Two for thought, one for pleasure

J

Joel Stewart

Joel Stewart
I was going to start this with several pages about how the sky, in the last 2 days, has suddenly changed here in Kyoto....bringing on an intense focused light and a piercing clarity on any object it lands. Deep palapable shadows that one can look into and find other details. When one is overly hot, such details are good to remember, because looking into shadows, slowly, can cool the mind. But since my wife let me know that this atmospheric change reminds her of Obon (the festival of the dead) which comes next week (and also symbolizes the end of summer to many Japanese) I will leave it at this. I just hope the temperatures follow suit with the change in light. I hate sweating all day and night.

In the meantime there is wine...

2008 Rietsch, Sylvaner, Vieille Vignes, Mittelbergheim, Alsace - (12.3%). There is no sulfite note on the label, so it's possible it's true, and this producer has done it before....especially with the "sans doute" riesling and the vin jaune style blanc de noir I posted on earlier from this maker. Organic/bio-d producer and a few generations in it seems, and with a few exceptions, all lower alc wines, prompting me to wonder if Mittelbergheim occupies a cool shadow over there?

My first sylvaner (woo hoo?) and, given the scarcity of notes here, I see this is not a grape considered to be worth much (despite it's recent entry into the Grand Cru pantheon of Zotzenburg). Maybe it's the Liebfraumilch. Fwiw, as an aside, (not that you can find this stuff in the US) Rietsch does make a 100% sylvaner from the Z site, and from the specs, looks much riper. This one, however, is different. (acidity:6.2 g/l, rs: 6.9 g/l). Just tilting into off-dry, in a way that I love. What I got from this wine was mainly memories of Austrian rieslings and gv's,. Grass notes, hay, touches of fresh grapefruit rind, spring water (no lentils tho)...good things on the nose. Much lighter on the palate than something like ZH. But a floating, subtly saline silkiness I appreciated. Open to please without spreading too widely (slightly chilled, in a riesling glass was where it showed it's best). Very clear flavors, decent delineated lines, a bit of must, and, with aeration, a lovely citric and lengthy multicolored limey finish. Bravo for $22. A quaffer with depth.

2009 Cornelissen, Contadino 7, Etna, Sicily - (13.5%). I guess this is a field blend of red and white grapes....and hey, it's less cloudy! Too bad, that, perhaps. The Contadino 6 I should have bought a case of. Instead, here we have a case of Etna tasting like Loire (with possibly a touch of Sicilian ash/tannin on the finish). It's missing the Etna ripeness, as well as raising those vin naturels all taste similar question. I was especially reminded of the Cot here. Mouthfeel is very delish. Acidity? No problemo. Ripeness, my main complaint with Puzelat reds (not the whites) is lacking here.....and I'm talking Etna ripeness. Different thing, I think. Smokier and yet giving, but there. This ain't there. This is more pinched and a tad bitchy. (Then again, what do I know? Etna might have had a Loire weather year...)

2004 Donati Sauvignon dell'Emilia Frizzante, IGT, Emilia Romania (13.5%) - More robust with a huskier voice compared to last year's bottle, which seemed so lithe, high toned and nearly champagne-like. In a downward curve? This time it's bubbly orange all the way, and I've no real problem with that (except that for the heat, and lack of ac at home here, the Coste Pianne prosecco might have been a better choice tonight). This is darker in all of it's tones: there's a bit of caramel tucked in between the pine and apricot notes, there's plenty of tannin, grapefruit, tobacco and quinine too. Excellent perlage, btw...subtle, persistent, lasting. Quaffable, but I sense a subtle dumb state here. Closer in the lambic sense to the malvasia version right now, whereas last year, it was rather a different higher toned thing. Still totally lovable. I'm so glad Donati exists. One wonders what strangeness lurks behind a 20 yr old version of this stuff.
 
prompting me to wonder if Mittelbergheim occupies a cool shadow over there?
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It's tucked against the Vosges, but they're lowish along the sun-line at that point (not so at the peaks, but low by the time one gets to Mittelbergheim), so it's a fight between Vosges breezes and angles of exposure. In general: yes, it's a cool area.

My first sylvaner (woo hoo?) and, given the scarcity of notes here, I see this is not a grape considered to be worth much (despite it's recent entry into the Grand Cru pantheon of Zotzenburg).
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Don't overstate. It's certainly honored in Franken. In Alsace, it's actually quite well-thought of, but appellation law severely discourages it (outlawing new plantings, especially on cru sites, though there's some fudging allowed in certain locales) despite a history of high-quality wines on certain sites.

