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March Harvesting
My father-in-law, Pierre Louis, died on Saturday. He was 84 and in ailing health.
He was a retired engineer who was born in Lyon, but who ran a foundry in Mulhouse for most of his adult life. He had four children with his first wife Alyce, who died in an auto accident in 1963. Their four children were in the the back seat of the car and everyone survived except their mother, who was in the "death seat." The third child is my wife and business partner Denyse Louis.
I'm leaving for France today to attend Pierre Louis' funeral. I'm then off to Italy on April 2nd to attend a series of natural wine tastings in Italy and will be back in New York on April 10th. I will be tasting a lot of great wine but thinking of Pierre Louis, who was born in 1924, who was a young man when Barbie was running Lyon, who raised two families and who was the father of my wife and grandfather of my children. He also had a great toy train collection, was an avid reader, an amateur film maker and loved all industrial engineering feats.
He remarried after his car accident with Alyce and was very happy with his second wife. They had a child together who by sheer coincidence became a close friend of Marcel Richaud in Cairanne. Both Richaud and Lilli, my sister-in-law, love hang gliding.
My father died two Novembers ago and it still is difficult to accept he is gone. He didn't speak French and Pierre Louis didn't speak English. They met several times and respected each other but the language and cultural gap made it difficult to go any further.
Several months ago, my friend André Iché left us and it is so difficult to explain how someone so full of life and so full of energy is no longer in his vineyards.
My father and Pierre Louis left their children and their grandchildren. My two children, two unique and crazy individuals, come from a very unlikely combination and I can only wonder what will become of them. It is great fun having children who speak multiple languages and who grew up internalizing varied cultures. The norm for them was always the exotic for others and they continue to delight, surprise and amaze me. Sam and Pierre can be proud.
At Oupia, there will be a 2008 crop without André. The vines were there before us and will continue after we're gone. Every harvest brings another renewal.
Over the past few years, we have been meeting a new generation of vignerons in France and Italy who are working naturally and trying to bring new focus, new energy and more pleasure to their wines than the generations before them. They are building on the knowledge of les anciennes but going somewhat further. I traveled through the vineyards for over a month in January and February and was excited by the new vignerons we met and have started working with. There is a movement of renewal and innovation that is not going to be stopped.
I'll be in Italy soon to attend a series of natural wine tasting. Today, our company has nearly 20 growers in Italy and we are continuing to find distinctive wines that are crazy, marginal and delicious. The range of grape varieties, vinfications and diversity of the vineyards is so rich in Italy, but the forces of standardization are so strong, pervasive and dominant. But there is resistance being organized and it is with great pride that Louis/Dressner Selections has brought to America some of the best work of the growing Italian natural wine movement. Kevin, Denyse and I have done this in France and we are well on our way in Italy. Someone has to do it!
Nature is stronger than the plans of oenologists, critics and industrialists. There is a continuity and memory of what viticulture once was and what wine could be. Vintages change and in some small way we move forward with optimism, hope and resolve.
My father wanted me to be a lawyer or a politician and Pierre Louis wanted Denyse to be a teacher. We were not prepared, trained or expected to be wine importers. And here we are and sometimes I think how charmed a life it is to help bring those harvests into the hands of American wine lovers.
The 2007s are already beginning to arrive.
Joe Dressner
Real Wine Attack 2008 to Hit America in Mid-April!
That's right.
Nearly 25 Vignerons and Vignaoli will be in Chicago and New York. There will be a trade tasting in Chicago on Monday, April 14th, a trade tasting in New York on Tuesday, April 15th and a series of consumer events for the rest of the week in New York.
The growers will include:
- Matthieu Baudry from Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon
- Pierre Breton from Catherine & Pierre Breton in Bourgueil
- Jean-Paul Brun from Terres Dorées in the Beaujolais
- Nathalie & Christian Chaussard from Domaine le Briseau in Jasnières
- Evelyne de Jessey from Domaine du Closel in Savennières
- Georges Descombes from Morgon
- Claude-Emmanuelle & Louis-Benoit Desvignes from Domaine Louis-Claude Desvignes in Morgon
- Fredrik Filliatreau from Domaine Filliatreau in Saumur-Champigny
- Grégoire Hubau from Château Moulin Pey-Labrie in Canon-Fronsac
- Olivier & Cécile Lemasson from Les Vins Contés in the Touraine
- Jean Manciat from the Mâconnais
- Marc Ollivier from Domaine de la Pépière in Muscadet
- Franck Peillot from Montagnieu in the Bugey
- François & Suzanne Pinon from Vouvray
- Thierry Puzelat from Clos du Tue-Boeuf
- Suzana & Sasa Radikon from Friuli
- Elie Renardat from Domaine Renardat-Fâche in the Bugey
- Luca Roagna from Barbaresco
- Catherine Roussel & Didier Barrouillet from Clos Roche Blanche in the Touraine
- Pascal & Annick Quénard from Chignin in the Savoie
- Michel & Françoise Tête form Juliénas
- Laurence & Eric Texier from the Rhône
- Gautier Thévenet from the Domaine de Roally in Clessé
- Jean-Paul Versino from Domaine Bois de Boursan in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
We'll have more details soon. Stay posted!
