Champagne - Seven grapes are better than three

Conventional wisdom about anything - automobiles, movies, sports - can be a tricky thing. Usually that information is true, or at least accepted as true. I won't get into the misinformation that clogs up the internet these days - I could write all day on that topic.

Take Champagne for example, when it comes to universal truths. We all know that an authentic Champagne - produced from grapes grown in the Champagne district of France - can be made from three grape types, namely, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. That's a fact that everyone knows - right?

Well it turns out that there are actually seven varieties permitted in the production of Champagne. It's just that you don't hear about the other four as only a handful of producers use these other varieties. Then consider that these four varieties account for approximately 1% of the total planting in Champagne and you can understand why these varieties are rarely discussed.

Still, they exist and here they are listed: Pinot Gris (also known as Fromenteau or Enfumé), Arbane, found only in the Aube district, Pinot Blanc (also known as Blanc Vrai) and Petit Meslier. They're all white varieties by the way, so that means there are a total of five white varieties that can be used in Champagne (Chardonnay, of course, being the other) with two red varieties: Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

There actually are a few producers that craft a Champagne using all seven varieties and I recently tasted one, the Le Nombre d'Or "Campaniae Veters Vites" Brut from the great house of L. Aubry Fils of Jouy-les-Reims. This was the 2005 vintage and the primary grapes are Pinot Gris and Petit Meslier, while the other five varieties represent anywhere from 5% to 15% or 20% of the blend. The name incidentally means "the golden number," referring to all seven varieties in this wine. The specific cuvée name "Campaniae Veters Vites," means "old vines of the countryside." (Incidentally, there is also a Blanc de Blancs version of this wine - named Sable Blanc de Blancs - which is comprised of Chardonnay, Arbane and Petit Meslier.)

As you might imagine, this is a very distinctive Champagne; instead of the toasty, yeasty notes you find in the aromas of so many Champagnes, this has perfumes of green mint, dried pear, chamomile and even a hint of fig and dried yellow flowers. Medium-full, this is quite elegant and vibrant on the palate and there is a long, satisfying finish with very good acidity and a light earthiness. It's not an austere style of Champagne; it is delicious and extremely well balanced, and of course, displays marvelous complexity. It's beautiful now and should drink well for another 3-5 years - perhaps longer.


I may not have been in seventh heaven, but what a stylish Champagne!

D for Doyard - D for Delicious!

The small town of Vertus in the Cote des Blancs zone of Champagne is becoming one of my favorite go-to areas for first-rate bubblies. I recently wrote about the Terre de Vertus cuvée from the renowned biodynamic producer Larmandier-Bernier. Today, I'm featuring another notable Champagne from this small town.

Doyard is a Récoltant-Manipulant, meaning this firm grows their own grapes and then makes their wines from these same grapes. As this is the Cote des Blancs, this is a Chardonnay zone; this particular wine, the Cuvée Vendémaire Brut non-vintage, is a Blanc de Blancs. While many examples of Blanc de Blancs are delicate and sleek, Yannick Doyard has taken a slightly different approach with this cuvée, as he vinifies 40% of the wine in barriques, giving the wine greater complexity and toning down the fruit-driven nature of the Chardonnay.

Light yellow in appearance with a very persistent bead, this has lovely aromas of pear and lemon with a distinct yeastiness. Medium-bodied, this has a rich finish with very good acidity and a slight bready quality that is often found in similar Champagnes. As this is a Blanc de Blancs, this is not a powerful Champagne, but one that offers more finesse and subtlety; this would be wonderful paired with many types of river fish or lighter seafood, especially with a cream sauce. Enjoy this over the next 3-5 years.

At a suggested retail price of $45, this is a notable value.

Imported by A.I. Selections, New York, NY

A Chardonnay you'll love- taste and pricewise

While I drink a lot of white wine, I'll admit to not enjoying as many Chardonnays as I should. Perhaps I've had so many examples, that I just naturally look for other types, especially the brilliant whites from Friuli and Alto Adige in Italy or Sauvignon Blanc from just about anywhere. Another reason is I never seem to find that many Chardonnays I like; either they're just too simple or they're over the top, with lots of hazelnut, almond and vanilla notes with dominant oak flavors.

Well the other night, I enjoyed a lovely Chardonnay that was a pleasant change from the types I've panned over recent years. The wine was the 2009 Clos du Val from their vineyards in Carneros in Napa Valley. Founded in 1972, Clos du Val is best known for its red wines - especially Cabernet Sauvignon - as it is located in the prime Stags Leap District. But for some time, the winery has been producing a Chardonnay from hillside estate vineyards in Carneros. This AVA (American Viticultural Appellation) is situated at the southern reaches of Napa (it also extends into Sonoma County), just north of the San Pablo Bay. Cool breezes from the bay combined with early morning fog makes this zone ideal for a cool climate variety such as Chardonnay (as well as Pinot Noir) and generally the grapes receive a lot of hang time, assuring ideal ripeness, very good natural acidity and impressive structure.

