The Next Big Thing All Red - May '09

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These are the wines that shipped with the All Red version of The Next Big Thing in May, 2009

 

The Next Big Thing – May ‘09

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Each month I talk about how great the shipment is, and this month is no exception.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that this month is the best group of wines I have put together for this club yet.  A lot of what I’m excited about is the variety: this month’s wines range from breathtakingly minerally, to incomprehensibly rich, and are all brilliant examples of my deeply held belief that great wines can be made in any style, the key is great vineyards, carefully thought out and executed winemaking, and respect for the grapes.   Most importantly, all of the wines are unbelievably delicious.

As one might surmise from the above description, we travel between the old world (read Europe) and the New World (everywhere else) on our journey this month.  We begin in Austria with a Slovenian/Austrian joint project that delivers in minerality what most white Burgundies could only hope for.  From there, we travel to France’s Southern Rhône Cru of Vacqueyras for a natural, and naturally delicious extremely limited production stunner.  Finally, we land close to home for a Bordeaux-styled blend from California that, as one critic so unoriginally, but totally accurately, puts it, “turns the volume up way above 10″.

If you had all red selections substitute Austria’s Wachau for Italy’s Piedmont and a maverick winemaker and you will get the picture.  Prepare to be surprised, wowed, and convinced that nothing is better than a good bottle of wine.

I hope that you enjoy this month’s adventure.

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To see the all-red details, click here

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2003 Teobaldo Cappellano Barbera Ab Normal Vini di Tavola

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Ab Normal LabellingThe Italian writer Paolo Rosso famously quotes the late* Teobaldo Cappellano as saying, “If there is one thing that makes me crazy, it’s spitters of wine…the ones who taste a wine by rolling it around in their mouths and then they spit it out. I worked my butt off to make wine to drink, not to spit!”

Many of you may not have heard of Cappellano’s wines, mostly because only a tiny amount are produced from his 3 hectares of vines within the Cru of Gabutti in Saralunga, in Barolo, but also because since the 1980’s he has respectfully asked critics not to score or rate his wines.  His Barolo’s, for which he is best known, bear the following quote on their back label:

To wine “Guides” – humbly speaking:
In 1983 I asked the journalist Sheldon Wasserman not to publish scores for my wines. Not only did he not publish the scores: he also wrote that I had asked not to be included in “classifications” in which a comparison becomes a divisive numerical term rather than expressiing human toil. I have not changed my mind: my tiny farm producing 20,000 bottles of wine a year interests only a small number of customer/friends. I believe in freedom of information, even if the judgement is negative. I think of my hills as an anarchical arena, with no inquisitors or opposing factions, whose inner richness is stimulated by severe, thoughtful critics. I strive for community that can still express solidarity with whoever has not been so well rewarded by Mother Nature.Wishful thinking? Allow me to dream… TeobaldoTeobaldo Cappellano

The truth is, these are stunning, old-school wines (no new oak here, no filtering, and lots of time in old barrels).   Though the little press he gets is for the Barolos, one of my all time favorite wines is the result of beauraucratic silliness with the DOC tasting panel.  When he submitted his 2003 Barbera for tasting, hoping to recieve the deserved Barbera d’Alba DOC that his vineyard is over-qualified for, his wine was rejected for having too intense an aroma and flavor, and it was suggested that he filter or do something else to tame the “abnormal” qualities.  Instead, he made a new label, and bottled the 2800 bottles (yes, bottles, not cases) as Vini di Tavola and sold out in 6 weeks.  This wine has been gone for all intents and purposes for a couple of years, so I was pleasantly suprised to find more to send to you this month.

Try this with braised meat like osso bucco, charcuterie, or hard, salty cheese, but make sure to taste and smell the wine first, it’s haunting.  This is what Barbera can be, but so often isn’t.  Drink now – 2015+

*In the greatest loss so far this year to the world of wine, Teobaldo Cappellano passed away due to surgical complications on February 20, 2009.  His contribution to honest and true wine, and to wine drinker’s pleasure should be measured alongside that of the late Didier Dageneau.

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2006 Roucas Toumba Vacqueyras, Côtes du Rhône, France

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The Southern Rhône Valley is, for me, like Greek mystic philosophy (I’m thinking Plotinus here): just when you think that you have a grasp on what is going on, the firmament shifts and the new level of understanding you have provides you with further questions that seem far harder to answer than the questions you originally had.  The Southern Rhône, particularly Châteauneuf du Pape, has been one of my first, and most endearing, passions in wine.  But each time I think that I have discovered the code that allows me to tell good from bad, and great from merely good, a wine comes along that breaks the mold entirely and introduces me to a new group of wines that are yet more profound, and less well-defined.

