I traveled with Mollie, wine director of Maslow 6, to Burgenland in Austria, almost two years ago now, but the memories are still vivid.  What stands out about the trip, in addition to the wines, are the personalities.

We had the privilege of being accompanied by Dr. Josef (aka Pepi) Schuller, who is Austria’s first Master of Wine, and who started the Wein Akademie (Austrian Wine Academy) not in Vienna, but in Rust. He is incredibly knowledgeable about wine in general, passionate about Austrian wine in particular, and a wine educator at heart. He truly loves teaching people about wine and creating an atmosphere where people can learn. Pepi is very serious, and his school in Austria and his contributions to international wine education have earned him global respect. So much so that he became the first non-UK Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine last year. The philosophy of the academy gives an idea of where Pepi’s thoughts are:

“The more a country develops wine knowledge and culture, the more likely it is that this particular nation will expect and consume high quality wines.”

Pepi is also extraordinarily well-respected, admired, and sincerely liked by the Austrian wine-makers. They have genuine affection for him and respect for the work he does. He not only introduced us to people (for which we immediately received credibility), but spent the entire 3 days with us. He was beyond considerate, organizing a trip of a lifetime and enabling us to spend time with some amazing wine-makers. He was truly interested in what we thought about Burgenland, Austria, and their wines.

Heidi Schröck, Weinbäuerin in Rust (woman winemaker in Rust) one of my favorite producers,ever, spent hours with us. She was named “Austria’s Wine-Grower of the Year” in 2003 by Falstaff magazine. The winery itself is right in the middle of the town of Rust and connected to their house. Rust is noted for the storks that build nests on top of the houses – they also draw many visitors to the town. Heidi showed us around the vineyards, pointing out which ones were better for which varietal, how the soil and aspect of each contributes so noticeably to the wines, and in general sharing her philosophy, which revolves around the vineyard, with us.

We then had the privilege of tasting through her wines with her; we tasted at least 10 wines – an indulgence of the highest order.  She had an intern who had been working with her for about three months and the glow of being able to work with Heidi was very apparent. I was definitely jealous.

I have been meaning to try to get hold of an Austrian TV series that was produced around the time we were there, loosely based on the lives of some of the citizens of Rust, including Heidi. It would be an interesting challenge to capture her passion and dedication to all that she is.

Leo Hillinger built a winery that is a perfect reflection of his personality: it is modern, new, gleaming, and beautiful, in an anything but-understated fashion.  Pepi, who knows Leo well and Mollie, who has met him before, described him as a wine version of Arnold Schwarenegger. I thought they were exaggerating. They weren’t.  He was wearing one of his newly designed polo shirts, with ‘Hillinger’ displayed prominently across the front, that are worn by his polo team.

The winery is state-of-the-art, designed using gravity-flow and has a huge cellar for ageing in oak barrels. The winery has been published in the book ‘Wine by Design: The Space of Wine’ by Loraine Dearstyne Fowlow and Sean Stanwick with such exclusive company as Quintessa and Leo was justifiably proud.

His wines are not under-stated either. We started with his sparkling rose, which was delightful. His Zweigelt is fresh and energizing with lots of fruit. Both the reds and the whites have a lot of personality. Like Leo. I am definitely seeking out his wines again.

Finally, Gerhard Kracher, son of Alois Kracher who had passed away a few months before our visit at the very young age of 48. Alois was a legendary winemaker, admired throughout the world, and made predominantly sweet wines, incredibly balanced and intense. In Eric Asimov’s article (Alois Kracher) after he died, one gets a sense of just how instrumental Alois Kracher was in the world of Austrian wine.

A mere 26 when his father died, Gerhard had worked closely with his father and had taken over running the winery at the time of our visit. Not an easy task in any circumstances. He still took the time to sit with us, to taste his wines, to chat about who he knew in New York (the common acquaintance was Kurt Gutenbrunner, chef and co/owner of Wallse and Blaue Gans, and Cafe Sabarsky), and to impart his passion and his knowledge of the wines. He has help from his mother, who is still involved in the operation of the winery, and from his grandfather, who started the winery and who has deep knowledge of the vineyards and the terroir.

