Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace - Offering Both Quality and Value

Americans have have a hard time relating to historical significance as our country is not even 250 years old with the Columbus voyage just 525 years ago.  Yet, almost 600 years ago -- in 1425 -- Romanus Albrecht started producing wine that would eventually evolve into one of Alsace's famous brands: Lucien Albrecht. The current winery traces its heritage to Balthazar Albrecht, who in 1698, settles in Orschwihr after the end of the Thirty Years’ War and cultivates vines. After the phylloxera epidemic and Alsace's return to France post WWI, Henri Albrecht replants vineyards by grafting rootstock to the vines and his success leads to Lucien Albrecht and Crémant d’Alsace. Albrecht leveraged the the work of Julien Dopff and began test productions of sparkling wines in 1971. Five years later the official AOC Crémant d’Alsace designation of origin is established mandating that the sparkling wine be made in the méthode champenoise style and using Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Auxerrois and Chardonnay grapes. Lucien Albrecht is considered as being one of the three founding fathers of the regulated Crémant d’Alsace". These sparkling wines offer outstanding quality at generally lower prices as Champagne.

Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut ($23)
The grapes for this sparkling wine starts a few days earlier than the harvest for the still wines and the
50% Pinot Blanc and 50% Auxerrois blend are handpicked and are whole cluster pressed. The base wine is fermented completely dry and is usually 8.5% alcohol before dosage and the second fermentation. This process is allowed to finalize after about 18 months which results in perhaps less effervescence but abundant freshness. Besides the ripe stone fruit characters the strength of this wine is in its structure.  There's texture and body, less bready, with a fresh finale. Cheers and great SRP. 

Eastern European Moonshine: Rakija, Palinka, Slivovitz

Some of the greatest moments when traveling to Eastern Europe is when you are handed a vessel that doesn't contain its original liquid. Instead it is filled with homemade palinka or slivovitz, a fruit brandy distilled clear and usually at exceedingly high abv - sometimes reaching 70 proof. The liquid has heat, but in the best cases portrays the fruit nicely with a burn that evaporates rather quickly. The brandy is derived from a range of harvested fruit such as peaches, plums, Meggy (sour cherries), Quince, Grapes, Pears, or Apples and has different versions throughout central and eastern Europe: Albania, Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia.

In most of these countries the spirit is called Rakija or the domestic equivalent to that word and is usually the most popular spirit in that country. In Serbia it is known as Slivovitz, made from plums, and is that country's national drink. In Hungary and parts of Austria it is known as Palinka and the first records of its consumption date from 1332. Landowners, Cistercian monks and Jewish residents continued the traditional methods of double distilled after the fruit has naturally fermented. Today Palinka is widely produced and consumed both legally and illegally and the government is currently battling the EU to legalize the distillation of small quantities of palinka for home use. Home distillation is so popular in Hungary that department stores sell small distilling kits.

In Croatia where Rakija is the most popular spirit, it is sometimes infused with herbs to create Travarica which is usually served at the beginning of meals. Croats in central Croatia enjoy šljivovica, a version of plum brandy, and in throughout the Adriatic different islands and regions infuse with bitters, anise, walnuts, and honey.

In the Washington DC area, access to this spirit is limited. In Virginia most ABC stores carry the kosher Maraska Slivovitz Old Plum Brandy made in the historic city of Zadar. The ABC store in the Arlington section of Courthouse carries a range of Slivovitz from Serbia and Bosnia and in Clarendon or DC check at the Ambar Restaurant which carries a range of Serbian Slivovitz. The Quince is my favorite. In DC, MacArthur Beverages and Schneider's of Capitol Hill carry the Czech Jelinek Slivovitz and many others stores carry a version of Serbian Slivovitz. And in Maryland, the Montgomery County stores carry both the aforementioned Jelinek and Maraska labels as well as the Hungarian Zwack Slivovitz. Cheers.

