The producer Oltretorrente grows this wine in the Colli Tortonesi DOC, which is in the far east of the Piedmont region. This is an extremely small scale operation. In fact, only 100 cases of this wine were made. While these vines are only 10 years old, they are producing some characterful grapes. Oltretorrente vinifies (and ages) their Timarosso in steel, then gives it 7 months of bottle age before releasing. The results are superb, clean, acid and texture driven wine.

The nose? Pineapple and orchard fruits: nectarine, peach, and apricot. There is a wonderful combination of richer fruit but higher acidity, with a soft but not overly creamy texture. This is clean wine, with quite a light colour and no oak influence. To me, this is a perfect white food wine. It combines fruit forwardness with very crisp acidity and highly expressive aromatics. It is perfect for B.C. summer seafood and an antidote to all those boring pinot gris that get pulled out in the summer.

13.5% ABV

Very Good+
$23.80 at Garagiste

Chardonnay is arguably the greatest white grape. Because of its flexibility in the cellar, and its ability to grow well in many regions around the world, Chardonnay also offers perhaps the greatest diversity of any single white grape. The common understanding is that Chardonnay is a cellar grape whereas a grape like Riesling is a grape of terroir.

There is truth to this. However, in my experience the very best expressions of Chardonnay from around the world have a distinct edge and incomparability that complexifies the notion that Chardonnay is a cellar grape.

Chardonnay in the New World

The New World has had a difficult relationship with Chardonnay. Confronting the grape with high ripeness levels and an acute awareness of market trends led many producers to make innocuous flabby wines. In the last several years there has been a renaissance of Chardonnay in many New World regions including California, Australia and New Zealand. However, the most interesting producers are still very difficult to find and do not see much distribution.

New Zealand has dramatically improved its reputation beyond their distinct approach to Sauv Blanc. Now Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and some Syrah and Bordeaux varieties are showing up at very good quality levels. However, while there is plenty of good wine, there is still rarely truly great wine. Only a few producers have reached the upper echelon, which includes producers like Felton Road, Pyramid Valley and, in many people’s opinion, Kumeu River. When it comes to Chardonnay, I personally think that Kumeu’s style is the most distinctive of the three.

A Historic New Zealand Winery

Founded in 1944 by two Croatian immigrants to New Zealand and originally called San Marino Vineyards, Kumeu has grown through several generations of the Brajkovich family and, through many twists and turns, has ended up focusing on Chardonnay. The family has had a significant influence on the New Zealand wine industry, including having the country’s first Master of Wine in winemaker Michael Brajkovich.

Kumeu’s unique location in a narrow band of northern New Zealand means close proximity to two coasts, no more than 20km away in the east and the west. This coastal influence keeps temperatures quite modest, with summer heat spikes almost never reaching above 30 degrees celsius. Because of this unique climate, the wines all possess bracing acidity – you will not find a single wine struggling with freshness.

Kumeu’s farming practices tend towards a focus on ‘sustainability’, but they are not biodynamic farmers or ‘natural’ wine makers. They use various treatments, including fungicides and herbicides, but hold off as long as possible and try to use as little as possible. Further, canopy management plays an important role in minimizing rot. The vines are all planted using U-trellises in order to let the vines breath and to improve air flow. The minimal pruning is done by hand. All the grapes are hand harvested.

In the cellar, all of the chardonnays other than the village wine are barrel fermented. For the estate cuvee, each plot is vinified separately and blended later.

My overall impression of Kumeu’s Chardonnays, which comprise 60% of their total production, is of clean, crisp acids and a cool climate range of aromas from citrus to, at its richest, peach, and plenty of minerality. There is nothing heady or tropical about these wines, and when they do rarely veer into orchard fruit rather than citrus, it is with a very light hand and a total lack of heaviness or awkwardness. These truly are some of the best Chardonnays being made in the New World.

The Wines

My good fortune recently brought me to a vertical tasting of Kumeu’s Chardonnays led by Paul Brajkovich.

Estate Pinot Gris 2011: Peach, pear, spice on the classic nose. This is a juicy, clean and fresh style of Pinot Gris with slight residual sugar to soften the wine and make it austere. The grapes see a long press that adds tannic grip and gives texture to the wine. An interesting wine. Very Good.

Estate Pinot Gris 2010: More intertwined aromas with deeper spice on the nose as compared to the 2011. It is also riper and richer than the 2011, with some secondary spice notes and a slight honeyed component along with an interesting bitter note on the finish. This comes across less sweet but richer than the 2011. This vintage had some botrytis. Very Good.