While it is hard to imagine having a bigger challenge, even with these two still very much present in the workings of the winery, Gerhard struck me as not just intellectually capable but emotionally ready. In fact, he was named “Sweet Winemaker of the Year” at the International Wine Challenge in London last September, a real triumph. We applaud him.

I could go on, but will stop here. (although I might have to talk about Palais Coburg in another posting!) These are just a few of the personalities from this region of the world that is producing world-class wines. It doesn’t garner a lot of attention even in a city that prides itself in being truly global, wine-wise. If you have a chance definitely visit. In the mean time, taste some wine from a region that may surprise you.

Or attend a seminar. Maslow 6 happens to have one scheduled for tomorrow, February 23rd, with Monika Caha guiding us through a tasting of 8 Austrian wines. Adventures in Austria.

Last night I had the privilege of speaking in front of a group of wine lovers at the Natural History Museum. I was joined by Peter Couins, a grape rootstock breeder and geneticist who works in the Finger Lakes, researching and teaching at Cornell.  Our lecture was about the ancient wines of the Silk Road, how the grapes came to be in this particular part of China and how these have woven their way into the modern world.

The tone for my evening was set by the shipment of live snakes and lizards that was arriving at the same time I was.  Nothing says ‘natural history’ quite like live reptiles!  Yikes.  Luckily, we were headed into the education wing with our wine.

You might be wondering what the Silk Road has to do with wine – well, quite a bit in fact.  It was along this route that grape vines made their way from the middle east to the far east.  The area of Turfan, a desert oasis in northwestern China, near the Mongolian border, had three distinct periods of wine grape cultivation and wine production:  the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty.  Modern day Turfan’s wine industry marks this as the fourth.  Vines were brought to Turfan from Turkey, Pakistan, and India, most likely, and were taken further east into China, and eventually made their way to Japan.  These grapes are very different looking from their cousins from France and Spain and Italy.  Here, the grapes tend to be small, and in smaller clusters than the eastern varieties, which have large berries and large clusters.

Most of the cultivated grapes that found their way to Turfan were used for raisin production, however, many are grown solely for the purpose of making wine.  Today, China is the world’s 6th. largest producer of wine!  It’s not the first thing you think of when you think of China, but it may be in the future.  Wine is becoming popular among the growing middle classes, and is a status symbol for the wealthy.  Since red is the color of happiness and celebration in China, and red wines have been proven to have positive health properties, most of the wine consumed in China is red.  Modern day red wines tend to be made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Gernischt, and Merlot, with other western grape varieties and eastern making their way into the mix.  But back to those ancient varieties that made their way along the silk road.

Pictures of a few varieties in Pakistan and India, Afghanistan and Turkey are below.  These are similar to the grapes that can be found there today, along with the european varieties used for modern wines.  In Turfan, the desert oasis at the foot of the Flaming Mountains, wild grapes were not naturally found.  Wild grapes tend to be found where there are deciduous trees that the vines can climb.  There are no treees in Turfan, or at least not large amounts of deciduous trees, so any grapes there were brought there from somewhere else.  A grape called Mare’s Teat (Maru) and Snake and Dragon Pearl (Cabernet Gernischt) were some of the earliest grapes recorded in the area, during the Han Dynasty.  Rkatsiteli, Muscat Hamburg, and Welschriesling found their way to China through Russia, and modern vines were brought there from Europe.  There is now a grapevine nursery in China, a joint venture with a French nursery, and the beginnings of a new history of grape growing.

As mentioned, China is the world’s 6th largest producer of wine, and the population is huge, so you’d think that they drink all of their own wine, right? Well, they don’t.  Wine consumption per capita in China is about .47 liters per year, while worldwide average wine consumption per capita is about 10 times that, at 4.7 liters per year.  So, the potential for the world’s largest wine industry is there, but most of the population drink locally produced beers and spirits, which are cheaper and more familiar.  If modern trends persist, we may see some exciting developments for wine in China.

Wines tasted at the event:

Strauss Welschriesling 2008, Sudburgenland, Austria

Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli 2007, Keuka Lake, New York

Lingenfelder Morio Muscat ‘Bee Series’, Pfalz, Germany

Schneider Cabernet Franc, North Fork of Long Island, New York

It is a cold winter throughout most the country and today I am thinking about red wine.

