La Route du Vin

My Serge Laporte Sancerre 2007: Just Right for this Time of Year

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

White wine country - The Sancerre vineyards with the hilltop village in the distance

Start the diet - get back in shape, and scale back a bit with something a little simpler like Sancerre. It just might be my favorite expression of Sauvignon Blanc.

Sure Sancerre is a favorite in the summer, but for these dry cold evenings a chilled refreshing glass of Sancerre seems just right when I come in from the cold. It also is the perfect wine for cheese. Right, a crisp white not a red is my choice for cheese most every time.

And, for me that is Serge Laporte's Sancerre. It has got more weight than any Sancerre I've ever tasted. It is a blend of citrus wrapped in honey and minerals.

If you need some convincing , I just read in La Revue du Vins de France that Serge's Sancerre won one of the stingily doled out Coup de Coeur awards - the only Sancerre that they chose from the hundreds of entries at this year's salon (wine fair) in Paris. La Revue is France's Robert Parker Wine Advocate. Here's what they said," Beautifully ripe Sauvignon enhanced by notes of lively acidity in the finale."

The Laporte vineyards are located on several different sites in Chavignol. Chavignol is a village/ commune just northwest of the city of Sancerre and arguably the best place to grow Sauvignon Blanc. Laporte's properties are beautifully exposed on the hillsides. Terroir is important in Sancerre.

Stunning Domaine les Hautes Cances

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

The rocky, hillside vineyards surrounding Cairanne in Provence

"2005 Rhones - Best in a Generation - 2005 delivers amazing quality up and down the Rhone Valley." - Wine Spectator November 30, 2007

No one should miss the 2005 Rhone wines. No one should miss this Hautes Cances.

Les Hautes Cances is amazingly rounded and forceful. Herbs and red fruit float from the glass and it just says, "Provence". France' beautiful wine region in the south.

Anne-Marie Astart's great-grandparents created the property in 1890. The land passed down through the family (with all the grapes going to the local coop) until to it passed to Anne-Marie.

Her husband Jean-Marie decided to give up his medical career to farm the family land and vinify his own wine. They named it Domaine les Hautes Cances. In Provencal this means "the end of the vines," the place where the tractor turns around and maybe your life changes.

Jean-Marie quickly converted his vineyards to Agriculture Biologique (they don't use chemicals or pesticides) and everything is done in a natural, non-intervetion way. This not only reflects their deep desire to protect the environment but also allows the maximum expression of authentic terroir.

2006 Rully Blanc Premier Cru from Eric de Suremain

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

Eric & Dominique de Suremain in the Rully Vineyards

You will probably never catch Eric de Suremain in a coat and tie. You're far more likely to catch him bent double in the vineyard peering at his vines. Making great wine is the only thing he cares about.

You've probably already tasted Eric's fantastic red Rully Premier Cru, Preaux. It's one of our most popular Burgundies (and best Pinot Noir Values). Well, get ready for his white Chardonnay. You're going to love it, too.

"In early June 2007, I visited the region and tasted more than 250 red and white Burgundies from barrel...It was clearly an outstanding vintage for the region's white wines. I give the 2006 white Burgundy vintage a preliminary rating of 90-93 on Wine Spectator's 100 point scale. The best whites are full of ripe fruit, with freshness, structure and plenty of mineral character. They have the flesh that makes them immediately appealing." -Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator

Robert Parker agrees and rates the 2006 vintage a 90!

Last December I visited Chateau de Monthelie, home of Eric de Suremain There aren't many chateaux in Burgundy and there is only one in the tiny hillside village of Monthelie. It's about 300 years old and it looks every year of its age, but there is something noble about it with its brightly colored polychrome roof and turrets.

Eric de Suremain inherited it from his grandfather, Robert, in 1983. The Chateau sits on the side of a hill and you can see all around the Cote de Beaune from its balustrades (don't lean too heavily). It is clear that Eric has spent all of his time (and money) on his vineyards and wine making and not the chateau. This is a good thing for all of us.

Stephane Pichat Cote Rotie cuvees from Very Fine 2006 Vintage

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

The insanely steep hillside vineyards in Cote Rotie

An "A " for the 2006 Cote Rotie vintage!

"Growers around Cote-Rotie in the far north of the valley were especially happy, as yields returned to normal after the low-yielding 2003 and 2005 seasons, and the wines showed terrific color and length..." A- for the vintage! < The Wine Spectator 2006 Vintage Report

"Most of the 2006 possess intense fruit with fresh acidity, but less powerful tannins than the 2005s. The wines should be drinkable at a much earlier age and because of their intrinsic balance and equilibrium, the top efforts should age beautifully for 10-15 years." The Wine Advocate - Robert Parker

The fruit and intensity of a Burgundy and the age- ability of a Bordeaux. Is this the perfect wine?

