Club Corner
October '23 Wine of the Month Club
LIOCO WINE CO. We have found your Thanksgiving wines! After tasting the LIOCO line up, we realized we should jump on these wines in October, so that y’all can pick them up BEFORE Thanksgiving, or try them now and buy more for the holidays. This crisp chardonnay will cut through richness of gravy and mashed potatoes and compliment all the herbs on your plate, while the red is light bodied, chillable, fruity and is the perfect blend to pair with your turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. LIOCO was conceived in the alley behind Spago Beverly Hills by wine director Kevin O’Connor and wine salesman Matt Licklider. The two colleagues, critical of the heavy-handed wines of the day, wondered if it were possible to make some local wines that favored nuance over sheer power. In 2005, relying on nothing more than their palates and their rolodexes, the two embarked on a winemaking odyssey. Europe was their inspiration, as were the more restrained California wines of the 1980’s. Their winemaking philosophy is to “trust in the raw material and get out of the way. If the fruit is well-grown and comes from a compelling site, there is no way to improve upon it. Our job is simply to usher it through the process of fermentation and into the bottle with as little intervention as possible.” This has been their approach since Day 1, despite the real incentives to conform to a more commercial style. The focus is on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Carignan from sites with older vines, interesting soils, and heritage clones. Sometimes the hunt for Pinot Noir uncovers other treasures like a coastal Syrah vineyard or a rare, mid-century planting of Valdigue. Today the winery is owned and operated by the Licklider family. Husband/wife duo Matt and Sara Licklider and their small team produce the wines at a state of the art winemaking co-operative in Santa Rosa. All of the fruit is sourced from exceptional vineyards spanning 400 miles and five counties (Sonoma, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Yolo). In 2018, they brought winemaker Drew Huffine into their family. While earning his PhD in modern poetry in Mississippi, he met winemaker Eric Kent during an in-store tasting at the shop Huffine was working at, and Kent offhandedly suggested that he defer for a year and come work with him as a harvest intern. After thinking about it for a day or two, he called Kent, asking him, "Were you serious, can I come work for you?" He had no memory of the conversation, but nonetheless, Huffine wiggled his way into a job. From there he worked with anyone he thought could teach him about vineyard to bottle winemaking, which included stints at Auteur, DuMol, Donom, Kosta Browne, and Copain, which really changed his whole approach to wine and winemaking. Cheers, PlumpJack Wine Team LIOCO Sonoma County “SoCo” Chardonnay Region / Country of Origin: Sonoma, California About the Vineyards: This wine is composed of several vineyards, all in the cooler, more western regions of Sonoma County. While each site is distinct, they share a common commitment to sustainable horticulture and strident farming. Our intention for this wine is to express the unique character of this region. Warm days and cool nights, tempered by consistent oceanic fog, yield nuanced Chardonnays balanced by brisk acidity. About the winemaking: Five sites were harvested in the first 2 weeks of September; fruit was hand-harvested, and foot-tread before being pressed. A majority of the juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks, and the balance in neutral oak puncheons, where they remained (with no battonage) for 6 months before racking. A gentle cross-flow filtration was performed prior to bottling. Tasting Notes: The early-picked fruit had brilliant chemistry, as drought vintage fruit often does, and deeply concentrated flavors. Since 2019 they have been declassifying barrels of Chardonnay from top tier LIOCO cuvees into this wine. SoCo will always be defined by its mouth watering, steely freshness ala the Louis Michel Chablis that inspired it, but the barrel fermented additions have added complexity and mouth feel without any trace of oakiness. Aromas of tangerine oil, fresh fennel frond, shale are followed by lemon custard, river stone, and fresh thyme on the palate. Winemaker: Drew Huffine Price: $27.99 btl/$302.29 cs Suggested Food Pairing: Roasted Turkey, Creamy mashed potatoes, cauliflower gratin, chicken paillard, fried fish sandwich. LIOCO Indica Red Table Wine Region / Country of Origin: Mendocino County, California About the Vineyards: Composed from three historic Mendocino County ranches—two on the valley floor, one at high elevation—all with heritage dry-farmed, head-trained Carignan + Valdiguie vines. Soils range from red clay (valley) to hard scrabble rocky (mountain). These rapidly vanishing California grapes harken back to the Golden State's earliest winemaking efforts. About the winemaking: Vintage 2022 marks a return to original form for Indica Red Table Wine—a LIOCO stalwart since 2006. The wildfires in 2020 necessitated a shift in fruit sourcing, and the extreme drought / massive winter frost of 2021 left them with too little fruit to bottle an Indica. In the winter of 2022, they expanded their grape contract at Bartolomei Vineyard and secured the future of this wine. The 2022 is a blend from three historic Mendocino ranches—some dry-farmed, old vine Carignan from Bartolomei (Talmage) and McCutchen (Pine Mountain), plus a healthy dollop of rare Valdiguie from Lolonis (Redwood Valley). The exceptional fruit quality and small clusters characteristic of the vintage enticed us to do 75% whole cluster, with two tanks going through carbonic maceration. All fruit was hand-harvested in mid-Sept./early Oct. Fermented in a mix of open-top tanks (whole cluster), closed tanks (carbonic), and T-bins (submerged cap). Once pressed, all lots were aged separately in a mixture of barrels and stainless steel for 10-mos. Bottled unfined/unfiltered. Tasting Notes: The juice was pressed off the tannic skins early and "went to barrel sweet" to highlight the crunchy freshness of this wine. The result is chillable, medium weight red that reminds us of Cote de Brouilly, but is unabashedly Californian. With aromas of black plum, mulberry, wild sage, the palate shows flavors of bing cherry, violet, and rosemary. Winemaker: Drew Huffine Price: $23.99 btl/$259.10 cs Suggested Food Pairing: Turkey with cranberry sauce, sausage stuffing, pulled pork sandwich, street tacos.
