This is a blog more about Didier Simonin ( owner/president of SIMON 'N CELLARS Imports based in Charlottesville, Virginia ) than it is about these particular wines that I tasted the other afternoon with Justin that now works for Didier. Justin McInerny ( justinmcinerny@gmail.com, 301-300-8947 ) is a lawyer that is obviously interested in wine and I forgot to ask how he met Didier. Justin's also a father and when he was tasting these French wine selections with me he took a break to call his young daughter. It was an excellent tasting and I fell head-over-heels in love with the DOMAINE BRUSSET 2009 " Les Boudalles " dry red mix of grapes from the Cotes Du Ventoux region of the southern Rhone Valley. It was so immediately wonderful and flavorful and just jumped onto my tongue and palate and commanded all of my senses to immediate attention as it worked it's many charms on me. I loved it and will have some soon in the store. It's the bottle pictured in the shot below. Look at that color : could anything be more regal or commanding or attractive in deep shades of toasty rich reds?!? I don't think so : wish I had some now on this Monday the day after Easter here at my home in northern Virginia ( my day-off ) as I type and get ready soon to finish my taxes for the 2009 year.
I met Didier Simonin years ago as he came to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) where I manage the wine department. I think that he might have been referred to me by our mutual friend Francis that at the time was the chef for the French Ambassador? That would make sense, but I forget now as it has been five years or more since he made his entrance into our store.
What I do remember is that I liked immediately what he was tasting that day and after another visit or two from Didier I started to do some business with his small selection of quality French producers from all around France which included just about every area of production from the obvious ones like Burgundy, the Rhone Valley, Bordeaux, the Loire Valley, Champagne, Alsace, the southwest of France and the more obscure areas like Savoie and Jura. He had something pretty much for everyone interested in selling fine French wines. His prices, too were fair and one got a lot for the prices that they paid. Pictured above are some of them as I have now worked for years with the Alsace producer KLUR( the Katz " Gentile " white blend of three grapes, 33% Gewurztraminer, 33% Pinot Blanc et 33% Pinot Gris - and it's organic as well. I love selling organic when I can ) as well as with A. CHOPIN ( in Burgundy ), JEAN SIEGLER ( Alsace ) and PIGEONNIER De La Dourbie ( Vin De Pays D'Oc ) dry red blend. The owner of PIGEONNIER has been to our store at least twice and that pleases me a lot. I like to work with the wines of the owners and the wine-makers that have been in our store. It gives me something very real and tangible to talk about and refer to when I describe the wines and what they will best suit as far as a meal is concerned.
On this visit I was not as enamored with the JEAN SIEGLER Alsace whites of Pinot Blanc 2007 and Riesling 2008. I liked the Riesling better than the Pinot Blanc which I found to be the weakest link in this lineup of Justin's this afternoon. It was blown away by the thick richness and full flavors of the KLUR 2008 " Katz Gentile " that just filled my palate and coated my tongue pretty much from top to bottom. It was my favorite after the DOMAINE BRUSSET 2009 dry red, youthful Cotes Du Ventoux delicious red blend.
I enjoyed also the youth of the A.CHOPIN 2008 Bourgogne rouge 100% Pinot Noir that was still very young but still very alluring and impressive at such an early stage in it's development. I'd like to give it at least another year in the bottle before drinking it. I have made plans to buy it and sell it for $21.99 a bottle. It will be at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits along with the rest of these that I order after April 15th, 2010 if all goes well.
With the most recent developments at Kysela Pere Et Fils Et Fille we might be doing much more business with Didier and Justin.
The REMOISSENET Pere Et Fils white burgundy ( 100% Chardonnay ) was very impressive as well and much more ready to enjoy now as I believe it was from the 2007 vintage? Yes, it was. I would sell it for $21.99 and am thinking of buying some as we are now getting into much warmer weather here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
It was hard for me to focus on the last two reds after being literally blown away by the DOMAINE BRUSSET Ventoux 2009 ( $13.99 ). I tried the DOMAINE De LA DOURBIE'S 2007 " Le Pigeonnier " Vin de Pays D'Oc made up of 40% Cariganan, 20% Cinsault, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 15% Syrah and 5% Grenache. It was so much darker, inkier, hardy and gutsy and raw and unpolished ; and it made me work harder after the Ventoux red. I did not at this moment want to work harder! That was the problem : the Ventoux red got me to relax fully and I wanted to throw the towel in so-to-speak at this moment and lay back and just rest and enjoy and watch the world go by ...
If I had been at a meal down at Lavandou Provencale restaurant at the end of our block enjoying a meal with this Le Pigeonnier 2007 dry red ( $13.49 ) from the Pays D'Oc then it would have been an entirely different story. The food would have helped to soften the tannins and young acids in this 2007 and fleshed it out for me and I would have been singing it's praises. It needed food whereas the DOMAINE BRUSSET 2009 dry red Ventoux could be enjoyed anywhere/anytime with or without food.
The same was true for the Reserve BASTIDE SAINT DOMINIQUE Lirac 2007 ( $20.99 ) as it, too needed food to flesh it's flavors out and soften and round them and give them a smoother mouth-feel for all their structure and power and strong, youthful flavors. It's a blend of 65% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre in stainless steel. It was still tight though very well-balanced and from an excellent year. I hope that there is still some for us to buy as it has now been more than two weeks since we sampled them with Justin. I will have to call tomorrow and see what the story is now?
You can see by these pictures that I was really taken with this DOMAINE BROUSSET 2009 " Les Boudalles " Cotes Du Ventoux ( $13.99 ) as it is in so many of these pictures.
So Didier and Justin I will call you tomorrow and arrange for some of these wines to arrive shortly as I can't wait and it's hard to contain my excitement here.
Over the years Didier has shown me many wonderful French wines and we have carried many of them and sold them well. He has done a really good job keeping a good selection of French wines available to us here in Washington D.C. and I applaud him for that as French wines in general have taken really big hits over the years here in the United States with so much competition from other areas of the world that have overall ( in my humble opinion ) done a much greater job at realizing the wants and the needs/prices, too of the U.S. consumer. The French have dragged their feet for years at properly labeling the wines with the grape varieties either on the front or back labels so that our customers may know what grapes they are drinking.
I was dumb-struck by a Frenchman that was in our store selling his wines with his response to me about Cahors and Malbec and the Malbecs of Argentina. I had told him that the French should have placed the grapes used in Cahors ( whether all Malbec or mostly Malbec with some Merlot and Tannat ) on the labels so customers would know that Cahors is made mostly from the Malbec grape. he said : " But they don't taste like the Malbecs of Argentina ". I immediately shot back that some indeed do and that the Malbecs from Argentina ( if they are indeed all Malbec as the labels claim? What's the law in Argentina? How much of the wine has to be Malbec with the word Malbec on the label? What other grapes can they blended in? ) don't taste just one way and have a broad range of flavors as well .
By not bringing attention to the Malbec grape being in the Cahors wines they have all but let 95% of the Malbec business in the U.S. go to Argentina. I applaud those in Argentina for doing such an excellent job at raising the Malbec grape to today's most popular grape variety available to the consumer. Everyone is talking Malbec these days. What I do not applaud them for perhaps is not admitting that the grape comes from France and Cahors and also not making it always clear if their customers are drinking 100% Malbec or not. Let customers know all the truth whatever that may be. I don't know myself so I only raise the question here for debate and clarification.
By the way, I buy the Cahors from You Didier and Justin. We are all sold-out now and need more with our next order. Don't let me forget this Cahors of yours.
What I do praise the French for doing is producing overall high quality wines in all price ranges and not necessarily mass-producing wines to fill orders and sell more units/boxes/cases of wine for simply the money and higher volume. We've got to get away from this and back to the roots. We've got to get away from nothing more than cute and attractive ( eye-catching labels ) to sell more wine with less variety and less choice. Let's teach our world public more about the immense joys to be found in experimenting and trying/discovering new wines and new grape varieties that exist all over the world. They are , many of them worth exploring and trying for a new, enriching experience.
The French have many of these wines and have been a great example to us for continuing to make and sell them with all their other products, too. Let's not forget these wines of the Jura and of Savoie as well as all the better-known ones, too. Vive la France : Vive La Variete / Vive La Difference/ Vive Tous Les Endroits Diferantes / Vive Tous Les Cepages Interesantes!
It's been a treat for me to be able to work with Simon N' Cellars, Elite Imports, Voila Imports, Robert Kacher Imports, Kysela Pere Et File Et Fille Imports, William Harrison Imports and more over the years. I know that I have left some out by accident. Sorry! There are so many and I should have mentioned my old friend Dan Kravitz of Hand Picked Selections Imports as well here.
So, let's all get out there and continue along with these importers like Didier Simonin to keep all French wines alive and healthy and a bit better known for our growing number of consumers, many young and willing to learn and try new things. It's fun work and it needs to be done non-stop as there is so very much to share and teach so that there will always be a place for them.
Cheers and I will add to this blog again later but I do want to post it now and share all of this with you out there getting this information in cyberspace and then using it I hope to search some of these wines out wherever you may be and live. A la prochaine mes amis, et merci Justin et Didier pour tous que vous avez faites pour nous ici a Washington D.C. et dans notre magasin de Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Sante, TONY
Look at the reflection in the red wine of the paper and bottles below : that's pretty neat, don't you think ? Rather artsy I would say.
Look at the picture above and how the color of this BRUSSET Ventoux 2009 red changes depending on where it is in my Reidel wine-tasting glass and how much light touches it.filters through it.
The color is darker with a touch of brick-red in the Reserve BASTIDE SAINT DOMINIQUE Lirac 2007 ( $20.99 ) above. I like it as it has aged a bit more than the 2009 BROUSSET Ventoux red ( $13.99 ).
The picture above of the BASTIDE SAINT DOMINIQUE Lirac dry southern red 2007 is for all the art-lovers out there. Look at how the ceiling lights reflect on the surface of the wine and create interesting/thought-provoking patterns and images? I like it.
More appreciation for the red colors to be found in this 2007 Lirac southern French Rhone Valley wine from BASTIDE SAINT DOMINIQUE. Can we ever have enough? When may we taste the wine?
More of my artsy photos as I try and find new angles and compositions that will draw everyone in and make them want to go out and find a bottle of the wine to drink : the 2007 Lirac in this case ...
I got a nice picture above with the bottle and label and the color of the wine all bathed in a nice bright ceiling light...
I love the picture above of the color of the red wine in my Reidel wine-tasting glass. It almost looks like a red planet circling around the wine green wine bottle, doesn't it? And what a lovely, warm and inviting color it is, too!
Justin is about to pour me some JEAN SIEGLER & FILS 2008 dry Riesling from Alsace, France ( $18.99 ) above.
Here I am enjoying continuing my research on labels and glass and color of wine, etcetera and bringing them all together so that you may see first-hand their association to one another. I like them both : the one above and the one below. The JEAN SIEGLER & FILS Pinot BLanc Alsace white would sell for $14.99 in our store. I want to try another bottle of this 2007 Pinot Blanc as I found some oxidation in this bottle when I tasted it.
I love this parting shot of the JEAN SEIGLER & FILS Alsace dry Riesling white ( $18.99 ) and will consider buying some of it for the store when we need more Alsace dry Riesling in this price range. A bientot ...
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