jackie swig shop : The Wine Humanist WINE BY PEOPLE, FOR PEOPLE; WINE FROM THE HEART

Welcome. Please regard this window into a former New Yorker's life in France -- Paris and the Loire Valley and beyond -- as a work-in-progress, not so much a website as a construction site. I’ll keep fiddling with it until I’m satisfied (more or less) with what I’ve written. (Please excuse the lack of accents and the occasional formatting blips)

THIS PAGE IS A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS GOING BACK TO MARCH 2007. (It is also occasionally a blog.)


The Newsletter:I don't send one out very often but please subscribe. NB Many people write to me asking me to put them on the list. It's very easy to put yourself on the list. Just do the following:
1) Go to the page entitled FrenchFeast.
2) In the right hand margin there's a place where you can sign up for the Newsletter. It's very easy.
3) After you've signed on, you'll receive an email asking you to confirm. Once you confirm, you're on the mailing list.


(Note: re Translations For those of you using Google to translate this, the results leave much to be desired. I've tried to correct mistakes but my efforts bore no fruit.)

May 29, 2010: In Mail&Events a curious letter from a curious reader.

May 26, 2010: A tasting tweet and treat. I'm sitting, MacBook on knees, quietly getting plastered because the wine sample I was tasting for the book was just so good I just keep on drinking. No Trophy stuff here, folks. In fact, this particular wine -- suspense building -- makes me think of a recent column by Lettie Teague in which she's trying to find a tannic-less red to charm a friend who doesn't like red wines because of their tannins. Well, here's a candidate: the 2007 Valencay rouge Le Clos du Chateau from Claude Lafond , the well-known Reuilly producer. Here's a vibrant, succulent red -- all cherries, strawberries and raspberries -- with bright acidity. Compulsively drinkable. I'm guessing it's a gamay based blend with pinot noir and maybe some cot and possibly some cab franc. Pure pleasure.

May 23, 2010 : Church bell is striking noon. Waiting for Antoine Foucault’s 2005 Saumur rouge Domaine du Collier to get to warm up from fridge, to retaste and then pair with rotisserie chicken. This 2005 is what remained from yesterday’s tasting – which included lot of fascinating chenins sampled from barrel and bottle. Only got to taste the one red – which Antoine had just bottled – because, by that time, we had resurfaced from the tuffeau caves and were sitting on the terrace of Antoine’s parents’ house in downtown Chace (cf Clos Rougeard). I had brought along Guy and Annie Bossard. We’d met for lunch mid-way between their home in Muscadet-land and mine in the Chinonais. Now, French vignerons know that Guy is the Real Monsieur Biodynamic. So both Antoine and his father Charly Foucault got Guy into an interminable lecture on rootstocks and grafting – complete with diagrams drawn by Guy in my tasting notebook. Result: we never got beyond that 2005 red. It may not be a ’98 Ausone or a ’98 Cheval Blanc (I'm citing merely two of at least a half-dozen trophy St. Emilions Jeff Leve says -- on a Facebook post -- that he treated himself to after having been excused from jury duty) but it’s mighty good. But I wouldn’t touch it for another five years. I'll probably start with an apero of a tank sample of Guy's 2009 "Expression Granite."


May 17, 2010: In Out&About: Lunch chez Jacky Dallais with comments on wine from Foreau, F. Cotat, Philippe Tessier.

May 16, 2010: Exhausted. All day tasting Chinons, Bourgueils, Touraines etc. Some discoveries, including a Chinon made from 50 year old ungrafted vines. Came back to Usse exhausted and starving so decided to stop at the garage sale ( vide grenier to see who was around and if the buvette was still selling food. The village boulanger insisted on treating me to an andouillette sandwich. We now have a bet on the highest level of andouillettes: he says 3 "A"s, I say 5 "A"s. Also a bet with the man cooking the andouillettes who was waxing poetic about red Jurancon. I said Jurancon was only white and was made from Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. (I left out the Corbu.) To prove his claim to the truth, he pulled out his driver's license showing he comes from Auch. Doesn't matter, I said, Jurancon is made from white grapes. He huffed that real Jurancon was red. It's good to be back in the country.

May 5, 2010: NEW TO THE SITE: A REVISED PAGE UNDER SELECTED WORKS: FRIENDS AND THEIR STORIES. This evolution was inspired by the story I've posted today. It's one of five or six emails sent by my friend,Pascal Faucouneau, while he was traveling through Laos. This particular post is the second or third. I'd like to start with the first but his sister needs to retype them with an AZERTY typewriter and add the accents. NB: It's in French.


May 4, 2010: For Chenin lovers, in WineTastingNotes I've posted notes that I took during a blind tasting of dry Loire chenins from the 2002 vintage. The tasting took place in August 2005.

May 1, 2010: In Out&About annotated snaps of Palermo's Ballaro market.

April 29, 2010 : In Out&About, a report on the world's best cannoli, made in a bakery in Monreale, outside of Palermo.

April 28, 2010: I'm back from Palermo where I was participating in the big wine competition known as Concours Mondiale de Bruxelles. I'll write more on this later -- I hope -- but, in general, the wines I tasted were ssssoooooooo much better than the wines I tasted while judging in the LA County Wine Fair in May 2008.
One specific food note here: the Ballaro market is Palermo's oldest outdoor market and it's well worth the visit. Go with an appetite. I spied a little storefront no bigger than a small walk-in closet in a side street off the market. Its vibes must have spoken to me. Its plasticized vitrine held a week's worth of delectable goodies. I must have been drooling. One of the cooks-salesmen offered me a round of toast loaded with mouthwatering caponata. There were many variations on the theme of eggplant. How to bring back food on the plane? They had only the most rudimentary take-out paraphernalia, ie aluminum barquettes wrapped in butcher paper. Anything with oil would leak everywhere. So I contented myself with the breaded, fried sliced of eggplant -- which only seemed oily when I opened the bag in Paris -- but which were so meltingly good they were worth whatever I may have to pay in cleaning bills. And one big, round, tennis ball of an arancini. Remember arancinis? Gloppy, gooey, often drowning in tomato sauce? Not this one: pristine, just a mere inner lining of rice, the rest, a toothsome filling of ground meat and peas and seasoning. A meal in a ball. I should have bought as many as my suitcase could hold. I'm already dreaming about it.

April 3,5 2010: Below there's a link to my article on the 2009 Bordeaux Primeurs. It was published today in the WSJ.
As usual, I collected enough information for a NYer essay. My editor did a nice job of cutting the piece down to size but a lot of my favorite stuff bit the dust. I hope to post most of this on the website.
Today, April 5, key points of my interview of Allan Sichel follow the link to the WSJ article.
And, in FrenchFeast: Mike and Mac Get Married.

Bordeaux 2009: the vintage, the market, some illuminating remarks from some important players:

Allan Sichel, Maison Sichel

Allan Sichel is the director of Maison Sichel, which owns Chateau d’Angludet, 34% of Chateau Palmer, as well as a number of other properties in Bordeaux and the Languedoc-Roussillon. Maison Sichel also has a negociant line, Sirius, and distributes the wines of many other domaines. Here is part of an interview I conducted with him during on March 31, 2010.

Changes in system:
From now on producers are going to be active in directing sales and not just hand everything over to the Place de Bordeaux. Additionally, most chateaux today want to reduce the number of negociants they sell to. Some sell to as many as 120 negociants. I think it’s better to have a pool of ten to twenty selling your wine. That would represent a fundamental change. And a growing number of chateaux want to drive the market – with visits, tastings and dinners.

Sales:
At Maison Sichel we sell about 200 Grand Crus en primeur. Grand crus are about 50% of our business – with 50% being sold en primeur and 50% older vintges. In a good vintage, there are about 400 chateaux who can sell en primeur; in an ok vintage, about 150. We have also have core range or small wines that we don’t sell en primeur.
The best chateaux aim to sell 80% en primeur. Primeurs are the focus; that’s where the buzz is. The reason you want to be in the system and sell well en primeur is that if you don’t, everyone knows you’re sitting on a lot of stock. There’s gossip.

Prices for 2009:
Expect prices to come out in mid-April. People who sold 2007 well will do what they want with the great 2009. They’ll go back to 2005 prices or even higher. The considerations are two: quality of vintage and the economic climate. 2007 was a weak vintage but the economic climate was strong; 2005 is the inverse.
In 2005 Palmer futures sold for 350 euros a bottle. That went up to 1000 euros and you can now find 2005 Palmer on the market at 500 euros.

Markets:
Our historical focus was England. It’s still our prime market.
The United States was always hard. Since Chateau & Estates (abandoned its Bordeaux portfolio) there’s more opportunity as each importer will have fewer chateaux to represent. The USA market was growing for Maison Sichel but it’s about being there. It represents an enormous potential for Bordeaux.
Right now we have offices in Japan and China. China is becoming fourth biggest export market for Bordeaux. The current ranking is: 1) UK, 2) Belgium; 3) Germany; 4) China and Hong Kong; 5) USA.

(Unfortunately, I did not get to taste the 2009 d'Angludet. My tasting notes for 2009 Palmer are in the WSJ article. Alter Ego, another wine from Palmer -- not a "second wine" -- was also excellent.
Next up: Jean-Luc Thunevin, Chateau Valandraud.)

March 29, 2010 : A Tweet from Bordeaux Primeur-mania before I go to the Thunevin tasting. Yesterday: Cercle Rive Droite tasting, 135 red wines. Great dinner last night at Chateau Lassegue, owned by Jess Jackson. Tasting 2005 and 2009 Lassegue and 2007 Verite (Parker 100/​100) among other things, including 40 year old Armagnac. Pierre (who makes both wines) and Monique Seillon are kindred spirits and lotsa fun.

March 23, 2010: Thoughts on "Vintage" in FrenchFeast.

March 17, 2010: In FrenchFeast, a lengthy post, TERROIR:Smile When You Say That!

March 16, 2010: As Gilda Radner used to say, "It's always something." Returned to Paris Sunday night. Knew there would be no water -- because I'd asked a friend to turn it off because of a leak. He'd "bandaided" the leak but, as I was out of town, I thought turning off the water completely was the best bet. All I'd have to do is turn on the "vanne" and the water would start running again and I would start dealing with insurance companies, plumbers, masons, etc to get estimates for the repairs. But I couldn't turn on the "vanne."
Well, I had spent the day over-eating and over-drinking at Dominique and Abel's annual codfest -- their excuse for making a Portuguese meal -- Abel is from Lisbon -- on the nameday of their village.
My stomach was bursting, my head throbbing. No water. And I was convinced that, at any second, fluids noxious and noisome would exit by any and every means of egress in my body.
Took a sleeping pill and 2 pepto-bismal.
Monday: Tasting of wines from the Cote Roannaise and Cotes de Forez, two small wine regions that the French wine bureaucrats, in their infinite wisdom, lumped in with the wines of the Loire. Thus, part of my turf.
Six hours of stand-up tasting. Some surprisingly good stuff -- notes to come, at least on some of my favorites. Arrived home -- still no water -- and, in stupor, ate a half container of Haagen-Dasz Dulce de Leche. Went to bed.
Thank Heaven! Plumbers are here right now. Hope for a normal, calm evening is restored.

March 13, 2010: In Main&Events, a reader asks why I dislike the "wet wool" aroma often associated with chenin. I give part of my answer.

March 10, 2010: Spinning my wheels a lot but not getting very far. Astonished to see snow drops, buds on hydrangea and crocuses (croci?) everywhere when it's still freezing cold outside.
Still slogging away on the book, a snippet of which I've edited for the site. In WineTastingNotes, a post on my favorite producer of Chateaumeillant, Geoffrenet-Morval.

February 26, 2010:Trying to put my ducks in a row to return to Paris as well as to arrange visits in Bordeaux during the Primeurs, all with 90 km/​h winds howling outside. Hectic. In WineTastingNotes, another producer of riveting Jasnieres: Pascal Janvier.

February 18, 2010: In WineTastiingNotes, a post on a bunch of sublime Coteaux du Loir from artist-vigneron Eric Nicolas, Domaine de Belliviere.

February 12, 2010: In WineTastingNotes, a report on a surprising visit to sparkling wine producer Ackerman. Update: just received the three bottles with different levels of dosage. Won't be able to test them until May but will report back.

February 6, 2010: The Salon des Vins de Loire was even more exhausting than usual. I did, indeed, have to defrost my car before leaving and was so panicked about missing the train that I got to the station an hour and a half early. (Believe me, there's nothing to do in the Port Boulet train station.)
I will surely post some tasting notes but I'm still recovering. I spent all of my time chasing down producers who hadn't sent samples. Didn't get to taste with any of my favorites but I did taste some terrific stuff and I've added some new people to my favorites list.
This meant that I was tasting a lot of wines from Anjou, Saumur and outliers in the Massif Central. No surprise that in Anjou I was concentrating on the sweet chenins.The 2009s are stunning, even from less than stellar producers. With any luck, notes will follow in the near future -- though in terms of the manuscript, I'm working on all that lies east of Tours.
Returning home was another adventure: train strikes. Luckily, I was going back to my cottage in the Loire and so got a ride back with Abel (Domaine Nau/​Bourgueil). This meant waiting while all the vintners dismantled and packed up their stands. We went for dinner at a garish all-purpose (pizza, salads, grill etc) pink-adobe-like restaurant on the highway near the Parc des Expositions called "Villa Angevine" and ran into quite a few other winemakers making a similar pit stop.
I know it's hard to believe but I couldn't face another sip of wine. Francois Pinon was with us and had brought what remained of a magnum of his (vg+) Vouvray Petillant and they ordered a St. Nicolas de Bourgueil from Fred Mabileau. All of this tempted but I was really and truly over the edge. I drank two bottles of Diet Coke.
Having rightly predicted that I would be in no shape to write immediately after the Salon, I had planned finally to get around to doing some desperately needed housework -- like defrosting the freezer which had become frozen shut, vacuuming spider webs out of the apexes of cathedral ceilings, picking up state-supplied garbage bags from the village Mairie. Fun stuff.
I have not had a drop of wine since the Salon though that may change tomorrow. I have, however, consumed some nice rum and my default cocktail: Campari, big slice of some citrus fruit, and Diet Schweppes.
If this post does nothing else, it may dispel illusions about wine writers living glamourous lives.

