Bad Boy Bordeaux meets wonderful Alsace gewurz

Beginning note: Summer is the time winemakers leave their comfortable homes and sally forth in search of wines they wouldn’t normally taste. Most winemakers I know are well-schooled in the wines of the world and all have their favourite regions they like to draw inspiration from.

By Rick VanSickle

Jeff Aubrey had talked about his summer journey to the great wine region of Alsace on his Facebook page for weeks leading up to actually going. His excitement was infectious. When I learned I would be going to Bordeaux right on the heels of his Alsace adventure, I struck a deal with the Coyote’s Run owner — bring me back an Alsatian beauty and I’ll bring you back something special from Bordeaux.

It sounded like a perfect scenario, but learned that Jeff isn’t that smitten by the wines of Bordeaux. So, we decided that I would seek out a nice Blanc de Blanc Champagne instead of Bordeaux, at his request, even though I wasn’t going to Champagne. He would in turn bring back a gewurztraminer (which I adore) that I had not experienced.

We sat down Saturday (Aug. 21) to share our wines.

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Coyote’s Run Estate Winery is one of those Niagara estates that just feels comfortable. Jeff and Patti Aubry are wonderful people, always happy to share their wine and talk about the gorgeous vineyards that surround their home in St. Davids.

The Aubrys believe in VQA wines and only grow what does well in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area. That’s primarily chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet franc along with a bit of pinot gris, merlot, syrah and, coming on stream, pinot blanc.

Jeff stresses the unique differences between his two main vineyards — Red Paw and Black Paw — which he bottles separately to show the unique terroir of the vineyards. And the differences truly are spectacular.

I paid Jeff a visit to a) exchange our promised French bottles of wine and b) try his new chardonnays being released next Saturday (Aug. 28-29). First, I’ll review his chards:

Coyote’s Run Red Paw Chardonnay 2009 ($22, 4 stars) — The appellation is Four Mile Creek but it’s the vineyard that’s critical with this brand new wine from four-year-old vines. A new-leaf wine usually shows itself in big, opulent flavours that deliver a great experience right from the get-go but are not built to last for any length of time in the cellar. That’s what you get here with this first effort — a ripe nose of apple-pear fruit backed up by vanilla and oak toast. It’s creamy and lush on the palate and bursting with apple fruit and balancing oak and spice. Lovely wine.

Coyote’s Run Black Paw Chardonnay 2009 ($22, 4.5 stars) — A tighter nose, which is typical for the Black Paw vineyard in all varietals, of soft apple-citrus and stylish oak-spice undertones. This wine is evolving but shows focus, delicate fruit and nice spice and oak chiming in. A more elegant chardonnay that will reward with time in the cellar.

After a nice tasting of Jeff’s chards it was on to our little mini French revolution.

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Jeff had brought back a nice bottle of gewurztraminer from the estate of Seppi Landmann, located 15 km to the south of Colmar, in the village of Soultzmatt in the heart of the Noble Valley on the slopes of the Zinnkoepflé mountain.

Seppi Landmann was part of a co-operative in the Noble Valley but branched out on his own in 1982 to create his own winery and produce his first vintage.

With just one hectare of vines as his only inheritance, a will of iron, an advanced wine technician’s diploma in his pocket and his own ideas and experience of winemaking, he decided to devote all his time and energy to tending his vines and making and promoting his own wine. Today the estate has 8.5 hectares of vines located on the Zinnkoepflé and Bollenberg slopes as well as other hillsides in the Noble Valley.

Seppi Landmann lives in a Renaissance home built in 1575 by a former Noble Valley Provost, Martin Kriegelstein, author of a chronicle called the “Thalbuch” which is an important document for the history of Soultzmatt. His coat of arms still decorates the facade overlooking the street.

The range of still wines from the estate includes an assortment of 30 different wines from traditional Alsatian grapes to harmonize with a wide variety of gastronomic dishes. He also makes the fine and delicate cremant or sparkling Alsace wines with their ethereal aromas to answer the requirements of the most demanding connoisseurs.

The range goes from the brut de brut (extra dry) without the addition of liquor or sweetening and with a minimum of three years of cellaring to the traditional dry sparkling wine with a reasonable 7 grams of liquor in a 75 cl bottle and the vintage sparkling wines. These sparkling wines are a basic blend of pinot blanc and pinot auxerrois with an array of aromas.

Jeff admitted to me that his favourite style of Alsatian wine was the wonderful cremants he consumed on his trip. But I had asked for a gewurztraminer as my special treat to be brought back because no one in the world makes it better than the Alsatians.

Seppi Landmann Gewurztraminer 2008 (unknown cost, 4 stars) — What I love about gewurz from Alsace is the balance and rich, exotic spices that are more organic than perfumed. It comes from centuries of knowing when to pick the grapes — always mindful of the ripeness but retaining the zingy acidity that is crucial for the balance. This gewurz has all the typical flavours — rose petal, lychee, and spice but has such a lovely balance between all those elements. It was on the dry side but the ripeness of the fruit gave an impression of some residual sugar. A wonderful treat that had a long journey from Alsace to Jeff’s winery and finally, in my fridge to be enjoyed with a nice piece of stinky cheese.

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GARAGISTE I am
BLACK SHEEP Wouldn’t deign
BAD BOY I remain
— from the blog of Jean-Luc Thunevin

Next it was my turn to hand over the wine I had picked for Jeff. As mentioned in the beginning note above, Jeff had asked for a chardonnay-based Champagne from a good grower, which, of course, I found strange since I was going to Bordeaux, not Champagne.

Trust me, Jeff, I searched high and low for a nice bottle of Champagne in the well-stocked shops of Bordeaux. There were hundreds to choose from and every time I reached for one all I could think of was why am I buying Champagne in Bordeaux?

And do I really want to put a volatile bottle of bubbly in my suitcase that will be travelling over the Atlantic Ocean for five hours at 20,000 bumpy feet? I think not. So, plan B went into effect. Find a Bordeaux that is not stuffy, traditional and speaks to Jeff’s down to earth tastes. I found the perfect bottle in one of the 85 wine shops (one wine store for every 2.3 people) in St. Emilion. It cried out to me and spoke volumes.

Bad Boy. There is was. A “garagiste” wine made by Jean-Luc Thunevin (of Valandraud fame) as a bit of an in-your-face gesture to the more traditional chateaux of  Bordeaux.

Jean-Luc describes his creation in his blog much better than I can (the full blog can be read here at Bad Boy):

“I was able to create this cuvee, as one would say during the Academy Awards, thanks to my parents without who this would have been impossible; my wife and my daughter who accept my crazy ideas, my bank which keeps on backing me, hoping that it will work, my past and future customers who always trust me, wine merchants from Bordeaux and brokers (who, this time, are not the reason for this cuvee!), and especially, I thank: Robert Parker who gave me the idea to call this cuvée Bad Boy in one of his comments on Valandraud:
“A terrific effort from bad boy and leading garagiste, Jean-Luc Thunevin, and his sidekick, Murielle Andraud, the inky/blue/purple-tinged 2005 Valandraud exhibits superb aromas of graphite, black currants, blackberries, violets, white chocolate, sweet licorice, and espresso roast. Boasting great intensity, full-bodied power, beautiful purity, and layers of complexity, this stunning wine should be unusually long-lived. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025+.”

Bad Boy is based on a simple criteria, according to Jean-Luc: “The palate of young consumers looking for fruit and softness.” It is a wine that is appealing in its youth and attractively priced (compared to other major appellation wines) at around $30 euros.

Here’s my review:

Bad Boy 2006 (about $35, 4 stars) — From a lesser vintage in Bordeaux and made from 100% merlot (I think I told Jeff that it’s 95% cabernet sauvignon — my bad)  and a blend of three different properties that Jean-Luc takes care of in Bordeaux, Fronsac and Pomerol. 70,000 bottles are produced, up from 40,000 of the maiden vintage in 2005, and the wine pretty much sells out quickly.

This wine has a juicy core of black cherry, cassis and sweet liquorice flavours that are enjoyable now. Very pure and delicious with tamed tannins, smooth delivery and savoury notes. Likely less powerful than the brilliant 05 vintage but certainly a wine to grab if you can find it.

I brought some aged provolone to help with what I thought might be firm tannins, and the cheese did help but wasn’t entirely necessary.

I asked Jeff for his thoughts, bracing for the worst, yet he said that he rather liked the Bad Boy in that it was unlike the qualities he dislikes in other Bordeaux wines. Do we have a re-emerging fan of Bordeaux in our midst? I wouldn’t go that far. But I’ll bet he’s enjoying it right now with a nice hunk of meat, just like I’m enjoying my gewurz with a nice hunk of stinky cheese.

Cheers!