A friend of mine in the Great Pacific Northwest called me the other day to ask advice on
which wine to bring to a friend’s gathering. The man of the house cures his own meats.
These homemade cured cuts were to be served with an assortment of cheeses and breads, at a fine winter gathering of friends.

I hung up, but I couldn’t shake the scene she had just painted for me. A house with a yard, surrounded by lush redwoods, blanketed with cold foggy clouds, and the earthy scent of things growing year round. A crackling fireplace, a kitchen table with mismatched chairs and friends conversing, playing 45’s: gathering. Because it is winter, and they are cold, and they want to warm their bones and their spirits over a few bottles of red.

I stared out onto the bustling BQE from my kitchen window and let images of cold starry nights in the town of Barolo pour into my head.
In this hilly town, thick nebbia (Italian for “fog”) starts to roll in on the harvest in the late fall, and the growers are willing to wait until as late as November to harvest their delicate Nebbiolo grapes. Townspeople gather around on the chilly nights to carve into their menu of cheeses and meats, with forestale sides of truffled this and olive oiled that, talking, lighting the fire, filling the glasses. And in the Piedmont region these rich foods are paired best with its very own Barolo.

The price of a good Barolo may not be what my dear friends in the arts can stock up on. But there are many other affordable options from the nearby DOC: wines like Langhe Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo D’Alba, or Dolcetto D’Alba. I would recommend this next time my west coast friend attends a gathering thrown by the meat man and his wife.
A gathering I suggest we all remember to throw or attend at least once this winter, for our soul’s sake.

When people ask me “what’s your favorite wine,” I often check the time and respond; “you mean right now?”  Truth be told, one of my favorite wines of all times is Riesling.  This baffles some people, as the general misconception about Riesling is that it is a guilty pleasure, akin to admitting that you like reading US magazine or lounging around in a Snuggie.   Well, I don’t (and won’t) own a Snuggie ever, but I do own a lot of Riesling and read US Weekly every time I get on a plane!

My hope is that one day, everyone will understand that Riesling is one of the greatest grapes on the earth, capable of incredible stylistic variety and the expression of terroir.  It can also pair with anything at the dinner table, or just about anything – I have yet to meet a food that can’t find a partner in Riesling.  From morning doughnuts to the cheese plate to evening desserts, the only flavor that might give this grape a run for its money is chocolate.  Sommeliers know this, and tend to devote entire sections of their wine lists to the grape.  Check out the list at Gramercy Tavern or Jean-Georges or Tribeca Grill the next time you’re there – you’ll see the slavish devotion to Riesling in black and white.  Just try going to Nobu, Fatty Crab or Momofuku and not seeing Riesling all over the wine list.

Why don’t more people give it a try?  Here are a few reasons why everyone should pick up a bottle or 2 the next time you’re wine shopping (at Maslow 6, naturally):