Farmhouse Wines and Green Spring Farm - "Beyond Sustainable" Farming

We grow by the motto “50% for humans, 50% for nature,” maintaining an important balance between the vines grown for humans and crops grown for soil improvement, Bob Cannard & Fred Cline --Green String Farm

This method of “beyond sustainable” farming, was developed by Bobby Cannard and Fred Cline of Cline Family Cellars and is now known as the Green String method of sustainable farming.  Their laboratory, Green String Farm, is located in Sonoma - specifically in Petaluma - and "serves to teach students how to improve the biology of the lands that they steward while growing naturally healthy food".  This method includes natural remedies for pest management, fertilization, and weeding among others. For instance they use over 1500 sheep and 500 goats to remove harmful weeds from their vineyards.  They also use native root stocks which can be dry farmed (no irrigation) and friendly insects are introduced to control harmful insects.

Farmhouse Wines is the brand name for the wine produced at Green String Farm and it takes its name from the school house located on the property. The portfolio is currently comprised of two unique blends each featuring up to six grape varieties and priced reasonably at $15. Winemaker Charlie Tsegeletos is a 30 year veteran of Sonoma wine making and encourages the grapes to tell their story without the over use of oak treatments.

Farmhouse White ($15)
This is an interesting blend of 41% Palomino, 25% Muscat Canelli, 22% Roussanne, 6% Marsanne, 5% Viognier, and 1% Riesling - with Palomino better known as the Spanish grape used in Sherry.  The juice was cold-fermented in stainless steel tanks without malolactic fermentation which presents a fruit forward, clean wine expressing melon, citrus, and tropical notes and a long coated fresh finish. This wine is dangerous, the bottle is empty before one realizes how much was consumed. 

Farmhouse Red ($15)
This wine is comprised of handpicked 39% Merlot (39%) , Syrah (21%),  Zinfandel (20%),  Grenache (9%), Petite Sirah (7%) , and Mourvèdre (3%) . The fermented wine comes from a combination of both free run and pressed juice that is aged in 40% new French oak for one year.  The result of this process is an easy drinking medium bodied wine with plenty of fruit accompanied by texture and black pepper and a very bright finish.

Ventisquero Grey GCM and Carménère

Ventisquero Grey has been operating in Chile since 1998 -- sourcing fruit from their vineyards located in Chile’s principal wine regions: Coastal Maipo, Casablanca, Colchagua, Leyda and Huasco.  I recently received samples of two excellent and affordable wines from the winery. Cheers.


Ventisquero Grey Carménère 2014 ($20.00)
The fruit for this wine was grown in the Maipo Valley which is located just south of the capital city Santiago and as wine-searcher.com states "...is home to some of the country's most prestigious wines ... and is often described as the 'Bordeaux of South America'". Specifically the Maipo Valley is situated at the most northern end of the Central Valley separated from Mendoza by the Andes Mountains and blocked from the Pacific by the Coastal Range. The sun warms the valley during the day, followed by colder nights which slows ripening, extends the growing season, and leads to grapes with a balance between ripeness and acidity. An ideal environment for the Bordeaux based Carménère. Winemaker Felipe Tosso states that Carménère needs some oak to tame high concentrations of fruit, but too much oak masks the beauty of the fruit, and thus the Grey Carménère is aged a minimum 18 months in oak and at least 8 months in bottle. This method allows the wine to portray the dark red and black fruit characters integrated with a velvety texture and a very fresh palate.

Ventisquero Grey GCM 2017 ($20.00)
The GCM refers to 62% Garnacha, 19% Cariñena, and 19% Mataro (Mourvèdre) from a single block No 28, La Robleria, Apalta Valley - Colchagua from central Chile. According to wine-searcher.com, the "Colchagua Valley boasts a textbook wine-growing climate: warm, but cooled by ocean breezes and dry, but refreshed by rivers and occasional rainfall". And the Apalta Valley sub-region receives the brunt of these cold Humboldt Currents that provide a similar diurnal swing as discussed with the Maipo Valley. Tosso states that 2017 was a hot year where the grapes ripened weeks earlier with good acidity, low alcohol, and ripe tannins. "The GCM is an expression of single block vines that is fresh and fruity and doesn't require lengthy oak again." The wine is very friendly, fruit forward with a noticeable velvety texture and bright acids rounding out the palate. Time to start planning for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.