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the #1 thing I look for is having it be so very, very varietally/terroir expressive that it makes me feel the same way I felt the first time I really “got” the taste/aroma of a type of wine. Much like Summer Roberts, I started my wine career with a very high academic aptitude, but no intrinsically gifted palate, so a wine needs to evoke a very specific taste and memory to get three stars from me… a few examples:

- Dry Alsatian whites need to smell like petroleum… I learned this while watching the first five minutes of the 3rd episode of The Wire… I hated the first two sips of the wine (SO OILY!) and the first two episodes of the show (NOTHING HAPPENS… it’s like trying to start Anna Karenina in media res at the mushroom picking scene and without the whole “Happy Families are all alike” thing. argh!) When the show came together though, my palate followed suit … the third sip is the charm! Tropical fruit and petroleum is a beautiful flavor marriage!

- Cabernet… no matter where it’s grown… needs to smell like cassis… red or black, ripe or unripe… Cabernet needs to smell like cassis for me. Why? Because, I really “got” Cabernet the first time when I was tasting with Jane (who worked for the James Beard foundation for years and started the most perfect little wine shops in the world) and a rep poured us a Paso Robles Cab that had 0% terroir but was 100% varietally expressive, and she said, “wow, that’s a lot of cassis… at least, it’s obviously Cab.” From then on, I was able to spot a good cab in a blind tasting from a mile away.

- Gevrey-Chambertin must have a distinct aroma of Robitussin… which is probably why I don’t like Gevrey-Chambertin… yes, it’s Pinot Noir, and I love Pinot Noir (not true, I love funky Pinot Noir), but no matter what euphamisms people use for Robitussin (e.g., Juniper Berries, Licorice, Wormswood, etc.) it still smells like Robitussin when it’s done correctly.

Alsace, Cabernet Sauvignon, Old World, Pinot Noir, Red Burgundy, Wine Questions Answered | No Comments

Most descriptions of wines from Gevrey Chambertin mention the words musk, cherry, and licorice, but for practicality’s sake, let’s call these things “Robitussin.” 

The challenge then for both winemakers and wine tasters is to find a bottle that expresses the true components of robitussin well, equally, and powerfully. What one really wants to taste in Gevrey Chambertin is not cough syrup, itself, but instead it is the components of cough syrup one wants to taste: cherry and plum skins, juniper berries, violets and lavender, sweat and freshly polished leather.

Gevrey-Chambertin Vineyards

Sylvie Esmonin’s Cote de Nuits Villages 2006 - AFTER A RIGOROUS DECANTING/BREATHING - shows all of these things… along with a hint of the aroma of an olive just picked from the branch. Ok, ok… it’s technically NOT Gevrey-Chambertin, but it is (I am assured by one of my favorite Burgundy experts!) almost totally Gevrey-Chambertin fruit… it also smells and tastes as good as some of the far more expensive vinifications of Gevrey-Chambertin that I’ve had. 

I have half a bottle left… I’ll see what it’s up to tomorrow. Until then sleep tight my little impulse buy of a wine.

Old World, Pinot Noir, Red Burgundy, Wine Reviews | No Comments

Sweet, smoked bing cherries. A bit of cardamom (a dry, brown sweetness) and dried star anise on the nose. There’s also a sour violet petal on the palate along with hints of licorice. There is also a furry, wild raspberry sharpness on the end- think of the ones on the side of a country road, NOT the tame, sissy berries sold in boxes at Whole Foods!

Petitot is a 3rd generation producer!

This is *low* end Burgundy, and it’s $20 to $30. Why so expensive? This is the only place you can get all these flavors at once. California Pinots can be great, but they are only focused on one or two flavors at a time (huge generalization, yes!).

We tried this wine with salmon baked under a crust of bread crumbs (matzoh!!!), sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, a little garlic, a lot of dill, and a hefty portion of thyme. It was so fantastic that I was reminded that there is a huge reason that Pinot Noir is the best wine to pair with salmon, hands down.

France, Pinot Noir, Red Burgundy, Wine Reviews | No Comments

Poinsettias and cherry gingerbread on the nose along with the slightest bit of caramelized onion. Very brown and red.

Ghostly tannins from the bottle age. Why must Burgundy be so expensive? $28 just to get started. Probably because there is nothing else like this in wine.

Note to self: Bring a bottle to the pie party. Remember to wear pants.

France, Old World, Pinot Noir, Red Burgundy, Wine Reviews | No Comments

Le Jardin is what run-of-the-mill Pinot Noir should be. Bright cranberry and cherry fruits with an intriguing hint of tomato flower on the nose. It reminds me of my dad’s failed attempts at growing a vegetables in the northwest bay windows of the kitchen of my parent’s house, where the only thing that would ever really grow were the pies they bought at the farmer’s market and baked in the oven while they argued about
why the vegetables in the window didn’t grow.

A bottle of Le Jardin might have smoothed out many rough spots in both their marriage and my childhood.

$20.99 at T.B. Ackerson … 7.4/10

France, Pinot Noir, Red Burgundy, Wine Reviews | No Comments