Author: lgsjr

A Trip through the Drôme Provençale

 

Lavender field in Nyons, France . (Proto courtesy of Provenceweb.fr)

 Wine regions around the world all have one thing in common: vineyards, of course.  As you travel in the Wine Country in France, some have more to offer, such as historical villages, unique churches, Roman bridges, mountain views, gourmet food, farmers’ markets, pottery, art, fields of flowers, orchardsand agriculture.   A sector of the southeastern part of France, called the Drôme Provençale, has all of these  things and more; this is where we will take you in this article.

Market day in Nyons, France.  Photo courtesy of francerevisited.com

This part of France is best known for its Rhône wines, lavender fields, but also for its apricot orchards and the famous olives grown in the small village of Nyons, where you can stop at the Cooperative for a taste of their olives and the local wines.  You can drive through beautiful little villages like Sainte Cécile-les-Vignes (where we had a memorable lunch at the small hotel La Farigoule), Cairanne, Rasteau, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Beaume-de-Venise, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (all Côte-du-Rhône villages).   Then there are Orange and its Roman arena and Suze-la-Rousse with its castle, home of the Université du Vin (Wine University).  Here there are laboratories and tasting rooms that are unique in Europe, offering courses in oenology and management for the wine industry.  All those villages are surrounded by vineyards overlooked by mountains: the Mont Ventoux and the Dentelles de Montmirail.

The Université du Vin.  Photo courtesy of Les Châteaux de la Drôme.

The village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the best known Rhône village, thanks to its famous and unique wines.  The village itself is certainly worth visiting.   You can park in the village, have a delicious lunch at an outdoor café and walk to some of the wineries in the village. Other vineyards are just a short drive from the town, where you will find Domaine Beaurenard,  Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, Château Beaucastel to name just a few of the most famous.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France.  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com

This is a favorite part of France for Lucie, since she has old friends in Nyons. She knows most of the villages and can drive you around (if you ask her).  Being a member of the Commanderie des Côtes du Rhône (Rhône wine society) as Chevalière (knight), she is quite knowledgeable about Rhône wines and she happens to have some connections in this part of the world, which will bring a few future articles on the subject.

Isn’t the Drôme Provençale inviting?

Clef du Vin

The wine taster’s best friend!  A miracle of modern science!  A tool for bringing out the cork dork in all of us!  It’s the Clef du Vin (pronounced CLAY do van.  For that last word, if you’re American, start saying “van” and just when you get to the “n”, swallow it.)  So what is this wonder?

The original Clef du Vin

It’s a metal gizmo about three inches long when fully opened, shaped a little like a flattened mouse.  The tail of this mouse is a chain about as long as the device itself.  The blade isn’t sharpened; it’s just a thin piece of steel with a small copper disk at the end.  Actually, what we have just described and shown here is the original Clef du Vin; there are versions today that are short steel rods with a bit of copper at the end.  It’s the steel and copper combination that’s key element of the Clef du Vin.

The Peugeot “Travel” Clef du Vin

Calling it the key element is a play on words, since “wine key” is the English translation of Clef du Vin.  But enough of what it is.  What does it do?  Well, it simulates the aging of wine when you plunk the bi-metal tip into wine.  It accomplishes this feat through the laws of physics.  Two metals plus an acid form a battery.  So steel and copper in wine (the acid) creates a very weak battery with a very weak charge.  Each second in the Clef du Vin is in the wine equates to a year of bottle aging, or so it seems.

Of course, the question is: Does it really work?  Well, who knows for sure.  This we can say: wines with again potential do taste better – sometimes a lot better – when treated with a Clef du Vin.  The tannins are definitely softened, the flavors more vibrant, the mouth-feel more mellow.  But if a wine has reached its potential, there is no discernible difference.

One story is enough of an illustration.  In 2013, we were at one of Napa Valley’s most renowned wineries, maker of one of the most highly rated wines in the valley.  The server was extolling the virtues of the recently released 2011 wines.  You may remember that 2011 was an unusually poor vintage in Northern California.  Many wineries did not release their premier wines that year, but this winery did.  At first sip, the wine didn’t seem to live up to its billing, but with five seconds’ use of the Clef du Vin the wine came alive in the glass.  We offered to let the server try it and she called all her colleagues over, saying “You’ve gotta try this!”.

Is that wine going to taste exactly the same today, with five years of aging?  Maybe Robert Parker can remember exactly what a wine tasted like back then, but we can’t nor do we know anyone else with that level of taste memory.  But the Clef du Vin did demonstrate that this was a wine with potential and worth buying.

When first available in the US, the Clef du Vin sold for $100.  Now you can find one on the Web for $50.00 or less.  If you do buy one for use on wine tasting excursions, be sure to bring along a paper towel to wipe it off and a plastic baggie to carry it in.  And try not to make too big a show when you use it; you’ll attract enough attention as it is just dipping something into your wine.  The Clef du Vin certainly adds a layer of interest to your wine tasting experience.

Visiting Domaine la Soumade

Close to 20 years ago, Lucie was on vacation visiting her friends in Provence and what better to do while her friend was going to work than a little wine tasting?  Let’s point out here that the Southern Côtes du Rhône is not California with its large wineries and palaces but a lot more modest in style and size.

Photo courtesy Domain la Soumade

On a cold January weekday, she was driving  in the small village of Rasteau, looking for the home of one of our favorite wines, Domaine la Soumade.  Driving back and forth along a small road, she finally spotted the name on a little signpost, but the only building there was a private house with a little shed in one corner of the garden.  As she approached the shed, a big dog barked at her loudly enough to alert the owner of the house.  A woman bundling a wool sweater around her shoulders against the chill opened her door to look at the intruder, asking what she wanted.  When Lucie told her that she came as far as Québec to taste her wine, the woman said she’d be downstairs in a moment.  As it worked out, this was Madame Romero, the wife of the owner and winemaker of Domaine la Soumade .  She invited Lucie into the shed which was the tasting room.

While tasting Domaine la Soumade wines, Madame Romero was intrigued why Lucie had come so far to Rasteau and where she was staying.  When Lucie explained that she was staying with her friends in Nyons, Madame Romero gave her a bottle of wine with a smile, saying, enjoy it with your friends tonight at dinner.

Photo courtesy of Domaine la Soumade

A few years later, Steve and Lucie were wine tasting together in Rasteau, during the harvest. Lucie wanted to take Steve to Domaine la Soumade but could not find the place.  The house was still there, but not the shed.  And where were all the people who should be wine tasting at that time of year?  Driving on the road to Orange we saw a beautiful building with Domaine la Soumade written on it.   Since Lucie had been there, they had built a winery and tasting room that could now compete with some of California’s (humbler) tasting rooms.  Madame Romero was there, serving behind the bar and when Lucie introduced herself to Madame, she immediately said, “Vous êtes la Québécoise! I remember you, you visited us before we moved here.”  The conversation went around that first visit, and then we were introduced to her husband, the winemaker, André Romero.  We had the immense pleasure of tasting some of their best wines, some traditional and others reflecting the enterprising spirit of Domaine la Soumade.  The highlights included the flagship red wine,  Fleur de Confiance and a delicious Rasteau “Vin Doux Naturel“  a sweet wine that is great at aperitif, but can be found only in France.

This experience will forever be one of Lucie’s most cherished wine tasting memories.

 

 

Château Guiraud

Visiting Sauternes is a revelation and also a bit of a surprise.  The greatest of the latter is to see the grapes if you visit near the harvest.  In all your other wine tasting voyages, harvest time means plump, glistening grapes hanging pendulously from the vines, just waiting to be picked and vinified.  What you get in Sauternes is shriveled brown grapes, formerly green, that you would throw away if you found them in your refrigerator.

Sauternes grapes.  Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons.

The reason is botrytis, la pourriture noble, the Noble Rot.  It’s a fungus that infests vineyards in damp weather, especially when the grapes are ripe and give the botrytis something to eat.  Much of the liquid is evaporated out of the grapes and what there is is wonderfully sweet and concentrated.  It doesn’t occur everywhere nor every year, but in a the area in and around the villages of Sauternes and Barsac, it is an almost annual event.  As you can see in the photo, not even all the grapes in a cluster are affected, so the ones they want for the world’s most famous dessert wine have to be picked carefully, by hand.  It takes a lot of these rotten grapes to make a bottle of wine.

