this heaven gives me migraine

2003 Delas Côtes du Ventoux

Notes: This is my desperate attempt to do something for Wine Blogging Wednesday 19, despite the fact that I had a crazy busy weekend involving not only work, but an emergency room and a dislocated elbow (not mine, thankfully), and didn't make it to the wine store or my wine storage, so any good or interesting blends I might have around or at my disposal were, well, not at my disposal. I am also working late Wednesday so I had to pre-drink and write all this up. Oh, the trials!

Anyway, I had to root around in the wine I keep in the house here and find something that would work. I do have a thing for Rhône blends, so I had some stuff lying around, but sadly nothing was very interesting. Mostly Grenache/Syrah blends, and this bottle won out simply by being a Grenache/Syrah/Carignane blend, which gave it one-third more interestingness and blendedness. And blending wine is not easy... I have had to do it in a wine class and it is harder than you think to come up with something tasty and balanced. It is very easy to end up with a muddy, difficult wine, and that is exactly what I had in my glass when I got done.

I think it is a bottle I got through the K&L wine club or picked up there when I was doing a run for cheap bottles to drink. This wine is a Côtes du Ventoux Contrôlée, which means it comes from a specific area between the Rhône and Provence, an area that has climactic conditions similar to the Rhône. A main feature of the limestone-ridden landscape is Mont Ventoux, rumored locally to be the source of the Mistral (the bitterly cold wind that blows through the Rhône).

Delas Frères has been around since 1836, and despite being bought by first Deutz in 1978 and then Roderer in 1993, flew low and under the radar for years, making so-so wines that did not receive much acclaim. In 1997 Jacques Grange took over (he who revitalized Chapoutier and served under Jean Luc Colombo). He turned things around and started paying close attention to vineyard and cellar practices. No more heavy-handed fining or filtration, careful pruning, and judicious use of oak improved the wines' reputations and gave new life to Delas.

This is a bright purple-red in the glass, and looks pretty young. The nose is slightly hot, and has plum, blackberry, and tobacco, along with peppery spice. It might be fading slightly because there is not a lot of fruit on the palate. It's not old, per se, but not as bright as it might have been when younger. The palate is all about chalky leather and pepper. There is some ripe fruit quality there, more blackberry and cherry, but not a ton of it. When first opened the finish had a bitter rigidity that you know I will blame on the Carignane, but after a while of being open that seemed to dissipate somewhat (I can still taste it's cardboardy-ness, though, so it did not go away completely). The finish, heavy on the savory spice and pepper, is a little short, but really, it is pleasant enough for a ten-dollar bottle of wine. Not particularly memorable, but drinkable and good enough.

I imagine other wines in their portfolio are more interesting and might have made a more interesting entry for WBW19, but this one was worthy in that you can tell what aspects it gets from the Syrah (pepper, blackberry), Grenache (spicy herbs, cherry) and Carignane (rigidity, bitterness).

Cost: $10

Overall: B-

NV Billecart-Salmon Rosé

Notes: We picked up this bottle a while ago since everyone made such a fuss about the stuff and, well, why not see what all the fuss is about? It sat around until we closed on the house (finally... after three months and a week I thought the house would never close and the bottle would never get drunk) and then it seemed fitting for the occasion. So I admit I had kind of high expectations.

I hope the house fares better than this bottle. I mean, it was not bad... it was quite fine but really kind of underwhelming. I understand that Billecart-Salmon is all about understatement, but I was really looking for a little more excitement in the bottle. It was technically okay, but not very interesting, overall.

Oddly yellowy orange in the glass...salmonish at best, but hardly pink at all unless you sit in somewhere like our living room and look at it under subdued lighting. It's downright gold in bright light. Roses and strawberry in the nose, along with toast and hay. In the mouth it is not as lush as one would expect from the nose... it's yeasty and beery, and only through some aspiration can you get much berry character out of it (it is nice when you do, though). It's got an almondlike finish with some bitterness and is quite dry.

With a little air and time the almondlike finish turned to apples (granny smiths with a little cream) and a little more strawberry started to come through on the palate. I thought it was nicer with some open bottle time, but overall I was a little neutral on it. I am not sure what I was expecting, and really, I wouldn't kick it out of bed or anything, but I was underwhelmed. I think I was hoping for the 1995 La Grande Dame (my holy grail of Champagne) or something along those lines. Which is, of course silly of me.

Cost: $65

Overall: B

Champagne!

I have been slackerly in the ways of winetasting lately and, while I have certainly been drinking here and there, I haven't been thinking about it much, and have been writing about it even less. The other day I spotted a bottle at the wine shop and I was pretty sure I remembered not liking it much, but alas, I did not make notes on it, so that information will be lost forever. And right there I decided to get back on the horse, or the wagon, or whatever it is that dumped me.

I also haven't been to a proper Saturday K&L tasting in forever, so I recently started up again. What could be better to start up with than Champagne? I don't think anything. We tasted ten of them, and I went home with two. And then went out and bought a very expensive suit for a wedding, but I can't blame that on the Champagne.

We tasted a lot of NV Champagne, which often people shun since it isn't vintage, but, as you can see from my notes below, NV Champagne has to come from some place in time, and sometimes it is actually a single vintage even if it isn't labelled as such (since a vintage year was not declared). And some of them were very good. I could go into a long boring discussion about the declaration of vintages in Champagne and how that controls supply and demand, etc etc, but even I don't want to hear myself talk about that. And I really have nothing against blending. Blending can be your friend.

I will point out that we tasted these with potato chips and crackers, and the chips were quite tasty although not as good as french fries. Naysayers hush right now... Champagne and french fries is the best pairing ever. The salty greasy starchy fries are cut beautifully by the acid and bubbles of Champagne. Don't knock it until you try it.

I rated on a ten point scale because I felt like it.

N/V Leclerc Briant "La Croisette" single vineyard Brut, Epernay ($30) Chardonnay from the 2000 and 2001 vintages. Unusual, usually he does red fruit based Champagnes, and Epernay is more town than vineyards. Pale straw. A sharp nose of lemon and cream. Sharp and acidic, with lemon zest, apples, and rocks. 7.

N/V Franck Bonville Brut Selection Blanc de Blancs, Avize ($24) Blend of 1997, 1998, and 1999 Chardonnay. Pale straw. Delicate white floral nose with yeasty biscuit undertones. Creamier and less acidic than the Leclerc, and in the mouth it is nutty, yeasty, biscuity, with a peach finish. 8.5.

N/V Launois "Cuvée Reserve", Mesnil/Oger ($26) Chardonnay, 90% from 2000 vintage, 10% from 1998. Again, pale straw. Trademark fine bubbles, with a kind of odd flinty beery nose. The mousse is sharp and acidic and we are back to green apples and lemon, although the finish is all apricot (with that slight dull bitterness apricot has). 7.5.

N/V Franck Bonville Cuvée Les Belles Voyes, Oger ($60) All 1997 vintage Chardonnay. Darker straw than the previous, this has a heady, feminine nose of peaches and flowers. It's a little big and blowsy in the mouth, with a lot of stone fruit, and it is so fruit-rich it tastes overripe to me. It was better with a potato chip, although it is not my thing. 7.

N/V Tarlant Brut Zero, Oeuilly ($27) 1998, 1999, 2000 vintages. 1/3 each Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier. Medium straw. Sharp but pleasant nose of minerals, some sweet apple and lily that starts to smell like baby asprin/orange cremesicle after it sits out a while. Not sharp or acidic, the finish is dry as expected (since it gets no dosage), but seems a little blunt and dull to me. Nice with the chips, though. 8.

1996 Leclerc Briant Cuvée Divine Brut, Epernay ($40) 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir, 10-plus years old. People are crazy for this... the shop got it in a few days before the tasting and it was already sold out (they will have it again in a month or two). Medium yellow/straw. A sharp, prickly nose. Placid lemon-scone in the mouth, very elegant and pretty. The finish backs off gently and lingeringly. Beery but nice, I felt slightly let down by the finish. 8.5/9.