The Reverend Al Sharpton is on our Plane to Montreal
Got to run.....
We are about to take off.
Alice Feirings Book Gets a Rave Review in Wine & Spirits Magazine!
That's right!
The book isn't out yet, but Wine & Spirits Editor Josh Greene just gave the book 93 points in the latest issue of his magazine. He must have received an advance copy.
Mr. Greene writes:
revealing a deep expression of wine writing. It feels foresty and cool, with plump black raspberry flavors and exotic spice held firm by dense tannin. The book's structure is what's most apparent now, although with reading those tannins begin to feel luxurious and strong, the plot finely focused and lifted.
Mr. Greene goes on to discuss Alice's frizzy red hair and her personal demons.
The book, whose title is something about Love and Saving the World from Robert Parker, is due out in early April.
Don't Miss the Real Wines Only! (No Spoofulation Please) Class at Astor Center!
Mark your calendar!
Thursday, March 27th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at New York's Astor Center! Call (212) 674-7501 to reserve your spot and ensure your attendance at this event!
I will be giving a class on Real Wines vs. Spoofulation at the new Astor Center conveniently located in the same building as my corporate office. That is, on Lafayette near 4th Street in Manhattan.
I will present a series of real wines and contrast them with horrible fake wines. I will explain what makes real wines real and what makes horrible fake wines horrible. Or something like that.
You will enjoy drinking real wines and find drinking them a profound and pleasurable experience. You will also drink crappy industrial wines and be physically repulsed by their aromatics and taste.
There will be an informative lecture, tasting, questions and answers, and signed copies of Alice Feiring's new book.
Dress is formal, although not black tie. Bloggers are prohibited from attendance as are copyright lawyers.
Don't miss this major event -- it costs less than 5% of the current cost of the 2005 Screaming Eagle!
The informative Astor Center website, Step Right Up to the Astor Center, has a definitive biography of myself:
Joe has a dog Buster, a daughter Alyce and a son Jules. He enjoys bicycling and has an entertaining blog: www.joedressner.com. He is 6' 2" and overweight and lives in the East 50s and St-Gengoux-de-Scissé in Southern Burgundy.
Other parts of the site also mention I have a wife Denyse Louis who is a partner in our company.
The Astor Center website has a description of the class:
Joe Dressner, founder and partner of Louis/Dressner Selections, will lead this emotionally charged class centered on the difference between "real wines" and those of modern industrial production. Joe will show how great work in the vineyards allows the vigneron to rely on nature, rather than "spoofulation."
What is spoofulation, you ask? To Dressner, spoofulation is a form of manipulation which takes wine away from nature and into the technological world of fake extraction, fake aromatics, fake flavors, fake density, fake acidity, fake tannin levels, fake color and fake sugar levels. Basically, spoofulation, for Dressner, is the process that yields fake wines.
Joe presents the argument that the popular notion of what wine tastes like is being ruined by the flood of horrifying industrial products which dominates the market today. Over the course of the class, you will taste through a total of eight wines, two wines each from four different regions: Beaujolais, Muscadet, the Rhône, and the Mâconnais. One of each pair will be from a producer who spoofulates, the other from someone who works naturally. Joe will argue that the natural wine is not only more "politcally correct" but is finally tastier and more satisfying for the consumer. You may not agree with every point in his argument....Dressner not only thinks that spoofulated wines are repulsive, he also thinks they are morally reprehensible! But this is a great opportunity to hear the viewpoint and taste the wines of one of America's leading specialty importers.
The whole evening sounds great and I am planning to bring numerous unannounced wines, including my wine of the year in 2007.
Don't miss this exciting event. I'm planning to attend myself!
My Last Meal in France
I had a bagel with Pastrami on the TGV from Lyon to CDG airport.
Our plane is about to leave. We are flying into a snow storm and they have already warned us about turbulence.
Marathon Tasting Tour of France is Almost Over!
After three weeks of marathon tastings, I am returning to New York tomorrow!
We've found some new and interesting stuff, much of which surprised and delighted me.
More later.....
Maybe.
Louis/Dressner Touring France!
Our three week tour starts in Loire on Saturday.
Kevin McKenna, Denyse Louis and Joe Dressner will be touring viticultural France during much of February.
