Juice

First Grapes

Today at Crushpad we welcomed the arrival of the first grapes of 2008. A couple of tons each of chardonnay (from somewhere in Lodi) and Sauvignon Blanc from Grassini Vineyard down in Santa Ynez.

Mike Z kicked off the proceedings with a toast to the new harvest season and poured some ceremonial bubbles on the sorting line. Then we all slurped downed some flutes of J Cuvee 20. Then it was back to the coffee.

Just another day at the winery!

2003 Aubert Chardonnay "Lauren"

Named after Mark Aubert's daughter, the 2003 Lauren is a cherry.  The overriding impression I came away with was the duality.  Intense layer after layer of flavor somehow tempered with elegance and lightness.  This seeming contrast is overwhelming. There seems to be a pinpoint somewhere in the middle of the wine that brings all this into perfect focus. 

Am I waxing a little too zen?  This shit is freaking good. 

If you are a chardonnay fan, however un-vouge(?) that may be, its quite an experience. A bit of minerality and citrus serves as the foil to the wonderful tropical fruit and carmel flavors.  A nice acidity keeps it hopping on the finish.

Marc puts the majority of his focus on the vineyard selection and management and then uses rather traditional Burgundian practices to make the wine.  All of the vineyards are located in northern Sonoma on cool hilltop locations.  Natural yeasts, malolactic and barrel fermentations, sur lie aging, and new French oak barrels are all employed to let the fruit shine.  And the flavors are vivid.

I would pair this with a rich fish like escolar or some cream based sauce.

As high scores from Parker, Spectator, and Tanzer suggest this is a project on the rise.  Mark is also currently the winemaker at Colgin. Previously mark had stints at Rutherford Hill in Napa and spent 10 years at Peter Michael under Helen Turley. 

Steve Tanzer:

Rated: 94
($65; five-year-old vines) Cool, subdued aromas of green apple, lime skin, aromatic oils and iodine; distinctly Burgundian. Then large-scaled, fat and sweet but fresh; offers great richness without undue weight. Finishes with real palate-staining persistence. These five-year old vines include clones from Hyde, Hudson Mt. Eden and Calera. Like the Rueling Vineyard wine, the finish here is amazingly long considering the youth of the vines. But then crop levels in both of these vineyards were just over one ton per acre in 2003.

Robert Parker:

There are 300 cases of the 2003 Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard (situated next to the Reuling site). This stony, terroir-driven effort offers up terrific scents of licorice, white currants, lemon zest, orange rind, and a hint of tropical fruits. While full-bodied, with zesty acidity, a liqueur of stone component, and a monster finish, it is also elegant and light on its feet. I can only think of one or two other California producers who made anything close to the quality of this riveting Chardonnay in 2003. It should drink well for 5-6 years, possibly longer.

Domaine de la Bongran 2001

Jean Thevenet consistently crafts some of the most ambitious wines in the Maconnais.  His wines are anything but ordinary and express the ultimate commitment and passion he invests in each one.  The Maconnais is a region south of Beaune, about half way to Lyon.  It exists in the shadow of the more popular prestigious White Burgundy regions to the north.  For the most part this lower status is deserved as it is dominated by large cooperatives and growers that generally under-perform.  However there have been a number of well know White Burgundy producers such as Verget becoming very active in the region.  The soils here tend to be very chalky and almost all of the white grapes are Chardonnay.

Domaine de la Bongran's wines range from fairly dry, the Cuvée Tradition, to boytrised late harvest wines with almost 15% residual sugar like the Cuvée Botrytisée.  Thevenet makes his distinctive wines through very traditional methods including hand harvesting, using only natural yeasts, and harvests only ultra-ripe grapes.  He uses no chemicals on his vines.

Thevenet's wine is labeled with the very generic Macon Villages designation.  Although he is the most famous vigneron in the more prestigious Viré-Clessé appellation he is not permitted to use that designation because his wines lack the typicity of the region as defined by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO).  Per-Henrik Mansson of Wine Spectator wrote a pretty good article you can see here. 

The 2001 is a shocking example of Chardonnay.  I have tasted previous vintages of the Cuvée Tradition but this one broke the mold.  I have never tasted anything like this wine!!  It completely debased my wine senses.   If points be given for individuality, I give this 100+.  It is very intense, almost syrupy, with a bundle of butterscotch, very ripe pineapple extract, ripe pears, honey.  This is all underlined by a sweet minerality and acidity that integrates well.  No overwhelming new oak here.  After two hours I still wasn't sure what to make of the wine.  I may buy a case just to see what happens to this thing over the next 10-15 years.  It will definitely last that long.

This defies a point score.

About $28 at BrownDerby.com