Village Chardonnay 2009: Tank fermented with a small amount of rejected barrel aged juice from the estate chard. This is an all wild yeast ferment and is left on the lees in tank. The lees are microoxygenated during fermentation to avoid reduction. With toast and lemon on the nose, this is a clean acid driven style and a good basic Chard without too much complexity. It is, however, very good value at prices in the $20-$30 range. Very Good.

Estate Chardonnay 2008: Kumeu River has been making this Chardonnay longer than any other. Vinified in 22% new oak, with both primary and malo-lactic fermentations in barrel, this is a toasty, dense wine with rich aromas. However, on the palate the acid is quite tangy with a central core of bright citrus fruit. Medium length finish. Needs time. Very Good+

Estate Chardonnay 2005: Toast, butter, cream and ctirus on the nose. Some golden apple and honey showing now as very subtle bottle age notes start to develop. This is still very tangy with an intense lemon focus and a mouth watering finish. It also has a unique bitter character on the finish that seems to thread through most of the vintages of the estate Chardonnay. Very Good+.

Estate Chardonnay 2004: The nose here is less delineated than the younger vintages and the wine is softer and less explosively aromatic. This is due to the greater bottle age, which has transformed this wine into a mature expression of Chardonnay with excellent structure and a wonderful waxy, honeyed style. Very Good+.

The Estate Chardonnays are priced around $30-$40 in this market.

Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2009: A stunning wine and one of the most exciting of the tasting, this had the most elegant, complex aromatics, with flowers, lime and minerals. This is a big step above the estate and an impressive example of both the 2009 vintage and the special qualities of the Hunting Hill vineyard. Excellent to Excellent+.

Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2008: A consistent distinction between this vineyard and all the other wines, including the estate, is a shift from lemon to lime as the dominant citrus. When combined with the florality of the wine I find this a more ‘asian’ style of aroma combinations and, to my palate, a more interesting combination of flavours. The 2008 is not quite as elegant or complex as the 2009, however, which brings it down a notch. Very Good+ to Excellent.

Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2007: The first signs of bottle development show themselves here. Quite acidic and linear. Intense lime, clay and mineral on the palate. Very Good+ to Excellent.

Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2006: The aromas here show the age. It is a bit more dead aromatically than the younger wines, with a softer texture. Of course, that is typical and the honeyed notes on the palate compensate somewhat for the lost aromatics. However, for a vineyard with such exciting aromas, I prefer this wine younger. Very Good+.

Coddington Chardonnay 2009: Known to be the richest of the Chardonnays due to its clay soils and south facing aspect, the Coddington is quite rare, though it tied with the ‘09 Hunting Hill for my favourite wine of the tasting. Apples, honey and peach. This is noticeably the darkest colour of all the Chardonnays and displayed the richest aromas. A very fresh and exciting palate that dances even with the ripeness. This is a roast chicken wine. Excellent to Excellent+

Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2007: Planted with the Mendoza clone (which was the first Chardonnay clone in New Zealand). Toast and nutes on the palate, this wine is quite minerally, savory and succulent. Big and round, but of course very fresh, as is the hallmark of all Kumeu’s Chardonnays. Excellent.

All the single vineyard Chardonnays are priced around $50 in the B.C. market.

Kumeu also makes a limited amount of red wine. To be honest, I did not find the reds particularly interesting, nor would I recommend them when it is clearly the Chardonnay that is Kumeu’s hallmark.

Estate Pinot Noir 2009: Bright cherry, subtle earthiness. A lean pinot with balanced acidity, but in my opinion lacking concentration. It does not even come close to the top Pinot producers in New Zealand (Felton Road and Pyramid Valley). Very Good.

Melba Merlot 2009: I will be honest. I found this wine green and tannic and uninteresting. Fair.

All the wines are under a stelvin closure.

Under 500 cases made and I wish I had more.

Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$35 at the winery

But, arrest also means to stop – the act of stopping or the condition of being stopped.

Zinfandel is often described as America’s grape. It is true that California has produced the greatest expressions of this grape that was otherwise an obscure one in Europe. But there is more to it. There is meaning.

Part I

I was first introduced to Brown Estate when I lived in California during the last days of law school. I can admit now that it was a personally difficult time – in fact one of the most challenging of my life. Yet somehow California has also embedded itself in my soul as one of the most meaningful, growing experiences of my life. It was a time of confrontation, and a burgeoning self-awareness. Brown became a symbol for me of that difficult expression.