January 31, 2010: Back from the various "off" tastings and getting ready to leave for Angers for the Salon des Vins de Loire. I had to defrost my car to leave this morning and will probably have to do the same tomorrow morning. I'm leaving a 10 litre jerry can of water by the door to slosh over the car windows.
Tasting favorite thus far: 2006 Saumur Blanc La Charpentrie (not sure of spelling) from Antoine Foucault, Domaine de Collier. It comes from a single vineyard with 100 year old vines. Maybe you can't get blood from a stone but Foucault seemed to draw this wine right out of the bedrock.
Below, a link to a Youtube clip from Brigadoon. Explanation included. Well, it appears a bit got cut off -- including the fact that I played Meg Brockie in the Columbia High School production.

January 30, 2010 : And so the yearly Loire marathon begins. I'm about to leave for Angers for the Renaissance des Appellations tasting.Back home tonite to clear my palate for tmw.

January 25, 2010: As you may have guessed, I've been obsessed by Loire2. The Salon des Vins de Loire is fast approaching. So I've decided to provide those interested in visiting with a game plan. In Jackiezine you'll find a list of recommended stands and producers -- enough to keep you busy for a very, very full day.

01/​01/​10: an auspicious date: In FrenchFeast, some annotated photos of year end festivities.

December 30, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes: Wine of the Year 2009. (I'm finally recovering from that wicked head cold and, holiday festivities notwithstanding, can get back to writing.)


December 20, 2009: A bleak Touraine Sunday. Rain on snow. Drove to the next village to get a farmhouse chicken from the butcher and a dozen oysters from the family that comes in from the Atlantic coast on Sundays. Back home. Fire in fireplace. Tasted a couple of Sancerres, including one to go with the oysters. (I had been looking for a good Muscadet for the oysters but the cartons of samples are under the cartons of samples of Saumur Champigny so I settled for the more ready-to-hand Sancerres. 2006 Sancerre blanc Domaine Vincent Delaporte, a real beauty. Tasted as though it had come from the majestic hillsides of Rangen de Thann rather than the superb slopes of Chavignol. So that, the oysters, country rye bread with sweet butter from Beillevaire, one of the greatest butter makers in France. (I prefer him to Bordier though I like Bordier a lot.) Listening to my Xmas gift to myself, a new Ella release, "Twelve Days in Hollywood". Recorded in small clubs when Ella was in her 40s. Highly recommended for Ella freaks. May try some of the peach ratafia I made this summer. Then a nap. It looks as if the Itineraires post will have to wait. What else is new?

December 8, 2009: In WineTastingNotes, Tangled Up in Blois, an initial report on an organic wine fair in Blois with revelations from Emile Heredia/​Domaine du Montrieux

December 3, 2009 : In Jackiezine some hilarious Jewish haikus plus a haiku of my very own.

November 29, 2009 : Wall-to-wall tastings at this time of year. I hope to post highlights when things calm down.
In the meantime, in Out&About: Thanksgiving a la Francaise -- in a wine bar called Les Enfants Rouges. The post includes a musical interlude.

November 24, 2009 : In Out&About, a list of 31 sure-fire producers whose stands you should visit if you're planning to go to the Salon des Vignerons Independants which starts on Thursday, November 26.

November 20, 2009 In WineTastingNotes, another PMG a succulent Cote du Rhone from Domaine Rouge-Bleu accompanied by some snarky asides about wine competitions.

November 9, 2009: In Out&About: Rouge-Passion, a restaurant(?), a wine bar(?) in Paris's 9th arr.

October 31, 2009 : In FrenchFeast: Very Late Season, Going Back to Paris Soup.

October 30, 2009: In WineTastingNotes, I become a Wine Nazi in the course of tasting the 2007 Chaume Chateau Pierre-Bise.

October 29, 2009 : In FrenchFeast, a dinner tweet.

October 25, 2009: In WineTastingNotes three more blanks filled in on wines tasted at last aperitif session.

October 18, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes, another photo and some back story.

October 16, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes, a couple of additional wine notes and photos.

October 14, 2009: Beginning to fill in the blanks in the appropriately named WineTastingNotes section.

October 13, 2009 : In FrenchFeast, a really easy and useful recipe --a zucchini soup that A) aids recovery from a weekend of excess and B) solves the age-old problem of 'what to do with an overgrown courgette'. And, in WineTastingNotes, a list of the wines that caused the damage.

October 4, 2009: In Jackiezine, a "Remember, you're alone in the kitchen" moment making peach ratafia. And advice from the great, the wonderful Odessa Piper.

October 1,2009 : In WineTastingNotes, tasting notes on the wonderful Montlouis of Xavier Weisskopf.
An apology here: I'm spending most of my time working on Loire2. The Weisskopf post is a judicially redacted excerpt of that text.

September 28, 2009: In Mail&Events a reader reports back on a trip to the best chenin-producing regions of the Loire.

September 23, 2009: In WineTastingNotes, a PMG from Didier Dagueneau.

September 16, 2009: In FrenchFeast, annotated photos from a trip to Vendome to celebrate Pineau d'Aunis.

September 7, 2009: Another village aperitif:
Village Aperitif Group 9/​6/​09: the group had grown to 19 or 20. I'll annotate the individual wines this week.(Eek! I meant to post this in Frenchfeast and I'm too lazy to change it!)
--Sparkling wine from Muscadet country
--2005 Vouvray Brut Chateau de Montcontour
--2008 Menetou-Salon blanc, G.Chavet
--2008 Quincy Domaine du Villalin
--2008 Quincy Siret
--2006 Pouilly Fume Domaine des Riaux
--2006 Jasnieres “Sur le Nez�? Les Maisons Rouge
--2006 Touraine chenin sec Domaine de la Trochoire
--2005 Touraine chenin sec Domaine de la Trochoire
--2006 Chinon Rose Couly-Dutheil
--2008 Touraine Noble-Joue, Freres Rousseau
--2008 Malvoisie, Freres Rousseau
--2006 Vouvray Montcontour sec
--two mystery stickies -- surprisingly fine and characterful sweet chenins from the vast Touraine appellation.

Nibblies: rillettes, salmon rillettes, herbed fresh cheese, golf-ball sized tomatoes stuffed with herbed cheese, sliced Carmelo tomatoes – I need to research this variety, really flavorful – on bread with smiley faces painted with mayonnaise.
Lunch: Yes. The two women, referred to as les filles, who own the village epicerie – general store – took over the old bar and opened a lunch room with some basic guest rooms upstairs. The band of regulars had promised to eat there at some point during the summer. Since the season is now ending, this past Sunday was picked as the day. It was sunny and we ate in the garden. I was reluctant because the girls haven’t gotten a wine license yet. But I was persuaded. Then, when the last clients left, we got the green light to bring in our own wine. Jean ran to his house to pick the wines I had brought but that we didn’t get to drink. I ran home and brought some wines I’d tasted and had recorked. I also brought my eau de vie from 2007 as I have been lobbying for a) all of us to pool our apples and pears and ferment and distill them; and b) someone to ferment 60 litres of plums like me so that we’ll have a sufficient amount for a still run with our own fruit.

An Odile postscript: the raspberries -- organically grown in her garden -- were the best I've ever eaten. Sunday she gave me another supply.

Sept. 2, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes, another PMG and a couple of words about its packaging.

August 31, 2009: Hotel recommendations that were in Jackiezine have been moved to Out&About.

August 30, 2009:What can be better than this? A blue-green day, a cloudless sky, tall roses bushes swaying in the cool breezes, tomatoes red and fat on the vine, and lettuces growing in the shade of a Mirabelle tree. On NPR – here in central France – the 50th Newport Folk Festival is playing. Joan Baez is singing. Pete Seeger – please tell me he’s received a medal of freedom – to come. Eating roast farmhouse chicken, a gargantuan tomato, sliced and seasoned only with the chicken’s juices, and garden arugula. Drinking a succulent, too delicious 2005 Cot (aka Malbec) from eastern Touraine.
Now, several things about those tomatoes. First, there are too many of them -- both cherry tomatoes and big tomatoes. I'm desperately looking for cherry tomato recipes. The cherry tomatoes are delicious. As good, if not better than ever. The regular tomatoes, Marmandes, are gorgeous: big, fat, county fair prize winners. But they're bland. Distressingly bland. I was having dinner with my friends Geoff and Joy the other night and Geoff was complaining about the tasteless of his garden tomatoes. I said, "Mine, too! And what's more, they're watery." His too.
Watery? And this is a drought year here in the Garden of France.
Another thing I'm wondering about is the vintage. A number of years ago I decided that years that were good for tomatoes were good for grapes and, if the weather held through harvest, heralded a good vintage. That may well be true this year. But the blandness and watery-ness of my Marmandes worries me. Well, time will tell. I must say that today's tomato had more flavor than previous ones but not as much as you would expect from a fully ripe, organically-grown tomato in a sunny, hot, dry year.

August 26, 2009 : If a good health care plan -- with a public option -- were named after Ted Kennedy wouldn't it put some moral pressure on legislators to vote for it, aside from being a fitting tribute to the man?

August 25, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes, the first of four PMGs.

August 19, 2009: In FrenchFeast, a PortugueseFeast in Touraine.

August 16, 2009: Join my own mini-health care debate in Jackiezine.

August 11, 12, 2009: In WineTastingNotes: TWO WINES GUARANTEED TO GENERATE DISCUSSION AMONG VIGNERONS IN GENERAL AND LOIRE VIGNERONS IN PARTICULAR.


August 10, 2009:A Straightforward Tasting Note that Veers off into Stream-of-Conscious Silliness:
The Wine: 2008 Cote du Rhone Blanc “Les Clavelles�? Domaine Brusset.

August 4, 2009: In Jackiezine, some thoughts on budget hotels in the chenin-producing areas of the Loire.
I am once again obsessing about which wines to serve. Vincent & Catherine Ogereau, Claude & Joelle Papin (Pierre-Bise) and Philippe & Claude Alliet are coming for dinner Thursday night.
This is my tentative list: aperitifs: '96 Cour-Cheverny, Francois Cazin, 2008 Cotes du Rhone blanc "Les Clavelles", Domaine Brusset; first course: two wines to be tasted blind and 2006 St. Chinian blanc, Mas Champart; main course: 1999 Calbello Ardingo (Super Tuscan), 2001 Faugeres "Jadis", Leon Barral, 2007 Cotes du Rhone rouge, Domaine Rouge=Bleu, and a red to be tasted blind; with cheese and dessert: 2008 Jurancon from Benjamin Dagueneau, and 2006 Barsac, Cypres de Climens. Each has a back story. When I recover from the event I will post tasting notes and back stories.


July 30, 2009: Tribute to Stephane Cossais
The wine world in general, and the Loire wine world in particular, has lost yet another of its shining lights well before his time. Stephane Cossais died last Saturday of a heart attack. He was 42 years old.
Cossais was an integral part of the team of Young Turks revolutionizing the Montlouis appellation. A former classical music professor in the north of France, he decided to make a career and life change at the end of the 90s. By 2001 he had created his own small, 3 hectare winery, along strict organic principles, turning out ambitious, idealistic, terroir-driven wines.
I met Stephane numerous times at tastings. At one such, he stopped me and said, “You played a part in my becoming a vigneron. When I was thinking of making the move I called you and asked you for advice.�?
I was thrilled to have encouraged such a passionate, sincere young man. And he came to the Loire naturally. Many young would-be vignerons are attracted to various Loire regions because the prices are lower than in other, more prestigious appellations. But as Cossais told me, “I’m Vendéen. My mother has a shop in Saumur. For me it’s Chenin. That means Anjou or Saumur or Touraine.�?
Cossais didn’t want to “study�? wine but attended the Lycee Agricole de Montreuil-Bellay in order to qualify for government subsidies. And once installed, he was “thrilled to be my own boss.�? He planned to double his acreage.
Here are some brief notes on two wines from my last tasting with Stephane earlier this year: 2006 Montlouis “Maison Marchandelle�?: the vines, roughly 15 years old, come from a single vineyard, lieu-dit Maison Marchandelle. Hand harvested, by successive passes through the vineyard, and aged in 400 litre barrels of three wines, it was riveting, stony and mineral, with a mellowness that came from the oak. Very nice indeed. His Volagre cuvée tended to show signs of reduction and seemed overly oaked – to wit, the 2005 and 2006 – but I felt they just needed time for all the elements to integrate for there was plenty going on in those wines. Once past the reduction and the oak you were on pure bedrock. Back to Maison Marchandelle for the most recent of Cossais’ wines I’d tasted: the 2007, which, at the time of the tasting, had just been bottled. Pure as a mountain stream – as stream coursing over stones – it was very dry and very promising. A lovely, sad legacy to have left us.



