And secondly he said that the temperature in the room was too cold - it was cellar temperature. Of course this is true not only for La Tâche but for a $16 bottle of Muscadet, too. While taking a long walk the other day after work, I stopped in at a wine store where I used to shop, but never really go anymore. Fugedaboudit

Here are some notes on great wines that I was lucky to drink in July, mostly because of the generosity of friends: Equipo Navazos La Bota de Fino Nº 24 , $60, Eric Solomon Selections/Imported by European Cellars. Why don't I have wine like this in my cellar? At this point, my favorite Muscadet of the 2009 vintage.

And lastly, I had this idea that "basic" German Riesling can compete with the best white wines of the world, say Muscadet, at the under $20 price point. The way I see it now is this: there are some producers whose "basic" wines are utterly fantastic, and might qualitatively equal a great Muscadet, for example. some do not.

It has come up a few times in (offline) discussion that I have been in recently: do people still cellar wine? Just as it is advisable to play tennis with someone better than you to sharpen your skills, it is also advisable to find a generous friend who has a better (or, at least) different cellar than yours. Is mature wine relevant?

cannot imagine cellaring it, as it tastes so good now, and doesn't seem to be holding anything in reserve. 2009 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet Clos des Briords , $16, Louis/Dressner Selections. Some of my favorite wines have just been released in new vintages. Buy the wines and drink them. Don't miss it. Will this age well? Pure joy.

He was hanging out with a guy named Kirk, another NYC wine guy with a legendary cellar and a generous soul. First it was the 1989 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet Clos des Briords , a direct refutation of the crazy talk coming from some guy on the left coast about how there's no reason to age Muscadet. Photo courtesy of Levi D.

With his cute bearded and smiling face, his annual oyster and old wine party, and his many cuvées, one even more delicious than the next, it's easy to be exclusive in Muscadet with Marc Ollivier and Domaine de la Pépière. All of these producers make reasonably priced and cellar-worthy wines that are pretty easy to find.

John Gilman, author of the newsletter The View from the Cellar , joins us again for a Q&A. But being younger than the gentleman I just mentioned, I do not have the same reserves of old vintages of white Burgundy or white Bordeaux in my cellar, and so premox has really hit my collection hard. Are these wines forcibly better?

We can watch as he interviews wine makers, wanders through their vines and cellars, eats with them, listens to their stories. There are Rocks in my Muscadet - check out the vines growing on a massive wall of granite. He created a channel on YouTube and uploaded home made videos. Take a peek and see what you think.

Without hesitation he said "Muscadet." It tickles me that this guy whose wines sell for hundreds of dollars a bottle, drinks $15 Muscadet. There are many people who say that Muscadet is the world's finest value in white wine. I'm pretty sure that 2008 was a difficult vintage in Muscadet and yields were way down.

have never purchased a bottle of wine, cellared it for long enough so that one would consider it "ready" to drink, and then drunk the wine. In the first half of 2009, I drank a bunch of Muscadet and decided to age Marc Ollivier's 2007 Clos des Briords and Jo Landron's 2007 Fief du Breil , and the 2002 Luneau Papin Clos des Noelles Excelsior.

Luneau Papin, L D’or, Muscadet, 1999 About $20. Muscadet is not the first thing you might think of when it comes to mature wine. In the glass, it has a more golden color than most young Muscadet and aromas of delicate honey drops on wet rocks. Drinking wines with age on them can be rewarding. Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, St.

I tend to think of Muscadet as a winter white wine, a wine to drink on a cold January night with a plate of raw oysters. bet I'm not alone in this - Muscadet and oysters are a classic and wonderful pairing. It's not just any Muscadet that I'm talking about, though. Perhaps even the seafood stereotype entirely.

Whites 2007 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords , $16, Louis/Dressner Selections. Sharp and vibrant old vines Muscadet from one of the top producers, and this vintage seems like it will be one of the better ones in recent years. think we have another two years of hard times ahead, maybe more.

According to the tasting sheet, "All these growers work in the most 'natural' way possible, avoiding chemical treatments in the vineyards or the use of selected yeasts or additives of any kind in the cellar. Part One of the 8th Annual Real Wine Assault took place at Chambers Street Wines yesterday. Part Two is next Saturday.

We’re back with Part Deux of our interview with John Gilman, author of the newsletter A View from the Cellar ( part one is here ). How do you make a screwcap-sealed wine taste and smell like rotting cabbage or burning rubber- put it in the cellar for a few years. German Riesling. And I really don’t understand why. The Loire.

Based on my utterly informal and amateur observations, there are some 2005 Muscadets that will cellar very well, and others that might not improve all that much. know you love Muscadet - what's your take on the 2005 vintage? I'm not sure that there is much point in long-term cellaring this one. Drank in late November.

The host whose employer is requesting a 20 Billion dollar bailout from the Feds, and who is not feeling flush, can select Muscadets young and old as the theme. Although I am not a fan of the 2005, my commitment to cellaring my '02s and '04s is renewed. I'm in a really great wine group now, and great ones are hard to find, trust me.

So wasn't Deetrane lucky that one of the head honchos at Acker Merrall, where he cellars all of his wine, contacted him say that another client was looking to buy Brunello with a few years of age under $100 a bottle. Wine Tasting News I had the 2005 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet Clos des Briords the other night, and it was awesome.

don't mind if my daily drinking bottles hang out in the heat, but I'm in a bit of a pickle regarding the bottles I want to cellar. had some space in a friend's cellar but he went and sold his house, completely disregarding my needs. Want to retrieve those 6 bottles of Muscadet for your oyster party in December? Too full.

have a lot of the young stuff in the cellar - shouldn't I know more about what happens to this wine in 20 years? found a bottle of 1990 Luneau Papin Muscadet L' D'or for $40, but we didn't drink it on this night. But the Chinon cork was quite short, unusual for a wine meant for extended cellaring. Another time and another post.

For example, consider one of the white wines recommended by Ben Hagan at Slope Cellars, the 2006 Jardin de la Fruitière. 50-50 blend of Chardonnay and Melon de Bourgogne (the Muscadet grape), this wine is fresh and crisp, lively and well balanced. On Monday I posted a list of wines that cost $14 or less , about $15 including NYS tax.

Ben Hagan, one of the wine buyers at Slope Cellars in Park Slope, Brooklyn recommends (Slope Cellars prices listed) : Whites: 2006 Caves de Saumur Saumur Les Pouches, $13, LVDH Imports (100% Chenin Blanc). 2005 Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sevre et Maine sur lie Clos des Allees Vieille Vignes, $14, Louis/Dressner Selections. range.

The grapes fermented very slowly for a year in the cold cellar. Marc Ollivier's Muscadet's at Domaine de la Pépière were great, as expected. The 2007s were very new and tough to evaluate, although the "regular" 2007 Muscadet sur Lie de Sevre-et-Maine displayed its flowery and mineral charms even at this tender age. Not with M.

Aside from Baumard and Foreau, this is actually somewhat representative of what I have sleeping in the cellar too. When I was thinking about splurging on wine, I also started wondering about my overall drinking habits. know what I've been drinking lately, but what about over the past two years? Montevertine - who knew?

This took place in Deetrane's cellar, where there are at least 2,000 wines from all over the world, the bounty of three different wine drinkers, myself included. guessed the 2004 Louvetrie Muscadet Fief du Breil. Some people can taste a wine blind, knowing nothing about it at all, and are able to identify it. Felt like a white.

Top three include 2006 Domaine de Cassagnoles Vin de Pays des Côte de Gascogne Reserve Cuvée Gros Manseng, 2005 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sur Lie Clos des Briords, and 2005 Le Bourcier Mâcon Cuv é e Elena. Or "I'm going to have to put a few of these in my cellar!" This is my 200th post here at the ol' Brooklynguy blog.

Sometimes that is the result of poor practice in the field, sometimes its just an effort to grow the wrong grapes in the wrong place, or a lousy growing season, or stupid mistakes in the cellar. Were talking mass market manufactured product, not some growers 500 case production of Volnay 1er cru or old vine Muscadet or whatever.

White: 2005 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sevre et Maine , $10 (so far, my case is the same as Lyle's). Muscadet is inexpensive, but complex in the hands of a solid producer. And yess, the same guy who makes the Muscadet makes this wine. You will see that the structure will allow for cellaring though. And $17 - c'mon.

They use Malbec, Gamay, and even Cabernet Sauvignon in Muscadet, Anjou, and Saumur. Still quite grippy on the finish, it seems as if the wine, contrary to my previous assessment, might continue to improve with some cellar time. There are many appellations in the Loire Valley and several grapes are used to make red wine. in his notes.

She asked if I had ever tasted a Muscadet. No I had not, and what, do tell is Muscadet? Muscadet ( mus-ka-DAY) is a region in the western part of the Loire valley, near the city of Nantes. White wines from Muscadet are made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape. find Muscadets to be excellent winter white wines, oddly enough.