What the cool kids are drinking this Summer

There is always something new for the summer. 5 years ago it was the rosé resurgence. A couple of years ago it was Txakoli. Last year it was Txakoli rosato. Our friends over at Cépage (pronounced SEA-page) are a bit out-of-date on what the cool kids are drinking.

Well this year, it’s something different. What the cool kids are drinking is the Juliénas Spritzer.


Preparation:

• Take one 10L bag-in-box Michel Tête Juliénas and put in refrigerator.
• Take Lurisia sparkling(or Pelligrino if it is not available in your area) and also refrigerate.
• Wait until chilled.
• Take out 8.5 oz Picardie tumbler.
• Add 1 part Lurisia and two parts Juliénas from the spout.
• Drink and repeat until satisfied.
• Garnish if you like, but I don’t.

This is what the cool kids are drinking.

Happy Bastille Day!

We here at the vlm-tr are big fans of Bastille Day. We're bigger fans if there is a cool time trial or mountain stage on Le Tour, but we don't have the flexibility to watch the Tour during the week anymore, so we hope others fare differently.

Generation Kill, episode 1

The new HBO show Generation Kill started last night. As you may know, the vlm-tr is a HUGE fan of David Simon and Ed Burns’ last show, The Wire, which I think may be the best television ever produced. Needless to say, I was anxiously awaiting this mini-series based on the book by the embedded reporter Evan Wright.

Episode 1 was marked by trenchant realism that we’ve come to expect from Simon & Burns. I wasn’t struck numb the way I was with The Wire, but then again, I’ve lived in Baltimore and been held at gunpoint, I haven’t been to Iraq, nor been in the armed service. What I like about the way they approach their subject matter is that nothing really has to happen, there is a narrative arc, but they do not feel any inclination to insert action at every turn, or even at all. I don’t feel I can make any pronouncements about the show for a few more episodes, but it looks to be a worthy successor to The Wire.

A NY Times review, was sort of lukewarm, but not particulalrly good, IMO. A much better review, as well as more positive, from Tom Shales as well as one from a fellow embedded journalist, also of the Washington Post. The New Yorker had a slightly negative review that I think missed the point.

The vlm-tr gives it a preliminary “Watch it, biaatch!” with hopes that it will join the pantheon of greatness.

A great 2003 saves a night of crap

Had a chance to have dinner with good friends Matt and André. Very OK steakhouse fare, but great company.

Henriot Champagne Brut
Total crap. When people say Champagne blows, this is what they have in mind.

2003 Domaine de Chevalier Pessac-Léognan
After a great bottle of 1998 I had recently, I had high hopes for this, despite the vintage. I mean, great growers make good wines in all vintages, right? Well, this was all fluffy and even a bit lactic. The fruit was all outsized and crude. Could never really get into it, not could anyone else.

2003 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
Well thank god for the Foucault brothers. I have always found that the Foucaults and the Bretons do very well in hot vintages compared to some of their neighbors. Pierre Breton once told me he thinks it has to do with how he has been farming and how deep the roots get and how the rock under the vineyard keeps the parcel cool (that is for his exquisite Perrieres). I think this is particularly true for Saumur, whose wines start off blockier than their Bourgeuil cousins. This wine was rich, but not blowsy and retained its shape and even stretched out a bit as it opened up, which is always a good sign. Excellent length, depth, and cut. I’m not always a huge fan of the Poyeux as it is quite expensive and, given limited resources, I prefer to spring the extra dough for the Bourg. In this vintage, the Poyeux is just fantastic. I buy as much Foucault as I can. You should do the same. On pre-arrival at Chambers. I bet Rockss and Douche didn’t tell you that, did he?

Dinner with the crew at Pop's

Dinner at one of my brother’s restaurants with a mixture of wine business friends and normal friends. Always interesting to see how that works out. Rather well on this night. We had great luck with the wines as well, the Baudry, Geantet, and Occhipinti in particular.

2004 Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boissée
Great fucking wine. Matthieu is still getting the hang of it, so it doesn’t reach heights like this every year (I found the 2005 overblown), but when it hits like this, I think this is destined to be one of the great chenin blanc wines of the world. Planted on the top part of Croix Boissée where the cabernet franc kept dying because of the high limestone content of the soil. The vines are young, less than ten years old, but in 2004 there is a density and purity that is admirable. It doesn’t have the wooliness of chenin closer to Tours. What it does have is an electric balance between fruit, soil, and acid each weaving in and out of the other. Really superb and I urge you to try it if you can find it.