Our tour starts in the Loire Valley, where we will be joined by about 20 customers and friends of our company. Highlights include the annual Marc Ollivier Muscadethon, this year's new Paulée de la Loire festival, and the 2nd Annual Viti-Valaire International Wine Exposition at L'Herbe Rouge Restaurant in the major town of Valaire. Many people call Valaire: "The Crossroads of Europe."
Valaire Viewed from Chitenay
We then go on to Deauville for the 8th annual Dive Bouteille. Next is the Beaujolais and Mâconnais and then a tour of the Rhône and the Languedoc.
We will be visiting our existing network of growers but are also looking to find next exciting vignerons to add to our portfolio.
During our absence, the organization will be directed by Sheila Doherty, with Eddie Wrinkerman and John Schlesinger working under her command.
Of course, if anything important comes up, feel free to call me on my French cell phone at 06 28 32 41 18. But please remember it is 6 hours later in France than on the East Coast and 9 hours later than in Fresno, California.
More to come....
A Night of Terror!
I had to eat dinner last week at a restaurant which had won a Wine Spectator Award for Excellence!
The Award for Excellence is your guarantee:
- The restaurant will have lots of smart-looking diners wearing lots of clothing that was recently sent to their dry cleaners
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The dishes will be terribly complicated and you will feel a sense of inadequacy when you read the menu and have absolutely no idea what you will be putting into your mouth.
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There is an army of personnel to set-up, clean, serve, deserve and take care of you.
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They will ask you if you have any questions before taking your order.
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They will stop at your table during the meal and ask how things are going, as if you are performing brain surgery.
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They will call your main dish an entrée, even though everyone knows that the word entrée is the beginning of a meal, not the main course.
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Each dish will be a battleground of different flavors, spices and preparations tending on the sweet side.
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There are lots of "cool" cocktails....cocktails are in fashion these days.
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There will be a voluminous wine list which doesn't necessary work with the restaurant's cuisine, but which has all the key recognizable names that get written about in the The Wine Press.
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Grower Champagnes Rock....as do DP and several other of the Grandes Marques
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The California list has at least one Marcassin even though the sommelier can't stand the wine
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There is also a Bryant Family, Aruajo and Colgin, again wines the sommelier wouldn't be caught dead drinking
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Lastly, as night follows day, the dessert wine list always includes a Muscat de Beaumes des Venise from Domaine Durban!
In contrast, eating delicious pork preparations at Rue Cler in North Carolina ten days ago was a truly refreshing and delicious experience. I walked around the restaurant and could not find a single person wearing dry cleaned clothing. In North Carolina, they still use water.
And, I can't wait to get to France and eat some bécasses at The First Annual Louis/Dressner Paulée des Vins de Loire to be held at the mysterious Site de la Cantrie in St Fiacre.
My fear of mass dry cleaning and Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence has dramatically increased my debt to Zipcar, as I find that I am irresistibly drawn to Brooklyn when I want to dine out.
Despite the evening's terror, we dined with a charming young couple who are fleeing New York to move to Portland, Oregon. They hope to live as eternal graduate students under the fertile Wilamette Valley soil. They are disgusted by how New York has turned out. We had a great time with them and are sorry they are leaving our grand city.
Louis/Dressner Loire Valley Tour Beginning in Muscadet on Saturday, February 2nd
Our 34th annual tour will begin soon and will launch in the Muscadet.
Saturday is the annual Muscadethon at Marc Ollivier, featuring vintages back to 1921!
Sunday morning is an early morning tasting at Luneau-Papin followed by a clandestine luncheon featuring Bécasses!
Stay tuned for more late-breaking details.
Vast Quantities of Pork Consumed as Very Very Serious Italian Real Wine Attack Conquers North Carolina and Ends
It has been nine days of hectic tastings but the Attack is finally over.
It was a very very serious nine days.
There was an insane amount of enthusiasm across the country. Many of our customers know real French wine, but putting together so many natural Italian wines in one tasting was something new for many wine lovers around the country.
Below are some highlights:
Chambers Street Packed With Italian Real Wine Fans!
They came from as far away as Red Hook and West 86th Street!
The Italian Real Wine Attack continues to pick up steam. Tomorrow we head to Durham, North Carolina for the exciting finale on Sunday night and Monday afternoon.
I've already received word on Saturday night that: the pork bellies are braising.
147 Slocum Salespeople and 36 Clients Attend New Haven Tasting!
Highlights included the French buffet.
Italian Real Wine Attack in Boston!
The trade tasting starts at 11 am and will be followed by a ceremonial burning of a rotofermenter.
Tonight, is the annual Italian Jeebus at Joe Perry's home. Don't miss it!
New York City Italian Real Wine Attack Tasting a Big Success!
