The week was buzzing with good wine in NYC. First of the tastings galore was Return to Terroir on Monday: a total scene. When I wasn’t chatting away to some wine industry cohort, I was sniffing and spitting some amazing wines. I showed early and knowing Rene Mosse was in attendance I immediately headed for his table. We spoke about his wines. I asked him about the oxidized quality that seems to be his signature but his own view is that his wines are not oxidized but merely naturally made. The wines were as beautiful as ever. His Anjou Blanc 07 possessed piecing grapefruit acidity and actually didn’t have the hints of oxidation I usually associate with his wines. He poured his first vintage of a particular Savennieres cuvee — a wine with such astute focus and mineral, while his Cab Franc was all mouth-watering tart strawberries. Mosse also poured Le Rouchefer, a Cab Sauvignon-Cab Franc blend made from 40 year old vines, whole berry cluster fermentation, the wine spends time in a mix of new and old barrels for a year. It was pure deliciousness.

Other highlights were Dom de Villaine (Burgundy from Bouzeron), Andre et Mireille Tissot (Jura), Coulee de Serrant (Nicolas Joly’s own wines from Savenniers in the Loire), Weingut Wittmann (brilliant German Rieslings, especially the dry wines), Movia, Montescondo, Cascina Degli Ulivi and Castagna. The latter, a bit of a cult wine from Victoria in Australia, has been causing buzz, even among old world palates and I can see why. The wines were thoroughly interesting and the winemaker takes a non-interventionist approach. All his wines had a distinct herbal quality, a little like a wine from Southern France.

A winemaker, a total sweetheart who I had met at the Jenny and Francois welcome dinner, (but not part of their portfolio) from Buzet was pouring - Domaine du Pech. His wines: Le Pech Abuse, a vin de table, is a play on words since this wine was refused appellation status because it is “atypical.” It’s a delicious Bordeaux blend (not usually my favorite of grapes) that spends three years in big used (100 years old!) oak vats. His Cabernet Sauvignon is probably one of the few Cabs that I could easily quaff. The wine stopped fermentation naturally at 15 grams, no SO2 added at all, no filtering/fining etc and it was pure fruit.

Some of Jenny producers were there too but more on them in the next post.