Champagne AR Lenoble Grand Cru

We have met Anne Malassagne of Champagne AR Lenoble at the London Wine Show last year, and since then have been maintaining a great contact and getting ready to introduce this brand back to the Ontario market. Following last week's visit by Anotine Malassagne to Toronto, we are now on track to have these fine Grand Cru Champagnes available.

First, a little history of Champagne AR Lenoble
Armand-Raphaël Graser was a wine trader. He left his native Alsace, in enemy hands at the time, and moved his family to safety in the Champagne region. He set up in the town of Damery, in an 18th century building which is still the company headquarters today, and started to produce champagne, sold from 1920 onwards under the brand name "AR Lenoble". A.R. stood for Armand-Raphauml;l and "Lenoble" was a tribute to the nobility of Champagne wines.

Armand-Raphauml;l, who died accidentally in the vat-house in 1947, was succeeded by his son Joseph Graser. When he retired in 1973, Jean-Marie Malassagne, the founder's grandson, took over the business. Combining his activities as a winegrower and his profession as a doctor, he managed the house alone until the 1990's, when Champagne was hit hard by the crisis. It was becoming necessary to work full-time to run the firm and so, in October 1993, Anne Malassagne, the great-granddaughter of Armand-Raphauml;l returned to the family firm to support her father. She was joined by her brother Antoine 3 years later. The fourth generation is now firmly established!

So for more than a century now, the brilliance of Armand Raphauml;l then the Malassagne family has been passed on from generation to generation. The House is profoundly attached to its roots and its history, which Anne and Antoine continue to uphold in the purest Champagne tradition.

The Champagnes
We had a chance to try 4 of AR Lenoble's champagnes with Tony Aspler. The following are Tony's notes:

• Lenoble L'Epurée Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut (50% not put through malolactic fermentation): light straw colour with tiny bubbles; elegant, green apple and lemon nose with a mineral note; light on the palate, crisply dry, clean with good length (a breakfast champagne!). (90)
• Lenoble Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut (25% of the reserve wine aged in barrel): straw colour; creamy nose of white flowers, apple, ginger and a leesy note; round on the palate, very dry peach and green apple flavours, finishing with a nutty, chalky note. (91)
• Lenoble Cuvée Gentilhomme Blanc de Blancs 2006 (30% barrel fermented): straw colour; toasty, minerally, apple nose; dry, elegant, and winey; beautifully balanced apple and lemon flavours with a stroke of oak. (92) When I mentioned that I found the champagne very "winey," Antoine lit up. "We are a wine producer," he said, "not a bubble producer."
• Lenoble Cuvée Rosé 2006 (10% Pinot Noir added): amber-pink colour; minerally, raspberry and green apple nose; very elegant with delicate raspberry and lemon flavour, good length with a crisp finish. (90)

We're very excited to be working with this brand, and look forward to hearing feedback from our customers!

I know nothing about wine, where do I start?

Recently, I had a chance to meet some great people across varied industries and chat a bit about what they do and what I do. It was a great chance to see what other jobs entail, and understand a little about the individual challenges and approaches to solving problems. When I explained I work in the wine business, following the inevitable set of question regarding the consumer's view of the industry and how the distributor sees it, one question prevailed: "I know nothing about wine, where do I start?"

This is a question I have been asked a lot, and many in the wine world were asked it, by many consumers. I came to the conclusion that offering someone one wine to try because I think its great means nothing to that person. I tried the story approach, telling some interesting fact about a winery. But really, that also meant not too much. People smiled, nodded, and promptly forgot anything I ever told them.

Instead, I now suggest a newcomer gets into wine by going to a store and picking up any bottle that interests them. "Don't judge a book by the cover" is very not applicable here.  I tell people not to go over $15-18 for their first bottle, and perhaps give a few starting pointers which they again may forget (don't start with Burgundy or Alsace, maybe start with a well-known area like Bordeaux, Australian Shiraz or Californian wines).  I also suggest they skip the LCBO shelves and go straight to Vintages for their first "educated" experience.