When everything comes together, as it did with the beautiful 2009 growing season, Chardonnays from Carneros combine a nice richness on the palate with a lengthy finish as well as wonderful balance. This 2009 Clos du Val Chardonnay has all of that; it's a flavorful wine with excellent complexity. So it's not the simple, light white wine that too often bores, nor is it a lush, over-oaked offering that still pops up now and then in California as well as several other regions and countries around the world.

Here are my tasting notes on this wine:

Brilliant light yellow with pleasing aromas of Anjou pear, fresh apple, cinnamon and vanilla. Medium-full with very good concentration. Very good persistence, finely tuned acidity and well-integrated oak. Harmonious finish with a touch of honey and apple pie notes. Elegantly styled wine, lovely with food and an excellent value at $25.




I mentioned this is a lovely food wine; I enjoyed this with tilapia and it was a perfect match. It will also pair beautifully with sea bass as well as many other fish; I think it would also be great with lighter poultry dishes or even a simple chilled chicken salad.

It's also worth noting the $25 price tag that I believe represents a striking bargain. There are just too many overpriced Chardonnays in California - it's that simple. So when I come across a Chardonnay this good for this price tag, I have to note that it's an excellent value- and we certainly need more of these!


One final note- if you're someone stuck on points when it comes to selecting wines or you need a designer name on the label, you'll need to look elsewhere. You'll also have to pay another $15-20 a bottle for one of those 95-point, heavily oaked Chardonnays that overpower almost any food with their big alcohol and dominating wood and spice notes. A few wine publications tend to favor wines such as these, but to me, that style of Chardonnay is an exercise in seeing how far a winemaker can push all the components in the wine. They may impress upon the initial smell and taste, but they are tiring, bloated wines.

As I said, you're welcome to those wines. For me, I'll take the 2009 Clos du Val Carneros Chardonnay- that's becuase it's got everything I'm looking for in a wine such as this and it's beautifully priced!

Treasures from Croatia

Ivica Matosevic, Matosevic Wines

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

The world's a big place and it seems that in most countries that offer a hospitable climate, wine is produced. Given that, it seems that every six months or so, we're hearing about a new wine region that has become an overnight success, despite the fact the growers and producers have been at this for a few decades (or centuries, in some cases).

The latest collection of wines I was introduced to quite recently were those from Croatia. This country, located near the Adriatic Sea, a bit east of Italy and west of Serbia, enjoys a continental climate where summers are warm and winters are cold, much like certain wine zones of northern Italy as well as parts of France. To date, the best known thing about the wines of Croatia has been the Plavac Mali grape, originally thought to be a descendant of the Zinfandel grape, but is in reality a cross between Zinfandel and the Croatian indigenous variety Dobričić.

Despite this, the white wines were the ones that most impressed me at the tasting of the newest releases from two of the country's best producers, Matosevic and Saints Hills. The mix here was both indigenous and international varieties, but the stylings were very European in their manner, with an eye on the latest technology in the cellar.

First, the wines of Matosevic, who specializes in Malvasia and Chardonnay. He has two lines, one labeled Aura, which refers to wines aged in stainless steel and the other labeled Alba, which are wines that have been fermented and aged in oak. My favorites here were the Malvasia, especially the 2009 Aura ($24), with its perfumes of pear and peony, lively acidity and finesse; this is showing beautifully now (as is the 2008, also tasted this day) and will drink well over the next 2-3 years. (I love non-oak aromatic whites such as this with Thai or Oriental cuisine, but there are a variety of options for these bottlings.)

While I normally prefer steel-aged versions of Malvasia, I was quite impressed with the barrique-aged rendering produced by Matosevic. The 2008 displays a light nuttiness in the aromas along with notes of dried pear and caramel. The mid-palate is quite rich and there is a long finish with lively acidity. This is an excellent wine with beautiful complexity; I'd love to try this wine with seafood or even poultry or lighter veal; it should drink well over the next 3-5 years. (The $25 retail price makes this a fine value.)

Matosevic also has a white blend known as Grimalda ($28), a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Malvasia. The wine was aged for one year in barrique and one year in stainless steel and displays aromas of spiced pear and anise and is quite rich on the palate. Nicely balanced, this has good acidity and a full finish; enjoy this over the next 2-3 years with most pork or most seafood.

Ernest Tolj, Saints Hills

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

The finest white at this tasting was from Ernest Tolj of Saints Hills, who showed his 2009 Nevina, a blend of Malvasia and Chardonnay. Sporting aromas of chamomile tea and dried pear, this is a powerful white that explodes on the palate and has a long, long finish with distinct minerality. This is an impressive wine that compares to the finest blended whites of Friuli and is nicely priced between $30-$35. This needs strong seafood with a rich sauce - perhaps scallops with ginger or swordfish with rosemary.

There were two reds sampled at this event: the Matosevic Grimalda Red and the Saints Hills Dingac. The former, a blend of Merlot and Terano, has aromas of black plum and anise and is medium-full with good acidity and elegant tannins. There is delicate spice, but this is a fruit-driven wine with subdued wood notes. Enjoy this over the next 5-7 years with most red meats ($30).

The latter is made from Plavac Mali and is a more powerful red with big spice (somewhat reminiscent of a Barbera from Piemonte), good acidity and plenty of black plum fruit. This definitely needs game or grilled red meat to accompany it and it will have its fans. I enjoyed the wine and think it will drink well over the next 5-7 years - it will need a few years to settle down - but I found it lacked some finesse and elegance. Perhaps with time, that will come. The suggested retail price of $54-$60 seems a bit high to me and will make this a difficult sell.

So my first encounter with the wines of Croatia was quite enjoyable. The wines are not only well made, but offer beautiful complexity and best of all, a sense of place; these are clearly not made to garner points in a wine magazine, but are meant to be enjoyed at the table with food. These producers have their priorities straight and I look forward to sampling more wines from Croatia very soon.


P.S. One final note. This was a small event at Tru Restaurant in Chicago with lovely foodstuffs to accompany the wines. I was able to meet the two vintners and ask them questions. They were very helpful in helping me learn about their particular wines, so overall I was happy with the event. But I'd love to learn a lot more about Croatia and I think all of us would. Many people don't know where the country is, much less the wine zones, so a bit more information, such as maps or a guide to the varieties used in Croatia would have been of great value.

Hopefully Wines of Croatia will be able to organize some bigger tastings in the future with more producers and perhaps even a seminar on this country's viticulture. The wines are the first step in education and they were wonderful this day. Now there needs to be more input on the part of Wines of Croatia if they are to get a foothold in the country. As I wrote at the outset, there are wines from all over the world, so to sell your products, you have to tell people about them.

Santa Lucia Highlands - Premier Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

Morning fog over Double L Vineyard of Morgan (Photo ©Tom Hyland)


Over the past five or six years, the Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH) has become one of the great viticultural appellations in California. Located about a thirty-minute drive directly east of the city of Monterey, this is Steinbeck country where fields planted with lettuce, asparagus, celery and other crops dominate the landscape. Tucked between these fields and the hillsides of the Santa Lucia range, a few dozen vintners have planted vineyards primarily to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A fierce wind comes in the valley every afternoon, moderating temperatures and shutting down the vines, making this ideal for early ripening varieties.

Dan Karlsen, winemaker at Talbott Vineyards (Photo ©Tom Hyland)


Some of California’s finest Chardonnays are from this area; two that immediately come to mind are the Sleepy Hollow bottling of Talbott and the “Double L” from Morgan. Both have great intensity of fruit and excellent structure and vibrant acidity that make them ideal candidates for aging. Dan Karlsen, who has recently taken over winemaking duties at Talbott, is currently producing some of the best wines from this estate in some time; the Sleepy Hollow offering beautiful pineapple fruit (a direct result of the classic old Wente clones), a rich mid-palate and lively acidity. The Morgan, made by Dan Lee, displays pear and Meyer lemon flavors along with notes of spice in the finish. Other first-rate Chardonnays from Santa Lucia include the 2006 Paraiso, an excellent value at $18 and the gutsy McIntyre Estate bottling from 2007, a wine that has great depth of pineapple and golden apple fruit backed by a rich finish with great persistence. This is an outstanding value at $27- don’t miss this one!

As for Pinot Noir, SLH has become one of the top growing areas in all of California. Joe Wagner, vineyard manager for Belle Glos (the Pinot Noir project of Caymus) told me that, “of all the Pinot Noir sites we farm in California, I get the most consistent fruit from our SLH site.” Other great sites include the Pisoni Ranch, which is the source of Pinot Noir for about a dozen of the finest producers of this variety throughout the state. Gary Pisoni, a free thinker if there ever was one, is a fanatic about French clones of Pinot Noir and it shows in the big spiciness in his wines. Pisoni along with his partner Gary Franscioni also owns the appropriately named Garys’ Vineyard, another great Pinot Noir site prized by some of California’s best producers.

Lee also crafts a gorgeous Pinot Noir from his “Double L” vineyard; the current 2006 bottling offers up aromas of cardamom, cumin and morel cherry; there is excellent depth of fruit, light spice and beautifully defined acidity. Also look for these SLH Pinot Noirs: the outstanding 2006 Belle Glos “Las Alturas”, the 2006 or 2007 Paraiso “West Terrace”, a spicy wine with silky tannins and the 2006 Pessagno “Four Boys”, made from the La Tache clone of Burgundy.

There are other varieties planted in SLH as well; Paraiso makes an excellent dry Riesling with light notes of pear and lime, while Lee has planted a small amount of Syrah at “Double L” (the current 2006 with its flavors of black cherry and mocha is remarkable).

But it is the Burgundian varieties that have made the Santa Lucia Highlands one of the finest growing areas in all of California and the good news is that the producers there are just starting to get on a roll. I can’t wait to taste the bottlings from this area over the next few years!