Tuesday, June 12th, 7 PM
La Grolla, 413 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10024. 212-496-0890
http://www.lagrolla.us/
NV Camille Savès Champagne 1er Cru Carte Blanche Brut Bouzy France. Chambers Street Wines, $36.99. Asimov/Lyle bottle. Imported by Polaner Selections. 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay; the wine is a blend of 60% from 2003 and 40% from 2001 and 2002. Bright yellow color, clear hue, good citrus and marzipan aromas, hints of spice and licorice with a fog of yeast that never really dissipated, good citrus and apple flavors, very restrained at first, growing in intensity over time, relatively mild acidity, short finish, small bubbles, quite disappointing tonight and it didn't really improve much over time. 2*+.
Notes:
I regret to report I agree with Susie on this wine that I brought to the party:
I was far from successful with Susie,
A highly imperious floosie,
Who said 'try me again,
But with proper champagne,
Because Susie's too choosy for Bouzy'
Lickerish Limericks, Cyril Ray, illustrated by Charles Mozley, 1979.
Polaner: "The Savès family has been producing in the Grand Cru village of Bouzy since the end of the 19th century. The house was founded in 1894 by Eugène Savès (sa-VESS) when he married Anïs Jolicoeur, the daughter of a vinegrower in Bouzy. His descendents, Louis, Camille, and now Hervé, have been running the family business ever since. Hervé, now in his 40s, has kept the family wines traditional. His father Camille still gives a helping hand to Hervé from time to time when things get really busy.
"The Savès family produces exclusively from their 11 hectares of vines, never buying any additional grapes. The wines are stored in the cellar for at least five years and the harvest yields are very low. Malolactic fermentation is avoided, resulting in wines of great finesse and cut.
"The fully south-facing vineyard of Bouzy grows on plain chalk recovered with a rich seam of alluvium. These characteristics produce a powerful, chewy, full-bodied wine that is perfect as an aperitif or at any time of the day."
Asimov: "All of the wines I liked were harmonious, but I might single out the Camille Savès Brut Champagne for its lovely integration."
******
2004 Bibi Graetz "Bugia Bianco" Tuscany Italy. Imported by Michael Skurnik, New York. 100% Ansonica. 14% alcohol.
Light yellow color, clear hue, intense aromas of melons and honey, a hint of eucalyptus, good to very good fruit flavors -- they developed remarkably over two hours in the glass -- with a remarkably rich aroma in the empty glass, a bit of lively acidity, a long finish with melon, honey and a spicy note. A very distinctive and pretty wine -- "no lie" as it were. 4*.
Notes:
Bibi Graetz is an artist turned wine maker. His main winery is located in Fiesole in the Vincigliata area, lying in the hills above Florence. Janet and I love the Villa San Michele with its wonderful views of Florence and a great Etruscan museum nearby -- now we have an even better reason for staying there.
Skurnik: Great intuition made Graetz understand that the territory of Vincigliata in Fiesole had a potential for the viticulture, which had remained unexpressed for years. The soil is mostly made from clay and marl, it is rich in salts such as phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, and it can keep abundant water supplies. These two factors together with the help of the sand, allow to obtain a complete balance.
The “azienda” owns 4 hectares of vineyards. In addition to this, 10.5 hectares of vineyard are rented on a longterm basis and cultivated directly by the “azienda”. The main grape is the sangiovese ( 65-70%), followed by colorino and canaiolo (30%), and there are also some rows of black muscat and black malmsey. The age of the vineyards varies a lot, there are new plants not yet productive, but the major part of the vineyards varies from 15 to 60 years old. The selected method of growing is guyot and double guyot. This allows for a natural limitation of the production of grapes for each stub.
As a child, Bibi used to spend summers on Giglio Island, a small sparsely inhabited island in the Tuscan Archipelago that comes to life in the summer, reachable only by ferry or boat, surrounded by crystal-clear waters. He thought the Ansonica grapes grown there were so special and flavorful that, years later, he had them cultivated for this wine. Well-known on the island for his ability to tell elaborate stories and invent creative excuses, the main grower is responsible for the wine’s name, having lent his nickname, Bugia, meaning “lie” in Italian, to the label.
100% Ansonica grapes, a.k.a. Inzollia in Sicily, the wine is intensely aromatic with notes of honey, vanilla, melon, and a touch of eucalyptus. It is highly flavorful, fruity and rich with a pleasantly clean finish, featuring a touch of oak but no excessively buttery qualities. 400 cs produced.
