Old World Classics, The French Issue
Me, circa 2013, beginning my journey in the WSET Program. (Wine and Spirits Education Trust)
Dearest Subscribers, from literature to sculpture, haute couture to fine wine, the French have a rich history of producing masterworks of art. Certain names, places, and titles are universally recognized for their quality, Montaigne and the essay, Dior and "the bar suit", Champagne and sparkling wine.
In this issue I am thrilled to present four classics of French wine - a Loire Valley Chenin, a non-vintage Champagne, a red Burgundy, and a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs, I give you, The French Issue.
If a bottle of Champagne pops and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps the better question is, where is everybody? Nothing brings a crowd together - big or small - quite like a bottle of Champagne. Most commonly in moments of celebration, less frequently in moments of quiet reflection, always in the spirit of sharing something special.
Champagne is the most famous type of sparkling wine not only in France but in the world. Why then is it so widely misunderstood? The white-gloved pretention of Champagne service definitely plays a role as does price point. Ironically, most people are reluctant to ask questions about expensive wine, many of us just assume it must be good. Otherwise, why go to all the bother of presenting the bottle, the cork, and then leaving it to chill in a fancy, silver ice bucket, am I right?
Allow me to shed some light. Let's start with the basics, Champagne is wine. More specifically it is a type of sparkling wine from the region of Champagne which is in the north-east of France.
Now, here are all the ways it can differ from bottle to bottle:
1. It can be made in a variety of styles from extra dry to very sweet. The degree to which a Champagne is dry or sweet is indicated by these terms:
Brut naturelle – bone dry
Brut – very dry
Extra sec – dry to medium dry
Sec – medium dry
Demi sec – sweet
Doux – very sweet
2. It can be Vintage or Non-Vintage, (NV)
Unlike most wine, the majority of Champagne is non-vintage. To best explain this, let me begin with what a typical vintage wine is. The vintage of a typical wine refers to the year in which the grapes contained within it were harvested. Meaning, if a bottle is marked 2013, that's when the grapes used to make it were plucked from the vine. Virtually every single bottle of wine will have a vintage year - with few exceptions like some Champagne and fortified wines like Port, Sherry, and Madeira.
So, if with very few exceptions, all wine is vintage dated why is the opposite true for Champagne? Good question!
You know how you'll hear people say, (sometimes sarcastically when making fun of wine snobs) "Oh yes, 2013 was a great vintage"? What they're really saying is, the growing conditions i.e. the amount of sunshine, rainfall, frost, etc., that year yielded excellent grapes for winemaking. Well, growers in Champagne will only declare a 'vintage' in these truly great years when conditions are deemed most optimal for superior wine production. In all other years growers/ producers/ the great Champagne houses, defer to their house blend (an expert blend of the juice from many harvest years) to produce a consistent style and taste. This system of blending is precisely why when you pick up a bottle of NV Moët it always tastes the same. This does not mean that NV Champagne is of poor quality. That's not the case at all. It's just not going to express what is referred to as 'vintage variation', the variables of a grapes taste profile based on weather/ growing conditions of a particular year.
In sum, NV Champagne is the majority and has a consistent style and taste from producer to producer while Vintage Champagne is only produced in declared years (approximately 3-4 times per decade) and differs in taste from that of a producer's 'house style'.
Note that the term prestige cuvée is used by producers to denote the best examples of their house blends.
3. While only three grape varieties are used in Champagne, Chardonnay and Pinots Noir and Munier, the amount to which they are present in the bled determine how a bottle will be labeled.
100% Chardonnay – Blanc de Blancs
100% Pinot (Noir and Munier) – Blanc de Noirs
4. There are five main sub-regions of Champagne. Each known for producing a particular grape variety very well, or for the influence of its micro-climate on the taste profile of a grape. The regions are:
Montagne de Reims
The Vallée de la Marne
The Côte des Blancs - which, as the name suggests, favours Chardonnay
Côte de Sézanne
The Aube / Côte des Bar
For this issue, I am reviewing the NV, Brut Champagne from the house of Tarlant. It's from the Vallée de la Marne and consists of equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Munier. Some of the wine in the bottle is from the declared 2009 vintage, a vintage, that on its own is not yet deemed ready to drink. The remainder of the blend is reserve wine from various harvests.
What I like about this wine is that it's not from one of the big houses. So, it's got more novelty than the same old Veuve, if you know what I mean. Not because Veuve isn't good, rather, because variety so often is. Also, because it lacks brand recognition it's better on price - this bottle retails in Ontario for $42.25!
This is a fresh and lively, youthful Champagne. Notes of lemon, crisp apple and pear dominate with just a touch of biscuit. Nicely acidic with good bubbles.
Serve with grilled pear, brie, and honey crostini.
