WHAT LIES AHEAD

Thanksgiving down. Next up Christmahanukwanzaa and New Year's Eve. The last 6-8 weeks of every year seem to be in constant high-speed motion in the retail biz - which is why most of us diehards are in it in the first place. We had a pretty nice, solid influx for T-Day, but to quote the late, great Karen Carpenter, "we've only just begun."

I just finished the last of the order faxes, and I am knee-deep in advert-planning, so I thought I might take a few to figure out what it is I am doing on UTGT this month. Obviously, we have my obnoxiously-self-serving "K2's Top 40 for 2009" - my own contribution to the vast array of narcissistic top wine lists out there in cyberland, as well as my cohort Shannon's top picks. Of course, I will be featuring the incoming wines of my new friend Terry Hughes and his Domenico Selections - amazing values from Italy, as well as some "champippley" reviews, a bit of reflection on the past year in the wine business, here in Kentucky and around the country, and the usual skewed perspective from yours truly.

Stay tuned.

CHEERS TO YOU AND YOURS

We'll be taking a break until the weekend. The next few days at the store will be busy and of course, Thanksgiving is Thursday. So from all of us at UTGT and D.E.P.s Fine Wine & Spirits, we wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We'll be back on Saturday.

BEAUJOLAIS: A QUICK PRIMER

Beaujolais. When you say the word in the context of wine, most people tend to think “Nouveau!” But despite the fact that Beaujolais Nouveau is the world’s most popular French wine, Nouveau is just scratching the surface of this great wine region. We wine geeks often lump Beaujolais in with Burgundy, yet the region was really never part of Burgundy. However, when the northern portion was annexed to the department of the Saône-et-Loire, Beaujolais administratively became part of Burgundy.

The strata of Beaujolais can be explained thusly:

1. A.O.C. Beaujolais and Beaujolais Supérieur = This is the largest portion of the appellation, and the simple Beaujolais classification constitutes 99+% of the production in this tier. These wines are simple, fresh, with only slight amounts of barrel aging.

2. A.O.C. Beaujolais Villages = This is the most common appellation of Beaujolais, and encompasses the center of the Beaujolais region, which is divided into 38 communes. These communes can legally replace “Villages” on the label with the name of their commune, yet most chose to remain a “Villages.”

3. A.O.C. Cru du Beaujolais = These wines are the best that this region has to offer. There are 10 communes, running along a narrow strip of land between the Mont-Brouilly and the Mâconnais. In order from south to north: Brouilly, Côte de Brouilly, Régnié, Morgon, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent, Chénas, Juliénas and Saint-Amour. These wines see more time in oak, and some have the propensity for longer-lived wines in the cellar.

The primary red grape of this region is the Gamay noir à jus blanc, or the Black Gamay with the white juice. While Pinot Noir is also produced, as are Chardonnay and Aligoté (which are used for Beaujolais Blanc), the wine production is almost entirely made from the Gamay grape. These wines have gone hand-in-hand with the Holiday Season mainly due to the release date of Beaujolais Nouveau, the third Thursday of November, yet the softness of the Gamay grape make it an ideal pairing with the diverse menus that accompany all of the different holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.).

The most recognized producers in the Beaujolais are Georges Duboeuf and Louis Jadot, but some other wonderful winemakers such as Chateau Thivin and Michel Chignard produce some exceptional wines as well. Ask your wine store about cru Beaujolais, and see what they have in stock. They are terrific wines, especially for Thanksgiving.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THANKSGIVING

It’s a bit of a mad rush leading up to Turkey Day, and I have done nothing but shuttle boxes of wine from our warehouse to the store. These days I rarely do anything else. It’s a good problem to have for a retailer, selling product. Yet one thing I had hoped to do sooner, was throw my two-cents out there in suggesting wines for Thanksgiving.

We get the question twenty, thirty, forty times a day in the week leading up to T-Day, and it’s fascinating the responses you get when you bring up things like Pinot Noir, Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Rosé, etc. Often the customer asking the question is a Cab or Chard drinker, and these wines are as alien to them as common sense is to a politician. And for those folks, I say unto you, “Drink what you like.” There is no real requirement to drink something you are most likely not going to enjoy.

The suggestions my retail brethren and I make to customers all over are merely the best guess scenarios. Sure, these wines are going to compliment the foods one serves for a traditional Thanksgiving Day feast much better, but that doesn’t mean that a Cab or a Chard aren’t going to offer as much enjoyment during said feast.

I have always been most partial to rosés, simply because they are some of the best food wines overall. I am a particularly huge fan of the Montes Cherub 2008 and the Mulderbosch Rosé 2009 right now. Both have a bit more power than most pink wines, yet both still have the balance and acidity to pair with lighter and more diverse foods. My wife leans towards Rieslings, and the Donnhoff QbA Riesling 2007 is a fairly dry, very balanced Riesling that is ideal for T-Day. A wildcard for me would be the Librandi Ciro Rosso 2007, a red akin to Pinot Noir – light, soft, with lots of berry and cherry notes – that is 100% Gaglioppo. But there is a laundry list of great wines that would work – just go into your favorite wine shop and ask the staff. Hopefully, your favorite wine store is D.E.P.’s Fine Wine & Spirits. But if not, there are a lot of great wine stores out there with a trustworthy staff that knows what will make your T-Day sing.

Cheers!

VENTA MORALES TEMPRANILLO 2008

The Venta Morales Tempranillo 2008 is a brand new La Mancha venture from Jorge Ordonez, the perennial leader in Spanish wine imports. 100% Tempranillo that is completely tank-fermented, this juicy, vibrant red really overdelivers, demonstrating loads of black cherry, raspberry and dried herbs. It possesses some balanced acidity and shows off good tannic grip on the finish. Never one to disappoint, Jorge Ordonez delivers yet another great value. Try it out!

DOMAINE DE NIZAS ROUGE 2005

One of my favorite wines is the Domaine de Nizas Rouge Coteaux du Languedoc 2005. Every year, I am continually impressed by this monster Syrah/Mourvedre/Grenache Noir blend. Always demonstrating both power AND grace, this Rhone-inspired red is a dark garnet color in the glass. Its aromas of black and blue berry fruit mixed up with a veritable spice rack speaks the language of a carnivore, and its flavors of herbs, spices and dark blackberry, blueberry, loganberry and black cherry notes instill visions of hearty meat dishes, hearth-baked breads, roasted root vegetables, and a warm night dining by the fire – Autumn or Winter time.

This wine has been, for the past several vintages, a favorite amongst our entire staff, even the folks that are NOT French wine drinkers. This wine speaks to a universal palate, bringing a little something to the table for everyone. Give it a try!

CONFESSING A GUILTY PLEASURE

The Wine Spectator Top 100 list for 2009 is out, and my regular customers are just starting to blow up the phones. It is frustrating because it takes a lot of work to find out what is still available in the market, get it all in the stores, in our systems, priced and placed on the shelves, a list compiled and posted online, our staff trained on what there is, how much there is and where it’s at in the stores, and so on. All for a little bit of wine that will be almost completely sold out in a week or two.

As much as I bitch and moan about Spectator, their ratings, and their subversively elitist bent on the wine biz, I have to say that it is my last blast of fun when it comes to wine buying – at least during the holidays. With the constant shopping of our local competition, our Ohio competitors, trying to stay ahead of the whole extra tax thing this year, and just the usual keeping everything we sell a lot of in stock, it’s tough to allocate even a small amount of time to look for things like the WS Top 100 wines. Yet this year – perhaps coincidentally due to the large amount of more value-oriented selections – I was able to get a hold of the most Top 100 wines I have been able to get in the past 10 years. You can actually take a look at the list at http://www.depsfinewine.com/.

What intrigued me the most was that there were a lot of Australian wines on the list, which seemed extremely fortuitous considering the recent doo-and-gloom reports circulating about how abysmal the Australian wine business is right now. The presence of such wines as #14 Two Hands Bella’s Garden 2007, #24 Penfolds St. Henri 2005, #39 Yalumba Viognier Eden Valley 2008, and the values of Shoofly, d’Arenberg, Peter Lehmann and Heartland have to be a real shot in the arm for the industry Down Under right now.

And I had a vicarious sense of pride in seeing all the Washington state wines in there (#1 Columbia Crest, #26 Cayuse, #33 Novelty Hill, #36 Efeste, #38 Chateau Ste. Michelle, and so on. It was a beautiful thing.

So I guess I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this list. While it drives me crazy, and has for a decade at least, it is still a guilty pleasure to hunt these down and land a few. Hopefully, my customers will appreciate the acquisitions.