This summer Jenny & François Selections has started working with three brand new wines from producers we’ve worked with for a long time.
Christian Binner Blanc de Noir:
Blanc de Noir, or white from black, is typically a designation applied to Champagne that is made from the Pinot Noir grape. It’s a white wine made from black grapes. If that weren’t unusual enough, the grapes used to make this wine were affected with botrytus cinerea. Botrytus is a peculiar type of mold that grows on grapes and is responsible for some of the greatest dessert wines on the planet. The conditions must be just right, with foggy damp mornings and sunny afternoons, or else the mold grows too much and all the grapes rot. When the conditions are perfect, the mold eats the water inside the grapes without breaking the skin, thus concentrating the sugar in the juice. The resulting sweet wine is flavored with notes of honey and apricot, flavors added by the so-called “noble rot.” All of Christian’s wines are totally unique expressions of terroir, but this wine is even more unique and unusual because it has just a touch of botrytus and is therefore completely dry, not sweet. Christian made the first vintage of this wine in 1998, and only makes it when the right conditions are present. We tasted this 2006 while at La Dive Bouteille this January in France, and thought it was too amazing to pass up. It quite simply tastes unlike anything else you have ever tasted before.
Domaine de la Patience Rosé:
You may be familiar with the wines of Domaine de la Patience, from our boxed white From the Tank® Chardonnay, as well as their delicious Merlot. All of their wines show a complexity and minerality rare in wines so affordable, and this rosé is no exception. In France, the rosés of the South are valued for their ethereal lightness and just a hint of spice. The saying goes, “when it’s hot, drink rosé.” This wine displays all those classic Southern wine characteristics, but it distinguishes itself with a stunningly perfumed floral nose. This is a wine we will be drinking a lot of on hot summer nights!
Didier and Joelle Montchovet are fantastic biodynamic producers based in Bouze-les-Beaune, which is approximately 4 kilometers northwest of Beaune. In 2009 a two hailstorms drastically reduced the production of their Hautes Cotes de Beaune red, so they collaborated with a nearby organic producer to make this Bourgogne rouge. This is a wine that would satisfy any classic Burgundy lover, with it’s earthy forest floor notes, at a price that won’t break the bank. As a special extra treat, here’s some video we shot of Joelle talking about biodynamic winemaking while we were at the Return to Terroir biodynamic tasting in Angers last January: