Dear Feastlings,
Every now and again, we get lucky. Each month, one of the clever and talented wine people of Tucson talks with us about some exciting wines they’ve brought, but once in a while, we get City Folk here. This Sunday, it’ll be Joanie Karapetian, an incredibly knowledgeable wine geek and lover of Italian and French wines, and part of the team at Rosenthal Wine Merchant. Rosenthal brings to the U. S. wines from Italy, Catalonia and Switzerland, but what really put them on the map is their French stuff. Kermit Lynch, we love you, but there’s room to love Rosenthal every bit as much, and to have Joanie here to explain these wines is an absolute privilege. This month’s tasting takes place here at Feast at 3:30 pm on Sunday, October 29, and the wines are served alongside food pairings that, in theory at least, should be delightful with the wines. The tasting runs $35 plus tax and tip, and I’m inclined to believe that tasting these six wines will make you implicitly trust any other wine with the name “Rosenthal” on the back label. Come this Sunday and meet Joanie, taste some serious French wine, eat some delectable snacks and rub elbows with some like-minded individuals who want to be able to Trust Their Importer.
Trust Your Importer- Rosenthal
2014 Marc Deschamps “Cuvée les Porcheronnes” Pouilly Fumé $25.00
This cuvée is a blend of wine from several sites scattered on the hilltop of Les Loges, specifically “La Cote”, and “Les Griottes”. These are some of the younger vines of the estate, now (2012) averaging 20 years of age. Combined this is a two hectare site on clay-limestone soil. This is the most elegant and sprightly of the quartet of Pouilly Fumés produced by Deschamps. We import on the order of 3000 bottles per vintage.
2015 Domaine Jerome Chezeaux Bourgogne Aligoté $21.00
Made from a .8-hectare parcel in Premeaux-Prissey, the Aligoté is always an impressive regional-level wine. It typically carries a good underlying acidity that translates toward citrus and flint, with good length and density. The wine finishes quite dry with a chalky tannic character.
2013 Domaine Pascal Granger Moulin a Vent “Les Chassignols” Cru de Beaujolais $21.00
Another very limited production cuvée from vines of average age of 50 years on the mid-hill, south facing vineyards known as ‘Chassignols’ where the soil is composed of granite. 30% of the grapes are left whole, while 70% are de-stemmed. This great “cru” has an extended fermentation of about 20 days in large cement cuves before it is racked into demi muids and foudre for the six months of elevage. A sturdy wine, reserved in its youth, marked by the smells and flavors of red fruits, roses and spice, the Moulin a Vent from Granger deserves several years of cellaring. 4,000 bottles produced.
2015 Georges Lignier et Fils Bourgogne Rouge “Champs de la Vigne” $28.00
Comes from a small parcel that borders Morey-St.-Denis and exhibits very pure cherry, a bright minerality, and some firm tannins. A very graceful yet serious Bourgogne Rouge. 50 cases available for the USA.
2015 Chateau le Puy “Duc des Nauves” Côtes de Bordeaux $25.00
Certified biodynamic as of the 2015 vintage. Planted to 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, the vineyard is situated on the same Asterie-limestone mother rock as those of Le Puy, but at a slightly lower altitude—80 meters above sea level compared to Le Puy’s 110 meters. The topsoil is slightly sandier and less clayey here, and it is a bit deeper than at Le Puy—between 1.0 and 1.3 meters. In the cellar, Duc des Nauves is both fermented (spontaneously, of course) and aged in cement, and bottled without filtration after one year. Certified organic.
2012 Chateau Moulin de Tricot Margaux $55.00
This small jewel of an estate produces a mere 15,000 bottles of Margaux per annum. We are fortunate to have access to at least 3600 bottles per year (plus a small number of magnums and double magnums!) of this superb wine. Heavily dependent on Cabernet Sauvignon (at least three-fourths of the cuvée), this wine has a distinguished structure and complex flavors that beg for additional aging in the bottle. The elevage in barrel extends for eighteen months at which point the wine is bottled without filtration.