Let me say something about Cote Rotie. The first view of the vineyards is unforgettable. Situated at a bend in the river the slopes rise at points 1000 feet vertically from the riverside at a stunning 30 to a nose bleed 55 degree angle. This stunning wall of vines looks impossible to cultivate. It is for any method except laborious hand labor. No tractor or even horse and cart could work these slopes. They are just too steep.

All challenges have their rewards and the Cote Rotie's is a perfect southern exposure. This combines with a clay limestone soil and a rocky large stone surface that soaks up the hot southern sun all day and radiates heat back onto the precious vines of the "Roasted Slope" all evening. This makes for fabulous ripening conditions and intense concentrated fruit from those precarious hillside vines.

Bernard Bouvier - Marsannay Genius: Now is the Right Time for this red Burgundy

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

The Chambertin vineyards just below Marsannay in the Cote de Nuits (photes claes lofgren)

If you haven't heard of Marsannay, you should get to know it. It's an appellation in the northern Cote de Nuits which produces expressive Pinot Noirs for a sane price. That means you can do what we all want to do - uncork one on a regular basis.

Bernard Bouvier is one of Burgundy's prodigies; he is a genius of a young winemaker.

Here is what La Revue du Vin de France said.

"In rejecting the machine harvesting of his parents, banning chemical treatment, and slashing yields, Bernard Bouvier has quickly established himself as one of the most brilliant winemakers of his generation."

When I tasted Bouvier's Marsannay Longeroies in a two starred Michelin restaurant in Pernand Vergelesses, I made an appointment immediately to go see him. The wine was rounded and an unctuous beauty. It emanated the kind of Pinot Noir expression that you find in much more expensive wines.

Benoit Germain's Chateau de Chorey - 2005 " A perfect vintage" BG

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

The Ancient Chateau de Chorey cellars in Burgundy

"The always-animated Benoit Germain describes the 2005 vintage as one that "I'd like to make every year. At the winemaking school I attended, when they would graph out the ideal vintage, they were graphing 2005 only they just didn't know it at the time! - We had absolutely perfect grapes, I honestly can't imagine how they could be any better and it's the best fruit that I've seen since 1985. There was literally no sorting and the berries were very tiny with superb solid to liquid ratios." As the scores and comments suggest, the Germain '05s are definitely wines to put on your short list of cellar purchases. Allen Meadows - Burghound

Okay, you've been bitten by the red Burgundy bug and it's costing you a fortune. And, what perfect timing because the 2005s are the vintage of every grower's lifetime and I still have some available but you know, there is a way to slake that powerful thirst for French Pinot Noir without breaking the bank.

It means looking for those up and coming, independent, skilled growers in those lesser-known appellations like Chorey-les-Beaune who just can't charge lavish prices for their wines, but can deliver that expression of Pinot Noir that will make you swear you're drinking one of the Burgundy Big Guys.

Enter Benoit Germain at Chateau Chorey Les Beaunes . Benoit is finally starting to get the recognition he deserves. You don't just break into the top echelon in Burgundy over night. You have to prove yourself over and over and look good in an Hermes tie as well.

Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau Cuvée Silex Vouvray 2006: "textural finesse and generous minerality" -RdVF

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

The Vouvray wine cellars in the River Cliffs Photo Claes Lofgren
Right about now in this cold, dry weather there is nothing more refreshing than a minerally dry Vouvray before or with dinner. This week I am in the mountains and this is perfect when I come in from skiing.

I'm starting to think that Vouvray is America's favorite French white wine. Nobody seems to be able to get enough of it.

Of course, there are a lot of reasons for this, not the least being that Vouvray is the ideal white wine for many people because it is not steely, steely Dry with a big D, but rather dry with a small d. It is made from 100% Chenin Blanc.

Bob and I went hunting for a Vouvray last May in the Loire Valley. We did our homework first. Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau kept popping up:

La Revue du Vin de France:
"This estate, which is biodynamique (organic) is distributed over several types of soil which permits assemblages of wine which play right into the hands of the Chenin Blanc grape with its velvety acidity so typical of a good Vouvray. Vigneau-Chevreau makes wine with lots of textural finesse and generous minerality..."

Jacqueline Friedrich in her new book, The Wines of France puts Vigneau-Chevreau on a short list of her favorite Vouvrays,

I fixed a rendezvous with Stéphane Vigneau and was immediately impressed by the impeccable cellars. Vouvray is planted in tuffeau, a limestone rock. Tuffeau is the same white rock that many of the chateaux of the Loire are made from. The rock was excavated from the land leaving behind cavernous caves which the Vouvrillons put to good use as wine chais (barrel storage rooms). The caves are very old and snake around for hundreds of meters underground.

Paul Garaudet's Puligny Montrachet 2006: "indisputably delicious, round, rich and generous" -Allen Meadows

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

Early Morning Harvest in Puligny Montrachet (Claes Lofgren)
It was a simple beet salad with goat cheese and walnuts and some scallops with persillade, suddenly catapulted into a world class dining experience by Paul Garaudet's 2006 Puligny Montrachet.

I think it's the best Puligny Montrachet I've tasted from Paul and it got me thinking about Burgundy and why the wine and the region are so compelling.

Burgundy is a small ancestral gaggle of villages with this amazing collection of different terroirs i.e. all these vineyards right next door to each other or down the road, with unique soils and exposures and micro-climates putting out distinct wines with personalities that come right from the earth.

When you become involved in Burgundy you can't escape its charm and the powerful urge to find out more and more about each of its wines. It becomes a challenge in the most gratifying way to get to the bottom of Burgundy and each delving is usually paired with seriously great meals and like-minded Burgundy lovers who, of course, are some of the world's most interesting people.

Did you read Eric Asimov's column in the New York Times recently? He was interviewing David Chan, a violinist and Burgundy lover. David talks about how music is like Burgundy.

"Great composers are like great vineyards. Both require a particular sort of selflessness to bring them to life. If you seek to only be yourself, that's what you get, but if you seek to faithfully bring the composer to life that will happen, and your personality will enter the picture because you're performing the task. I think the same thing happens in wine. If you try to faithfully capture the terroir, inevitably you enter the picture, whereas if you're not careful, it results in a house style."

2006 Bourgogne Rouge from Bernard Bouvier - The Best Bourgogne Rouge You'll Ever Pour in Your Glass!

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

Bernard at his Domaine, corkscrew in hand.

"Bernard Bouvier personifies the generation of winemakers who are bringing new blood to Burgundy." -La Revue du Vin de France

La Revue has already called him one of the most talented winemakers of his generation. He is one of the new generation of winemakers who has melded the best of the thinking of previous generations to modern vinification techniques and vineyard practices and technology.

"At their very best, the Côte de Beaune '06s are classic burgundies that mirror the finest wines from the Côte de Nuits. This is to say that they are exceptionally aromatic and elegant with the best transparency to the underlying terroir since the 2001s, all wrapped in admirably persistent finishes with fine detail and a more pronounced sense of minerality than most vintages possess. They really are gifted in terms of their transparency, indeed the finest examples are what I would call crystalline and because they are moderately concentrated, neither light nor dense and moderately ripe, neither surmature or under ripe, there is relatively little to get in the way of this clarity, save of course for clumsy or inept winemaking." -Allen Meadows, Burghound

Bernard's first vintage was in 1986. Chemical treatments are banned and yields are held to a minimum. Bernard does not fine or filter his wines. They are rich and intensely flavored and authentic expressions of the terroir.

Chateau Croix Mouton 2006: Prize Bordeaux from Wonder Boy Jean-Philippe Janoueix

Subscribe to Cynthia’s free newsletter

Sorting grapes at Chateau Croix Mouton. Jean-Philippe is at the far left.

Don't let this wine get underneath something in your cellar. Just leave it right on top of the stack. Take my word for it, you will go after it time and time again and then you'll want more.

Jean-Philippe Janoueix is the winemaking genius in his winemaking family that has been in the business for 100 years. I think he must have wine running in his veins instead of blood. He is such a natural when it comes to making wine.

His name is on La Confession (95 Parker rating in 2005), La Croix St-Georges (another 95 in 2006), de Chambrun, and Croix Mouton. They all get the 90s. Yes, these are all his wines and they are some of the best out there. But, the great thing about Chateau Croix Mouton is getting "garagiste" perfection in a bottle for a Cru Bourgeois price.

Garagiste perfection means such strict selection that no green, unripe grapes are allowed into the final mix. It means throwing out grapes that are flawed, which is tantamount to taking euros and tossing them into the wind. For some growers the thought is just too painful, but for the great growers, there is no hesitation - it is the only way. That's why year after year, garagistes coax great wines from their terroirs. That is why Jean-Philippe has the reputation he has.

Chateau Croix Mouton is a wine that will give you immense pleasure, the more so for not having emptied your wallet. It will give you immense pleasure because it is not a wine you will see on anyone else's table and when it's obvious your guests want you to open another one, you can afford to be generous.