Unfiltered

The Grand Opening was a smash hit. A big thank you to everyone who came out and to those who couldn't make but sent lots of pretty flowers. The tasting table was mobbed from the time we cut the ribbon until we locked the doors. The turnout surpassed our wildest expectations and we raised over $500 dollars for Camp "I AM ME". 

No more press releases, Klieg lights, patriotic bunting, blimp sponsorships, and balloon sculptures. Time for some wine talk.

PrieurÉ De St.-Jean De BÉbian Grand Vin de Languedoc 2000

Filed under: France, Languedoc, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre — thebottleshop @ 5:05 pm

The 2000 Prieuré de St.-Jean de Bébian was a minor sensation at the tasting table Saturday. Smells like roasted herbs, backyard smoke, and sun-baked black fruits. With some air, the wine fans out, picking up weight and intensity. Already something of a cult wine when it was purchased by Parisian wine writers Chantal Lecouty and Jean-Claude Lebrun of Le Revue du Vin de France in 1994, Bébian is arguably the benchmark wine of the Languedoc-Roussillon area today. They farm 28 vineyard parcels scattered about the arid foothills of the Cévennes Mountains a few miles outside of the village of Pézenas. Following the practice of the previous owner, they continue to propagate their vineyards with heirloom vine cuttings from Chave's Syrah vineyards in Hermitage, Rayas in Châteauneuf (Grenache), Domaine Tempier in Bandol (Mourvèdre), and, most recently, Syrah from Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe. While most major wine publications list this wine at $30 a bottle, it's starting to trade a little lower, I think, in part, because the wine was released a couple of years too early and is only now beginning to reveal it's brilliance after a few years of gentle hibernation in the importer's temperature controlled warehouse. It's not easy to find this kind of pedigree under $20 a bottle, and less than $200 by the case, it's downright rare. Drink now through 2010. 

$18 by the bottle or 194.40 by the case ($16.20) 

Order by email or call 847-256-7777

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Château de la Terrière Brouilly Vieille Vignes Cuvée Jules du Souzy 2003 

Filed under: France, Burgundy, Gamay Noir, Brouilly, Beaujolais — thebottleshop @ 5:20 pm

Smells like a handful of fresh-picked strawberries, crushed fresh green herbs – mint, maybe? That’s the best I can do. What does it taste like? It tastes like itself. It’s seamless, pure, and singular in the way that great, single vineyard wines should be. Consider this documentary proof that wines of Brouilly once commanded higher prices than those of Pommard in Burgundy. Really. The ancient vines, which are an average of 60 years old, and minuscule yields account for the wine’s almost holographic purity. I’m told that they cropped down to 15 hectoliters per hectare in 2003 — about one ton per acre. 2003 was a scorcher in France and it was not uncommon for other growers to make port-like Beaujolais with absurdly high levels of alcohol in 2003 – I’ve seen some as high as 15%, no kidding. Remarkably, the 2003 Cuvée Souzy is a balanced 12.5%.

Wine making at the Chateau de la Terrière is decidedly more Burgundian than Beaujolais: cold – not carbonic – maceration, followed by a slow, low-temperature, open-tank fermentation that takes weeks to finish. The old vines Brouilly Cuvée Jules du Souzy spends three months in oak barrels (30% new), and is then bottled unfiltered. This is what the French call, “Vin de Garde”. There is no question that a wine with this kind of pedigree and breed from Burgundy would cost a small fortune. I tasted this wine last week and bought the last six cases available.

$21.00 by the bottle or $227 by the case ($18.92)

Order by email or call 847-256-7777

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P.-Y. Tijou Et Fils Château Soucherie Anjou Blanc 2004 

Filed under: France, Loire Valley, Anjou, Côteaux du Layon, Chenin Blanc — thebottleshop @ 5:07 pm

A beautiful, hand-made wine from importer Neal Rosenthal. The Tijou clan farms 45 acres of old vine Chenin Blanc vineyards planted on the schistose banks (schist is like slate only harder) of the Layon river in the middle Loire Valley. From what I gather, these folks produce no more than 6,000 cases a year. Everything is hand-made from start to finish. The wine making is minimal and transparent: no oak, no manipulation, no chemistry.

The wine’s kind of shy at first. You’ll have to nose it a bit to pick up the faint scent of lanolin. Faint though it is, it’s the aromatic signature of Chenin Blanc grown in schistose vineyards of the Loire Valley. It reminds me of smoldering piles of autumn leaves, wet wool and hot apple cider.

Nothing faint about the taste, though. It takes hold of your tongue, pulsing with bright, green apple acidity. Let it warm up, you might pick up some orange peel and key lime. I did, anyway. There’s a dense, grippy, almost chewy, mid-palate that qualifies this wine for Moroccan Lamb Tangine or Bouillabaisse. Best of all, it’s only 12% alcohol by volume. Buy a case, drink a few bottles now, and check back in a few years. Tijou’s wines are famously long-lived and gain complexity with bottle age. Though you might find it hard to believe that white wines can age well, I just tried a 1985 Vouvray Sec (dry Chenin Blanc) from Gaston Hüet that was impossibly fresh and vibrant after ten years in bottle.

$13.50 by the bottle or $144 by the case ($12.00)

Order by email or call 847-256-7777 

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After Work @ The Bottle Shop 

Chasseur Sangiacomo Green Acres Hill Carneros Chardonnay 2003

Chasseur Sylvia's Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2003 

Bill Hunter makes tiny amounts of single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in West Sonoma. We tasted the wines last week. They are stunning. We bought everything they had left in Chicago. Ten six-packs of the Chardonnay and two cases of the Pinot Noir. That's from a total production of less than 300 cases: three barrels of Dutton Family Pinot Noir and ten barrels of Sangiacomo Family Chardonnay. Certainly as good, if not better, than any of the better known Sonoma Coast cult wineries such as Kistler, Flowers and Littorai. Stop by on your way home from work and taste for yourself. 

Questions? Email or call 847-256-7777

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Best Sellers

Reds

1. Prieure de Saint Jean de Bebian Grand Vin de Languedoc 2000
2. Doña Paula “Los Cardos” Malbec Mendoza 2004
3. Viña y Tía “De Lozar” Ribera del Duero 2004
4. Summers Napa Valley Charbono Villa Andriana Vineyard 2004
5. Joel Gott California Zinfandel

Whites

1. Foxglove Edna Valley Chardonnay 2004
2. Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet-sur-lie 2004
3. Domaine Cassagnoles Côtes de Gascogne Blanc 2004
4. Novellum Barrel Cuvée Chardonnay 2004
5. Ken Wright Celilo Vineyard Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2004

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