There are many Sauternes producers, the most famous of which is Château d’Yquem.  Other notable ones are La Tour Blanche, Suiduirat, Doisy-Daëne and Doisy-Védrines.  We have chosen to highlight Château Guiraud because it’s one of the best (Premier Grand Cru Classé in 1855) and the only major Sauternes house actually in the village of Sauternes.  For the visitor, Château Guiraud is a great deal easier to visit than others of the great Châteaux, with no reservation required and tasting hosted in English as well as French.  (Oh, and also because we love their wine and keep it in our cellar.)

Château Guiraud.  Photo courtesy of Vinexpo.

A tasting a Château Guiraud is part of the revelation we referred to at the beginning of this article.  You’ll find that there are dry white wines made in the region and their second label, Petit Guiraud, is a pleasant before-dinner wine.  Then you get to taste the big guns, the real Sauternes wines.  Their basic tasting offers a vertical of three vintages, which again is revelatory.  You learn the intricacy and delicacy of this fabulous dessert wine from the people who made it.

The château itself makes for a pleasant visit.  You enter via a long roadway lined with plane trees.  At the end you find a gracious 18th century mansion, with a stone bordelais tower next to it.  The tasting room has a grand fireplace and the room, while a bit sparse, is a welcome to a bygone era of French hospitality.  If you’re there at the right time of year, don’t forget to see the rotten grapes.

One oddity of a visit to Sauternes, especially early in the day, is to find yourself sipping dessert before the sun is down or even before lunch.  Best advice: get over it.  Second best advice: give some thought while you’re sipping to how you might enjoy these wines other than as dessert.  They certainly accompany cheeses and although they are a bit heavy are well suited to aperitifs.  Perhaps the best and most widely know way to drink Sauternes is as an accompaniment to foie gras.

 

 

 

Tasting after the Fires

Power Tasting isn’t really about reporting the news, but we feel we owe it to our readers to give a description of what it’s like to go wine tasting in early 2018, in what we like to call Napa/Noma.  The fires that ravaged many areas of Napa and Sonoma Counties are out now, and if you smell smoke, it’s probably from people’s fireplaces.  If you don’t go searching out the most badly damaged areas such as Atlas Peak in Napa and Fountaingrove in Santa Rosa, you would not particularly know that the conflagrations occurred.

There are, of course, numerous signs that they did.  There are billboards announcing fire-related charities and lawyers to help with cases.  Most poignant for us was what we didn’t see: as we drove up Route 101 in Santa Rosa, the Hilton we used to stay at and the nearby landmark, the Round Barn are no longer there.  Considering the loss of life and those made homeless, these are certainly lesser tragedies, but for frequent visitors such as ourselves, they are stark reminders of what happened there.

The Round Barn, before the fire.  Photo courtesy of the San Jose Mercury News.

At the same time, for those wondering whether to go wine tasting in the affected areas, the answer is definitely “yes”.  For one thing, it’s a chance to aid the local economy that is still feeling the shock.  For another, you get the chance to speak with the people who lived through the disaster and hear their personal stories.  Interestingly, the people we spoke with all knew someone who had experienced significant losses but did not themselves.  With a few lamentable exceptions, almost all the wineries were spared.  Even more remarkable, there was very little damage to the vineyards, although one well-known producer did tell us that they lost a few rows in one of theirs.

The rest told stories of extremely hard work, miraculous escapes and good news for the 2017 release.  Over and over we heard that a vineyard had just been picked the day before the flames came. One did admit that a portion of their crop at one sourced vineyard had been left on the vines because it was impossible for the trucks to get there.  For the most part, we heard that the grapes had been crushed and were in barrels before the fires occurred.

