Arnold Waldstein's Blog

Is there really a unique language to talk about wine?

Not the obscure vernacular of the tasting note. Nor the language of the winemakers themselves as they think through every detail and nuance in the alchemy of turning grapes into wine.

Simply for wine lovers to talk to each other. To share wines we like. To get referrals from our wine shop on what to pair with dinner. Or to talk to the sommelier at our favorite restaurant so we end up with something we enjoy in our glasses.

Easy question. Not so simple an answer.

Wine is ever so wacky and wonderful to talk about. But perplexing when it comes to the language of appreciation.

The act of drinking and sharing connects people, culture and places with immediacy and depth. It cuts through differences amongst strangers and builds bonds of interest and easy familiarity.

Yet it’s remarkably hard to describe or talk about in non-technical terms. We more often talk around it. Maybe that’s where the magic lies.

And maybe that’s why the obscure language of the wine critic developed and the horrid simplicity of the numerical scale that stemmed from one man’s palate that came to rule the world with Parker.

In a blog post, you can tell a story. Connect the wine in the glass to the place the grapes were grown and the history of the person who made the wine. Details become syntax in weaving a tale of weather and grape varietal, geography and the mysteries of the cave. In a tasting you can do this as well. This is ideal in every way.

But in the quick phraseology of the web, the natural need to share what we like as icons and emblems, I often find myself stitching together phrases of pure excitement and hyperbole. ‘Can you say…unbelievable?’ or ‘Gamay rules!’ or ‘Eric Texier delivers again!’ attached to a tweeted picture of a wine bottle.

And most people, wine and food lovers, just want to say that they liked it and attach a memory to taste in a word. This is remarkably difficult. Or maybe just so simple we are over intellectualizing it.

Think of all the thousands of glasses of wines that are sipped in tastings every night in New York. Smart, interested people spending real dollars, seriously tasting and having a great time doing it. And many of them in the days that follow will go into their wine shop to buy a bottle for dinner or a party. When asked what they like, they usually just don’t remember. Maybe it’s the arcane nature of the names of the wine or the lack of words to attach the taste to, but many start from scratch every time anew.

Enter the experiment that made me write this post.

A friend needed a list of 20 words for a project where people would rate and share their personal ratings about wine. I was somewhat clueless past the seemingly trivial ones I usually used when blown away by a great glass when out with non-wine geeky friends.

I turned to my community of wine friends for help. They are bloggers, wine tour operators, sommeliers, and restaurateurs. Wine obsessed all. All communicators who professionally or personally share, taste and talk about wine daily.

I phrased my question something like this:

What are your top five words that you use to describe a wine to an interested, articulate and wine loving individual to get them to sense the character of what they are drinking? To give them a handle to hang onto when they might want to share their pleasure in the bottle with someone else? To strike a note that might get them more interested in finding out more about the story behind the bottle?

I unleashed hurricane of response. Some 60+ comments over my Facebook and Twitter communities. With emails on the side.

The choices below are the short list that had the most commonality across those that responded.

Everybody cares: Food friendly. Aromatic. Affordable

Feels like: Fresh. Crisp. Elegant. Full-bodied. Effervescent. Lively.

Tastes like: Floral. Mineral. Earthy. Dry. Sweet. Fruity. Acidic. Tannic.

Love it:  Yummy. Unfuckinbelievable. Quaffable. Drinkable. Refreshing.Delicious. Luscious. Big and rich. Silky.

Hate it: Yuck. Dreck. Bleah. Boring.

Moody: Ambitious. Aloof. Recalcitrant.

What’s interesting is that these words on their own are really quite unremarkable. Facile even. They are adjectives of appreciation and general snippets of categories around taste and some basic terms that are true across all wines.

What would you add?

Not to show off your knowledge but to encourage communications. This is an exercise in restraint. And it’s hard.

I think there are other creative endeavors like movies and music that have the same interesting contradiction of complex emotions and simplistic expression. In movies you have plot and dialogue, cinematography and sound to wines’ balance and character, fruit forwardness and the complexity of the finish. Beyond a handful of easily accessible ideas, it’s all about degree and personal expression.

