Rosé Champagne

When Belinda Chang, a James Beard Award winning wine director wrote the wine notes for Charlie Trotter’s Meat and Game, her biggest takeaway from the many weeks of sampling bottles in Trotter’s enviable cellar was this: the perfect wine for a dish is often completely the opposite of what you think it should be! Rosé Champagne and dry aged steak is a great example of this maxim. 

Traditionally, Champagne is a white sparkling wine made by bottling a base wine made of white grapes (chardonnay) and two red grapes (pinot noir and pinot meunier) that are pressed gently so that no color is extracted from their skins, then adding a liqueur de tirage, wine mixed with sugar and yeast. The liqueur de tirage initiates a second in-bottle fermentation resulting in Champagne’s distinctive effervescence. 

Of course, there are variations on the theme, a Champagne labeled blanc de blancs will be one hundred percent chardonnay. A Champagne labeled blanc de noirs will be entirely pinot noir and pinot meunier, though it will still be a white sparking wine. Then there are the rosés. 

Rosé Champagnes are generally made by adding a small amount of red wine to the base. Their colors can range from delicate salmon to ballerina slipper to hot pink, depending on how much red wine is present. When a rosé is also a blanc de noirs, its hue is achieved by letting the base wine absorb color from the dark skins until it turns pink. But the wine is drained off the skins or “bled” before the color grows too deep. Both methods yield Champagnes with more structure, intensity and earthy flavors than the traditional blends. These qualities along with Champagne’s naturally high acidity make rosé Champagne a terrific foil for rich meats. 

When pairing a rosé Champagne with a dry aged steak, Belinda recommends looking for houses whose rosés demonstrate development and richness over fresh fruit. Veuve Clicquot was the first house to commercially export rosé Champagne and still makes a very successful style that works with a savory steak cut. Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Rosé and Gatinois Brut Rosé are two of her other favorites for a meat centered feast. 

There are certainly several styles that pair beautifully with a dry aged steak! 

Cloudburst Reveals the Potential of the Margaret River

Cloudburst owner and winemaker Will Berliner just netted the chardonnay he will harvest in late February. The meshwork protects the fruit from three types of birds: silver eyes, which take a sip out of each berry; ring neck parrots, which lop off whole grape bunches to exercise their beaks; and honey birds, which actually eat the fruit. He guards his tiny crop jealously, given that after three vintages, Cloudburst Chardonnay has earned coveted placement on the wine lists of three New York City dining meccas-- Tribeca Grill, Le Bernardin, and Eleven Madison Park, a remarkable accomplishment for a novice winemaker with a vineyard in the Margaret River of Western Australia.

Cloudburst’s unlikely genesis began with Will’s homesick Australian wife, Ali, with whom he used to travel to Australia regularly to visit family. When Ali became pregnant and sleeping on floors was no longer possible, they drove the Australian coast in search of a home. Coming from New England, Will found it difficult to imagine living in the country’s arid climate. Then they visited the Margaret River, a wine community among ancient hardwood forests five miles inland from the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, and it just felt right. They spent their savings on a property abutting Aboriginal land and a national park, which also happened to be on the local wine route near the well-known wineries Leeuwin Estate and Moss Wood Winery.

For seven years, Will listened to the land and developed a deep affinity for biodynamic practices. Meanwhile, he studied viticulture long-distance at the University of California at Davis, educated his palate and began planting experimental blocks of chardonnay and other varieties. He released the first vintage of his expressive chardonnay in 2010, followed by a leaner, more complex bottling in 2011 and an elegant, fleshier wine 2012.  All in all, it is an auspicious debut for an adventurous spirit from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Some Unexpected Advice for Maintaining a Healthy White Smile After Drinking Red Wine

While there is nothing quite like the pleasure of indulging in an inky red wine with great structure and mature fruit, too often the smile of satisfaction that ensues takes on a purple hue.

