Eric Asimov – A Different & Great Wine Critic

This book arrived at my house last week.

While the majority of Northern American wine critics are busy handing out clinical scores upon scores on wines, as though teachers perpetually stuck marking midterms but forgetting to teach, Eric Asimov,the chief wine critic of New York Times, beats to a different drum. 

While some believe that it is tastings and courses that teach us to be a wine connoisseur, Eric thinks all those things are really unnecessary.  “Buy-drink-and-love wines” is Eric’s philosophy.  I agree.

As the name of his book “How to Love Wine’ would suggest, the book is not about how to critique or taste wines but rather about the essence of wine – i.e. the pleasures of wine.

A friend recently told me that he stopped taking educational courses because they take all the pleasures out of learning.  I think wines can be like that if one is not conscious about the essence of wines.  And I believe that is what Eric Asimov’s book is all about – love and pleasures of wine.  What a pleasure to read to Eric Asimov’s book!

Indigenous Yeast – Two Words that Speak Volumes

The wines that I love have one thing in common: fermentation is by indigenous or natural yeast.

A simple reference to indigenous yeast has cascading implications.  Least the way I see it after visiting many vignerons.  Indigenous yeasts can only be meaningful and successful if a vigneron practices viticulture in harmony with nature, hand-harvests, and minimal intervention in the cellar.  Pictured left is the Noella Morantin vineyard in Loire.

If a wine producer decides one day to use indigenous yeast after farming his vineyards conventionally with chemicals of herbicides and pesticides, it is not going to happen too easily over night.  Indigenous yeast lives in the vineyards.  So when vineyards are sprayed with chemical, there will not be enough indigenous yeast population for fermentation.

And if a wine producer uses a machine harvester, grapes burst and bleed before they make to cellar.  And as soon as the grapes bleed, it is grounds for a bacterial infection.  To stop the bacterial infection, a dose of sulphur must be added to the juice or crushed grapes.  Once the sulphur is added, the indigenous yeast is instantly killed.  So lab yeasts must be added.  And to feed the lab yeasts, additional chemicals need to be added.  And so a list of intervention continues.  Over-worked or intervened wines to me taste flat and soupy.

To me, the difference between the wines made from indigenous and lab yeasts are significant. The ingenious yeasted wines are lively and fresh.

The story behind indigenous yeast came up when I was listening to I’ll Drink To That – an excellent podcast out of New York where ex-sommelier Levi Dalton interviewed David Lillie of Chambers StreetWines.  I strongly recommend the podcast.  It is genuine, entertaining and educational.

I never bought into the idea that just because one can sell the wines, one doesn’t have to ask how the wines are made and taste.  I always thought it is the other way around: Because one knows how the wines are made and taste, one wants to sell them. 

Silence between the Tasting Notes – the Vignerons

Least for me, tasting notes rarely tell a whole story about the wines.  For one thing, tasting notes are fleeting.  Tasting notes to me are a single note in a song, a word in a sonnet, or a single stroke of brush on a painting.  I can only get the real deal, the entire song, sonnet or painting, only with knowing the vignerons behind the wines.

If the tasting notes of the same wine were composed six months or a year later, the tasting notes would strung differently. The one reading them may not even know the tasting notes are of the same wine.  That is the reason I glance at tasting notes but I pay undivided attention about vignerons.  That is the reason all my newsletters start with a story about the vignerons. And that is the reason I visit each of our vignerons. I make connection of wines through the vigneron, and not by the wines themselves. 

I have always loved the word vigneron or vigneronne (female).  There is no direct English translation.  In French, it simply means vinegrower.

Just as it is the silence between the notes that makes the music, it is the vignerons that grow the vines for each wine.  I never buy wines; I pay vignerons. 

Peter Liem

Although I have never met Peter Liem, I have enjoyed his insight about wines for a long time.  He lives in Champagne and writes about Champagne on his on-line site.  He is one of the most thoughtful wine writers today.

I strongly recommend Peter’s on-line subscription Champagne Guide. I can’t help thinking one becomes a wine appreciator, as oppose to a mere taster, through Peter Liem. A gift that is rare in wine industry nowadays.

You can also hear Peter’s interview with Levi Dalton. 

The Quiet Among the Loud – Christophe Pacalet Beaujolais-Villages

Ironically, a compelling Beaujolais-Villages is more difficult to find than a compelling Beaujolais Cru.  For reasons I do not know, finding a tasty Beaujolais-Villages is like trying to find a French word that does not contain a vowel.

Well for one thing, one can write-off finding a Beaujolais-Villages in the Villié-Morgon because there is no classified Beaujolais-Villages in that village of Cru. A story goes that the Villié-Morgon mayor had holdings of Beaujolais-Villages like vineyards when the appellation limits were drawn.  Mysteriously, all ‘Beaujolais-Villages’ like vineyards were incorporated into the Cru of Morgon.  