N/V Marguet-Bonnerave Brut Rose, Brouillet ($26) 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir. 60% from the 2000 vintage, 40% from 1998/1999. I have had this before and liked it. You won't see any more for a year and a half, so get it now while you can. The guy who makes it under the label had his brother die. His mother, who owned most of the stock, went kind of crazy and sold the vineyards to some big conglomerate (I forget which one). The rest of the family tried to sue to stop her but lost. So now the winemaker is left with a name and no grapes. He is regrouping and supposedly the grapes he is getting are better than what he had been getting, even, and in about two years he will release under the name Bonnerave. Salmon-pink in the glass. A goregous nose that defines why I love rosé Champagne... full of what I think of as rough strawberries. It's got some toast in the mouth, but is bursting with berries and is very very pretty. 9.

NV Ariston Brut Rosé, Brouillet ($29) 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Pinot Meunier, all from the 1999 vintage. Pale pink. Less rough strawberry than the Marguet-Bonnerave, and more of a clear fruit nose, with a tiny grassy note. Sharper acids with more clear fruit on the tongue, with a cherry flavor bordering on cough drop/cardamom. Pleasant enough, but not as good as the previous. 8.5

N/V René Collard Brut Carte d'Or, Reuil ($40) 100% Pinot Meunier from the 1992 vintage. Dark yellow. A fantastic earthy nose of mushrooms, dirt, manure, truffles (when aged, Pinot Meunier does that). Reminds me of the nose some Barberas have. Very smooth and mushroomy in the mouth... no fruit. Has a finish that borders on sherry-like but not too much so and if you aspirate it, you can taste the earthy flavors you can smell in the nose. (We had a bottle of this a few days later and it does best with a little air.) 9.

1985 René Collard Cuvée Reservée Millesime, Reuil ($60) 90% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay. Darkest yellow yet. Couldn't place the nose right away, but it is nutty and dry-smelling, like paper. Very austere and sherry-like. Interesting enough but a little too old for me, I think, and I liked the Carte d'Or better. 8.

So my favorites and the two bottles I bought (and in one case, bought again) were the René Collard Brut Carte d'Or and the N/V Marguet-Bonnerave. They are as different as night and day, really, but I loved them both for what they did and did well.

Tasting quote of the day:

Scott (hosting the tasting) to group of gay men, explaining the tasting order: "The first four are all Chardonnay based... you always start with white fruit."

Man in group: "Well, I'm here!"

2002 Domaine du Closel "La Jalousie"

Region: Savennières, Loire, France

Composition: 100% Chenin Blanc

Background: Anjou-Samur of the Loire is the second region in from the Atlantic coast (to the east of Nantais, which is on the coast) and enjoys a climate moderated by that body of water... mild winters, warm summers, good humidity. The main grape of importance in the area is Chenin Blanc, which is made in a variety of ways; historically it was sweet, but now the trend is to dryness. Within that region lies Savennières, a tiny (150 acre) appellation for white wines made from the Chenin Blanc grape.

Domaine du Closel, in Savennières, has a long and interesting history that ties into the appellation. Ownership of the property can be traced back to the grandson of Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné-Marin-Joseph, the Marquis de Las Cases, who was an intimate and historian of Napoleon. From there it went to the Marquis' daughter, who married Bernard du Closel, a man who was at one point the mayor of Savennières (and a strong advocate who worked to get the region recognized as an official appellation, which happened in 1952). Madame du Closel had no children and thus gave the estate to her niece, Michèle Bazin de Jessey, in 1961. Madame de Jessey, who runs the estate with the help of her son and daughter, has always had a great love of wine and winemaking and even served as the first woman to be president of an appellation (the Savennières AC, of course).

The estate makes both red and white wines, but the white wines are the stars, as one would expect in the Loire. They farm and hand-pick the 30 acres of Chenin Blanc that they have planted, which, if you think about it, is about 1/5 of the total land devoted to the Savennières appellation.

Notes: Clear pure gold, this has a very forward nose of honeyed pears, dried grass, lemon zest, and tart apples. It's less fruity in the mouth...it has a lot of rocky gravel, dried grass and hay, and maybe some more lemon. The finish is very dry with some herbal and soft lemon flavors. It's pretty high acid, and makes a nice pairing with food (arugula, garlic, tomatoes, in this case), and the finish is long and clean. This wine is fermented in stainless steel and has the clean zippiness you get from wines fermented that way.

