The New Wine Review Weekly: April 21, 2024

WHAT THE HIPSTERS DON’T KNOW (AND WHAT EVERYONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS)

It’s time, says Senior Correspondent Jason Wilson, to rehabilitate a very uncool grape:

No one in the wine bubble ever evangelized for Sancerre. It’s not a darling of the natural wine movement, or collectors, or influencers. Nor, to be fair, has it become a caricature or gained a vaguely trashy reputation, like Pinot Grigio or Prosecco. Sancerre just sort of exists. It’s generally crisp and refreshing and—as French words go—it’s relatively easy for Americans to pronounce. Normal people just like it.

So:

Well, since no one else seems to be taking up the case .  .  . I guess I will. I’m sure I will catch shit from certain wine people. At our own editorial meeting this very week, a few people made it clear they wouldn’t be following me down a [Sauvignon Blanc] path.

(It’s true! They did!)

The sweet spot seems to be a touch over $30 for something special that overdelivers. There are plenty of terrific examples between $30 and $50 that could stand up to whites from more prestigious regions at double the price. I seek them out often: one of the great advantages of Sancerre is that there are literally dozens of them available to try. These are not hard wines to find . . .

I don’t think many wine nerds are going to tell you to give Sancerre a try. But taste a few of the ones below and make up your own mind.

Read his definitive report on where Sancerre stands now—its fight with a warming climate, the changes a new generation is breathing into the region—and, of course, the bottles that will make you rethink what Sauvignon Blanc can be.

ANDRÉ MACK: IN HIS OWN WORDS

One of the giants of the wine world joined us for a rollicking, hour-long conversation, and it was a blast:

You work at a place like Per Se, and you end up really living your life like “what would the chef do?” I’m at the bank doing something and I’m thinking, “What would Chef do?” That’s when I knew they got me. It took me three months after I left to decompress. Because you’re trained to walk into a place and you’re like, “That picture’s crooked. This waiter doesn’t have a belt. That guy’s belt doesn’t match his shoes. That table wobbles. That glassware is moving so the stem is defective.” It was really intense and hard to come off of that.

And:

My thing was always a middle finger to the establishment, but in the nicest way! We don’t need to have all the fluff. Do I really need to eat this off a $200 Christofle fork? Do I really need my waiter to wear Gucci?

And:

When I first started tasting wine, all I could taste was the alcohol. I’d never seen, like, guava, or any of this stuff in real life. So I decided I’d be book smart. This is a trained skill. I started being around people who were better tasters than me. You may be better, smarter, faster than me, but all I had control over was my work effort.

And (editor’s note: We at NWR strongly endorse the below sentiment):

It’s not cool, but I love old California wine. People are like, “What the fuck are you doing?” . . . Some of the great wine value right now is in old American wine. Not the “collectible” top-tier wines, but the non-collectible old American wines. A lot still have longevity. Last year we bought this block of ‘86 to ‘89 Kenwood Jack London. The ‘86 was amazing.

And:

Just because you start somewhere doesn’t mean that’s where you finish. Everyone has to start somewhere. I mean, shit, I made cotton candy at Chuck E. Cheese. But look, I worked the highest position in the field and you didn’t. So let’s democratize and demystify wine a bit.

And listen: it’s just wine.

Read the whole thing to hear how it all started, why the old show Frasier was so important to him, and a million more things.

IS THIS THE RAREST WHISKEY IN THE WORLD?

Whiskey Editor Susannah Skiver Barton tells the amazing story of Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter 3, a relic of Irish whiskey’s darkest era, when single pot still whiskey almost went extinct. A single cask from a long-demolished distillery was recently bottled and released (followed by a sibling cask just a few days ago). As she writes, “Just 97 bottles were produced. The good news: some bottles are still available. The bad news: as of this writing, one will run you around $45,000.” Read her story of where it came from, and the history behind it—and, above all, her detailed tasting notes.

Which, we’re guessing, are about as close to this whiskey as any of us will ever get.

WINE DEAL OF THE WEEK*

Someone once described the benchmark Meursaults of NWR fave Jean-Philippe Fichet as being “finely etched,” and that apt description has stuck with us ever since. His 2021 Bourgogne Blanc “Vielles Vignes,” a reliable outperformer, is available here for just under 47 bucks.

*NWR is not compensated for the links in this section.  

AROUND THE WINE (AND WHISKEY) WORLD

😑A headline created by AI to make our heads explode? (And not in the good way.)

📉More signs of price declines?

🍷This is a very, very good idea.

🤢Yeah, um, no—and somewhere a natural winemaker is laughing.

As always, thanks for reading! See you next week for much more.

Santé!

The NWR Editors

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