And another thing

In the post about "green" wine I forget to cycle my thoughts completely and come back to my title so . . . the final point is that the natural wine movement isn't new, it's been building since at least the mid '90's and maybe earlier. In fact I wonder if it started shortly after that whole Austrian wine/antifreeze fiasco (1984?). Not sure; I was a five year old Mormon living in Chandler, AZ at the time so my connection w/ the wine world was minimal. Furthermore it's really a retro movement that comes in reaction to the mass production/marketing/pesticide mania that gripped agriculture (including wine) after WWII. So if you're writing about the "green" wine movement as if it's a brand new thing then you're a lame-ass square. But if you've been writing about it and/or promoting it for a decade than you're definitely a bonified wine hipster and either a complete dork or independently wealthy or both. I've been all about it for less than two years and much more than one. So I'm perfect.

I'm sick and tired

of waiting for my son (1 year old) to learn patience. Seriously, I can't wait any longer.

Green wine isn't young anymore

There's a little ado about something in the wine(cyber)world over the issue of natural wines. It started with this article on Food and Wine's website by Lettie Teague. The article is prefaced by saying "Skeptical about the “greenwashing” of the wine industry" so you know where she's headed. But that's no excuse for the misinformation, poor execution and general lack of knowledge that is displayed by Lettie. So Alice Feiring was the first to call out some obvious problems, but by her own admission she went a little easy on Lettie and left it to others. Like Lyle Fass who does the usual personal attack and rants and raves incoherently for a paragraph on the superiority of natural wines. He's basically right but it's sort of like agreeing with Ralph Nader 95% of the time; you know he's right and very knowledgable but still feel gross agreeing with such a pompous asshole. So back to the article: it would've been nice if Lettie had compared apples to apples--say a Brun Beaujolais to a Dubeouf Beaujolais (Dressner would love that)--but instead she picks a Mosse Chardonnay poured by the glass at some dismal hippie wine bar. The wine shows no typicity and who knows how it was treated at that place. I've always enjoyed Mosse's wines, most recently the Boire Rouge, but would probably not gravitate to his chardonnay. Anywho, she never mentions the big guns out there who are organic or biodynamic--maybe she's not aware or she didn't want to kill her predetermined ideas by bringing up things like Domaine Leroy, Domaine Montille and Domaine de la Romanee Conti. This is a good argument for the mastery of natural winemaking as is Lapierre or any number of great German and Austrian producers; no need to assert that she's been drinking wine made by pedophiles.

Natural wines are superior in many catagories but you can and should harbor some skepticism. Obviously marketing is suspect and it's true that some natural wines are a bit more volatile or picky about their treatment. And of course sometimes you can't always get what you want, or you may opt for a Budweiser and not recycle the can. Hey I eat local if I can afford it and don't drive but I like the convenience of zip-lock freezer bags and sometimes buy more groceries than will fit in my reusable tote so? I think my carbon footprint is smaller than yours now please, go and fuck thyself. Peace.

No more lists, probably

That last post where I listed a bunch of stuff I'd recently tasted or consumed was such a boring, tedious task that I know it's even more boring to read. Whenever I encounter those lists on blogs and websites or even magazines my eyes tend to gloss over and I scan quickly for something weird but mostly I want to see how much of an idiot or genius the writer is and that is probably the whole point so from now on I'm skipping that whole game out of a sense of superiority or maybe I'll just occasionally post pictures of me holding that kick-ass bottle I just drank in one hand and a suitable flag in the other while perched atop a great steed or elephant.

First (and maybe last) wine tasting list

So, here’s a list of wines I’ve had in the past week or so. A quick thought on tasting notes first . . . There is a lot of debate about the terms wine writers’ use when describing wine; most people are dumbfounded by the never-ending lists of adjectives for aromas and tastes, and for good reason. But simply sticking to dry or tannic or soft or heavy or light or sweet or fruity is restrictive and not really accurate either. So I think if it’s a familiar smell or taste than say so—I eat grapefruit so I know what that tastes like, same with pepper or cherries or lime or smoked meat or salt etc. etc.—but when you say something like “dark mashed violets emerged with time” (from Lyle Fass’s blog Rockss and Fruit) it just alienates most everyone and I don’t think it’s true. Has Lyle encountered the aroma of mashed violets often? And dark is a description of color not smell, unless he’s also smelled light mashed violets enough to distinguish from the smell of darker ones. Bullshit. Here’s my list and notes which are probably bullshit too. (Oh ya, the prices I list are retail; since I work in wine retail my actual cost is somewhat less).