This may seem like the perfect time to sneak off to the bathroom for a quick brush, but dental professionals recommend you to hold off! The acidity in wine weakens the enamel on your teeth, making them extra-sensitive to the scratchy strokes of a toothbrush. To protect your teeth, wipe the stains away with a damp piece of gauze and wait at least an hour before brushing so that your saliva has time to rebalance the pH in your mouth.

Here are a few more tips for indulging in the great red wines of the world while maintaining a healthy white smile.

1. Brush and rinse well before you drink. Wine sticks to the plaque on your teeth.

2. Drink plenty of water between sips, preferably with bubbles, to rinse away stains.

3. Nibble on hard cheese. Cheese helps increase saliva production, which balances your mouth’s pH. It also adheres to enamel, protecting your teeth from acid’s corrosive effects.

4. Brush and floss and before going to bed. 

There is, of course, always a silver lining. The polyphenols in red wine actually block the ability of the bacteria that causes tooth-decay to stick to your teeth. For optimal enjoyment and oral health: take a bite of cheese, drink red wine, hydrate, drink again and repeat. When the meal or party is finished, wait an hour before you brush your teeth so that the pH in your mouth has time to rebalance and you won’t damage your enamel.

 

“You taste and you taste and you taste until you see the light!”

How does one understand Burgundy? According to Jacques Lardière, who spent forty-two years as Louis Jadot’s technical director before officially handing the reigns to Frédéric Barnier in 2012, “You taste and you taste and you taste until you see the light!” It’s a deceptively simple aphorism that cuts through the usual wine jargon to underscore the essential truth that a wine can only be known through your senses – seeing the color, smelling the aromas, tasting the wine and experiencing how it feels in your mouth.

Sampling enough Burgundy to begin to know the wines requires a strategy for sourcing bottles that are both affordable and compelling. Wine from the high-integrity producers in Burgundy’s southern appellations, the Mâconnais, Côte Chalonnaise and Beaujolais, are an excellent place to start. The Domaine Leflaive Mâcon Verze is a chardonnay of exceptional complexity and finesse. The Domaine Francoise & Jean Raquillet Mercurey exhibits the classic wild strawberry and violet aromas associated with Burgundian pinot noir. The Cru Beaujolais of Stéphane Aviron are lucid expressions of vineyard site. When choosing wines from marquee villages on the Côte d’Or, the négociants Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin consistently offer value and quality, both are major landowners throughout Burgundy and leaders in organic and biodynamic practices.

Women in Wine: The Young Guns

For the latest generation of women winemakers, there has been no single path to success. The spectacular career of Ntsiki Biyelais a case in point. Raised in the rural South African province KwaZulu-Natal, Ntsiki Biyela had never tasted a sip of wine before South African Airlines offered her a full scholarship to study oenology in Stellenbosch. Afterwards, in 2004 she joined STELLEKAYA as a junior winemaker, where she was given responsibility for the entire cellar a year later, becoming the first black woman and first Zulu in South Africa to hold the title head winemaker. It was a bold choice for the winery, but a wise one. In 2009 the agricultural magazine Landbouweekblad named Biyela South Africa’s Woman Winemaker of the Year.

Oenology school followed by travel has been an effective formula for the young, talented and ambitious. After studying at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, and working stints in the Margaret River of Australia and in Sicily, Italy, Tamra Washington was invited to return home to Marlborough, New Zealand, to launch YEALANDS ESTATE WINES. Molly Hill studied at the University of California at Davis then cut her teeth at DOMAINE CARNEROS and SEA SMOKE before becoming the winemaker at SEQUOIA GROVE in the Napa Valley. Renae Hirsch spent a decade acquiring skills at wineries across the globe before being offered a position at the helm of HENRY’S DRIVE in Padthaway, Australia.

In recent years, young women vintners have earned distinguished international reputations as leaders in minimalist winemaking, as witnessed by the fine wines produced and the acclaim bestowed upon Arianna Occhipinti of OCCHIPINITI in Sicily, Italy; Magali Terrier of DOMAINE DES 2 ANES in the Languedoc-Roussillon, France; and Nadia Verrua of CASCINA TAVIJN in Piedmont, Italy.

