Nicolas Maillart Marie-Hanze Champagne Eaux Belle Brut NV
Nicolas Maillart’s Marie-Hanze Rosé Champagne Eaux Belle Brut is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier, and 10% Chardonnay. Soft, and lightly-styled, the nose exhibits delicate aromas of graham cracker, tart cherries, cherry blossoms, and red skinned apples. On the palate, it comes across as retiring and shy, with moderate acidity, red berries, […]
Moët & Chandon Champagne Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1996
Oenothèque differs from the regular Dom Pérignon Brut in that bottles are aged on the cork, rather than on crown-seals, it also receives a lower dosage following disgorgement. As such this is a flawless Oenothèque. It reminds me of Michelangelo’s Davide in all that it communicates—timeless, there is lightness of form and yet the gravity […]
Gini Contrada Salvarenza Vecchie Vigne 2010
From Garganega, the most widely grown white wine grape in the Veneto region. If you prefer a fruity white, you won’t find it here. What you will find are soft, delicate aromatics of dried honey, lemon tart, and a touch of flinty minerality. It’s full-bodied and voluptuous in the mouth, with just enough acidity to […]
Apothic Winemaker’s Blend Red 2013
When I taste a wine like Apothic, I am reminded of one of my favorite films, Big Night. In one of the more memorable scenes, Pascal, the owner a thriving Italian-style restaurant gives advice to the owner of a failing restaurant across the street. “A guy works all day, he don’t want to look at […]
Piedrasassi Coastal White 2011
Peidrasassi’s website says their Coastal White is, “Very unconventional.” A bit of an understatement, this blend of 50% Albarino and 50% Sauvignon Blanc that is fermented whole-cluster in a puncheon, and get this, post-fermentation it’s then aged on the skins for a full year! Pronounced notes of candied grapefruit peel, bitter almond, pear seed and […]
Art of the Macaron: Cooking Classes at Aubergine
It’s small. That was my first thought on entering the tidy, well-lit kitchen at Aubergine. I had attended an eight-course dinner there the month before, a sumptuous and innovative menu featuring white and black Alba truffles, expertly woven into each luxurious course. I knew what sort of magic could come from the belly of this modest […]
Philippe Gonet Champagne Rosé Brut NV
Tasted during Sunday’s Bubbly Pink seminar at Pebble Beach Food & Wine, the panel, by the was fantastic and included the likes of Ian Cauble. My favorite from the tasting was the Philippe Gonet Champagne Rosé Brut, a complex and earthy blend of 90% Chardonnay from Mesnil-sur-Oger and 10% Pinot Noir sourced from Vertus on […]
Marc Chauvet Champagne Special Club 2005
The Marc Chauvet Special Club 2005 is a provocative blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir from family-owned estate vineyards in Reims. Pale lemon yellow, the attack is decidedly creamy, but this aspect quickly dissolves through a layer lees-infused wet dough notes accompanied by lemon pith and white grapefruit rind. Perhaps what is most […]
Camille Savès Champagne Brut Millesimé Grand Cru 2004
This has to be the the best Bouzy Champagne I’ve tasted thus far—Camille Savès Brut Millesimé Grand Cru 2004 is a lush blend of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. Aromatics of toffee, crystalline honey, white flowers and orange peel portend flavors on the palate. Full and expansive, with nice energy and verve, there is […]
Jules Desjourneys Moulin-à-Vent 2009
It’s hard to believe the Jules Desjourneys 2009 is a Beaujolais, such is the concentration and depth of this stunning Moulin À Vent. The fruit is not so unusual, a generous dollop of wild strawberries and pie cherries, but then it veers sharply off the sunlit path, into a thicket of scrub and undergrowth, wet […]