After a quick visit to Burgundy and then a family week in the South of France, we planned to spend Saturday driving from our rental house in Minervois all the way North and East to Strasbourg. When he was in DC last May, Rhone winemaker Philippe Plantevin heard about our summer trip and invited - insisted, actually! - that we stop at his house near Cairanne for lunch.
Construction on our remodel and expansion project began this week! We're moving quickly, and it will make the next few weeks a little wild in the store, but it's going to be worth it. (Remind me of this while I'm tearing my hair out, will you?) Not only will we have more floor space and elbow room, but we'll also be expanding our cheese, food and beer selections. AND we'll have classroom space in the basement of the new space. Watch for some new classes in the fall. In the meantime, we'll be open for business as much as possible. Watch the web home page for updates on modified hours.
Just as construction begins, I'm taking off for France. (We didn't exactly plan it like this.) It's mostly a family vacation, but I'll also be tasting and doing vineyard tours with Gevry-Chambertin's Jean-Michel Guillon, sharing a family lunch with Philippe Plantevin, and making my first visit ever to Alsace to see Domaine Weinbach.
Probably the most important wine stop of the trip will be in the Puligny-Montrachet cellars of Sylvan Bzikot. Last January, I was swept off my feet by Sylvan's newest wine, a 2010 village Puligny-Montrachet from the vineyard Les Petite Nosroyes. Even though the wine hadn't finished malo yet, I was so enthusiastic by two of Sylvan's nine barrels of this wine that I bought them on the spot.
So, on Saturday morning while you're still sleeping, I'll be visiting Sylvan and tasting our young wine for the first time since January. If you sign up to follow our new Twitter feed, you'll be the first to know how it's coming along! And I'll get some info up here on our blog and/or Facebook page when I can as well.
Last night I got my first chance (along with a small group of customers) to sample the 2006 Brunello from three great producers: Castello di Romitorio, Canalicchio di Sopra, and Valdicava. The top line: these wines more than justified the hype we’re hearing about 2006 Brunello. All were muscular, powerful, wines but with lovely ripe tannins and a great fruit/acid balance. Which was best? Read on!
Greetings from Burgundy! I’ve been here for five days now and have two days (five producer visits) remaining before leaving for the Rhone. Dom Albert Grivault, Pascal Maillard, Lamy-Pillot and a new producer in Pouilly-Fuissé are behind us – Bzikot, Guillon and some others to come. As usual, the pace has been close to punishing but the visits and tastings very rewarding.
We've been tasting like crazy this week (and have the purple teeth to prove it), getting ready for this year. I know it sounds like hype, but 2011 is going to be a HUGE year in the world of wine.
From California we'll be seeing the later-releasing 2007 Cabs and some fantastic 2008 values. Washington state's 2008 reds set new benchmarks for quality, and Oregon will deliver both outstanding late-release 2008s and some delicious-right-away 2009s.
In Italy, we'll see Brunello and Barolo from the historically great 2006 and 2007 vintages, and we'll see Spain return to prominence with new releases throughout the year.
And then there's the 2009 vintage in Europe. When all is said and done, I suspect 2009 will come to be viewed as one of the three or four best vintages ever across Europe as a whole. The best values from Bordeaux's monumental 2009 vintage will arrive, huge value 2009 Rhone will show up, and 2009 Burgundy simply cannot be missed.
So ... that's why we're clearing out a bit of inventory this weekend. We've already have 20 to 30 new wines arriving over the next few weeks, and that's just the beginning!
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