It seems counterintuitive, but women born into the world’s most prestigious wine making families often have to work the hardest to prove themselves worthy of a hand in cellar. Alix de Montille of DOMAINE DE MONTILLE in Burgundy, France, was required to study law before earning her diploma in oenology. Today she crafts the white wines for DOMAINE DE MONTILLE and MAISON 2 MONTILLE, the boutique négociant label she established with her brother. María José López de Heredia earned degrees in both law and theology before learning viticulture and winemaking. She is now the general manager of her family’s venerated Rioja estate R. LÓPEZ DE HEREDIA. And in perhaps the world’s longest audition for the role, fourth generation Argentine vintner Laura Catena graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University then earned a degree in medicine from Stanford University before becoming part of the winemaking team at BODEGA CATENA ZAPATA, her family’s winery in Mendoza, Argentina, where she is now general manager.

A Valentine's Day Ode to Amarone

Why drink Amarone on Valentines Day? Have you ever stared at a glass of this classic Italian wine from the Veneto, the land of Romeo and Juliet? Its blood red hue --achieved through fermenting dried corvina, rondinella and molinara -- is the color of passion, desire, seduction and thirst. It clings to the side of the glass when you give it a swirl. If you allow your nose to hover over the glass’s bowl, it is filled with aromas of plums, chocolate, black pepper, espresso and earth. Then there is the name, Amarone, (pronounced: a-mar-oh-nay), which sounds so close to amore, the Italian word for “love,” but actually has its roots in amaro, the Italian word for “bitter,” as if to remind us that the two feelings almost always come in pairs. Plus, if you handle Amarone with care, the best bottles will last a century or more.

While I can’t help you find the perfect mate, or even Valentine’s Day date, in recent years it has gotten much simpler to pick a terrific Amarone. In 2011, after decades of overproduction that led to vastly uneven quality among estates, twelve top-tier producers banded together to create an association called the Amarone Families, dedicated to excellence and the preservation of region’s distinctive artisanal winemaking traditions. These producers are voluntarily holding themselves to stricter standards than required by the DOCG. The families include: Allegrini, Begali, Brigaldara, Masi, Musella, Nicolis, Speri, Tedeschi, Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Tommasi, Venturini and Zenato.

If you don’t remember these names, all bottles of wine produced by the Amarone Families are all marked with a hologram of the letter “A”. There is an adage in wine that you can judge a producer by the quality of their entry-level offerings. This is particularly true of the Masi Costasera, Tenuta Sant’Antonio Selezione Antonio Castagnedi and all the producers who founded the Amarone Families.

Wines for Marcus Samuelsson’s New American Cuisine

At Marcus Samuelsson’s iconic Harlem restaurant, Red Rooster, culinary director Joel Harrington executes New American Cuisine, defined as flavors representative of the vast mosaic of cultures and ethnicities that constitute the fabric of America. For Samuelsson, these foods are also a highly personal expression of the ethnic and cultural influences in his own life.

Born in Ethiopia, Samuelsson lost his parents to tuberculosis and subsequently was adopted by a couple in Sweden, where he discovered his passion for cooking in his grandmother’s kitchen. His early career took him on jaunts throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas to study and work, until he became one of the most celebrated chefs of his generation. Samuelsson has earned three stars in The New York Times as the chef at Aquavit; won Top Chef Masters in Season Two; prepared the meal for the first State Dinner of the Obama administration; and published the memoir Yes, Chef!

When it came to designing a wine list that would straddle gravlax and jerk chicken, oysters Rockefeller and blackened catfish, his first priority was seeking out accessible wines that go well with a wide variety of foods. Toward this end, the Red Rooster list features an impressive array of pinot noirs in styles spanning from overtly fruity to delicate and textured. A current favorite among guests and staff members is the OPP (Other People’s Pinot) from Mouton Noir, the Dundee, Oregon winery owned by the sommelier André Hueston.

