Author: Thomas Wilcox

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Old-Vine ’09 Red Burgundy.

The Heart of Burgundy.  Dijon may be the largest city in Burgundy, but Beaune is its heart. This ancient city dates to prehistoric times, and for centuries its culture has been steeped in winemaking. Today it’s a vibrant town full of bustling markets and busy sidewalk cafes.

We use Beaune as a home base from which to visit our vignerons around Burgundy, but sometimes we forget the appellation surrounding the town itself. We’ve recently come across several wines from the “Beaune” appellation that live up to the city’s storied history.

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Earth and Berries.  Today we’re suggesting 2009 Louis Boillot’s Beaune “Epenotes.” Made from vines more than 60 years old, this is classic red Burgundy from a terrific year. Traditional earthiness joins ripe, round berry fruit – this opens up really nicely in a glass or decanter.

About Boillot’s 09 Beaune, Burghound (Allen Meadows) writes, “this offers lovely quality for a villages level wine.” We agree, and see it pairing beautifully with Oeufs en Meurette, a traditional Burgundian dish made of eggs poached in red wine. The recipe is a bit involved, but you’ll need something to do during the hockey intermissions this weekend.

BOILLOT BEAUNE 2009
Ansonia Retail: $28
offer price: $25/bot
case price: $22.95/bot       bltbn_pin(use code “BEAUNE”)

Click to place an order.

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2/20, 3:30pm NOTE: This wine has nearly sold out. For other ideas from Boillot, try his 09 Côte de Nuits Villages, or Fixin 09.

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The World’s Best-Value Chardonnay.

murg_pinInsider’s White Burgundy.  Beside Chablis, the best secret in a white Burgundy lover’s cellar is his stash of St. Aubin. The village is easy to miss, wedged in a valley between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. And though it rightly plays second fiddle to these two giants, it’s still a source for what Rajat Parr calls “some of the best-value Chardonnays in the world.”

We too have found remarkable bargains in St. Aubin, and perhaps none more impressive than the 1er cru St. Aubin from Gérard Thomas. Thomas’s St. Aubin is made from the Murgers des Dents de Chiens vineyard, a plot of vines high on a ridge from which one can see north and south along the golden slope.

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Lemon filet and Chardonnay.  Thomas’s St. Aubin 2011 is beautiful. It shows soft, elegant fruit but also vibrancy and tension. The wine is pure chardonnay, oaked carefully to allow the pure lemon fruit to shine through.

We drink “Murgers” (as we call it) with a wide range of dishes, but if you’re looking for a new idea, try this method for breading and frying fish. We discovered it several months ago and haven’t gone back:

  1. First dip your filets of flounder (or something similar – haddock, turbot, etc.) in fresh lemon juice.
  2. Then dip filets in flour; then back in lemon juice.
  3. Finally, dip filets in bread crumbs.
  4. Let settle for 2-3 minutes, then fry in a pan of hot oil for 2-3 minutes a side.

The result is a lightly lemon flavored filet with nice crisp texture, without the need for accompanying lemon slices. The fresh flavor will match nicely with the citrus notes in the St. Aubin, and the cool white Burgundy will play beautifully off the warm fish. (Send us a picture of your fish with St. Aubin and we’ll send back a 10% off coupon*.)


THOMAS ST. AUBIN 1ER CRU 2011
Ansonia Retail: $34
offer price: $29.95/bot

Click to place an order.

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*To be used on full priced wine only.

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Blackberries and Cloves. $14.95

Latitudes.  It is said that grapes find their highest expression at the northern-most end of their range – Burgundy Pinot Noir and Mosel Valley Riesling are two examples of this. A third example, and perhaps the best example in comparison to its other homes, is Syrah from the Northern Rhône.

Syrah is grown all over the world, but by far its greatest expression is just south of Lyon. Here, as Rajat Parr describes it, Syrah “marries the joy of bountiful, juicy fruit with the visceral attraction of animal wildness.” With little chance of putting it more poetically, we’ll introduce today’s wine: Syrah VDP 2011 from Stephane Montez.

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A low-alcohol bargain.  Syrah grown in such storied Northern Rhône appellations as Côte Rôtie and Hermitage benefits greatly from (and often requires) bottle ageing. Montez’s Syrah hails from a less-celebrated plot, but requires no ageing and can be had at a fraction of the cost.