Here’s the rub. And why this exercise is so difficult, the process so interesting and the result so unsatisfying out of context.

Wine is romantic and poetic at its core. Not only because the process of where, how and by whom is a saga when told with skill and passion. But the subject is not the wine, it is your impression of it. It is what you think and this is connected to who you are and the situation you experienced the wine in.

The wine may be the backdrop for romance or the linchpin of the evening to build a dinner around.

Whether you are drinking something incredible in a plastic cup on a picnic with your partner on a bike trip. Or swirling an aromatic translucent Trousseau from Arbois in the Jura in a crystal goblet at a remarkable wine bar in the 6th in Paris with the best of friends. It’s yours. It’s not just the wine. It’s you experiencing it there and then.

We romanticize our lives. We romanticize the accoutrements that make them all the more glorious. We should. This is the good stuff that life is made of. This is what we share with friends on Facebook, Twitter and our blogs and chatting in the elevator with people in the building.

I was really impressed that my wine friends who know the science of wine at its most minute detail came back with adjectives of expression that can be used by everyone. This group is an inspiration for me and can go deep into soils, indigenous yeasts, climate, root stocks and stories of fabled wine families.

The skill is not in giving that detail. It is in creating the scene so that information is indeed interesting as well. The layers that add depth and texture to the story of the bottle and the saga behind the glass.

I’m starting to appreciate this list of expressive adjectives more. A useful lexicon for amateur and pro alike. Enough choices with the perfect combination a function of what you want to express and to whom.

In late Spring last year I snapped a picture with my iPhone of a bottle of Jura red that I was drinking on the rooftop of my building with some friends. It was a marvelous Le Ginglet from Philippe Bornard. I pushed it out into my Tumblr blog and let it roll out to my Twitter and Facebook streams.

The caption said:

The wine of summer. Slightly chilled. Perfect for hot summer night.

The responses came back strong from wine friends all over the globe with Likes, smiley faces, texts and emails wanting to know where to buy it.

Simple words that grabbed the moment. Captured that truly iconic wine. Shared connections.

There was just nothing more to say.

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I want to thank all my wine friends, especially those from EWBC for their input and inspiration and friendship.

 

Stephane Tissot is my kind of winemaker.

In his own words, he’s “on a quest for aromatic diversity” through a natural approach to winemaking and a passion for the taste of terroir.

He follows his words with actions and produces 28 different cuvees, terroir by terroir, all naturally in the Jura wine region, on the eastern border of France in the foothills of the Alps.

But put aside his deep family connections to the region. His crazy winemaking creativity, especially the Cremant de Jura. And his uncanny ability as the Jura whisperer to bring out the taste in a variety of local varietals.

Think quaffable and honest and enjoyable wine when you think of Stephane Tissot.

His approach is biodynamic (Demeter certified); his use of sulfur judiciously minimal. But his wines, especially this bottle of Trousseau, are just wonderfully approachable, delicious, and in every instance I’ve poured them, a crowd favorite.

The ’09 Arbois Trousseau Singulier is a labor of love. The grapes are harvested in small baskets, hand selected and destemmed. Then fermented with natural yeasts in old oak foudres and aged 12 months then bottled without filtration. This wine is powered by people, not machines or technology.

With Tissot’s wines, you are not drinking an experiment in ancient methods. Nor an evangelistic natural point of view. Just great taste and a true sense of place as an ingredient of the wine.

This has been ‘the summer of chilled reds from the Jura’ and it’s ending as a huge success. I want to repledge my allegiance to Trousseau as the most refreshing, most satisfying warm weather wine. If I had to choose one grape for hot afternoons and lingering evenings, Trousseau would be it.

The ’09 Arbois Trousseau Singulier is a wine for summer and friends and rooftops and easy relaxation.

Translucent cherry in color, supple tannins, crisply alive in your mouth with a long, elegant finish. It satiates the senses and satisfies your intellectual curiosity about this obscure place called the Jura and their unique wines that taste perfect and familiar wherever you drink them.

This wine is technically just…yummy. It’s about enjoyment and that’s what wine is at its core.

Available from Chambers Street Wines for less than $30 a bottle. Go online and order a few bottles.  Serve slightly chilled (30-45 minutes in fridge). I’m very confident that this will become one of your favorites.

You might want to taste a selection of great Trousseau from the Jura. If you can’t find these vintages, do try the vineyard and winemaker.

• Tournelle ‘07 Arbois Trousseau des Corvees
• Michel Gahier ‘07 Arbois Trousseau Grands Vergers
• Puffeney ’07 Trousseau “Berangeres” Arbois Montigney-les-Arsures
• Philippe Bornard ‘07 Arbois Pupillin Le Ginglet

Check out my post on his old vine Poulsard for more info on his family and vineyards.

Thanks again to my Jura maven Sophie Barrett for making me think about Arbois and Trousseau as I walk down Chambers Street in TriBeCa.

There’s a wonderful bouquet, a natural crispness and an ineffable curiosity that connects your palate to the story behind the winemaker and the vineyard.

There’s a saga of an ancient vineyard that since first planting, 1100 years ago, completely side-stepped industrialized farming and modern winemaking techniques.

And there’s a tale of a family estate and the prodigal son who, late in his 20s, gave up his acting career and followed cultural gravity back to his roots to make wine with his father.

All three come together in these remarkable and delicious natural reds from Alain and Julien Guillot’s Clos des vignes du Maynes vineyard.

Sure…the natural wine geek in me is gaga over the winemaking approach, but the wine is so wonderful, so interesting and yes, so natural, that it shushes the pundits, quiets the critics and just pleases.

Alain and Julien’s vineyard, Clos des vignes du Maynes, is in Macon Cruzille, outside the village of Cruzille in the southern portion of Burgundy. A tiny, 16-acre enclosed estate originally planted by the Benedictines of the Abbey of Cluny around 900 AD, it was purchased by Julien’s grandfather in 1954. Julien is now the principal winemaker and manager of the estate.

Rumored to be France’s oldest organic vineyard, this land has never had any chemical treatment. Ever. No chemical sprays or fertilizers or pesticides. Most of the vines are ancient, some 50 to 100 years old, planted on high elevation slopes of crystallized limestone and thin clay. Ancient methods of agriculture have been used here consistently since ancient times.

Since the 10th century, replanting has been done with the classic selection massale method. No modern clone has ever been introduced. New vines are grown from in-vineyard cuttings. The entire estate was certified Biodynamic in 1998.

Clos des vignes du Maynes makes wine naturally from the vineyard to the cave. All harvesting is done by hand, fermentation in ancient oak vats and barrels. Nothing is added, enhanced or filtered out between fermentation and bottling.

This is nature’s way all the way.

Ahh…but the wine itself is the storyteller here. Not how it is made.

I tasted multiple bottles of Julian’s quite brilliant reds over the last month. The 2010 Clos des vignes du Maynes Cuvee Rouge 910 and the 2009 Macon Cruzille Manganite.

The Cuvee Rouge 910 is my kind of warm weather wine. Light and lively and lovely. It’s a true field blend of Chardonnay, Gamay and Pinot Noir where the grapes are grown, harvested and vinified together.  910 refers to the year of the  first harvest on the domaine. The methods were probably not dissimilar 1100 years ago. Hand harvested and bottled, pressed by foot, vinified and aged without sulfur.

This is a light and vivacious bottle of wine. Reminds me of the intense aromatics and long finishes that I find in the very best Trousseau from the Jura. Silky smooth and refreshing. It feels just right with the Chardonnay as an x factor. I’ve served this many times to friends and always met with an aha of pleasure and an empty glass smile for a refill. Available from Chambers Street Wines in TriBeCa  for $23.99

The Macon Cruzille Manganite, produced from 60 year-old Gamay vines has that unlikely combination of both rich fruit and of deep minerality. I’m an unabashed Gamay enthusiast and this bottle has real chutzpah.