Cost: B+

Overall: $15

2004 Rosé de Calon

Region: St. Estèphe, Bordeaux, France

Composition: Either 100% Cabernet Sauvignon or approximately 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, depending who you believe (I would tend to believe the latter)

Background: Château Calon-Ségur is in St. Estèphe, and just happens to be the northernmost Cru Classé (3ème Cru) in the Haut-Médoc region of Bordeaux. It sits at the heart of what used to be the Calon estate, an estate that once took up most of the St. Estèphe commune. In the early 1700s Nicolas-Alexandre, Marquis de Ségur, became owner of Calon (and Lafite and Latour and Mouton, for that matter) when his father died. He supposedly once said "I make wine at Lafite and Latour but my heart is at Calon" and because of that, the Calon-Ségur wines have a heart on the label (except for this rosé which has no heart for some reason; maybe they thought pink+heart=too much, or perhaps it got lesser treatment since it is a humble rosé and maybe a newcomer to the Calon-Ségur lineup).

The sprawling Calon estate has been chopped up into smaller parcels over time, spawning such other estates as Phelan-Ségur. Madame Denise Gasqueton now owns the existing 123 acres and makes about 20,000 cases of wine a year from the land. She took over in 1995 after her husband Philippe died (this is not a usual occurrence, from what I understand; most wives are unprepared or uninterested and sell instead of continuing the business), first surprising people with her determination and shrewd business sense, and then releasing a 1995 vintage that kicked ass and took names. She's continued to make a lot of solid wines that are not ridiculously priced like a lot of Left Bank wines.

Wines from St. Estèphe can be very intense, rough, and tannic due to the clay and granite soils and usually need a good amount of cellaring to come into their own, so this rosé is your chance to get a Calon-Ségur that you will be able to drink before the next decade!

Notes: This is a chameleon pink... it looks deep pink in the glass, from far away, almost strawberry, but when you tilt the glass it turns pale and becomes a much lighter dusky rose. The nose is forthcoming, offering cranberry and strawberry, and in the mouth it is very dry and full of steely strawberry, the steeliness something the nose hints at but doesn't let you know for sure. It's very intense, acidic, and dry, and a good example of what a rosé can (should) be. I think I want some more, and I can't wait to have it with our yellow cherry tomatoes, garlic, romano beans, and basil over some pasta because it is very hot and I can't bear to cook anything else.

The acid on this is high... I don't mind it on the palate but I have noticed that I feel certain high-acid wines in my chest (similar to the way you feel alcohol warming you, but it is not as pleasant) and I can't drink a lot of it all at once, or I have to be careful to temper it with food. This is one of those wines for me, which is sad because I would like to sit around and drink it all day.

Cost: $12

Overall: A-

2003 François Chidaine Clos Habert

Region: Montlouis sur Loire, France

Composition: 100% Chenin Blanc

Background: At 4 o'clock this afternoon I remembered that today is Wine Blogging Wednesday 11, and I needed to drink and write up a demi-sec/off-dry wine before midnight. Of course, I had no off-dry wines in the house aside from a way-old bottle of Moscato d'Asti that I have been abusing because I forgot it in the fridge for about three years and only noticed it shoved way in the back behind the untouchable beer we had when I cleaned out the fridge a week or so ago. I mean, knew it was there, but had forgotten quite how old it has become (let's just say it would be in elementary school right now, if it were a small child).

Anyway, I had to do some quick work and pick something up, because I have a feeling that when I open the Moscato, it isn't going to be pretty. My dirty secret (well, not so secret) is that I don't drink a lot of sweet, or even slightly sweet, wines (hence, the existence of a six-year-old Moscato in the house), so I had my work cut out for me insofar as finding one that I thought I would like.