47% of the participants had retail stores or restaurants in Brooklyn.
The highlight of the day was the ceremonial "Dunk the Spoofer'' in new oak barrels competition.
Northwest Italian Real Wine Attack a Giant Success!
The Seattle City Council declared Monday Luca Roagna Day and the Portland City Assembly made Tuesday Arianna Occhipinti Day!
There were various civic festiviities and huge crowds at several trade and consumer events.
Tonight, we are taking the red-eye flight into New York City for tomoroow's tasting at noon sharp at Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum.
See you then!
Italian Real Wine Attack Begins January 14th!!
Veni, Vini, Vici 2008 will Span Seattle to Portland to New York to Boston to New Haven to North Carolina!
Meet and taste the wines of 7 natural winemakers from different regions of Italy.
They all work organically and/or biodynamically, they use little or no sulphur, use only natural yeasts, no enzymes, no rotofermentors, no fancy consultants and they make delicious wines.
These winemakers will be presenting new vintages of their extraordinary natural wines along with other Italian Wines from Louis/Dressner Selections.
The vignaioli are:
- Arianna Occhipinti is from the Vittoria region of Southern Sicily. She has been making wine for ten years, but will present her 3rd vintage of Frappato and Nero d’Avola from the 2006 vintage.
- Stefano Bellotti is owner/winemaker of Cascina degli Ulivi in Piedmont. He has been biodynamic organically farming his vineyards since 1983 and has been an influence to many new young winemakers. He will present his Gavi, Dolcetto, Barbera wines.
- Alessandra Bera and her brother Gianluigi are winemakers in the heart of the Asti hills in Piedmont where they produce Moscato through a process that is pure and historic. She will also pour their Barberas and Dolcettos.
- Luca Roagna is the newest generation of the Roagna family to carry on the traditional Barolo winemaking practices that have made their estate famous in Barbaresco and Barolo. He will have a lot of wines to pour and a few more things to say.
Portland Trade Tasting, Tuesday, January 15th from 12:00 to 3:00 pm
Call Triage for information at 503.236.6262
- Nadia Verrua is now in charge of winemaking on her family estate, Cascina ‘Tavijn. While her mother and father tend the vineyards, Nadia makes the wine, does the cellar work and runs the day-to-day business of this winemaking farm in the Astigiano hills of Piedmont where forgotten grapes like Ruché and Grignolino excel.
- Mauro Vergano spent many years making limited amounts of Chinati as a passion to give to like-minded friends while he kept his day job. A trained chemist and enologist, he first learned to make Chinati from a pharmacist relative. A few years ago, he decided to give more time to his passion and create these unique and delicious homebrew tonics.
- Silvio Messana makes Chianti Classico and other red wines in the hills outside of Florence where his father planted grapes in the 1970’s. For many years, the grapes were sold to other winemaking companies. Silvio began to vinify and bottle wines from his own grapes in 2000, all the while searching for ways to work naturally in the vineyards and in the cellar.
Seattle Trade Tasting, Monday, January 14th from 12:00 to 3:00 pm
Contract Triage Wines at 206.883.0543 for information
Portland Trade Tasting, Tuesday, January 15th from 12:00 to 3:00 pm
Call Triage for information at 503.236.6262
Portland Consumer Tasting at Liner & Elsen, Tuesday, January 15th from 6:00 to 7:30 pm
2222 NW 22nd St (corner Quimby St) tel: 503.241.9463
New York City Trade Tasting, Wednesday, January 16th from 12 to 4 pm
Contact Louis/Dressner Selections at 212.334.8191
Boston Trade Tasting, Thursday, January 17th from 11 am to 3 pm
Contact Carolina Wines at 781.278.2000
New Haven Trade Tasting, Friday, January 18th from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Contact Slocum and Sons at 203.668.3148
New York Consumer Tasting, Saturday, January 19th, From 4 to 7 pm
Chambers Street Wines
160 Chambers Street, Phone 212.227.1434
Durham, North Carolina Trade Tasting, Monday, January 21st from 11 am to 4 pm
Contact Centerba at 919.598.7151
Happy New Year
I have been absent from this space for a few weeks. I travelled through Albania, was busy watching Twilight Zone marathons and was often drunk in a failed quest to find a Bourbon or Rye which doesn't stink of heavily charred new oak.
2007 was a bad year for me and I expect 2008 to be even worse.
Happy New Year to All of You!
My good friend and mentor André Iché from the Minervois died in late November. A year earlier my father had died and the loss of André and Sam are great losses for me. The appreciation of André which was on this site has now moved to the official and legitimate Louis/Dressner site.
On a brighter side, Christian Chaussard is coming to New York and I had lunch with Lyle Fass today!