Domaine de L’Ameillaud, Vin de Pays de Vaucluse 2005, $10. This is such a good deal on well-made wine I’ve had a few over the last year. Vaucluse is in the Southern Rhone and so this VDP (country wine in France—the second lowest legal category) is in the same family as Cote du Rhones—usually a blend of Grenache and Syrah with some other grapes here and there. This particular wine has a great balance of fruit and acidity along with a little pepper and some earthiness. It’s refreshing and versatile with food.
Domaine de la Roche Saint-Martin, Brouilly 2006, $18. Cru Beaujolais is sometimes all I want to drink in the summer. Tired of white wine, don’t like most rosè so Beaujolais is the answer. Brouilly is light and fruit driven and crisp and goes great with most food.
Cascina La Ghersa, Piage 2006, $8. A white from Piedmont that is a blend of chardonnay and cortese and is unoaked and has nice fruit and its acidity isn’t too out of whack and we got it at a great deal so I can’t afford not to drink it.
Parés Balta, Calcari 2006, $20. I’m guessing a bit on the price since I got it for free at a tasting I was working that focused on wines from Catalan. This a 100% Xarello wine (maybe pronounced “shuh rello”) which is an indigenous Catalonian grape mostly used for cava. It was a decent wine, a bit too much fruit and alcohol but overall pleasant, though I wouldn’t buy it but I liked it for free.
Domaine Jean-Luc Dubois, Savigny-les-Beaune “Les Picotins”2006, $30. A little pricey but I drank it and split it with people at work. Young Burgundy is a toss up but this was pleasant though a bit tight and tannic at first. Apparently ‘06’s are better for current drinking then the fabulous but massive ‘05 vintage blah blah blah.
Ponte de Lima, Vinho Verde 2007, $7. I often crave dryish, lightly effervescent things served quite cold in the afternoon. Txacoli is usually 3 times as much though and other substitutes like things from Gaillac or Penedés are less reliable. Portugal comes through in many ways but especially Vinho Verde like this which I drank straight out of the bottle.
Bera Vittoria e Figli, Arcese 2006, $13. Another wine with a bit of natural effervescence, but this stuff is complex and simultaneously enjoyable. A blend of indigenous grapes in Piedmont—this is an awesome deal on something totally unique and soooo fucking good.

So? What About Wine?

A quick perusal of the wine blogs will usually reveal lists of tasting notes (the exceptions are the more offbeat blogs like Joe Dressner's and the non-independent ones like Asimov's): wine dinners the bloggers attended or meetings with winemakers or gatherings of other wine geeks where everyone brings something crazy or hard-to-find or themed gatherings (Rieslings your parents could have had on your conception night, premier cru burgundy's that are missing their import labels, etc.). But you rarely see lists of everything they drank that past week or weekend. Or maybe you do and I'm the only one whose job as an asst. manager at a wine shop coupled with my wifes administative salary is just enough to cover bills and student loans and the habits of our 1 year old son and living in NY and so you still drink wine most everyday but not usually the good or interesting stuff. Lyle Fass does do a bit on his blog Rockss and Fruit about terrible, weird wines that he opens. But most of this stuff is old, rare wine that was never meant to age so much or was just gross and overpriced from the get go (maybe they're old samples he finds buried in the basement of Chambers Street). It doesn't include the everyday wines that might be ok or flawed but drinkable or boring. I'm not implying that these wine people only drink expensive wine, they just rarely drink average stuff and almost never drink supermarket stuff. I understand and am against mass-produced, supermarket brand wines like all the rest but I'd be interested to see a list of everything they drank, if there weren't a few Journeys or Eagles or Arcade Fires among all the jazz masterpieces and underground, indie-rock classics. So my next post will be a tasting list of all I had over the past few days. I'll probably forget a few things that I just tasted briefly with an importer rep. at the shop, but I'll try to include as much as I remember.

Blogging

How do you blog when you know no one is reading? It's really a diary than, but you have to write assuming that at any moment someone could stumble through cyberspace onto your blog and then you have an audience. My hope is that eventually lots of people read it, but even if that happens these early posts will be buried so far back that it's doubtful anyone will see them. And if they do? What is their reward for going all the way back to the beginning? Nothing but that pervasive, mild sort of schizophrenia that exists throughout the ends of the internet; boring.