Robert Wines

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

rmorey@newpi.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:56:00 GMT

That's right, folks, the Beaujolais Nouveau is here!

Every year, on the third Thursday of November, wine lovers around the world are able to taste the first wines of the recent harvest. Now, some people think that they're too good for Nouveau. They think it is a light, insubstantial, and altogether frou-frouey wine. Do not pay attention to such snobbery. I happen to love wines from the Gamay grape. It's true that Nouveau can sometimes be disappointingly thin, and it is never a serious, ponderous wine. But different wines have different places in one's life, and the place of Nouveau is one of simple, cheerful enjoyment. And I can attest that this 2009 we just received is the best Nouveau I can ever remember trying. The color is a beautiful, dark garnet. The flavors are full fruited but also crisp and bright.

It is a happy coincidence that Nouveau is released one week before American Thanksgiving. This wine would be a lovely accompaniment to Thanksgiving fare. And New Pioneer is selling it at the lowest price in town: $8.99/btl. But you better act quickly. In two days we have sold eight of the twenty cases I brought in. Soon it will be just a memory. (But I do think it bodes well for the 2009 harvest in France, especially in Burgundy, just north of Beaujolais).

They're Baaaaaack !

rmorey@newpi.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:50:00 GMT

Just a quickie from your faithful if embarrassingly inactive wine blogger.

I am thrilled to announce that three of my favorite wines of 2009, recently absent from our shelves, have returned. As it happens, they are a white, a pink, and a red.

The white is the Ch. de la Dimerie Muscadet. Now some people mistakenly think that Muscadet is sweet, probably because the name is a similar to Muscat, a white family of grapes usually made into dessert wines. Nothing could be further from the truth. Muscadet is bone dry, with crisp, cleansing acidity and lovely minerality. The wine comes from near where the Loire River empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and it's a perfect match for shellfish and other seafood.

The pink is the Domaine Rouge-Bleu Rosé. I love the wines made by Jean-Marc Espinasse, and this was my favorite rosé of the summer. Pale in color, with fruit flavors ranging from strawberry to tart rhubarb, it's refreshing and simply delicious.

The red is the Ch. Beauchene Grande Reserve Côtes du Rhône. We've worked with wines from the Bernard family for years. I have loved a number of their wines, but to my mind, there's never been a better Beauchene wine for the money than this delicious 2007. $12.99! Such a deal.

Okay that's it for today. Well I told you it'd be a quickie.

Wines of Domaine Rouge-Bleu

rmorey@newpi.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Sitting down to dinner this week after returning from a family vacation, I wanted a nice bottle of wine. What did I reach for? The Domaine Rouge-Bleu "Dentelle" rosé. As it happens, the wine I reached for the next night was the Domaine Rouge-Bleu "Mistral" Côtes du Rhône.

Tom and I had the pleasure of meeting Rouge-Bleu winemaker Jean-Marc Espinasse (see photo below) while traveling & tasting in the Rhone Valley a few months ago with importer Steve Gaucher. Steve's wife Ellen is an avid reader of the blog at www.french-word-a-day.typepad.com. The blog is written by Jean-Marc's American wife Kristin, who chronicles her experiences living with French culture & language. Ellen and Kristin had e-mailed before our French trip, which led to an invitation to Jean-Marc & Kristin's small 400-year old farm.

Knowing nothing about the winery, I did not have high expectations going into the meeting. We already have a very strong selection of fine French wines on our shelves, and our week's tasting had added a couple of new wines to our fold already.

At the farm, Jean-Marc & Kristin greeted us warmly and handed us each a glass of the rosé. I took a sip and immediately started paying better attention as Jean-Marc spoke of his personal history and winemaking philosophy.

The Rouge-Bleu rosé is the opposite of, and the antidote for, brashy, overdone, superalcoholic fruit bombs. This is, in fact, exactly what I want from a summertime rosé. It's light and elegant. Instead of calling attention to itself, it manages to highlight the good qualities of whatever food it accompanies.

The "Mistral" Côtes du Rhône, which we tasted while lunching on pizza at a local bistro, is likewise a distinctive wine that speaks both of the place where it was grown and the care with which it was made. Made mostly with 75-year-old Grenache, blended with Syrah, Mourvedre, and interestingly, 2% Roussanne, the wine has complex notes of dark berry, earth and spice, with lovely aromatics boosted by the touch of white grapes in the mix.

Jean-Marc has been in the wine exporting business for years, and only recently purchased this farm. This is a true hands-on, garagiste winemaking operation. Most of the vines are quite old, and Jean-Marc is committed to farming organically.