July 28, 2009: In WineTastingNotes, Wine of the Week becomes PMG and the first PMG is the 2006 Coteaux du Loir blanc "l'Effraie" Domaine de Belliviere.

July 22, 2009 : In another instance of "the best laid plans," I had intended to post wine tasting notes today but spent that time writing The Broccoli Chronicles in FrenchFeast.
Spoke to three vintner-couples today -- the Alliets, the Papins (Pierre-Bise) and the Ogereaus -- and they're all cluster-thinning courageously though they admit the humidity (which is keeping me inside) is wearing them down.

July 19, 2009 : in FrenchFeast, some notes on the BBQ with the neighbors.

July 15, 2009: In FrenchFeast I update the May 24 post on the new tradition of an aperitif sauvage in my village.

July 13, 2009 : It would be funny if its implications weren't so scary. In Jackiezine a newsfeed about water into wine ... literally.

July 9, 2009: In Jackiezine, advice from a "doctor" that should be followed by every wine lover.

July 7, 2009 : I'm distracted from planned posts to comment -- in WineTastingNotes -- on an experiment in ridding a wine of Brettanomyces conducted on a 2005 Chinon.

July 6, 2009 : Another wine-soaked week-end to report on -- once I've recovered. There were two meals with my friend, Mary, an American marketing prof who teaches marketing at ESCEM-Poitiers (roughly equivalent to an ivy-league MBA program) and another Sunday aperitif session with my neighbors (and additional participants). I will give specific tasting notes, along with notes promised but as yet unposted, but we were, once again, 100% Loire, starting with a nice Cremant, proceeding through whites and roses from Sancerre, and ending with sublime Coteaux du Layon. It has been too hot for red wines and most of the foods we've been eating go better with whites and roses.

July 2, 2009: I had hoped to write about birthday wines today but it has been so crushingly hot -- shades of 2003? -- that I became alarmed that my wine samples were suffering, particularly those kept in the dining room. So I've spent the day hauling cartons of wine into the coolest part of the house. Any reasonable person would have thought there wasn't even a single centimeter of space left in that room but if you've been a lifelong pack rat, as I have, you can always squeeze, pile and re-organize to meet your needs. I'm almost done. My back is killing me. I hope my wine samples appreciate the effort!

July 1, 2009 In Jackiezine, (right hand margin), there's a link to iWineRadio's interview of me. Most of you already know this stuff about me but, if you've got some time you want to kill...

June 30, 2009 : In Out&About, a lovely hotel-restaurant in Chavignol (Sancerre).

June 27, 2009 : In FrenchFeast, notes on preparation for a low-key but tasty birthday celebration.

June 26, 2009 : In Mail&Events, response to a reader's email concerning Paris restaurants and current Joguet wines.

June 17, 19,22 2009 : I've just returned from visiting friends in the Limousin. I'm preparing a post on my time there, including an explanation of a local religious parade, Les Ostensions, that took place while I was there. I have already posted some pictures in FrenchFeast. More to come.
A definition of Les Ostensions has been added as well as an outline of the meals. Still more to come.

June 10, 2009 : Ever tasted a wine called ChaChaCha? I thought not. Read all about it in WineTastingNotes following the post on Benjamin Dagueneau.

June 9, 2009: In WineTastingNotes, my comments on the 2008s of Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau.

June 3, 2009 : I've been felled by the rotten head cold that seems to be going around on both sides of the Atlantic. Today I felt zippy enough to enter all my Sancerre/​Pouilly trip notes onto my MacBook. I hope to turn these into English and post them over the next couple of days. There's a heads up re Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau under his picture in WineTastingNotes.

June 1, 2009: Back from an action-packed, wine-soaked trip. I've posted some photos in WineTastingNotes. Tasting notes to follow.

May 26, 2009: Travel Tweet: Leaving for Pouilly-sur-Loire and Sancerre tomorrow. Will be spending the night with Didier Dagueneau's kids in the office/​guesthouse where I once lived. Then on to Sancerre, with lots of exciting appointments and great meals planned.

May 19, 2009 : In WineTastingNotes, I explain my category Quiet Reds and recommend Guy Bossard's (Domaine de l'Ecu) 2008 Cabernet VdP Jardin de la France.

May 15, 2009 : In Mail&Events, another reader asks pertinent questions.

May 14, 2009 : In Mail&Events a reader asking some pertinent questions which I try to answer.

May 12,2009 : I've been slightly under the weather (with a mild stomach virus) and have restricted work activities to transferring tasting notes from notebook to MacBook and contacting winemakers -- or trying to -- who have yet to send samples for Loire2.
Trolling the internet, I found an article I wrote for the Los Angeles Times -- way back in 1994. It's posted in Article Archives and is called Rabelaisian Pleasures.
In TastingNotes my post on Gardening Day Wines.
Despite my tummy, I hope to get to my superb tasting with Pierre Couly before the week is out.

May 5, 2009: In FrenchFeast, more notes on Gardening Day.

April 29, 2009 : My friend, Virginia Gift, just published the definitive book on Argentine tango. In Jackiezine, I've reprinted the cover and a link to Carlos Gardel singing "Adios Muchachos".

April 27, 2009 : In TastingNotes, my comments on the wines drunk the Eve of Easter.

April 25, 2009 : In TastingNotes, a suprisingly delectable, old-fashioned Vouvray.

April 20,21, 2009 : In FrenchFeast, initial post on Gardening Day, and Part 2.

April 15, 2009 : In TastingNotes, the beginning of my explanation of Slow Tasting: A Necessary Luxury and, as a case in point, tasting notes on the 2005 Chinon "Les Picasses" Chateau de Coulaine. I demurely refrain from commenting on any TeaBagging that might be taking place in the USA today.

April 10, 2009 In Jackiezine , more on the industrialization of French cheeses. And, in the right hand margin, two links: the first to one of the insidious Lou Perac commercials I spoke of in the Roquefort post; the second, a take-off on that commercial posted on YouTube. (I'll translate later.)

April 3, 2009 In TastingNotes, a handful of Saumur beauties from Chateau de Villeneuve.

March 29, 2009 : Some of you may have read my post in Jackiezine explaining my stance on the Roquefort cheese tariff.
I've tweaked that a bit and last night I posted it on DailyKos under the title The Wrong Food Fight. My username,if you need it, is jackief.

March 18, 2009: In Out&About a terrific bar a vin in Pezenas (the Languedoc).

March 16, 2009: In FrenchFeast I finally get around to describing one holiday meal -- with recipes.

March 10, 2009: In Jackiezine, a mini-diatribe against restaurants that lead us to believe they're serving food they make when they're pushing food they've purchased frozen or vacuum-packed.

March 4, 2009: I've been tasting a lot of 2008s from the Languedoc and am very happy to report that it seems to be a very good vintage, with lots of delicious wines. I'll be posting tasting notes when I get back to Paris.

February 27, 2009 : Please note that the Tribute to Didier Dagueneau, formerly in FrenchFeast, can now be found under Selected Works where it is joined by a previous tribute to Didier and the entry on him from my Loire book.

February 19, 2009: In Jackiezine my take on the Roquefort kerfuffle.

February 17, 2009 : In Out&About,Dinner during the Salon des Vins de Loire (in Angers):Part II:
In Jackiezine Another joyous trip down memory lane -- with an Obama connection. (For those of you who were wondering where he got the phrase "pick yourself up, dust yourself off," it's here, Jerome Kern's song from the 1936 film "Swingtown," performed by the inimitable Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

February 10, 2009 : In Out&About, Dinner during the Salon des Vins de Loire, Part I.

February 8, 2009 : In TastingNotes, some gorgeous 2007 Layons from Vincent Ogereau and Claude and Joelle Papin.

February 6, 2009 : In Mail&Events, a reader's query and a hint at the answer.

January 27, 2009 : In TastingNotes, an exploration of Yannick Amirault's 2006 St. Nicolas de Bourgueil "Les Malgagnes."

January 18, 2008 : I've been trying to email this little comment to Obama, without success. I had posted comments on his "Citizens Briefing Book" but that has been closed since last night. My posts were concerned education, infrastructure etc but this one, way down on the scale of priorities, concerns wine and, arguably, diplomacy. Since I can't find a way to send this heads up to Barack, I'll post it here.


It’s a small world, one full of even smaller worlds. And it’s sometimes true that the smaller the ‘world,’ the more nit-picking its citizens.
This is a minor issue but I bring it up only to make our man Barack Obama ever more perfect.
The issue is wine. Ricocheting from Singapore to Paris (where I heard it at a Burgundy tasting) comes the word (accompanied by tsk-tsking) that the Team Obama has selected Korbel “Champagne�? to be served at the official dinner.
Cardinal, easily remembered rule: the only wines that are entitled to call themselves “Champagne�? are those made within delimited zones of France’s Champagne region.
The French, with good reason, are very protective of the names of their appellations. And wine might well be explored as a diplomatic tool.
So it’s important to get it right.
The only reason Korbel escapes legal liability for calling itself something it is not is because it has been (mis)using the name Champagne for so long that it got grandfathered in because it was appropriating the term before laws were passed against such usage.
Korbel is a sparkling wine. Not a Champagne. As for its selection, de gustibus et coloribus nen est disputandum.

January 14,17, 2008: I'm trying to get around to writing about various holiday feasts -- including a couple of recipes -- but today I'm as excited as I imagine Malia and Sasha will be when they get their new puppy. I just got my invitation to Obama's Inauguration. Not in Washington. In Paris. At the Hotel de Ville, with Mayor Betrand Delanoe and 1198 other people. Since I'm too delighted to concentrate, I think I'll watch last night's The Daily Show on my laptop. Meal and tasting reports soon!
In Jackiezine a link to an inspirational song I just received. Apparently written by Keith Carradine and Norman Lear and performed by a cross-section of America, it reflects what I think a lot of us are feeling on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration.
In Article Archives I've just posted seven old(ish) articles that I wrote for the Choice Tables column in the NYT. They appear before the Barcelona story and cover: Paris Wine Bars and, in another story, Tea Parlors; and the restaurants of Lisbon; Rouen; Brussels; Seville; and Barcelona.

January 7, 2008: Wine of the Year, 2006 Silex par Didier Dagueneau with reminiscences etc in FrenchFeast. Please note: there is an earlier tribute to Didier on this page. Scroll down to September.

December 31, 2008 : It's time to announce 2008's Wine of the Year. Few will be surprised by my choice: the 2006 Silex "par Didier Dagueneau," in other words, a Blanc Fume de Pouilly, as he took to calling the Pouilly Fume appellation. I will be posting tasting notes as well as some reminiscences and updates. I can't do that now because I'm visiting friends and internet connection is an 'issue.' More anon.

December 16, 2008: In TastingNotes, Part II of Vincent Ogereau's Savennieres .

December 12, 2008: In Jackiezine, L‚Obama, ossia L‚Avvento del Messia
Opera in Tre Atti, a truly hilarious, absolutely brilliant synopsis of an opera on Obama. The author is unknown to me but I'd love to meet him/​her.

December 10, 2008: In TastingNotes, Wine of the Week: 2002 Savennieres Clos le Grand Beaupreau, Vincent Ogereau.

December 3, 2008: In Blog, an extended email 'conversation' between me and Terry Theise -- on chenin, Quarts de Chaume, wine flaws, wine mysteries and more.

November 27, 2008: IN HONOR OF THANKSGIVING: a link on my blog page will take you to a YouTube download of a medley of Thanksgiving songs. We sang these songs in grammar school, led by Miss Sandquist, our kindergarten teacher, and, lo, these many years later, I've not forgotten a single word.(Our lyrics, however, were 'sanitized,' in that some of the religious references were replaced with secular ones. The last line of "We Gather Together, " for example, was changed to "And our people be free.")

November 19, 2008: Tomorrow is Nouveau Beaujolais Day. In its honor -- and in TastingNotes -- 3 delectable, drink-me-up Primeurs from the Loire.

November 16, 2008: Dear Readers, be of good cheer. I may soon have finished obsessing over the election. However, discussing the probability of Hillary's being Secretary of State with friends, we came up with this joke: Every night at midnight Obama should put his red-phone-line on Call Transfer.

November 13, 2008: In Blog , a wee bit of post-election humor. Feel free to add.

November 12, 2008: In TastingNotes a passel of Rhones.

October 30, 2008: In Mail&Events a reader asks when the new edition of the Loire book will be published and I explain why it won't be tomorrow.

October 28, 2008: In Mail&Events a reader asks for sommelier anecdotes. I give two. You're encouraged to submit yours.

October 27, 2008:: In TastingNotes a clutch of scrumptious Chinons from Jean-Max Manceau/​ Domaine de Noire.

October 24, 2008: In TastingNotes, the 1999 Coulee-de-Serrant subjected to the three-day-tasting test.

October 22, 2008: On the new blog page I share some of the ways in which my election obsession manifests itself.

October 21, 2008: In TastingNotes, a couple of tasty Pugliese Primitivos .

October 14, 2008: In TastingNotes, a Pugliese discovery: Susumaniello.

October 6, 2008: In FrenchFeast a recipe for a delicious, multi-purpose savory loaf cake made with goat cheese, white raisins and mint.

