(C) Lembeck

The sprinters battle at the finish line of yesterday’s short stage, was a bit uneventful for me as Mark Cavendish let up at the end with only a few hundred meters to go after he was caught by surprise by a strategic sneak attack from behind by Alessandro Petacchi, who took his second stage win in the first four days of this year’s tour.  The “Isle of Man,” Cavendish’s moniker, was unprepared for the part of the race for which he is solely accountable for Team High Road.  He has 10 stage wins over the last 2 Tours, but today was not his day.  Though he doesn’t have anything to celebrate, perhaps he can still take solace in having arrived in the land of Champagne and maybe have a taste of the bubbly while getting his daily rub-down from the masseuse.

The 32,000+ acres of vineyards of the Champagne AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) in France surround the towns of Reims (pronounced “rah-nce”), Epernay (“eh-pear-nay”) and Ay (“ah-ee”).  Within the AOC, the vineyards are grouped into districts, or departements, though these are not official classifications or regions, but rather groupings of styles:

• Vallee de la Marne – mostly Pinot Meunier and some Pinot Noir
• Montagne de Reims – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
• Cotes des Blancs – mostly Chardonnay
• Cote de Sezanne – mostly Chardonnay
• Aube – mostly Pinot Noir

As you can tell by the list above, Champagne is and can only be produced from the 3 grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.  One of my recent favorites include the H. Billiot Fils Brut Grand Cru Rose’paired with pork from Pig ‘n Chick.  Dang!  You cannot technically be drinking “Champagne” unless the bubbly is coming from this AOC in France, otherwise you are just having a sparkling wine, or perhaps a Prosecco from Italy or a Cava from Spain.  Don’t take my word for it.  If you want to learn everything there is to know about the bubbles, head on over to Atlanta Wine Guy’s sitebecause that’s his specialty… and then report back.  I can never seem to keep up with his seemingly endless consumption of the bubbly.  Sometimes I think he’s floating around his house like Charlie and his grandfather in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, having to belch like Barney from the Simpsons just to get down from the ceiling.

photo credit: Goozlepipe.com

It seems to me that for the stage, it would’ve been appropriate for Jerome Pineau (Pee-no) from QuickStep to wine, I mean win.  We’ll just have to wait and see what Stage 6 brings when the remaining 189 riders (notice how this number keeps going down, especially after the cobblestones of Stage 3?) will travel near Pouilly-Sur-Loire and Sancerre at the easterly end of the Loire Valley where some fabulously aromatic, crisp and flinty Sauvignon Blanc is grown.  Stay tuned.

Throughout the past couple of years of meshing our lives more closely with wine and all the experiences that go with it, I am always humbled by the generosity, camaraderie and great relationships that are seeded and continue to blossom.  This story is one that really stands out because it’s categorized as one of those “random acts of kindness.”  But, in this case there is nothing random about it, only that a group of people who didn’t know each other previously were brought together because of kindness and a shared loved of wine.

One of my resolutions for 2009 was to learn more about and taste more sparkling wines.  I did fine in getting educated in regions, types of sparkling wines and the various processes as part of my CSW certification, but I did not do well in tasting more of them.  In addition to that, my wife had not been exposed to a Champagne or sparkling wine that she liked to date which made her hesitant to try more, though again it’s not like we tasted all that were available.  One day, on either Twitter or Facebook, I made the comment that I was saddened that my wife had not experienced something she really liked and could have on a regular basis and that I had not helped that fact.  And that’s when it happened.  Alva Johnson, local Atlanta socialite, large-scale event-coordinator extraordinaire and fizz lover reached out to me and offered to help us find some bubbly that she just might enjoy.  Wow.

And so she did.  We had a little tasting at the house and invited along fellow Atlanta baron von bubbly, Kevin Glowacki of www.atlantawineguy.comfame and we had a wonderful evening.  It’s important to note here that while Alva doesn’t claim to be an expert, she certainly knows her fizz and has put that energy into an organization she co-founded called The Independent Champagne and Sparkling Wine Invitational which is having it’s inaugural conference April 15-18th in New Orleans.  Check it out.

The wines:

H. Billiot Fils Brut Grand Cru Rose’ – We started off with this rose’ paired with ribs from the Pig ‘n Chick.  This is a Champagne from the 5-ha Billiot estate in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay that is planted mostly with Pinot Noir. Both Alva and Kevin agree that pink fizz seems to pair perfectly with pork at all times.  The color was like salmon and bright with aromas of “sweet” yeast and strawberries.  I tasted citrus and what I describe as pineapple and had a great finish.  This was our favorite of the night.

Fleuron 2000 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Brut Premier Cru (Blanc de Blancs) - 100% Chardonnay and is a blend of different soils in the area that they feel best represents the vintage though I could not find the proportions for 2000.  This one was paired with fresh raw oysters, popcorn and cheese.  We had both Gruyere and Ermitage Brie cheese to try.  The wine light golden color and also had a yeasty nose, but just a hint if compared to the H. Billiot.  A lot of citrus tasted on the palate with a velvety/creamy texture in the mouth, which was accentuated when paired with the oysters.  There is more to tasting wine than just aromas, taste and flavors… you must pay attention to the texture in your mouth as well.

Renardat-Fache Bugey du Cerdon- Sparkling Gamay – This one was a leftover from the Popeye’s challenge back in November, so I added it to the lineup and paired with, what else?, Popeye’s spicy chicken.  This wine came in at only 7.5% alcohol, but while there was a good bit of residual sugar, I never felt it was too sweet since it seemed balanced by a good level of acid and even less so when tasted with a piece of chicken.  The sweet and spice really balanced out.  This wine had a darker pink hue and was full of strawberry jolly ranchers and the flavor burst in your mouth much like Fresh n Up gum, which I learned is actually still available… go figure.

2003 Kreglinger Brut - Lastly, Alva brought on a sparkler from Tasmania.  So far, every one of her friends she had shared this with (she had been given a whole case) thought it was the bomb.  We agreed.  Much different from the other 3, this one was more “classic” in that there was more crispness, and freshness and included green apple and honey notes.  The finish exposed more lemon and mineral for a long finish.  Kevin felt this was “green & minty” on the nose too.

Alva learned that she didn’t have to wait for special occasions like weddings and New Year’s to drink sparkling wine.  She walked into a store one day, particularly to de-stress, and discovered bubbly is available to us anytime we want.  She is a fan and now a great friend.  Here’s to celebrating life more often.

Cheers!

Sparkling wine has it tough in our household.  The wife hasn’t had very good luck with finding one that she likes and I have only begun to scratch the surface of the many selections available out there: Grower Champagnes, Prosecco’s from Italy, Cava from Spain, etc.  Hell, I even stumbled across a sparkler from Brazil that I thought was tremendous and learned that roughly 25% of wine from that country was of the sparkling kind.  I had no idea.  So, with the season of celebration and sparklers among us this week, I though we’d talk to someone who has some experience and dreams in this area.

Kevin Glowacki, aka @AtlantaWineGuy, has no such troubles and I am not sure he’s ever had a sparkler he didn’t like.  He is even getting ready to embark on a sparkling-only project sure to open some eyes about this style of wine in the new year.  Kevin was gracious enough to answer a few questions I had about his fetish and hope we all can learn something new from his wisdom in the months to come.

WT: What was the moment that got your interested/hooked on sparkling wine?

KG:  When I got into wine, I was really fascinated by Champagne and the process behind it. It was obviously the most complicated of the wine making processes, which appealed to me intellectually. Like most folks, I’d heard of Dom Perignon and I decided at least once in my life, I’d have a bottle. I bought a 1996 Dom and shared it with two friends on my birthday. It was spectacular and it made me realize just how special great Champagne could be. I also discovered how well sparkling wine went with sushi, which was a regular staple of my diet. I’ve been hooked ever since.

WT: Tell us a little bit about your Sparkling wine project that you have been working on

KG: Sparkling wine is normally reserved for New Year’s Eve, weddings and special celebrations like graduations. It was my first passion and in following Gary V’s advice, I’m following my passion and spending 2010 sampling and blogging about sparkling wines from all over the world. I not only want to sample the wide array of what is out there, but also educate folks on how food friendly these wines are and they shouldn’t be waiting for a special occasion. Opening a bottle of bubbly IS a special occasion! I’m also looking forward to doing some email interviews with the folks behind the bubbles.

WT: How about some holiday recommendations before we go?

