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Do Not Use GPS in Montpellier
Our GPS kept sending us to Narbonne last night.
What a disaster!
I learned today that it is a well known fact that all GPS systems go haywire here.
Great New Wine Bar Opens in Cairanne!
Don't miss Le Tourne au Verre the next time you are cruising through the Dentelles.
Conveniently located in downtown Cairanne, I ate a delicious lunch here at a reasonable price and there was a deep list of wines which actually were interested.
So many viticultural areas are filled with such terrible restaurants and it is a great pleasure to see this new venture packing them in during lunch hour and dinner.
Don't miss it. Call them at 04 90 30 72 18 and tell them that Joe Dressner, the wine importer, sent you!
Returning to New York for Saturday Tasting at Chambers Street!
I was going to stay the next two weeks in my room overlooking the Lac de Salagou near the Mas des Chimeres, but then I heard about this Saturday's tasting at Chambers Street Wine somewhere in downtown Manhattan.
What a great line-up they're going to be showing:
Whites
Luneau-Papin Clos des Alles 2005 Muscadet
Tue-Boeuf Buisson Pouilleux 2005
Tue-Boeuf Brin de Chevre 2005
Domaine de Roally Viré Clessé 2004
Barth Muscat 2005
Barth Riesling Rebgarten 2005
Reds
Cascina ‘Tavijn Grignolino d’Asti 2005
Franco Noussan Mayolet 2005
Terres Dorées Morgon 2005
Thierry Puzelat KO In Cot We Trust 2005
Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2004
Dard & Ribo St Joseph Rouge 2004
I not missing this tasting and have rescheduled my flights to attend and pour. See you there!
Attached is your delivery for Thursday..
Jean-Paul Brun Declared a Benefactor of Humanity and a National Treasure in La Revue du Vin de France!
I arrived here two days ago at the same time the mailman delivered the latest issue of La Revue du Vin de France.
This issue has an article by the famous writer, Gerard Oberle (whose name has accents which I can't produce on my cell phone, where I'm writing this blog) which details his view of wine, society, life and Robert Mitchum.
M. Oberle declares in this article: "The vignerons like Didier Dagueneau, Henri-Jayer or Jean-Paul Brun are benefactors of humanity and national treasures."
Putain!
Travelling and Sick!
Help!
I've been sick since being poisoned at a restaurant in Charnay-les-Macon on St-Valentines Day.
I am currently being fined $50.00 a day. I'm in the Beaujolais today and off to Dard & Ribo this morning. Tomorrow Cairanne, then Chateauneuf. Then the Languedoc and a plane back to New York on Thursday morning.
The Dives Bouteilles was smashing as was Viti Valaire Expo Mondial. I've been too ill and too busy to write more but hope to get more details on the blog when I fly back on Thursday.
Southern Wine & Spirits Acquires the Touraine and VOS Selections
All of viticultural France is abuzz over the latest moves by Southern Wine & Spirits.
Jacky Preys, the spiritual and quality leader in Touraine was quoted as saying: Ca fait du bien!
Who will be next?
In Line Waiting for Lunch at the Dives Bouteilles in Le Havre
Standing with me is a grumpy David Lillie (he says he should have eaten two hours ago), an angry Alice Feiring (no vegetarian fare) and the always charming Shawn Mead of LDM West.
Valaire Today!
More than 30 and less than 50 Americans are converging on the bustling town of Valaire (hidden in the Touraine) today for a memorable day featuring more than 10 and less than 20 vignerons from all over France, Italy and Portugal.
It has something to deal with Real Wine.
More later.
Real Wine Road Rage Highlights
It is always great to get out of a salon, on the road, into the vines and into the cellars. Somehow, all these salons reduce wine to product, it is as if you are buying used cars or widgets, as you are surrounded by 100s of booths and 100s of vignerons wearing ill-fitting tweed jackets to make them look fit for international export.
So, we took off Wednesday and dove into the Clos Rougeard cellar, where parts of the cellar and much of the vines date to the early 17th century. Those vintages are sold out and they have had to replant since.
This estate believes in long elevages and the 2003 are first coming into the market. So we tasted through a range of hot vintages....2003, 1997 and 1990 to get an idea of the possible development of these wines. The Foucault brothers have vines which have been ploughed and worked for a few centuries and they, like many of the other best growers, did not have the problems of stress and low yields that many of their neighbors had in 2003. Taste the 1997s now, or the 1990s and you see where these 2003s will go. There is material and generosity, and although acidity is technically lower, there is still the backbone for these wines to last. Maybe not 70 years, but they will certainly age well over the next 34 years.
Then we were off Wednesday night to the Clos du Tue Boeuf to eat the same menu served at the harvester's meal featured this past October in the New York Times. A delicious boeuf bourguignon, a great range of local goat cheeses, and a beautiful range of magnums from the estate's wine library. I've never seen their wine library, but I only hear great things about the collection.
The evening's highlight was when three sheep broke into the dining room and ate the crumbs gathered on the floor under Bay Area restaurateur John Mark. The French countryside is a fascinating place.