Two of these recent life-changing revelations are joined in Roucas Toumba.  Vacqueyras, where Roucas Toumba’s meager 3 ha (about 7 acres) of vineyards are located is one such discovery.  Vacqueyras is higher, stonier, and more remote (relatively) than Châteauneuf du Pape.  The wines have more minerality, brighter fruit, and more of the Provençal herbiness that is such a charming character of wines from the southeast of France.  Vacqueyras doesn’t get the love it deserves, in part because for many years the winemaking there didn’t do justice to the terroir: that is changing, quickly.

The other revelatory discovery I have made in the Rhône is a movement towards hyper-natural wine producing.  In the case of Roucas Toumba, this means no chemicals in the vineyard or winery, no synthetic materials (read plastic), no commercial additives (chaptalization, acidity, tannins etc), and a minimum of new oak (he purchases a few barrels each year so that he can rotate them in).  This approach is particularly suited to the Southern Rhône becase of the dry, windy, hot conditions that naturally control rot and other vine scourges, as well as the generally old vines that are in great supply.

Eric Bouletin, is the fiery proprietor of this family estate named Roucas Toumba, which means tumbling stones, after the 18th century home on the property.  Out of the total production of 1100 cases, 300 cases of the top wine, this Vacqueyras, are made from roughly 60% Grenache (aged in large neutral oak), 25% Syrah (aged in small barrels), 12% Mourvedre and 3% white varities.  Think blackberry, Cherry Heering, herbs de Provence, grilled meat, and minerals.  Try it with grilled halibut, roast lamb, anything with mushrooms and herbs, or olives.  Drink now – 2025.

Link to a great via Michelin article (in French, sorry) about Roucas Toumba

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2005 Orin Swift Cellars Papillon Napa Valley, California

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Papillon Label

Now for some controversy!  It is currently fashionable amongst wine-types like myself to deride wines, particularly from California, that have too much alcohol, too much glass (I love referring to the giant, ultra-heavy bottles used by certain winemakers as “ego-glass”), and too cool of a name or label.  But who decides what “too much” is?   I am reminded of an episode of WKRP in Cincinatti called “Clean Up Radio Everywhere” (finale for season 3 in 1981)  about a religious organization that blackmails radio stations who play songs it feels are objectionable – but Andy saves the day when he shows the Jerry Falwellesque frontman to be a hypocrite who makes decisions about what is objectionable on the fly, and on his own.  I’m as guilty as the next sommelier when it comes to wines like this: I often unfairly write them off, while secretly admitting that they’re enjoyable to drink.  Orin Swift Cellars wines fit all of the above characteristics, but are better than just enjoyable to drink: they are stunning.

The label is a picture taken by iconic rock music photographer Greg Gorman of Vince Tofanelli’s grape and mud smeared hands with “Papillon” written across his knuckles.  As far as over-the-top labels go, this is actually pretty cool.  The irony of Papillon (French for butterfly) both as a name for this big, burly wine, and as what is written across Vince’s filthy, brawny knuckles bears at least a minute of mirthful reflection (though at least one source says that the wine, and photograph, are called papillon because it was the first word that came to mind that fit across vince’s knuckles).

That brings us to Vince Tofanelli, who’s stunning vineyards outside of Calistoga are the source of most of David Phinney’s (owner/winemaker of Orin Swift Cellars) wines.   The vineyards are organically farmed and the vines are old (many planted with the original planting in 1929) and head-trained.  Tofanelli vineyards are best known for their Zinfandel, but this sure is good.

This blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec and 2% Petite Verdot isn’t subtle.   This is a big, rich wine, but it has layers and layers of complex flavor, beyond cassis and blackberry fruit, there is tar and smoke and spice and entire worlds of smells and flavors to explore.  And despite this blitzkrieg of flavor, there is admirable balance in the form of silky tannins and some welcome acidity.  This is awfully good wine!   While it goes wonderfully with a dry-aged steak, this is a great opportunity to drink a big wine with some of the new American cuisine that has some sweetness to it.  Try cocoa rubbed bison, or even a piece of the soon to arrive Yukon River Salmon (only the fattiest salmon will stand up to this).  Drink now – 2020 +

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