Last Tuesday was the hottest day in the wine trade. Three major players for small, terroir-driven, great producer portfolios held tastings. Can these guys maybe communicate a little and not have tastings all on the same day? Being ever faithful to Louis/Dressner, I skipped Terry Theise and T. Edwards and made my way to the De Vinne building. Dressner et al have become hugely popular over the last few years — they are like famous indie stars and the young, the cool and geeks of the wine world gathered in an all white, light flooded studio for swishing, sniffing, tasting and bantering. It was, as always, a wickedly brilliant tasting.

I know and love the company’s Loire imports: Clos Roche, Puzelat, Chidaine, Francois Pinon, Dom. de la Pepiere, Pierre Luneau-Papin – god they are all so good. Then there are the Rhone’s that make me want to declare, “I’m not worthy” from the likes of Dard et Ribo and Erix Texier. And the Beaujolais wines that taught me a whole new respect for Gamay: Jean-Paul Brun, Clos de Roilette and Louis-Claude Desvignes. But on this day I decided to focus on Dressner’s growing Italian portfolio. Time was short so I blew mental kisses to the beloved producers I know and stuck to lesser-known territory. Here’s what I discovered and I’m sure glad I did.

CRITIANO GUTTAROLO
From Puglia. The winemaker is young and the elevage for his primitivo wines span stainless steel, large barriques and amphora. Another crazy Italian that ferments in clay.

Cristiano Guttarolo Primitivo 2005
Stainless steel fermented. Very funky, layered, floral and herbaceous. Beautiful.

Cristiano Guttarolo Primitivo Giola del Colle Antello dell Murge 2005
Wine has spent time in barriques. Obviously natural and unfiltered, cloudy, again very funky, complex and indescribable!

Cristiano Guttarolo Primitivo Giola del Colle Anfora 2006
Amphora! Very light in color, amazing, unusual, hints of black olive and very savory.

ARIANNA OCCHIPINTI
According to L/D this is a new cult winery making natural wines in an area dominated by industrial producers. The estate is run by a young twenty-four year old woman, she practices biodynamics, uses stainless steel and large botti. No added SO2 during vinification.

Arianna Occhipinti Frappato IGT Sicilia Rosso 2006
Floral, soft and absolutely lovely. I could drink bottles of this.

Arianna OcchipintiSiccagno Nero a’Avola IGT Rosso 2006
A lean wine with hints of dark fruit. Seems young and shows nice structure.

JULIEN FREMONT
L/D brings cider in now. When I ever get around to writing about my time in Madrid, you’ll know that one of my favorite things to drink was natural cider from Asturios. So I was excited to hear about the new addition to L/D’s portfolio. These ciders are from the Calvados region and they are light, refreshing and quaffable. I saw David Lillie at the tasting and he told me about the natural ciders he carries including one from Asturios. I know where I’m heading this weekend for a little retail therapy.

Julien Fremont Cidre Brut par Nature
A very natural, strange, soft mousse cider. Delish.

Julien Fremont Cidre Brut par Nature Greniers
Single orchard cider! Very fresh, apple and Muscat nose. I could drink this everyday……..

TEOBALDO CAPPELLANO
This producer is tiny. He only has 3 hc of vines. Some of it, apparently, ungrafted.

Teobaldo Cappellano Dolcetto d’Alba Gabutti 2006
Unbelievably aromatic and beautiful.

Teobaldo Cappellano Barolo Otin Fiorin Pie Rupestris 2003
Smells like leather, sweat and roses – true and honest Barolo.

CASCINA DEGLI ULIVI
I had to taste the Gavi wines from this producer in honor of my husband Jim. He’s a sucker for good cortese. These were particularly wonderful because they are vinified in acacia botti and the vines are super old.

Cascina degli Ulivi Gavi 2007
I smell pea shoots! Light, ethereal and stunning.

Cascina degli Ulivi Gavi 2006
More acidity than the ’07 vintage. Very racy acidity actually. Bright.

Cascina degli Ulivi Filagnotti 2006
A little funkier than the above. Really fantastic and tons of mineral.

AZIENDA AGRICOLA MONTESECONDO
When I interviewed David Lillie at Chambers for my natural wine piece for Imbibe magazine (which will be uploaded to the site soon) we spoke about how France is the trailblazer in vin au naturel. I asked about the handful of Italian wine producers that vinify naturally and he mentioned a Chianti producer. Despite coming from Mr. Lillie and even though it was imported by Louis/Dressner I could not bring myself to buy it because I’ve had more bad chiantis than I’ve had hot dinners. But I was wrong. I was so wrong.

Montesecondo Rosso IGT Toscana 2007
Excellent stuff, mineral, savory. 50-50% canaiolo and sangiovese.

Montesecondo Chianto Classico 2006
Apparently this was almost denied DOCG status because the wine was so unlike typical Chianti and I agree because this is so much better…..complex, hints of salty mineral, quite barnyard too. It almost reminds me of a northern Rhone.

Montesecondo Chianti Classico 2005
OMG like an aged Barolo. I’m not worthy.

MASSA VECCHIA
A real shiner and new to the L/D portfolio. I’ve visited Maremma, I wasn’t impressed with the wines I had there but I’d go again just for this. The wines are vinified in open chestnut vats with long skin contact and then aged in barrels.

Massa Vecchia Bianco IGT Maremma 2005
Whoa. Funky monkey. Intense nose and lovely palate.

Massa Vecchia Rosato IGT Maremma 2006
Really yummy, structured, layered. It’s a rose disguised as a red.

Massa Vecchia Rosso Querciola IGT Maremma
Waaay natural. It’s as if the grapes dropped off the vine and fermented themselves and some passerby scooped the juice into a bottle. Alight, it’s better than that but you get my gist. Love it.

Importing company, Broadbent Selections, organized a series of vertical tastings for Ch. Musar at Insieme and Hearth restaurants earlier this week. The cult-like following for these long-lived wines from Lebanon was confirmed in the serious industry turnout. It was no surprise. I’m a bit of a Musar naïf. I had tasted them a few times and always liked what was in the bottle but I never had any exceptionally old vintages and I had never met the infamous Serge Hochar, owner and winemaker of the estate. And he was quite a character. After Bartholomew Broadbent (Michael Broadbent’s gentlemanly son) introduced Serge and turned the tasting over to him, Serge said he had nothing to say and that Broadbent could do the talking. “You talk so well. Much better than I do,” was his reasoning. Needless to say his silence didn’t last long and he was baited into slightly off-the-wall philosophies on winemaking and tasting. He reminded me of my dear friend May’s mother, Margo, whom I adore. She’s from Lebanon too, the birthplace of Ch. Musar’s wines.

The vintages ranged from a relatively recent (by Musar standards) 2000 to a 1954 white. I must declare now that I have found my favorite wines next to those of Lopez de Heredia – in fact these wines were like Heredia only more mysterious, changeable and weird. I fell in love on Monday afternoon and it was with a bottle of wine.

Here are my tasting notes:

Ch. Musar 2000 (Red)
Pale reddish-brown with pink-orange hints in the rim. Smells like orange blossom water and hints of tangerine. The palate is spicy, faint citrus notes follow. A light-medium bodied red that show stunning complexity and beauty.

Ch. Musar 1999 (Red)
Strangely enough this wine seems less evolved that the 2000, it even seems a little closed. More primary fruit character and less secondary fruit notes. Not nearly as weird as the 2000 vintage. [Serge later told us that the ’99 vintage would be a better one to age extensively and that it was a year that had more emphasis on cinsault unlike the ’00, which was more about the cabernet].

Ch. Musar 1995 (Red)
The same pale reddish-brown color. Smells like leather and sweat. Maderized, hints of old coffee beans. Beautiful.

Ch. Musar 1990 (Red)
Wow. Even more prominent salty-leather character. A little nutty too. Oxidized, obvious VA, hints of herbaceous menthol and a very long and savory finish. According to Bartholomew this was a special vintage because in 1990 he got word from one of his employees that the war was going to escalate and so he picked the grapes two weeks earlier than usual. He says this wine is like a late bloomer it had lacked a lot earlier on in its life and was very light but he thinks it shows beautifully now.

Ch. Musar 1981 (Red)
Funky nose, lots of brett, hints of balsamic vinegar on the nose too. The wine seems a little hot on the palate.

Ch. Musar 1975 (Red)
Very funky barnyard nose, textural, hint of truffles, wild berries – still has vibrant acidity. Stunning.

Ch. Musar 1966 (Red)
Very tea-like, lots of weird herbal aromas [According to Serge ’66 has such high VA that they had to stop selling it for a while because it was out of balance but now it’s showing well].

Serge was almost bored while we tasted the reds, which we were instructed to taste first.
After the reds, he proclaimed, “All you’ve done up until now is a waste of my time and yours.” Um, ok. He continued, “But we did this because I know this is what you’re used to doing. But now we’re getting to the part that’s exciting and unique. We are going to taste the white wines.”

Bartholomew backed him up by saying “The whites have an identity crises. They are white wines that want to be reds.”

Serge also told us that his white grape varietals, Obaiden and Merwah (indigenous to Lebanon) are not grafted and are on their original rootstocks. Here are my notes.

Ch. Musar 2000 (White)
Clear rim, straw colored core. A curious wine with hints of mineral and citrus. A bit hot on the palate.

Ch. Musar 1991 (White)
Almost looks like whisky in color – a pale gold. Raisins on the nose, very reminiscent of Madeira, good acidity.

Ch. Musar 1972 (White)
Smells corked. A couple of others at the table deem it corked as well but Serge urges us to still taste it. It has a funky-mould nose but also shows that same raisin character. It’s soapy too. It keeps changing in the glass.

Ch. Musar 1967 (White)
Mineral, like something out of the sea. Beautiful palate, out of this world, salty, sherry-like, long finish.