We are wine tasters, not growers or makers.  We are nonetheless concerned as to how the 2017 vintage will turn out in Northern California.  A new term has entered our vocabulary, “smoke taint”, which is different than the pleasant smokiness in certain wines, particularly Northern Rhônes and Pinot Noirs.  It’s a highly unpleasant taste, so we’ve read, akin to licking the bottom of a well-used ashtray.  It will be a few years before we learn whether Napa/Noma wines are affected.

If you go wine tasting there now, you’ll be offered 2014’s and 2015’s, with perhaps a newly released 2016 available.  We can happily report that we tasted a 2017 Sauvignon Blanc at Rochioli in Russian River and the taste was grapefruit, not smoke, and it was delicious.

It will be hard to forget these terrible fires, for years to come.  But the fact is that if your goal is wine tasting, you can visit Napa/Noma without fear.  It looks and feels the same as ever, even if the usual pleasures are mixed with more than a bit of sadness.

Ridge Lytton Springs

Ridge (https://www.ridgewine.com/) is best known, perhaps, for fine Zinfandels and Zin blends.  Or maybe you know that Ridge Montebello, their premier Cabernet Sauvignon, was among the wines at the famous Judgment of Paris taste-off in 1976, and the winner when the wines were re-tasted in 2006.  Ridge’s Montebello winery is a bit off the beaten path in Cupertino, California.  Wine tasters are more likely to be in Sonoma County, where Ridge’s other winery is located, right on the border of the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys.

The vineyard itself has quite a history, with grapes planted there as early as 1901.  Paul Draper, the illustrious (and only) winemaker at Ridge, first bought grapes from the previous owner in 1972 and then bought the property in 1991.  For a long while, the tasting room was literally a plank between two barrels in the aging room of the winery.  Today it is a sleek, wood-paneled bar nestled among the vines, where a significant selection of wine are available for tasting.  On the opposite side of the bar is a glass window wall overlooking the old Zinfandel vines, a source of beauty in itself.

Ridge’s tasting room at Lytton Springs

There are several hallmarks to Ridge’s wines:  all but one are from single vineyards (their Three Valleys is the exception).  Many are estate wines, especially the Lytton Springs from the property where you taste wines.  Some have acquired quite a reputation, such as the Pagani Ranch or the Independence School and others are rather obscure small bottlings, like Boatman or Buchignani.   They make wine from many varietals, but are best known for Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons.  Many of the Zins are blended with other grapes such as Carignan and Petite Syrah, enough so that they fall below the 75% requirement to be sold as a single varietal.

One of the beauties of a visit to this winery is the number of different wines you can try.  Yes, there is a Chardonnay, but really a visit to Ridge is about red wines. There may be as many as seven or eight Zinfandels available, which by itself is a lesson in the variety of flavors that can be extracted from this grape, a specialty of California in general and Dry Creek in particular.

The climax of a tasting at Ridge is their Cabernet Sauvignons.  The Estate Cab is usually included in a tasting, but if you want to know what the Montebello tastes  like, you’ll have to pay an additional fee.  It’s worth it, if only for the bragging rights. Do not leave Ridge without tasting it.  It certainly crowns a wine tasting experience.

We have found the servers to be enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but unfortunately have to report that on a few occasions we were served by someone seemingly uninterested in serving and helping us.  That experience underscores the importance of the server in the quality of your visit.

A visit to Ridge in Lytton Springs can be the highlight of a day’s tasting adventures, especially if you’ve never had the chance to compare their wines, one with the others.  Even if you have visited Ridge many times, as we have, there’s always at least one wine to try that will impress you, and the Montebello to blow you away.

Rainy Day Tasting

One of the great things about touring in Wine Country is that you can generally expect lovely weather, if a bit hot.  Making great wine requires plentiful sunshine, so that’s what you’re likely to get when you go wine tasting.  However, into every vineyard a little rain must fall; after all, the grapes need water too.  So if you wake up to find it pouring and the weatherman says it’s likely to continue all day, what are you to do?  You’ve come to taste wine and perhaps today is the only day you have to indulge yourself.  You could just give up and go home, but why?  Pretty much all tasting rooms are indoors, after all.  (Iron Horse Winery in Sebastopol in Sonoma County, is the maker of some pretty good sparkling wines and is the exception.  Their tasting “room” is outdoors, so maybe it’s not a super choice for a rainy day.)