Deeply rich flavors, intensely aromatic and an insanely long finish. Julien employs a nine-day true carbonic maceration followed by fermentation in old vats. But the tannins are still tight and you get the sense that this bottle will evolve continuously over time.  It is extremely low alcohol, 12.5%, for such a powerful red wine.

And like all of the reds from the vineyard, there are zero sulfites added.

Julien Guillot’s field blend was a bottle to drink and savor now and tomorrow. The Manganite is delicious but still in motion to my palate. There is pleasure in enjoying this bottle today; there is gravitas that will surface over time.

The 2009 Manganite is a bit pricey at $33.90 from Chambers Street Wines but well worth the plunge. I’m already looking forward to uncorking a few bottles from my cellar at Thanksgiving.

Check out the wines of Alain and Julian Guillot.

Don’t buy them because they are Biodynamic or natural but because they are delicious and a pleasure to drink. They are also as natural as wine can be.

 

I love the wines of the Jura…

The natural crispness, the delicate earthiness and the elongated bouquets are the unforgettable taste footprint of this tiny and obscure wine region in the foothills of the Alps on the eastern border of France.

This taste of place bridges the indigenous red varietals of Poulsard (like the Les Chais du Vieux tasted here), Trousseau and the field blends. Each vineyard in the Jura inherits it’s own unique micro-terroir. Each is noticeably individual but naturally stamped with the sleeping expectation of an unforgettable taste experience.

The reds from the Jura, lightly chilled, are natural wines of summer.

I’ve tasted many wines from all over the Jura and have yet to be disappointed. This bottle of Poulsard from the winemaking couple of Ludwig Bindernagel and Nathalie Eigenschenck is no exception. It’s a find.

Ludwig, a Bavarian by birth, and Nathalie, a Frenchwomen from Paris are newcomers to the wine world. They started their vineyard, Les Chais du Vieux Bourg, in 2000 with the first vintage in 2002. To my knowledge they have no previous heritage as vignerons nor formal education as winemakers.

But Ludwig and Nathalie have something else–palpable passion for the land and the grape, and a rigorous dedication to a non-interventionist and natural approach to wine making. From what I can taste, this is more than enough.

Their tiny organic vineyard of 2.5 hectares is in Arlay in the center of the Jura. The vines are 50-60 years old; the soil all marl and limestone. They produce only 1500 bottles yearly.

Ludwig, like many natural winemakers, believes that ‘wine is made in the vineyard’. No insecticides or chemical fertilizers nor machinery is used. Demeter biodynamic certification is in process.

The Poulsard’s are produced with no added sulfites.

Information about this wine making couple is scarce. You now know what I do.

But…I do know what I tasted in the ’07 Les Chais du Vieux Bourg Poulsard. And it is representative of the best of the Poulsards I’ve drunk from the Jura.

In the glass, there is an overt tanginess of cherry fruit that quite overwhelms even in the bouquet. You smell the taste before you sip it and it leaves a refreshing, aromatic and clean sensation that extends from the first sniff to the end of a long finish. This wine has its own fingerprint that is as familiar as it is pleasurable.

To place it in context with other great Poulsards from the Jura:

Ludwick’s Cotes du Jura Poulsard is pale and quiet in color in the glass, not dissimilar to the ethereal Domaine de la Tournelle ’04 Ploussard de Monteiller from Evelyn and Pascal Clairet. But this bottle is tangier and less delicate and more fruit forward.

Ludwig’s Poulsard is also less mineral and rich than the ’06 Poulsard “M” from the master winemaker, the ‘Pope of Arbois’, Jacque Puffeney.

But friendly and appoachable and just plain quaffable, like one of my favorites, the ‘08 Arbois Poulsard Old Vines from StephaneTissot.

It’s always difficult to suggest that you drink this Poulsard over another when the field is so superb. But after sharing a few bottles of the Chais de Vieux with both wine geeks and just casual wine lovers, I’m comfortable recommending this bottle as representative of the Poulsard grape and the Jura in general.