Toward the end of lunch, Jean-Marc pulled out a bottle of Dom. du Banneret Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a small property owned and farmed by his uncle. The wine was, in short, a revelation. I have had far more expensive Châteauneuf, but never better. It's an old-school styled wine that will age effortlessly for a decade, yet is utterly delicious today.

I am thrilled to have these three wines on our shelves. Wines of this caliber do not happen by accident. This is one reason why I enjoy working in the wine business: encountering people of character making wines of quality. Do yourself a favor and give them a try. But don't dawdle. We got only a small quantity of the Banneret, and the rosé will sell out within a week or two.

Original Zin is IN

rmorey@newpi.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:16:00 GMT

It has felt like a long time in coming, but at last we have the latest New Pioneer "Private Label" wine on our shelves.

Perched at the #1 spot on our May/June Top Ten, the wine is called "Original Zin," and we are dang happy it's here. Our long-time friend Fred Peterson and his son Jamie made this Dry Creek Zinfandel, adding small lots of Carignan & Petite Sirah to the final blend.

I tried a tank sample of this wine a few months ago, but once the finished wine came in yesterday, I couldn't wait. I opened a bottle with a handful of other New Pi staffers to give it a test run.

This is some darn delicious wine. The Petite highlights the wine's dark color and gives it some grapey fruit and tannic backbone; the Carignan brings highlights of rustic spiciness; the Zin comes out front and center with plenty of brambly black fruit kept in perfect balance.

I have long been a fan of Peterson wines, particularly the "Zero Manipulation" field blend and the Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (my current favorite Cabernet from anywhere). Some Peterson wine corks bear the motto "No Soul-less Wines," and the wines fulfill this dictum. In addition to their hallmark sense of balance, each wine has a genuine personality deriving from the place and the season in which it was grown.

This same wine is being sold with a different label in California for around $28. On our shelves, the Original Zin (name and work-of-art label designed by New Pi's Mara Cole) sells for a very reasonable $17.99.

Cheers!

Wine in a bag in a box in your fridge or on your counter

rmorey@newpi.com — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:42:00 GMT

Toward the end of last week I bought something for myself that I've never bought before: a 3-liter bag of wine in a box.

Now put those prejudices aside. I'm not talking about some grocery-store dreck. I'm talking about good wine--not outstanding wine, not expensive, special-occasion wine, but good wine nonetheless. We now carry four wines in the 3-liter bag-in-box format, and I'm pleased with all of them. We have a white & a red from South Africa, and a white & a red from France. These retail for $25-30. Now that might sound like a lot of money for "box wine," but since each box holds four bottles' worth of wine, it corresponds to a price $6.25-$7.50 per bottle.

There are several advantages of buying bag-in-box wines:
* Economy: the per-bottle price of these wines is typically $2.50 higher. So you're saving about ten bucks a box.
* Longevity: since oxygen doesn't come into contact with the wine remaining in the box, it has a much, much longer shelf life than an open bottle of wine.
* Ecology: these boxes use much, much less energy for freight than four corresponding bottles.
* Convenience: stick a box in the fridge or on the counter and it'll last a good while (unless you're a complete lush).
* Variety: now I have a cooking wine, meaning a wine to sip while I'm cooking--for the record, it's "La Petite Frog" Picpoul, light, crisp, refreshing--and I can bring a different wine to the table for the meal.

Admittedly, I'll also acknowledge two drawbacks, as well as possible solutions:
* Nontransparency: you can't see how much wine is left in the box. Solution: have a spare box on hand to replace the one that's spent. This isn't too different from having at least one extra bottle, in case you run out or your first bottle is corked.
* No visual gauge. With a bottle of wine, you can see pretty easily how much you have consumed. Especially since these box wines are delicious, there's a danger that you'll drink too much before you realize you're hammered. Solution: avoid intoxication by drinking slowly, with food, and learn to listen to what your body tells you.

Wine Deals For Today

rmorey@newpi.com — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:19:00 GMT

Well it looks as if the New Pi blog has become Steph Catlett's blog. Not that there's anything wrong with that, really. Steph is a lovely human being and I always enjoy reading whatever she writes. But it doesn't seem fair that nobody else has contributed for a while. So here are a couple of ideas.

I know you liked the Frontera Carmenere for a mere five-spot. Well, having sold more of this wine than any other store in the world, we succeeded in completely depleting my supplier's stock. Meanwhile, as we wait for more of this wine to make it to Iowa, try the same winery's Xplorador Cabernet. The Xplorador wines are a little less plumply fruited, a little more elegant in style. We've already sold through the Xplorador Merlot and the Xplorador Carmenere, so don't dilly-dally or you'll miss it. $5.99 while it lasts.

I know the Wrongo Dongo wine has a dumb name and kind of garish packaging, but give the wine a try. Monistrell from Jumilla, Spain, the Dongo is made by Juan Gil, whose other wines go for a lot more money. This is a warm-climate red wine, with earth and spice and a hint of lavender to go along with the fruit. List price on this wine is ten bucks but our sale price is $7.99.

On sale till the end of the month! Tour Boisee Cabernet, made by one of our two favorite Minervois wineries in sunny Languedoc, France. The wine has plenty of cassis/blackcurrant fruit, but also more structure than you'd expect for a wine of this price, and an intriguing licorice quality. I'd be happy to find a $15 California Cab this good. The Tour Boisee, regularly $12, can be yours though April for $9.99. Buy it by the case.

I know this one is a little spendier than the above, but it's such a good deal I can't avoid mentioning it. 2004 Chateau Saint-Bernard from Canon-Fronsac in Bordeaux. A couple of years ago we were selling a previous vintage of this same wine for $30. My supplier wanted to move the 04 so he could get into the much-hyped 2005 vintage, sold it to us at a discount, and I can pass it along to you for $17.99. But wait! Buy a case and you can have this wine at an additional 20% of: $14.40/ btl. This is beautiful Merlot-based Bordeaux from a strong if overlooked vintage, and you'd be happy drinking a bottle per month for the next year (or two!). Please contact me if you want me to set aside a case for you at this special price.

Enough for now. Happy drinking!

Recession Busters

rmorey@newpi.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:36:00 GMT

I'm old enough to remember the Gerald Ford presidency. For a while he had a campaign where people were supposed to wear buttons that read "W I N." The letters stood for "Whip Inflation Now!" Just how consumers were supposed to whip inflation, and what wearing such a button had to do with it, I was never able to figure out.

Well now we're in a different sort of economic doldrums, and one difference is that everybody knows how to get out of this recession: spend money. The economy works when money moves. Alternatively, when consumers pinch every nickel, sales of everything slow down, jobs are lost, money gets scarce, people fear to spend what money they have. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

Now I'm the last person to recommend profligate spending, but here in aisle two of your neighborhood co-op, I'm doing everything I can to make it easy & painless for you to improve the quality of your life by spending a little money.

I've already blathered in this space about CYT Frontera Carmenere, a recessionworthy wine if ever there was one: $4.99 and delicious. People, that means you can buy a whole case, including tax & deposit, for less than $58! That's enough good wine to last you for a little while, anyway. We also carry Frontera's classier, somewhat more pedigreed cousin, CYT Xplorador Carmenere for only a dollar more per bottle. For $6.99 you can buy Borsao, if you get here before it sells out. Three-quarters Garnacha & one-quarter Tempranillo, Borsao is a plump, easy-drinking Spanish red with nice spice. Every week we're also featuring a different wine in our weekly sales program. Right now it's the Abbaye de Tholomies from the Minervois in southern France. List price on this wine is seventeen bucks. New Pi price this week? $9.99. Maybe you're one of those who prefer whites even when it's below zero outside. Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio is good for only $7.99. Heck, Bandit Pinot Grigio, from California, is pretty dang good, too, and that one's only $7.99 for a full liter!

In short, people, I'm doing all I can for you, bringing you solid wine values for cheap! Now it's up to you to do your patriotic economic duty. Get out there and spend money (on wine!). Start with little baby steps. This won't hurt a bit.

New Grower-Champagnes are IN !

rmorey@newpi.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:08:00 GMT

Well Hotsy-Totsy, we've got three new grower Champagnes on our shelves. If you don't know what I mean by "grower Champagnes," check out my article on page 8 of the current New Pioneer Catalyst:

http://www.newpi.com/Portals/0/%5Ccatalyst/Winter08Catalyst.pdf

Just a quick note here, because it's busy and I need to get back to the aisle. These are magnificent Champagnes, praised by high-profile wine critics, but I want to quote importer Terry Theise's comments, because his enthusiasm is palpable and infectious. As I mention in my Catalyst article, these are not inexpensive wines, but they are fairly priced, and they are stunningly yummy.

First, the NV Henri Billiot Brut RSV: "I’ve said it before, but this is the best N.V. Brut Champagne I have ever tasted, and this is the best bottling I’ve tasted yet. It’s always about 80% Pinot Noir but no one ever guesses, the wine is so animate, kinetic and hyper. It’s 50% 2005 and 25% each ‘04-‘03, disgorged 1/08, but this is explosive even by Billiot standards, just crammed with manic fruit yet with this melting creaminess."

Second, and I love this one perhaps even more than the Billiot, is the NV Jean Lallement Brut: "First take a Champagne of exceptional polish and detail. Then take a Champagne of amazingly distinctive terroir, redolent and atmospheric. Then drink, and understand why it’s my personal favorite Champagne in my own portfolio, and a poster child for farmer-fizz. The current bottling is 80% 2005 and 20% 2004, and as always 80/20 PN/CH. It’s the wine we know and love, with the fine-fruited creaminess of ‘05, and maybe even greater length. The (very low) dosage also seems to register more this time; the focus and silken precision have never been finer, and the length never more impressive. People use terms like “heirloom apple, barley, brown-butter, mead, hops” to depict this wine, and I’m sure there’s as many more associations as there are imaginative tasters."

Finally, a wine you should think about laying down in your cellar, if you have one, for years down the road. It's $100, which is the same as what I charge for Dom Perignon--but this 2002 Jean Milan Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Terres de Noël is a wine with more distinctive character than its more pedigreed cousin: "This 2002 is a not-to-be-missed masterpiece that’s still finding its true voice. It’s as coiled as a reactor, but what a white-hot mass of terroir this is, almost overcome with articulation; the fragrance as it (slow-w-wly) unfolds is almost unbearably lovely, like the mineral face of Puligny (when white Burgundy had mineral . . .) with an almost apricot note, like jam spread on rustic wheat-sourdough toast."

These are thrilling Grand Cru Champagnes, and I urge you to give one or more of them a try. Resist the recession. New Year, New President, New Possibilities!

A few snippets

rmorey@newpi.com — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:36:00 GMT

A few quick thoughts for this week.

* In my last entry, I wrote about New Pioneer's new weekly sales promotions, and I urged you to pick up a bottle of the grassy, zippy, delicious Spanish white wine, El Perro Verde Verdejo, for only $12.99. It's now back at the regular price of $19.99 on the shelf, but for you loyal blog readers I will mark down a bottle or two if you missed out--or, more likely, if you bought some and realized I wasn't lying about how delicious it is. Flag me down in the aisle.

* The wine for this week is the Tour Boisee Cabernet Sauvignon from the Languedoc in southern France. This wine is dynamite-good: juicy and silken-textured, but impeccably balanced. This week only, marked down from $12 to $9.99. Price good through Sunday 12/21.

* This week I made my mom's recipe for macaroni & cheese. It's an easy dish to prepare, and about 12,035 times better than that neon orange stuff from a box. I've published the recipe in New Pi newsletters before, but if anyone asks, I can do so again. Anyway, this time around I used Iowa's own Frisian Farms Gouda, made in Oskaloosa. Wow this was yummy. The Frisisan Farms Gouda is a bit pricey for a mac-n-cheese ingredient, but I reasoned that this was my dinner's protein, and a half-pound of this delicious, handmade Iowa treasure cost me less than if my evening's protein for the family had been free-range chicken or humanely raised beef or pork. Kids and adults alike LOVE my mom's mac & cheese.

* We now have in stock the cheese that won Best In Show at this year's American Cheese Society conference: Snow White Goat Cheddar made by Carr Valley Cheese Company in Wisconsin. The cheese comes in a large bandage-wrapped wheel, looking like one of the large English farmhouse Cheddars we used to bring in for the holidays. The Snow White Cheddar has a velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture to accompany the mellow, rich, complex flavors. And its price is a very reasonable $17.99/#, about half the price of a lot of American-made cheeses of this caliber. I brought a slab to a holiday party last weekend and I'm telling you, it didn't last long. Yum.

See you in the aisles.

Verdejo is the new Albarino

rmorey@newpi.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:36:00 GMT

The title is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Wine-industry geeks occasionally hype one grape varietal or another. Merlot had its day, then Pinot Noir. Now Malbec seems to be all the rage. There was a time not long ago when Albariño, the prized white grape of Spain's Galicia, was heralded as the "next big thing." Now don't get me wrong; I love Albariño. But lately my heart has been following a new love: Verdejo. Verdejo is grown most notably in Rueda, just WSW of Ribera del Duero in Spain. No red wines are allowed to be labeled as coming from Rueda, and although the region grows Sauvignon Blanc and Viura as well, Verdejo is Rueda's pride and joy. All Rueda wines must be at least 50% Verdejo.

Verdejo has lovely aromatics: very grassy and herbacious, somewhat resembling Sauvignon Blanc but not so aggresive on the nose or so piercingly tart as Sauv Blanc can be. In the mouth, Verdejo can have tropical fruit flavors of pineapple, along with citrus. It's a wonderful accompaniment to cheeses or light fish or chicken dishes.

My advocacy of Verdejo is particularly timely. Today New Pioneer embarks on a new program of weekly specials. Look for flyers when you come to the store. The Wine Department's contribution to this week's flyer is El Perro Verde Verdejo, my favorite Verdejo of all time, and get this: regular price $20, sale price 35% off, $12.99 a bottle. Hot dang, I'm buying myself a case. Sale price good December 1 - 7 only.