It has always struck me that everyone I’ve introduced to the Browns and their wines has taken it as a personal experience. There is a remarkable truth and openness with the Browns that gathers authenticity and makes it manifest.

I’ve spent years immersed in wine, studying its nuances and exploring its farthest reaches. But – and I can say this with utter confidence – there is only one place that I can look back on and say “yes, that was life, that was truth”.

Part II

I made my initial visit to Brown Estate with one of my closest friends. It so happens that he is now getting married and decided to have his bachelor party in Napa. Due to unfortunate circumstances I was unable to attend.

That initial visit had been personally revelatory to me. Not just in the world of wine, but also because of the nature of authenticity I had encountered. It made me appreciate the nuances of joy and the deep rooted pleasure of connection.

The only option was to make that happen again for my friend on the eve of his wedding. And it did, with yet more converts, authenticity broken open and made whole.

Part III

It is the limit, the understanding of barriers, that gives freedom value. The hardest times of our life can, if we are lucky, be the most transforming. But let’s not pretend that freedom is an easy thing, that we all know what to do when we are given the choice.

I’ll be honest. My brief experiences with the Brown family contributed to my life. They have been a symbol to me of belief, tenacity, community, love. They confirmed my belief in hard, clean questions that are, in their messiness, all we can do to attempt to understand the confluence of freedom and truth.

The arrested (i.e. fortified) Zinfandel is and was as pure as my memory – its cranberry scent is now, for me, Proust’s Madeleine.

“All a guy needed was a chance. Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

A Wine of Vintage

Fevre is one of the top producers in Chablis, traditionally sitting only below Ravenau and V. Dauvissat in quality. The consistency of Fevre’s wines are certainly impressive.

As with any Chablis, this wine is highly reflective of vintage. 2008 was a mid-range vintage, being both cool enough to offer up a lot of freshness, but also long enough that the wines have more body and richness than a vintage like 2007.

The Vaillons vineyard faces southeast and lies near the village of Chablis. The vineyard has the reputation of being softer and more approachable young than other Chablis. For me, however, this particular Vaillon was extremely nervy, tight, loaded with acid but fully ripe. It is, truly, wine geek Chablis and not an entry-level wine for the novice.

While closed on the nose on initial opening, the wine expands over time with tons of lemon and granny smith apple and a little less minerality than expected. The tart, streaking acidity may off-put some at first, but this makes the wine truly wonderful with food. The wine is, accordingly, very mouth watering. Medium length. Great structure. While clearly lacking the distinction of Grand Cru, Fevre’s ‘08 Vaillon is nevertheless a tart, minerally wine destined to make acid-freak wine-geeks lust and also well suited for those who need something with their seafood and chicken dishes.

Very Good+
~$45 at Kits Wine

Burgundy’s monks were the original fetishists in wine. Grapes were but vessels for the voice of god that expressed itself as the manifestation of place in fermented grape. Terroir was, originally, a fetish for the divine. Those tireless centuries searching for god in the dirt have embedded themselves in the culture of wine to such an extent that almost all modern interactions with wine are reactions to this original apotheosis of place.

In a society so focused on rationalist, scientific explanations of phenomena, why does something like ‘terroir’ not only persist but also form the holy grail of an entire swathe of human endeavor? Why is it that the most highly revered wines are gifted the mythical quality of terroir? In many ways the modern fetish for terroir seems a reaction to a kind commodity-fetishism in wine. This commodity fetish imbues the fungible quality of ‘capital’ to each and every object in existence, even the soil on which we walk and grow vines, and turns what is ‘subjective’ into an abstract ‘objective’ quality that is treated as that thing’s very essence. In other words, the essence of all things is found in their economic value and they relate to each other only through this economic essence. It doesn’t matter where a wine is from so long as it can be sold.

But the ‘terroirists’ fervently hold the principle that wine is not commodity. Its meaning comes from elsewhere. But is it so clear that ‘terroir’ holds the key to that meaning?

The What and the How

There are few places in the world where a mere slope can mark the difference between profound and mundane experience. In Chablis, the Grand Cru slope on which the region’s greatest vineyards are situated faces south and west – a key exposure that lends the wines longer exposure to sun and heat and therefore greater richness and density as compared to premier cru and below. So there is, at least, one reason why Grand Cru sites taste different (and better) than their peers.

Two others are the limestone clay soils formed from prehistoric oyster shells and the region’s harsh climate, which together provide greater acidity and ‘minerality’ to Chardonnay grown here as compared to elsewhere in Burgundy, where acidities and ‘minerality’ tend not to be so expressive and abundant.

Each of the seven Grand Cru vineyards has its own character and an alleged hierarchy of quality. Les Clos, the apex, is the richest, most powerful, most complete of all the Grand Crus. Its great rival Vaudesir is said to be more sensual and ripe. Les Preuses offers finesse. Valmur austere intensity. Grenouilles and Blanchot the accessible, softer touch. And Bougros the lightest and sometimes most maligned of the bunch.

Our dinner played out some of these differences quite clearly, and others less so. Our wines paired exceptionally well with superb courses from Tableau’s executive chef including oysters, an expertly executed seared scallop course and a decadent lobster risotto.

The first flight offered four wines from the tight, nervy 2007 vintage. A 2007 Long-Depaquit Moutonne (a climat that is part of the Grand Cru hill, though not officially one of the seven sites) offered an initially closed nose with light oak notes, but ultimately a saline, powerful finish. It was a complete wine and Excellent. In contrast, a 2007 Long-Depaquit Blanchot smelled of sulphur and mineral, tasting harsh and awkward on the palate. Some felt this was also due to over manipulation of the lees. A Very Good rating, but not recommended given what you expect for Grand Cru Chablis.

The remaining two 2007s both showed superbly, a Billaud-Simon Vaudesir (Very Good+ to Excellent) for its subtle, floral nose and delicate texture and a Christian Moreau Valmur (Very Good+ to Excellent) for its tight, austere, acid and mineral driven core.

Our next set of 5 wines jumped around between the 2006, 2008 and 2009 vintages. The Moreau 2006 Les Clos felt powerful, rich and dense but also a bit over developed for its age. Nonetheless, the rich sweet fruit coupled with classic Chablisean acid made this an Excellent. Surprisingly for a 2009 vintage wine, the Drouhin Vaudon 2009 Bougros (Excellent) was quite open and expressive, with seaweed, umami and bruised apple characteristics and an impressively long finish.

Flipping from the ripe 2006 and 2009 vintages to the much cooler 2008 saw a beautiful Bougros from Jean-Marc Brocard, a producer that is not usually making wines at this level. This was a vegetal, high acid wine that paired remarkably with the lobster risotto. I rated it Excellent.

On next to a 2006 Le Fief de Grenouilles and its sexy, easily accessible texture (Excellent), and a Christian Moreau 2009 Valmur, which still showed a reasonable degree of oak, but was also fresh and pretty with superb depth (Excellent).

The stylistic differences in each of the wines was particularly noticeable on the nose. However, the distinctiveness of each site was something that only became evident (at least for me) on the palate. I think this has to do with the wine’s focus on acid – it was the quality of the acid levels and the texture of each wine that gave up its site more so than any particular aroma.

Further, despite variations in quality and characteristics between these wines, there was an equivalency as well – a unifying factor. The savory, unforgiving backbone that goes beyond the simple descriptors of minerality or saltiness. This dry savory quality is evident in Chablisean Chardonnay far more than any other Chardonnay from both Burgundy and the rest of the world.

These are wines of passive intellectualism. They don’t need as much work from the drinker as Nebbiolo (the last great intellectual wine my group tasted through). Rather, they have an open, easy intellectualism that presents itself to the drinker with minimal effort. But, these wines are also not gregarious. They are confident (which is why it is so odd when you find one that is so self-conscious as the 2007 Blanchot from Long-Depaquit). These wines have nothing to prove, but when you start talking and listening to them, the wisdom of a wise, world-weary traveller flows with abandon – and you get drunk on the sheer wonderous joy of the story.

So, we know that Grand Cru Chablis tastes different from other wines, and we have a broad sense of in what ways they are different from other wines. However, why do we give these differences meaning – why are these differences of value?

The Value of a Thing

Determining a thing’s value is immensely complex. What combination of qualities imbues a thing with a particular value. We hold Grand Cru Chablis in greater esteem than any other place in Chablis (and in fact than most other places in the world). Is it because Chardonnay grown in that particular place is a better and clearer vessel for the divine? Does the value truly arise from the fetish?

On the other hand, can the science of soil and climate provide an adequate explanation for why we value Grand Cru Chablis (or any other great terroir) over other wines?