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August 2023 Wine of the Month Club
TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE/SUDTIROL This month we’re taking it to the top, visiting Italy’s northernmost alpine region and leading source of stunning Dolomite peaks, subsequent green valleys, and befuddling nomenclature. Even the above mouthful is an abbreviation, the hyphens and slashes at once repping and yadda yadda yadda-ing centuries of tradition, turmoil, contestation and change. But it’s worth it to do the toponomastics (a real, actual word I just learned that means: the research and study of place names) when it comes to Trentino Alto-Adige; the guises it has gone through over the years are the story of the place, inscriptions of its singularity, in terms of wine and every other thing. Trentino-Alto Adige holds a special, semi-autonomous status and consists of two territories: Alto-Adige in the north, also known as Sudtirol, which corresponds to the autonomous province of Bolzano, and Trentino in the south, corresponding to the autonomous province of Trento. Though this arrangement dates back to 1948, the last local holdouts only officially accepted it in 1992. The population of Bolzano is largely German-speaking, while Trento primarily uses Italian. You can trace this bifurcation back to the Romans, who invaded in 15 BC and divided the area into two separate states. The two provinces then spent centuries as contested spaces for invasions, peasant rebellions, and various struggles between Church and Empire. They were mostly administered separately before Napoleon briefly united them, dubbing the northern part Alto Adige to efface its prior relationship with Tyrol. After his exile, the place passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs, where it was again called Tyrol - though today’s Alto-Adige/Sudtirol was sometimes referred to as Mitteltirol, i.e. Middle Tyrol while Südtirol, i.e. South Tyrol, indicated mostly today's Trentino, which is not called Sudtirol anymore. Confused? There’s more! After the post World War I dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the whole region was awarded to Italy, just in time for Mussolini to engage in a campaign of forced Italianization, outlawing references to Tyrol and renaming it Venezia Tridentina to emphasize a historical link with one of the Roman states that used to constitute it. Nazi Germany also occupied its heights for a brief period, but several post-war treaties between Austria and Italy later, things seem as settled as plausible: a 2006 attempt to mount a referendum, in which the electorate could vote to stay with Italy, become fully independent or return to Austria, was soundly rejected. So it’s not as ridiculous as it sounds to say that wine might be what holds everything together; viticulture in the area predates the oldest surviving monikers for it. The Raeti, the alpine tribe the Romans replaced, were already storing their wine in wooden vessels when the latter (still using leather bags and amphorae) showed up, and adopted the technique. Today, Trentino-Alto Adige boasts one of the most unique and variegated winemaking scenes anywhere: responsible for less than one tenth of Italy’s total wine production, it leads the country in wines meriting a DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) designation, as 98% of the output qualifies. Though there are still a lot of individual producers (including one of our bottlings here) 70% of the wine is made in large communes across a jigsaw of small vineyards with different exposures, elevations and microclimates. The grapes are a mix of international varietals like Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (many introduced by Archduke Johann of Austria during the Habsburg reign) and indigenous varietals grown nowhere else. Cheers, The PlumpJack Wine Team Hartmann Dona Chardonnay Region / Country of Origin: Cornai Alto-Adige, Italy About the winemaker: Hartmann Dona is definitely a winemaker with a sense of mission, who makes no apologies for the intensity and seriousness with which he approaches his craft. A personal statement on his website entitled, “I, Hartmann”, begins: “Ever since I can remember, my life has been in the vineyards, among the grapes, and in the cellars.” After studying enology at the University of Geisheim (the only German institution offering advanced degrees in winemaking) Harmtann interned at the great Terlano winery in Alto Adige before striking out on his own in 2002. His winery is based in Cermes, a small town south of Merano, where he owns a very steep vineyard, as well as another near Bolzano. Both feature mineral-rich soil, and old vines with deep roots that produce limited amounts of terroir-reflective small-berry clusters. As Hartman himself says: “Behind the creation of each wine is a desire to bring