I got together with my girls yesterday (a group of girlfriends in the wine industry). We meet about once a month and blind taste for fun and exercise. Yesterday's theme: "esoteric." Essentially, we all had to bring an odd-ball wine. Here are some of the fun ones that came to the party: 

Bermejo Malvasia Seco (Lanzarote, Canary Islands) 2010

This one was truly interesting. The texture of the wine was creamy and acidic- the texture reminded me of Meursault (but not the flavors). 

That there on the top is the label (pretty minimalistic!). This one has an esoteric bottle design to boot. You can sort of see it on the left-- the lip has a slight pour spout built right in! 

Ricci "Terre del Timorasso" (Piemonte, Italy) 2009

This is a pretty interesting grape native to this region-- small production, only about 50 hectares planted. Smells like fresh bread & ripe pears. Tart acidity, creamy texture, starfruit flavor, and a sizzly minerality that lingers a bit. 

Banyan gewurztraminer (Monterey County, CA) 2011


This pretty inexpensive bottle (about $10ish) turned out to be quite pretty and was a favorite of the group. Persimmon, quince, some lychee, and a great florality; really open fruit with a zingy tartness to it. Really nice. 

And whodathunk? Pretty gewurtz from Central Cali... 

Chateau d'Auvernier chasselas (Neuchatel, Switzerland) 2009

This one was so rich and thick, but still had great acidity. We imagined how perfect it would be with a creamy cheese or a pate. A food wine for sure. 

Paolo Bea "Chiara" grechetto,malvasia,garganega+  (Umbria, Italy) 2009 

If this isn't an orange wine I don't know what is! We ended with this intriguing gem.
Nectar, apricots, beeswax, oregano; soft skin tannins from the longer maceration and an acidity that is almost crunchy-- like a watermelon rind. 

We sat in front of this rustic cellar wall during the tasting. It was a perfect environment for wine drinking. 

As we drank Bea's Chiara, we happened to look up and saw.......

his Sagrantino smiling down on us! 

On Monday I got a chance to go to the Renaissance tasting (a global organization of biodynamic grape/wine producers) in Manhattan.  

Crowded, popular, and loaded with diverse wines,the tasting represented 12 countries and dozens (hundreds?) of varietals. 77 wine producers presented wines, and one biodynamic Brasilian coffee producer made espressos. It was difficult not to brush shoulders with the well-represented local NYC wine celebrities (famous somms & writers-- lots of personal heros of mine!), and behind the tables magnanimous figures in the winemaking world poured their living wines. Nicolas Joly stood at the nucleus. 

The heft of interest in this particular tasting demonstrates the momentum of Joly's far-reaching influence. He passionately preaches the importance and need for biodynamic farming. The talk he gave highlighted the "urgent need" to change to biodynamic farming methods and to return to terroir. The rallying call "Return to Terroir" indicates a fundamental acknowledgement at the core of the group's mission statement that something important has been lost, that somehow, the growers of the world have lost a previous connection to terroir that once was.  This tasting and others like it around the world are meant to refresh winemaker and consumer interest in grape vines that connect to and express the land (the main vehicle for accomplishing this, they suggest, is biodynamic farming), and that are then processed with minimal cellar intervention. 

Sometimes tastings can seem laborious and sales-pitchy. But the vibe in the room was different-- yes, each pourer was, of course, pouring to sell; but there was a palpable ulterior motive, a larger issue in the room that bonded the producers. They weren't just pitching: they were there for a cause, to make a point. This environment heightened the tasting experience-- I tasted each individual wine, but did so in an effort to make sense of the whole-- to see how the founding dogma emerges in the sum of all the parts.  

There is a lot to say about biodynamic farming-- impassioned arguments for and against. There is plenty to hash out: I can't cover it all in one post, so let me just say that this is a reoccurring theme that I plan to touch on again and again.  

Here are a few wines that I really enjoyed at the tables: 

Ngeringa (pronounced "Nuhr-ing-ah")-- one of four wineries in Australia that have membership. Biodynamic since 1980, located in the Adelaide Hills. Winemakers Erinn & Janet Klein make four wines (from left to right): 
Ngeringa Syrah, "J&E", Pinot Noir, Chardonnay

Ngeringa Chardonnay- a great rich texture with brilliant acidity and peachy apple fruits

Beatrice & Pascal Lambert make biodynamic red & white Chinon.  

La Cuvee Rochette 2009- an amazing coper-gold color, honey and crunchy fresh melon, tart & bright acidity.

La Cuvee Traditions Graves 2010- a very classic cabernet franc done in cement. 

The label photos to the left are Beatrice Lambert's wines, Silice and Achillee. She makes them from a neighboring parcel. 

Stephane Tissot is in town for the Renaissance Tasting. (the photo is from the day before the Renaissance, but you can still see the wines in the lineup). 
Tissot Cremant du Jura, Extra Brut Nature 2010- no dosage here!