Clearly soil and place is not enough. Wine comes from the vine – a living thing, with a genetic history of its own and all the vagaries, random fluctuations and experiential distinctions that accompany all living things. So Grand Cru Chablis is also Chardonnay. And not just Chardonnay with a capital C, but each and every chardonnay vine, bud, shoot, flower and grape. The Grand Cru sites are special because they seem to consistently allow the deepest, subtlest aspects of the life of each of those chardonnays to manifest and thrive. In this way it is ‘terroir’ that is the medium for the life of the vine, not the grapes that are the vessel for the divinity of place.

This helps us understand why we value Grand Cru Chablis. We don’t taste and value these wines because they are, in essence, an expression of one of seven divine sites – holy words to faun over and worship. We taste them and love them and give them meaning and value because their particular distinction says something about life that cannot be said any other way.

Syrah loves coolness. It loses all its nuance in overly warm sites unless you are talking about some of the great ancient vines of the Barossa in Australia. These cool sites offer a range of expressions for California Syrah that defy what was once a monolithic approach of huge jammy wines in mimicry of the great central coast producers Sine Qua Non, Alban and Saxum.

One of the most famous of these cool sites is the fantastic Griffin’s Lair site – but compared to the “North Coast”, Griffin’s Lair is balmy. North Coast, like Cleary Ranch, is one of the coolest sites at which Syrah is being made in California. As such, it offers an expression unlike any other you will have had from the state: hugely expressive and floral aromatics along with structured acid and tannin supporting extremely bright, focused fruit on the palate. This is not a ‘light’ wine, even though it clocks in at 11.9% ABV. Rather, the classic Syrah notes of brine and olive, game and violets show themselves in clear delineation. There are also subtle stem and leaf aromas from likely whole cluster fermentation. It is the clarity and freshness that make this stand out and also exemplify the Arnot-Roberts philosophy.

Given that Arnot-Roberts has only been around since 2001, I am always excited to see what else they have in store. I highly recommend seeking out these wines or joining the mailing list. You can find them at retail in SF at stores such as Arlequin. If you are interested in more information I highly recommend a San Francisco Chronicle wrote an excellent profile on Arnot-Roberts in January this year.

Excellent
$35 at Garagiste

I rarely drink Napa wine these days. The prices are high and my preferences lean towards wines with greater acids and a different profile. Nonetheless, the valley remains one of the world’s best for Cabernet Sauvignon. As such there are several wineries in Napa that still attract my attention, particularly those making wine in a more restrained style. Though this is beginning to change somewhat, Viader has long been on my radar as a winery that focuses on elegance over power and extraction. I recently had an opportunity to taste through a significant vertical of their wines, back to their sophomore 1990 vintage at Vancouver’s Hawksworth restaurant and found several of the older vintages quite strong examples of elegant mountain fruit from Napa.

Cab Franc and a Serious Slope

Unlike most Napa wineries, Viader has long had a significant focus on Cabernet Franc, which makes up a much higher percentage of the blend of their proprietary red than any other Napa winery I can think of. Perhaps this is just another expression of founder Delia Viader’s independent spirit. An immigrant from Argentina in the 1980’s, Delia Viader decided she wanted to pursue a radical approach to grape growing and wine making in the then quite conseravtive Napa Valley. Using a loan from her Father, she purchased a plot of land on Howell Mountain that was essentially an all rock cliff. At the time, no one thought it possible to plant grapes on such a steep slope and many dismissed Delia as crazy. Indeed, she had to fight with various Napa boards to even get approval to build the vineyard.

Dynamite was the only means by which Delia could make enough space for a vineyard. The resulting slope at a grade of 32% is quite steep and dramatic and offers the vines some of the best exposure in the valley. Viader was one of the first in Napa to train vines on such a steep slope using Bordeaux style spacing, orienting the vines straight up and down the vineyard (rather than horizontally). This increases the sun exposure and has since been copied by other wineries.

While Viader experimented with biodynamics from 2001-2007 they did not feel the increased cost was justified and returned to organic farming following 2007. Alan Viader said the biodynamic farming did not seem to result in a higher quality wine at their estate.

