What is it about wine that fascinates us? I would suggest that there is an element of mystery and a thirst (literally) for knowledge. In a word: discovery. Wine is a life-long journey, which begins at the crossroads of culture, taste, and an inherent savoir vivre. It is not, however, a solitary journey. Wine is companionship. It is generosity. And on that note, I offer my gratitude to Arnaud (of the French la Terre vue du vin wine blog) and his wife for all their kindness and support, but also for sharing his secret Chinon with me over dinner last week. Wine people are good people. They look after you and warm the heart.

Clos Coquimbert Chinon (by Philipe Alliet)

And what better wine to celebrate camaraderie than a Loire valley red? These friendly Cabernet Franc wines offer the purest expression of conviviality. For the most part unassuming and relatively accessible, Chinon best embodies the bottle-for-two attitude. Although I tend to approach these wines with a certain skepticism, as there are many overly green releases, the Clos Coquimbert is a beautiful example of this AOC, and has renewed my interest in exploring it further!

Impression (++)

The little known Coquimbert estate is actually tended by Philippe Alliet, one of the most respected Chinon producers. The wine transcends the grape’s at times vegetal character, offering instead fresh, minty notes which back the absolutely gorgeous red fruit. A love potion!!

The precise acidity provides support to the smooth yet solid texture. And again that crisp fruit captures my palate, lingers on, and pleasure soon turns to obsession as I reach for the glass once again. One might almost forget to share!

First day at my new job, I was kindly treated to a quick lunch across the street at l’Avant Comptoir, a very popular stand-up counter which focuses as much on conviviality as the delicious little snacks to nibble on.

l’Avant Comptoir

We started off with ham sliced on an antique manual meat slicer (which brought me back to my old job back at New York’s Italian Wine Merchants) and followed it up with a great veal carpaccio and a chunky tuna tataki, finishing our meal off with slices of Brebis cheese.

The wine list here has a focus on natural wines, with familiar names like Lapierre or even Champagne Jacques Lassaigne. I decided to go for a white however, and chose the featured Bourgogne Aligoté by the glass. Continue reading →

So I’ve arrived in Paris and am currently crashing at a friend’s house until I find an apartment (help!) so that my wife and daughter can come join me as well. As a going away treat, I opened a fancy red to go with a giant barbecued steak.

Domaine Gauby

Gauby is undeniably the most notorious producer in southern France’s Roussillon region. Relatively close to Spain, the similarly hot climate here tends to produce quite powerful wines, perhaps even too powerful at times… this  is where Gauby comes in.

This already well established estate took a drastic departure in their wine making style, harvesting grapes earlier and favoring elegance and finesse in a land of brutes. Some have since followed his lead and there has been a mini revival over the past few years, with plenty of excitement coming out of this region. Continue reading →

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted here as much recently. Part of that is due to a lack of exciting wines (strict budget limitations), but also because I’ve been working on a new website. As some of you already know, I lived in Japan for 3 years, which is also where I met my wife. She’s an excellent cook, and it’s only natural that I took interest in matching my favorite wines to the Japanese dishes she prepares at home.

Finally, after much contemplation and “research” on the topic, I decided to gather my thoughts and experiences on a simple, quick reference site: Japanese Food and Wine complemented by a quick blog mostly touching on cross-cultural food and wine topics. It’s not completely finished (the Japanese language blog and mobile version are still in the works) but I figured it’d be nice to get start getting some feedback and even pairing suggestions that have worked for you! So enjoy, and be sure to pass it on to your foodie/wino friends! Kampai!

I’ve accumulated several tasting notes, which perhaps didn’t really warrant their own post. Not that the quality didn’t meet or exceed expectations, but I suppose I just wasn’t inspired beyond the sheer pleasure of the moment. For the sake of completion however, I’ll just lump them all together here for those who might be interested. Cheers!

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A generous wine-loving friend recently donated a couple bottles of Domaine Terre Inconnue to get me out of a wine rut. I wasted no time in opening them on back-to-back evenings for a comprehensive look at this controversial estate!

Domaine Terre Inconnue

This cult Languedoc estate, run by former chemist Robert Creus, produces wines at Saint Series, just 30 minutes northeast of Montpellier. Despite the great care, low yields and relatively high price tag, they are released as simple Vin de Table, mainly because Robert can’t be bothered dealing with the AOC process. needless to say, he is quite the controversial character, and  as I discovered from tasting the two cuvées Guilhem and Léonie, the wines can be a bit extreme as well!

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I can still recall my surprise upon first entering the Ontañón estate in Logroño, at the heart of the Rioja wine region. Immediately, I realized that this winery is not quite like the countless others I had visited during my world wine tour. The works of Spanish artist Miguel Ángel Sáinz had infiltrated the cellar, as if the permanent exhibit had rooted itself in the very birthplace of la Rioja, where art and wine shared the spotlight, or rather complemented each other to form an solemn environment of inspiration,  sensitivity and detail. Now that the wines are garnering some international attention, I thought it would be interesting to see where this unique outlook took root, and how these two facets of Ontañón play off of each other.

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Favorite. A very strong word and difficult claim to make, especially when it comes to wine and its wonderful diversity. Sure, I love plenty of wines, like one might love their friends, or ice cream, or drinking rosé in the sun. But picking a favorite wine is like choosing your best friend, or worse: a lifetime partner! I’ve found that the way we choose our favorite wine is very much like finding that special someone.

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My uncle came to visit for a couple days, and in addition to some of my favorite Jura reds, he also brought along this very original bottle of fortified wine from the Beaujolais.

Domaine des Terres Vivantes

From the little I could find online, the Domaine des Terres Vivantes -Living Soils Estate- is a relatively recent organic estate in southern Beaujolais run by Marie and Ludovic Gros. Before setting off on this new adventure, she was a baker and he was a sommelier, and so they not only craft wines in the Beaujolais AOC, but also bake and sell their own artisanal bread.

Fortified Gamay: Volutes

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this bottle, since my uncle didn’t really know what it was, just that it was sweet. Also, the Volutes is labeled as a “spiritueux” (spirit) and contained 18% alc/vol, so my first thought was a Pineau des Charentes type drink, which is made by adding distilled spirits to grape must (ie. unfermented juice).

After contacting the winery, I found out that Burgundy/Beaujolais does have such a product called riquiqui., but it turns out that this bottle is actually a fortified red wine similar to a Banyuls or Porto. The estate first made the experiment in 2003, the year of the heat wave which provided many over-ripe grapes. They were able to repeat the process in 2006 and 2010 by harvesting part of their Gamay 15 to 20 days later and adding a neutral spirit to halt the fermentation at around 40g of residual sugar.

Impression (+)

Ripe aromas of dark fruit and griotte cherry reminded me of some of the more exuberant Uruguay wines which I had very much enjoyed in South America, though with noticeably more alcohol. On the palate, soft tannins confirmed this impression, but the sweetness gives the wine a more mellow feel, while the surprisingly racy acidity keeps it composed and relatively fresh on the delicious finish, with lingering pomegranate notes.

I think it is this freshness that sets this Beaujolais apart from the more southern Banyuls or Porto, and I very much enjoyed the wine, though the alcohol can be a bit too present without some food to balance it out.

Ludovic Gros also mentioned that they are currently working on a proper “cooked” wine, which is reduced to only a third of its initial volume and reaches 19.5% alc/vol. Interesting, but probably not for me…