RFN # 10, pub. 5/1/09

The Riggs Fulmer Newsletter
No. 10
May 1, 2009
!May Day Edition!

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Retailers and restaurants set pricing; think of the prices below as very educated guesswork- restaurant prices will likely be around double those listed.

***EDITOR'S NOTE: Redact the following section*** Good afternoon, friends. I hope you’re all reading this in the wee hours, having spent the day out and about in the fickle May sunshine. I sat in my parking lot for ten minutes, does that count as a lazy day in the sun? It’s going to have to, because more than the sunshine is looming on my day’s horizon- there’s a little tilt down Houston way this evening that has me all a-twitter (in the pre-2007 sense of the word), so I’d better put nose to grindstone immediately, lest I devolve into a series of increasingly irritating basketball metaphors. Who wants to read about acids boxing out residual sugar, or Cab Franc taking it to the hole? Not me. The very idea has my keyboard sneering back at me, so I’ll respond to her admonition and get right down to work.

Well, we all know how that turned out, don’t we? In fact, the delay of the RFN this week was in pure sympathy with our metaphorically fallen warriors, slain by the foul southern Redcoats. Oh well. If there were only an elixir that, if it couldn’t purge our sorrow, could at least dull its edges and allow us to proceed into the weekend dry-eyed… Oh yeah, wine!

Frederick Wildman and Sons, Spring Tasting at the Museum of Contemporary Craft

Last week I promised coverage of the excellent Wildman tasting, made possible by the mad geniuses at Odom, that followed on the heels of our yummy luncheon at Ten01- and here it is. Held just off the North Park Blocks at the beautiful Museum of Contemporary Craft (724 NW Davis, www.museumofcontemporarycraft.com) on a sunny day not unlike this one, the tasting promised to be excellent. As I mounted the stairs through a rainforest of plush green crochet, pendulous lianas of yarn that hung from high ceiling to floor, I knew I was in for it. This place really is lovely, with warm, attentive staff who never seem to project the “ahem, can I help you?” vibe that cools the air in many a like installation.

Upstairs, in a clean, minimally decorated room, Cynthia Challacombe and crew held court over a fascinating array of wines from the New and Old Worlds. These were my favorites:

2007 Nino Negri Ca’Brione Bianco $34
An absolutely fascinating blend of “white” Nebbiolo (a Valtellina specialty, it seems, made from free-run juice, thus no color extraction), dried Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. The nose has a rich, sylvan hit of honeycomb and anise; these flavors perch calmly over an underpinning of tropical minerality and creamy pineapple earth, with a long, round finish.

2005 Nino Negri Quadrio Valtellina Superiore $22
Made up predominantly of the local version of Nebbiolo, known as Chiavennasca (pron. Kya-ven-ask-a), fleshed out with around 10% Merlot, this wine shows a nicely limpid robe and meaty nose. Expressively herbal and cherried in the mouth, the finish is all stones and minerals.

2006 Pascal Jolivet Sancerre “Sauvage” $34
Jolivet is a local star in the Loire Valley, his Sauvignons among the most distinctive and freshest in expression. With this one, the nose sings with sweet, creamy limeflowers. On the palate it shows bright key limes, fiddlehead ferns/ sotto bosco, and stones; sweet fruit hovering over hard citrus candies, with kissing, soft acids on the finish.

2003 Domaine de Lagrézette Château Lagrézette $31
Is this Malbec as God intended? Maybe not exactly, as it also sees a small amount of Merlot and a drop or two of Tannat. Whatever its divine street cred, this serious little wine is about as affordable as a wine can be that will effortlessly age a decade and a half. Basically Cahors, it shows brick, clay, dried cranberries, and cacao in the nose. On the palate it’s all about broad-shouldered earth, with suitably muscular tannins and blueberry skins, and a long, food-loving finish. Drink now, or even better, wait 5-10 years…

2007 Egon Müller Scharzhof Riesling $25
Perfect German Riesling. How can one country produce so much perfect wine? I think those who produce clunkers are immediately relegated to the bowels of some government mail room for breaking wine regulations. Whatever the cause, the proof is in the pudding. This little gem is gorgeous and full of light, with intense, bright, creamy Pink Lady acidity on the long, earthy finish.

