Dressner's new Cosmic wine, Les Hérétiques, is now one of the best selling brands in America.
It was only five months ago that a sample of this wine was left in front of our office in New York's Soho. We tasted the wine, embraced the concept, and went to market. Our efforts have been supported by the overwhelming response of the wine industry and the public.
We have no idea what is in this wine or how it is made.
The wine retails for about $5.99 but expect dramatic price increases soon.
We expect Les Hérétiques to be the first wine in a series of Cosmic offerings over the next few months.
The Wine Importer's Site is Now Googled!
I don't know how, but this site is now thorougly indexed on the major search engines!
Last night, out of sheer narcissism, I did a search on Google for Dressner and Shaving. Actually, I did this search because I am bored with my current shaving implements and am considering buying a Panasonic Wet/Dry Shaver. Long time readers may recall that shaving myself is one of my major obsessions in life. Somewhere in this web site, is a reference to a web site with excellent shaving recommendations and I decided to use Google to find the the page on this site.
It worked.
This means that every ridiculous thing I write here is now accessible to everyone with a web connection. I went to a web café recently, that was right below Machhu Pichhu in Peru. So, hypothetically, a Peruvian Indian could now go to the same internet cafe and read my thoughts about Pineau d'Aunis and Menu Pineau.
Tora Bora.
Having written the above line, you can now do a web search on Tora Bora and Pineau d'Aunis and Shaving and come up with this web site.
Knowledge is power!
Boston Retailer's Top 10 List of This Year's Louis/Dressner Selections' Imports
Of course, the Top 10 List of This Year's Louis/Dressner Selections' Imports has nothing to do with the Top 100 List (see below)
The Boston retailer has asked that his store and name remain anonymous, I found this a thoughtful selection.
10. Pineau d'Aunis Tesniere
9. 2000 Vouvray Tradition Francois Pinon
8. 2000 Pineau d'Aunis Rose Montrieux
7. 1998 Mas des Chimeres
6. 2000 Fleurie Roilette
5. 2000 Beaujolais L'Ancien Brun
4. 1999 Bourgeuil Senechal Breton
3. 1997 Muscadet Buster Pepiere
2. 2000 Muscadet Pepiere
1. 2000 Muscadet Clos des Briords
What do you think?
Is it possible that Marc Ollivier will sweep the top three spots?
9 Louis/Dressner Wines Among the Top 100!
Last year we only had six.
Of course, all these wines are unavailable, having been sold out months ago.
Thierry Puzelat La Tesnière Ménu Pineau Arrives in Edison, New Jersey
You've thrilled to Thierry's La Tesnière Pineau d'Aunis 2000. Now, its natural complement, the La Tesnière Ménu Pineau 2000 has arrived in the Louis/Dressner temperature-controlled warehouse.
It's a white wine.
You'll recall that La Tesnière is a vineyard in the Touraine that is run under biodynamie.
That Thierry Puzelat is Jean-Marie Puzelat's brother.
That Thierry and Jean-Marie collectively own the Clos du Tue Boeuf.
Jean-Marie is a bachelor and does not want to expand.
Thierry has kids and needs to generate more income, even though he lives modestly.
So Thierry started a négociant business on the side to make a little extra money.
And beyond a doubt, Thierry is one of the most talented winemakers in the Loire valley.
Combine this with the superb raw material he is buying from the La Tesnière vineyard and you have something special.
Or some other banal cliché like that.
This La Tesnière vineyard, you'll recall, is right by the Clos Roche Blanche.
In fact, the owner is a childhood friend of the charming Catherine Roussel.
You'll also recall that I have been saying for some time now that Vintage 2000 was the year of the Pineau d'Aunis and Ménu Pineau.
And now this wine has arrived. It might even give the superb Clos du Tue Boeuf Brin de Chèvre Ménu Pineau a run for the money.
Maybe.
Because the Brin de Chèvre is one classy bottle of wine.
Number 37 on the Top 100 list that just came out of Park Avenue South.
But, like every other wine on the Top 100 list, there is none to be found.
Zombies walk through retail aisles all over the country trying to track down a Top 100 wine to no avail.
But the La Tesnière has just arrived.
Too late for the Top 100 competition of 2001, but certainly eligible for the Top 100 competition of 2002.
Make sure to get some.
Joe Dressner Appointed Louis/Dressner Selections Employee of the Month!
This is the first time I have won this honor and frankly I'm thrilled.
It had something to do with a mega-sale I did today involving expensive wine from a prestigious AOC. What made this sale most incredible was that Louis/Dressner Selections does not have a single producer who makes wine in this appellation. Yet the sale was not fradulent and the wine will be from that famous appellation and will make for some terrific drinking.
Go figure.
Nice Internet Article About Domaine Viret
Boston journalist Thor Iverson has written a nice article about Domaine Viret and Cosmoculture on Robin Garr's Wine Board. By the way, I have received several inquires about where to buy the wines and they can be purchased at Chambers Street Wines in New York. While I condemn interstate shipping of wines, this store apparently does exactly that. So someone in California can buy a few bottles of Viret at The Chambers Street Wines Internet Site
More importantly, Mr. Iverson's excellent article can be found at Wine Lover's Cosmoculture Page
It is encouraging to see a journalist abandon wise-guy cynicism and to be open to phenomenon he can't explain or understand or fully accept. I just came back from Peru and know the feeling.
Time for the 4th Annual Joe Dressner's Top Ten Louis/Dressner Selections' Wines of the Year
Once again it is that time. Who will be the lucky winner?
Please send all your suggestions by e-mail to me. There will probably be a public ceremony in mid-December, so keep watching this space.