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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Kermit Lynch
Read between
July 28 - December 8, 2019
On the final day of the tour, one of the winemakers mentioned that in his opinion the most talented winemaker in Burgundy was Hubert de Montille in Volnay. I canceled my flight home and drove to Volnay.
And those people who would always drink the Musigny over a Monthelie no matter what they have on their plate are not wine lovers. They are status seekers. A wine can only be judged as it relates to the environment in which it is served.
great wine is about nuance, surprise, subtlety, expression, qualities that keep you coming back for yet another taste. Rejecting a wine because it is not big enough is like rejecting a book because it is not long enough, or a piece of music because it is not loud enough.
Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull. People talk about the mystery of wine, yet most don’t want anything to do with mystery. They want it all there in one sniff, one taste. If you keep an open mind and take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover.
Vintage charts are the worst kind of generalization; great wine is the contradiction of generalization.
Finesse is a word that does not have much meaning to American tasters, who use it when they are trying to find something positive to say about a light-bodied wine, but to a serious French winemaker it is one of the most complimentary words in the vocabulary, and to appreciate the noblest French wines one must learn to recognize and appreciate finesse. Most important, finesse is not another word for “light.”
In all the world of wine, Vouvray and Sauternes are the two that age the longest.”
tourists in the Loire usually have their noses aimed skyward as they gaze at one of the region’s countless grand châteaux. These are not the stolid, bourgeois châteaux of Bordeaux. These are breathtaking monuments to the aristocratic splendor of another era, works of art in themselves, and much of French history transpired within their walls. Joan of Arc was transformed from peasant girl to historical figure within the stone walls of the château at Chinon. Richard the Lion-Hearted died there. One of its proprietors was the sinister, ingenious Cardinal Richelieu. Leonardo da Vinci is buried in
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Château de l’Hospital,
The Languedoc is a rewarding place to tour, unless it is August, when Europeans who cannot afford the Riviera crowd to ravage its beaches. There is a wild, savage beauty to the landscape, stark and colorful at once, and the province abounds in medieval fortresses and cathedrals, impossible geological formations, sandy Mediterranean beaches, and unpretentious cuisine. It is almost, but not quite, Provence.
Go south along the coast, almost to Spain, to Collioure and Banyuls-sur-Mer, two of the prettiest harbors on the French Mediterranean.
According to locals, Laboucarie’s Domaine de Fontsainte Cuvée des Demoiselles is the finest red Corbières being produced in the 1980s.
But then of course Cassis tastes better at Cassis! Debussy sounds better after a walk through the foggy, puddled streets of late-night Paris. You are in the midst of the atmosphere that created it. The wine is not different; the music is not different. You are.
For the great appellations of the north, it is best to keep in mind two dominating factors: Syrah, which is the only red grape permitted, and steep, because the vines are planted on dramatic terraced hillsides that rise from the narrow valley floor. One does not see these dazzling carved mountainsides in the southern Rhône. The dominant grape variety in the southern reds is the Grenache, which is usually blended with other varieties, and the terrain is comparatively flat.
In terms of worldwide renown and prestige, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the greatest appellation in southern France, which is not to say that it is always the source of the finest wine.
Vieux Télégraphe’s vines are planted on a very privileged site. Thanks to this site, their vinification, and their consistency, it is one of the two or three finest domaines producing Châteauneuf-du-Pape today.
One red could not be ignored, the legendary 1947 Cheval Blanc. Some have called it the finest Bordeaux of the century.
perhaps the Creator installed the terraces on the sixth day in order to drink well on the seventh.
When clients planning a trip to France ask my advice, I try to talk them into going to either Alsace or the Beaujolais. For the time being, demand and prices for Bordeaux and Burgundy make it difficult for tourists to get into the best cellars.
When those who remember real Beaujolais describe it, they make my mouth water: a light, grapy, fizzy, tart, quaffable red wine. Bring on the gras-double (tripe with onions and parsley), the boudin aux pommes (blood sausage with baked apple), the cervelas aux pistaches et truffes (sausage stuffed with pistachio nuts and black truffles). With real Beaujolais, we can handle it.
We must come back to lighter Beaujolais for several reasons. Back in the old days, there was not so much automobile traffic, but nowadays everyone drives a car. How can you drink a wine at 14 degrees and then drive home from a restaurant? That is not true Beaujolais. I say if you want something with lots of alcohol, drink whiskey.”
Beaujolais should not be a civilized society lady; it is the one-night stand of wines.
I consider the whites of the region, Mâcon, Saint-Veran, and Pouilly-Fuissé, to be proper white Burgundies.
It was still alive and really, well, quite grand in its way. A mere Aligoté. But if you are looking for great Burgundy, there is your recipe: a careful winemaker, old hillside vines, traditional vinification without excess chaptalization, then bottled unfiltered.
The recipe works for Pinot Noir, too. No grape is more sensitive to its vineyard site. In France, the Côte Chalonnaise is really the only place outside the Côte d’Or that produces worthwhile Pinot Noir. Rully, Givry, and Mercurey have excellent cuvées, and Chalonnais reds labeled Bourgogne have the possibility to be more interesting than Bourgogne from the Côte d’Or itself, because most Côte d’Or Bourgogne is from flatland vines while Côte Chalonnaise bottlings are likely to be from hillsides.
Never mind that throughout history man has recognized that wine is nourishing and healthy—not unhealthy, not even neutral, but healthy. Thomas Jefferson and Jesus Christ advocated wine for medicinal purposes. Top those sources!
Here is a quote from Loyau that I neglected to include in the original edition of this book: “Drinking water leads to suicide.”
And here is a quote from me to those who don’t like to spend too much money on wine: “If you’re looking for bargains, look where no one else is looking.”
It was too early for an aperitif, so I offered her a lemonade, which she refused. A glass of water, then? “I don’t drink water,” she said. “I have a cold white or rosé.” “I drink red wine,” she said. “I have a red in the fridge left over from lunch.” “Perfect.” I poured her a glass, and with my wife watched Lulu down it in one go—just as if it were a glass of water. Glug, glug, glug, gone. “That’s good. I was really thirsty with this heat.” She didn’t sniff it, didn’t want more. Christ turned water into wine; Lulu gets right to it. She skips the water.