This week I attended a tasting hosted by one of my favorites, Triage Wines, over by their warehouse off of Interstate. The tasting was amazing, and featured non-Piemontese Italian wines, including one of the most interesting bubblies I’ve ever tasted. The tasting deserves its own column entire, and I’ll cover the event in detail next week, but I can’t wait to share a wine that must now take its place in the ever-expanding Summer Value pantheon. This week it’s a red wine, your first new BBQ wine of the season, though more than serious enough to handle more uppity fare…

2006 Montellori Chianti DOCG $12
This organically-grown Chianti offers more Tuscan stuffing per dollar than any wine in recent memory. Not a New Worldy super-extracted oakbomb, but rather an elegant, rustic interpretation of its birthplace, the nose is all sexy, animal leather and black cherries. Under these aromas swirl delicately savage flavors of blood, tobacco box, and cherry, a cascade of wonderful minerality and Italian earth. Ridiculously good at this price.

For the sake of mnemonic stimulus, here are the two Summer Value Whites, revisited:

2007 Oisly-et-Thesée Touraine $9 (Loire Valley)
Distributed by Grape Expectations, this wine is pure, citric Sauv Blanc juice, unencumbered by wood or heavy handling. It just glows with white grapefruit, apple skins, starfruit, and stones-after-rain, with a lip-smacking finish of perfect minerality and acids. At this price, there is no finer wine of this varietal.

2005 Tim Adams Riesling $10 (Clare Valley, Australia)
Dry like Alsatians or Austrians, yet unmistakably Clare Valley, this wine is textbook Riesling in the nose: slate, sunny lemons, briny acidity, and a waft of terroir. On the tongue it is almost bursting with elegant freshness, with a wash of wonderful minerals that only grows brighter as the wine unwinds in the glass. I know a certain caviste at a famous beer/ wine store in Multnomah Village who just might have lots of this wine…

All right, back to Blazer mourning for a minute or two. Seriously, though, people, they did way better than any of us might have expected, and if we’d rather have had the Spurs (whom we’d doubtless have pounded into submission), it was good to get a real test and see the boys get banged around a little bit. I’m already fired up for next year! How can I wait…? Oh yeah, that one game with the pigskin… Those teams from Eugene and Phillie in midnight green... OK, I can handle it now.

Relay For Life First Friday Meet and Greet!

If you’re reading this on May Day, and you’re somewhere near Multnomah Village in SW Portland, make sure to stop by the booth of Relay For Life, right in front of the Lucky Labrador (7675 SW Capitol Hwy). Relay For Life is a wonderful charity contributing greatly to cancer research and survivor support- visit them to make a donation, find out more info, sponsor a Relay team, or just to chat with the charming, lovely young folks (wo)manning the booth. Grab a pint while you do so! They can tell you far more than I, but I’ll point out that their Relay is set to take place at Wilson High School on July 18-19, so you’d better get involved now. These are wonderful people with a powerful, urgent cause; even if no one you know has dealt with cancer, in today’s increasingly artificial world, where ersatz sweeteners and grotesque faux-fats clog our foods (and arteries!), cancer awareness and prevention are ever more important. Make yourself proud and stop by the Relay For Life booth, and tell ‘em the RFN sent you.

All right, then. I’m off to gaze wantonly at Mt. Hood while wiping away my tears with an old Theo Ratliff jersey (oh yeah, I liked them Blazers back when it was WAY uncool to do so… does that make me a Blazers hipster?), and then maybe some asparagus casserole, who knows? And, before I forget, go read some Marx or something. ‘Tis the season, right? Cue the Internationale…

Happy Weekend, friends, and look for big news next week in the Newsletter. See y’all then!

yrs,
Riggs