In terms of bolder reds, the Ridge, petite sirah is the go-to recommendation for the steak-for-two and Caribbean pork chop. Recently, more South African wines, such as the Raats, Western Cape, cabernet franc, are making their way onto the list in honor of the memory of Nelson Mandela.

The Elegance of Churchill’s Dry White Port

The question of what to drink as an aperitif on a winter night, when the thought of something cold, light and crisp sends chills up your spine, is not easily solved. In Portugal, the answer is often white port served lightly chilled. This is a great idea, in theory. It is easy to imagine sitting by a fire sipping a well aged fortified white wine that warms you from the inside as flavors of honey and almonds fill your mouth. Unfortunately, most white ports fall into the category of one-dimensional high alcohol sweet wines that are best when served combined with other ingredients by a talented mixologist.

This backdrop is what makes tasting Churchill’s Dry White Port a bit of a revelation. Though it is labeled “dry aperitif”, Churchill’s drinks like a fine tawny that happens to be made from white grapes. The base wine is a field blend of local white varieties — Malvasia Fina, Códega, Gouveio and Rabigato— harvested from an old high-altitude vineyard in the Douro sub-region of Cima Corgo. This means the grapes are grown and pressed together before being fermented dry. Once it is fortified, the port is aged for ten years in oak casks. The result is a complex dry white port with a golden hue. In the mouth, it is viscous with nutty flavors and mellow fruit. It pairs beautifully with roasted almonds, smoked salmon, paté, gougéres as well as most cheeses, and its consumption need not be limited to the winter season. Once opened, it will keep in the refrigerator for a month.

Jasmine Hirsch: In Pursuit of Balance

Jasmine Hirsch says she discovered wine while living and working in New York. This may sound improbable considering she grew up at Hirsch Vineyards, the oldest premium pinot noir vineyard in the West Sonoma Coast, but she explains, “My dad was a grape grower. He started making wine after I went to college.”

She quickly developed a passion for wines with finesse and restraint, especially collectible Burgundy and the rieslings she tasted at Terroir. When she returned to Sonoma to work with her father, Jasmine wondered whether it was possible to make the kind of pinot noir she had grown to love in California. She put the question to Rajat Parr, wine director of the Mina Group and partner at Sandhi, who took out a pen and began writing the names of artisan pinot noir producers on a cocktail napkin. Thus, In Pursuit of Balance was born.

In 2011, Jasmine and Raj organized a group tasting of those wineries at RN74. Four hundred people showed up. The next year they added chardonnay to the roster and held an additional tasting at City Winery in New York. Within a couple of days, it sold out. Now in its fourth year, the annual In Pursuit of Balance tasting has become a reference point for talking about the breadth of styles and growing sophistication of California wine. Participating wineries are chosen in a blind tasting by committee. The only requirement is that they are made in California.

This spring, Jasmine and Raj will travel to London and Stockholm with Jon Bonné, author of The New California Wine, and several winemakers featured in the In Pursuit of Balance program. It is an international road show aimed at breaking the stereotype of California wines as being overly ripe and oaky.

After only a few years in the industry, Jasmine Hirsch has translated her ardor for pinot noir into a vital conversation about the evolving identity of the California wine scene.

A Room with a Barolo View

During the Middle Ages, the hilltop towns of La Morra and Barolo fiercely disputed who controlled the prime vineyard lands of Cerequio, one of the most prestigious of Barolo’s crus, or most important parcels of land. Today there is no doubt. Michele Chiarlo, along with his sons Stefano and Alberto, farm almost two-thirds of the nebbiolo vines planted in Cerequio’s calcareous Sant’ Agata marl – vines that yield Barolo wines of particular elegance and finesse with concentrated aromatics that lace ripe berries with dark chocolate and pleasing hints of eucalyptus.

