Different Vintage, Same Great Value

Different Vintage, Same Great Value – More Louis Jadot Gamay Goodness!

As a naturally frugal (perhaps cheap) person, I am constantly in search of a great bottle of wine under $10 – a wine that I ‘want‘ to drink, not a wine that I drink because it cost less than $10.   About this time last year, I wrote a post about my search for a ‘house red wine’ under $10.  For me, this means a wine I can open mid-week, enjoy one or two glasses, and dump the rest without down the drain guilt.

For some time now, the 2008 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Village has been my go to mid-week wine.  At under $10, the 2008 delivered great value for many a Tuesday or Wednesday nights.  Now that the 2008 Louis-Jadots are harder to find, I’m left with the 2009′s, which is great because 2009 has been heralded as the best vintage in decades in Beaujolais.

Although some of the large producers seem immune from vintage variation, Jadot’s Beaujolais offerings do tend to express vintage variation.  Given the ‘hype’ surrounding the 2009 vintage in Beaujolais, I was certainly looking forward to trying the latest Beaujolais-Village from Jadot.

Garnet in the glass, the 2009 smells of violets, cherry, and spice.  In the mouth, more cherry and spice along with mineral components – nice acidity. I’ve had the Louis Jadot 2009 Beaujolais-Village on several occasions since release last year, and am glad to report this vintage still represents an excellent, under $10 value.

Amazing how the Beaujolais region continues to deliver excellent value wines year after year, yet most people overlook the region because of the Beaujolais Nouveau stigma.  Shame.

Looking for an economical, good mid-week sipper for under $10 (about $9 at Total Wine, $10.99 a local Harris Teeter grocery store)?  Try the Louis Jadot 2009 Beaujolais-Village.

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WBW 68 – Got Gamay? Recap

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the 68^th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday.  I appreciate your patience, as I am quite tardy with posting this recap.  A special thank you to the New York blogging contingent that came out in a big way for this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday.  The number of high-quality, educational blogs in NY is impressive.

I would like to start the recap with a special welcome to a new WBW participant – Corinne from Life’s A Banquet! For this edition of WBW, Corinne went with a local Gamay from the Finger Lakes – 2007 Gamay Sheldrake Point.  Good call on the home made margherita pizza.

Tom from NY-based Ithacork also went with the Sheldrake Point Gamay 2007.  Great review, especially the diacetyl information – clearly a Chemical Engineering PhD candidate.

Also joining us from NY, Michael of Undertaking Wine chose a local Gamay from Long Island – Pindar Vineyards 2008 Gamay Noir.

Rounding out the NY contingent, Debbie from Hudson Valley Wine Goddess, also went local with a Gamay Noir from the Hudson Valley area – 2007 Whitecliff Gamay Noir.  Thanks for joining us Debbie, and not losing the sticky note this month…

Matt from a A Good Time With Wine provided our lone video entry – he went with a Chiroubles from Domaine Ruet.  Although Matt noted that he is not much fonder of Gamay, he did enjoy reviewing this wine and will likely try other Cru Beaujolais in the future.  I’ve had this particular Chiroubles before and liked it. Thank you, Matt for  the informative video entry!

My friend and favorite Wine Blogger Conference alumni, Marcy Gordon from Come For The Wine, went with a Morgon – the 2008 Jean Foillard Morgon Cote Du Py.  I’ve had this particular wine several times and have always liked it.

Bob at 2001 Bottles – A Wine Odyssey from Vancouver, BC went with a Gamay from Canada’s Similkameen Valley, and two Cru Beaujolais – a Cote de Brouilly and a Fleurie.  Thanks Bob for overachieving by selecting three Gamay’s and pairing with a meal. (Sad to hear you won’t be joining the Gamay fetish club.)

Fellow Virginia wine blogger, Swirl, Sip, Snark went with one of my favorite’s, the G. Descombe Morgon along with the 07 Domaine des Michelons Moulin-a-Vent (which I’ve never had).

Fellow Drink Local Wine Conference attendee, Dave Falcheck of Empty Bottles, joined us with several Cru Beaujolais. I had a great time hanging out with Dave tasting wine at DLW – great palate.

Travis from Pull The Cork did join us by sharing a wine lesson he learned while visiting France two summers ago.

Peter from Mano a Vino went with a Loire – Domaine Sauvete Gamay Les Gravouilles – and paired it with Thai food (interesting pairing that I’ll have to try)

The Wine Predator, Gwen, joined us with one of my favorite value wines – Louis Jadot Beaujolais.