to life something absolutely special from the local vines…I am interested in wines that do not follow conventions but express boldly and proudly their distinct personality.” Tasting Notes: This Chardonnay is born of limestone-clayey soils, where it develops its typical aroma of ripe tropical fruit and its mellow, warm taste. Thanks to a well integrated acidity, it presents a fresh and robust finish that is an invitation to continue tasting it. Winemaker: Hartman Dona Price: $27.99 btl/$302.29 cs Suggested Food Pairing: Roasted Filet of salmon with a herb breadcrumb topping, Traditional spinach dumplings, called strangolapreti, applesauce-glazed pork chops with sautéed mushrooms. Colterenzio Lagrein “Classic” Region / Country of Origin: Trentino-Alto-Adige, Italy About the Winery: Colterenzio is one of the newest wineries in South Tyrol, composed of over 300 families working together. This is a new-generation cooperative that smashes preconceptions, proving that a humble “co-op” can consistently deliver some of the most transparent, expressive wines in the top flight region of Alto Adige. Member-winegrowers farm their grapes on a total of 300 hectares; the vineyards are located in one of the best wine growing sub-districts of Alto Adige, on altitudes ranging from 230 to 650 meters with 12 different varieties cultivated. Ecology is a driving principle here – Farming is sustainable and the winery was built with permaculture in mind. About the winemaking: Fermentation takes place with the skins in stainless-steel tanks at controlled temperature for 8 days, followed by malolactic fermentation and a few months refinement in a combination of concrete tanks and large wooden casks. Yields: 70hl/ha. Tasting Notes: Very dark garnet in color with violet reflexes, and an aroma of violets, black woodland berry fruits (bilberry and blackberry) with hints of dark chocolate; mouth-filling and spicy on the palate with ripe, velvety tannins and a long long finish. Complex and refined with hints of violets, cinnamon and red berry fruits. Winemaker: Communal Price: $23.99 btl/$259.10 cs Suggested Food Pairing: Charred steak, Tyrolean Goulash, Aged Alpine cheeses like: Piave Vecchio, Montasio, Gruyère, and Comté. Pepperoni Pizza Pork Schnitzel Roasted Root Vegetables.
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October '22 Champagne Club
Domaine Lancelot-Royer In August we focused on the contribution of Pinot grapes - Noir and Munier - to the greatness that is Champagne. For October, we are celebrating the the other major player on the world’s most exclusive effervescent wine scene: Chardonnay. The most planted white grape in the world, in large part due to its popularity as an ingredient in sparkling bottlings, Chardonnay is actually the least common of the three primary varietals in Champagne. It is also relative latecomer to the region, first planted there in second half of the 19th century, predominantly in the chalk-rich soils of the Côtes de Blancs. Since then, it has proved valuable to winemakers since it is higher yielding, easier to grow and less prone to oxidation than the two Pinots. Its chameleonic character - think of the canyon that separates a lean, mineral Chablis from a rich and buttery Napa Chard - also makes it unrivaled as both a transmitter of terroir, and a blank canvas for the chefs de caves (cellar master) responsible for each house’s blends. This is why an exacting craftsman like Michel Chauvet of Domaine Lancelot-Royer chooses to work exclusively with Chardonnay. All of his vineyards in the village of Cramant are rated 100% Grand Cru and are planted to the varietal. While Chauvet certainly makes “grower” Champagne, his methods are so much more. He is one of the last artisans who chooses to arrange his Champagne exclusively by hand, the way it was made in the early 1900s before machines replaced manual labor. The estate’s cellars, consists of a rough chalk cave, carved out of the rock by hand, chisel strokes traceable on the cool walls. Lancelot-Royer is also one of the smallest domaines in Champagne, allowing Chauvet to see to every winemaking step himself, from harvesting to riddling to degorging to bottling. Juice is fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. Wines undergo a second fermentation in bottle (méthode Champenoise) and are aged on fine lees from three to four years, much longer than most non-vintage wines. Chauvet also reserves nearly a third of each harvest as reserve wine, which contributes to the richness and complexity of his non-vintage cuvées. The result is an experience uncompromisingly faithful to the lemony delicacy that characterizes Cramant, and the crystalline purity of the finest blanc de blancs. These bubbles are works of vinous art, meticulously guided from grape to glass. Cheers! The PlumpJack Family Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut 'Cuvée des Chevaliers' From: FRANCE • Champagne Cote de Blancs • Cramant About the Vinification: Pure grand cru Chardonnay from the chalky, cool soils of Cramant in the Côte de Blancs. Generally winemaker Michael Chauvet adds 30% reserve wine, for even more complexity and texture. Assemblage: 100% Chardonnay All estate vineyards (12 acres) in Cramant are rated 100% Grand Cru and are all planted to Chardonnay, as is tradition in the Côte de Blancs. Soils are classic Kimmeridgian chalk. Hand-harvested. Pressed by hand in an upright, wooden press; fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks. Aged for five years in bottle. Riddled by hand. Approximately 30% reserve wine. Dosage: 9 g/l Tasting notes: Aromas of dried flowers, apple, pear. Ripe white peach, lemon, green apple flavors;. lightly toasted brioche, green tea highlights and a hint of nuttiness. Long, savory and seductive; a captivating non-vintage wine that can age with the best of vintage bottles. We love the textural richness and toasty complexity we get. Fans of Krug will find a lot of things to love here! Winemaker: Michael Chauvet Price per bottle / Price per case: $59/$637.20 Suggested Food Pairing: Fresh seafood, smoked salmon, white meats. Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut Nature 'Cuvée des Chevaliers' From: FRANCE • Champagne • Cramant About the Vinification: The same lovely, lithe grand cru Chardonnay Champagne as the estate’s regular ‘Cuvée des Chevaliers,’ yet with no added dosage. What a thrill to taste the pure chalky soils of Cramant in every sip! All estate vineyards (12 acres) in Cramant are rated 100% Grand Cru and planted to Chardonnay, as is tradition in the Côte de Blancs. Soils are classic Kimmeridgian chalk. Assemblage: Hand-harvested. Pressed by hand in an upright, wooden press; fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks. Aged for four years in bottle. Riddled by hand. Approximately 30% reserve wine. No added dosage. Dosage: 0 g/l Tasting notes: Refined, lacy, sublime. Aromas of dried flowers, green apple, yellow pear. Lemon and lemon zest, apple, stone fruit; lithe yet flavorfully complex. “In the glass, Cuvée des Chevaliers is a bright yellow-gold extending to the rim, with heady aromas of green apple, pear, peach, citrus pith, cream, brioche dough, dried white flowers, and a pile of crushed stones. It has the creaminess you’d expect from such long lees aging, but also a very full-fruited personality and a strong, balancing mineral component. It’s one of the more mouth-filling blanc de blancs Champagnes we’ve had in some time, with a beautifully refreshing blast of ripe green apple fruit on the palate. It has plenty of backbone and heft for extended aging.” Somm Select Winemaker: Michael Chauvet Price per bottle / Price per case: $59/637.2 Suggested Food Pairing: Lobster, Roast Chicken, Ceviche, Fish and Chips.
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June Champagne Club : Exploring Côte des Blancs
We love champagne — why deny it? We love brut, extra-brut, brut nature, and sometimes even demi-sec. We love champagne blends (Pinot Noir-Chardonnay, Pinot Noir-Pinot Meunier-Chardonnay) and Blanc de Noirs (Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier). But if you ask what champagne is drank by farmers and winemakers in Champagne, almost all of them will say: Blanc de Blancs! Blanc de Blancs are made with 100% chardonnay, usually from the best area in the region, the Côte des Blancs. The Côte des Blancs is one of the gems of the Champagne region, running from northeast to southwest and lying perpendicular to the Marne Valley. Located a few kilometers from Epernay, its slopes and hills skirt Champagne’s Brie plateau over a distance of 10-15km. The vineyards are mostly located on the purest form of chalky Belimnite sub-soil, rich in minerals and trace elements, and largely face to the east. More than 95% are planted with Chardonnay. Grapes from the four grand cru villages clustered in the centre of the Côte – Cramant, Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger – are the most sought after in the appellation, command the highest price per kilo, and help lift any blend they are added to. Pure Côte des Blancs Chardonnay from any of these villages often produce wines of great intensity, minerality and longevity which tend to be somewhat austere in their youth. As its name suggests, the Côte des Blancs is an exclusively white appellation, with Chardonnay planted as the stand-alone varietal; the exception is Vertus, in the extreme south, where the Pinot Noir challenges Chardonnay’s supremacy. Making good champagne is not easy, and is made even harder by working with a single varietal. In a blend, you can “cover” some imperfections of the other grapes caused by particular vintages or small mistakes in the cellar. With a single varietal, especially Chardonnay, any minimal error will reflect in the final bottling. The particular terroir imparts a crystalline finesse to the grape-growing for a unique drinking experience. Here for you are two examples of this style. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do. À vôtre santé! La famille PlumpJack Champagne De Saint-Gall, Le Blanc de Blancs, Brut 1er Cru, NV From: Avize About the Winery: This small winery is located in one of the most beautiful Premier Cru communes in Champagne: Cuis. Benoit Munier has 1.6 hectares of vineyards and its production is limited to seven thousand bottles per year. The winery is based in sustainable viticulture practices and on the white grape variety that best embodies this beautiful land, Chardonnay. The Munier family's plots are divided into four Grand Cru municipalities of the Cote de Blancs: Oger, Cramant, Chouilly and Avize. To be precise, 30 micro plots are available to Benoit Munier’s winery, built after the Second World War by grandfather André. Benoit Munier creates elegant and fragrant products that are well sought after and increasingly appreciated internationally. This oenological gem can be discovered and appreciated through the bubbles produced on these very limited patches of land; the Champagnes of this winery give a true picture of an authentic and fascinating land. Champagne De Saint Gall is the flagship label of Union Champagne, an Avize-Based “new-generation” cooperative on a meteoric rise to stardom. Historically most of the company’s wine has been sold to the region’s iconic houses to be blended into their top luxury brands. As far as cooperatives go, Union Champagne is without question the wealthiest of its kind, with a staggering 615 hectares of Grand Cru vineyard land, 615 hectares of Premier Cru vineyard land, and 135 hectares of “mere mortal” unclassified vineyard land. Most of the firm’s acreage lies in the sought-after Côte des Blancs zone, where they farm more Grand Cru acreage than all other Champagne houses combined. Vinification: Hand picked grapes, fermentation in stainless tank. 36 months on lees, 8g/L dosage from a solera that goes back forty years. Aging: 36 months on lees, from a solera that goes back forty years. Residual sugar: 8 g/l Tasting notes: On sight, it has a straw yellow color, with good brightness. Citrus and floral nose, with a chalky minerality. Delicate and compact, of greater complexity if the glass gains a few degrees centigrade in temperature. Direct and immediate palate, played on freshness and references to citrus scents. Finale of good cleanliness and acidity. Winemaker: Benoit Munier Price per bottle / Price per case: $55/bottle $660/case Suggested Food Pairing: Mushroom bundles and stuffed mushroom appetizers; deep-fried zucchini blossoms; roast beef crostini. Champagne Lancelot-Pienne, Instant Present Brut, Blanc de Blancs, NV From: Cramant About the Winery: Gilles Lancelot comes from a long line of growers. His great-grandfather Jean-Baptiste cultivated his own grapes in Cramant in the post-Great War years while working as G.H. Mumm’s vineyard manager, a connection that explains how Gilles was able to buy the old Mumm winery in Cramant early in this century. His grandfather began domain-bottling his Champagne in the post-WWII years. In 1967, his father married Brigitte Pienne from Chouilly and the two domains merged. Gilles himself officially took the reins of Lancelot-Pienne in 2005 following his enology studies and after working at his father’s side since 1995. The vineyards lie in Cramant, in the heart of the Champagne region. The estate covers 8.30 hectares of vines. Their plots are cultivated on the terroirs of both the Côte des Blancs and the Marne Valley. Vinification: Both viticultural and winemaking practices at Lancelot Pienne follow lutte raisonee (sustainable agriculture), an approach that limits the use of chemicals in the vineyards and winery. The grapes are harvested rather late, pressed very slowly at the winery and fermented into wine in stainless steel and enameled concrete tanks. Malolactic fermentation is carried out on all of the estate’s wines, with the aim to keep a certain characteristic freshness locked inside the wines. Ageing: Aged on its lees for 30 months before disgorgement. Residual sugar: 7 g/l Tasting notes: Bright yellow gold with green reflections in the glass. At the nose yeasty with reminiscent of butter and brioche that lies over a delicate floral tapestry. It lingering in the palate with a clean freshness without any sharp acidity. Perfectly to be sipped by itself or accompanying many different preparations. Winemaker: Gilles Lancelot Price per bottle / Price per case: $57/bottle $684/case Suggested Food Pairing: Shellfish; mild and soft cheeses, grilled vegetables; barbecue salmon.
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