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Instead, please indulge me as I get a little personal
about these sensational wines. I’ve lived with them for several weeks
now and hope to continue doing so. I look forward to hearing about your
own experiences with them, and for Pete’s sake, don’t worry about using
the “right” words! Jean-Marc Brignot,
Les Mouches ont Pied (Fly’s Have Feet), <$27 Find this wine
1000 points. Drink this year. Why not?
 My first taste of this wine was in a fairly sterile setting: in front of
a computer keypad. It smelled precisely like Lambic beer or Normandy
cider (Mr. Brignot is a native of Normandy), though not as intense as
either. A taste revealed surprisingly low acidity considering the
aromas, though it was fresh tasting. The color was like a deep straw,
tan and yellow with foggy, fine sediment. It transformed with repeated
slurping – and increasing temperature – from a light, racy, funky white
into silky, almost medium-bodied richness with flavors of fat, bitter,
sweet, raw macadamia nuts, baked yellow apples, fresh yellow apples and
nutmeg.
I was intrigued.
Then the heat wave came. On Tuesday I drank a hastily assembled gazpacho
with almonds, live apple cider vinegar, ice cubes, garden fresh garlic,
de-crusted baguette, tomato puree and enough water to make it all get
around in the blender. Anne came home later in time for the remains of
the soup and most of the second bottle of wine (the first one
mysteriously disappeared!)
I suspect the warm temperature in the room played a role, but the wine
was not nearly as lean and dry as I initially thought. Despite its many
transparent dry layers, it hid an enchanting viscosity and sweetness. It
was like the freshest possible apple pie in a dream.
If one word were to sum up Fly’s Have Feet for me it would be
"tenderness" – the acids are tender and yielding, the fruit is soft and
mouth-melting, the aromas are even tender, like the downy bloom on a
fresh autumn mountain pastured cheese.
As for the true wine torture test – a second floor apartment in Detroit
on a record high temperature August 1 with no AC – miraculously, it
drained quickly at a variety of temperatures.
And then there were the nut flavors.
For the fifth straight day I enjoyed a bottle of Fly’s Have Feet, this
time it was with Tom Natoci. Playing
the “I spy” tasting note game, Tom burst out with a revelation of
“pistachios”. I was already on record for macadamias. The point is:
they're good. My guess is this nuttiness comes from the distinctive wild
yeasts of the Arbois, which, as Eric Asimov
reports in a recent New York Times, some compare to the wild cultures
responsible for Manzanilla and Amontillado in Spain.
Antoine Arena, 2005 Patrimonio Blanc, Grotte di Sole, <$35 Find this wine
991 points. Drink from 2006 to 2005.
 I learned that grotte means "cave" and shares its etymology with
the English word "grotto" as well as "crypt". Guessing at the other word
roots, I'd say the name of this wine means 'sun cave' or something like
that. Anyway, it's a pleasant image. I'll keep it.
I enjoyed this wine as a stand-alone refreshment on Monday, sharing it
with my pal Craig. When we weren't talking about retail margins and
swimming pools in Florida, we discussed how amusing dogs are in hot
weather, especially when they drink water like sloppy reverse fire
hoses. On a prior occasion I shared the same wine with a glad group at
the award-winning
Hong Hua on Orchard Lake Road with scallops and shrimp. (Hong
Hua is sold out of this particular selection now, but they have many
other fine wines on their list.)
This was a very thick-textured glass of white wine, round shaped.
Apples, pears and green fig flavors seemed lifted by sweet lime oils.
Intense chalk flavors bound the fruit to ripe, nutty grape seed
bitterness and fresh acidity. There was no sign of wood flavor. It was
pale in color. I don't see why this can't be compared value-wise to 1er
cru Beaune wine, except that its character reminds me more of rare
voluptuous Loire Chenins like Marc Angeli's 2004 La Lune, or
single vineyard Huet Vouvrays with an imaginary loosened grip of
mineral and green fruit resin.
The grape variety is Vermentino, also significantly planted in Spain and
Sardinia. I have been ignorant of Vermentino most of my 10-year career
in the wine business. No longer!
Antoine Arena, 2004 Patrimonio Rouge, Carco, <$39 Find this wine
996 points. Drink from 2006 to 2026.
I have learned it is enormously helpful to allow these young Corsican
red wines to air out. They are better the second day. The first day they
can resemble extremely tannic Amarone. The next day they sing their own
music.
I have learned that maquis is a word used
in Corsica for 1) a wild, dense native growth of herb and brush, 2) the
grass-roots -- or is it maquis-roots -- resistance to fascism in
WWII, later fictionalized in the Star Trek series and 3) a distinctive
perfume found in the best Corsican red wines.
Apparently, earlier incarnations of this wine were
light and gulpable. One source described it as a vin de soif
(wine of thirst). At 14% alcohol and utterly opaque color, not to
mention the tannins, it would appear this is no longer the case.
I do not know what "carco" means.
I consumed one bottle over the course of 24 hours while waiting for an
important phone call.