The Wines

The flight of wines dating back to 1990 was a pleasure to taste. Not all showed equally, but the fundamental core of finesse, elegance and freshness remained a theme throughout the night. I do wish the food pairings were better as many were somewhat off the mark. I think it is a case of the Hawksworth style not pairing so well with Napa Cabernet, even elegant ones. Today Viader’s wines are moving forward in a more modern, more extracted style. I preferred the old school approach, but several at the dinner chose the most recent 2009 vintage as the best. Whichever way you cut it, Viader is the real deal in a valley where so many pretenders have planted their shallow roots.

1990: This is the second vintage Viader made. Green and leafy on the nose, though not under ripe just aromatic. Cedar and menthol on the palate. Very well balanced. Fully developed and integrated smooth tannin. Very Good+

1993: Similar aroma profile to the 1990 but more subtle and less green. Riper tasting. Less interesting than the 90. Slightly lesser balance. It is also a bit more iron-like and savory. Very Good.

1994: Plummier, fruitier wine. Chocolate. Dense. More ripeness and power again than the 90 but unlike the 93 there is real finesse and elegance here. Nice length. Excellent to Excellent+.

1995: More chocolate and ripeness still compared to the 1994. The wine can still develop. Plum and blackberry. Very fresh and mouthwatering. Lovely texture. Finish falls off sooner than I expected, which notches this down a little. Very Good+

1996: More briary and toasted than all the previous wines. Brambles and blackberry fruit. Nicely aromatic. Nose is impressive – one of the most expressive so far. Again fresh and lifted. Elegant, impressive wine with brilliant, powerful mid palate and excellent finish. Complete. Excellent.

1997: Fruity and dense. Highly structured – still very tannic and needs 7-10 years. However I think once it opens it could be great. Needs decanting. Very Good+ but closed now and I question whether it will fully round out and open.

1998: Lifted and floral. Lavender. Nice elegance and body. Balanced but a bit short on concentration of the finish. Very good+

1999: Bramble and chocolate in this rich wine. Quite dense and opulent. If you like the big style of Napa wine but want finesse too this is a vintage to go for. Very Good+

2004: Youthful and rich, but very fresh and juicy. Impressive for the young vintage and can even be consumed now. Excellent to Excellent+.

2006: Tight right now. Very dense. Chocolate again – needs time to develop hard to fully evaluate now. Very good+

2007: Briary sweet fruit. Very chocolatey and dense. Rich tannic excellent structure. Very Good+ to Excellent and should be aged

2009: Most modern of the wines and the first wine to show oak influence, which proves how great the oak treatment is at this winery. Very creamy and sexy wine. Very Good+.

There is, however, an increasing tendency of some producers towards more accessible, oakier wines designed to tame the fierce, almost unpleasant textures and flavours of Nerello Mascalese. On the other hand, the untamed examples from, for example Frank Cornelissen, can be quite a challenge to understand and enjoy. The wines also tend to be quite expensive. Is there a happy medium?

Romeo del Castello bucks many trends in Etna. This third generation winery, that is now run by a mother and daughter team (Chiara Vigo and her mother Rosanna Romeo), is making incredibly pure, elegant Mascalese unlike any other I’ve tasted from extremely old vine material of up to 100 years old. It is not the most sophisticated of all the wines from Etna, but it is the most simultaneously authentic and drinkable – and at a price well below its competition.

Importers take note.

Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$25 at Garagiste

However, when tasked with pairing Champagne with a range of courses from seafood to hangar steak for a wonderful meal at Seattle’s Tilth, Rose was my best bet. But how to marry my stylistic preference with diversity?

Biodynamics in Champagne

Taking over his family’s small 4 hectare estate in the Marne in 1994, Pascal aimed for biodynamics from the outset and achieved full biodynamics by 2002. Biodynamics is quite difficult for the Champagne region, given its extreme climate and propensity for rot and mildew.

Pascal’s commitment to biodynamics stems from his experience as an army scientist studying the impact of chemical weapons on humans. He recognized that many of these chemicals were also used for agriculture and, as such, was convinced he had to avoid them.

Density and Focus

Excitingly for me, Pascal makes his wines with low (or sometimes no) dosage – focusing on the quality of the fruit and extract to give the wine balance and character. With a pretty low dosage of 4.5g/l in the Tolerance, the resulting wine works wonderfully and is extremely extracted and flavourful but also dry, harmonious and focused in the finish. This is amongst the very best Rose Champagne’s I’ve had.

The soils are clay, flint and limestone and the wine a mix of 58% Pinot Meunier, 39% Pinot Noir, and 3% Chardonnay.

Excellent
$65 at Pike and Western, Seattle