The Montez Syrah shows cloves, bacon, and blackberries in the nose, and has a lively, fruit-filled mouth. At 12% alcohol, the wine is the antithesis of a warm weather shiraz. Missing some “animal wildness” in your life? Try some of this.


MONTEZ SYRAH 2011
Ansonia Retail: $17
offer price: $14.95/bot
case price: $13.95/bot       (use code: WILDNESS)

Click to place an order.

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Smoke, Pear, and Apple Tart. $13.5

An endangered classic.  While French grape varietals can be confusing, German ones are easy – it’s nearly always Riesling. But the range of wines from this single grape is really remarkable. German Riesling can be as dry as a Muscadet or as sweet as a Muscato, depending on where, when, and how it’s made.

The classic style of German Riesling, though a bit of an endangered breed these days, is a touch off-dry and full of racy acidity and minerality. Sommeliers universally praise Riesling’s ability to communicate terroir, and we found a striking range of wines in our visit last year.

Many readers of these posts have enjoyed our dry Riesling from Franz Dahm, a producer of tiny quantities in the Mosel Valley. Today’s offer is for a more classic German style – not sugary, but with a soft hint of sweetness. And because it’s a simpler wine than the Bernkästeler trocken, it’s an even better bargain.

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A remarkable value. Dahm’s Mosel Riesling halbtrocken (half-dry) 2011 shows smoke, pear, and apple tart on a clean, expressive nose. The mouth is gently sweet through the mid palate but finishes tart and fresh. This wine is perfect for fish – last night we enjoyed it with poached cod in a lemon butter sauce.

These traditional off-dry German Rieslings are harder to find as the market demands ever more dryness. But we shortchange ourselves when we spurn off-dry, and this is too good a value (and too drinkable a wine) to pass up. Don’t let the skinny bottle scare you.


DAHM RIESLING HALBTROCKEN 2011
Ansonia Retail: $17
offer price: $13.5/bot

Click to place an order.

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Sparkling wine from across Burgundy.

Region-specific.  In Burgundy, it’s unusual to find a wine that seeks to represent the region as a whole. Winemakers here understand and highlight the differences between wines from adjoining plots of land. Some vignerons bottle six or more different wines, all from vines within a mile of each other.

The Louis Picamelot family, sparkling wine producers in Rully, make different wines in both of these styles – terroir-specific and region-specific. Today we’re focusing on their region-specific style: Picamelot’s Crémant Blanc de Blancs Brut.

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All three grapes.  With this cuvée, winemaker Phillipe Chautard has set out to create a wine that represents the region of Burgundy as a whole. He draws from Burgundy’s three main grapes, grown across three different sections of Burgundy: blending Pinot Noir from the Côte de Nuits, Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune, and Aligoté from the Côte Chalonnaise.

The result is a wine that is balanced and floral, showing faint exotic fruits and clean lemon in the nose. Soft bubbles and a light acidity make this wine dangerously easy to quaff on its own. It should pair well with vegetables, including the ever-hard-to-match asparagus. And at nearly a quarter the price of good grower champagne, this is as easy on the wallet as it is to drink.


PICAMELOT BLANC DE BLANCS
Ansonia Retail: $22
offer price: $18.5/bot

Click to place an order.

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Grapefruits and Gourmands: Sancerre

A wine for gourmands.  Wine writer Lettie Teague describes Sancerre as a wine about “pleasure and not profundity.” And though we’ve certainly had memorable bottles of Sancerre, it’s true that the wine shows a certain joie de vivre – more gourmand than gourmet.

For us, a glass of Sancerre calls to mind a large bowl of mussels in a Parisian bistro rather than a Michelin-starred white tablecloth. It’s a wine so easy to like that sommeliers often avoid offering it by-the-glass, for fear it will outsell everything else. And our favorite Sancerre comes from the Domaine Bellecours.

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A hint of Chablis.  Sancerre is from the Loire Valley, but geographically it is closer to Chablis than to many of its fellow Loire wines. Though Sancerre calls to mind more grapefruit than lemon, the same unoaked purity and clarity can be found in both places; and both wines echo the rocky visual landscapes of their origin.

This is an elegant wine of pure Sauvignon Blanc – lots of roundness but with brisk acidity as well. It is a fantastic food wine (thus popular among our sommelier clients), and would be at home next to anything from a bowl of mussels, to a plate of sushi, to a grilled fish.


BELLECOURS SANCERRE 2012
Ansonia Retail: $28
offer price: $25/bot
case price: $22.95/bot         use code “GOURMAND”

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Click to place an order.

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