Tag: 2007

THE MAGIC OF ALSACE

If you saw the Beck-Hartweg Pinot Gris Cuvee de l’Ours 2007 just sitting on the shelf, you would likely pay it no mind. To be honest, looking at the vintage, it wouldn’t be our first grab either. Too old? Tired? We would have been wrong. One of the sad things we have noticed is that folks don’t care about Alsace as much as they used to. We sold remarkable amounts back in the 90s, and the area achieved stature thanks to a significant run of great juice from the likes of Olivier Humbrecht and the ladies at Domaine Weinbach. But, sadly, Alsace as a subject doesn’t get much attention in the wine press any more. It is particularly unfortunate at a time when the varied Asian and Asian influenced cuisines are widely appreciated on the food scene as these wines pair superbly (….getting hungry).

In any case, Beck-Hartweg is a fine producer who farms organically. We have been working with this domaine for a while and the presentation that day included several ‘older’ bottles that all showed surprisingly well. Do Alsace wines typically age well? The good ones certainly can and this one did!

It will be a little difficult to paint the picture since very few folks have the opportunity to experience a wine like this, thus making for no point of reference. But we’re going to give it our best shot secure in the knowledge, if it doesn’t work, there are lot of good Thai and Vietnamese places around here where we could do some expanded research ourselves. We won’t mind but, really, this is one of those rare opportunities.

In spite of the date, we just bought this. The 2007 vintage was very good in Alsace (one of the best since the turn of the century). The nose is an inviting melange of well meshed floral, white stone fruit, and quince nuances. All of that comes through on the palate accented with some yellow stone fruit and a delicate touch of minerality. The texture was remarkable, almost fat and unctuous but with everything sitting atop perfectly proportioned gentle acidity that did its job without getting in the way. The richness on the palate gave the impression of sweetness but the wine wasn’t actually sweet.

All in all, this was a captivating, soulful, and even a little bit cerebral effort. Only something from Alsace could have been exactly like this, the bottle age, those unique terroirs and deceptive viscosity making for a one-of-a-kind wine experience. An exciting wine and proof that Alsace should still be a ‘thing’.

A NEW OPPORTUNITY ON SOME OLDER LA NERTHE CHATEAUNEUF

Over the years we have had the opportunity to observe all facets of the wine business.  One thing that has always been a little quirky (OK, there are a lot of quirky things but that’s a piece for another day) is how older wines get distributed.  People wonder where we get all of the older Bordeaux we come up with on a regular basis.  The answer is simple…they are out there.  They are out there because there is an established, rather vibrant market supported by the negociants from older stocks, library holdings of some sort from most of the top chateaux, ‘exchanges’ of sorts like the one called ‘Livex’ where dealers all over the world can trade among themselves, and of course auction houses where consumers can buy or sell personal holdings.  That’s a lot of options, and no other genre has anything close to that.

For most everything else, one is relegated to finding older goods as they resurface in the auction market.  The frequency with which things appear there has a lot to do with the goods themselves.  Bordeaux and older domestic wines are most common because those are the most popular categories overall and fueled by a certain level of speculative buying.  At the other end of the spectrum, you see very little from certain categories like Burgundy and Rhone because those buyer purchase such wines to drink and very few scenarios would motivate them to part with those wines.  Very few of the producers themselves keep healthy back stocks for an extensive set of reasons we won’t get into here.

Our point here is that opportunities to buy older vintages of top quality Chateauneufs are rare by definition, and clearly something this rare and unique even more so.  The Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf Du Pape 2007 was a remarkably delicious surprise that appeared before us very recently.  You simply don’t see a lot of 10-year-old Chateauneuf from iconic vintages floating around out there, period, let alone with compelling reviews at palatable prices.

The wine is a textbook example of what a well-made Chateauneuf from a ripe vintage should be, a little bit of grilled herbs to the inviting nose of confectionary cherries, some spice and pepper woven into the lush, kirschy palate, resolved acidity, and resolved ripe tannins.  The quality of this particular bottling was enhanced because the domaine chose not to bottle their reserve Cuvee Cadettes and added that juice to this cuvee.  Why they would do that in a vintage of this caliber is anyone’s guess  But that is the fact and clearly that took this wine to another level.

There are compelling notes from Robert Parker and a 93-point score back in issue 185 (October, 2009), but we’d suggest even more relevance to the notes from Jeb Dunnuck in a 10-year Chateauneuf retrospective in February of 2017, “Still youthful and not yet fully mature, the 2007 Châteauneuf du Pape (which includes all the grapes that would normally have gone into the declassified Cuvee Cadettes) is full-bodied and impeccably balanced, with a fresh, focused bouquet of cassis, licorice and charred meats. This cuvee always ages beautifully, and this is one of the more fresh, lively and focused 2007s out there–and it still has present tannin. It’s certainly enjoyable today but should be even better with a year or two of additional cellaring…94 points.”

Great older wine isn’t easy to get, great old Chateauneuf is super rare.  So take the time to reward yourself for the holidays, or for whatever reason you want, with this very special edition of Chateau la Nerthe.  Just don’t take too long (there’s not a lot).