October 4, 2008: In Out & About , a swell new restaurant near my apartment in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
(I will be writing more about Didier before the end of the year.)

September 18, 22, 2008:HOMMAGE TO DIDIER DAGUENEAU I'm in the Manduria region of Apulia at the moment. This morning I learned that Didier Dagueneau had died in a flying accident in the Dordogne when his microlite stalled after take-off, plummeting some 50 meters to the ground. I've since learned that Didier was on his way to Jurancon to check out the ripeness of his vines there. He'd stopped in Cognac to refuel. His passenger, a flight instructor from Nevers, was thrown from the plane and escaped with a broken leg. The wing of the plane pierced the fuel tank and the plane caught fire or exploded. We hope that Didier died immediately upon impact.
(For those who don't know about Didier, I've included the text from my first Loire book, below.)
I hope to share some memories of Didier with you over the next couple of days -- particularly after I return to France. I lived in Didier's guest house for several months in 1990 when I was researching les vins du centre for the first version of my Loire book. While many of the Loire's wine bureaucrats and its vintners and negociants doubted I'd ever write the book -- six Loire books were published between the time I start my research and the publication of my book -- Didier always believed in me. He "got it." When I held some post-publication tastings in New York he insisted that his importer donate all the bottles of Silex I would need.
I helped harvest the 1990 vintage. It was a Saturday. Didier, like his uncle, Serge, got his harvesters from the local wine school. As the students had no school on Saturday, they didn't come to harvest. So all friends within spitting distance came and harvested. There wasn't much left to do. We had finished by lunch time -- even with a break for wine (Chinon brought by Charles Joguet) and a snack -- and then Didier bought us all a super lunch in downtown Pouilly s/​Loire.
The student harvesters also ate great lunches: Didier spared no expense. He would buy artisanal cheeses, confit de canard for the days when a copious lunch wasn't prepared at home. We all ate at long tables in the winery. And even at the height of the harvest we wouldn't have needed those tables: the winery was at all times clean enough to eat off the floor.
And speaking of eating: Didier believed in taking his vineyard workers to high-end restaurants on the principle that they should understand first-hand where the wine they had helped make ended up.
The house was always full of wine-nuts. Eric Bordelet, now making sublime cider, was then the sommelier at Arpege in Paris. He came down on weekends. And it was then that he told me he was leaving his 3-Michelin-star post to go back to the family farm in the Mayenne and make cider with the same perfectionist principles that guided Didier's winemaking. Philippe Catusse, who earned a living driving a moving van, was another regular. He now has the wine shop in Beziers and recently opened a wine bar.

I hope to share more memories later. I just want to say that, saddened as I am by Didier's untimely death, I can't help but feel that this was the way he would have wanted to go. He was always defiant, always in search of the next challenge and ever more daring risks.

MORE THOUGHTS, REFLECTIONS -- from Paris

Thinking about the introduction of the second version of the Loire book, I’ve been reflecting on the past twenty years and on how our understanding of wine and winemaking has evolved.
A principle factor has been the concept of phenolic maturity. When I began my research in the Loire, we were all still judging ripeness by sugars and potential alcohol. One person alone was talking about phenolic maturity. That was Didier. And it made so much sense. And now it’s part of our daily vocabulary.
Then, in the summer of 1990, when I was on my way to research the wines and cheeses of the Auvergne, I stopped off at Didier’s house in St. Andelain to drop off most of my gear.
Didier had organized a tasting of sauvignon blanc that evening. The kind of thing he often did.
There were his wines, wines from uncle Serge, the Cotats, Alphonse Mellot, the Masson-Blondelets, and many others, including wines from California.
But it was the Pouillys and the Sancerres that derailed me. It was the first time I’d encountered so many really ripe versions. They were ample – some were even blowsy – not shrill or scrawny; their aromas recalled white peach, melon, fig, grapefruit, not cat’s pee, asparagus or bourgeons de cassis. I wasn’t sure what to think. The new “Sancerre/​Pouilly�? was an acquired taste. Or at the very least, I had to put aside the shrill, raw, wine-as-wake-up-call template that seemed to be the conventional view of Loire sauvignon. And there was minerality. Indeed, Didier’s best cuvees – Silex and Pur Sang – were more evocative of stones and minerals than fruit. And that’s the expression I adore. Now, nearly 20 years later, I’m finding that an increasing number of the region’s sauvignons convey that sublime minerality. And, Didier, again, managed to push the envelope: he’d recently gotten a very small plot of land in Chavignol (Sancerre AOC). The 2005 utterly blew me away. I think it’s the most exquisite Sancerre I’ve ever tasted and, perhaps, the best wine Didier ever made.

Text from A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire:

Didier Dagueneau, St. Andelain: My last visit to Didier Dagueneau's
winery was on a bright December morning. Didier was about to set off for
Slovakia to compete in dog sled races. As his crew swept cages, he broke
off to taste through his '94 Pouilly Fumes, ending in a dimly lit cellar
lined with barrels. Taut, bone-dry, with bracing acidity, the wines were
the best reflection imaginable of one of the worst vintages in recent
memory. "This year my neighbors made cocktails of '94, '93 and sugar,"
he declared.
Fighting words? You bet. Dagueneau, the 40-ish enfant terrible of
Pouilly, means them to be. Central casting's dream of a rebel, with his
tangled mane of flame-red hair, his ice-blue stare, his grunge garb
(logger shirt, baggy jeans, trucker's cap), Dagueneau crusades for his
idea of authentic Pouilly Fume, denouncing its infidels anywhere he
finds an audience.
On French national tv Dagueneau inveighed against over-production.
At home he leads visitors on tours of Pouilly's vineyards like a
prosecutor marshalling evidence, showing not just his own impeccable
plots but a sampling of neighbors' high-yielding, weed-infested parcels
as well. He also sent journalists his declarations of harvest, covering
yields, chaptalization and his bill for harvesters. Like a politician
revealing his tax returns, he was providing proof of purity. And like a
politician, he was throwing down the gauntlet to his confreres. (Like a
politician, he sometimes exaggerates: while his claim about "cocktails"
may be true in some cases, it does not apply across the board -- at
least according to my tastebuds.)
In any event, Dagueneau's best gauntlet is his wine which has become
the region's new benchmark. Many concur with Denis Dubourdieu, the
Bordeaux enologist credited with revolutionizing white wine production
in that region, who says, "Dagueneau is one of the great winemakers of
our generation; an artist in the truest sense of the word. He makes wine
according to an ideal in his head. His wines reveal the finesse of
sauvignon blanc."
Dagueneau cultivates 11,5 hectares spread over St. Andelain. When he
made his debut in 1982, he had had no training in wine. He spent his
youth as a motocross racer and credits its spirit of competition --
which he recaptures today in dog sled racing -- for his rigor as a
winemaker. "I want to be the best," he says. "If you want to be the best
you need the methods and techniques to get you there: your vines must
bear the best grapes; your vinification must be the most meticulous."
In the vineyards Dagueneau goes well beyond the mandates of the
INAO. Vine density ranges from the legal minimum of 6000 to 14,000
plants per hectare. He prunes severely, de-buds, de-leafs, cluster thins
and keeps yields under (often well under) 45 hl/​ha. He judges ripeness
not merely by levels of grape sugars but by "aromatic maturity," which
will produce flavors like apricot, fig, grapefruit, passion fruit and
cassis rather than vegetal ones like green beans or pipi de chat. Grapes
are then hand harvested by successive passes through the vineyard.
Dagueneau's costly investments include his winery. Built in '89, it
looks like a cathedral -- or at least like a church in an affluent
suburb. It operates on the gravity principle and is so clean you could
eat off the floor. After the devastating spring of '91 he installed
Chablis-style anti-frost equipment in his vineyards. And he positioned
weather posts in key parcels to monitor temperatures, rainfall, humidity
and so forth and thereby to fine tune his treatment of vine maladies.
Dagueneau claims his winemaking is not systematic. Broadly, grapes
may or may not undergo skin contact. If the harvest is ripe and healthy,
grapes are not destemmed. Several varieties of yeast are added.
Fermentation occurs in small, thermoregulated stainless steel tanks or
in oak barrels (some designed to his specifications). After an initial
racking the wines stay on their fine lees until bottling. (He is opposed
to malolactic fermentation for sauvignon blanc no matter how acid the
vintage.)
As might be expected, Dagueneau produces some novelties: Pouilly from
ungrafted vines, riesling and an off-dry sauvignon which he calls Maudit
(cursed) because it was denied the Pouilly appellation as it was not
"typical."
Tasters accustomed to feisty sauvignons may find none of Dagueneau's
wines typical. In his Pouilly Fumes, a creamy texture replaces raw
acidity; mineral flavors combined with exotic fruit often recall the
wines of Alsace. He currently bottles four versons: En Chailloux
represents half of production. It's a big, friendly wine; as I often
find it soft, I tend to prefer years like '94 when it's bracing and
steely as well as aromatic.
Next is the single vineyard Buisson Menard, a flinty, mineral-rich
Pouilly.'92,'93 and '94 should develop great complexity. The barrel
fermented Pur Sang (Thoroughbred) tends to be the bridge between En
Chailloux and Cuvee Silex. I loved the mellow, pear and mineral '94 and
the suave, almost viscous '93.
Silex, also barrel fermented and aged, is made from 35 to 60 year
old vines on the silex-rich soils which Dagueneau believes make the most
structured, "intellectual" Pouillys. The '94 was tart, minerally, with
flavors of red currant and grapefruit when tasted from barrel.
Promising. The multi-layered '93 was a great wine. Wine in capital
letters. As were the opulent '90 and '89, and the rectilinear yet
sumptuous and complex '88. All confirm Dagueneau's view that sauvignon
is one of the most complex and subtle grapes and that its wines are as
noble as great white Burgundies. (Silex is also priced like one, at
roughly $45. But, cognizant of the work that goes into the wines,
customers -- collectors and restaurateurs alike -- never balk.)
"I'm lucky," Dagueneau reflects, "I make wine without regard to cost.
I don't want to know how I'm doing financially otherwise that will
dictate how I make my wine."
Banks underwrote Dagueneau's dazzling ensemble of vineyards, cellars
and seven full-time employees. After his winery was built Dagueneau
conceded that its expense was "disproportionate," adding "But I didn't
want to wait and do it bit by bit. You've got to move quickly. Life is
short. I hope in five years I'll still want to be a winemaker but maybe
I'll want something else."
Five years have passed since that statement and Dagueneau is still
making wine. And he recently replanted a historic vineyard and bought
and trained a mare to maneuver its tight rows.

I realize, sadly, that if I delete the last paragraph and the last sentence of the preceding paragraph, I've written Didier's epitaph.

September 12, 2008: I am off to Apulia on Sunday -- to taste wine and olive oil for a week. I'm bringing my laptop with me, so if I'm not too exhausted, I hope to be able to post a couple of (brief) comments.
I also want to get back to some of August's feasts and have a recipe that I hope to put into 'posting' form either on the train to Paris or at the airport. If that fails, I'll get to it when I return to France. It's a savory batter bread that is not only great to serve with cocktails and aperitifs -- and, with a salad I'll recommend, as a first course -- it's also a brilliant way to use up otherwise over-the-hill goat cheese.

September 9, 2008: In Tasting Notes, Wine of the Week: 2005 Sancerre Cuvee Edmond, Alphonse Mellot and some comments on my evolving admiration for Sauvignon Blanc.

August 31, 2008 : In FrenchFeast, Regression/​Atavistic Eating.

August 29, 2008: Back to the Future. Ok. For those of you who are just tuning in after two weeks or so, you'll notice a change in the look and lay-out of the site. Here's why:

My site is supported by the Authors Guild. Recently -- sometime in March or April -- our sites evolved from Sitebuilder1 to the more sophisticated and elegant Sitebuilder2. It turned out that the latter had too many bugs. So our sites are being migrated back to the more rustic Sitebuilder.

During this transitional period we were asked not to post anything new until the re-migrated sites go live.

They tell me the sites will go live today. I'll wait to make sure that happens and then start posting again.

By which point I my body clock should have readjusted to French hours after four nights staying up until 6am CET to watch the Democratic convention.

August 19, 2008: This is too funny/​painful not to share. You think it's easy writing an update of your own book? Not only have most of the producers changed -- either outright sales, or generational shifts or gone organic -- but so has the climate, our understanding of the grape varieties and methods of vinification. At least, thought I, the opening section on the Loire and its history won't need much tweaking. It appears I may have spoken too soon.

While visiting friends in the Limousin this weekend I met a former wine shop owner who announced that research had recently shown that the source of the Loire was not -- as has always been believed -- Mont Gerbier de Jonc. No. That illustrious spot in the wilds of the Ardeche gives birth to the Allier -- at least that's what he thought -- which subsequently gives birth to the Loire, much further north. This discovery, he went on to tell me, had been made by scientists analyzing the river's flow.

Good grief! I can't fudge this one. The first sentence of my book tells readers that the Loire is the longest river in France and that it's source is Mont Gerbier de Jonc. If the latter is not true, the former may not be true either -- depending on the distance the "new" source of the Loire is from the old.

Upon returning to my cottage in Touraine I immediately began a Google search. First: Mont Gerbier de Jonc. It still claims to be the source of the Loire and it was updated in July 2008.  Not a very helpful site as there was only one contact number -- which appeared, upon further inspection, to belong to a wood carver but which, in any event, got bounced back to me with one of the funniest "Mailer Daemon" messages I've seen:"I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out."

