Every Monday, discover new wines, regions, and ways to understand this fermenting sea.
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Munching Vidal Blanc on Keuka Lake, New York
Category Archives: White
Serendipity: Biodynamics -vs- Wines from Jura #MWWC13
Serendipity provides the lucky theme for this 13th Monthly Wine Writing Challenge. So, what role does fortuitous chance play in wine? Well, one theory thinks we can control nature’s chaos: biodynamics.
Logo DemeterImagine organic wine-making on astrological steroids, based, weirdly, on lectures given by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s. I won’t bore you, but biodynamics looks at a vineyard as a whole ecosystem tied to celestial phenomenon and proscribes rituals to better enhance sustainability and produce. Intriguing…
However, bio-ists also latch their lunar planting calendar to a wine tasting calender (no really). 1st century Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder said the moon “replenishes the earth; when she approaches it, she fills all bodies, while, when she recedes, she empties them.” In theory, wine lives, and moon phases effect it just like living plants. Now wine certainly evolves and changes chemically with time and oxygen exposure, but to consider it “living” is like believing in zombies: those grapes aren’t growing anytime soon.
But can this (pseudo) science really predict chance? If we can calculate and plan our pleasure: “today is a leaf day, I shall avoid wine for maximum delight!” does it rob us the joy of surprise? Can we control serendipity?
Posted in Savagnin, Uncategorized, White
Tagged biodynamic winemaking, biodynamics, Bourdy, chardonnay, Chateau Chalon, demeter, Jean Bourdy, Jura, mwwc, mwwc13, Poulsard, Savagnin, serendipity, Trousseau, Vin Jaun, wine
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Thirsty Thursday: Cape Mentelle, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Margeret River, Australia 2014
This Thirsty Thursday we travel to Bordeaux….via Australia? Yes, far away from the famed/derided/wallabied land of Shiraz in South Australia, on the Western coast flows the Margaret River towards India: Like Bordeaux’s Gironde River, Margaret draws moisture from the Indian … Continue reading
Posted in Sauvignon Blanc, White, White wine
Tagged Australia, cape mentelle, margaret river, Sauvignon blanc, Semillon, White wine, winter white
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Other Muscadets and Oddities: Coteaux de la Loire, Grandlieu, Gros Plant, Fiefs Vendeens, Chenin, and Muscadet
Yes. Winter grips the Northern hemisphere. But turn your minds to warmer weather. Our 7 month 13 country EU Austerity Drinking Tour has visited Muscadet’s famed Sèvre-et-Maine and every-day Muscadet. This Monday, we try on Muscadet’s other wine regions for size.
On the Loire’s right bank, North of Sèvre et Maine sits Coteaux de la Loire in the hills above Ancenis:
They too mainly grow Muscadet. But how do they perform:
Les Vignerons de la Noëlle’s “Folies Siffait” Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, France 2011
Like most Muscadet, Noëlle looks pale lemon with a slight fizz. Continue reading
Aging Wine on Sludge: Muscadet Sur lie -vs- Sans lie
Last Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour visited Clisson: home to Muscdet Sèvre et Maine. Before we left, we popped into their tasting room and found this:
Muscadet wine filled this barrel-with-its-skirt-lifted. Neon lights lit the thing that makes Muscadet fantastic: sludge:
That sludge consists of months of sedimentation of dead yeast and particulates. Called lie (lees), nearly half of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine proudly adds “sur lie” (on the lees) to its labels. But why?
To find out, we sample through twenty wines for free at Nantes’ Maison des Vins de Loire:
Let’s begin with plain ‘ol Muscadet:
Château-Thébaud uses grapes from grower Poiron Dabin. Its pale gold color runs from the core to the rim. Pure, strong aromas waft of honey, flint, smoke, and salt. It feels dry, still racing with acidity, mild alcohol, a lightish body, and moderately intense flavors of tart green apple, grass, salt, and bees’ wax. The length is only medium. Yet five years old, this Muscadet remains fresh and clean cut. It is textbook, faultless, and very good (4 of 5). Continue reading
Posted in Muscadet, White
Tagged Château-Thébaud, Cheese, Clisson, Cure Nantais, European Union, France, lees, Lees (fermentation), lees aging, lie, Maine, Maison des Vins de Loire, Muscadet, Nantes, sevre et maine, sur lie, wine, yeast
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WAYWARD WINE 