I ended up with a bottle of François Chidaine Clos Habert, a demi-sec from the Montlouis appellation in the Loire. Montlouis is located across the river from the more well-known Vouvray, and has a similar soil composition of clay and chalky tuffeau. The wines are similar, although some say that the Montlouis wines are more rocky in nature, and this all seemed fine to me since I was originally angling for a Vouvray just because I like saying Vouvray a lot (and if that isn't a good reason to buy a wine, what is?). In fact, Montlouis was part of the Vouvray appellation until it was granted its own AC status in 1937, and the wines are also made of Chenin Blanc, the grape which produces so many fascinating wines in the Loire.

The estate makes several styles of wine from Chenin Blanc....sweet, off-dry, dry, sparkling (the same styles can be are found in Vouvray), and also makes a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes for this wine come from 60-year-old vines and are harvested by hand in up to four passes, to achieve optimal sugar levels. The wines are certified organic even though Chidaine doesn't mention that on the label.

Notes: This wine is all about honey! Clear light gold in the glass, it has a strong nose of poached peaches and syrupy pears, with a mineral streak and a little bit of honeysuckle. The floral element is more noticeable as the wine gets warmer. It hits the tongue with a thick, heady block of intense sweet fruit (more peaches and pears), and finishes with a long honeyed note that has a little gingery bite in it to keep it interesting. There is enough acidity that my gums are left tingling, and I am not finding it cloying or unpleasant. It's not within my usual drinking repertoire and I don't think it has made a demi-sec believer out of me, but it was fun to drink and is well-done and balanced. We had it with bread, roasted almonds, blackberries, Harley Farms pepper chevre, Humboldt Fog, and Mount Tam.

Cost: $22

Overall: B

2003 Château la Colline "Côté Ouest" Bergerac Blanc

Region: Bergerac, France

Composition: 90% Sémillon, 10% Sauvignon Blanc

Background: Englishman and self-proclaimed Vinarchist and Terroirist Charles Martin founded Château de la Colline in 1994, and makes a small range of red and white wines. He learned his winemaking all over the globe: Napa Valley, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. He was the winemaker at Château de la Jaubertie before, as the Charles Neal website insists, he won La Colline in a drunken leg-wrestle. (There is quite a biography of Charles Martin to be found there, worth a read and a laugh.) Martin has brought some new ways of doing things to the Bergerac region, things like using argon to protect the wines, high-density plantings, and mechanical leaf plucking. Oh, those wacky Englishmen!

The Bergerac region is on the north-east edge of Bordeaux and the area grows similar grapes to Bordeaux; except, as people like to point out, without the snottiness and prices of Bordeaux. This wine is a standard dry white Bordeaux-style blend consisting of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Sémillon is usually somewhat rich and kind of oily and heavy in nature, and can be a little flabby and free of acids to handle the fruit, so the Sauvignon Blanc (which is a lot more acidic and grassier/greener) is added to fix that problem and give the wine a little more zing.

Notes: Golden straw yellow in the glass, with a nose of apricot, nectarine, and honey, along with some sweet clover which gives it a lovely aromatic lightness. More nectarine on the palate, along with some sweet citrus. The fruit is so full and rich it is almost bitter, if that makes sense. A fairly zippy finish with some nice acids along with a lingering finish of honey and mineral made this a pleasant wine to have with some asparagus in garlic-lemon cream and pasta, as we did. It's definitely a fuller-bodied white, but pretty nice and balanced nonetheless.

Cost: $10

Overall: B

2003 Château d'Oupia "Les Hérétiques"

Region: Languedoc, France

Composition: Carignane, Syrah

Background: André Iché inherited an estate (complete with castle) in the Minervois region and spent years growing grapes and making wine, but sold the wine in bulk. Fifteen or so years ago, another winemaker was visiting and happened to try his wine, and convinced Iché to start bottling and selling it himself. He makes several AC Minervois wines, as well as this Vin de Pays l'Herault wine (it can't be AC Minervois because it is mostly Carignane, and AC Minervois won't allow more than 40 percent of the wine to consist of Carignane).

The name of the wine, "Les Hérétiques", is in reference to the Cathars, who lived in the Languedoc and came into trouble with the Catholic church because they had differing beliefs: they believed in dualism, (a good god and a bad god), reincarnation, didn't believe in marriage, and thought the world was an evil place. They were mostly vegetarian, frowned upon procreation, and treated women as equals. They thought Jesus was a ghost since they did not believe that the good god could appear in any physical form (and thus tainted by sin).

