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Results of Touraine Cult Wine Contest
There was spirited discussion and voting at the Chambers Street Wines tasting on Saturday to determine the Cult Touraine Wine of the Year. The category was expanded by the judges at the last minute to include the Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2003 and the Thierry Puzelat Sauvignon Blanc 2003.
One word of caution: the wines were just shipped to America and only recently bottled. It will be interesting to see how the wines develop.
The results:
54 ballots were recorded:
Touraine Sauvignon Blanc
15 for Clos Roche Blanche
21 for Thierry Puzelat
18 considered the two wines of equal quality
Touraine Gamay
18 for Clos Roche Blanche
35 for Thierry Puzelat
One write-in for Henri Marionnet
2 ballots were eliminated due to illegible markings. One attendee attempted to vote twice and both of his ballots were eliminated.
We'd like to thank everyone for participating in this scientific and spirited event.
The Mâconnais Welcomes Clive Coates!
As a home owner in the Mâconnais, I was delighted to learn that eminent wine critic Clive Coates has bought a home in the region.
The New Yorker reports in the current issue:
"After more than four decades of driving around the winemaking regions of the world in rented cars, stopping in at little farmhouses and grand châteaus, and often tasting wine “from eight in the morning to eight at night,” Coates is winding down. He now plans to focus almost exclusively on French wines. He has just moved from London to a village in the hills of the Mâconnais called, fittingly, Saint-Bonnet-de-Vielle-Vigne, where he has bought a small house with a view of river and forest. “I don’t see myself leaving this place except stiff and flat in a box,” Coates said, pulling the cork on the Riesling and pouring a glass.
Frankly, I've never heard of this village, although I have heard of St-Bonnet-de-Joux, which is not really in the Mâconnais but more in the Clunisois (near the ancient city of Cluny). I suppose, if you wanted to be generous you might say that St-Bonnet-de-Joux is in the Mâconnais, but it would be a stretch. This is a nice small village with a very pretty Romanesque church. Of course, every village in the area has a nice Romanesque church except the one where I live. Although we do not have a nice Romanesque church we are smack dab in the Mâconnais. Not a pretender.
Because, having consulted the Michelin Map, Mr. Coates' Saint-Bonnet-de-Vieille-Vigne is not even in the Clunisois, let alone the Mâconnais. The village is in the Charollais, a very pretty area famous for its white cows and pastures. Mr. Coates' village is equidistant to Paray-le-Monial (a beautiful town that is home to right-wing Catholic fundamentalists) and the city of Charolles. If you draw a straight line between St-Bonnet-de-Vieille-Vigne in the North to Paray-le-Monial and then to Charollais you would see the Bermuda Triangle of Southern Burgundy.
I can only wish Mr. Coates better luck that those who preceeded him into this area.
Maybe there is an anecdotal, vestigial old vine in the village, but there have not been vineyards in this part of the Charollais region since before the phylloxera.
I'm surprised that the New Yorker, which is so famous for its fact-checking, would make such an obvious error. I am even further surprised that a Master of Wine is helping create a misleading impression of where he has moved. Furthermore, they also incorrectly spelled Vieille!
Regardless, I would be happy to entertain Mr. Coates at my home in the Mâconnais to drink some wine from my cellar of aged Muscadet. I think I can safely say that I have the largest collection of Muscadet not only in the Mâconnais, but also in the Clunisois and the Charollais.
I checked the driving directions form Mr. Coates new home to our farmhouse and although it is only 58 km, it is at least a 75 minute drive. Unfortunately, you have to go through a lot of curvy, hillside roads to get to and out of Cluny and then into the viticultural Mâconnais.
Where is the Marquis Phillips Shiraz 2003?
I can't find this anywhere!
Please e-mail me or call me on my cell phone if you have any leads: 646 832 2134
Cast Your Ballot in the Touraine Gamay Cult Wine of 2003 Contest!
As mentioned below, we will be serving wines at Chambers Street this coming Saturday.
As a public service, organized by the Loire Valley Interprofession, we will be handing out secret ballots for Touraine Gamay Cult Wine of the Year! The winner will be announced on Monday on this site and various other wine publications.