1. Riesling has incredible stylistic variety – from crisp and sparkling (Sekt) to tooth-achingly sweet (TBA), this grape covers the gamut.
2. They are often dry – or tröcken. Tröcken Rieslings can be dry and fruity, like biting into a granny smith apple, or can be dry and very minerally, like licking a bare rock with a squeeze of lime and a kiss of apricot.  Some of my favorite tröcken Rieslings are from the southern parts of Germany (the Pfalz or Nahe), and the regions/countries that begin in “A” – Alsace, Austria, and Australia.  German Rieslings will be labeled as tröcken, while with the “A’s”, dryness is a given.
3. The sweet ones have incredible balancing acidity!  Ever try a sour patch candy?  A well-made sweet Riesling has the same balance of sweet and sour.  There’s nothing better with foods that have a touch of sweetness and a kick of acid (which, frankly, is most foods – even ketchup).  Try a bottle of off-dry Riesling the next time you order any exotic take out – it’s bound to be a match made in heaven.  It’s also great with ‘special-sauced’ Big Macs and sweet and spicy barbeque. Really!
4. It only sounds complicated.  What’s hard is the language – German!  What were they thinking?
5. Weird words you need to know:  Tröcken = dry; Halbtröcken = half-dry (these seem pretty dry on the tongue).
6. Alcohol levels can also be a clue to dryness, the lower it is, the sweeter the wine.
7. A few more weird words to look for – Smaragd, Federspeil and Steinfeder.  Gesundheit!  These are ripeness levels in one particular region of Austria, the Wachau.  What do they mean to you?  Smaragd wines are dry, and pretty full-bodied, with a good amount (about 12.5% or more) of alcohol.  Federspiel are dry and lighter in body (11.5-12.5% abv), while Steinfeder is dry, and the lightest of all, clocking in at 11.5% abv max.
8. Any word that ends in “er” on a German wine label means that it is from that place.   It is usually a town, followed by a vineyard, but it can often be found with the vintage as well. For example, Urziger Wurzgarten.  A wine with this on the label is from the town of Urzig and the Wurzgarten, or spice garden, vineyard.   A vintage may be written as 1999er, meaning it is from the 1999 vintage (a stellar one, by the way).
9. “Fruity” and “Sweet” are 2 entirely different things.  Sweet means that there’s actually sugar in the wine, while a Fruity wine can be totally dry, but give the impression of sweetness through exotically fruity flavors like mango, pineapple and ripe apples.   Fruity styles are great for pairing with foods that have little to no sweetness, while the sweet styles pair with foods that have a touch of sweetness, like Hawaiian pineapple and pork pizza or sweet ‘n sour chicken. This is making me thirsty!!
10. Sweet Rieslings are not just for dessert.  The range of sweetness spans from just barely sweet to the toothache variety.  Try a Kabinett or Spatlese (late harvested) Riesling with your Thai take out, Spatlese or Auslese (special harvest) with a plate of cheeses, and Eiswein, Beerenauslese (BA – special berry selection) or Tröckenbeerenauslese (TBA – special dried berry selection) with sweet desserts (and intensely flavored cheeses, too).
11. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better value for stocking your cellar.  How many bottles of Bordeaux can you stock your cellar with for under $75/bottle?  This price will bring you hundreds of Rieslings worth cellaring.  Most Riesling is drunk while it is young, but with the acidity (and sometimes sugar), it is a prime candidate for lying down and enjoying later.

If I could, I’d have a whole store devoted to Riesling – or at least a wing of a store.  As it is, I stocked Maslow 6 with some favorites; some young, some old, some sweet, some dry, some fruity, some minerally…all of them pleasure providers.  Here are a few to try on your next visit:

The dry: (wines to pair with river fishes, especially trout and catfish, or sausages and pork chops with sauerkraut)

Högl Terrassen Spitzergraben Riesling Federspeil 2008, Wachau, Austria

Donabaum ‘Offenberg’ Riesling Smaragd 2006, Wachau, Austria

Neumayer Riesling ‘Rothenbart’ 2007, Traisental, Austrai

Sybille Kuntz Riesling Tröcken 2007, Mosel, Germany

Robert Weil Estate Troken 2008, Rheingau, Germany

The off-dry: (Barbeque Pork, Duck a l’Orange, and Pad Thai wines)

Chateau Lafayette Reneau Riesling Semi-Dry 2008, Seneca Lake, New York Finger Lakes

Anthony Road Riesling Semi-Sweet 2008, Seneca Lake, New York Finger Lakes

Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett Halbtröcken 2008, Rheingau, Germany

Monchof Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2008, Mosel, Germany

Zilliken ‘Saarburger Rausch’ Riesling Kabinett 2000, Mosel, Germany

Becker Riesling ‘Laissez Faire’ 2007, Pfalz, Germany

For the cheese plate:

Shafer-Frohlich ‘Bockenauer Felseneck’ Riesling Spatlese 2008, Nahe, Germany

Zilliken ‘Saarburger Rausch’ Riesling Spatlese 1992, Mosel, Germany

Zilliken ‘Saarburger Rausch’ Riesling Spatlese 1993, Mosel, Germany

Zilliken ‘Saarburger Rausch’ Riesling Spatlese 1989, Mosel, Germany

Robert Weil ‘Kiedricher Grafenberg’ Riesling Spatlese 2008, Rheingau, Germany

Von Buhl ‘Forster Jesuitengarten’ Riesling Spatlese 2008, Pfalz, Germany

Von Hovel ‘Oberemmeler Hutte’ Riesling Auslese 2006, Mosel, Germany

When you’re done trying all these, go out and try a nice Chardonnay with a plate of sauerkraut.  I dare you to!!!  Then comment on how it went.