But a floating, subtly saline silkiness I appreciated.
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The signature is tomato (more green than otherwise), but it can express from powdered pepper to ripe greenish stone fruit, depending on hangtime. It reveals minerality beautifully, and speaks very clearly of site. But it will never be more than mild-mannered, in the Alsatian context.

There are quite a few very different expressions worth a look, but the best sylvaner I've ever tasted (from Alsace) was made by Rolly Gassmann, and had about seven years behind it. I suspect that specifying a site might be pointless, as it's very vintage-sensitive.

Thanks for the notes.
 
Thanks for the was-there expressive, mouthfelt notes. I love the light you mention, everything becomes so clear under it, much clearer than when washed by excessive sunlight. I notice it especially at the end of the day, when massed clouds act like those silver lined umbrellas one sees in photoshoots, and the light contrasts everything just so.
 
originally posted by Thor:
The signature is tomato (more green than otherwise), but it can express from powdered pepper to ripe greenish stone fruit, depending on hangtime. It reveals minerality beautifully, and speaks very clearly of site. But it will never be more than mild-mannered, in the Alsatian context.

There are quite a few very different expressions worth a look, but the best sylvaner I've ever tasted (from Alsace) was made by Rolly Gassmann, and had about seven years behind it. I suspect that specifying a site might be pointless, as it's very vintage-sensitive.

Thanks for the notes.
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I'll look for the Gassman,(easy to remember)....thanks. Good to know about the green tomato, etc. too....appreciate the tutoring.

What do you think about the Frankenwien versions?

Also, what's up with the appellation law in Alsace?

Oswaldo: yes, the clouds. As if the slanting, clarity of light on things wasn't enough, the cloud formations and their colorations, illuminations etc (around 6-7pm, when the sun has just gone down, as you say) have just been knocking me out the last few days. Just back from band practice and preparing a cooler of beer and vittles to go down to the riverside and marvel with wife (and mother in law even) once again, in fact.
 
I'll look for the Gassman,(easy to remember)....thanks.
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There are several different bottlings (Rolly Gassmann doesn't make just one of anything), so I'll be interested if you encounter something. Oh, and FYI: it's Rolly Gasmmann as in two last names, thus both are needed.

What do you think about the Frankenwien versions?
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I am frightfully undertasted. I've liked what I've had, but I haven't had enough. Claude seems to think highly of them, and since Claude is never, ever wrong, I'm sure I would too.

Also, what's up with the appellation law in Alsace?
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Which of its idiocies would you like to discuss?
 
Notwithstanding Thor's love for Gaillard Cte-Rtie and his considering Cornas to be on a par with Crozes-Hermitage ;), I do sometimes get things right.

Sylvaner from Franconia (or Silvaner from Franken, to use the actual German words) is a great wine that relatively few people outside of Franconia know about because the locals buy almost all of it for themselves. But there are many great sites and producers. Some producers to look for include (no particular order): Frst, Wirsching, Castell, Horst Sauer, Bickel-Stumpf, Brgerspital, Juliusspital, Staatlicher Hofkeller Wrzburg, Schmitt's Kinder, J. Ruck, Lwenstein, Knoll. Even low-priced, high volume bottlings (e.g., Castell's negociant bottling which I think sells for around $11-14) can be surprisingly good. You really owe it to yourself to try and find some of these -- not at all like Sylvaner from Alsace.

There also are some very good Silvaners in the Rheinhessen, of which Wittmann's is probably the best and outshone only by the best in Franken.
 
Notwithstanding Thor's love for Gaillard Cte-Rtie and his considering Cornas to be on a par with Crozes-Hermitage ;), I do sometimes get things right.
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I just love creative misquoting, almost as much as I love your elephant-like memory for something someone who wasn't me might have said.
 
I knew that was a loaded question...and figure there's a political/economic answer as to why sylvaner isn't given the same due. Wasn't the last issue about labeling varieties(-als)?

Somebody here did post on a Frankenwein in the last several months...even posted a bocksbeutel pic. It's just the kind of oddity in the wine world to attract geeks over here as well.....so if Claude has some reccs, I might actually be able to follow up on them, believe it or not.

Re - Rolly Gassman: As if the latter wasn't enough to be saddled with.

Edit: just saw your post Claude.....thanks for the reccs and, given my description, I am curious how different you feel the frankenwien versions are (not necc knowing how representative mine was for Alsace, mind you....but it was damn good, if reiteration is required.)
 
I knew that was a loaded question...and figure there's a political/economic answer as to why sylvaner isn't given the same due. Wasn't the last issue about labeling varieties(-als)?
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I suspect the notion that the region is never going to be famous with sylvaner, but will be for the four (actually five) grapes encouraged by the appellation law, is behind the mistreatment of sylvaner. And they're probably right about this, as far as it goes. But I wonder if, given how hot the region's getting, they might not want to revisit that decision. Pinot gris is looking increasingly untenable, and though gewurztraminer handles sugar pretty well, there's no way they can sell as much of it as they've got planted.

The varietal/blend and labeling issues are long-standing, but Deiss' addled notions are re-igniting the debate. I'm not too worried about it, though. I don't think he has much support.
 
A glance online suggested that the name of the grape itself was an obstacle to it's acceptance (as if gewurztraminer is easy to read/write/pronounce). But that's a cursory detail so...whatever. Given a good start with the grape, I'll buy more even if bottled in plastic.

Is Deiss' stuff worth a visit? He's fairly well placed here.
 
It's a very, very rare Deiss that I like. Too much, too clumsy, too anonymous. But many others like them a lot, so you'll probably need to make your own decision. Do you like Zind Humbrecht? You'll probably like Deiss, if so; not quite the same style, but similar mass.
 
Used to like Z-H, esp the lower alc rieslings (which I found paired well with fresh king crab) but hard to come by, and steadily pricier.
 
As an importer of the Cornelissen wines I would simply like to mention that the Contadino 7 is not sulfured or filtered and that '09 was a much cooler vintage than '08 on Etna. According to Frank, Contadino shows vintage variation more clearly than the other wines.
 
Different bottlings for different countries perhaps then, Zev? (I'm in Japan.) Don't have the bottle at hand now, but I could have misread the label as well about that. Can't address the filtered or not question, but there was zero sediment in this bottle and, compared to the quite turbid 6, this 7 was very transparent.

Good to know about the vintage being cooler though. I was just being bitchy myself because the one bottle of 6 I had (before it sold out here) really impressed me and I had high hopes for 7.
 
According to Frank he doesn't use sulfur for any of the wines ever. It seems like a lot of people have gotten the wines analyzed and it shows that there is more sulfur in them than would happen naturally. I would be interested to know if that analysis was done in a lab or with a less precise method, if for no other reason than as someone that sells the wine I tell people that there is no sulfur added and would prefer to be accurate.

In reference to the sediment, I spoke to Frank about that and he said that Jean-Pierre Robinot showed him a method of bottling that allows less sediment to move into the bottles without any kind of filtration or fining. Also, I think that toward the bottoms of each storage vessel (plastic in the case of contadino) bottles will have much more sediment. He feels that the sediment is not essential to the wine being expressive, so it is better if there is less. I think that it is important to understand with these wines that Frank hasn't actually been doing this all that long and he is in a learning curve with these sort of things.

In reference to the vintage, I think that the Loire reference is a great one. He often refers to Pineau d'Aunis when referring to Nerello Mascalese from a color stand point as well as flavor profile and I think that he really loves the wines from there and it would make sense that as time goes on they lean toward that style a bit.

On a personal note, my experience is similar between the 2 vintages. The tannin and structure is not as strong in the no. 7, but I have found it to be much prettier and more welcoming.
 
Joel, do the words on the label actually translate as "sulfur added," or could they just mean "contains sulfites"? The latter could just be a reference to endogenous SO2 that the authorities require on the label.
 
I removed my last post because Joel edited his initial statement. In the end it was clear that Frank did not put on any label that he added sulfur to the wines, #7 or any other number for that matter. My previous post was a touch confrontational and considering Joel retracted his statement I felt it fair to remove mine. For the record and to anyone that wants to know or cares, Frank says that he does not add sulfur to the wines. In fact, he also does not clean anything in the winery with sulfur including the amphoae. Instead, he uses steam and then a high strength grappa (95% alcohol) that he makes from contadino grape skins after pressing. He also mixes in about 3% lemon juice but the lemons are from Etna. He does this after the wine is removed from the pots and then before a new wine is placed in them. He feels like the alcohol evaporates and therefore ends up with a bacteria and otherwise influence free environment. If someone has some sort of lab report that says that there is a high amount of sulfur in the wines that can't happen naturally, please post it. Frank will send me his lab reports as soon as he returns to the mountain, so I will happily post those.
 
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