Maker's Table

The Woodcocks

M. Chapoutier
Côte-Rôtie "Les Bécasses"
1999
13.0% ABV | Price: about $56

We purchased this bottle at the winery in June 2002, while on our honeymoon in the Northern Rhône. The wine's color has matured to a deep ruby red with the faintest glint of orange. The nose is beguiling and wildly aromatic, with a floral bouquet of violets, lavender, and rosemary floating above an earthy, leathery base. When first poured, it seemed closed on the palate, austere and thin. But after fifteen minutes in the glass, the wine began to expand and open, filling the mouth with clean dark fruit, herbs like anise and lavender, a bright acidity, and a savory, spicy earthiness. It's a bit tannic, with a drying, woody finish (befitting its name). Perhaps it's still a bit young, or maybe it started with a bit too much oak. Still, it's an elegant, Old World wonder, and still wonderful in its eleventh year.

 

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Tinged, Not Tainted

Navarro Vineyards
Anderson Valley Deep End Blend Pinot Noir
2008
13.8% ABV | Price: about $36

"Dear Navarro Friend," the letter began, "We need your opinion, which is why we are sending you this sample bottle at no charge."

The friend in question is a friend of mine, a member of Navarro's pre-release program. Last summer he purchased futures of this 2008 Pinot, and this September was to receive six bottles.

But 2008 was an unusual season in California, with over 500 lightning complex wildfires flaring up during June and July. Many vineyards were shrouded in smoke during fruit development, leading to fears of smoke taint, a complex and poorly understood condition in which compounds in the smoke penetrate the grapes' skin and vegetation, impacting the flavor of the wine. (Read an excellent primer on smoke taint from Reign of Terroir, and an article on the 2008 wildfires from Wine Spectator.)

Mendocino County was particularly impacted, as a thick layer of smoke lay over the vineyards for nearly three weeks. Pinot noir grapes, the kind in this wine, are thought to be especially susceptible to taint. "Reactions to the smokiness have been wildly varied," Navarro's letter continued. "One concerned friend sampled the wine, emptied it into the kitchen sink, opened a 2007 instead, and then wrote an impassioned email recommending that we recall the wine. The next day another faithful customer wrote us about the same wine: 'I opened it with some trepidation because of the smoke issue. But I was happily surprised. There is no issue.'"

So, rather than simply bank the cash and ship the wine as previously agreed, Navarro decided to let its customers decide, shipping each a free single bottle, saying Try it. Let us know. If you like it, we'll send it to you, knocking ten dollars off the price. If you don't like it, we'll credit you or ship a substitute.

Give Navarro a gold star for transparency, plus one more for customer service.

It's smoky. Not a toasty-oak kind of smoky, not a caramel or vanilla smoky, but a minerally scorched-earth smoky, like charred vegetation, roasted landscape, woodsmoke, campfire. But the smokiness is evenly balanced with juicy ripe aromas of red fruit: it also smells pinot-y, varietally correct, with a fresh, brilliant edge. The smoke is there on the palate, too, but happily just one element of the flavor profile, adding a dark edge to this young wine.

The wine is fine on its own, interesting and almost, but not quite, a curiosity, because the smoke flavors aren't overwhelming. But it really sang last night when we tasted it with a pork shoulder I'd been smoking on the grill for five hours. These two were perfect partners, the light-bodied Pinot a match for the pale, juicy center of the cut, and the smokiness marrying beautifully with the meat's crackling outer layers.

The verdict? Ship it.

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Enfants de la Patrie

Domaine des Varinelles, Famille Daheuiller
Saumur-Champigny
2006
13.5% ABV | Price: about $25

It's Bastille Day, so a good time to think about my French heritage. My maternal lineage hails from the Loire, from the tiny village of Faye-la-Vineuse. (I wish I'd known Faye. Given her vinous proclivities, I'm sure we'd have gotten along famously.)

In celebration, tonight we opened a Saumur-Champigny, a wine made not too far from my ancestral stomping grounds. It's 100% cabernet franc and deep ruby in the glass. The nose is spicy and peppery, and blooms with fresh herbs like catmint and tarragon. It somehow manages to smell both fresh and dark, young and old, with bright ripe fruits like strawberry and black raspberry standing forward against darker brambles, plus a plummy earthiness. On the palate it's supple, with smooth, spreading fruit and good acidity. It finishes dry, astringent like strong black tea.

"This wine is about its nose," my husband observed. And for me, it's about its provenance, too.

 

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Interestingness

Damilano
Barolo "Lecinquevigne "
2004
14% ABV | Current price: about $36

Nebbiolo grapes from five eponymous vineyards go into this wine. It's young for a Barolo, so we decanted it, expecting tannins.

It's soft, though, made in a slightly fruitier style, but still has plenty of spine. Deep barn red, clear and even. The nose is a heady mix of rosy flowers and spice and savory herbs, with a little almond, too. On the palate it's wildly herbaceous, with a tannic grip but plenty of fruit and spice; I get currant and fennel. It sings with fresh local goat cheese rolled in thyme and rosemary.

There's so much going on it feels a little gangling and awkward. But we're happy to have at last a wine with a high interestingness quotient.

 

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Not Typical

Le Clos de Caveau
Vacqueyras Le Carmin Brillant
2007
Current price: about $23

We're Vacqueyras fans, so we were happy to find this bottle recently at Garnet Wines & Liquors in Manhattan. The label calls it organic, the winemaker calls it agrobiologique, and Skurnik, the importer, calls it biodynamic.

I call it disappointing. It's 70% grenache and 30% syrah. Fulsome, inky and redolent, with a promising spicy, flowery, earthy, chocolatey nose. But on the palate it yields such bland lush fruit, and feels so hot—it's 15% ABV—that the wine reads just like any other international-style wine. There is no subtlety, no typicity, no funk, no panache. It may as well be a California central-coast fruit-bomb Syrah. It may as well be an eye-crossing Oz Shiraz.

I really miss Le Sang des Cailloux.

 

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Well Born

Bonny Doon Vineyard
Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Syrah
2007
Current price: about $40 (as club members we paid $34)

This wine is deep ruby red with a pale lavender edge. On the nose there's a little funk, plus spearmint and something spicy, like paprika. It's a little smoky, too, but it has a feminine side, the scent of wild roses. On the palate I get deep black cherry, anise, lavender, tea. It's savory but also bright, with a cleansing astringency that balances the fruit and spice.

Earthy, and perfect with tonight's grilled venison.

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Sympathique

Domaine de la Jaufrette
Vacqueyras
2001
Current price: about $16

Lying back once again into the Rhône's liquid embrace.

This wine is so inky black it's nearly opaque, with a nose redolent of black pepper, sage, anise, clove, and lavender. There's fruit inside, but it's veiled, yielding slowly as the wine warms in my mouth. I find black cherry there, but also fig, blackberry, and black currant. It has a long, drying finish, the fruit and spice and herbs trailing into the distance, thinning.

It's a relief to experience a wine that relies, as this one does, on savoryness, on variegated complexity and nuance for its impact. It does not say, simply, fruit. It doesn't say alcohol and tannin. It's a wine that speaks in full sentences, plays to the palate's intelligence, at last.

  

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At Our Fingertips

We just returned from a long weekend in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Over the course of two and a half days we tasted more than a hundred wines—mostly Rieslings, but also a little Gewürtztraminer, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris for white; Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot for red.

We drove home in a minor spring gale, with temperatures in the mid thirties and blustery flurries skittering across the road ahead. The Finger Lakes are cold, and their wines show it. Nearly all of the Rieslings we tasted were bracing, dry as bone with searing acidity. And the reds are—well, let's just say they're not exactly "fruit-forward." It doesn't get warm enough for fruit-forward in the Finger Lakes of New York.

The journey back is long, about six and a half hours. We hit home just as the skies were clearing for the evening, gray clouds dragging off to the east, the western horizon opening up to the last streaks of spring sun. We piled our jumble of baggage into the mudroom as the kitties somersaulted their hello, showing us their spotty bellies and asking for a scrumble behind the ears, poor lonely souls.

We obliged them first, of course. But after the unpacking, after the clothes found their way into the washer, the mail got sorted into piles, the luggage was duly stowed, we were ready to unwind with a glass of something completely different. We reached for this Windy Oaks Pinot, a Terra Narro 2007 from the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a warm smile at the end of a cold day, welcoming.

 

 

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Red Pepper

Château Beauchêne
Côtes du Rhône Villages "Les Charmes"
2007
Current price: about $15

Youthful and tight, but fun, too, with lots of good, sharp structure. It has nice cheekbones: the Katharine Hepburn of wine. On the nose we get spicy, peppery notes with some dark brambly fruits. On the palate it offers a satisfying balance of spicy, earthy, smoky, and peppery fruit. It has a finish like warm blackberries. It's food-friendly; we had it with venison ragù and homemade fresh fettucini.

This is what Côtes du Rhône Villages should be: simple, but not easy.

  

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But Not Least

Zeta
Alicante Monastrell
2006
Current price: about $12

Deep barn red with a slightly purple undercast. The nose is floral and spicy, with pepper and sage but also something a little dark, like mushrooms. My mouth waters just smelling it. On the palate it's savory, but with a bloom of fruit and spice. It has a long and pleasant finish.

Tonight I'm sautéing red onions and peppers and rosemary with last night's leftover grilled lamb. We'll have it on whole wheat flatbread, and pour this wine. It might be just right.

  

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