The contest will be between:
Didier Barouillet and Catherine Roussel's Clos Roche Blanche Gamay 2003
Thierry Puzelat's Le P'tit Tannique Coule Bien 2003
Vote once, vote twice! Excercise your democratic rights!
Don't miss this event.
An interesting factoid: The Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Gamay 2003 was rejected for the AOC twice by the local INAO. It received the AOC on the third-go-around. The wine was atypique.
The Puzelat wine struck out and did not get the AOC and was classified as a Table Wine.
New Cult Wine
Everyone is always talking about the Clos Roche Blanche Gamay, but wait until they try Thierry Puzelat's Le P'tit Tannique Coule Bien. Translated this means The Little Tannic Sinks Well.
Concentrated and refreshing, this wine is officially classified a Table Wine by France's prestigious INAO and ought to be on every winelover's must-buy list.
Eccentric Wines
The world seems filled with eccentric wines these days.
In the past few days, I had the well-intentioned Russell Briggs' New Zealand wines, a Brian Loring Pinot Noir and Clarendon Hills!
One great thing about big-ass Shiraz' is they never seem overwhelmed by sulphur. It is the one element in this wine category where the winemakers seem to show restraint.
Brian Loring is a very nice guy who sent me all five of his 2002 bottlings. I've now had two of these eccentric wines and I can't say they are to my taste. People accuse Brian of not understanding Pinot Noir and not understanding Burgundy, but this is nonsense. Brian is looking to make another wine category, that has nothing in common with Burgundy or historic Pinot Noir. If people enjoy the wine, all power to them! Frankly, I think they would be better served by the Zinfandel and Shiraz's in the same category -- why not start from bigger material when making this style of beverage?
Is this wine a valid style of Pinot Noir? Is big-ass Shiraz a valid style of Syrah? I often find myself at gatherings of wine lovers where people talk about Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernets, etc, as if there is an international family. That a Pinot Noir from Brian Loring is part of the same family as La Tache, etc. But honestly, isn't this pushing the analogy and accepting New World winemaking on its own terms?
Delta Blues and Heavy Metal are both related to the African music that came here with the slaves. So, is a heavy metal freak someone who just happens to like their Delta Blues in a more up-front, guitar-forward musical style than a Delta Blues fan?
Frankly, I'm sick of the variety as defining the wine. A New Zealand Pinot Noir made with yeast treatments and spoofed up is not the same as a Pinot Noir from California on Steroids in tons of new wood and is not the same as La Tache which is not the same as well-made Bourgogne Rouge. Yes, there is a far-flung genetic bind, but given that everything from the root stock to the climate to the geology to the winemaking to the cultural expectations is so divergent, why pretend that these wines come form the same 'family." Each of these wines is a distinct category and it is only confusing and silly to pretend they are similar wines.
This is not to beautify Burgundy, which has its own set of problems. But comparing a varied and rich Pinot Noir landscape at the limits of maturity with 15 to 16 degree UC Davis Pinot Noir Clones in sand is just not useful.
Clarity and specificity are always helpful.
Meet Joe Dressner Next Week at Chambers Street Wines
LDM wines will be serving a lot of obscure wines at Chambers Street Wine next Saturday, May 8th, from 4 to 8 pm. Chambers Street Wines is located at 160 Chambers Street.
I will also be signing copies of my new book, Real Wine which is being published next week.
Don't miss this exciting event!
New Jersey Celebrates High Scoring Spanish and Bordeaux Wines in the Newest Wine Advocate!
I spent today touring around New Jersey with a great salesman from our New Jersey/New York wholesaler, a salesman who has gotten our wines into the hands of top accounts across the state. The wine industry calls this sort of collaborative effort (importer and distributor visiting retailers and restaurateurs) a "Marvin."
All of New Jersey was abuzz with the latest Eric Solomon Spanish wine scores in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. Even though no one had seen the newest issue, an authentic Wine Advocate copy had surfaced in Great Britain, according to several prominent New Jersey retailers, and a major New York retailer had quoted the "points" awarded some of Eric's wines on their web site. Eric works very hard and has done some fabulous work in Spain and truly deserves all his critical success!
Simultaneouly, all these retailers had heard (through the leaked British copy of the Wine Advocate) Mr. Parker's ratings of the 2003 Bordeaux vintage. Between the general interest in Eric Solomon and the excitement of yet another Bordeaux vintage to sell as futures for delivery in 2006 or 2007, it was tough for an unpointed fellow like myself to generate interest in my wines.
But we marvined forward and saw several accounts with some modest, unpointed wines from the Cru Beaujolais, Jean-Paul Brun's Beaujolais Chardonnay, Pierre Frick's Alsace wines, André Iché's Minervois and a nice Girard Sancerre. Collectively, all these wines had 0 points.
Some of the accounts I saw move huge volumes of pointed wines, I was told. Just huge. They also seemed to like my unpointed selections and even though I can't expect them to buy large quantities of wines that will never have a decent shelf talker with numerical ratings, I do believe that some of these kind and intelligent folks will buy some of our wines. Although I have to agree with them that without points they are a difficult "hand-sell."
Having an "account" tell you that your wines are a "hand-sell" is usually the kiss-of-death in wine salesmanship -- you and the salesman you are travelling with may as well pack-up and go on to your next stop. The other way of saying "hand-sell" is to categorize the wine as a "food wine." It is a well-known fact in the wine industry that pointed wines go well with or without food and that, by definition, an unpointed wine (no matter how good it might be) best be accompanied by a delicious meal.
While I was somewhat depressed by having all these horribly unpointed wines at a time when everyone was talking about the newly appointed top scorers, I was happy both for Eric and the salesman I was marvining with. A distributor salesman works on a commission and is trying to make a living. Selling my wines can be such a slow process, but having some hot scoring wines makes life so much easier.
It was great fun and a revelation to be on the barricades as the Parker points went on the offensive. 94 point Rioja at only $200.00 wholesale, Pavie 2003 at 96 to 100 points! Run for cover!
Remember that old Eddie Murphy routine where Murphy dresses up as a white man to see how white people behave when Black people were not around? I had a similar feeling today -- I was getting to see how people do business in the pointed world where hands are free to do other things than sell wine. No sampling, no small talk -- all you have to do is call up an account to let them know that you saved them 10 cases of a high-scoring beauty that they refused to buy on another occasion and you win their confidence and gratitude for the rest of your wineselling days! No wonder I love the wine industry!
There was a celebratory feeling about the day for those who participate in the Parker point euphoria. A new issue was out there, wines had been tasted and rated, fortunes were to be made and lost, and it was all defined on a simple-to-understand 100 point scale. The day felt like a commemorative holiday for an important historical figure or event. In this case, wine industry holiday participants celebrating the publication of the latest Wine Advocate not only revel in knowing what to drink until the new issue is published but can also celebrate all the way to the bank if they happen to be selling some of these beauties.
I have another Marvin on Thursday on the western edges of Long Island. Maybe some of our wines will have won some points by then.
Cult Wine of the Month
In March, it was the Domaine de Bellivière Calligramme.
This month, it is the Domaine de Bellivière Rouge Gorge 2002. This is such a fabulous expression of Pineau d'Aunis, a wine so beautiful you just want to stand around and be surrounded by its strange, exotic and beautiful bouquet.
Luxuriate.
It is so pretty, I'm almost hesitant to drink this wine!
The wine is available at all the usual suspects.
We were considering a push into New Zealand, but why bother if we can continue to find beauties like this in France.
Another Day, Another Marvin
April must be National Marvin Month!
Today, I will be out in New Jersey with a crack salesman selling wine. On Thursday I will be in the Hamptons with another crack salesman selling wine. Last week, I was in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Newport, Rhode Island. The week before I Marvined in Virginia and Washington, DC.
I'm tired.
Yesterday, I tasted a full range of Russell Briggs New Zealand Selections for the first time.
A Selector is born!
See my full tasting notes at: www.joedressner.com/russellbriggs
Another Wine Geek Born!
Welcome to Ian Davis Murdock
Congratulations to Kathleen and Blake Murdock. Two fabulously skinny members of the Wine Industry whose first child weighed in at 9 lbs, 8 ounzes.