Tissot Arbois Chardonnay "Classique" 2010- an interesting aroma that reminded me of fresh corn

Tissot Arbois Chardonnay "Les Graviers" 2010- a blend of 4 different parcels chosen for their similar soil types. delish

An incredible dessert wine from Mas Estela called "Just 2009" took me by surprise.  This is a late-harvest black garnacha that macerates for 60 days and then spends one year outside in demijohns aging in the hot summer and the cold winter-- a technique reminiscent of some wines from Mas Amiel produced just across the French border in Roussillon.  The Mas Estela "Just 2009" dessert wine is in perfect balance and tastes like chocolate covered dried cherries. I can't get this wine out of my head! 

Read more about Mas Estela here: http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2011/03/meeting-didier-soto-and-tasting-his.html

Check out the elegant, delicate color on this interesting cabernet franc from Touraine. The grapes are picked whole cluster and fermented by carbonic maceration in cement, giving it that classic aromatic and fruity nose.  

I first tried this wine in a restaurant--  I expected a classic cabernet franc and was floored when it landed in the glass.
My drinking partners raised their eyebrows and looked at me, expecting an apology; I had salted the dialogue with their favorite buzz words, and they were ready for something big with extraction, intensity, and savoriness. Thinking fast I said, "And now, for I bet the first time, you get to see a different side of cabernet franc. Surprised, no? The diversity possible with a single varietal is extraordinary."

It's perfect in this weather-- hinting at the coming Spring.

For more info on the man & his other wines see:
http://savioselections.com/selections-france-christian-venier.php
http://www.ledomduvin.com/2011/05/2009-christian-venier-cheverny-rouge.html
http://www.wineaccess.ca/content/christian-venier,-in-madon
http://www.alicefeiring.com/blog/2009/12/asf-wine-of-the-year.html

One of the most difficult things in the wine business is understanding the personal connection people have with wine. There is often an unquantifiable element that makes the drinking experience unique for each drinker, and can make different instances of drinking the same wine different for the same individual. Lots of serious drinkers remember where they were and what they were doing when they had their favorite bottles; somehow the experiences seared into their memories. And yet, each serious drinker has that equally mysterious experience when they pop a bottle, expecting that same memorable liquid to be waiting inside, and are disappointed because it does not live up to the expectations set by the previous experience. Sometimes these differences cannot be explained away by bottle variation or age. Similar flavor characteristics may hold true, and yet 

the impression changes. Most people drink wine for that very impression. For all the point systems and magazine articles, websites and wine blogs, all the energy poured into describing wine and framing it as a reliable packaged product, it's still the unpredictable unquantifiable personal impression on the drinker that makes wine important. It's difficult to manage expectations with such a chameleon target. It's also one of the reasons why wine is so enticing: the impression is always a surprise. 

This intangible and person-specific quality of wine drinking seems un-reconcilable, especially to someone like a sommelier who attempts to sell wine based on its tangible aspects (grape, year, alcohol etc). The whole other side to wine-- the un-quantifiable part-- that attracts people to wine in the first place is often never a part of the equation, usually because people don't know how to approach the subject. Imagine how silly it would seem if a sommelier said to you "I recommend this wine because it will make you feel good based on the mood I'm sensing from you, as opposed to this other wine which might set a tone of tension at the table."

There is a lense through which we can examine this seemingly unbroachable aspect to wine, and it comes from a unique discipline: the semiotics of performance art. 

Take, as an analogy, The Book. The Book is full of linguistic signs and symbols-- symbols like letters that form larger signs like words and paragraphs that convey meaning if the reader understands both the written language and the context of the word-meaning conveyed. But The Book itself is a sign-- the binding, the cover page, the aknowledgements: each larger construct symbolizing concepts that are a part of The Book reading ritual. The Book exists within larger symbolic constructs: it sits on a book shelf, with other Books (each has a similar format, signifying that these Books are similar in some way).  The Books come from a Book store or Library-- places dedicated to the care, spread, and preservation of these Books: the Book-dedicated Institutions threaded throughout the world are symbols themselves that The Book is important. The Book Institution is usually quiet, there is usually a Book Steward to help you find a Book. 

And for all this effort, The Book is meaningless... until it is read, or better yet, performed.  The Book does not exist as it is meant to unless someone is there to receive and interact with the signology provided by and within the book. It is in the reading (performing) of The Book that the signs locked within may emerge.  The actual Book happens somewhere between the surface of the page and the reader's eye-- The Book happens in the space of engagement between the two. 

And so it is with Wine (or any consumable, really). 

A book is a book only as it is read. There is no performance without an audience. Culture only emerges as it is acted out.(Abrahams 2000 [original 1972]:35). Wine is wine only as it is being drunk.  Though the same wine may taste quite similar on two different occasions, the impression of the wine happens in the space of engagement between the wine and the drinker. 

This instance-specific take on the drinking of wine can be used to frame wine as a dynamic application in the dining experience.  This view also takes into account the different impressions that the same wine can leave. 

Bibliography
Abrahams, Roger D. 1972. "Personal Power and Social Restraint in the Definition of Folklore." in Bauman and Paredes (2000). 
Bauman, Richard and Americo Paredes. 2000 [original 1972]. Toward New Perspectives in Folklore. Trickster: Indiana.