Remise Flashback

Before the organic wine tasting in Montpelier, I was headed to La Remise, a tasting which had a reputation as one of those wild and wooly bad boy tastings with mostly were unhealthy advertisements for unsulfured wine. If that had once been true, the tasting has matured. But don't worry, it hasn't matured that much. When La Gramiere Amy and I arrived, people were milking sea rocks--otherwise known as slurping back those mammoth Utah Beach oysters. We scrounged like rodents and came across the worlds most delicious short and dense cookies. Then off to work. Herve Souhaut's 2009. 'nuf said. Truly gorgeous vintage for him. I don't need tastings notes. It doesn't matter. But all around, the wines have a lushness worthy of lushes and those who are amongst the 'anti-flavor elite.' Nothing artificial in these flavors for sure. Podere Le Boncie Chianti with freshness Azienda Panevino Dressner scarfed this one up ( I think more accurately Kevin McKenna). My first sip was that this was Anthony Wilson wine. And the winemaker gets extra cute score as well. Conversation of the day: Had with Andrea Calek, who showed up with a new hacked at haircut and a twinkle in his eye and some killer 2009s. When asked how he manages to make a wine that doesn't have that 'typical' carbonic maceration quality (fruit and maybe a little high note of cinnamon) he said, "Sometimes I think." This includes a partial form of carbonic. The grapes are in vat. He closes it up and then daily drains off the liquid into another vat where normal fermentation continues. This provides an interesting mix of wine that has total skin and stem contact until the grapes are pressed off, and the first days where there is just very pure juice. Am waiting for more details from the winemaker. Find of the day: Nicolas Carmarans, previous owner of the wine bar, Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie, showed some lovely wines from Mansois and Fer Servadou. I don't believe they have an importer yet. Meeting of the day I spent about half-an- hour tasting with Pierre Beauger, a winemaker who is loved by many. One other taster asked him about his level of volatility and residual, " If I send the wines out for analysis, I'll lose a bottle, and I can't afford that," was his response. And last month I did say some nice things about his Pet Nat, no? While I wasn't that sold on the wines, others were waxing enthusiastically. My note here was "Nice guy who spoke French slowly for me." Remember this for future post regarding the confrontation at the Dive.