The Splurge Issue
Me, fooling around with a bottle of Sancerre Rouge.
Dearest subscribers, choosing a splurge-worthy wine can be daunting if you don't know what to look for. You may know that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an impressive bottle to bring to a dinner party but secretly wonder why the heck that is. What makes it so expensive and why are there so many different and yet very similar looking bottles of it on the shelf? Maybe you've stood in front of a wall of Chablis and wondered what the difference is between Petit Chablis and just plain old regular Chablis? Conversely, do you know that some of the world's best Malbec comes from Mendoza?
For answers to these questions and tips to help you splurge better, keep reading.
Chablis is the northernmost wine region of Burgundy, France. Like all white wine that comes from Burgundy, Chablis is made from the Chardonnay grape. There are four classifications of Chablis. In hierarchical order they are: Grand Cru Chablis- there are literally only seven vineyards that can legally call themselves Chablis Grand Cru, then there are the 40 Premiers Crus one of which I am reviewing here, next there's Chablis which is by far the most common and, finally, the lesser regarded Petit Chablis. As with most things in life, with Chablis, you'll pay for quality. If you're lucky enough to find a grand cru at the LCBO it will be significantly more expensive than the 1er cru. On the other hand, you can find lots of non-cru Chablis in and around $20.
The interesting thing about this region is that it's actually much closer, geographically, to Champagne, France than it is to the rest of Burgundy. This is, in part, what makes its taste profile so unique among other white Burgundies. Classically it's called 'steely' and 'mineral' with a distinct aroma of what the French call pierre à fusil, or gunflint in English. What wine professionals mean when they describe it in these terms is that the wine is clean, fresh, and crisp. In other regions of Burgundy the whites tend to be weightier, richer, and more often than not, aged in oak barrels which impart notes like smoke, toasted oak, butter, and roasted nuts. Chablis, in contrast, is very unlikely to be oak-aged (with the very rare exception of some grand cru).
The 2015 Denis Race Montmains 1er Cru Chablis is spot on; a real dead ringer. When I was in somm school, this is the kind of wine that could make you feel like you were cheating if it was poured for you in a blind tasting. It's textbook. It's what would typically be described as 'lean' and 'mineral driven' which means there's a chalky, stony quality to this wine. In this case, these notes are attributed to the Kimmeridgean soil of the Chablis region. It's a classic note that one would look for in a glass of Chablis.
The overall impression of this wine is fresh and crisp. You'll find youthful notes of under-ripe pear, white blossom, green apple and lots of citrus, some grapefruit, lemon and lime. These flavours and aromas are rounded out with what wine professionals call a 'leesy" quality which gives the wine a creamy texture and imparts subtle notes of honey, spice and golden apple aromas and flavours that can sometimes be confused with oak influence.
This is a wine that's giving up its good stuff now. No need to cellar this one. Enjoy with mussels in a white wine broth with garlic toast for dipping. Luke, what are we doing Sunday? Should we crack open another bottle? My mouth is watering!
While Châteauneuf-du-Pape is wildly popular and highly recognizable it's also widely misunderstood. CdP is an appellation of the Southern Rhône in France, not a brand or vineyard name. There are 320 unique vineyards in CdP all of them can use this appellation name, which translates to Pope's new castle', on their labels. This appellation name is further underscored by the insignia of the Papal coat of arms: a tiara above two crossed keys that appears, embossed, just below the neck of the bottle. Just to complicate things, there's a second version of this insignia called "La Mitrale," that was released in 2001 for which the papal tiara was transformed into a bishop's miter, without a coat of arms. If you're interested in the details of the dispute from which this second design arose click here to read more.
In terms of quality, it is the single most important appellation of Southern Rhône which is why you never see them for less than $40 and why they can command prices into the triple digits. Why such a price spread? Well, with 320 different producers, naturally some will be better than others.
CdP is Grenache dominant and typically blended with the grapes Syrah and Mourvèdre. Classically, it's rich, full-bodied, tannic, and spicy. My guy and I made short work of this 2015 Domaine de la Solitude alongside slow-cooker BBQ ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. Upon reflection, I wished I'd paired it with ribeye steak and broccoli rabe. But hey, it was a busy Sunday and sometimes even when the pairing ain't perfect it's still pretty good.
The wine was a beautiful bright ruby with a complex nose of dark chocolate, plum, violates, lilac, tar, molasses. fennel seed, char, cedar, prune, peppercorn and raw red meat. There's also a slightly bitter undertone that's entirely pleasant. The palate matched the nose expertly and offered additional notes of clove, anise, vanilla, baking spice and macerated black cherry. The mouthfeel was pure velvet and while the tannins don't shy away, they run completely smooth and in balance with the high alcohol of this wine.
We really enjoyed drinking this wine now but with its flavours and aromas still squarely in the development stage, you could easily cellar it 10+ years if you wanted.
At $42 I hesitate to call this a 'value wine' especially after titling this the Splurge Issue, but, I must say, look at the description I gave this wine. My most faithful subscribers will know, I don't often get into that much detail. The truth is, not all wines are this complex. So, I'll leave it at this, you're really getting your money's worth - and maybe more - with this one.
Provenance is a key factor in the quality potential of a wine. There are reasons why sparkling wine from Champagne is considered superior to all other bubbly, why Riesling is king in Germany and, in this case, why it's favourable to see Mendoza on your bottle of Malbec. Most often the influences are climate, soil type, and the winemaking practices or general savoir-faire of the grape growers and producers within a region over time.
Mendoza is a wine region in Argentina where Malbec dominates for all the right reasons listed above. This 2013 Versado Reserva Malbec is another knockout form Ann Sperling who consulted on the production of this wine with chief Argentine winemaker Roberto de la Mota.
The colour is a rich, deep, ruby with a very dark core, almost purple. Notes of black plum, violet, black currant, blueberries, and liquorice on the nose are matched and accompanied by flavours of dark chocolate and prune on the palate. The oak is replete and yet subtle. This is a wonderfully rich, aromatic, full-bodied wine, at 14.9% alc./vol you won't want to go it alone with this wine. I'd suggest Argentine flank steak with chimichurri sauce with this one.
Released in August, there's still a decent amount of inventory of this wine, but not boatloads so, if this sounds compelling and you're in a treat yourself kind of mood don't wait on picking this one up.