So now I try calling around France. I'm about to start with the Chambre d'Agriculture in Ardeche, though the office is probably closed for August. I bet they don't get many questions like this one!

August 13, 2008: In Tasting Notes, the first installment of wines drunk with my old friends Ahmed and Lena over the past weekend. We begin with 3 Cremants de Loire from Domaine Baumard. (There will also be a food equivalent in FrenchFeast.) In Mail & Events, an encouraging word from Terry Theise.More to come on all fronts when I return from the Limousin.

August 8, 2008: Just a note to say why I've been such a sluggard. A storm knocked out my internet connection for a half a day; a gum abscess got me obsessed; transferring tasting notes to the appropriate chapters in Loire #2 takes lots of time, dog work; and I'm preparing for yet another set of visitors. I've been tasting a lot of Chinons and Sancerres in preparation and will describe which ones made the cut. (I'm tasting enough to send them back to Paris with a trunkful of wine.) I've discovered some terrific Muscadets and also discovered that some of the top cuvees from Mark Ollivier (Pepiere) need to be uncorked, tasted, put in the fridge overnight and restasted the next day, before they reveal their glory. Some recipes to come, too, but probably not before Tuesday.

August 4, 2008: In Mail & Events, a long post consisting of two "letters" -- the first by Guy Woodward, the editor of Decanter magazine, on the trials and tribulations of receiving hackneyed proposals from freelance writers; and the second, by me, by way of a response. Woodward's letter appeared as an article in the April/​May issue of Circle Update, a publication put out by the Circle of Wine Writers. It invited response(s). My response appears in the current (June/​July) Update. Both appear here under the title The Audacity of Love.

July 30, August 1, 2008: In Tasting Notes, the wines drunk at a series of meals over the past two week ends.

July 23, 2008: In Tasting Notes, Wine of the Week, a Sancerre so good it makes me reflect on why so many people underestimate this grape variety (including me, in the past). In Mail & Events, answers to a reader's questions.

July 21, 2008: yet more on the birthday meal in FrenchFeast.

July 19, 2008: the expression dejeuner-dinatoire defined in FrenchFeast.

July 18, 2008: Some tips for a reader who asks where to buy the best rillauds and Bordier butter in the Chinon-Saumur region in Mail & Events.And, in FrenchFeast, the cheese course.

July 17, 2008: Woe is me! I'm recovering from July 14th festivities -- which I do hope to write about -- and still haven't finished describing meals long digested. That said, I have added to the birthday post in FrenchFeast.

July 11, 2008: In FrenchFeast, first installment of the 'solid' side of my birthday feast.

July 10, 2008: The best way to get to eat at Momofuku Ko (NYC) in Out & About.

July 8, 9, 2008: July 1 tasting notes continued.

July 4, 2008: A distinctly un-American scoop for Independence Day:Chateau de Fesles, the legendary Bonnezeaux domaine, has just been purchased by Les Grands Chais de France, one of the country's largest negociants.

July 1, 2008: It takes me a full day, minimum, to recover from my own parties. And things aren't getting easier as I get older. I think I'm sufficiently recovered from my birthday to begin posting my notes and (blurry) recollections, starting with wines drunk. The first installment of these notes can be found under Tasting Notes. I'll write the next installment after a quick trip to Paris for a must-go Derenoncourt tasting.

June 27, 2008: Just when I thought maybe I should respond to Guy Woodward's criticisms, along comes an email from that White Knight of Wine Journalism, David Schildknecht, saying the very things I would have said -- though probably a lot better. I've put David's response after my email to Woodward, just to keep things in logical order.

June 26, 2008: I just received an email from Guy Woodward, the editor of Decanter magazine. Woodward is responding to a February 8 post on my site on this page in which I criticize the results of a Decanter's panel tasting of Loire reds. Woodward more or less dares me to post his email in its entirety here. I'm happy to do that. I'm amused and bewildered as I write this because I had just this morning finished writing a response to a piece Woodward wrote for the bulletin of the Circle of Wine Writers. If I can download that piece, I'll post it here -- along with my response.
Heeeeeeeeerrreeee's GuyWoodward! 

"Dear Jacqueline,

I’m writing in response to the various sniping at Decanter which you published on your site (Feb 8, 2008). One of the first rules of journalism is that if you’re criticising somebody or something, you give them the right to reply. You chose not to do this, but instead just gave carte blanche to various detractors to put the boot into us, without once offering us the opportunity to respond. Hence I have taken it upon myself to do so.

In your exposé of our Loire Reds 2005 tasting, you ask the question ‘How can a group of professional tasters – including 3 MWs – get it so spectacularly wrong?’ By ‘wrong’, you basically mean ‘different to my opinion’. But whose opinion should consumers value – that of a group of six impartial wine professionals, three of whom are Masters of Wine, or that of a single individual who publishes a wine website, lives in the Loire and is plainly on very friendly terms with the producers concerned?

To quote you directly: ‘What’s with this category “Poor�?? How dare you? There’s a person behind every one of these bottles. A person – and maybe a family – whose livelihood depends on our reactions, particularly when they’re published in a magazine. A person who has spent a year pruning, ploughing, de-leafing, obsessing over this wine only to have it written off as “Poor.�? To my mind, that’s immoral. You can argue [that] the wines are out there and are fair game. But fair game means they should be treated fairly.’

I wonder what gives you the impression that the wines were not tasted fairly. You speculate as to the conditions of our tasting, confessing that you ‘assume’ this and that. You needn’t have ‘assumed’ anything. You could have just phoned us to find out. Instead you leap to the defence of these poor, beleaguered producers who you feel don’t deserve a poor rating, on the basis that they’re trying to make a living. So should be just give them all good marks and be done with it?

Likewise David Schildknecht suggests that if the ‘best’ producers in a region receive low scores across an entire panel of experts, we should ignore their findings and conduct the tasting again. Is he suggesting that all tastings should be conducted so as to arrive at scores which reflect the preconceived status of all the ‘best’ producers? If so, again, we may as well all go home now. This may be his – and your – approach, but it is certainly not Decanter’s, however many people we may upset along the way. (You speculate as to how outrageous it would be if the Premiers Grands Crus Classés of St-Emilion received lower scores than just a mere Grand Cru. Such things can and do happen. Check out our March issue.)

I trust in the same spirit of free speech in which you gave various parties free rein to criticise us, you will publish this letter in its entirety.

Best regards,

Guy"
(And my back at 'ya email.)

Dear Guy Woodward;

Of course I’ll publish your letter in its entirety. Regarding your charges, I think enough has been said for readers to make up their own minds. Most of the people who read my website know, as you seem not to do, that I have written what is considered the classic reference on the wines of the Loire — which I spent seven years researching -- and that I am in the process of writing the second edition of that book.

As a journalist — and I do consider myself a journalist — I work very hard to maintain objectivity, even in a field where one inevitably comes to know and to socialize with people who are the subjects of my books, reviews and articles. I think it fair to say that many journalists find themselves in similar positions.

What I find more than passing strange is the timing of your email. My criticism of the Decanter tasting results was posted on February 8th. It has taken you four months to reply. Coincidentally — or not — I am just about to submit my response to the piece you wrote for the Circle of Wine Writers bulletin. I doubt you’ll like what I say in that any more than you did the contents of my web post.

I would like to assure you however, that the response I am sending to Jim was completed before I received your email. I undertake not to alter it in any way.

Regards,

Jacqueline Friedrich

And now for David Schildknecht:

"Woodward has missed the point of my own criticism. In any area that pretends to a degree of objectivity - or at least of intersubjectively shared reason-giving - you cannot hope to be taken seriously and should indeed expect to be considered "wrong" if you make judgments completely at odds with standards that prevail in your area of investigation, or in conflict with the experimental results derived by virtually all previous well-trained investigators. It is no more reasonable to assert that the 2005s of Alliet, Amiraut, Baudry, etc.are not examples of high quality Loire Cabernet Franc than it would be to assert that 2005 Latour and Margaux are poor examples of claret; the 2005s of Grivot, Lafarge, and Roumier of red Burgundy; or the 2005s of von Hövel, Egon Müller, and Zilliken of Saar Riesling.  Paradigms can change over time, and there is ample room for disagreement about wine at countless levels that mingle the factual and the evaluative. But certain criteria and a certain set of paradigms must at any given point in one's "research" be taken as fixed in order to participate in serious discussion. (A similar situation pertains not just to judging gymnastics, judging dogs in show, or in other where paradigms function in an evaluative context, but also I would argue, in any scientific enterprise.) Certainly, on some theories of evaluative discourse one could defend Woodward's right to insist that the opinions in question cannot strictly speaking be called "wrong." But in that case, the alternative is to describe them as so extreme as to be completely irrelevant. And under either description, the disservice done Decanter's readers (not to mention the Loire vintners) on the occasion in question was equally great.

What's more - and doing himself and his journal a disservice - Woodward does not seem to realize the full implications of the following fact. A tasting by any panel no matter how talented as individuals that resulted in across the board skepticism about the quality of the 2005 Medocs and characterized as "poor" the wines of normally iconic chateaux, would subject Decanter to ridicule and disrepute. For anyone who has followed the red wines of the Loire, the results of the Decanter report in question can only have the same effect. I have often had sessions or days when I had to "throw out my results and begin again," and when it comes to group tastings, with all of the psychological and social aspects of a group dynamic, there are additional opportunities for obtaining "wrong" results. At the recent (3rd) symposium on "Philosophy of Wine," Ole Skilleas of the University of Bergen presented a fascinating paper stimulated by an occasion when a group of reasonably wine-savvy friends and tasters failed to recognize as Chardonnay much less as white Burgundy three iconic wines he had chosen from respectively Chablis, the Côte d'Or and the Macon. In this particular instance, the group error seemed to be traceable to the most experienced and well-known taster in the group having begin the tasting by commenting about the first wine "well, the one thing we know is it isn't Chardonnay." And in a sense, to have said that was far from wrong-headed, because the classic Kimmeridgian wine in question was not "a Chardonnay," but rather a Chablis. So one ought surely not underestimate the ways unique to group dynamics in which a panel of tasters can sometimes go off track. (And of course, on felicitous occasions a group can act as a check on one another's results, such as in "throwing out" the highest and lowest scores.) One can look into Frédéric Brochon's or Jamie Goode's excellent studies on the psychology of wine perception to realize some of the many ways in which even talented tasters can be misled.

Are there instances where a paradigm is extremely controversial? Certainly. A classic recent instance was 2003 Pavie. But when a wine, vintage, or style is the fulcrum of such dramatically divergent lines of thought, there is at work an even stronger set of agreed-upon paradigms. So in this case, for instance, it would scarcely be credible to deny either that the practices and style of Perse or the characteristics of the 2003 vintage are themselves extreme. No such extremity surrounds the 2005 vintage on the Loire or the styles and practices of the Loire vignerons who were the subject of Decanter's report."

June 23, 2008: In FrenchFeast, my first distillation.

June 20, 2008: Back in Touraine -- with so many different stories that my brain feels gridlocked. I'm going through my California tasting notes -- now that the names of the wines have been revealed -- and hope to post some sage comments. Among my many New York stories will be how I succeeded in getting into Momofuku Ko without really trying (and what I thought of the meal). And life goes on here in France, with many meals and many bottles worthy of comment, including a report on the distillation of my very first eau de vie made from fruit grown in my back yard, gathered and fermented by yours truly. Best bottle since return: 2005 Clos de Vougeot from Fred Magnien, served for dinner at the home of Benjamin Stainmesse, head of Carrefour's wine department. (Don't go thinking this was one of those fancy shmancy black - tie events -- that was the James Beard Gala, of which more later. This was just me, Benjamin and his wife Marie-Aude. Benjamin cooked: super shrimp risotto -- much better than the risotto I had the next day at Da Rosa (6th Arr.) -- and oeufs en meurette made with lard from a pig killed by Benjamin's uncle and garnished withchanterelles gathered by Marie-Aude's aunt. (When it comes to relatives, some people have all the luck!)

May 29, 2008: Where I am: in sunny California, judging wines at the Los Angeles Wine Competiton. This is the first time I've been able to access my site but hope to post lots of thoughts about the event, old world vs. new world palates and other burning issues. I'm feeling the effect of the last flight of wines, which weren't wines at all but were: 8 brandies, 1 fruit brandy,  one grappa, two eaux de vie and two cream-and-brandy-based concoctions. This morning my panel tasted 38 cabernet sauvignons and 43 zins.More on all of this later.

May 19, 2008: In Tasting Notes, 2005 Chinon Clos du Chene Vert, Charles Joguet.

May 1, 2008: In FrenchFeast, a very shaggy saga of a very long meal in a cave near Chinon, featuring Charles Joguet, seven vintages of Le Chene Vert, tete de veau, woodcock, eau de vie and a lot more.

April 24, 2008: Wine of the Week in Tasting Notes.

April  22, 2008: Good thoughts for Pierre Couly. I'm just back from doing errands in Chinon where I ran into Bertrand Couly, Pierre's son, at the bakery. Bertrand informed me that his father has been in a coma for the past two weeks. He is now hospitalized in Paris.

Many of you are aware that the Couly family has been involved in litigation regarding the separation of the Couly-Dutheil domaine. The stress has been particularly hard on Pierre and Bertrand, who have a minority share in the property.

