Wine Club | December 22: Cozy French Wines For Winter
Cozy French Wines For Winter
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Cozy French Wines For Winter 〰️
Cozy Classics
We’re keeping it classic and cozy this month for Wine Club. Five wines from France in categories that excel in the colder months and always come with a bit of nostalgia and love from us winos. The Rhône, Beaujolais, and Alsace.
Little Pack
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A New Project from Domaine Brand & Fils, this is a collaboration between Brand and other growers and winemakers around the region. Similar to Les Vins Pirouettes of Christian Binner, Brand is working with other growers to highlight younger voices and create a value driven everyday line of wines to promote the region & other biodynamic farmers. This is a textural white that highlights the depth of mouthfeel Aslatian whites are known to excel in. All estate fruit.
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What could be better this winter than a deep red, already aged to perfection? As wine ages it leaves a more fruit-driven stage and develops earthier, more savory aromas and flavors. From the biodynamic Rhone producer, Terre Forte, the Hors Series is cuvée that highlights past vintages.
Prince Pack
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Ancestral Bubbles from Domaine Brand’s new project Brand & Co, Pinot Blanc from within Alsace, négoce fruit.
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An entry level Syrah coming from three of their four plots, whole cluster, wiry energy but traditional structure. It is truly rare to see an expression of Syrah that would satisfy seekers of serious North Rhone reds and the gluggy, everyday Syrahs that rival even some Beaujolais.
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A an entry level Gamay from Chateau de Grand-Pré. Harvest exclusively by hand, done in successive picks and vinified in the same vessels. No additives used in the vinification other than a minimal addition of sulphites at bottling. 5 to 10 days on the skins, temperature controlled.
Monthly Musings
“At lunch he suggested another wine - an Anjou. A heavenly wine, I thought. Followed next lunchtime by a Vouvray. For dinner, unless we had sea food, we drank red wines - Pommard, Nuits Saint-Georges, Clos-Vougeot, Mâcon, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, and so on. Now and then he slipped in a velvety fruity Bordeaux, a château vintage. It was an education. (Mentally I was doing out a stupendous tip for him.) Sometimes he would take a sip himself, to make certain it was up to par. And with the wines, of course, he made the most wonderful suggestions as to what to eat. We tried everything. Everything was delicious.” - Henry Miller, Nexus
This passage from Henry Miller’s Nexus, about his time in Brooklyn before Paris, describes an experience rich with significance and nostalgia for many of us now jaded and cynical winos: entry into the world of French wine. While some of us may have been as lucky as Miller to have had a well educated guide to initiate you in a glorious deluge of decadent pleasures, most of us come to French wine accidentally. Just like I did, when as a student abroad at the young age of twenty I made the life changing discovery that high-proof Belgian tall-boys taste significantly worse than their American counterparts. Although I knew nothing about wine, I quickly discerned in the aisles of a Monoprix that the cheap Bordeaux’s and Beajoulais’s were abundant and guessed maybe there was something to this. And there is. French wine has long represented some of the best values on the market, particularly when in California producers are paying over $2,500 per ton for Pinot and Cab grown in climates consistently too hot for these varieties. The land itself is so expensive in California that very frequently one can buy a cheaper French wine that is significantly more dynamic without scanning the shelves too hard or knowing anything beyond how the wine tastes. This month we’ve partnered with Merchants of Thirst to bring you some French wines in categories that have enchanted us the most, performed consistently higher than more expensive options, and have stayed with us through the years as a faithful delight.
Alsatian whites can often be the white wines that change a stalwart red wine diehard into thinking differently about white wine in general. On the eastern border, the region has changed hands throughout the centuries and shares viticultural influence from both France and Germany. White varietals of the region are the most well known and widely grown: Sylvaner, Gewurztraminer, Pinot’s Blanc, Gris & Noir, Muscat, Auxerrois, and Riesling. Most of these white varieties are included in the first wine for the Little Pack, the Brand & Co Blanc. Domaine Brand Et Fils was started by Lucien Brand in the 1950’s who had a vast, polycultural estate where wheat, tobacco, and vines were cultivated. As years passed, the estate began to focus increasingly on wine and eventually under the direction of Charles Brand, they began to make dry, gastronomic white wines that the local citizens of Strasbourg drank copiously. Philippe Brand began to work for the estate in 2015 and quickly began the transition into Demeter certified biodynamic farming. This view and method of farming is centered around understanding the vineyard as a living ecosystem. The wines also adhere to the unflinchingly rigorous Vins S.A.I.N.S. (Sans Aucun Intrant Ni Sulfite ajoutée) or (Without Any Additives or Added Sulfites). Brand & Co is a new collaborative project which highlights other growers with the same philosophy in the region and beyond. The Blanc is all Brand estate fruit however and indicative of the best wines in the region. Cold Aslace maintains acidity throughout and it is rare to come across wines as flabby as the whites of the Rhône or the Languedoc yet there remains a luscious texture. Glossy and profound, these wines often linger on the finish in a mesmerizing way. Traditional pairings, even on the region’s tourism website, almost always lean toward the spicy and intense flavors of South Asian or Latin American cuisine. Enjoy with Thai food, al-pastor mulitas and the like.
Red wine from the Rhône Valley was another early discovery for me as I delved further into the world of wine. The Rhône is the second most productive region under vine in France, only behind the behemoth of Bordeaux. The Rhône’s gamut of Grenache, Syrah, Mouverdre, and Carginan based reds provides a broad expanse of sometimes dramatically different wines all from the same grapes and region. The many variations of everyday categories readily available routinely puts similarly priced wines to shame with little effort. Even at entry level, the versatility of Rhône categories perform in a stunning range marked by varietal and terroir-driven inflections of fruitiness and minerality, varied densities from the meaty and structured to the soif-quenching, juicy weightlessness of some good Cinsault.
For the Little Pack this month we’ve got a rare treat for Rhône wines: a biodynamic beauty aged in Cement tank all the way back from the 2006 vintage. HorSeries or (Out of Sequence) is a Grenache blend from husband and wife team, Naudine Auray and Pierre Jaufrret. Every wine bottled under this cuvée name is patiently aged in epoxy-lined cement tanks until it is deemed ready despite whatever vintage it may originate from. Located in the southern Rhone more oriented around Avignon and Nimes, Signargues is defined by a terroir covered in the red clay and gallets, the iconic peebles most known from the nearby Chateauneuf Du Pape. The seasons here are defined by dry periods and rainy interludes. As wine ages, it loses fruitier aspects and more savory, herbaceous aspects emerge. Here, the aromatics have become vaguely reminiscent of garrigue and lavender. While the wine has nearly two decades of age, the fruit that remains still manages to feel bright and vital. A fantastic pairing for any classic winter holiday fare.
For the Prince Pack, we’ve got one bubbly and two more reds to round out the December selection. Another wine from Domaine Brand’s new project Brand & Co., the AZERTY is a methode ancestrale sparkling wine made from négoce (or sourced) fruit. A delicious and gluggy wine that can fill the void of any Crémant d’Alsace or Bourgogne. Next, it wouldn’t be a cozy French pack of wine without a Gamay; this being from the family owned, organic Chateau de Grand Pré. The Domaine is located in Fleurie, only a stone’s throw away from the Nord du Lyon. Their Beaujolais is harvested exclusively by hand, done in successive picks and vinified in the same vessels successively added atop each pick. No additives are used during the vinification, other than a minimal addition of sulphites at bottling. And to round off the selection, a Syrah from Saint Joseph. While I was tempted to include a Bordeaux, this exceptional Syrah sourced from a 10 hectare vineyard in one of the highest areas of Saint-Joseph showcases the category at its best.
For Wine Club pick-up and to learn more about and taste these wines, stop by Saturday December 3rd during Wine-Study from 1-5p!
Free wine flight of all 5 wines for Wine Club members!
Santé!
Little Prince & Bottleshop