Le Grappin- The beginnings of a legendary producer.

Hey Everyone,

Today I am writing to you in the aftermath of a tasting conducted by my good friend and longtime Colleague, Mr. Peter Wood (www.thetastingnote.com).  Peter has always had a true knack for identifying future sources of excitement in wine and his most recent achievement is perhaps his most intriguing to date.  Burgundy has always had a sonorous resonance in it's very name and with the land parcelled out and much of it spoken for by various domaines, cooperatives and large negociants, it is rare that something new and exciting comes along.

There was a time when Frederic Mugnier was the cause of great excitement, with wines stunningly over-performing for their price, but of course when the word gets out, a well kept secret becomes a part of the status quo of excellent, and appropriately priced wines.  That is why the rise of a new producer in Burgundy, snatching up the best grapes in Savigny-le-Beaune is exciting for anyone looking for a good bargain that is sure to attract attention in the very near future.

Le Grappin, from Australian winemaker Andrew Nielsen is living proof that the wine world is never exhausted, never done throwing out surprises, and with his wines focused on the excellent, underrated terroirs of Savigny's vineyards he is quickly turning heads.  Producing a minuscule amount of wine each year (sometimes as little as two barrels!) he only makes what he is sure will be phenomenal.

Negociants like Mr. Nielsen are often larger companies that will happily purchase grapes from a large plot of land, ensuring their supply and the flexibility to sort the best grapes from the lot.  Andrew however, will go into the vineyard and select such small parcels of grapes, that it often comes down to a question of rows or vines, rather than vineyards or blocks.  Combine this highly selective process with the quality of vineyards such as le Boucherottes and Grèves (both proven premier cru sites) and you have a recipe for a truly exceptional wine.

One of the most exciting aspects of the Grappin range is that he never overcharges for his wines.  At least not yet.  He produces his basic level Savigny red and white wines and they sell for around £30 per bottle.  It is enough to emphasise the quality of the wine, but not enough to put off the enthusiastic wine lovers who want a reasonablly priced bottle to cellar for a few years and drink on a special occasion. However, it is the premier cru wines where the value becomes truly apparent.  both the red from Boucherottes and a rare example of a white from Grèves generally sell for only a few pounds more than the entry level.  The result?  Wines capable of facing the test of time in the cellar and rewarding careful storage with what is almost certain to be sublime stuff in maturity.

As it stands now, his wines are often bottled and released in the space of a few weeks, leaving the bottle maturation to the customer, but hopefully as his business becomes as strong as his wines we will see them released later with more bottle age.  For now, you should defintely get your hands on his wines as quickly as you can because they won't stay at £30 for long!

Much Love,

G

Three Rivers Overflowing with Beer!

What do you get when you take a post-industrial city, fill it with students from six universities and give it a healthy dose of entrepreneurial drive?  Among many other things; a dramatic spike in craft brewing.  

There is a sense that Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is a strange bubble in which the normal laws of trends or progress do not necessarily apply.  The city was an industrial centre for over a hundred years, known for making steel, pushing the technological boundaries of production since the 1870’s but fast forward to the 1980’s and economic turmoil, Pittsburgh and other cities saw the mills close and ship off along with the jobs to Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.

Between the Allegheny and the Monongahela, forming the Ohio.

But fortunately for Pittsburgh, the spirit of enterprise remained and a new array of industries sprang up seemingly overnight as some of the best minds in the country set the city up as a centre of legal practice, advanced medicine and robotics (they designed the Mars rover thing, how cool is that?!).  And where do those high brow professionals turn for their end of day swill? Probably one of the many high quality craft brews from Pittsburgh (from here on I will use only local nicknames for the city).

Much like the tide of the steel industry; one skin sheds, a more suited skin emerges, the beer scene went the same way.  In 2009, as the local lager, Iron City picked up and left town for neighboring Latrobe (and tried to hide it, what gall!) the fiercely proud Yinzers of the Steel City were inspired to look closer to home.

As of September 2013 the brewing scene in the City of Bridges included a fair list of breweries producing some really exciting beers, filling every niche a beer lover could desire from classic Czech styled pilsner from Penn Brewery, to big dense IPA from Full Pint and Trappist styles from Draai Laag and hundreds others.  Here’s a look at some of the more established names in the ‘Burgh.

The Penn Brewery has been producing its eponymous Penn Pilsener for nearly 30 years out of the old E&O Brewery building in the the Deutschtown neighborhood and has become one of the go-to beers in the city.  Add to this a solid range including the top-notch Allegheny Pale Ale and the Kaiser Pils and this is the City of Champion’s answer to Samuel Adams: a craft brewery making great beer on a larger scale.

The Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville is perhaps the most recognizable brewery in the city.  Sited in a desanctified (did I invent this word?) Catholic Catholic church, this is a Pittsburgh institution and a religious experience for a beer-lover.  The altar is home to the tanks, the the bar is appropriately located at the confessional the pews are swapped for more sociable tables.  As this is more of a brew pub, it is a rare treat to find the beers in bottle, so this might require a visit to the Three River City.  A worthy pilgrimage!

Among the new upstarts are a selection of breweries quickly proving themselves.  Full Pint, Rivertowne and East End alongside the smaller operations of Hop-Farm, Copper Kettle and Roundabout ensure that there is always new beer to be had.  Forget your Sierra Nevadas, your Victory and your Brooklyn.  When your in the Burgh, you could have a different brew every day from one of a wide array of breweries.  Not even counting the Seasonals!

So the city between the Three Rivers is bursting it's banks with good beer.  It can only be so long before it flows into the world.

Much Love,

G