Gary Vaynerchuk also participated, albeit a few days late due to his hectic schedule.  After finalizing the theme for WBW 68, I contacted Gary with the deets and asked him to participate since he hadn’t dedicated a show to the Gamay since episode 570.  Gary quickly replied and agreed that he needed to do another Cru Beaujolais show.  Thanks to Kristen Murphy for trading so many emails and pulling together the Cru Beaujolais episode (#852).  Gary went with a Fleurie, a Moulin A Vent, and St. Amour.  I believe the 2007 Chapelle Des Bois Fleurie was the standout of the show.

Last but not least, we were able to tear Wine Blogging Wednesday founder Lenn Thompson away from New York wines this month.  Although Gamay is grown in NY, Lenn has yet to find one that impressed him, so he went to one of his favorite areas – Loire – Clos Roche Blanche 2007 Cuvee Gamay Touraine. (Nothing beats a great Chinon either, eh?)

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

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Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay?

Welcome to Wine Blogging Wednesday.  Today mark’s the 68^th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday – Got Gamay?  You can read the announcement details here.

As I mentioned in the announcement post, the Gamay grape is one of the most underrated varietals – afflicted with ‘guilt by association syndrome’ because of Beaujolais Nouveau.  I hope this month’s WBW served as a catalyst for a couple of people to try a Gamay wine that they may not have otherwise tried, and/or maybe changed the perception of this oft maligned grape.

I have come to appreciate the ‘wallet friendly’ wines coming out of the Crus of Beaujolais.  Aside from Chile, there aren’t too many regions that offer such a high value, high quality ‘bang for the buck’ as Cru Beaujolais (I know I may have opened a can of worms with that comment).

My intent for this month’s WBW was to feature one Beaujolais from each of the ten Crus.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a ‘Chenas’ or a ‘Cote de Brouilly’ in my local shops (and was just too lazy to order online).  Instead, I decided to feature my favorite, not so favorite, and honorable mention.

Of the handful of Crus I tasted, my favorite by far, was the Marciel Lapierre Morgon.

Marciel Lapierre 2008 Morgon – I picked this up at Terrior Wine Merchants in San Francisco during a trip last month.  I believe this was $24/bottle at Terrior.  Imported by Kermit Lynch.  One of the owners of Terrior, Luc Erotran, noted that this wine has no sulfites added.  Very simple at first, this wine blossomed like desert wildflowers after a rain – bright, lively, fragrant.   On the nose I picked up cherry, plum, violets, and spice with more violets, cherry and pepper in the mouth.   True to form, high acidity, low tannins.  This wine had a great floral finish.  Although this one was at the high end of my Gamay acceptable price point scale, I consider this an excellent value.    My only regret is that I didn’t buy more bottles of this wine.  If you can find it – buy it!

Conversely, and surprisingly, my least favorite of the Gamay’s I tried this month was the Jacky Janodet 2007 Moulin à Vent.  This wasn’t a bad wine, but it certainly wasn’t what I have come to expect of a Moulin à Vent and Jacky Janodet – rich, more terrior, robust examples of Gamay.  Ah, the hazards of high expectations!  Simple black cherry, strawberry, game meat, and pepper with light acidity.  At $17.99, I found myself disappointed with this wine.  I would consider this a low value at this price point.

An honorable mention for WBW is one of the best ‘value’ wines I’ve had in  a long time – Louis Jadot 2008 Beaujolais Village (see Penny Wise Wine Nirvana post here).

Please post your Wine Blogging Wednesday links or writeup in the comments section below, and I’ll have the recap up on Friday.

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Brickhouse and the Anniversary Dinner

It’s anniversary weekend here at the Morgan’s.  I’m very proud of the fact that my wife and I met in high school and have been together ever since.  As part of our Anniversary weekend, we had dinner at Zoe’s in Virginia Beach.

To pair with our meal (veal chops for me), we went with a bottle of Brickhouse 2007 Pinot Noir.  I’ve had a lot of Willamette Valley Pinot’s, and the more I drink, the more I appreciate the pure flavors in the Brickhouse wines.

Brickhouse was started by former CBS news guy Doug Tunnel, and is located in a sub-appellation of the Willamette Valley called Ribbon Ridge AVA.  Brickhouse has been ‘organic’ since the first vines were planted in 1990, and Biodynamic (Demeter Certified) since 2005.

Brickhouse ‘Cuvee du Tonnelier’ 2007 Pinot Noir – $39.95/bottle in a retail store, but we got to pay restaurant price of $85.  Cuvee du Tonnelier can be loosely translated in to ‘Barrelmaker’s Batch’ – is the ‘finest expression’ of Brickhouses estate vineyards.  The aromas are pure and clean flavors of raspberry, cherry, violets, light spice and mushroom throughout.  Excellent balance. Damn good – BurgHeads will really like this one.

As a sidenote, Brickhouse also produces a Gamay Noir, which would make a great participant in Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay?

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