I have been absent from this space for some time now. My apologies for that. The pressing demands of my pressing schedule—a schedule so pressing that, at times, I commit the inexcusable sin of ignoring my own personal and pressing needs.

To ameliorate that, to attend to my own needs, I took a trip earlier this week, without a plane ticket, without a passport or without even a single carry-on. I took a trip to Spain without ever leaving New York. And I took it via wine. The Spanish wines on display at my eponymous shop, Maslow 6.

I see stories when I see bottles of Spanish wine. In bottles of Rioja, I think of the ancient Phoenicians and Celts who were cultivating grapes in La Rioja region 1,200 years ago. When I see Sherry, I think of Chaucer. (Perhaps I should update my reading list) because his father imported Sherries. Yes, and I think of Shakespeare’s Falstaff, who says of Sherry “It ascends me into the brain… It illumineth the face…” I see (and hear) a line from Cole Porter—“You’re the purple light of a summer night in Spain.”

And then I think of Cervantes. Nothing is more Spanish to me except perhaps one of the aforementioned Spanish vinos. “Somewhere,” Don Quixote begins, “Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago…”

Come along to that place with the Knight errant and a glass of sherry or Rioja or some other wine waiting to be discovered. Attend to yourself and your pressing needs, and travel, ever-so magically, to Spain.

We are all drawn to different wines at different times for different reasons. The smell of it, its hue, its consistency, they trigger different reactions at different times. As soon as the weather hits 75°, I immediately open a bottle of Rose. As soon as the temperature dips below 55°, I’m yearning a warm comforting Chianti Classico. Something to celebrate – Prosecco; Summer time cook out – white sangria. The first taste of a chilled to perfection glass of Chateux d’ Porceax and summer has arrived. You get the picture. Wine is so much more than a beverage; it is a vehicle. The taste of course can take you places but the other senses are involved as well. The smell alone can transport you back to a special occasion the same way the sent of a certain perfume can remind you of a person.

What about the look of wine? The way the alcohol creates those beautiful legs that you stare at as they linger down the side of your glass. The bubbles playfully rising to the surface of your stem glass after filling it with a lovely champagne. The pale, blushy hue of a rose. I defy you to swirl a freshly poured glass of your favorite wine and in a beautiful stem glass and not be happy. Go ahead try it. You won’t even bother because you know that I’m right. Wine is beautiful to behold. It is that simple.

And while we are on the subject of beauty to behold, what about those labels? Wine bottle labels run the gambit from purely utilitarian to down right artistic. There are many of you out there who walk into a wine store and know exactly what you are looking for. You don’t need help. You know the country of origin, the varietal, the prefered wine producer, the preferred wine maker, the best year; it is just a second language to you. However, there are many of us out there who have not idea what we are doing once we enter a wine store. Are breadth of knowledge may end with white, red, pink, or bubbly. We are at the mercy of the store clerk and our budget. Many of us who fall under this category have deviced different strategies to help us navigate this intimidating territory. Some memorize key phrases. Others will limit themselves to a region that they are familiar with. Still others will shy away from a type of wine due to a bad prior wine experience. If anyone read my first blog you will know that I had nursed a healthy aversion to Chardonay for just that reason. I have toyed with a system that I have found only marginally successful but still lots offun to employ; the cool label art criterion. There is one little item that I have tried to rely on in the past, label art. The criterion went like this; I feel like a white wine and I want an animal on the label. (I’m not making this up. I have done this more than once, more than I really care to admit). And there are so many cool labels and categories to chose from. There are the standard famous castle of the region motife,, or the unoriginal grape or vine motife. But then there are just some amazingly cool labels out there. Graphic designes, portraits, animals of all shapes and sizes, famous artist mock ups, you name it, you can probably find it on a wine label.
Label art is useful if you have no memories for names, much like myself. I can remember a face like no ones business but ask me to come up with the name of that really nice woman who sat next to me at that dinner party at my best friends place last weekend and I’m stumped. Ive tried all those silly memory games, saying the persons name 5 times within the first 5 minutes of meeting them, connecting the name with a funny riddle or limerick. I usually have the name wrong by the 4th repetition of I’ve forgotten my limerick. Of even worse, I’ve convinced myself their name is something totoally different from what it actually is.