Daniel Thomases recently gave it 92 points, writing in the Veronelli guide that "after having redeveloped the vines at Fiesole, our man [Bibi Graetz] proved himself with those on Giglio Island, again with truly remarkable results."
******
2006 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling Finger Lakes New York. Lovely matchup with a very good Donnhöff that I know very well. This wine was very pretty, but I thought it was a bit sweet, the acidity a bit soft, the whole ensemble a little boring. Jane said the winery thought the 2006 was better than the 2005, which was named best in the state. Hmmm ... 3*+.
Notes:
http://www.wiemer.com/
******
2004 Donnhöff Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spatlese Germany. OK, this wine was a little quiet in the early going, but it came on so strong over the next two hours ... I loved it overall. Janet can make me drink it any time she chooses.
4*.
A fun taste-off between two very different Rieslings. I preferred the Donnhöff by a hair over the Wiemer.
******
1980 Henri Boillot "Les Rugiens" Pommard 1er Cru Burgundy France. Oh, my heart. I loved this wine. Farm boy to the heart. Delicious. Over the entire two and half hours -- I forced folks to open it early and I left with the taste in my mouth and the aroma in the glass. It lasted all the way from Amersterdam and 60th to six miles past the George Washington Bridge. 5*. My WOTN.
Williams: I had brought a backup bottle of Lafarge in case this didn't show well. It stayed in bag. Not for those that value fruit above all else, but popular at our table. Cedar, smoke, mushrooms, and peatmoss waft above the red cherry fruit, a little sharp on palate but with food it goes down smooth. A distinct graphite note that I'd associate more with mature Bordeaux on the finish, yet it blends in seamlessly with the more typical Burgundy notes of forest floor and fungi. After awhile Jay gets some brett notes in his glass, I smell it too, but very light- in my glass it's more a light gamy note. Revisited through night it remains delightful, while putting on some weight and developing coffee aromas. My WOTN (by a hair). A-
******
1978 Château Haut-Bailly Pessac-Léognan Graves Bordeaux France. A strong sense of deja vu -- surely I've had this wine before. I scribbled my notes and a day later I searched my diary using the Word Search Engine -- 40,000 tasting notes, and not a single one for Haut-Bailly. None in my cellar inventory. But then Google Desktop found it, in my wine to do list.
Otto had described the wine I tasted tonight: "A lightish red, some orange at rim. The nose is clearly evolved, but not at all over the top and has admirable complexity: sweet, deliciously fruity with red berries, earth, herbs, a touch of cigar and a hint of that singed or swamp-like scent that I get with older Merlot. But apart from that small scent, this seems more Burgundian that Claret - so much so that given blind, I would almost certainly have said old Burgundy! The palate is also, IMO, at peak now with sweet fruit, not at all drying despite still being a little tanninc, lovely acidity, lovely balance and an interminable aftertaste. Lovely!" Except for that "orange at rim", I would have written that note -- if only I could write so well! 4*.
Notes:
http://www.chateau-haut-bailly.com/
******
1958 Vallana Spanna Colline Novaresi Piedmont Italy. Rare Wine Company. Red color, deep hue, light was too poor to check for bricking, very good aroma of prunes and cherries, lovely cherry and plum tastes with an earthy base that persisted through the long finish, light mouth feel, hints of fine tannins, just a bit of acidity, long fruit, spice and especially earthen notes, a haunting finish. We opened this wine at 7:00 and I had my last sip at 9:30. The wine didn't change one iota during that two and a half hour period. Remarkable. 4*+.
Notes: Nebbiolo also goes by the names Spanna, Picutener and Chiavennasca in Italy.
RWC 1990: The Vallana Legend. With all of the extraordinary wines now coming out of Italy, it seems incomprehensible that as recently as the late 1950’s, there were really only three Italian producers making consistently great wines ... and they were all in Piedmont: Giacomo Conterno, Bartolo Mascarello, and Antonio Vallana. Of course, the first two of these giants have continued to make monumental wines, evolving into enological icons. But what of Antonio Vallana, who despite once making some of Piedmont’s most spectacular and ageworthy red wines, is today virtually unknown to today’s Italian wine drinkers?
The domaine of Antonio Vallana & Figlio dates back at least to the early part of the last century in the town of Maggiora, about 100 miles northeast of Barolo. While the domaine always produced a range of wines, its place in history is owed to its profound Spannas (the local name for the Nebbiolo grape). Vallana also made what are certainly the most remarkable
Barberas we’ve ever come across. In their mouthfilling richness and their aging potential, they were far greater wines than many of the wines that have ever worn the “Barolo” label.
During the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, Vallana’s wines began to appear in the New York market. While never widely available outside of New York, for over a quarter of a century, with their wild labels and their fantastic power and richness, Vallana Spannas had a strong cult following among wine-savvy New Yorkers. By the time we became acquainted with Vallana’s wines in the early 1980’s, the quality of their current releases had fallen, but you could still pick up superb vintages from the late 1960’s in New York wine shops.
Burton Anderson, 1980: "Vallana creates Spannas with extraordinary life spans ... their breeding, substance and longevity showing no compromise whatever with conceptions of mass consumerism ... Vallana’s subcellars contain Spanna of the last half-century .... These are bargains for their age.”
Williams [whose notes on Vallana's wines I've followed for years]: Oh yeah, the Spanna. Youthful and vibrant, still a bit of tannin, pretty red cherry and plum fruit with orange peel, earth, Doesn't budge over 3 hours. I'll not contest those who claim there's a bit of Taurasi fortification here. A-/B+
******
1990 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Veneto Italy. I love this wine, and like it in the winter with Val d'Aoste type foods, like we had tonight. Very pretty, but perhaps a bit single note in this company. 3*. But much higher on another night with the temps in the twenties and thirties.
******
1999 Domaine Arlaud Morey "Les Ruchots" Cuvee Unique Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru Burgundy France. North Berkeley Imports. Purple red color, medium hue, good aromas of berries, restrained tastes of berries and strawberries, some earthen notes, and a bit of mineral, medium mouth feel, somewhat oaky, long single note finish. Needs more time in bottle and certainly needed more time than I was able to give it tonight. Not fair to rate in such company and without really giving the wine a chance to develop -- but life is unfair. 2*+. [My rating system is really designed to help me find wines, not primarily to judge them.]
Notes:
NBI: Hervé and Cyprien Arlaud are a father-and-son team who work very closely together, both in their estate-owned vineyards in Morey-St.-Denis and in the cellar. Since 1998, the Arlauds have dramatically reduced their yields, using vigorous, multiple green harvests to deepen the color of their wines and improve on their already formidable concentration.
Domaine Arlaud seems to have a “house style” that can be and has been defined as “liquid hedonism.” Call it juiciness, silkiness, or even sexiness; this unique style is present in every bottle of unfined, unfiltered Arlaud wine we import. These are Burgundies of uncommon softness, depth, and grace. The Arlaud lineup includes one of the better Bourgogne Rouge vineyards, called “Roncevie,” impressive wines from the village of Chambolle-Musigny, and not to mention some of the most memorable grand cru wines of Gevrey-Chambertin and Morey-St.-Denis.
The synergy between Cyprien and his father is the reason Domaine Arlaud has been on a winning streak since the 1999 vintage. Cyprien, having studied and worked in wineries abroad, has already seen more of the world than his father. Of the two, he has the more outgoing personality, and is more willing to innovate. The exchange between the younger and older generations in Burgundy can be fraught with misunderstanding, yet father and son have tremendous respect for one another.
Morey-St.-Denis "Les Ruchots" is a tiny vineyard just below Bonnes-Mares and Clos du Tart. This vineyard produces wines with more complexity and nobility than many grand crus.
Mark Lipton: "In Burgundy, at least, Cuvée Unique seems to equate with the NBI "barrel program." OTOH, I've had a few Clos du Caillou CdRs that were labeled Cuvée Unique and showed no sign of new oak, so perhaps David Hinkle doesn't like new oak in his Grenache..."
******
The service was excellent, and the food -- generally rustic dishes from Valle d'Aosta with a sampling from elsewhere in Italy. The whites went well with a fresh tomato/cucumber salad, and all of the reds improved Fettuccine with porcini flavored veal ragu and the somewhat overcooked veal shanks. Overall, a very pretty little west side restaurant, perhaps a little noisy for an offline, but good value.
******
I always love it when the group votes for WOTN, but I left too early, so here's my scorecard:
5* 1980 Henri Boillot "Les Rugiens" Pommard
4*+ 1958 Vallana Spanna
4* 2004 Donnhöff Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg
4* 1978 Château Haut-Bailly
4* 2004 Bibi Graetz "Bugia Bianco"
3*+ 2006 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling
3* 1990 Tommasi Amarone
2*+ 1999 Domaine Arlaud Morey "Les Ruchots" [I needed more time ... and maybe the wine did.]
2*+ NV Camille Savès Champagne [Plenty of time; liked the poem better!]
There were two other wines I would have loved to try ... but Ted was waiting, and we both had miles to go, and work to do early in the morning.
A great, great evening. Thanks all for wonderful companionship, great wines, and good foods.
Regards, Bob
