Diebolt-Vallois Rosé!

In about a week, Diebolt-Vallois will release a rosé champagne, the first that Diebolt has made since 1985. As you can see in this photo, they're just waiting for labels....

It would have been easy to just drop a little red wine into the non-vintage blanc de blancs, but that's not Diebolt's style. This is actually a whole new cuvée made largely from red grapes, and blended with a little red wine purchased from the Tornay estate in Bouzy. Fruity and fresh, it's designed for early drinking: "Rosé isn't meant to age very long," says Jacques Diebolt.

I've added a tasting note for this rosé on ChampagneGuide.net, and I've updated the notes on the rest of Diebolt's range as well, including the new release of Cuvée Prestige and the brand-new 2004 Fleur de Passion.

Riesling in Paris

In Paris this weekend I met up with Lars Carlberg, who represents a number of exciting growers in Germany's Mosel Valley through his Trier-based company, Mosel Wine Merchant. Lars was in town showing some new wines to Mark Williamson of Willi's Wine Bar and Macéo (that's the two of them in this photo), and invited me to join them for a morning Rieslingfest, along with Macéo sommelier Guillaume, Drew Harre of Fish la Boissonnerie and Dany Bertin-Denis of Les Enfants Rouges.

I've been so occupied with other things this year that I haven't had the chance yet to taste a single German riesling from 2008 up until now. On Saturday, Lars opened about 20 wines from the vintage, mostly dry—I loved the St. Aldegunder Himmelreich Kabinett trocken by Ulli Stein, inspired by Vinho Verde. Stein's idea was to make a truly dry wine under 10 degrees of alcohol, and while this may not be the most profound or complex riesling in the Mosel, its crisp, summery freshness just makes you want to drink loads of it. For profundity, the Ayler Kupp Fass 6 from Peter Lauer was sophisticated in its delicate balance and keen expression of terroir, showing all of the detail and class of this top site—not all of the Kupp is up to this quality, but this wine comes from the original parcel known as Kupp prior to the expansion of 1971. In a bigger, gutsier vein, the Kabinett trocken from Clemens Busch was delicious, combining rich fruit with incisive acidity and a hint of pleasantly herbal bitterness to keep it refreshing and buoyant. It's entirely from the upper portion of the Pündericher Marienburg, but this can't be marked on the label due to the new VDP regulations (don't get me started on that). Also delicious was Steinmetz's Kestener Paulinsberg Spätlese** (two-star), which Stefan Steinmetz has made in a sort of homage to Joh. Jos. Prüm—lithe and filigreed, it of course shows a very different terroir signature to, say, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, but it's marked by the "sponti" notes of Mosel wild-yeast fermentation that made me think of this post by Brooklynguy. That might put some people off, but I think the wine is beautiful.

The wine of the day for me, though, was the 2008 Röttgen trocken by Knebel. The Uhlen, as usual, was sterner, more tightly-wound, with more overt stuffing, but in this vintage the Röttgen has such a gorgeous purity of expression, its fruit essentially existing solely to provide a platform and structure for maximum transmission of terroir character. Fruity riesling it is not, but if slate and site-specificity are your things, this is definitely a wine to seek out.

Vouette et Sorbée in 31 Days of Natural Wine

I'm contributing today to 31 Days of Natural Wine, a collaborative project conceived of and hosted by Cory Cartwright on his blog, Saignée.

My post today is on Vouette et Sorbée, the biodynamically-farmed estate of Bertrand Gautherot in the Aube. Have a look, and return to Cory's site over the next few weeks for guest posts on natural wine by some of the best wine bloggers out there.

ChampagneGuide.net in Winart

ChampagneGuide.net is featured in the July 2009 issue of Winart, Japan's leading wine magazine.

On Champagne Corks and Their Alternatives

Last night, I posted a video to ChampagneGuide.net's Facebook page about champagne corks and some recently proposed attempts to replace them.

Among the latest solutions is the Maestro, the new closure by Duval-Leroy and Alcan that you can see in this photo. Duval-Leroy is releasing a portion of the new 2004 Clos des Bouveries with this closure, which is built around a crown-capsule (thus not involving any cork whatsoever), and Sandrine Logette-Jardin, chef de cave of Duval-Leroy, kindly gave me a bottle for this video.

Click here to see it.

L'Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne

I am proud to tell you that last night I had the honor of being inducted as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. At the order's annual meeting in the sumptuous Palais de Tau in Reims, Commandeur de l'Ordre Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger of Champagne Taittinger waved his magic "pomponne" and welcomed me into the Chapitre de la Fleur de Vigne, one of the three official chapters of the organization. There were trumpets! Ceremony! Fanfare! Knights Who Say 'Ni'! (Wait, no, that was something else.)

The Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne traces its history to the 17th century, when a number of young aristocrats, most of whom were landowners in Champagne, formed a group to promote the wines of the region. According to Patrick Forbes in his outstanding book Champagne: The Wine, the Land and the People, the origin of the name dates from shortly after the coronation of Louis XIV in 1666, and can be attributed to the activities of three of the group's most prominent members, all renowned for their loyal devotion to the finest things vinous and gastronomic: the Marquis de Saint-Evremond, the Comte d'Olonne and the Marquis de Bois-Dauphin. Forbes writes:

Soon after the coronation they dined with the Bishop of Le Mans, and so horrified the old man with their fastidiousness in matters of food and wine that he went about Paris afterwards saying: "These gentlemen, in seeking refinement in everything, go to extremes: they can only eat Normandy veal; their partridges must come from Auvergne, and their rabbits from La Roche-sur-Yon; they are no less particular as regards fruit; and, as to wine, they can only drink that of the good coteaux of Aÿ, Hautvillers and Avenay." Their friends, who thought this a huge joke, started calling them the Trois Coteaux, and before long the whole group became known as the Ordre des Coteaux.

The group actually did a great deal to popularize the wines of Champagne at the time, playing an important role in the region's development, and they remained in existence until shortly before the Revolution. In 1956, a group of Champenois led by Roger Gaucher and François Taittinger revived the Ordre, and today it serves as the most visible and prestigious body of ambassadors of champagne worldwide. Prior to Pierre-Emmanuel's election as Commandeur in March of this year, Pierre Cheval of Champagne Gatinois held that office; previous Commandeurs have included such luminaries as Claude Taittinger, Bernard de Nonancourt and Christian de Billy. The Ordre also has a number of officers, including Didier Depond of Salon/Delamotte (pictured with me here), my sponsor in the order.

As a Chevalier, I am sworn to defend the cause of champagne and promote the appreciation of champagne in whatever way I can. I'm probably also expected to drink as much champagne as humanly possible. I think I can do that.