1998 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes-Chambertin
A great showing for this wine which is definitely in a sweet spot right now. Good deep dark red pitted fruits with a hit of spice over the top and some bottom notes that were in the leatherish end. The balance and freshness here are really remarkable and there is plenty of snap and structure to the fun. Exactly what Charmes should be, charmant! I think that Geantet wines don’t get enough respect. Lyle from Rockss and Douche even gave me a little grief about liking them back when he was at Crush. I don’t understand why, the wines aren’t spoofed, they aren’t really oaky, the vines are all old with most of them pinot fin. Yes, he bottles on the early side, but so does Leroy. Anyway, miss these wines at your own peril.

2000 Georges Mugneret Nuits St. Georges 1er Les Chaignots
Susannah really liked this, and I brought it because she had liked a bottle of the 1999 so much a couple of years back. This lacks the precision of that previous wine, but it is showing very well right now. In fact, my experience over the past year with 2000s has been fantastic. While I liked it very much, others really liked it, even more than the Geantet. They’re wrong of course, but it was good.

2005 Occhipinti Nero d'Avola Sicilia Siccagno
An excellent showing for this wine as well. Sappy and deeply pitched, well fruited and just a very happy wine. It had the right structure and balance to get us through the end of the meal and enjoy some afterwards. This wine had dramatically improved over it’s year in NC.

1981 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia
Others liked this more than I did. I really enjoyed a younger version at Tia Pol not long back, but this was a bit much. Probably would have been better with the correct food instead of by itself after a meal.

Arsenal in the transfer market 1

This is an important summer for my other obsession Arsenal F.C. of north London. Personally, if we can make big money off of Adebayor, I say let him go. A $40-45 M profit (what we paid versus selling price) from him and $10 M could be used to grab David Silva and another striker. The biggest issue for us is that Adebayor allows us to play a 4-5-1, which is good for the Champions League. I’d also really like to see us sign Jeremy Toulalan who I think could be a great defensive midfielder so that we could operate in a 4-2-3-1, which is the formation I like the best.

We also need a top notch defender. I have Micah Richards in mind. He has expressed interest in Arsenal and he could be the player that shores things up. He won’t be cheap, but the Arsenal board really need to suck it up and spend. It would be nice to get a world class keeper, but that doesn’t look likely. Shea Given could be nice, but what we really need is someone imposing physically and Given is very much like Almunia.

I really like the signing of Nasri. I’m not sure where he fits in, hopefully as the successor to Robert Pires who has never been adequately replaced (which may actually be impossible). Not sure about this Bischoff guy, but no one had heard of Clichy, Sagna, or Fabregas before Wenger grabbed them, so we’ll wait and see.

A lot depends on how 3 key players recover from injury and whether they can stay fit. We’ve yet to see the rampaging Rosicky from the 2006 World Cup. He may end up being too fragile to the EPL. Van Persie is another very important cog. He is one of the most outrageously talented technical players in the world. In fact, Thierry Henry once said that he was the only player he has ever played with that was Zidane’s equal in that regard (he said this before playing with Messi though). The return of Eduardo is another very important development. I admit, I was unconvinced by his early displays, he seemed off the pace and lacking in skill. I think I was wrong about that. Once he got his sea legs, he just started scoring. He didn’t always light things up in build-up play, but

The two players we need development from are Theo and Diaby. Theo’s run against Liverpool was a thing of beauty. I’m hoping that Wenger gives him a chance to play more regularly this season. I see Diaby as the successor to Viera, with a box-to-box mentality. In some ways he is more skilled than Viera, but he doesn’t seem to have the tactical nous or the defensive sensibilities. We’ll see.

There's Florida and there is FlaJim

For those of you that don’t already know, and there must be at least 3 or 4 of you left, Jim Cowan is a gem of person. Almost makes it worth visiting Florida. Almost.If you notice a difference between the first two wines and the last two, the first were at our hotel, the last were at the restaurant we went to for dinner. Terrible wine list, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway, and my folks got to meet Jim, which was nice for everyone. The bill came service compris, which was odd. Just goes to show how many Europeans are showing up in Florida these days with their damn Euros and a willfull ignorance towards the tipping customs in the U.S.

1998 Domaine de Chevalier Pessac-Léognan Rouge
Really excellent bottle. Tannins have folded in, very Graves nose and all the tobacco, earth, and red fruits that this implies added to the more predictable cabernet-ish darker notes. Balanced and harmonious without anything seeming outsized or forced. In 1998 at least, this wine has resisted the call of the concentrator. Paid about $45 which I think is fair for the wine. Worth seeking out.

2005 Luneau-Papin Excelsior Clos des Noelles
Excellent. Although from an entirely different soil, every bit as good as Marc Olivier’s Granit de Clisson. Maybe more aggressive than Marc’s. I like these new luxury Muscadet and hope these projects continue. Not sure how others are responding. I’m on the lookout and will be putting some in the cellar.

2006 Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc
Drinkable, sort-of.

2004 Sonoma-Cuter Les Pierres
Bloody awful. I tried really hard to find something to like. I should have had a martini.