A few short years ago, the Chiarlo family opened Palas Cerequio, a boutique hotel in the center of its eponymous vineyards. The hotel is a sanctuary for those who aspire to understand the wines of Barolo thoroughly. Consistent with the local architecture, from a distance it looks like a small cluster of houses. In the lobby are stones from each of region’s grand cru sites.

The rooms mirror the Chiarlo’s winemaking philosophy: balancing tradition and modernity, preserving the time-honored characteristics of Barolo while embracing practices that render the wines more sumptuous, less austere. Thus the whimsical Baroque style of the four suites in the historic manor nod to the past, while the remaining five suites, compositions in stone and oak with massive picture windows, look to the future. All are equipped with private spas, stacks of books and musical selections specifically chosen to prime guests for an expansive sensory experience once the wine is opened.

Which brings us to the Caveau of Cerequio, the hotel’s cellar where guests can sample the entire Chiarlo portfolio alongside Barolo from other regional luminaries such as Gaja, Boroli and Vietti. It is an ideal tasting environment: temperature controlled with a long table set above a floor lit to ensure a true reading of each wine’s hue.

The hotel will also arrange truffle hunts, castle tours and reservations at authentic Piedmontese restaurants such as the Michelin starred Antica Corona Reale and San Marco Ristorante. Short of renting a staffed villa, Palas Cerequio is perhaps the most exquisite way to experience what is like to live among Barolo’s vineyards.

Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio is the perfect accompaniment to roasted or braised meats, such as this recipe for braised veal shanks.

Chablis: Chardonnay for Champagne Lovers

If you gravitate toward Champagne and Sancerre and prefer your chardonnay without overt flavors of oak, vanilla or butter, try Chablis. The eponymous wine of the most northerly appellation in Burgundy, Chablis is pure unadulterated chardonnay cultivated in Kimmeridgian limestone, a type of ancient (Kimmeridgian period) soil containing fossilized seashells. Combining the juiciness of the chardonnay grape with the fresh dry mineral qualities of wines from Sancerre or a Champagne Blanc de Blancs, the wines are delicious without being showy.

There are four levels of Chablis: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru and Grand Cru. The wines grow weightier and more complex as they scale the hierarchy. A good quality Petit Chablis, such as Domaine Seguinot-Bordet, tends to be refreshing with citrus and mineral flavors. Wines at the Chablis and Premier Cru level, such as Domaine Romain Collet Les Pargues, have more weight, body and structure, yet retain all the liveliness and gripping mineral flavors of their siblings. In recent years, young producers like Thomas Pico of Domaine Pattes Loup have brought organic and biodynamic practices to the region resulting in Chablis’ of remarkable clarity of flavor. Meanwhile, Grand Cru Chablis, such as the Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Valmur are among the world’s most age-worthy white wines. Not only do they develop attractive almond and caramel flavors after a few years in the bottle, once opened, the wines evolve in the glass in a way normally associated with Burgundy’s best pinot noirs, growing richer and more nuanced with each passing hour.

Because of its high acidity and restrained fruit character, Chablis is an extremely versatile food wine. It makes for a delightful aperitif served with fresh goat cheese or a nutty hard cheese such as Emmental. It holds up well in the face of salad dressing and asparagus, and will enhance any meal that features oysters, seafood, poultry or pork.

Clovis Taittinger on Opening Champagne

For Clovis Taittinger, 34, the welcome hiss of a Champagne bottle opening is always something magical. He still stares at the bubbles rising in his flute with awe. He views removing the signature mushroom-shaped cork from a bottle of Champagne as a ceremony of sorts and wants people to experience pleasure, not fear, when opening a bottle. Asked to advise those of us who did not grow up in one of Champagne’s most renowned family-owned Houses of an elegant and festive way to uncork a bottle, he shared his thoughts on what makes for the most graceful presentation:

1) Take your time.  Move slowly.  Concentrate.
2) Remove the foil.
3) Keep pressure on the cork while twisting the key of the Champagne’s wire cage six times to the left.  Discard the cage.
4) Cradle the body of the bottle in your dominant hand as you wrap your other hand around the neck and the cork, to prevent the cork from flying off.
5) Holding the bottle upright at a slight angle, turn the bottle until the cork pops off into your hand.
6) If successful, the pop of the cork should sound like a gunshot with a silencer.