So if you’re facing a day of fine wine mixed with rainwater, here are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Drive extra safely.  Aside from the usual caution you should exercise while mixing alcohol and driving, you should take extra care.  Many Wine Country roads are rather windy, narrow and have no guard rails.  Even if you are exercising due care, the person driving that on-coming or overtaking car may not be doing the same thing. Or maybe this is the day to hire a driver.

Old Zinfandel vines at Ridge Lytton Springs winery.

  • Enjoy the special majesty of the vineyards.  Of course, it’s best to see the vineyards just before harvest, with the leafy vines hanging with ripe fruit.  But maybe you picked an overcast day in February because that’s when you happened to be there.  We think that bare vines under gray skies have an allure of their own, especially stumpy, non-trellised old Zinfandel, as shown in the photo above.  You may not get this sight very often, so enjoy it while you have it.
  • Take advantage of slow days in the tasting rooms.  Rainy days don’t generally attract big crowds, so you get the chance to spend more time with knowledgeable servers.  Not only do you get their undivided (well, less divided) attention, but they may be just a little more inclined to find something special to pour for you.  Anyone who ventures out in bad weather is pretty likely to be a dedicated wine taster, so it’s the servers’ pleasure to reward you just for showing up.
  • Bring an umbrella.  Sure, you knew that, but maybe you don’t have one in your luggage.  Most hotels have a supply and they are happy to loan you one.  (Be considerate and return it when you’re finished with it.)  Plan B might be to look for an umbrella in your first tasting room’s gift shop, emblazoned with the logo of that winery.

Overall, the message is to make the most of a bad day and enjoy your tastings anyway.

Visiting Napa/Noma in February

This is another in Power Tasting’s series on the best time of year to visit Napa and Sonoma Counties for wine tasting.  The answer is that there is no “best” time; each month has something special to offer. 

One thing to be said for wine tasting in Napa/Noma in February is that you’re one month closer to warm weather than you were in January.  It’s still winter to be sure and you are more likely to get a rainy day in February than you are in the summer.  But we have also experienced some wonderfully warm days in February, when with a sweater or light jacket you can sit outside and enjoy your wine under blue skies.

A particular advantage of going wine tasting in February is that many of the wineries issue their new releases that month.  We have always made sure to include a visit to Heitz Cellars in St. Helena in February, because that’s when you get to taste the Martha’s Vineyard (although we have recently found it in recent visits in other months as well).  Of course, there is a cloud to this silver lining; new releases haven’t had a much time in the bottle.  You’ll have to bring your imagination with you to have an idea of what these young wines will taste like when they grow up.

Another advantage is that the mustard is in full flower in the vineyards, a lovely sight to compensate for the absence of leaves and grapes on the vines.  The yellow flowers brighten up even the coldest day.  And yes, it can get fairly cold in February, despite the possibility of warmth – and often on the same day!

Mustard in the vineyards and lilac on the trees, as seen in February at Domaine Carneros.

That hot restaurant where it’s impossible to get a table in June has lots of empty seats in February.  The streets of Yountville and Healdsburg aren’t as crowded with tourists; you can actually take time in front of the paintings in the galleries; and the salespeople in the gift shops are actually glad to see you.  Many hotels have special package deals.  On the other hand, February has Presidents Day weekend and then every place is as full as in high season.  That weekend may be your only chance to get away for wine tasting, so anticipate the crowds.  If you can choose another time, especially midweek, we recommend you do so.(We experienced it and it was very unpleasant.)

You’ll get more attention from the servers in the tasting rooms those days.  In particular if you’re tasting on a cold miserable day,  the servers may be so glad to see anyone that you’ll be treated like visiting royalty.  To be fair, that advice applies more to smaller, out of the way wineries.  The big ones, especially those that take busloads of visitors, are still likely to be packed.

A February afternoon at Limerick Lane Winery

Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes cold weather.  If you’re a Floridian or a Southern Californian, February in Napa/Noma is definitely the depth of winter.  But if you’re a New Yorker or a Québécoise, a day when you can walk around outdoors sporting only a sweater is the first sweet breath of spring.  No grapes on the vines?  Forget about it; the buds will surely be breaking soon.  You can have the satisfaction of having your wine tasting vacation sooner than anyone else and the pleasure of doing so without the crowds.