As probably the majority of American wine drinkers, I have always judged wine by a few tried and true criteria; taste and price being the driving forces while other more incidental features having some subtle influence and sway. I’m a sucker for cool label art. I have bought far too many a bottle with a cool label only to be bitterly disappointed in the wine within. Obviously my logic of “Any winemaker, who spends this much time on a cool design, must have some class ‘A’ wine” has failed me more than once. I have also found that bottle shape and size have influenced my purchasing in the past. As much as I love Gruner Veltliner, I rarely buy it when it comes in that long lovely bottle that serves the acidity so well. Why? It doesn’t fit well into either the shelf or side door of my refrigerator. I may love wine, but I am far too lazy to reconfigure the shelves of my fridge to accommodate my alcoholic purchases. Considering this fact, having flung open my refrigerator door in haste only to have a half empty bottle of Gruner topple over spilling all the remaining goodness over my fridge, dinner and self, I no longer buy it. I have decided that Gruner Veltliner is a wine I will enjoy at restaurants or only when I am sure I will be polishing off the entire bottle in one serving.

Let’s get back to the first two major criteria that I listed, taste and price. Price, in this economy, needs no explanation. I am hard pressed to ever spend more than $30 for daily drinking. Actually the amount is closer to $20 but I’ll say $30 for argument’s sake. Sure, I’ve bought my husband a great bottle here and there as an anniversary or birthday gift. I’ve bought friends expensive champagne for special occasions. But for day-to-day consumption $30 is my limit.

That leaves taste. Thinking back to my young adulthood (honestly, it was really my teens) when I first started sampling wine, my preference and/or aversion for certain wines was firmly set. Of course these preferences and aversions were formed in the most refined of fashions. By finishing off the few dredges left at the bottom of my mother’s wine glass while cleaning up the kitchen or pouring a small amount out of the bottle from the fridge, I decided that I absolutely despised CHARDONNAY. The syrupy texture, the yellow hue, the cloying buttery taste, the over powering oaky aroma, to me, it represented all things wrong with wine. If I had to choose between chardonnay and dieing of thirst, I would gladly choose the later. Needless to say, I am no fan of chardonnay. We all have emotional baggage from our childhood. Memories of stolen sips from the box of wine in our kitchen, is my steamer trunk.

Fast forward a decade or two and here I am working with the talents at Maslow 6. A few afternoons ago I found myself sitting at a wine tasting with Maslow’s quietly classy Keri K. and brilliant and effervescent Mollie B. Philip Tuinder from Chateau de Fuisse and Vincent has just poured us our first taste. I sipped. I enjoyed. It was a lovely, smooth, easy white wine. I sipped some more and listened to Philip discuss the changes that they have made on the label; reworking the logo, changing the wording, and finally, placing the varietal CHARDONNAY right there on the front. What?! Chardonnay?! How could this be? I liked this wine. I wanted to drink more of it. My wine world had turned upside-down. I sat in awe as Philip, Mollie, and Keri discuss the label, the wine, the market, and so forth. At some point, someone asks for my opinion, why, I’m still not sure. I, in all my oenophilial knowledge blurted out, “If I walked into a store, picked up the bottle, and saw chardonnay, I would never buy it.” Classy, I know. Tact is not my forte. As much as my colleagues tried to reassure me that I hadn’t totally embarrassed myself and insulted this lovely man, I felt like a total heel but at least an honest one. I really never would have bought that wine and what a pity that would be. It had none of the characteristic that I so despise. It had an extremely reasonable price. And the label art was quite nice. It met all of my wine buying criteria! The only problem was the name – chardonnay.

This incident started me thinking about what truly is in a name? I have come to discover that with wine, this is a complicated and complex question to answer. So what is a novice wine enthusiast to do? Sample, read, learn, listen, try – all of these things are just the beginning but oh so important. Embarrassing as this episode might have been, I now know that I don’t despise chardonnay as a whole. I know that there are characteristics of certain wine that I don’t enjoy as much as others. Developing an understanding of your own taste preferences is crucial to enjoying wine. Never again will I discount a wine strictly due to its name. I will ask. I will try. And hopefully, I will build a lovely collection of wines, chardonnays included.