Ch. Musar 1954 (White)
Looks like the color of an Oloroso sherry! Has a cheese-yeastiness about it. Very textural and sherry-like. Delicious.
During this extraordinary tasting Serge shared his words of wisdom on VA and brett: 1995, he says, was his most “crazy” wine and after this vintage he decided not to allow so much VA in the wines. They have started to control it by adding a very small amount of SO2 to the wines after malo.

Before the ’96 vintage he didn’t add any sulphur. Still he says, “If my wines had no VA I would stop producing wines.” And then he made a gesture and noise that seemed so very Lebanese because it reminded of my friend’s mother again, it indicated the American term “period” or as the Brits say, “full stop.” In other words: that’s that! When asked, he admitted that the same goes for brettanomyces.

Ah yes, and in terms of the corked wine. He said it wasn’t corked but that it showed its history with cork. Basically this is a man that loves natural wine – flaws and all and in turn I love his wines too.

After being so impressed with Marlowe & Sons a few months back, Tara and I headed to Diner (same owner) last night, with Abby in tow. It was the same excellent wine list and a tasty market-driven menu that must change daily because our waitress had to write down all fifteen of the specials on our paper table cloth. We ordered every single appetizer including the delicious cardoon (a delicious artichoke-celery like vegetable) salad, a crunchy coleslaw with knobs of blue cheese and tostada mounted with a generous serving of wild mushrooms and sardines. To wash it all down I chose the Olivier Cousin Gamay 2005 (it was funky and smelled like an untamed animal at first, offered a slight prickle on the palate and was unbelievably refreshing with a slight chill). The odds of anyone at Diner picking a gamay are unusually high. There were at least six bottles of gamay from Beaujolais and the Loire – all from great producers. I don’t know who buys the wine at Diner or M&S but you gotta love a person bold enough to carry that many.

There was a glorious moment when Tara, Abby and I looked to our right where a table of tattooed Willamsburg hipster dudes sat, and then we glanced to our left, at a group of suited businessmen. The suited guys weren’t your boring banker types but more professorial looking and the juxtaposition and crazy mix of clientele made Diner all the more interesting. When both tables emptied at once we had wild fantasies that they were all gay and both vastly different sociological groups were hooking up. After ogling tattoos and pinstripes we stared down a bottle of something altogether much sexier (in my book); it was a table that had just ordered a Guillot-Broux Macon. It cost seventy bucks for a bottle but in this economic climate, our forty-dollar gamay was the limit!

I was feeling a little pétillant last night, having worked on a champagne and sparkling wine article since returning from Madrid (more on that later) last Monday. I love a good sparkling wine; it’s the only fizzy drink that doesn’t give me the hiccups. Seriously. So it was perfect timing when an invite hit my mailbox from importing company Wilson Daniels on behalf of Delamotte champagne. The event was held at a penthouse suite at the new Thompson LES hotel on Allen. Sort of a weird PR trend to have events in hotel suites where the views are breathtaking but you (at least I do) have to fight the urge to kick off your boots and jump into bed with champagne glass in hand. After all one of my very favorite luxuries is watching TV in bed from posh hotel rooms.

In any case, I had tasted Delamotte before but it has always been next to its sibling champagne house, Salon. Delamotte tends to get lost next to Salon but on its own it is a very pretty, mineral little creature. The rosé is stunning. Jean Baptiste Cristini, the director of both champagne houses described it as savory and I knew exactly what he meant with its salty-mineral tang, earthiness and herbaceous notes. It’s a saignee champers and throughout their line they add pretty low dosage (7 grams per liter), which I appreciate when so many champagnes have horribly high dosage. Their grapes are all from grand cru sites, mostly in the Cotes de Blancs.

I took my dear friend May to the event and after her one hundred-plus questions (she’s a DSW and man do they like to ask questions) we headed to Ten Bells for more pétillant. Jorge Riera (formerly of 360 and Le Cercle Rouge) is now working the bar at Ten Bells and he’d recently told me about this incredible sparkling Pineau d’Aunis that they were serving by the glass. Chambers Street brings it in directly to sell at their shop and now Ten Bells is the only on-premise spot to serve it. It was amazing. The wine had all that white peppery character so typical of the grape. It was refreshing, earthy and packed an honest serving of vibrant fruit. It was too easy to drink.

Then I asked our gruff, jaded yet endearing bartender about another wine that they had by the glass. “It’s a Chardonnay from the Loire.” Huh? Is it any good I asked? “I love it,” he quipped. So he poured me a taste and I can still taste it the following morning. I ended up getting two glasses because it was so unlike Chardonnay. It tasted like a natural wine more than it tasted of Chardonnay. I tasted terroir more than I taste the grape. It is produced by the same folks that make You Are So Nice (Gamay and Côt) and You Are So Beautiful (Côt and Pineau d’Aunis): two wines that I place up there next to the Clos Roche Blanche Holy Grail of red wines from the Loire. The Chard is, of course, a vin du table and it is called Galimatias. Double yum.

Tonight I’m off to the fabulous Kristen’s house for a jeroboam of Vilmart ‘93!