Next day, up nice and early for a morning tasting at Tue Boeuf. Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat guided us through the range of 2005s available in bottle and the 2006s which will be bottled over the next few months. There is a range of crazy grape varieties and vineyard sites which make unique, tasty and natural wines. These are wines to slurp and for celebration. From there we went across the street to Thierry's negociant business, where his team does the hand harvesting in the plots he vinifies. Great stuff, great cot, great menu pineau, great pineau d'aunis.
Thierry Puzelat and Didier Barouillet have helped lead a renaissance in this area and every year there seems to be a new hipster vigneron in the Touraine and Cheverny. So, next we were off to the Clos Roche Blanche to taste with Didier Baroillet and Catherine Roussel. The 2006 whites have both high acidity and high alcohol, and Didier said he has never seen a vintage like this before. They are wines which will keep and just the right balance to age beautifully.
The reds are lower in acidity and at normal alcohol and you want to put a straw in the glass and take them down in one long sip. They may not be long agers but they will provide great immediate pleasure.
We ended the day by eating at a local ferme auberge which will soon be featured in Food and Wine Magazine.
It's Been So Busy I've Had No Time to Blog
I'll try to catch up later.
We just finished roasting a whole goat and are just now sitting down for dinner at a goat farm near Clos Roche Blanche.
Joe Dougherty on Way to Paris from Clos Rougeard
Not only that, they're changing the name to Clos Rougeardland and building a souvenir shop!
The GPS is Taking Us to the Clos Rougeard
We should be there in 12 minutes!
I hope the Belgian Importer with the big Mercedes is also there, like he was last year.
Angers Wine Fair Officially Over as Mike Wheeler is Pushed out the Salon Door by Alphonse Mellot
I didn't understand exactly what they were fighting about, but it had something to do with Wheeler having burnt down Catherine and Pierre Breton's kitchen.
The good news today is that Josefa Concannon seems to be in bettet health today after tripping over Millie, the black labradour who ferociously guards the entrance at the Chateau des Vaults.
Congratulations to Olif the Blogger!
The First International Blogging Award was held at the Angers Wine Fair yesterday and the predicatable winner was Olif the Blogger, the famed Jura wine lover and gynecologist from Franche-Comté.
I was shocked to learn that Olif's name is not Olif but is actually Olivier Grosjean.
The runner-up was New York's own Peter Nolis, for his blog Wine and Tapestries -- Terroir and Art Throughtout the Ages.
Tips for Attending International Wine Shows
Most attendees here in Angers take Ambien every night. Personally, I like this drug, but have suffered neurological bouts since taking this miracle drug. On the advise of my neurologist, Dr. Harold Flazenlogel of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, I now take Tylenol PM and it works like a charm. Furthermore, I have saved significant money by buying the Duane Reade generic version.
The other key thing is to pack lightly. To do so, you need to do hand laundrys in your hotel room. The problem is that your laundry then has to dry and there is no place to hang the stuff.
I've solved this problem by buying an elastic clothes line through www.magellan.com which gives me a good seven feet of hanging space in Angers' glamorous Hotel Mercure Lac de Maine. They accept laundry here, at an exhoritant rate, but clearly state on the laundry price sheet, in boldface, that socks and underwear are forbidden.
You also need woolite and hangers for the clothing. Finding hangers is also a problem because hotels these days have hangers in their closets which detach at the hook as a theft deterrent. I get around this by buying inflatable plastic hangers which are also available at magellens. In France, they call these type of hangers "poupé gonflable." There are several shady looking shops in the center of Angers selling these useful items.
Where did I learn all these travelling tips? Check out www.onebag.com for a comprehensive list of travelling tips.
Some Tips About the 2006 Vintage in the Loire
John Mark and the other 34 members of our group have tasted a range of delicious 2006s, a vintage I find very reminiscent of 2004.
Everytime you taste great wines here in Angers, you hear the same story. They had to pick quickly, hire extra harvesters and do a trie in their vineyards to eliminate rot. If they did that, they brought out sanitary and ripe grapes.
The key to this vintage was to hand harvest, to do so quickly and intelligently and with selectivity. Those who machine harvested had to clean up the wines and chemically eliminate rot by using charcoal and other additives which not only eliminate rot but which also eliminate the wine's material as well.
Nathan Vandergrift Ate a Fabulous Dinner Tonight at Chateau des Vaults
As well as 31 other Americans and 12 vegetarian Finnish journalists. Isaure de Pontbriand made an incredible dinner.
Simultaneously, I am under pressure from her mother, Evelyne de Jessy de Pontbriand to switch my blog to Typepad so she can have an RSS feed.
In other highlights of the day, Linus Kessler sighted Seattle's Garagiste at Madame Laroche's stand and I spotted the legendary Leo Fox at the Prestigious Club for Foreign Visitors at the Salon.
My Cell Phone Blew Up in My Pocket While I Was Tasting Fie Gris With Jacky Preys!
Happily, I was not injured but I had to run to my hotel to get a clean shirt.