For me, Vouvray is the cake-taker of all Loire Valley wines. Rarely found in a dry style on Ontario store shelves, it was hard for me to contain my excitement when I spotted this one from fourth-generation family viticulturists, father and son duo, Bernard and Arnaud Herivault.
To get us started, allow me to explain what and where Vouvray is in relation to the Loire. Vouvray is an appellation of Touraine which is a geographical region within the Loire Valley in central France. In Vouvray, only the white wine grape variety Chenin Blanc is grown. Therefore, when one sees Vouvray on a wine list or store shelf, it can only be Chenin Blanc in the bottle. Much like how when we refer to 'red Burgundy' we can only be describing Pinot Noir, as PN is the only red grape varietal grown there.
Vouvray is counted among many exceptional white wines of the Loire, from Muscadet to Sancerre, of which, geographically, Vouvray lies in between. Here's what makes it special: it makes great wine in a variety of styles, from perfectly dry to amourously sweet. Some sparkling is also made. Vouvray is a wine that flies under the radar and has astounding aging potential. This makes it a consistently good value that can really over-deliver on your investment. Well made, sweet Vouvray can literally age decades before showing its best in the glass.
The Vouvray I am reviewing in this issue has been, as mentioned, vinified in a dry style. Right away I picked up on the characteristic 'flint' aromas and flavours the vineyard soils of this Domaine are known for imparting. In addition, I noted lemon, lime, saline, wax, dandelion, and wet stone. It was medium + across the board in body, alcohol, and acid. I thought it was extremely well balanced and finely tuned. In my opinion, this wine could age easily another 3-5 years but I would be most interested in seeing it develop somewhere between 5-7, so, I picked up another bottle for storage. I can't think of a better experiment for $23.
Pair this wine with just about anything that lists goat cheese as a main ingredient:
Arugula and goat cheese salad with caramelized onions and candied walnuts
Phyllo tarts with kale and goat cheese
Potato gratin with goat cheese and rosemary
Bordeaux produces more of what are deemed 'fine wines' than any other wine region in the world. The wines produced here are mostly reds, but some white is also made. Bordeaux wines are complex blends. Red Bordeaux is a blend, of varying proportions, of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, rounded out with smaller amounts of Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenere. The white wines of Bordeaux are typically a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, most notably in the production of Bordeaux's famed dessert wine, Sauternes, [SO-turn].
Bordeaux, in terms of its wine, is split into two sides, the Left and the Right Banks. The Left Bank is comprised of the Medoc and Graves (place names you will see on bottle) while the Right Bank is where you will find St.-Emilion and Pomerol.
As far as classifications go, St.-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe is the most distinguished, followed by St.-Emilion Grand Cru Classe which is, technically followed by St.-Emilion Grand Cru (such as this). But, Grand Cru status is St.-Emilion sounds more prestigious than it really is, because, as of 2013 there are now more Grand Crus in St.-Emilion than there are appellation level St.-Emilion wines. Anyway...
What's really cool about St.-Emilion, are the producer/ farmers who make the wine. St.-Emillon really started what came to be known as the Garagist movement in Bordeaux. Essentially winemakers who would set up and produce wine from their garage. Rather different from the grand chateaux of the Left Bank producers, the garagists are the small guys doing great things a bit unconventionally. Their focus is limited production of artisan wines.
Good Bordeaux has excellent aging potential and has been known to continue it's development in bottle, literally, for decades. This bottle is drinking well now but could easily age another 3-5 years.
This is a showstopper in the glass, the gorgeous deep ruby colour is rich and elegant. This wine is full-bodied with a hearty 14.5% alc./vol. but it's fruit is delicate and fresh. Plum, blackberry and blueberry notes are laced with toasted oak. The Merlot is unmistakably present, imparting its classic notes of pillowy plum and violet.
This wine retails for just under $50 at the LCBO and it's perfect for those occasions when you are going to a lot of effort over dinner. Beef tenderloin or slow roast beef with fingerling potatoes and broccoli rabe would be a nice match.
All sommeliers, winemakers and wine enthusiasts will tell you, drinking good, red Burgundy is an ethereal experience. Burgundy is, unquestionably, the home of Pinot Noir and the standard by which all other PN is judged, either in comparison or contrast.
This is a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertain which is known for producing a style of PN that is dark and powerful with firm tannins. Gevrey-Chambertain itself is a rather small town in the Côte de Nuits region of Burgundy which is part of the larger Côte d'Or. The Côte d'Or is where PN is considered to be at its finest in Burgundy.
Gevrey-Chambertain requires time to develop. This 2014 vintage from Domaine René Bouvier is still too young to drink, I think. Currently, this bottle is retailing for $85 in Ontario.
A few notes on the producer: Domaine René Bouvier, produces wines from 13 different appellations in France. Their production is organic, without the use of fertilizers and with minimal amounts of sulphur. All their grapes are hand-harvested. I'm going to cellar this bottle for at least 5 years. Stay tuned for the tasting note!
