A green grape by any other name?

This novel adventure involves our favorites: white wine, rejuvenation, and the idles of nature. I am now in the Holy Land (not so holy) of Israel. I embarked north after visiting distant family and found myself in the valleys of the Lebanese border - also known as the Jezreel and Bekaa valleys. The hills were alive with goats, random rocks and alas, unabated grape vines.

Having left the ancient city of Acre, my American hustle-bustle kicked in and before you know it, I was in hitch-hiker paradise. The hills are fresh; so is the air and automobile tires. I walked essentially 30km from point a to b in all. This is an abandoned vineyard along the way, in a region called ‘Menachem” - a religious sect.

The vines tangled as I pushed on through route 899 and found collectives of farmers and start-up types. I passed a music school, and on my last leg of the journey made it to Sousa, like the fabled town from ancient Persia. The wine? Reeked of Moscato and roast chicken, however to my surprise quite the opposite.

____the vineyards at Moshav Sasa _____

The vineyards were small, and planted with such effect that you’d assume it was someone’s prize. Northern Israel is now becoming a heated appelation controle, ‘Golan Heights,’ which is debatable to where I was. However, the wine I ended up with was very typical to similarly edgy areas, such as Alto Adige. Behold:

I finally found a bar (right?) and sampled (once again) the Golan Heights Winery ‘Dry White’, which if you know your history: wine is wine. However, it took on the characteristics of a stunning Sudtirol Weissburgunder or just really, a dense Pinot Grigio.

There is a saying, I believe about a man and a mountain in Japanese; however, I learned mountains are for horses.

Quest cu cest La Cote d Azure??

Alas, I’m now in the throws of my last days in ‘Nouvelle Orleans.’

The savory aspects of New Orleans truly evoked shades of orange, lavender, and rouge. Le Baton Rouge was an echo in the alleys of the Rue Conti and Rue St. Louis. However, the underlying ‘caves’ of wine stay true to the raunchy nature of France - Granache Noir, Petite Sirah, and highly pitched violescent Italian wines.

My only behest, the sacre Blue; the blue of the sea, and my nose uncovered a wonderful appelation of Cote D’Azur, AKA PAY’s DE HERAULT.

Think Denim; why? Because in Italy, the town of Denim, Genoa is not far! This be the land of the Azure, the strange, and the blue. The appelation is going by the title ‘ Pay’s du Herault’ which I trave to the Land of Hercules.

I sampled three wines from the region so far and today I’m mentioning the rose. These wines are truly Greek-esqe. Rough and tumble acidity that glistens each sip. The grapes? Rudimentary and ashen. The title of the wines reads Cabernet, Grenache and Syrah. However, there even more nuances  to Greek varietals such as Malavasia or Agioritiko.

The Moulin de Gassac 2017 ‘Domaine Guilhem’ Rose was gushy and teemed with jammy blackberry. The body thin and unscathing. A truly soothing sipper.

All Along the Watertowers

Greetings I am now in New Orleans. If you check in previous posts I ventured to Montreal to find le vin rouge. That wine was brooding, and sausagey - lo and behold I’ve found the fermented here in New Orleans to be decadent and overly soapy.

In previous debacles in the world of wine I was fronted with MERLOT: what makes something merlot? Where does it come from...and in the traditional French motif, what does it taste like?

Here I am posing the Dom. Brumont Cotes de Gascogne Rouge -

Gascogny is in southern France, about 100miles from Bordeaux. It is a region of Cognac grapes and sits adjacent to the Atlantic. It’s always interesting to note the color of the actual wine. But surrounding our element here is a lot of the nature of Merlot: la mer. The ocean, blue. The wine itself was creamy-dry, thin and cuttingly suave; tinted with dark berry because it is a blend with a regional grape ‘Tannat.’

Driving to New Orleans, I wondered profusely about the quality of the water in these parts of the far South. At every juncture along the byways and country roads are a water towers. I left New York because it seemed like just one lonely (albeit famous) port in this massive green.blue planet. I found myself in the vieux port of New Orleans, where it rains constantly and shrimp turn up everywhere...

Here’s something I found about the waterworks of New Orleans:

Ironic; when asked ‘what is a dry wine,’ how are we to know if what’s in the bottle is truly a product of a dry conditions. Merlot as we always identified is dry, even to a point of creamy. Often times it is gushing and oozing with exotic fruit. The key is to have a sense of place for your wine and the culture that surrounds the vines. In Gascogny, people are keen to distill information, live from the land and sea and enjoy the sun’s bounty. Not a dissimilar culture here in New Orleans!

Goosebumps in Bordeaux thread, to cork, by flames

#Harlem_Vintage is on their second wave of ownership. Many moons ago this was the bastion in Harlem as an innovative wine store. Yesterday, I was pouring two styles at the shop. Vin blanc (entre-deux mers) and the Cotes de Bordeaux rising appellation.

It's exceedingly interesting to many analyzing the labels of wines - which is crucial. When one sees Bordeaux on a wine label, is price an implication? Albeit wines can be simply juice, or they can be 'elevage.'

The agency that sent me bares the citchy sudonym (that shall not be named) but you get the idea of a burning desire to get the wines opened. SO i got there, and immediately I was in the tiger's den. The new ownership is young and impassioned. I went ahead an opened the following:

1.  Le Grand Courraye Rouge  - Cotes de Castillion
2.  Dom. Grand Jean - Entre-deux-mers Blanc
And among others
3.  Dom. Le Tour Puyblanquet 2015

All in all, the wines were serviceable. These are the nether regions of Bordeaux - between and along the rivers, not truly the 'wines on demand.'

