Motion to consider magnums as your new “boxed wine.” I realize that not ALL natural wines stay fresh when open for days but some definitely DO, such as anything made by our local Adelaide Hills no-sulfur whiz, @theotherright.
We love keeping a magnum open for days, on the counter if the weather is cool or in the fridge, and watching it evolve as we drain it glass by glass.
We are all staying in so much these days (with the main exception of friends in Europe whose Instagrams I might need to mute for the foreseeable future) so investing in a few large format bottles to brighten up the evenings seems like a good choice.
Also, if you’re feeling a bit down lately, make sure to keep up the self care. Buy some flowers or nice candles. Do a YouTube workout. ❤️
The Other Right, 2019 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay. White peaches, sandstone, and flint.
Cantina Giardino’s “Sophia”
On Wednesdays, I write at home while Anton looks after Simone. I huddle over the desk, toggling between edits on Pipette and the last few chapters of my book manuscript, which I’m currently scrutinizing sentence by sentence before I dare to send them over to my editor.
Today my writing efforts were distracted by following the ongoing revelations about exploitation at an Italian natural wine estate that has been celebrated and championed by industry leaders over the past year or so. For more on that story, I urge you to visit @glougloumagazine and @thecollectress — the latter has a few recent videos in which she speaks truth about some harsh realities this industry has to face.
All of this has me thinking about how natural wine, which once was a small, quirky movement about easily drinkable wine made by ethical farmers, has become so focused on the commercial aspects that someone like this can slip through the cracks. But it also has me thinking of the hard working, dedicated and uncompromising natural winemakers who have been there all along. Who didn’t hire a consultant and slap minimalist labels on the bottles and proclaim themselves “natural.” Who earned respect and trust over time and built the foundations of this movement.
Cantina Giardino’s “Sophia” was on the shelf when I worked retail in Brooklyn in 2014 and I brought it to my tasting group. It captured my heart then and it’s still one of my favorites!
The movement will evolve. More transparency about labor conditions is needed. More inclusivity in the industry is vital. And there will be producers like Cantina Giardino who stand the test of time.
Black tea and kumquats; skin contact Greco from high elevation Campania vineyards.
Yann Bertrand 2018 Morgon
Mostly what I’ve been up to lately is making baby food. Celeriac and liver purée is Simone’s current favorite, followed by boiled pumpkin “fingers” and Marcella Hazan’s bolognese. It’s a lot of fun watching her eat and develop personality but also, in all honesty, motherhood can feel like a trap. Like, remember when I used to chug Chenin Blanc and discuss Marx at 2am? Those were the days!
To reclaim some of my intellectual vigor I ordered a case of wine from @wineandfoodsolutions_aus — a Melbourne based importer of natural wines. For a moment I thought the case would not get sent, as Melbourne has returned to lockdown for 6 weeks. But it came, and we opened Yann Bertrand’s 2018 “Morgon” as we dug into a 3-hour osso buco (which has such an impressive finish and is so easy to make — flour the meat, sauté, remove from pan, add mire poix, add stock and wine and tomatoes, boil then simmer in the oven) and put on “Hamilton,” the Black/POC-powered musical about America’s founding recently released on Disney+ and which has fabulous choreography and is totally worth watching.
So the wine should have definitely been cellared. I should have known that! Morgon is generally a powerhouse, in for the long haul. But the richness of this wine did slowly gain a nice mineral tone as it was open longer. I guess I was pretty excited to have some Yann B in my glass... his wines always knocked me out when I tried them at La Dive and in New York.
And no, we didn’t feed Simone the osso buco... but maybe next month!
Yann Bertrand 2018 Morgon, “Dynamite,” 80-100 year old vines. Rich and ripe and lush, carbonic maceration, noso2 but very structured and stable...hold onto it until at least 2021.