Aimee’s birthday was a week ago Sunday, so of course we had to break out some great wine! She got the day off with friends while I worked at the shop; she came in around 5 and some other friends met us for a small celebration. We started off with some Champagne that I had chilled, the Duval Leroy Paris Cuvee. It was a nice wine that the occasion made much better. Totally serviceable Champagne, but nothing overly memorable on its own. All Champagne is good, though, so I set a high standard. Not distinctive enough to carry in the shop, but again, the occasion made it great. Talk turned to sabering Champagne, which is a fun party trick that I love to do. My champagne saber was at home, so I found a chef’s knife (the back of any heavy knife will work just as well), grabbed a bottle of Gran Sarao Cava (you don’t want to use anything expensive, since you’ll lose some in the process) and we trekked outside for the demo. Everyone was duly impressed. (like I said, good party trick – visually impressive and once you know how, easy to do.) After we had the Cava, we headed home for a birthday dinner of Jing’s Chinese food and a special wine that I brought home from France.
I visited several domaines when I was in Burgundy in February 2007, and fell in love with the white wines of Morey-Coffinet – they’re a very small producer that I got hooked up with because I’m friends with the people at Martine’s Wines, their US importer. Michel Morey is a young guy who is utterly unassuming and almost shy about his wines, but they’re stunning. I barrel tasted all the 2006’s when I was there and then most of the ’05s in bottle. I brought back the 2005 Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets 1er cru. (Out of all the 1er crus, I thought that was the most accessible in youth, and thought I would be drinking it shortly after I got back; I didn’t plan on cellaring it until now.)
We opened it up with dinner, and it was magical. I just love white Burgundy – at its heights it’s the greatest white wine in the world. Great complexity – primary fruit, minerality, integrated spicy oak, creaminess from lees aging and malolactic fermentation, good acidity, very long finish. Simply lovely; a great way to end the day.
A related note about Morey Coffinet – when we started up the shop, I immediately contacted Martine’s to find out who their WI distributor was so I could carry the portfolio. Turns out they didn’t have one, but my interest helped facilitate them getting one. We’re just about the only place in the state thus far working with their portfolio, since I had the advantage of being familiar with many of the producers. In addition to a Bourgogne Rouge from Christophe Perrot Minot (rising superstar who I also visited; his wines are highly sought after, and I snapped up Wisconsin’s entire allocation of the Rouge – a whopping six bottles!) we now carry three stunning wines from Morey Coffinet – a Bourgogne Blanc, a Chassagne-Montrachet “Blanchots-Dessus” 1er cru, and a Puligny-Montrachet “Les Pucelles” 1er cru.