Hipster wine tasting: Perspectives of selected participants

Participants in the recent Hipster wine tasting (curated and hosted by Ron Siegel and held at the International Drive Capital Grille, Orlando) were very pleased and excited to be part of the tasting team and to have tasted these wines which are not readily available on the Orlando market. I gained some insight into the views of three of those participants  -- Andrew Montoya (The Wine Barn), Adam Crane (Prato), and Steve Alcorn (wine competition judge and collector) -- and present them herein. Fundamentally I sought to understand what types of wines they normally drink and how do the wines in the tasting stack up against those.

Champagnes
As it relates to Champagnes, Andrew prefers Blanc de Blancs. "I really enjoy razor sharp, high acid styles the most but it is equally compelling to taste slightly earthy styles such as the Georges Laval's Rosé, which, I thought, had a peculiar nuttiness and funk, reminiscent of Selosse. I really enjoyed the Bereche Brut Nature. It was very complex. This was the first time I had ever heard of this producer."

Steve's favorite Champagne in that price range is Louis Roederer and he did not feel that any of the Champagnes at the tasting were as good.

Adam owned up to a love of Champagne. "I wouldn’t say there is a particular style that moves me more so than another. It’s completely dependent upon the situation, mainly food. Out of all categories of wine in the world, I’m probably the most open-minded when it comes to enjoying anything from the region (assuming it hits a standard quality level). Maybe I have just never had a Champagne that I really hated ... the great Champagnes are legendary for a reason. I have had mind blowing experiences with Jacques Selosse. Nobody would say the same about Cliquot Yellow, Piper Red, or the many other readily available house Champagnes made on a large scale."

Adam's perspective on the individual Champagnes are as follows:

Chartogne-Taillet - Favorite of the flight. Loved the oxidative notes that gave it a richness and full bodied appeal. Layered and complex.

George Laval - Exotic. Blood, iron and a gaminess that I rarely see in Champagne. I totally understand why NYC somms are wild about this. It is a unique style that instigates deep thought. I would love to try the full line up from Laval. 

Bereche - An enjoyable Champagne but not sure it did a whole lot for me outside of the norm. Maybe it was just overshadowed by the other two in the flight for me. More crisp and something I would enjoy with a cold shellfish appetizer. 

White Wines
In terms of whites, Andrew is focusing mostly on Etna. "I really think there is magic in those volcanic soils ...  I also am loving the whites from Jura, especially the Savagnin examples, both oxidative and not in style." His standouts in this area were:

Ganevat Chardonnay (Jura) - waxy, nutty, star anise, chamomile, like spring water: invigorating 

Arena Grotte di Sole (Corsica) - metallic in mouth (flinty?), powdered (crushed) stones, Chablis-like.

Stephane Cossais Montlouis sur Loire Chenin  - stone fruits, intense, high acid, very, very complex. Great finish, like a Meursault!

Steve's wife "drinks mostly California style Chardonnay when we are at home. However she would like the Vementinu, as it was luscious and oaky."

Some of Adam's white wine favorites were:

Arena Patrimonio Vermentino - Really like this varietal for its minerality more so than the subtle fruit qualities. I get a petrol character that reminds of Mosel Riesling. The wine is clearly very well made and I think that the fact that it comes from Corsica adds to the hipster appeal! Beats any Vermentino I have had from Tuscany.

Cossais Montlouis - This guy studied under Clos Rougeard, so of course all the NYC somms are going nuts for this! But really….what a great wine. Orchard fruit, white peach, and a stunning balance between texture and acid. This will age gracefully and can’t wait to try it when it does!

Red Wines

Andrew is drinking and focusing mainly on Etna Rosso but is also really enjoying Northern Rhone reds, especially cool-climate, no-oak style wines from Cornas, Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage, St. Joseph, and, to a lesser degree, Cote-Rotie. And the cooler climate Nebbiolos from Valtellina along with amphorae-aged whites and reds (Corsica, South Spain, Languedoc). 

Steve likes "complex wines, and at home drinks mostly Rhone-styled wines from France, California, and Australia. His favorites are old Burgundies and Bordeauxs, but those are not every day wines."

The reds tasted at the session are shown in the pictures below and the favorites of these three gentlemen follow.

Flight 1. Courtesy Steve Alcorn

Flight 2. Courtesy Steve Alcorn

Flight 3. Courtesy Steve Alcorn

Andrew's favorites:

Pierre Gonon St Joseph - Wow. Mind-blowing quality here! Extremely eye opening...This is what amazing Syrah is about!

Benetiere Cote Rotie Cordeloux 2012 - Fresh game (blood), orange rind, elegant and refined finish.

Thierry Allemand Chaillot Cornas - Packed with layers of earth, game, spice, olive and fresh herbs. Very polished, very tight. 

Adam's favorites:

Bénetière Cote Rotie- Beautiful. I hope this producer stays under the radar because I could definitely see these wines doubling in price in the near future. I loved the finesse for a region that typically commands aging to be accessible. Jet black minerals, black olive, and dark brooding fruit yet it came with a snap and brightness I wasn’t expecting. This guy only owns 2.5ha, if I come across it, I will buy it!

Jean Michele Stefan Cote Rotie - This particular producer is really hitting it for me! This is the third vintage I have had and all have been very consistent. Top 3 wine of the day for me. Will be purchasing more for my myself, no doubt. This showed a tremendous amount of true Cote Rotie terroir. 

Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - The epitome of hipster juice! I’ve seen this skyrocket in attention on Delectable and other forums. Somebody figured it out and prices are already on the rise. I put this alongside Jamet Cote-Rotie with its hipster upbringing. 

Closing Thoughts
Andrew thought this was "a masterful event! Absolutely one of my favorite tastings ever and very educational too! Wow, did I learn a lot."

Steve: "When we go to restaurants that offer tasting menus we generally have their wine pairings. I felt these wines were representative of what you'd find in those pairings, and I would have been happy with any of them as part of a pairing. Very few of them were wines I would intentionally order, although I did purchase a case of Benetiere Cordeloux 2012 as a result of the event. The other wine that impressed me was the Vermentinu."

Adam: "To sum it up…The reason why these wines are being recognized and popularized is because of the way the wine market has evolved over the last decade or so. Sommeliers studying 20 years ago could afford to taste the benchmarks in a specific region. A bottle of Batard-Montrachet could have been purchased for an evening's pay, today that bottle would be close to a week's pay for me. What do you do to keep interest? Go next door to the Jura and drink Ganevat!"

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Hipster wine tasting: The white wines

They say that "stuff" flows down hill but that does not seem to be the case when it comes to "Hipster" wine and the Orlando area. Rather, we have to grab it by the scruff of its neck and drag it down here. And that is literally what Ron had to do in order to curate and host a tasting of selected wines of this type, said event held at the IDrive Capital Grille. I covered the Champagne portion of the tasting in a prior post and will delve into the whites here.

The whites were tasted in two flights, an approach grounded in convenience and ease of use. The order of, and within, the flights is illustrated in the pictures below.

Courtesy of Steve Alcorn

Courtesy of Steve Alcorn

Before we continue, I would like to step back and do something that I did not do in the prior post -- put some context into the words "Hipster Wine." I will then discuss these wines within this newly formed "reality."

PJwineblog, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, has laid out some of the breadcrumbs you need to follow in identifying a hipster wine:

1. Is it from the Loire, Beuajolais, or Jura?While one of our wines is from the Jura (Ganevat) and one from the Loire (Montlouis Le Volagré), I feel that this geographic restriction excludes a number of quality candidates of this genre. In our case the remaining wines are drawn from Corsica (Antoine Arena), Chablis (Moreau-Naudet), Burgundy (Naudin), and Provence (Chateau Simone).
2. Is it organic (or some variant of), made without added sulfur, or fermented in concrete egg? All of the wines under consideration are either organic or biodynamic, except for the Naudin. In that case the winemaker uses organic methods but is not certified organic because she wants to maintain flexibility. Her practices are sustainable. Most of the producers use sulfur but they particularly stress the fact that they use minute amounts. What is also interesting is that they use it at differing points along the production chain. Ganevat, for example, uses sulfur at bottling while Antoine Arena uses a little during vinification. No concrete eggs within this group, even though Antoine Arena uses cement vessels.
3. Is it orange, aged in amphorae, made from a long lost indigenous grape that was rediscovered by some European hippy while trying to convert his vineyard over to biodynamics ... is it Slovenian? Still fermenting? Oxidized ...? No luck with any of these characteristics in this bunch, even though the Chateau Simone is a blend of (mostly) non-mainstream varieties: Clairette (80%), Grenache Blanc (10%), Ugni Blanc (6%), Bourboulenc (2%), and Muscat Blanc (2%).

According to the author, if the answer to any of these questions is yes, you may be talking about a hipster wine. If the answer to any combination is yes, then you are definitely in hipster territory.

I would add a few characteristics to the ones mentioned by the author above:

1. Hipster winemakers are almost single-minded about the work in the field and tend to wax philosophical about this aspect of wine production.
2. Winemakers in this genre tend to develop almost cult-like followings both for the quality of their wines as well as for the quality of their thoughts and thought processes.
3. Almost to a person, these winemakers leave fermentation up to natural yeasts.
4. They are mostly practitioners of the natural methods of settling wine as opposed to fining and filtering. On her website, Naudin goes on at some length about reverse osmosis. She is not a fan.

Notes
In the first flight, the Jean Francois Ganevat Chardonnay 'Le Montceau' 2013 showed a waxiness and cammomile florality on the nose, along with anise, and rust. Lemon rind on the palate along with a finish-dampening effect.

The Claire Naudin Aligote 'Le Clou 34' 2013 was characterized by Andrew as Viognier on the nose and Chenin on the palate. White flowers and apple on the nose along with a richness and coconut oil. Weighty on the palate with the florality working its way through. Citrus quality.

The 2011 Antoine Arena 'Grotte di Sole' Blanc was the most interesting of the wines in the first flight and, as a matter of fact, was so designated by the team. This 100% Vermentinu from Corsica had apple and smoke on the nose and a Montrachet-like quality (more Chassagne than Puligny). Weighty, waxy, and oily on the palate. Complex with a long, spicy finish.

In the second flight, Chateau Simone Palette Blanc 2010 showed like an old Riesling. Malt, violets, and orange rind on the nose. Oxidative character on the palate. Falls off a cliff.

The Moreau-Naudet Chablis 'Forest' 1er Cru 2012 destroyed all of my pre-conceived notions as to what a Chablis is. I approach a Chablis looking for that knife-edge, flinty sharpness but this wine did not exhibit any of those characteristics. It is more tangerine than lime. Excellent, rounder, fuller Chardonnay than expected. This wine is a result of the winemaker picking later than his peers in search of riper fruit.

The Stephane Cossais Montlouis Sur Loire 'Le Volagre' 2008 was the wine of this flight. Barrel spice, vanilla, nutty, rich, waxy, oily, and lime. Lees character evident. Great acid level. Steve characterized this wine as lush and balanced.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme