WINE MINUS Ø: ocean influence
I am in love with Ocean
lifting her thousands of white hats
in the chop of the storm,
or lying smooth and blue, the
loveliest bed in the world.
Mary Oliver, Ocean
For the last late light of August, we suggest wines with the essence of the sea.
Consider: your table in the yard, oysters, perhaps Hemingway, a light sweater, and a glass of salty, chalky, high-acid, mineral-driven white.
This is the last grand bite of summer. Relish it!
Click here for some complementary listening.
MIDNIGHT CORRESPONDENCE AUGUST 2021
Pattes Loup Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux 2016
Briny, mineral Chablis from 50 year old selection massale vines planted up to 300 m.
Thomas Pico will take no shortcuts on the road to wines of distinction. After inheriting 2.4 hectares from his family’s estate, he resisted the established path of “correct but uninspiring wines” and began the difficult work of farming organically in Chablis Kimmeridgian. He began limiting yield, planting cover crops, harvesting by hand, rigorously sorting, and fermenting with indigenous yeast - with the astounding result of wines that are undeniably alive: intense but bouyant, opulent but saline, antithetical but harmonious, pure icon-status. Today, his estate is 15 hectares and his wines are the true essence of Chablis. We’d like to drink this every day. Alas it is in such limited supply.
SKINNY DIPPING IN THE WATER TOWER AUGUST 2021
Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet 'Les Gras Moutons' 2019
It has been said that “Domaine Pepiere is the benchmark by which all Muscadets should be measured.” Marc Olivier was one of the first producers in Muscadet to work organically, hand harvest, and demarcate blends based on soil type. Les Gras Mouton vineyard is uniquely planted on gneiss rather than granite, so while the wine feels as hydrating as cold springwater with classic precision and saltwater spray, there is a touch of intriguing richness and a welcome surprise of peach and nectarine.
Cutter Cascadia Heavy Water Riesling 2020
Portland restaurant vet, Michael Garofola, started making wines in 2017 with a micro-plot of Dolcetto vines in the Hood River area of our beautiful Columbia Gorge. The Heavy Water wine takes us even a bit further east in the Columbia Valley to the Hillside Vineyard in the Dalles where the Riesling fruit used for this wine is grown. Michael takes ownership over the tiny plots of vineyards he leases for his three different wines by making regular trips for pruning, general vineyard maintenance and of course for harvest. Bio-dynamic treatments were applied and no synthetic treatments were used. Heavy Water's Riesling sees about 15 days of skin contact once the grapes are crushed in the fermenters giving the wine a very generous and varying set of aromas and flavors and the kind of tannins you may come to expect from "Orange" wines. Folks who know Michael know that the wines of Piedmont are dearest to his heart and although a skin-contact Riesling might not be the most obvious example of his passion for this region of the world, there is actually a thread: "Nicoletta Boca is a very talented winemaker in Dogliani and her winery, San Fereolo, produces a very interesting a delicious Riesling based wine with skin-contact called "Coste del Riavolo". Like the "Heavy Water", the "Riavolo" has a great deal of ripeness and concentration." The Heavy Water shows a fine example of the promise of the Gorge and yet another superbly talented "local" winemaker.