KG:

• Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Cava – around $7 – 8
• Riondo Prosecco – around $12
• Roederer Anderson Valley Brut – $18 – 20

• Wolf Mountain (GA) Blanc de Blancs – $24

  

  Gary V and Kevin

• Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut Rose – $24 
• Deutz Brut Classic Champagne – $45
• Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut Champagne $60
• Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs – $70

I could go on and on, as there are so many that I enjoy, it is hard to pick out even those few favorites! 

You can follow Kevin’s project and other wine musings at http://atlantawineguy.com/ and here for some more sparkling ideas.

Cheers!

Rummaging through my parent’s attic while visiting this Thanksgiving, I found a couple of boxes of stuff, time capsules if you will, that dated back to high school and prior.  Initially, I was looking to find some toys my nephews might enjoy, like a Taun Taun with Han Solo in Hoth gear (which actually has a Facebook page!) or similar.  In addition to that I stumbled across an empty bottle of bubbly that I think was for celebrating either high school or college graduation.  Since my parents were pretty strict back in the day, I’d have to lean toward college graduation.  At any rate, the bottle did not have a paper label but rather some ornate birds and tree branches painted or sandblasted onto the bottle.  It was a non-vintage Grand Laurent Blanc de Blancs Brut.

I tried to perform some basic research regarding the history of this bottle, but while I was able to find the wine on several online wine stores, I could not verify the label as there were no label pictures at these sites nor could I find a website for the producer or brand – Grand Laurent.  It appears this sparkler is on the lower end of the pricing scale around $10 (maybe even less than $5 back then).  I will say here that my parents up’d the ante with a bottle of Dom for my wedding!  Regardless, it is amazing how things such as this spark the memory that I usually curse daily when I can’t find my keys.  And then it got me thinking about the bottles of wine we have saved over the years for special occasions (promotions, holidays, visits by parents, etc.) and have had our guests sign those bottles along with documenting the date.

Wine Bottle Occasions

Much like music and pictures can really get your nostaglic juices flowing, wine can do the same.  Open a bottle now and create a memory.

Cheers!  Now that was a cool TV show back in the day!

Keeping with the theme of ERSLA helping those in need in Latin American nations, I decided upon some wines from Brazil, Chile and Argentina for the fundraiser and wine-tasting.  Here they are with a few notes I pulled together.

2006 Miolo Brut – Brazil                                                   

Produced using the traditional method (methode champenoise) for sparkling wine, this wine contains a 50/50 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  A significant percentage, about a quarter, of fine wine made in Brazil is sparkling.  Vines were first introduced in the early 1500’s by the Portuguese but didn’t really become established until the late 1800’s thanks to Italian immigrants.  The dry sparkler was fresh with citrus and good acid and would be a nice change of pace to the Prosecco I often serve to start a party.

2008 Finca La Linda Torrontés – Argentina                                                  

Though Argentina is more well-known for producing Malbec, Torrontes is the most-planted white grape variety planted in Argentina and often produces wines of unique aromatics (much like a Viognier) and high acidity.  This brand is produced by the Luigi Bosca winery and the grapes for this wine are cultivated from the Cafayete Valley in the northern region of Salta at approximately 5,500 feet elevation.  It has a yellow-green hue and floral, citrus and mineral aromas as well as apple, lemon and flint on the palate.

2007 Morande Reserva Carmenere – Chile                                        

The fruit for this wine comes from the Santa Laura vineyard in the Maipo Valley, a region famous for the production of exceptional red wines.  The wine has an intense purple hue and an equally intense aroma of woodland fruits, vanilla, oak and spices.  We also could detect some serious bell peppers or even jalapeno peppers on the nose.  It is recommended to open this bottle at least an hour before serving.  Other bottles popped ‘n poured had a signiciant amount of horse blanket aroma (4-ethyl-phenol) that gave it an interesting old-world feel to it.  Carmenere was abandoned in Bordeaux due to challenges with poor fruit set (coulure) and resulting low yield, but was recently “discovered” in Chile in the early ‘90s in vines that were previously believed to be Merlot.  It is believed to have the potential to possess the elegance of Merlot combined with the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon though it can ride very hot and with significant herbaceousness. 

2008 BenMarco Malbec – Argentina                            

While declining in popularity in France, Malbec has practically put Argentina on the wine map.  This wine spent 11 months in 50% new French oak and 50% American Oak.  It is dark and inky in color, has aromas of campfire, cinnamon and cherries and is ripe and medium-bodied overall.

Salud!