One of the best domestic wines I have ever had....

We owe so much to David Lett, our late founding father of Oregon pinot, and his wife Diana. They planted the first pinot noir in the Willamette Valley, put Oregon pinot noir on the global map, and also brought the first pinot gris to the USA. David was a visionary, and the sum of his work has shaped the current Oregon wine scene. David's son, Jason, took over in 2005. David passed away in 2008; read more about his journey in Eric Asimov's article. 

It was such a treat the other night to taste David's Eyrie Vineyards 1999 South Block pinot noir. The grapes come from Eyrie Vineyard's south block (formerly an old plum orchard), planted in 1966 and clocking in as the oldest vineyard in Willamette Valley. The farming has always been chemical-free and organic, the winemaking relies on natural yeasts and natural malo.  What fascinates me is that these vines are planted on their own roots-- a rarity these days. If it were my job to choose a lineup of wines to support the argument that better and more complex wines can be made from ungrafted vines, this would be in my final flight of evidence.  

The Eyrie Vineyards "South Block" pinot noir, 1999 (Willemette Valley, Oregon)
dried cherries, dried leaves, wet earth, mushrooms, truffles, braised strawberries, leather, thyme

Bibliography
Asimov, Eric. (2008) David Lett, Oregon Wine Pioneer, Dies at 69. The New York Times. 2008 Oct 13.

Wow, the other night I partied like it was 1999 and I got to try some crazy old semillon from California. Thanks to my #1 somm Molly (@Mollybrains) for picking this one out! This was straight-up mushrooms, honey, and funk. 

Remember what you were doing in 1999? I rang in the new millennium with all my high school friends at a cabin in the Poconos-- right about when this wine was probably being transferred to barrels after it had fermented. 

But wait, let's go back even farther-- to the 1880s when Charles Wetmore brought a bunch of cuttings from Chateau d'Yquem to Livermore and planted this old vineyard now known as the Wente Estate vineyard.  

Kalin is the brainchild of Terry and Frances Leighton, who are pretty much the only people who make this wine. They have been making wine since the '70s, and they don't believe in filtration. 

Kalin Cellars Semillon, 1999 (Livermore Valley, California)
mushrooms, honey, funk- man I wish I had some cheese like Tete des Moines to have with this wine!  
The label says "semillon," but technically, this is 75% semillon and 25% sauvignon blanc. 

Stéphane Tissot is awesome. Macvin is awesome. So, Tissot's Macvin must be.... awesome squared?
Yes, it definitely is.  

Macvin is a type of beautiful fortified wine from Jura. It can be red, white or rosé. Tissot's is red, made from pinot noir. The grapes are late harvested, then after about a year of fermentation the yeasts are arrested with marc (pomace brandy) from Jura. This type of fortified wine has been made for centuries, and it received its official AOC in late 1991. Tissot's comes in at 17% abv, and it is unfiltered. All viticulture is biodynamic, and has been for over a decade. 


Bénédicte & Stéphane Tissot, pinot noir Macvin Rouge (Jura, France)
ripe plums, blackberries, anise, green herbs, earth, what a lovely wine with great age potential. This one was bottled in 2011. 
approximately $33


*click here to listen to one of their savagnin fermentations! 

Chateau de Fonsalette holds a special place in my heart because this was my gateway wine. When I first tried it I had just started working in a French fine dining restaurant. A French wine importer happened to be there, talking to the chef, and I overheard him say "This wine smells exactly like olives!" I looked up at them from my set-up work because I had never heard of a wine that smelled like olives. He saw my curiosity and offered me a taste. It really did smell like olives-- I couldn't believe it. From that moment on, anytime a dish had an olive component I'd recommend this wine. It was the start of my love of food and wine pairings, and that first whiff of Fonsalette really helped to reveal this concept to me that the aromas and flavors of wine could enhance the food on the table. That night I went home and started to research the Rhone Valley, and that is pretty much how the serious part of wine appreciation started for me. After that, when I smelled any wine I began to mentally catalogue the aromas and imagine what food I'd want to have with it. 

The other night I was at Corkbuzz with my friend and fellow sommelier Molly (follow her on twitter if you want to read hilarious sommelier posts @Mollybrains), and naturally, I felt nostalgic when some people we had made friends with at the other end of the bar offered us a glass of Fonsalette. This was the 2007 and it made me remember those Halcyon Days of my early wine education as I stuck my nose in the glass and that familiar smell of tapenade rose up. 

A few years back (circa 2007/08) I remember hearing that when Felicia Rogan sold Oakencroft Winery, the new owners were uninterested in continuing the winemaking. I wondered what would happen to the vineyards, and to the land in general. Oakencroft had been founded in 1983, and the vines were just starting to come into their own. 

Years later, on my most recent trip to Charlottesville (Virginia) in late December 2012, I saw these juices at Market Street Wine Shop. The new owners decided to keep the vines after all; they kept only varieties with partial native scion DNA, though, and by working with these hardy grapes they could transition to a mostly organic regimen. The big difference though, is that Oakencroft Winery became Oakencroft Farm, and now they produce grape juice instead of wine. On their website they mention guidance from several of the world's leading producers of organic/biodynamic grapes, including James Millton who makes incredible biodynamic chenin blanc (and other wines) in Gisborne, New Zealand. 

What's interesting about these three grapes from Oakencroft is that they are all hybrids that emerged in the 20th century, and they all have some unique connections. The bases for these hybrids date back to the work of Albert Seibel (1844-1936) who worked extensively with French-American breeding. 

A brief side note for those who don't know much about grape geneaology: there are several species of grapes that exist in the world, though only one main species is used to make most of the world's wine. This species is Vitis vinifera and is native to the Fertile Crescent area. Other species native to North America are much better suited to certain climates, but are popularly considered to produce inferior wine as opposed to superior Vitis vinifera grapes. Most Vitis vinifera grapes are grafted onto North American rootstocks to increase their resistance to phylloxera, so there exists a strong interdependency between the different species-- but the scion (fruit bearing portion) is almost always Vitis vinifera. Several viticulturalists, especially in the early and mid-20th century (in part response to the phylloxera epidemic in the 1890s) began experimenting with interbreeding the species, creating what are known as "hybrids." Hybrids are the black sheep of the wine world-- despite their hardy DNA and the fact that they are in their infancy of experimentation (and that it could take centuries of breeding them to find grapes that will make wine on par with Vitis vinifera), they are often looked down upon, and the EU even forbids the use of most hybrids (there are a few exceptions). And so, we don't find many hybrids in the EU, but the US and Canada have some plantings. 

Albert Seibel was a leader in hybrid breeding. He bred several famous hybrids which are the bases for these three grapes grown at Oakencroft. Bertille Sayve (1864-1939) created Seyval Blanc when he crossed two of Seibel's hybrids. Bertille's son, Joannes Sayve (1900-1966) also worked with the Seibel hybrids and created Chambourcin. Many hybrids were named after their breeders, and Joannes had one of his named "Joannes Seyve 23.416" (probably a cross of two Seibel hybrids).  In 1964 Herb Barrett at the University of Illinois crossed Joannes Seyve 23.416 with Gewurztraminer to create Traminette. 

Thus, if you follow the genealogy of these three grapes, they are three different generations of hybrids that all lead back to Albert Seibel. Barrett built upon the work of Joannes Seyve. Joannes built upon the works of his father Bertille (and through him, Seibel). Bertille built upon the works of Seibel. 

Traminette Juice

Traminette is a variety that emerged in 1965 at the University of Illinois during an experiment to breed a table grape that tasted like gewurztraminer. It's a cross between gewurztrminer and a hybrid. 

Tasting Note: This is densely concentrated and packed with peachy flavor. The juice has high acidity and high sweetness. 

Seyval Juice

Seyval emerged around the 1930s in France. It's a crossing of Seibel's hybrids. 


Tasting Note: This juice has a bright, fruity flavor like granny smith apples. 

Chambourcin

This grape emerged in the 1960s and is pretty popular on The Atlantic East Coast. 

Tasting Note: Tart, crisp and refreshing. This really reminded me of cranberry juice cocktail. 

These are such interesting beverages, and local organic grape juice from native varieties is such a neat alternative to the major supermarket brands of juices that are industrially farmed. For me, this is a great learning experience-- it's like drinking the must of these grapes and getting an idea of their pre-ferment character. 

But more importantly, these grape juices make me think about what the world of wine may have been like if we hadn't honed in on grafting. These three grapes are indirectly the result of Albert Seibel, and I think he is a character in our history that needs to be investigated a bit more. If phylloxera had won, we might not have any Vitis vinifera (or, at least, not enough to fuel today's voracious wine market). Under this hypothetical scenario, Seibel may be have been our savior-- he could have saved wine, saved vinifera indirectly by breeding it with heartier species. Instead, because we saved Vitis vinifera through grafting, his contribution goes mostly unheeded and, especially in the EU, perceived as a nuisance. But things could have easily unfolded another way. Seibel is one of those historical figures who, if key events had happened differently, he would have been at the forefront of our industry and a main character in our history books. I wish I could read his diary and see firsthand, what he felt his contribution to be. In a way, by drinking these Oakencroft grape juices, I get hints of what he was after. 

It's been quite a year in the beverage industry.... 

A Brief Timeline of Events

January - Legislation passes that allows New Jersey wineries to ship directly to customers in New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie signs this into law on May 1st.  