Yikes!
Latest Mark Hanes Newsletter is Out!
Hanes is back from Bordeaux, where he tasted through the 2003 vintage, and his current issue is featuring a range of French wines. Here are the hot reviews:
Closel, Domaine du
Savennières Clos du Papillon, Loire
Chenin Blanc
2002, $23.99
Slightly dull, thick-necked golden straw color, trim rims. Broad and flat in the nose, very chalky, smoked lemon peel, bit of dried honey, the white smoke notes give it lift, offers peach, apricot, melon scents, turns lightly grassy on the dissolve. Full-bodied, odd touch of caramel peeks through on the entry. Not impassive but a bit taciturn at the moment, spicy with some prickle, even if the acidity remains more blunt than sharp. The lemon/lime citrus punctures the surface during the mid-palate, although overall maintains a semi-creamy texture. Chewy, hard to break through the skin of the peach, pear, melon fruit. The spice becomes heightened on the back end although it clamps down firmly as it finishes, due to relax and release in 12-15 years. 92
Closel, Domaine du
Savennières Les Caillardières, Loire
Chenin Blanc
2002, $21.99
Glassy gold color, full to the rim, shimmers with layers. Strong mint, lemon oil on the nose, lesser degrees of minerals and violet-driven florality, lovely ripeness to the pineapple, mango, peach fruit scents, generously layers itself in your nostrils. Medium to full-bodied, nicely bracing acidity keeps it firm throughout. Vibrant tang to the tangerine, orange, pink grapefruit citrus. The honey tones sweeten things but not for long with that acidity around. Loaded with peach, apricot, nectarine, pineapple fruit, sparkles well. Light saline quality to the chalk and minerals. Wiry grip, you can feel its fingers’ tendons tighten. 91
Pépière, Domaine de la
Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Cuvée Eden Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, Loire
Muscadet
2002, $11.99
Clean, semi-transparent green-gold color, light rims. Spicy nose, strong lemon peel and white smoke scents, minerals and bitter straw, peach and pear fruit, remarkable determination. In the mouth shows a great deal of density and borderline stolidity but the ripeness of the apricot, pear, apple fruit excites it some. The lemon and grapefruit citrus has tang but also enough sweetness to take the edge off. Acidity really dries it out during the mid-palate, pushing it almost too far. Has all the chalk, minerals, straw flavors you’d need and then some. Really grinds through the finish, busting gaskets left and right. Right now, even has too much raw power for Iggy. 90
Maréchal, Catherine et Claude
Bourgogne Cuvée Gravel, Burgundy
Pinot Noir
2001, $18.99
Light, clear ruby color, stable to the rim. Lemony and minerally nose, the leather and earth scents insouciantly defiant, tart and direct cherry, raspberry fruit, very erect nostril presence. Medium-bodied with a killer grip, strangles you with love. Gets in your face with olive, grass, leather, earth smacks and sour cherry, blackberry fruit. Very acidic, long and sinewy, refuses to relinquish your attention. Yeah, it’s tough love but it’s good love. 90
Whole Foods New York
That's right, they now have a wine store in New York, New York!
The newest Whole Foods outfit is in the new TIme-Warner building on Columbus Circle. Many New York wine geeks do not know about this store yet, but I believe it will eventually be a major wine destination for New York wine lovers. Already, it is one of the major outlets in town for David Bowler Selections.
Speaking of new Selectors, New Zealand cult figure Russell Briggs will be at the Whole Foods Store on Sunday, April 25th, offering a range of his fabulous New Zealand wines. Not that I have ever tasted one of them.
I will be joining him that day, serving a range of wines from Louis/Dressner Selections, one of the older names in the Selector racket. The tasting will be from 2 pm to 6 pm and might include lots of eating treats from New Zealand. Russell is supposed to import a great line of bacon!
Congratulations to Whole Food's Melanie Mann and the whole crazy staff for putting together a very civilized store with a lovely selection of wines.
The April Marvins that Come Your Way....
I'll be out and about this coming week.