Perhaps, a great Beaujolais-Villages is a rare find because so much of it is cornered by negoce with depressed prices and poor quality that only a few quality-minded vignerons are willing to grow vines within that classification. When was the last time you tasted a Beaujolais-Villages from a vigneron who gives a shit?

As much as I love a fine Cru, I often like a wine that is delicious without requiring too much of my attention - satisfaction over complexity.  One such wine for me is ChristophePacalet Beaujolais-Villages.

Christophe Pacalet Beaujolais-Villages is from the vines on the lieu-dit ‘Monmont’ on the foothill between the great Crus of Régnié and Brouilly.  Here one can see there is a classified Beaujolais-Villages within the great Crus.

It appears all great vineyards, including Beaujolais-Villages, are named. The ‘Monmont’ vines are over 100 years old, giving elegance so rare in the Beaujolais-Villages. When I tasted the Beaujolais –Villages with Christophe Pacalet at his chai, I had to ask.  It is only when I asked, Christophe Pacalet revealed the details about the vines and vineyard of his Beaujolais-Villages. His Beaujolais-Villages, like the vigneron himself, is the quiet among the attention-grabbing Crus.

Christophe Pacalet Beaujolais-Villages has the prettiest colour – ruby luminescence. Pure and balanced. The wine barely hits 12% just about every year. The wine goes with just about any dish: pizza, hamburger, terrine, steak & frites, roasted chicken or grilled salmon. The wine even tastes better slightly chilled. The wine is cloudy from being unfiltered. Christophe Pacalet Beaujolais-Villages, for me, represents all that is great about Beaujolais. 

A Canadian Mosaic Dinner - A Korean Dish That Actually Works with Wine!

I was born and raised in Korea.  So, I can declare that this dish actually works with a wine.  As much as I like Korean foods, they are full of peppers, vinegar and pickled-flavours.  Kimchi with Bordeaux or Riesling? I don’t think so. The flavours often fight with wines.  So, it is rare to find a Korean dish that tangos with a wine.  Here is my recipe (serves about 4 people).

• About 1 pound of flank steak
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ cup of dices onion
• 1 green onion
• 3 table spoon of quality soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
• 3 to 4 table spoon of brown sugar
• Dash of black pepper
• 1 or 2 pinch of course grey salt
• 1 cayenne pepper (optional)

First, pour yourself a glass of wine. Cut the flank steak into about 3 by 6 inch sizes.  Set the meat in a non-metal container large enough to hold the meet in one to two layers.  Place the rest of ingredients in a mortar or an electric mixer or blender.   Blend for a few seconds until the mixture is roughly smooth.  Pour the mixture into a bowl. Dip your finger into a mixture (in the bowl and not in the blender/mixer - for safety) and taste.  It should be somewhat salty, sweet and hot with a whiff of sesame seed oil fragrance. Adjust salt & sugar, if necessary.

Mix the marinade well with the meat.  Marinate the meat for 2 to 3 days in a refrigerator. Turn over the meat a couple of times.  The flank steak needs long marinating because it helps to tenderize the toughness of the cut – although it is one of the most flavourful cuts.  Fire-up your BBQ. Meanwhile, place a plate in the oven at 150F to warm and to rest the meat after it has been cooked. BBQ the meat to no more than medium rare.  Place the cooked meat on the plate and into the oven.  Turn the oven off and let the meat rest for about 20 minutes.  Slice against the grain about ¼ inch.  

Good with plain short grain or jasmine rice. Even delicious with baguette or roasted potatoes.  Serve with a salad.  Or how about a pasta dish and some stirred-fried vegetables with the meat.  I am in Canada after all, blessed with riches of ethnic foods – no need to stick to a formula, hey. 

The dish goes well with Cuvee Granit from Domaine de la Pepiere of Marc Ollivier or Crus (Descombes, Foillard or Pacalet). The spicy, sour-cherry Le Telquel from Puzelat-Bonhomme is a fine accompaniment.

The leftover meat makes a wicked sandwich.  Just splash some mayo, hot mustard and instantly-pickled onions (sliced onion with some salt, sugar and vinegar – mix & soak for about 1 hour or overnight).

     

Catherine & Pierre Breton 'La Ritournelle' 2011 Rosé Pétillant

She stood still with summer sun setting behind her silhouette.  One arm over her head and the other leaning against the corner of balcony, she glanced.  The evening breeze swept her linen dress, pressing it against her skin.  The lilac blossoms swayed, charging the surrounding air, engulfing her.  In her bare feet, she approached.  

Well, the above was my original notes for the newsletter for the Catherine & Pierre Breton 'La Ritournelle' 2011Rosé Pétillant.  Perhaps, it is because I met Catherine & Pierre. But for a reason I can't quite put down in words, every time I enjoy a bottle of Catherine & Pierre Breton wine, I am transported to anther world.