She set the night on fire
I think I owe everyone a missive of sorts. I could talk about the Global No Pants Subway Ride on January 10, 2010, but I’m waiting for the No Pants Global Bicycle Ride. This post is going to be a little more difficult because I’m going to talk about French wines. Generally I don’t drink French wine, because they’re so French. Not that I have a thing against the French. You know I love those Freedom fries and Freedom Toast. (I may never give that bit up) But I don’t speak French. And I can’t understand the bottles. So I have a terrible time picking them and then can’t remember what they are because it’s in French. It’s not that I don’t like French wine, it’s that it’s really too much work for my lazy American ass to figure it out. Or learn French. Especially when if I were to learn another language it should be Spanish, so I can say “Pack your shit and get the hell out” in two languages.
I was invited to tasting at Biondivino Wine Boutique in San Francisco last month. They are a little tiny shop on Green Street that specializes in small little Italian wines made by family farmers in Italy. So a night of French wines was a departure for them as well. The line up included all small French farmers, organically grown, sustainable, all that crap. I was in San Francisco anyway so why the hell not? I am about to type a bunch of words that I have no idea what they mean, which isn’t that much of a departure from when I type a bunch of words I actually understand.
I arrive at my French adventure only to find out that they are going to serve wine in a box. Those French bastards! The first was a Cotes du Rhone, Estezargues From the Tank Blanc. I believe this translates to “French wine in a box, now shut up your American bastard!”. It was a Grenache blanc. The 3L box sold for $42, which is kind of a good deal if you consider that’s four 750ml bottles. It s was a bright wine full of melons and pears. They also had a red, the Estezargues From The Tank Rouge. Translation “The red wine in a box, your Americans are so stupid!” This one had notes of licorce, lots of smoke and strawberries and then it just died on the palate. Like someone turned off the switch in your palate died. It was a Grenache, Syrah & Carignan blend. At $42 per box, same math as before, really not too bad. Plenty on the front and middle, just an abrupt finish. The Estezargues Domaine Gres Saint Vencent, Cotes du Rhone Village at $17 was a bright little wine with cherries and pepper. It was a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Carignan. I loves me some Mourvedre grapes.
I could go on about the story of Alsace, but we all know that they sometimes have German names. At least I hope we all know why that is. The Binner Riesling d’Ammerschwir at $20 was a great little Riesling. Honey, and citrus, lemony goodness. Nice viscosity with a dry finish. Best of show for sure.
They had three Languedoc offerings. The Chemin de Bassac Isa Blanc -Roussanne & Viognier at $16. This was a pretty interesting wine with lavendar and stone fruit on the palate. It was very creamy, a nice little wine. The next was the Chemin de Bassac Pinot Noir at $18. I have to say, we’ve gotten spoiled on the Pinots. This one was smoky and very tight. Not a lot going on, so it was pretty disappointing. Next up was the Chemin de Bassac Isa Rouge. This was a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon at $16. This one was also smoky but it had a really nice middle to it. Dark fruit, spice and ripe cherries. Right up there with the Riesling for me. I’d buy this one all day long.
Finally the Corbieres, Deux Anes Premier Pas at $15. It’s a blend of Carignan, Grenache, mourvedre and Syrah.
Deux Anes translates to Two Asses, which is good thing. This wine had the bouquet of two donkey asses. Yeah, an asses ass. The worst smelling wine I have ever been around. Now I know that there is some sort of badge of courage associated with appreciating a wine with “a lot of barnyard” but sorry, the bouquet is part of the experience and if my glass smells like donkey crap, I just can’t get past that. Seriously. I can’t.
Just get yourself a nice little bottle of 1982 Lafite-Rothschild and mix it up with some seven-up for a refreshing cooler.
In college I had to take a foreign language. I chose French BECAUSE I wanted to understand wine bottles. It takes one smug, 20 year old guy to assume that French wine would be more important than speaking the dominant language of my global region.
07, 08 Rhônes have been great and affordable.
Grenache Blanc is its own varietal. Lou Preston bought Grenache cuttings a couple of years ago. When the grapes came in, they looked different. He sent them off to Davis only to find out they were Grenache Blanc (Randall Graham of Bonny Doon Vineyards had a similar experience with another Rhone varietal, Rousanne. It was really viognier.) Previously he thought Grenache Blanc was just Grenache that had no skin contact. Not so. It’s a different grape altogether. Grenache Blanc lends structure the same way Viongier lends fragrance.
That’s good to know titleslug. I put Malbec in my blends up at Conn Creek for some structure.