GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST

Three Perfect Bottles of Wine: A Social Media Success Story

Thanks to the modern era and social networking, friends can easily share their mundane activities in real time. But occasionally, a photo like this flows into the data stream and immediately prompts salivation and subsequent impromptu drinking session a few days later.

After cappuccino and a Captain Handsome cocktail, we uncork the bottle that brought us together, Olivier Lemasson – Les Vins Contés 2007 Le P’tit Rouquin. It’s just as fresh and delicious as the first time I tasted it two years ago:

The sun is shining today. At the Detroit zoo, polar bears sleep in their meadow and peacocks brazenly display for peahens. Small children roar at lions and attempt to jump as far as a kangaroo. The breeze is cool enough to wear sleeves.

After an early supper of Delmonico grilled over hardwood and a brisk salad composed mostly of dandelion greens I motor down I-75 to Mexicantown where most of a bottle of Les Vins Contés 2007 Le P’tit Rouquin Vin de Pays du Loir-et-Cher waits for me.

Slanderous accusations are aimed at the aromas radiating from misty red wineglasses of this old-vines gamay. I do not understand. There is chalkboard (my old friend), berry-fruit salad, laughter and cinnamon red-hots. The floor appropriately thumps as I drain glass after glass and downstairs Steve Jarosz prepares for his weekly gig with Grupo Escobar at Sangria in downtown Royal Oak.

This is the kind of exceptionally drinkable red I want access to all summer — to pull from the cooler after a long day canoeing when the sun goes orange behind the trees of the northwoods or to splash into friend’s glasses on the front porch. In ways it reminds me of Emmanuel Houillon Poulsard, not necessarily in flavor, but disposition. I want a case of cases.

Desiring my contribution to this hedonistic conference to be at least as good as the gamay, earlier I braved the smartly dressed, middle-aged hooligans walking the sidewalks six abreast in Royal Oak to hit Elie Wine Co. for a bottle of 2005 François Cazin Cour-Cheverny Cuvée Renaissance.

Produced exclusively from the highly acidic ancient local grape Romorantin, the Cuvée Renaissance is only made in very ripe vintages and vinified to demi-sec for a fat drink of ripe tropical fruits. The nose is all grapes. We drink it easily and without pretense.

I alternate sips of Cour-Cheverny with great whiffs of the over-ripe mango that’s lying on the dining table next to me. It’s a fine pairing though I crave flaky pastry crust to wash it all down.

Not to be outdone by Loire Valley drinks, a Sicilian beauty, 2008 Occhipinti SP68 Rosso Vittoria, seduces us with aromas of cherry, blood and lush rainforest vegetation. We all pick out distinct aroma memories from our glasses – more often than not the mark of an unforgettable wine.

The brilliant red SP68 is a blend of Sicilian Frappato and Nero di Avola grapes, the former contributing light, fresh and tart fruitiness, the latter, sweet tannins, spice and plum. Together they make a pure wine that is both fleet and enduring and speaks of life and Earth.

Rarely does a gathering involve such a fine succession of wine. There is almost always disappointment, or at least indifference, from a bottle or two. But this is why we drink wine, or participate in any epicurean pastime, for the surprises and joys. Far from taking the place of these real life connections, the role of the internet and social media, when used efficiently, facilitates them.

Posted on 2010.05.27 by Todd Abrams at 4:11 pm
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