Mastery comes with practice, says Clovis. This Christmas he will practice at home with his wife, parents, children and a bottle of Taittinger’s Prestige Cuvee--Taittinger “Comtes de Champagne.”
 

Second Time Around: Thanksgiving Leftovers & White Rhones

Thanksgiving leftovers are one of the best meals of the year. Stuffing tastes better the next day as does gravy, homemade cranberry sauce and sweet potato soufflé. Some like to refresh the meal a bit by using the turkey carcass to make a rich soup, but for those who can’t look at the stove after all the holiday prep, a new wine pairing will do the trick. 

Roasted turkey with gravy involves caramelized skin and dark rich sauce, which means that it calls out for a wine with some weight, aromatics and refreshing acidity. For The Big Meal the tried and true choices are pinot noir, cru Beaujolais and, for those who prefer something associated with America, zinfandel. Leftovers are a time to be more adventurous. 

Once the guests are gone, why not try a white Rhône marsanne-roussanne blend? These age-worthy medium-bodied wines are a staple of the southern French table. Marsanne-roussanne blends combine marsanne’s weight and structure with roussanne’s bright acidity along with its honey, floral and mineral flavors. At their best, these wines possess great finesse. They run the gamut from great values from top domaines, such as the Domaine François Villard “Version” Saint Peray, to delicious splurge-worthy bottles, like the Jean Luc Columbo “Le Rouet” Blanc Hermitage. Look for producers from Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Saint-Peray.

Discovering Grüner Veltliner

Some wines reveal everything you need to know about them with the first sip. They are not grüner veltliners. Delicious, fascinating and widely varied, wines made from grüner veltliner are worthy of a long, passionate courtship. Here are ten essential facts about the wines to get you started.

1. Grüner veltliner is the signature grape of Austria.

2. It yields an aromatic dry white wine distinguished by flavors of pepper and stone fruit.

3. Styles run the gamut from light, fresh and simple, to rich, full-bodied and complex.

4. Grüner veltliners are unusually versatile when it comes to food pairings, complementing everything from a mixed salad, to asparagus, to salmon and poultry.

5. They account for a third of all the plantings in Austria.

6. The finest examples are cultivated on the steeped terraced vineyards of Wachau, Kamptaland Kremstal in Lower Austria, which benefit from extensive exposure to the autumn sun.

7. The wines are delightful in their youth.

8. If you can hold on to a good bottle for a decade or two, it will evoke white Burgundy with its opulence, fineness and flavors of honey and toast.

9. These are artisanal wines -- most grüner veltliners are grown on family owned estates.

10. A high percentage of Austrian grüner veltliner is organic. The country has the highest percentage of land in organic production of any EU country (almost nine percent), an impressive statistic when you consider that the EU grows a quarter of the world’s organic food.

Celebrating Napa's Mexican-American Wineries

The birth stories behind the growing number of Mexican-American wineries in the Napa Valley and Sonoma tend to follow a similar dramatic arc. It begins with an ambitious young man journeying to the United States in the nineteen sixties or seventies to work in the vineyards and bringing his family with him. After decades of acquiring expert viticulture skills, he opens a vineyard management company of his own or assumes a supervisory role at his place of work, assuring the leading lights of the industry that they will have high-quality fruit. As his children come of age, they join the business, vineyards are purchased and the family begins making wine under their own label. Such is the case for producers like Ceja Vineyards, Robledo Family Winery, Renteria, Bázan Family, Madrigal, and Maldonado.

Sometimes this wine country version of the American dream happens even faster. Rolando Herrera began his vineyard career laying stones for Warren Winiarski at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. He went on to become the winery’s cellar master, the winemaker at Vine Cliff Cellars and the director of winemaking at Paul Hobbs Consulting before founding the winery Mi Sueños.

These producers are poised to serve one of the fastest growing segments of the wine drinking population in the US. A recent report by Rabobank’s Food & Agribusiness Research Advisory Group posits that if wine consumption in the Hispanic community grows to the same level as the broader US population, it will increase by close to fifty million cases over the next twenty years. According to Wines & Vines this means sales in the Hispanic community could account for 40% of the total growth in US wine consumption during the same period.

Flower Power

The appearance of tiny green flowers on the grape vine is perhaps the most critical juncture in the vineyard’s annual cycle. It occurs six to thirteen weeks after budburst, the moment in early spring when buds swell on the vine and erupt into a crown of foliage. You could easily miss it. Flowers on a grape vine are the color of their host plant and the size of a button on a dress shirt. Winemakers watch them like hawks because within a few weeks each flower will shed its petals, self-pollinate and transform into a nascent grape. Since each flower that fertilizes becomes a nascent grape, floweringdetermines both the size of the vintage and whether or not all the fruit in the vineyard will be at the same state of evolution come the harvest. For most winemakers, it is a real nail biter. 

In most of the northern hemisphere, a good flowering occurs over the course of three or foursun-drenched days in early June. If the weather is too wet or too cold, the flowering will be uneven. Worse yet, horror stories abound of entire crops being lost to hail, freezing rain, wind, or even too many clouds. 

Ideally, flowering is followed by two weeks of temperate weather during which the blossoms transform into berries. Many vintners leave their vineyards alone throughout this period for fear of disturbing the natural process. Even under the best circumstances, flowering does not happen entirely at once. It is staggered by grape variety and a vineyard’s exposure to the sun. In California, chardonnay blossoms first, followed by pinot noir and merlot, then cabernet sauvignon and petite verdot. 

Chris Howell, the winemaker at Cain Vineyard & Winery on Spring Mountain, describes flowering in the Napa Valley as a tight wave that moves up from Carneros, to Napa to Yountville and beyond. He calls it, “a reproductive moment and strong marking point,” since prospective harvest dates are calculated as one hundred to one hundred ten days after the event. 

Alto Adige

The Italian wine region Alto Adige looks like an amphitheater carved into the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. Despite its northern locale, it is one of the country’s warmest growing regions. In Alto Adige, the sun shines an average of three hundred days a year, the curved landscape traps warm Mediterranean breezes, and the towering Dolomites form a barrier protecting the region from chilling northerly alpine winds.

The main reason Alto Adige isn’t better known outside Italy is that so many grape varieties thrive in its many microclimates, making the region one of country’s best kept secrets. Its whites are bright and aromatic. At every price point, Alto Adige’s pinot grigio, chardonnay, gewürztraminer and pinot bianco (pinot blanc) are among Italy’s best. It also produces expressive red wines, particularly pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and the local variety lagrein.

Situated where the borders of Italy, Switzerland and Austria converge, the local culture is a blend of German and Italian. A perfect example of this is Törggelen, the harvest season tradition of hiking into hills for a picnic of local delicacies such as speck, chestnuts, apples and cheese washed down with wine from the new vintage. Törggelen comes from the Italian torchio meaning winepress, but the traditional meal has unmistakably German roots.

Recommended wineries include Cantina Terlano for age-worthy white wines; Elena Walch for gewürztraminer; Alois Lageder for superb biodynamic offerings especially pinot grigio; Hofstatter for gewürztraminer and lagrein; and Colterenzio, a pioneering cooperative.

Charles Curtis, M.W. on Buying Wine at Auction

Buying wine at auction can intimidate even the most passionate wine lovers. But with a little preparation, it is a great way to build a collection.