White wine in Bordeaux is overshadowed.  People enjoy seduction, but never do they think 'priming.' Elegant white Bordeaux, such as Domaine Grand Jean (Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion) is dry, and minerally. It is an appetitive that is subtle and palatte swelling.

The rouges were quaffable - and saying this in Harlem people thought I was speaking 'tongues.'  I mentioned earlier Cotes de Bordeaux, the countryside of the region. In Castillon there was a castle, owned by a German/Spaniard....anyone non-roman. And these wines are in fact Cabernet Frank. Hearty, oncuous, and smathered raspberry.

 Essentially, the wines...at vintage Harlem, were a success. And never for once consider certain 'clienteles' to shy from dry or sophisticated wine. Very little are people aware that the region of Bordeaux is simply drama - and the drama is in the flames of the vines, and the candles that some producers live by in cellars giving air and breadth to the wines.

Delving into the Grapes of Fray, et. Le Vin Frais!

All this past month I craved anissete, or Ouzo. I love mixology especially with sharp citrus; but are even grapes citrus?

No- they're not. They are in fact amber in color; deep muddled acidities, and of course; exotic fixtures. I tasted a Pinot Gris at Warwick winery (Hudson Valley) but all along a few more tastings I hummed over icons like 'Weissburgunder'  and 'Muscadet.'

Whenever Frenchies hurry into a store they clamour 'eh you have fresh wine' - le vin frais, or wine that is simply cold. In fact, in other experiences I've gathered that Vin Frais or 'fresh wine' is literally wine made about either locally or just served out of a tank. Fresh wines - rather than 'natural wine' - are fermented ad-hoc and are enjoyed almost flowingly.  This wine tingled with puckery kiwi acidity. The tingled lends itself to active culture and hence low-sulfite.

A couple weeks later I encountered a wine tasting from the Alto Adige which in reality is prime Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio territory. Often times they use a grape called Weissburgunder - which is known as Pinot Blanc, but it can teater on Chardonnay.

 Chardonnay can be tender, but this was a spumante that resembled a thin, uppercut of Pinot Grigio. Was refereshing but the border of Italy/Austria is not a hotbed for 'sparkling culture.'

Finally, I met with SolStars this week as an emerging rep. We tasted the following:

Quite the 'umph' and elegance aptly served out of a tight, tweaked, and amaryllis bottle. The 2016 'Vins D'Aslace' Pinot Blanc was leveling on austere. Very little succulence and drama, in fact; flint, limestone, and stiff acidity were hallmarks of this French Pinot Blanc.

With a little maturity, often times the same grape - be it Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Blanc -- the volatility of the juice can hone in the characteristics of the culture that cultivates the vine.

Bargain Bin, Bourgogne Vin, and Belgium's In!

The other day at the wine shop I was asked to reshelf a totally inexpensive wine, a simple Pinot Noir: behold 'Le Borgounge.'

Burgundy is a wine that is ubiqutuis, and my coworker promptly asked to put in the appropriate section. NO, it was to be in the bargain bin, or le borgougne vin? Pinot Noir is a thin skinned grape that sometimes can be minty or curvaceous.  Burgundy vintages can fetch far sums, yet others are in the under 10 realm. I noted that one of the shops around the corner has a simple, inexpensive Burgundy:

Often times shops have 'clear-outs' or wines that are attractively priced. This is a '13 Pinot Noir from the negotiant maison Lapalus $12.99. Faiveley is another name of a burgundy house. Often times you'll find some Polish names as well.  But where does the spin occur?  The rather cliche, overmarked Burgundy. 

I believe the emblem and the name of this vineyard in Burgundy (Ursule) are a name notorious in Belgium and folklore. This name, Jadot, is a French maison fetching a price of over $50 for a vintage of the above rouge.  Sometimes Burgundy's carry a history, a long lineage of heirloom grapes. This label indicates a monopole of a small vineyard; in the prime real estate of the Cote D'or.  While Urusula may be purple, the land is gold, the real color of Burgundy is actually fading into thinner and thinner shades of crimson....best bet, hark on rose. 

Rust of Salt....Sultry: Seduction and Southern Spain

The journey of wine veers south for the most part and the main stay of wines go by the lingo: 'Smith and Hook', or 'Los Carneros'...but the delicacy of wine is subtle, murky, and must be bold. I dropped by the Park Hyatt on 57th Street for a liquid lunch, behold:

The blood orange garnishes a stirring of #ElijahCraig and an unnamed "Olloroso Sherry". Sherry - 'cherry, 'xerry' - is a fortified wine from southern Spain in the bay of Cadiz just north of Gibraltar. The wines are fortified because they were sent over seas, just like Port or Madeira. In this case, the Olloroso sherry was aged so perfectly that I felt the subtle red fruit that can ripen even in the bottle.

Sherry's are fortified with a neutral spirits; Port with brandy, and Madeira as well. I did some online research and found a really cool example of Olloros Sherry:

The idea here is that seduction is not just juicy, but should mature with lingering afterthought. This Sherry above is a small production, Tio Alejandro, and should be aged about 3-5 years to be an Olloroso. Moreover, the lid of the barrels are remod on purpose, so to aerate the must and apply saturation to the wine.  Sherry's are great and I recommend you try your hand at liquor sur cuisine!