Try the ’07 with its soft acidity and delicate tannins over the more recent ’08, which was still well worth drinking but slightly less bright and still a bit tight to drink today.

The Chais de Vieux Poulsard is a perfect spring and summer rooftop wine. With or without food. Low in alcohol at 11.7% this is a no worry, satisfaction guaranteed bottle to share with friends.

Serve just slightly chilled. And don’t buy just one bottle as I guarantee it won’t be enough.

The ’07 is getting a bit hard to find but worth the search. Average price is around $27 a bottle. Check online at Chambers Street Wines in TriBeCa to see if there are any in stock.

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Note that I await impatiently the detailed and personal notes from Sophie Barrett, Arbois maven from Chambers Street Wines who recently visited the Jura and stayed with Nathalie and Ludwig. I’ll share them when they are out.

 

 

 

What a story this bottle of natural wine from the Jura tells…

It’s an inspired education in the detailed simplicity of biodynamic winemaking. And a cultural nod to the ancient tradition of field blends emphasizing the dominance of place over the individuality of the grape as the true signature of terroir.

The wonder of this wine is in its drinking pleasure. Round and fresh with a crisp mouth. Spicy red fruits, snappy tannins and a savory effervescence that is clean, alive and memorable. This is a rustic palate with natural crispness and uncannily refined.

Jean-François Ganevat is the iconoclastic Jura winemaker responsible for this natural treat. His family has been vignerons in the area for generations. He’s been making wine at his family domaine since 1998.

I’m a student of the wines of the Jura, located in east central France in the foothills of the Alps. But Ganevat is the first winemaker I’ve focused on from the southern part of the region. His vineyard is in the tiny Hamlet of La Combe above the village of Rotalier.

In the Jura there are over 40 different grape varieties grown, most indigenous to the area and quite obscure, and many cultivated only in the Jura region itself. On Ganevat’s tiny vineyard, 17 of these 40 grape varietals are grown, sometimes vinified separately for his Poulsards and Savagnins, and in the case of J’en Veux, all 17 are harvested and vinified together as a field blend.

I was first introduced to field blends, known as Gemischter Satz in Austria by young and talented winemaker Gottfried Lamprecht from the Styria region. I tasted his crisply delicious Buchertberg White field blend in Vienna last year. Gottfried is a passionate believer that field blends are the truest expression of terroir.

Field blends emphasize the dominance of the place over the grape.  Ganevat’s J’en Veux is a prime example of this. With J’en Veux you are literally tasting the Hamlet of La Comb not any of the individual varietals themselves.

Understanding the taste footprint of this bottle is less about the broad stroke of an organic or biodynamic approach– even though the vineyard is Demeter certified–more about the intense care and stewardship of the grape as the vessel of the vineyard itself.

J’en Veux is truly a handmade wine. Each grape is individually destemmed with a scissors, keeping every grape intact and unbruised. This maniacal attention to detail is painfully labor intensive with a 600-kg load of grapes taking 10 people a full day just to separate and remove the stems.

Add to this care, an extended elevage (aging) and a minimum of one year in tronconic (think cone-head shaped) wooden vats. Nothing is rushed. This is a gentle process with an eye towards creating a natural product that has time to discover itself.

J’en Veux has no sulphites added at all. While the wine is certainly ‘alive’ if you keep a bottle for a few days after opened, it is pure and and balanced and technically, quite perfect.

This is a wine of spring and summer. A chilled red with purity, natural crisp taste, refreshing, food friendly and alcohol light. When I shop for vegetables on an early Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market, the fresh smells of the stalls makes me pine to cook and pair the food with a bottle of J’en Veux.

And this refreshing unique taste produced in a 100% natural way comes at a price of less than $30 a bottle.

Buy this if you can find it. Available at writing at Chambers Street Wines in TriBeCa, NYC.

Thanks to Sophie Barrett, Jura maven for recommending this bottle.

Photo credit to wineterroirs.