Only a month ago I had dinner with Pierre, his wife, Colette, and a couple of mutual friends, at the Couly's home at L'Olive. It was the first time in a long time that Pierre had felt in sufficient good spirits to entertain. It was heartening to see him in fine, garrulous form and it was a lovely evening, full of laughter. But as the litigation took another turn, it hit Pierre hard. It's not for me to discuss the details of the family history but anyone has read Dickens (or who has had their own family misery) will understand.

I had planned to finally get around to posting more wine, food and FrenchFeast tales today but my thoughts keep turning to Pierre. I'm sure all of you who know Pierre, or who love Chinon wine, or simply love wine, will join me in my wishing Pierre a prompt and complete recovery.

April 14, 2008:
In Out&About, a country inn with great food near Cahors.

April 13, 2008:  In Tasting Notes, Minervois and St. Chinian to drink with your cassoulet.

April 10, 2008: Foodie gossip: Dateline Paris: Rumor has it -- from well-placed sources, bien entendu -- that Eric Briffard, the chef at  Les Elysees du Vernet, will soon replace Philippe Legendre as chef at Georges V.

April 9, 2008: Frost damage in parts of the Loire. Much of the Muscadet region was hit but it's too early to tell how fatal the damage will prove to be.

April 4, 2008: I'm about to leave Paris for Cahors for the world's first Malbec conference. The pile of notes I aim to post grows relentlessly and Site Perestroika is taking longer than I hoped for one good reason: ibook slowdown. Friends who are Mac experts diagnose the problem as insufficient RAM. Rather than buy more RAM -- as well as WiFi hookups etc -- I figure that since I'm slated to be in the USA in June, I might as well be on the benefit-side of the weak dollar rather than being slaughtered by it, and buy a new MacBook. So look for speed once I recover from jetlag in June. (I will keep posting tasting notes and anecdotes but, please understand, the way my ibook is working (not), what should take 15 minutes takes 45 minutes.

April 2, 2008:Cassoulet in Carcassonne and La Poussines, a gem of a B&B 39 kms northeast, in Out&About.

March 29, 2008: In Tasting Notes two 2007 Savennier­es and an update in the Jo Pithon saga.

March 20, 2008
A swell hotel and restaurant (with appellation controlee mussels) in Cancale in Out&About.

March 18, 2008
I've created a new page, Out&About. It will feature restaurant reviews and will include hotel, B&B, and shopping recommendations in the margin. For now, I've merely transferred reviews from FrenchFeast but I'll be adding posts in the days to come.

March 12, 2008
A note on the Whys & Wherefores of my most recent trip to Sicily: The trip was organized by Assovino, an association of some 30 Sicilian wine producers. Journalists from the world over were invited to spend four + days visiting wineries, attending conferences and tasting, tasting, tasting. I'll be writing more about the trip -- the tastings, the winery visits -- later.

Some initial, half-baked reflections on Sicily:
General: Sociology; Fashion/​Girl-talk:

There appears to be a lot of reverse immigration: ie 3rd generation Sicilian-Americans moving back to the homeland;

Hairstyles: Unlike France, where every woman over the age of, say, 25, has her hair styled well above her ears, like a teenage boy, in Sicily, women wear their tresses long. Many in the PR and hospitality fields appear to have hair extensions. Every last one of them has better hair than Jennifer Aniston.

Landscape: Within the dramatic framework of sea and mountains, the countryside is a patchwork of vineyards, olive trees, dense clumps of bonsai-like blood-orange trees, scrubland and cacti. I suggested they make tequila as well as wine. It appears that the fruit of the cacti is popular. So why not a Sicilian cocktail? Sicilian tequila, juice of its fruit and a slice of blood orange. Sounds good to me.

Some wine generalizations:

I love Sicilian wines and, even more, their potential. Alas, I may have found another reason to renew my vow of poverty.

Again with the half-baked reflections:

The size of vineyard holdings is surprisingly large compared to that of, say, France. It’s not uncommon for two or three families to form an association with resulting holdings of 100, 200, 300 hectares.

Sicily seems to be entering phase three of its (r)evolution. Let’s say that the first stage was characterized by plonk production – bulk wine to be sold within Italy (or shipped to France) for blending, or to be used as the base for aperitifs like Vermouth.

The second stage seems to me to be the “Yes, We Can�? phase, characterized by planting popular internation grape varieties like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Rolland-wannabe-enologists advocated modern style overoaked and overextracted wines. There are still many of these wines on the market and they tend to get well reviewed by Gambero Rosso among others. I’d put a number of the wines from Abbazia Santa Anastasia, Cottanero, DonnaFugata, Firriato and Tasca d’Almerita (Regaleali) in this category.

Some of the non-indigenous (what that means is subject to debate) work very well, others seem clearly out of place. Among those that seem to have found a happy home in Sicily are Viognier, Fiano and maybe Syrah. The Bordeaux grapes – merlot, the cabernets – clearly don’t work here. It seems to me, based on little evidence, it’s true, that they reach high sugar levels before they are near to being phenolically ripe. Flavors of green bell peppers are to be expected. Chardonnay gives nothing exceptional. Much more interesting (to this drinker) are local grapes like Grillo and Inzolia.

And then there are the grapes that the high-priced enologists and the winewriters who worship them disdain –-Frappato being my favorite example. This grape, when well treated, tends to make a charming, exotically perfumed -- roses, cherries, orange zests -- light reds.

That said, there’s still a lot to learn here. There are at least six distinct wine regions within Sicily and a multiplicity of terroirs.

I’ll be posting my Sicily tasting notes next week. (I’m off to Champagne tomorrow to have dinner with soul brother and sister Terry Thiese and Karen Odessa Piper.)

March 4, 2008 : Please bear with me. I'm leaving for Sicily (yay!) tomorrow morning and will be gone for about five days. In the interim, my site will change dramatically. Let me explain. My site is supported by the Authors' Guild. Up until now what I've been using and what you've been reading has been Sitebuilder1. Our sites are now migrating to Sitebuilder2. I've been one of the guinea pigs but, lately, have had a lot of trouble making the changes I wanted to make. So when you get to Sitebuilder2 it will look different but will not yet reflect the changes I want to make. Since I won't have time to make these changes before I leave, I'll have to wait until I get back. And it should take me a good month to get it all together.With luck.
The confusion resulting from all of the above is the reason I haven't posted anything since February 24th -- like the tasting and meal chez moi with Francois Pinon (Vouvray) and Abel Osario da Castro (Nau Freres/​Bourgueil) and my trip to my local distiller to bring him a sample of my fermented fruit juice.(No off-color double entendres, please!) All in good time!

February 24, 2008 : Tasting notes on the wines -- Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, Quincy, Coteaux du Giennois, Chateaumeillant -- served at the truffle meals in Book Updates, plus some editing of Truffle Meals in FrenchFeast.

February 21, 2008 : Truffle meals in Touraine in FrenchFeast.

February 18, 2008: A reader makes a good point in Back&Forth.

February 14, 2008: And another letter responding to the Decanter article.

February 12, 2008 : Update on the Jo Pithon news. Unfortunately I didn't see the Pithons at the Salon but I did discover another aspect to the story -- one involving Stephane Derenoncourt. It turns out that the Pithon's backer, Philippe Fournier, also bought Chateau Chamboureau in Savennieres. He has hired Stephane to consult on the wines. I met with Stephane at the Salon and he was very excited about this new venture. He's never worked with white wines before -- partly, he says, because no interesting projects presented themselves. But he loves the Loire and chenin blanc; indeed, he places Loire chenins alongside Alsace rieslings and chardonnays from Burgundy as the greatest expressions of white grapes.
Chamboureau has gone organic and a new cellar is being built. The parcels are being restructured, vines will be t-grated, replacing inferior versions of chenin with the finest examples from the domaine.
Stephane is looking for purity and identity. The grapes will be picked when just turning yellow, by tri ;wines will almost always be totally dry and malo will be blocked, if possible.
Among Chamboureau's holdings is parcel (slightly under 4 hectares) of the cru La Roche-aux-Moines. Derenoncourt feels, rightly, that this cru can produce much finer wines that it has done.
The 2007, brut de barrique, certainly demonstrated a giant step in the right direction. It was ethereal, deeply mineral, crystalline, with accents of orange and lemon zests as well as herbal tea. It was elegant and racy. Excellent. The regular Chamboreau bottling, also brut, was almost as fine, very wordly and textured.
Exciting developments are in store here.

February 10, 2008:letters from David Schildknecht and Jim Budd reacting to my Decanter post follows the letter in question. (Makes more sense that way.) See below.

February 9, 2008: Two timely letters in Back&Forth.

February 8, 2008:Go Know. Or, Huh? Say What?
I’m recovering from the Loire wine fair. The pressrooms at big wine fairs have one thing in common with hair salons: plenty of magazines you wouldn’t spend your own money on. And in the press rooms at the wine fairs there are usually stacks of these magazines. So you’re meant to take them. Take them I did, coming home with a satchelful, among them the February 2008 issue of Decanter.
One of the articles rated 2005 Loire reds. A bit of an overstatement as the article covered only cabernet-franc-based reds from Chinon, Bourgueil, St. Nicolas de Bourgueil and Saumur. Cabernet-franc-dominated reds are also made in Anjou and there are plenty of Loire reds in Touraine, Sancerre, Reuilly, Menetou-Salon and other appellations made from grapes ranging from pinot noir to gamay to cot (malbec) to cabernet franc. But perhaps I split hairs.
What got my goat was the ratings given to wine producers as well as specific wines. Downright jawdropping. How can a group of professional tasters – including 3 MWs -- get it so spectacularly wrong?
Let me elaborate.
There were three classifications, with five stars being the highest. Somewhat misleading. As a two-star rating translated as “Fair�? (basically a blow-off with no comment about the wine); and one-star as “Poor�?.
In the “Fair�? category were such personal favorites as Bernard Baudry (practically every single one of his cuvees); Yannick Amirault. Even more stunning was the “Poor�? rating for Philippe Alliet, whose Chinon scored a 12.
Alliet and Bernard Baudry have, for the past twenty years, represented the very best of Chinon. Yannick Amirault is currently the finest winemaker in the Bourgueil/​St. Nicolas de Bourgueil appellations. Each is an experienced, talented craftsman, dedicated to making the finest wine possible. (You’ll find my tasting notes on wines from Baudry and Amirault in FrenchFeast (month of August) and, I think, all three, in Loire Updates.)
Domaine de la Butte, a property on the rise since it was taken over by Montlouis luminary Jacky Blot also rated “Poor�?; while the Cuvees Busardieres from Domaine de la Chevalerie and the Vieilles Vignes from Nau Freres were among those deemed “Fair.�?
I’ve been delecting in Busardieres for the past twenty years; and when Abel Osorio da Castro, the winemaker at Freres Nau, brought a magnum of the 2005 to my birthday party, guests chased him around the house to keep their glasses filled.
I’m aware that not many consumers are familiar with the names of Chinon producers. So let me make a comparison – hyperbolic as it may be – with St. Emilion. Imagine, if you will, a Decanter panel rating as Fair: Chateaux Cheval Blanc, Le Tertre-Roteboeuf, Pavie-Macquin; as Poor, Chateau Ausone, and giving their 3, 4 and 5 star nods to Balestard la Tonnelle, Corbin, Couvent des Jacobins and Cap de Mourlin.
Dioterie, the most elegant cuvee from Charles Joguet, rated “Fair,�? while the simpler Varennes du Grand Clos rated 3 stars, which, in itself, is damning with faint praise but seems to reveal an inconsistency on the part of the tasters.
At this point I want to open a parenthesis: what’s with this category “Poor�?? Or, how dare you? There’s a person behind every one of these bottles. A person – and maybe a family – whose livelihood depends on our reactions, particularly when they’re published in a magazine. A person who has spent a year pruning, ploughing, deleafing, obsessing over this wine only to have it written off as “Poor.�? To my mind, that’s immoral.
Well, you can argue, the wines are out there and are fair game. But fair game means they should be treated fairly.
Which brings me to the non-parenthetical question of how these wines were tasted. I assume they were tasted blind but that’s the least of it. What I’d like to know is how much time was taken with each wine. And were the wines poured directly from a freshly opened bottle? Had the wines been carafed? And, if so, for how long? If a wine had been freshly opened but tasted “closed,�? was it put aside to be tasted again later, after a period of aeration?
As many of you know, I’m currently tasting wines for the second edition of my Loire book. Many’s the bottle I put aside to taste again – and again, and again – if I feel that I haven’t got the best of what it has to say.
For example, last week I was tasting wines from Chateaumeillant. The 2006 “Extra-Version�? from Geoffrenet-Morval, a red made from 80% pinot noir and 20% gamay, came across as pleasant, light, fresh and charming when first poured. On day two, it tasted even better. On day three it had blossomed, revealing lovely flavors of griotte cherries, cherry pits, and raspberries. The ripeness, balance and freshness were all I could have desired. The wine was lipsmackingly delicious.
Now I think this leads to another question: did the tasters have preconceived notions of what Loire cabs should be?
Well, they said they were looking for fruit, easy and early accessibility and lightweight. Not surprising, then, that “too much oak�? was an across-the-board criticism. Further, the Loire was said to be going through an “identity crisis�? in which common flaws, along with too much oak, included over-extraction and, in general, “poor winemaking skills�?. (Again, I invite you to read my tasting notes.)
Now Loire cabs will probably always be lighter than Chateauneuf-du-Papes and Pauillacs (at least I hope so) but there are a number of different styles. One style is that exuberant, upfront charmer. It usuallly comes from sandy soils, often from young vines, and is usually tank fermented and tank aged. Wines from tuffeau soils are more structured and often see some oak. Yes, they’re on a smaller scale than, say, Latour, but please, don’t refuse them the right to aim for greatness – for nuance, complexity and nobility.
The panel’s verdict was that “despite the good vintage, the wines tasted were, in the main, disappointing.�? Frankly, I think that says more about the wine tasters than the wine makers.
Dear reader 2005 is a wonderful vintage. To illustrate my point, one of my tasting notes on a wine dismissed as “Fair�? by the panel: “2005 Chinon “La Croix Boissee�? Bernard Baudry. A beautifully mingled nose; on the palate, a delectable wash of black cherry. The wine is elegant and soigne. An excellent Chinon.�?
I know, I know. There’s no disputing taste. But come on!
The following post is from David Schildknecht, the White Knight of Wine Journalism imho.
I seldom look at Decanter and have found their tasting panel results no more reliable than those of the New York Times - indeed probably less so, the number of M.W.s notwithstanding. Anybody who could rate Baudry's '05s "fair" and Alliet's and Blot's "poor" was either having a very bad day or has zero appreciation (or - dare I say - "tolerance"?) for Cabernet Franc. But for a group of tasters to have done this, i.e. not served as a check on one another's human fallibility?! There must have been some really negative synergy or "group-taste" going on there is all I can say.