This pure, black expression of Sangiovese fruit defies my feeble
linguistic ability to describe it. I want to go on and on about
"liqueur" -- cassis, kirsch, plum, raspberry, etc. -- but this has
become a useless tasting note cliché, the "special" feature of
international style factory wines from Australia to Italy, from Vitiano
to Allegrini Amarone. Too many wines that are proclaimed to possess
"liqueur" qualities are really just alcoholic and sweet.
Freshness and intensity of fruit is what is promised by the "liqueur"
descriptor, and this glass of wine has it. It is a seeping, pitch-black
sensation with towering walls of pure purple and blue fruit to the
horizon.
And then there are the tannins.
These are Sangiovese tannins: dry and dusty. There are a lot of them
too, as much or more than anything I've ever tasted from Tuscany (like
Avvoltore, any variety of top Brunellos, or anything from Umbria). As I
chew them they release a storm of little raspberry acid flavored curly
cues, like a hundred tiny sequences of the wine in miniature.
I believe this wine tastes of maquis too. I imagine that to be a sort of
cool, anise and mushroom infused version of
garrigue, but I could be wrong.
Antoine Arena, 2005 Patrimonio Rouge, Grotte di Sole, <$35 Find this wine
988 points. Drink from 2006 to 2016.
 What is this stuff? I mean, what is it?
Answer: Nielluccio.
That’s what they call Sangiovese in Corsica. Sangiovese means "blood of
Jupiter". I don't know what Nielluccio means other than "Sangiovese".
Polaner likes it. Kermit Lynch sells it on the west coast.
Unlike any other Sangiovese I've ever drunk (I love good Sangiovese)
this wine actually lives up to the image of blood suggested by its
Italian synonym. Those who have had ripe bottles of Sang des Cailloux
(French for Blood of the
Stones), you know what I'm talking about (it
really is a pleasant, iron-rich flavor).
This is thick, dark and chewy and embarrassingly sweet. Tarry fruit
tannins force a rough balance with no help from oak flavor. I think of
this as if it were a port of Brunello -- if Brunello growers could
afford to pull it off, this is what it might taste like. Undeniably
minerally, though covered with sticky, black resin, iodine, seaweed,
iron, desiccated French plums, oozing fresh figs...
I served this at home on Sunday with salted, rinsed and
hardwood-charcoal-grilled summer squash and sausages from Michigan’s own
Suchman hog farm. Anne reacted approvingly, but then again, she adores
intense, ripe, integrated tannins, or should I say “tight knitting”.
Oh yeah, this wine has a decent amount of dissolved gas in it. If this
annoys you, just shake the bottle before pouring.
Antoine Arena, “2004” Blanc, Carco, <$39 Find this wine
993 points. Drink from 2006 to 2021.
 For some reason Antoine Arena had to
declassify his Carco Blanc in 2004 to "Vin de Table" -- no "Patrimonio"
appellation, no vintage date. The only way we know it is a 2004 is the
cheating little "lot number" on the bottom of the label: L 2004. Like
the Grotte di Sole Blanc, this is 100% Vermentino (unless it
isn't).
Why was it declassified? Who knows? I'm beginning to think France is
ripe for a wine revolution. Damn the
INAO!
I am enjoying this wine in the form of a live webcast. That’s right, as
you read these notes I am enjoying several glasses of this wine with a
variety of gazpachos given to me by Cloverleaf Newsletter readers. This
one has shrimp in it; yum. This one has almonds and grapes; bueno!
The color is straw and clear with a shimmer of trapped gas. Aromas of
salted roasted nuts give some indication of the extreme ripeness of the
wine. It declares 14% alcohol on the label. Interior raw wood aromas
remind me of stinking great teenage Vouvray from Foreau or
Huet or vigorous Savennieres (a phenomenon I believe comes
from something other than wood barrels). Maybe it’s a stone/mineral
thing. Lots of plump, sweet (alcohol) fruit flavor in the vicinity of
green bananas and mushy ripe pears. Throw in some preserved lemons and
oranges, maybe a little mint. These are punctuated with fennel and sweet
herb flavors.
The slight prickle begins to annoy me a little so I wedge the cork back
in the bottle and shake it. It then shoots out and hits the ceiling.
Wine gushes out of the bottleneck. I begin to wonder if this was the
right thing to do. Out of a feeling of deep insecurity I smell the cork.
It smells like good, clean cork.
Is it possible the “glycerin” in this wine concealed what turned out to
be a serious amount of bubbles?
What else would I like to have with this wine? It is viscous yet durably
structured. How about something in a cream sauce? Use fennel and it
would be in tune.
 Lately I've been exploring the potential of wines that contrast rather
than mimic food pairings. What about pairing this with Blis Jalapeno
Tuna out of a can? Let's try it.
(Minutes later …)
Oh yeah. Wait till I tell Anne.
Later!
** Quoted from THE
POUR; Surprises From the Jura, Jagged in a Velvet-Smooth Universe
By Eric Asimov (NYT)
Published: August 2, 2006
Previously in Putnam At-Large:
Winetrack: Detroit
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