 

 

Porto

In the north of Portugal you’ll find the city of Porto, on the northern shore of the Douro River, where it debouches into the Atlantic.  The city’s name has an interesting history.  On the southern shore there is today a town called Vila Nova de Gaia, but it Roman times it was Gallia.  As the town prospered, the Lusitanians (as the Portuguese were then known) needed more room, so they built a port, or portum in Latin, on the north shore – contemporary Porto.  Today the country takes its name from these twin cities: Portum + Gallia = Portugal.

Porto as seen from Vila Nova de Gaia.  Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe.

And as wine lovers know, it also gave its name to a wine we call Port.  That fact alone makes Porto worth visiting, but it has many other attractions as well.  Among these are the Cathedral, the Eiffel bridge (same architect as Paris’ tower) also known as the Luis I, the Clerigos Tower and the Douro Waterfront.  While there is much excellent dining around the city, a particular favorite is on the waterfront, the wonderfully named La Case da Filha da Mae Preta or The House of Black Mae’s Daughter.  If you go, order the giant prawns in garlic sauce; they’re not on the menu but it’s the best dinner you can have there.

And of course, there’s Port to be tasted.  When you check into a hotel, after you sign the register, they hand you a glass of Port.  Now, that’s civilized!

The wine is pressed upriver and shipped in tanker trucks to the wineries, or lodges as they are known there in Vila Nova de Gaia.  [In the past they came down river on boats called rabelos.  These can still be seen in the river near the south shore, but are no longer in use.]  In Gaia, they are aged in casks, barrels or bottles, depending on the style of wine.  You can taste away at the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, which is the counterpart of the solara or tasting room in Lisbon.

If you are on the Porto side in the evening, you will see the Gaia hillside light up with enormous signs of all the Port houses you ever heard of…and a few you haven’t.  Many of them have tours and tastings, during the day of course.  Perhaps the best tour is at Sandeman’s which is also the easiest to reach.  There is a small bridge (not the high Eifel one) that you can walk across the Douro.  Turn right on the Gaia side and Sandeman is a few hundred feet down the road.  You’ll get a great view of Porto as well.  Your tour will explain the differences among dry, ruby, tawny, colheita, LBV and vintage ports and then you’ll get to taste some of them.

Photo courtesy of Monaloca.

Other lodges are less easy to reach but the consensus position is that the wines are better.  Each has certain attractions.  Ramos Pinto has a museum of their history.  Calem, one of Lucie’s favorite Ports, offers a fado (Portuguese blues) performance along with your tour.  The more famous names, such as Grahams and Taylor Fladgate, focus pretty much only on the wines.  Many require appointments.  Some have restaurants.  It’s a good idea to read up before you go wine tasting there.

Another good idea is to remember that Port  is a fortified wine, meaning that it is enriched with neutral grain brandy.  That makes it quite alcoholic, typically 20% or more.  That’s less than in whiskey but a heck of a lot more than in table wine.  So don’t plan too many tastings in one day.  Enjoy the beauty of your surroundings so you get the most out of Porto and its twin city, Vila Nova de Gaia.

Reprise: The Server Series

A year ago, Power Tasting published a Field Guide to Servers, a tongue-in-cheek series on the different types of people who serve wine in tasting rooms.  We added some tips on how to get the most out of your interactions with each type:

  • The Pourer: a person whose sole activity is to remove wine from a bottle through the neck and place it in a glass
  • The Host: someone whose objective is simply to make sure that everyone is having a good time
  • The Seller: a server whose intention is not that you have a great time but rather that you join the winery’s club or at least buy some wine while you are there
  • The Retainer: a person who appears more like a personal employee of the owner, whom he or she treats with a deference that approaches worship
  • The Educator: a server not only knows wine but is excited by it and is eager to share his or her expertise with others

If you missed the series or just would like to re-read some of the descriptions, click your way to these “library selections” as they say at wineries.