But, wait ... there is more to say: after taking a look at what this group of tasters came up with as their "results," what possessed the magazine to PUBLISH them?! If there is a tasting and for some unknown reason (and - giving even those of us who are experienced tasters a benefit of the doubt, sometimes there really are "bad vibrations" between the taster and the wines or among a group of tasters on a given day) the "results" show that in a vintage of outstanding potential the leading growers of the region or appellation (or the leading growers of the grape) in question produced consistently poor to average results, THEN YOU THROW OUT THE RESULTS and you try the entire experiment on another occasion, with other bottles, and perhaps with another cast of tasters. In a scientific spirit - or for that matter in the spirit of common sense and fairness to the growers whose wines are being judged - only if you were able to replicate results that are completely at odds with normal theoretical assumptions and the accumulation of past data would you publish them!

I'm stone cold sober - haven't even had anything in a glass to spit yet today - and (as the wretched American pols say) I approve the above message for inclusion on your site (indeed, would welcome it, including this paragraph), should you have the inclination to stir things up. (I don't know who the panel was in this case, so hope I have not just make enemies of former friends!)

Horrible news about Pithons! I had not heard. (Have to find time to check in on your site more often.)

Cheers,

David S.

The following letter is from Jim Budd. Jim, who shares my passion for and knowledge of Loire wines, wrote the article on Loire reds that preceded the Decanter panel tasting results. He did not participate in the panel and did not know the results when he wrote the article.

Hi Jacqueline

Have to say I agree with you about the Decanter tasting. I was invited but
was unfortunately away in the Loire and was asked to write the intro later
not knowing what the results were. Sadly from the comments published the
tasters seem to have been fixated by the idea that all wines from these
three appellations should be light and fruity, so no wonder they were taken
aback by the 2005s.

I have written a letter to Decanter making some of the points you raise –
Alliet, Blot, Baudry fair or poor! Furthermore the idea that top Loire
winemakers lack confidence is laughable. Try telling that to Jacky Blot or
Philippe Alliet!

Best wishes

Jim

and another county heard from:

I went over to France for the Salon des Vins, staying in my house in Bourgueil, beneath which lie several dozens of 2005 Loire wines!
I thought the Decanter tasting article was disgraceful, and took the magazine over to Bourgueil to show to my favourite grower, in Benais. (Better withhold the name)
He rarely shows his wines to “panel tasters�?, in fact his top 2005 cuvées will not be bottled before mid-2009. He certainly didn’t feature in the Decanter tasting.

He cursorily glanced through the Decanter article, noted where I had highlighted the producers ranked fair and poor, and told how when a publication last called on him to request samples for a comparative tasting, they told him he would have to pay €150 for the honour!
Did you notice the blue carpet at the Salon? Apparently this is the worst colour to have at a wine fair. Nothing to do with biodynamic fruit and root days, but peoples’ judgement is adversely affected by the colour,

according to my man in Benais!
Perhaps Decanter had a shocking blue carpet in their tasting room!!
Regards, Michael Keating


February 1, 2008 : Sad News: Last night I received an email from Jo and Isabelle Pithon. They explained that, due to disagreements with their financial partner, they had lost their domaine.
As many of you know, the Pithons have been making wonderful Coteaux du Layon for more than fifteen years. In the last ten years, their dry chenins became ambassadors for the Renaissance of Anjou dry whites. They had just begun making red wine and had expanded across the Loire to Savennieres.
I've tried reaching them today to get more information but got only the answering machines on their mobiles. (The winery phone is disconnected.) I hope the news is not as bad as it sounds. Jo answered an email saying he'd probably be at the Salon des Vins de Loire. I hope to talk to him then.

January 30, 2008:
1) My article on chef Olivier Roellinger is posted in Article Archives.
2) Today I'm moving back to the Loire to taste through hundreds of samples and to put all my ducks in a row for the Salon des Vins de Loire. (I leave for Angers early Sunday morning.)
3) I'm also in the process of restructuring the website. Version #2 will probably go 'live' before it's actually finished. (Exactly when depends on the powers that be at the Authors' Guild.)
The new version will have quite a few changes.
The Home Page will remain devoted to explaining what's new and will include the occasional off-the-cuff post;
Replacing "Book Updates" will be Tasting Notes: The name is self-explanatory. A number of you have observed that you found it difficult to find tasting notes on my site. From now on they will be on this page or, if posted on another page, there will be a reference (and,I hope, a link) to them. All Loire wine tasting notes will now appear here.
FrenchFeast becomes the Blog page. It will continue to document my gastronomic excesses. It will also include 'gastrologs', or gastronomic philosophizing (by me or others). The Wine of the Week will be moved from here to Tasting Notes and posts on travel outside France will appear in FreeRunFeasting.
FreeRunFeasting, as noted, will be devoted to posts on travel beyond France. There will be references &/​or links to recommended hotels and restaurants within France.
Mail & Events have been combined. The more philosophical of your missives will be posted in FrenchFeast.
I'm also going to put indexes in the margins of Tasting Notes, FrenchFeast, and FreeRunFeasting.
4)To Come: (Probably after the Salon des Vins de Loire): More on Sicily; reports on St. Chinian and Minervois, including a great cassoulet in Carcassonne and a super B&B in the Languedoc countryside; and truffle shopping and eating in the Rhone Valley.

January 15, 2008: FrenchFeast goes to Sicily Part II -- but I've only written about dinner so far.
BTW, tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Carcassonne. Visits to AOCs Minervois, St. Chinian. Then, east to Rasteau.

January 13, 2008: FrenchFeast goes to Sicily Part I.

January 10, 2008 : This is just a note to share with you my enthusiasm for a wine I'm tasting. It's the 2006 Sancerre blanc "Les Pierrottes" from Claude and Stephane Riffault. The grapes come from silex-rich soils and the wine is far more mineral and stony than it is varietal. I've often felt that really top Sancerres are ringers for really top Chablis. Cepage plays a distinctly second role to terroir. That's certainly the case here. The wine is beautifully textured. I haven't permitted myself to look at the winemaker's technical notes but, to me, the wine seems to have the marrowy texture of a wine raised sur lie. It's rich but fabulously fresh, with accents of grapefruit zests and gooseberry enlivening the stone and mineral core. It's so fine and racy and thrilling I can't stop drinking it!

January 10, 2008 : I'm back in Paris, recovering from a fantastic, eye-opening trip to Sicily. Suffice it to say that I fell in love with the land, the food and the wines. Talk about a wine revolution! Well, I intend to. I'm now sorting out my notes and will post my impressions and recommendations over the coming days. (In what's currently FrenchFeast. Note, however, that I'm also in the process of restructuring the website and am thinking of calling one section "Moveable Feast". (Not very original so I'm open to suggestions.) I also have a bunch of quick trips coming up -- to St. Chinian and to Rasteau -- and hope to write about those too. And, of course, I'm tasting, tasting, tasting for Loire Wines #2.(The winemaker,himself, just dropped off six bottles of Bailly-Reverdy Sancerres.)

December 26-28 2007: More letters as well as a rambling email discussion with Terry Theise in Back&Forth and a holiday snap of the Vidal family in FrenchFeast. I'm fighting off a cold while preparing for a trip to Palermo but I still hope to post something before the New Year.

December 22, 2007 (evening): Wine of the Year in FrenchFeast.

December 22, 2007 (afternoon) : As Gilda Radner was wont to say, it's always something. I fled the noise of neighborhood reconstruction and took myself, my notebooks and my ibook down to Touraine -- where I planned to spend the bulk of my time tasting and writing. I've gotten through all my Reuillys except for the mixed carton from Jean-Michel Sorbe (tomorrow) and was, finally, going to finish my Thanksgiving notes. This morning 220 cases of wine arrived from le Centre -- ie Sancerre, Pouilly, Menetou, Quincy, Chateaumeillant and the Giennois, as well as a couple duplicate Reuillys from Jean-Michel Sorbe. The wine had been delivered, as instructed, to my neighbors, the Teillets (Jean and Francoise) and Jean trundled them down in five separate wheelbarrow trips. Ok, now for Thanksgiving. Well, though I'd carefully gone through which notebooks I thought I should bring to the country, I passed over the one with the notes on Thanksgiving wines. So that will have to wait. Now I will get to work on my Wine of the Year.

December 18, 2007 : Deafening, window-rattling construction work on the building next door has made it impossible for me to work. I'm leaving -- with ibook in tow -- for the Loire tomorrow in order to get something accomplished.

December 13, 2007 : More on Thanksgiving in FrenchFeast. In Back&Forth, a reader writes with a problem some of the retailers/​wholesalers among you may be able to solve. I'm flummoxed.

December 12, 2007: In FrenchFeast, more on Thanksgiving (which I hope to finish before Christmas).

December 7, 2007: Lordtroglodyte returns in Back&Forth.

December 2, 2007: In Back&Forth, unusual email from a reader and my response.

November 29, 2007 : With jackhammers drilling under my window all day it was nearly impossible to get any work done. So the continuation of the Thanksgiving sage will have to wait until Saturday.I would, however, like to thank the newsletter subscribers who have sent such thoughtful and heartening feedback. For the moment, FrenchFeast seems to be winning as the site for the future blog.

November 28, 2007: In Loire Updates (click on Works, then on Loire book title): Matthieu Baudry of Domaine Bernard Baudry on the 2007 harvest in Chinon, as well as some observations on the To Bio or Not To Bio question. And in FrenchFeast, the beginning of my Thanksgiving report.

November 27, 2007: In Book Updates, Alsace harvest report from Philippe Blanck of Paul Blanck.I hope to post Thanksgiving notes tomorrow. BTW, Montlouis may be the most dynamic wine region in France right now. More anon!

November 25, 2007: In Article Archives, France's Maverick Winemakers and a sidebar published in the IHT on November 17, 2007. On Tuesday or Wednesday I hope to post notes on Thanksgiving in the Time of Transport Strikes in FrenchFeast. I expect to spend all day Monday at a mega-Montlouis tasting.

November 5, 2007: In Book Updates, notes on Champagne Drappier's Quattuor and on 2000 Moet.

October 24, 2007: First things first: I'm off tomorrow to Brittany to cover an oyster festival in Cancale, visit an oyster producer, interview Olivier Roellinger (3 Michelin-stars), and visit the workshop of one of the best producers of butter on the planet, Bordier. Second: as one of the guinea pigs for the 2nd wave of Authors' Guild websites, I'm told that they'll "migrate" my site to their lab next week. I'm supposed to work with their site and report back on how it goes. I can also add things to this site as it exists but, once the site has been 'migrated', the changes won't appear when the 2nd version is installed. It's supposed to have a lot of new functions, including a blog set-up. So I imagine I'll be changing things around -- eg a lot of what went into FrenchFeast will probably end up in the blog section -- in the not too distant future.

October 21, 2007: Why I haven't been posting: a) The fall tasting season is in full swing (so I've got lots of notes piling up next to my ibook);b)in preparation for work on the new edition of the Loire book, I'm redoing the infrastructure of my filing system and creating shelf space by throwing out 3/​4s of the documents accumulated for The Wines of France and ruthlessly tossing out hundreds of magazine sections of the Sunday New York Times and The New York Review of Books (after first ripping out crossword puzzles and interesting articles; and c)getting ready for possibly big changes to the website.
Re (C): My website is supported by the Authors Guild. They are testing an new, improved version and I have volunteered to be one of the guinea pigs. I'm saving a bunch of items I've been wanting to post in order to test out the new system and give feedback to the support staff.


October 10, 2007: Meet Bob de Bourg in Book Updates.

October 4, 2007: In Book Updates, 2000 Cahors Chateau le Cedre Cuvee GC is Wine of the Week.

September 29, 2007: Harvest report from Champagne, and postscript to Burgundy report regarding organic viticulture vs. other types in the 2007 harvest. All in Book Updates.

September 28, 2007: Harvest reports from Burgundy and Chateauneuf-du-Pape in Book Updates.

September 24, 2007: You'll find the "author's cut" of a Burgundy article I wrote for the October 2007 issue of Food & Wine under Works/​ Previously Published Articles. This version is longer than the one edited by F&W.
Also, I have just posted the .pdf file of David Schildknecht's review of The Wines of France which was originally published in The Art of Eating. Click on Works, then on the book's title.

September 5,6, 2007: I just returned from a short trip to the nearby Indre department. In the heart of Berry, it’s an area of la France profonde that deserves to be better known. Among its attractions – the Chateau of Valencay (in Valencay) and, in Vic-Nohant, George Sand’s house and the Eglise St. Martin with its eye-popping 12th century frescoes. In vinous terms, there are the AOCs Reuilly and Valencay but, taking a break from finishing the Wine Weekend saga, I want to write about two excellent restaurants: La Cognette, a long-time favorite, now better than ever; and l’Aubergeade, new to me and very much worth the visit. Tune in to FrenchFeast later today for details.

August 31, 2007: In Book Updates, Walden, from Herve Bizeul (Clos des Fees) is the wine of the week.

August 27,28,29, 2007: Another Wine Weekend installment in FrenchFeast.

August 25, 2007: Here Comes the Sun! Finally, a real, blue-green summer’s day. I took my mid-morning walk along the Indre river. My neighbor was out in his fishing boat (but the fish weren’t biting) and other fishermen were hauling out their tackle while their wives unpacked picnic baskets along the river’s shady banks. There were bikers and hikers and everyone was smiling. Many’s the time I regret not having bought a house by the ocean. But when I take walks like this I think, ‘Am I nuts?’ There are more dramatic vistas, yes, more spectacular sights, lots of them, but, where peaceable kingdoms are concerned, there may be many as beautiful as this but none, I think, more beautiful: a winding river, lined with trees and wild flowers, bordered by vast, varying fields of cereal crops – sunflowers or wheat mostly – and houses made of the soft local limestone, tuffeau, roofed with slate tiles and in the distance, the outlines of the Sleeping Beauty chateau. It would be hard, indeed, to find a gentler landscape. But thoughts return to vignerons. It’s not yet noon and it’s ‘hotting’ up mighty fast. It’s also very humid. Perfect conditions for rot, and not the noble kind – particularly when you’re talking about cabernet. But after a seemingly endless stretch of gloom-and-doom weather, it’s hard not to rejoice. I will indeed have lunch outside – after checking on the 60 liter canister of mirabelles, greengage plums and Williams pears fermenting in my garage.

In Article Archives I've posted six pieces I wrote for the Wall Street Journal -- ranging in topics from "Le Fooding" to Vinisud to Morellino di Scansano. Help Wanted These were the only articles I was able to retrieve because I'm not a subscriber to the WSJ online. If you are, and if you're willing to help retrieve other articles, please send me an email.

August 24, 2007 : In Back&Forth, recommended chateaux in the Dordogne area.

August 15,16, 23, 2007: Second installment in the continuing saga of the Wine Weekend in FrenchFeast: notes on the visit to Domaine des Champs-Fleuris in the Saumur-Champigny appellation, followed by a tasting and dinner chez moi.

August 17, 2007: Another nice review of The Wines of France from Dr. Vino's Wine block. Under Works, just click on the book's title.


August 13, 2007: In FrenchFeast, a 2003 Chablis as Wine of the Week. Tonight I'm dining with my neighbors and will be bringing a '99 Cotes de Roussillon Villages Domaine Cazes Cuvee "Trilogy."

August 8 & 9, 2007
I have installed a high speed internet connection at my country ho­use. I pray it keeps working. So...
News: The Loire book lives again! I have just signed a contract with the University of California press for an updated, completely revised edition of my Loire book.
I've post some recent notes from a Vouvray tasting held in Apri.
In Back&Forth there are a couple of letters regarding the new edition.
A Shaggy Wine Week-end : A long story that must be told in spurts. This is in FrenchFeast. I've just set up the story today. I'll keep you posted on its development.

August I'm in the country where, for the past several weeks, I've been experiencing major problems with my internet connection. I've got lots of juicy info to share but will have to wait to post whatever I can whenever I can.

July 2007 July 10, 2007 : In FrenchFeast, report on July 4th festivities at my house, Wine of the Week, 2005 Domaine du Grand Cros Rose "Nectar." In Works, I've posted another Choice Tables piece on Budapest's restaurants. Tomorrow morning I'm off the the Cotes du Bourg.Details later.

July 9, 2007 In Article Archives, a piece written for the International Herald Tribune on Paris Wine Bars (and What We're Drinking Now); and, in The Wines of France, a nice new review. More tomorrow -- including Wine of the Week.

July 2, 2007
I’m busy preparing for a July 4 bash at my house. It’s also a combined celebration of my birthday, which was June 28, and Mary McKinley’s b’day, which is today. It’s an “apero-dinatoire:�? the wine will flow and the nibblies will be filling enough to serve as dinner. I’ll write more about it later.
I’ll also describe another shaggy meal. This was a birthday party given for me by Charles and Monique Joguet. A wonderful meal – a gorgeous fresh fava salad and a lipsmacking lentil and sausage salad, followed by roast leg of kid, then cheeses and a light, fresh apple dessert – was accompanied by many, many, many wines. While we snacked on rillettes and hazelnut-studded sausages, we drank an ’85 Muscadet from Guy Bossard (who was one of the guests), a 2001 Sancerre Cuvee Edmond from Alphonse Mellot, and two whites I’d brought – a 2002 Pinot Gris Zellberg from Andre Osterag and a 2003 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine des Champs de l’Abbaye. For the meal, Charles had prepared numerous vintages of Chinon: Clos de la Dioterie 2006, 89, 87, and 82; Varenne du Grand Clos ’89; Franc de Pied ’89; and a surprisingly juicy Jeunes Vignes ’77. As if this wasn’t enough, there was also a ‘’90 Gruaud Larose, a ’90 Huet Le Haut Lieu moelleux; and a ’90 Foreau moelleux. I’d brought a ’90 Jurancon Clos Uroulat. More on all of this after the 4th!


June 2007 June 27, 2007 : A reader wants to know when I will publish my Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting notes. Good question. As I have said, EHOM. I hope, however, to post them before the end of August. I also hope to post tasting notes on Vouvray, Graves, Burgundy, the Ardeche and the rest of Rhone Decouvertes, as well as a bunch of restaurant 'reviews.'

June 25, 2007: In FrenchFeast: Wine of the Week: June 25, 2007:Domaine de l’Alliance, dynamic young couple making exciting Sauternes and Graves.

June 22, 2007 : More old articles. This time a Barcelona travel piece (with a couple of restaurants) as well as Choice Tables on Prague and on the Bouchons of Lyon.There are also two pieces I wrote for Food&Wine -- on Olivier Baussan, the founder of Occitane and O & Co (cf. olive oil) and on the Thunevins/​Chateau Valandraud (cf.Garage wine).

June 20, 2007 : I've posted my Choice Tables articles on Amsterdam and Salzburg (particularly for those going to the music festival) in Article Archives. And I've added the very special restaurant at the Salzburg airport. This was to have appeared as a sidebar when the main article was printed, but there was no room.

June 15, 2007 : There's a new "Page," Article Archives , under Works, though you can also access it by clicking its title in the side column here. As I retrieve my old articles -- the ones that might still be useful -- I'll post them here. I've started with pieces on restaurants in Budapest and Bath.
Also, please join the dialogue in Back&Forth.
I have a lot of other notes to post -- new Graves producers, a great Burgundy tasting, my neighborhood block party, Vouvray, not to mention getting back to those Rhone Decouvertes -- but EHOM. (This is my abbreviation for a fact of life: Events Have Overtaken Me.)

June 13, 2007 : Check out Back&Forth for some feedback from Karen Odessa Piper , one of my favorite chefs and food philosophers. (I'll respond tomorrow.)

June 11, 2007 : In Book Updates, recent tasting notes for Domaine de la Madone.

June 10, 2007 : I have renamed TheMailRoom. It is now Back&Forth. The page, itself, serves a double function. I continue to post your letters there but I'm also starting a Forum. The first topics I've suggested concern 1) desserts and the sweet wines commonly called "dessert wines;" and 2) an article from the Dining Section of last Wednesday's NYT (with link). Feel free to respond and to suggest your own topics.

June 9, 2007 : Photo of book presentation at WH Smith on Works.

June 7, 2007: I'm on my way to Graves. When I return I hope to post my tasting notes as well as another Shaggy Meal story -- this one on a block party in my neighborhood. And, of course, I want to get back to posting all the tasting notes that are piling up on my desk.

June 5-6, 2007:
Another Shaggy Meal Story: Asparagus Day Chez Marionnet.
The start of a new section, Cast of Characters. (Listed under Works because of space limitations.)
Note, too, that parts of FrenchFeast have disappeared. I've obviously overrun my space limitation for that page. I'll try to correct this.

June 4, 2007: PICTURES!!!! To see what my living room looked like while I was working on The Wines of France, click on Works, then on The Wines of France, then scroll past the blurbs.

May 22, 2007 : See Book Updates for tasting notes on 2004 Bandol reds and 2006 Bandol roses; also, another extremely nice letter in TheMailRoom.

May 17, 2007 : See TheMailRoom for a tremendously encouraging letter -- as well as what I hope is a helpful response.And see FrenchFeast for additions to the Arles diary (scroll down to April 19.)
Sorry to have been so "silent." I threw my back out -- no doubt lugging a suitcase filled with my books from Paris to Saumur to Angers to Paris for Les Journees Nationales du Livre et du Vin -- and was immobilized for two days.
Before leaving for the Loire tomorrow I hope to add a couple of tasty posts.

May 11, 2007: See FrenchFeast for my report of an agonizingly short cruise on the Seine tasting 2006 Entre-Deux-Mers.
Sorry, but Schildknecht's review of The Wines of France has been removed (temporarily, I hope) from the site. I deleted it after Ed Behr asked me to postpone posting it until all his subscribers had received their copies. When he gives me the green light, I'll repost the review.

May 10, 2007 : I've posted the wonderful review David Schildknecht wrote of The Wines of France for Ed Behr's Art of Eating.Click on Works, then click on The Wines of France.

May 9, 2007: Two very nice letters posted in TheMailRoom. I'm on my way to a Cahors tasting/​lunch and will answer the questions raised in the letters when I get back. (If I'm too tipsy, answers tomorrow morning.)

May 8, 2007: Details on upcoming book signing in Events.

May 5, 2007 : I've finally posted all my tasting notes from the Salon des Vins de Loire. Click on Works, then click on "A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire.

May 3, 2007: Gardening Day account, shortened by mosquitoes.

April 30, 2007 : In FrenchFeast, praying for sun. (Or at least, for the rain to hold off until after 3pm on May 1.)

April 27, 2007 : I'm off to the Loire for the week. I'm bringing my iBook and hope to keep posting items on the site, including notes from a recent Bandol tasting in Book Updates (at Drouant, which I'll probably include in FrenchFeast); the continuing Arles saga; the final tasting entries from the Salon des Vins de Loire; tasting notes from Stephan Derenoncourt's bash; AND, more shaggy meal stories, including ANOTHER GARDENING DAY! (More tasting notes from the Rhone Decouvertes when I get back to Paris.)

April 26, 2007 : Why Mel Brooks was right about Saran Wrap:FrenchFeast.

April 24, 2007 : Part Four of Rhone Decouvertes: Cornas and St. Peray: Book Updates. (Sorry for the delay.)

April 19, 2007 : The start of the Arles Diary in FrenchFeast.

April 16, 2007 : Another great Paris bistro in FrenchFeast.Check Events for news of my participation in the Journees du Livre et du Vin. April 12, 2007: Third Part of Rhone Decouvertes: Crozes-Hermitage in Book Updates.

April 11, 2007 : As soon as I recover from this hang-over, I'll enter the third part of Rhone Decouvertes (Crozes-Hermitage, and, with any luck, Cornas); continue the Loire updates (which will now be fleshed out by a very recent Vouvray tasting); and make some additions to FrenchFeast.


April 5, 2007: see FrenchFeast for a long restaurant review (which also serves as my definition of 'bistro gourmand,' a term I often use).

April 4, 2007 : see Book Updates for second installment of Rhone Decouvertes.

April 2, 2007 : See Book Updates for first installment of notes on 2006 Bordeaux.

March 29, 2007 : See Book Updates for first installment of Rhone Decouvertes.

March 28, 2007: Finally! Back to work. I've done "A" through "M" in the Loire update and there's a new bistro and a new Wine of the Week in FrenchFeast with a follow-up on the winery in Book Updates.

March 24, 2007: I have decided not to go to Bordeaux the first week of April to taste the 2006 primeurs but to dedicate that time to updating the site -- with the bushels of notes I've taken in the past few months. (I don't think there will be much of a market for the 2006 primeurs and, in any event, I'll get to taste a nice sampling of them next week at the Stephane Derenoncourt bash.)
Upcoming reports (in no particular order):
* Continuation of Loire tasting notes;
* Rhone tasting notes, by appellation;
* Arles trip;
* Notes from tasting of wines from young Burgundy producers;
* Paris restaurants;
* The 2006s of Stephane Derenoncourt's clients, and more. March 20,2007: This just in: The Wines of France has been nominated for the 2007 James Beard Award in the category of Best Wine & Spirits Book.

For LOIRE tasting notes: click on Works, then click on "A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire.