Although colored with sadness and uncertainty, 2001 offered considerable opportunity for laughter and celebration. In anticipation of the New Year, we’d like to offer a handful of toasts to special wines, wineries and wine people we encountered the last year.
TOASTING THE MARRIAGE OF FOOD AND WINE
There are lots of charming, light and frilly Champagnes that serve perfectly well as aperitif wines or for toasting the new year. Less obvious and considerably less available are Champagnes with the depth and intensity to become part of a celebratory meal. There are a few whites with these qualities, Pol Roger and Bollinger, for example. But a skillfully crafted rose sparkler can hold its own at the dinner table in the company of meats such as veal or pork, poultry (such as pheasant) and fatty fish (such as salmon).
In honor of Father Time’s visit Monday night, we will pour a rich non-vintage brut rose from the oldest Champagne house, Ruinart ($80). The romantic strawberry pink tint and raspberry aroma signal the presence of red wine in the blend–60 percent pinot noir, in fact. There’s chardonnay, too, contributing hints of pear and apple and adding elegance to the blend. Let the feast begin!
TAKING SOMETHING GOOD, MAKING IT BETTER
Ever since its founding, Sterling Vineyards, at the northern end of the Napa Valley, has produced wine more admired than loved. The vineyards and the fruit harvested from them are first class. Technically, the wines have been admirable. But frequently the reds would be closed and austere. Tasting the winery’s 1999 Napa Valley merlot and 1998 merlot reserve produces a revelation. After nearly a year and a half of wood aging, the ’98 reserve emerged rich and supple with seductive berry aromas and luscious fruit flavor. The ’99 is more affordable ($22 a bottle versus $70), but no less distinctive. This wine is more masculine, however, tasting of plum and black cherry, with notes of vanilla and licorice in the bouquet. Drink up.
CHARDONNAY KEEPS ITS COOL
America’s most popular white wine shows no sign of retreating in the face of the ongoing assault on its status and popularity by the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) gang. There may be some slackening of by-the-glass sales, but this remarkably well-adjusted and versatile French immigrant still dominates wine lists and retail display shelves. Furthermore, new high-quality chardonnays just keep coming.
Consider the pedigree of Dutton-Goldfield 1999 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay. It’s made from Russian River Valley fruit grown by ace vineyardist Steve Dutton on his famous family ranch. The winemaker, Dan Goldfield, knows the territory, having done admirable work at La Crema Winery and Hartford Court. But it’s what’s in the bottle that counts and this wine is in the classic California mold, big but well-balanced with bold aromas and flavors, and lots of them. The suggested retail price, $35, is in line with the wine’s quality, and this is only Dutton-Goldfield’s second vintage.
FUSION “COOKING”
Cross-cultural wine ventures, following the path blazed by Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1979, have been providing us with some intriguing wines. One of the paragons of international winemaking, Marchesi Piero Antinori of Tuscany, is involved in not one, but two joint ventures here. In the Napa Valley, he oversees the production of sangiovese wine at Atlas Peak. Less has been heard about his work with Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington state’s Columbia Valley. Since 1995, a small amount of Col Solare, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah, has been made yearly from grapes grown in the valley.
Labeled as “red table wine” (there were 4,600 cases in 1998, the current vintage on sale), the ’98 ($70), is beautifully balanced with intense fruit flavors, notably blackberry and cassis. Though full bodied, Col Solare has the carefully sculpted flavor profile of Antinori’s Italian cabernets.
SOMETHING NEW FROM THE OLD COUNTRY
The French province of Alsace makes some of world’s finest and most distinctive white wines. Because Alsatians know what they like, and they don’t like change, most of the region’s winemakers are called traditionalist and conservative.
Now, along comes Pierre Sparr and upsets the grape cart by fashioning a new “cocktail” called One, a fresh and fruity dry wine that contains a quintet of classic grapes. Pierre Sparr Alsace One ($9) has a beguiling bouquet, drawn largely from muscat and gewurztraminer grapes, the spicy charm of pinot gris, and intensity and body provided by riesling and pinot blanc. Serve it as an appetizer or with seafood and poultry in salads, sandwiches or pasta.
DOWNSIZING
Very fashionable in the corporate world this year, downsizing has found the spirits industry. For those who are not having more than one, but want that one to be good, the French firm Pierre Frapin has put three of its classiest Cognacs into 50 mL bottles. Brandy, even Cognac, has inhabited these tiny containers–called miniatures in the trade–before, but rarely, if ever, has the brandy been of the quality of Frapin’s VS Luxe Grande Champagne ($3), VSOP Grande Champagne ($4) and Chateau Fontpinot XO Grande Champagne ($7). Cognac unlocks memories, so lift your snifter to whatever was best in your life during the year past.
SWEET FINISH OR SWEET BEGINNING?
Whether you reach for the port before midnight and close 2001 with the delightful Ramos-Pinto Late-Bottled Vintage 1994 Porto ($17) or begin the New Year with a sniff and a sip of this spicy, complex, concentrated fortified wine, it will be a moment to remember. While not as prized as pure vintage Porto, which goes from cask to bottle earlier (thus the name or initials LBV), this wine will not need decanting and has lower levels of tannin. Serve it with blue cheese and nuts, especially walnuts, before or after dessert.