Next time, those pesky European labels………..

Anne-Claude Leflaive is an inspiration for women in the wine industry – for anyone in the wine industry.  Her dedication – to her vines & wines, her family & heritage, and the people who support her in her endeavors – is limitless and her passion is contagious.  She certainly inspired me, and she epitomizes the values we hold dear at Maslow 6; passion, belief in education, and dedication.  After listening to her talk about her vision and tasting her wines, a group of us made a pact to go visit Anne-Claude in Burgundy to attend her school “Les Ecole du vin et des Terroirs”.  Most of the classes are in French, but they can arrange an English version for a large enough group (12-14).

The school is part of Anne-Claude’s vision, and is meant to educate consumers, winemakers, vignerons, sommeliers, journalists and the curious about the practices of Biodynamie, or Biodynamic farming.  These principles, as noted in an earlier blog, were first written down by Rudolf Steiner, and championed by some of the most passionate and meticulous winemakers today – Nicolas Joly in the Loire, Ann-Claude Leflaive and Lalou Bize-Leroy in Burgundy, Marcel Chapoutier in the Rhône Valley, Olivier Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace, and the list goes on and on.

One morning in early March, Anne-Claude and Pierre Morey, the now-retired winemaker for Domaine Leflaive, sat down with a group of about 15 sommeliers to tell us about her estate and her wines.  She has been Biodynamic for 18 years now, beginning in 1990.  From the 1960’s, the soils in Burgundy had become lifeless due to excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and use of heavy machinery in the vineyards, which compacts the soil.  She and her team began farming some parcels in Clavoillon, Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet and Bourgogne with alternating rows of organic and biodynamic methods.  The parcel in Bienvenues was quite ill, and was 30 years old at the time. The parcel is now 55 years old, and in good health due to Biodynamic methods.

This experiment continued for 7 years.  During this time, more microorganisms developed in the soils of the Biodynamic rows than in the organic rows, although both improved the quality of the vine health.  In 1900, Anne-Claude began farming all of her vineyards Biodynamically.  The methods may seem strange to some, but they certainly deserve merit, as they saved Anne-Claude’s old vines in Bienvenue and improved the quality of the vine health, resilience, and immunity – not to mention the wines – in all of her vineyards.

A few interesting tidbits of information really stuck out to me that day.  Many times I’ve experienced that it is difficult to taste wines on days when it is rainy and the barometric pressure is low (see Peter Liem’s blog for more), and Anne-Claude agreed, adding a layer of interest into the theme.  In the Biodynamic calendar, there are four different types of days:  fruit, flower, root and leaf. Leaf days, or water days, are not good for tasting, as the wines will taste vegetal.  Neither are root days, or earth days, when the wine tastes pushed and mineral.  Fruit and flower days are best for tasting.

Another interesting thing, in 2003, Anne-Claude did not acidify her wines.  It was a hot year, and the vines were suffering, sugars were climbing in the grapes.  Many people decided to harvest, but Anne-Claude did not.  A new moon was coming, and with a new moon brings a change of weather:  just a little rain arrived, and just in time.   The grapes, according to Anne, tasted completely different the next day.  The oneologist said to add acid, but Anne declined, due to an analysis done on the sensitive crystallization or the energies and vibrations of the juice.  The analysis said ‘do nothing’, so Anne did nothing.  Very deep roots due to deep plowing between the vines gave them extra resiliency in 2003, and gave the wines an extra shot of minerality.

And just one last little interesting fact, then on to the tasting notes of Anne-Claude’s amazing white Burgundies.   In 2008, there were days with excess rain and humidity, causing non-organic and biodynamic vignerons to spray their vines for rot and fungal diseases.  At Domaine Leflaive, a dusting of talcum powder on the vines not only sucked up extra moisture from the vines saving them from fungal disease, but did not impact the soil in a harmful way.  It was an idea that quickly caught on.