The popularity and heresy of these beliefs was very disturbing to the Catholic church, but there was one belief that probably irked them more than any of the others: the Cathars didn't think they had to pay the Catholic church's tithes. So of course the church started a 40 year crusade (actually, a series of crusades, known collectively as the Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Wars) against these heretics and pretty much exterminated them by the middle of the 13th century. Now there is not much left: some ruins throughout southwest France, a regional dialect (the langue d'oc), and this wine, named for them.

Notes: Deep ruby purple in the glass. Nose of dust, minerals, and red and black berries with a hint of anise. Very dusty tannins all throughout the palate which slightly dry the mouth, with some spicy red fruit in the front and some toasty spice in the back. Nice acidity thoughout. Slightly harsh at the finish-- slightly rough-- but a decent bottle of wine for the price.

Cost: $8

Overall: B/B-

2002 Roc d'Anglade Rouge

Region: Nimes, Languedoc, France

Composition: 25% Grenache, 25% Carignane, 50% Syrah

Background: Remy Pedreno used to be in the computer industry, but left in the 1990s to go into the wine business, setting up shop a little west of Nimes (based on what I am drinking lately I am starting to think everyone is making wine a little west of Nimes). For Roc d'Anglade he teamed up with Rene Rostaing, a well-regarded winemaker of the Cote Rotie... Pedreno supplied his grapes and money, and Rostaing provided the know-how and his winemaking ability. They made the first vintage in 1999, using grapes from a tiny vineyard not quite 12 acres big. The wine is aged for about 18 months in oak (one third of it new, one third one year old, one third two years old).

This is the kind of wine, that if it were from the Rhone, would be twice the price (at least). It's pretty solid, and the only thing that will cause you any pain will be getting your hands on a bottle, since it is such small production and not easy to find. If you can find a bottle, though, it is a great example of some of the exciting stuff going on in the Languedoc these days.

Notes: A beautiful, deep cherry red in the glass, this has a goregous nose on it full of strawberries (it has what I think of as "hot funk" to it, that scent of ripe fruit on the vine on a hot summer day) and roses, and has a little spice. It's fairly lush on the palate but also very restrained and elegant, and has enough acid to carry the fruit. The tannins are soft and full and add interest, and the finish has some nice spice in it but it is not overwhelming in any way. Overall it is a very rich wine, but not overdone. Beautifully balanced. And living proof that I don't hate everything with Carignane in it!

Cost: $35

Overall: A

2003 Mas de Guiot Grenache/Syrah

Region: Costieres de Nimes, Languedoc, France

Composition: 40% Grenache, 60% Syrah

Background: This is another wine from the Costieres de Nimes, also from St. Gilles in Gard. The estate is run by Sylvia and Francois Cornut; Syliva is winemaker and Francois and sons tend to the vines. They seem to be very in touch with the vines they tend to and harvest... they prune a lot to keep yields down and practice individual leaf-pulling to help ripen the grapes when it's needed. They also tend to pick later than their neighbors do, picking grapes based on taste and nothing else. It seems to work pretty well for them, and I idealize their existence (as I sit here in the rain in San Francisco, thinking how it would be to be making wine in France).

It's interesting to think back to the Le Triage and compare/contrast it with this wine, just because they are so different. Winemaking or terroir? Or, weather? Oh, the eternal question.

Notes: A very clear deep purplish ruby in the glass. The nose is violets, minerals, and some leather. It's slightly leathery on the palate, and tannic, but in a soft way.. the tannins are well-blended with the blackberry, licorice, and spice. We had it with some Epoisses de Bourgogne (I know, wrong region, but it is tasty cheese and did well with the wine and we are just crazy like that) and a dinner of sauteed chard, carrots, and beluga lentils with lots of garlic, (over pasta), and it was pretty nice. It was definitely a little softer and fruitier than that Le Triage we recently had (since it is of similar composition and region, even though 2003 was a way better year than 2002), and was a little easier on the palate overall. For ten bucks it is a nice find (and I thought I was totally Rhoned out after the Rhone Rangers on Saturday).

Cost: $10

Overall: B