January - French food & beverage exports increase over 8%, led by wine and cognac. 

June - Australia & New Zealand report a high quality harvest with lower yields than usual. Most producers make great quality wine, in smaller quantities. 

July - Laura Maniec launches the Champagne Campaign at Corkbuzz!
             Our favorite bubbles are now more accessible than ever before (after 10 pm, that is)!

September - Burgundy harvest is small due to hail damage, but of high quality.

October - Wine Grapes, the most extensive resource to date about wine grapes, is published. 

October 30th- Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast and destroys tons of houses and brings dining to a halt in certain parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. 

November 7th- Somm documentary premiers in Napa 

November 13th - The Questions Heard 'Round the World- Pete Well's review of Guy Fieri's Times Square restaurant  

November 14th - Wine Enthusiast names Michael Madrigale "Sommelier of the Year"! Go Michael!

November 16th- President Obama gives Speaker of the House Boehner a bottle of Poggio Antica 1997 Brunello di Montalcino and sent the twitterverse abuzz!

December 3rd- Soldera Winery is Vandalized in Montalcino 

December 8th- Robert Parker Sold the Wine Advocate and caused a stir!

December 17th- Talia Baiocchi makes Forbes 30 under 30!

Incredible Writing
Some great writing has been published about wines and restaurants this year. Here are some favorite books, articles, and blog posts from other bloggers that I found to be poignant and amazing in 2012:

Pete Wells' Hurricane Sandy Article

In lieu of his weekly restaurant review, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy he instead published a love-letter to downtown restaurants, encouraging people to support them as they struggled to re-open. Later that very night he was spotted downtown doing just that!

Andrew Jeffers: Wine & Astonishment, a speech published in The World of Fine Wine

Only twice have I read wine writing like this, that just made me stop and realy re-think perspectives on wine. This is a fascinating, brilliant article, and it draws wine into an interdisciplinary conversation that does nothing but enhance our wine-based professions. 

Eric Asimov: How to Love Wine

Eric Asimov publishes his "Memoir & Manifesto" How to Love Wine. His touching way of relating his experiences causes pretty much everyone in our industry to stop and think... 

Here's an interesting post from the Wine Terroirs blog-- a series of old postcards from early 1900s Sologne (in the Loire Valley, France). It really is like peering into the past. 

Peter Liem & Jesús Barquín released their book, Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla.

This awesome, insightful book is the new go-to sherry reference. 

Diane Flynt stopped by work a few weeks ago to talk about cider and cidermaking to our staff. She planted her three apple orchards about 30 years ago, and takes great care of each tree. 

Cidermaking is an incredibly old craft, and one which was central to colonists in the early days of the emerging nation of the USA. 

Click here to see vignettes on the various varieties Diane grows. 

Apples

Apples come from such a unique plant. For example, they have about 27,000 more genes than humans. Their genetic ancestors once grew in the mountains of Central Asia, the modern day species grew wild in Turkey. Apples come from the tree that is most likely the earliest to be domesticated by humans, and with good cause-- apples are a portable and time-stable source of food. They can also be dried and stored for traveling or long-term food supply, and they lend themselves easily to rehydration in soups and porridges. 

In 328 BC, Alexander the Great purportedly brought dwarfed apples back to Macedonia from Kazakhstan. 

1625- William Blaxton planted the first apple orchard in the Americas, in Boston. 

1776- Cider was a major part of many colonists' diets, including most of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. John Adams, for instance, drank a tankard (over 1 liter) each morning before breakfast. No wonder they had the guts to secede from Great Britain! 

1790-1805 (circa)- Jonathan Chapman-- aka Johnny Appleseed-- begins his career as an orchardist. Like grapes, each seed will produce a unique variety, and for consistency many orchardists graft branches from their favorite fruit trees onto the trunks of other trees to have uniform orchards. Johnny Appleseed is credited with taking a more unique approach and planting entire nurseries from seed, yielding a wide array of new apple varieties. Many were sour, bitter, or high in tannin, which were perfect for cider and brandy production. Chapman planted west of the colonies and helped increase property values (tracts with orchards were more valuable). 

In Botany of Desire (the book and the film) the apple tree is explored as a plant that has a unique symbiotic relationship with humans. 

Diane's Foggy Ridge "First Fruit" 7.8%abv

This is a blend of three heirloom varieties: Graniwinkle, Harrison, & Virginia Hewe's Crab 

It smells like crisp, fresh apples, tastes delicious, and at 7.8% you can have a few glasses and still keep your senses about you. 

Are there two things more synonymous than New Year's Eve and Champagne?!

Last night at the restaurant (Public) we kicked off 2013 with a gigantic Champagne tower-- eight layers and over 100 coups! It was so much fun building the tower, and then watching it fill up perfectly! 

Happy New Year everyone!!