Now for the wines of Domaine Leflaive:

*A special note about these wines:  These were tasted with Joshua Greene, Tara Q. Thomas, Nicole Drummer, and Chris Hallowell of Wine and Spirits Magazine, along with a select group of sommeliers (I was lucky enough to be invited).  Some of the wines were opened a few days before, and decanted.  At least one was from a magnum bottle.  All of these wines, especially the younger ones, would benefit from decanting prior to serving.  For most full-bodied whites wines that are meant to age and develop in bottle will benefit from aeration if they are to be served while still young.  This will allow the aromatics and flavors to develop more fully from exposure to oxygen.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2006 (this bottle was tasted on Friday, but opened on Wednesday):  The aromas were filled with brown butter, mineral and sablé cookies, lemon and grapefruit, butter, oak and spice.  On the palate, flavors of sweet apple and pineapple were balanced with razor-edged acidity (so typical of Puligny) and steely minerality (also very Puligny).  Softly textured despite the acidity, with leesy notes.  This bottle, opened for a few days, showed more oxidative qualitites (brown butter, bruised apple, slight nuttiness), which were not unattractive – they were rather delicious.  It also showed the alcohol a touch more than the following bottle, which was opened that morning, or the night before.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2006: This bottle, opened in the morning, was less open on the nose, less aromatic.  More floral notes on the nose, with touches of brown butter, lemon, grapefruit and honey.  French oak lends aromas of vanilla and almost a powdery sweetness to the nose.  In the mouth, the wine is rich and soft, with floral, oak and grapefruit rind flavors.  Creamy, custard apples and a deep minerality follow.  Steely, with racy minerality, this wine is more gripping in the mouth and does not show the alcohol of the bottle which had been opened for a few days.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2005: The araoms are honeyed, with flinty, smoky minerality.  The wine is slighty herbal, briny, salty, with very intense notes of apple and pear, flowers and grapes (like wild scuppernongs) with powdery, vanilla, spicy notes of new French oak.  On the palate the acidity is chalky and grippy, with lemon and grapefruit citrus, steely, smoky, flinty minerality.  Notes of French oak – sweet baking spices and vanilla – are well integrated.  This is a rich wine with a firm structure (due to the acidity).  It is very young, but will age quite nicely over the next 8-10 years and even longer if you can stand not to drink it all before then.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2004: This wine would definitely benefit from decanting.  Very mineral, with apple skin and melon, honey, smoke, chalk and flint aromas.  Green aromas of muskmelon, green plum and salty, oyster-shell minerality balance out the sweet aromas of honey and butter.  The wine is very long in the mouth: rich, round and long-lasting, with flavors of honey, smoky minerals, ripe fruit and sweet spice.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2003: 2003 was a hot vintage.  Aromas and flavors of pineapple and baked apples, honey and minerals are fat and rich.  The acidit in this wine is markedly lower than in the other wines, which is typical in this hot vintage.  Many wines were acidified in 2003, but Anne-Claude and Pierre Morey decided not to acidify.  In this wine, the texture is fatter and richer than in most vinages, and the flavors are tropical, and not as long in the mouth.  It is a beautiful wine, perhaps for drinking on its own or with richer dishes, such as roast chicken with roasted root vegetables or celery root puree.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2002: This vintage was a “normal, nice vintage” according to Anne-Claude.  Aromas of butterscotch and honey, with minerals, apple skin, baked apples, melon, lees and butter and smoke and flowers and brown butter.  A very complex nose!  In the mouth, the wines is first steely and stony, with an almost salty, briny flavor and sharp acidity.  The acidity and minerality balance out the ripe citrus, apple and melon fruits.

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 1998: This vineyard is closer to Meursault, so it is rounder and softer than most Puligny-Montrachet wines.  The wines of Puligny are more steel-edged, while in Meursault, the hazelnut aromas and a buttery texture prevail.  Honeyed and pineapple on the nose, with bruised apples – notes of oxidation and age.  Ripe and rich, salty, with a slight nuttiness almost like an Amontillado sherry.  Very long on the palate.

Puligny-Montrachet Grand Cru Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet 1998: This vineyard is 1.30 hectares (just over 3 acres), of 55 year old vines.  These vines were the ones saved with Biodynamie.  The nose is more closed than the Les Combettes, with more floral notes, honey, muskmelon and spice.  On the mouth, the wine is tight still, with chalky acidity and briny, salty notes.  Flavors of honey and lees, spices and minerals are very long on the finish and very fresh.  This wine will continue to develop, but is beautiful now as well.

Plowing at Domaine Leflaive

Plowing the vineyards.