Lucky accounts in Northern Virginia might be Marvinning with me on Tuesday. Then, I'm off to Marvin with our good customer Doug Rosen in Arlington, Virginia.
Wednesday afternoon, members of the Washington Wine Trade are invited to a Wine Partners tasting (our distributor) where I will be serving some good wines. The tasting is by invite only and will be held at some country's embassy. This tasting is a group Marvin, as all of the illustrious Wine Partners' suppliers will be peddling their wares.
There are even rumors that Yellowtail will be available at this tasting. I haven't tasted the latest vintage and am looking forward to sampling more of these delicious, crowd-pleasing wines.
Call me on my cell phone at 646 831 4138 if you need more info.
Help Me Choose an E-Mail Signature
Once again, I'm out of the loop.
All of the e-mails I get from powerful members of the wine industry now have signature quotes about wine. These quotes are usually from famous political or literary figures and evoke the poetry and beauty of wine.
Please help me get an e-mail signature line.
I have decided to use a quote from Kahlil Gilbran, my favorite author. Here are the final nominees.
Please let me know which entry I should use in the future for my e-mail signature.
Let me know your choice in the comment section below, or call me on my cell phone at 646 838 2312
Congratulations to Scott Kraft!
Yes, Scott Kraft has won the Save the English Language Contest.
From now on, the phrase work-with will no longer be used. I will no longer have to use a dangling preposition to describe the urgent task of selling wine with salespeople from our distributors.
Instead, we will Marvin.
Marvin can be used as both a noun and verb.
I have contacted the WSWA, which is the official organization of America's Wine Wholesaler's and they have agreed to this change.
Scott needs to e-mail me with his address, I actually know how to get to his home (having graciously been invited there twice for dinner), but I forget the exact address.
My next Marvins will be in Northern Virginia, then on to the New York area, New Orleans, Portland and Seattle.
Thanks Scott!
Anti-Cult Cult Wine Article in City Magazine
The lastest issue of City, a magazine based on New York dealing with hipster trends and the hipsters behind them, has an article on Anti-Cult Cult Wines by Pameladevi Govinda.
The article speaks of a backlash movement against the Turley's and Opus', a movement lead by "tireless bon vivants" who look for wines from "miniscule productions bearing hush-hush labels you'll rarely spot on the pages of well-known wine periodicals."
Importer Joe Dressner is quoted as saying: "The audience is sort of a downtown bunch and, like any cult movement, a lot of it is fueled by the internet."
The article mentions how a Gamay from the Clos Roche Blanche became an internet phenomena. "There are a number of wine blogs and talk forums where people will record everything they drink -- every day," Dressner said. "One of the regular characters who pops up is a guy who calls himself Florida Jim. He recently posted that Chambers Street Wines and Astor Wines & Spirits were carrying the Clos Roche Blance Gamay. Both stores sold out immediately."
Ms Govinda goes on to say: "Most of these anti-cult winemakers don't promote their wares as specialized exports. In fact, it's the lack of media exposure that preserves the aura of secrecy that draws cult followers. At the end of the day they are small village-dwelling artisans who grow grapes and produce wines in order to make a modest living. Having some hipster gush when he finds their name on the wine list at WD50 isn't their intention."
This is an excellent article and there is no link to the text on the internet. You actually have to go out and buy the magazine.
Of course, I have no idea where the magazine is actually available.
For a Defense of the English Language!
Say No to Work-Withs!
Here in the wine industry, we wine suppliers are often scheduled to work with salespeople from our distributors. We go out in their cars with lots of samples, visit restaurant owners and retailers, and sell huge quantities of wine.
We wine professionals call these appointments work-withs.
In reality, there is no such term in the English language.
In fact, a work-with is a dangling preposition.
Please, can we come up with a new term? A kinder, gentler, grammatical way of describing the beautiful, bonding experience of forcing clients into buying wine.
Then again, as much as I am against the dangling prepopsition, lets keep sentence fragments alive and well.
I love them.
The winning entry will receive a complimentary bottle of Caligrame Janières, our latest cult wine, if it is legal to ship from New York City to the State where the winner resides.
Employees of LDM Wines and their immediate family members are not eligible to win this prize.