“It’s a misconception that only super expensive wines are at auction,” says Charles Curtis, MW, and former Head of Wine for Christie’s auction houses in Asia and the Americas. “You can buy wine at auction all day and not spend a fortune. It’s a matter of having the discipline to buy well.”

Curtis advises: Only buy wines from a reputable auction house. Before you go, you should decide which types of wine you want to add to your cellar. Know the lots on offer. Research the going price for the lots you that are of interest to you. Pay attention to the condition of the wine. Finally, decide which lots you want to bid on, bid up to that point and stop.

Curtis adds, “What you don’t want to do is say, ‘So-and-so is having a wine auction. Let’s check it out!’” Auctions can be where greed, gluttony and drunkenness converge. They will feed you and pour you nice wines before the bidding starts. You have to make it like homework. After you do your research, make a little spreadsheet and stick to it! Otherwise, when a lot comes up that you really want, you may bid until all of the sudden you’ve paid 40% more than the market price. Yet with a little preparation and discipline, you could build a cellar of mature treasures at a very reasonable price. 

Introducing Jura

Jura is a French wine region located in a narrow fifty-mile strip in the mountains between Burgundy and Switzerland. Its high-altitude vineyards spent centuries in relative obscurity before being rediscovered in recent years by influential sommeliers and wine geeks the world over.

For those new to the region, discovered is not necessarily understood. Jura is home to an unusually wide array of idiosyncratic wines--some are lip smacking, others are fascinating but not overtly delicious. We’ve put together a crib sheet to Jura to help anchor your experiences.

For chardonnay and pinot noir, think of Jura as Burgundy’s cool cousin to the east. Cooler temperatures and rich limestone soils yield high-quality classically styled wines in a lighter fresher style.

It is with white wines made from the local white variety, savagnin that Jura begins to defy expectations. These wines are made sous-voile or “under the veil.” After fermentation the wines are aged in barrel, usually for three years. The barrels are neither topped off nor stirred, so that a protective layer of yeasts grow, as with fino Sherry. These wines are never fortified; they are at once delicate, complex and aromatic and will challenge your expectations of what white wine should taste like.

Jura’s most famous sous-voile wine is Vin Jaune: late harvest savagnin that has spent at least six years in small oak barrels under a protective blanket of yeasts developing complex and beguiling aromas walnuts, almonds, honey, apples and sweet spices. The finest examples of Vin Jaune come from the appellation Chateau-Chalon.

Jura’s two native red varieties, trousseau and poulsard, yield wines a shade darker than rosé. Trousseau tends to be softer with red and black fruits. Poulsard is more structured and perfumed, sometimes with an earthy character. 

The Beauty of Bolgheri

This may come as a shock, but most wine regions are not inherently beautiful. Grape vines thrive in nutrient poor soil, as do few other plants, save olive trees and succulents. Indeed, it is often the vineyards and wineries themselves that lend our most beloved wine regions their character and charm. Then there’s Bolgheri, a slice of heaven on Italy’s west coast, rising from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the foothills of the Colline Metallifere.

Bolgheri possesses all the bells and whistles one could want from the natural world: white sand beaches, mountains, rivers, lush forests, ducks and wild boar. Lined by more than 2,500 cypress trees, even the three-mile road to the village, the grand Viale dei Cipressi, suggests you have entered nature’s castle.

As for the wines, picture Bordeaux varieties (cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc), along with sangiovese and syrah, luxuriating under the Tuscan sun, while being cooled by a wind stream stretching between rivers along the region’s northern and southern borders.

It’s no wonder Bolgheri produces some of Italy’s most opulent and collectable bottles: Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Guado al Tasso, Massetto and Ca’Marcanda immediately come to mind. Bolgheri also offers delicious characterful wines that will spare you the sticker shock: look for offerings from Aia Vecchia, Poggio al Moro and Ceralti.

Bolgheri’s dark dense wines grown by the sea are perfect for special evening meals as summer’s warm nights transition into autumn’s cool evenings.