You can try to smell, swirl, swish, swash. But really, just taste. Don't try to think of what the wine tastes like, it doesn't matter. Just make a very simple choice: do you like the wine? Yes/no. Maybe on the first one it's harder to say yes/no, we choose by comparison, not by some absolute value. So try something else. After 3-4 bottles, you will start to understand what you like. Once you've got this, think of why you like it. Maybe it's easy to drink, maybe it's not sharp, maybe it just tastes good. Establishing this, and tasting more, you will start to build your own pallet where you'll start to taste berries, cherries, fruits, earths. After some dozen wines, you'll have a pretty good one, and you'll already start to know what regions you like and why. When something interests you, keep a note and look it up online and read up on it. Here's where the story comes in. 20-odd bottles later. Not because some guy recommended it. Keep a note and try the same wine a year later, you'll be surprised what you find.

Another suggestion is to pick a grape, doesn't matter which one, and buy 3-4 wines from different regions. If going for Pinot Noir, try a Burgundy, a New Zealand and a California. If going for Cabernet Sauvignon, then it's gotta be Bordeaux, Australia and California. Chardonnay? Loire, New Zealand or Australia and California. Notice the California all over here? It is for a reason.

One final note. Red or white? It doesn't matter. A lot of people say they find reds easier to drink, others say whites are more approachable. Maybe stick with reds in the winter, whites in the summer. Personally, I no longer care for the season. After 8 years drinking and discussing wine at every dinner, today I enjoy whites more. I think whites are actually more difficult to understand, and it takes a while to fully appreciate them. But I digress, and others will surely disagree.

SweetLife: Destination Portugal

We were very excited to learn that Quevedo Port Wines was visited, completely unexpectedly, by great travel writers at SweetLife! If you're planning a trip to northern Portugal, they've put together a great list of things to do, places to visit right here: http://www.sweetspot.ca/SweetLife/destinations/52028/perfect_in_portugal

Gift Certificate Winners

Following the exciting and hectic Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, we've drawn the winners for the gift certificate draw we held during the expo. We'd like to congratulate Julie G., Lynn F., and Jenn B., each of who has won one of $150, $100 or $50 gift certificate towards a purchase of wine from Nokhrin Wines! Thank you to everyone who participated, and who dropped by our booth and tried our wines!

Weinberghof Fritsch

This is the second in a four-part series describing Austrian wines and introducing three wineries we recently presented in Ottawa.

Located in Oberstockstall (60 km west of Vienna in the Wagram wine region), Weinberghof Fritsch is focused on authentic, biodynamic wines. With a territory covering approximately 25 hectares, Fritsch has been growing biodynamic grapes since 2006. Starting in the 1970s, the Fritsch family established the Wagram property, and in 1999 it was taken over by Karl from his father. Its excellent reputation is based on its innovation in viticulture, as well as his commitment to the entire region of Wagram. The Weinberghof in tranquil Oberstockstall offers decades of experience acquired in its structure a green idyll in a Mediterranean flair. It is a wonderful place for young and old alike. The Wagram region is known predominantly for growing Grüner Veltliner, producing maturing hearty and spicy wines, with substance and drinking pleasure, as well as the rich, characterful Reserves.


We had the pleasure to present three of Fritsch's wines, which attained significant interest, one of which earned a rare and prized 5 star rating from Vic Harradine!


Weinberghof Fritsch ‘Erste Lage - Schlossberg’ 1OTW Grüner Veltliner 2010
Wagram, Austria $31.70 13.0% alcohol
Don’t be surprised to see this bio-dynamic gem popping up on tony wine lists; it’s a stunning rendition of what can be done with this grape. Think of ‘Erste Lage’ as a Grand Cru vineyard. This is complex and structured with mind-bending flavours of blood orange, white peach and lemon chiffon pie. It’s mid weight with a silky-smooth, generous texture and a lip-smacking, crisp, refreshing finish. Vic Harradine, Wine Current


Weinberghof Fritsch ‘Steinberg’ Grüner Veltliner 2010 

Wagram, Austria $20.50 12.5% alcohol
This flagship wine, from the single-vineyard ‘Steinberg’ plot, recently converted to biodynamic viticulture and viniculture practices. Mineral/slate and green apple on the nose, it washes the palate with a tangy, racy river of ripe pear and Granny Smith apple interwoven with lemongrass, peppery notes and racy citrus. There’s depth of flavour, excellent acidity and a touch of elegance. It punches well above the price with the quality-price balance tipped wildly in your favour. Vic Harradine, Wine Current


Weinberghof Fritsch ‘Wagram’ Grüner Veltliner 2010 

Wagram, Austria $17.30 12.0% alcohol
Mineral and floral aromas mingle with hints of pepper and spice in this mid-weight generously textured Grüner. The palate’s treated to rich and succulent flavours with white peach and racy citrus to the fore. The aftertaste replays the flavour from the palate and finishes in a blaze of lip-smacking tang. With good complexity and loads of nerve and verve, this stands up well to freshly shucked briny oysters under a squeeze of fresh lemon adorned by a drop or two of Tabasco. Vic Harradine, Wine Current

Personally, we were highly impressed by these wines, especially the Schlossberg! We hope it will soon be available through the LCBO stores, but in the meantime, we're glad to deliver by-the-case to your door.


In the next post, I will introduce Ewald Gruber, followed by a final post introduction of Hannes Sabathi.

Austrian Wines

This is the first in four posts introducing the Austrian wines in general, as well as the wines we presented at the recent Austria: A Taste of Culture event in Ottawa.  The event was organized by the great people at Groovy Grapes with the backing of the Austrian Embassy. Overall, the event was great fun, with a trade part followed by a public event in the evening. We introduced 3 wineries: Fritsch, Ewald Gruber, and Hannes Sabathi.

Before we head into discussion of the wines, I'd like to take a moment to briefly introduce Austrian wines. Austria has a long history of wine growing traditions, dating back centuries. Baron August Wilhelm von Babo established the first viticultural and oenoloigcal school and research centre in Klosterneuburg, which is passed into the management of the State in 1874, and has been known as Höheren Lehranstalt für Wein und Obstbau (Federal College of Viticulture, Oenology and Fruit) since 1902. This is officially the oldest viticulture school in the world and many similar institutes emerged from this model.

Starting in 2003, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture started to acknowledge a declaration of origin system, known as the Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC). Today, there are seven designated DAC regions. The first region was the Weinviertel DAC, in northern Austria, with the Grüner Veltliner variety. Unlike the Romanic (Italy, France, Spain) wine system, which distinguish wines according to regional typicity and origin, the Germanic (Austria, Germany) system favours a varietal specification.

Map of Austria with the DACs listed. The dark gray areas are wine growing regions without DAC status.

While it may be natural to expect white varietals to be predominant in Austrian wines (such as Grüner Veltliner with roughly 30% of all wine production), Austrians also produce red, sparkling and even dessert wines. In total, a selection of 22 white and 13 red varieties are grown. Most popular grapes are indigenous grapes not commonly found outside of Austria, but the internationals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and others are also grown.

The northern-most DAC, the Weinviertel (also the largest, and the first DAC), is known for its peppery Grüner Veltliner, but also is home to some great sparkling (Sekt) wines. The predominant soil type is loess (distinctive yellow type of soil with a fine sediment), which is also great for boring long tunnels for long-term storage of wines.

Just south-west of the Weinviertel DAC is a smaller region known as Wagram (previously known as Donauland), with the Danune river splitting the region into the northern and southern halves. The extensive geological features coupled with consistent weather and climatic patterns offer the prerequisites for producing full-bodied wines rich in aroma and flavour with textbook terroir attributes. The deep layers of loess, that were deposited on the shores of the receding primordial ocean, shape the landscape and give the wine its unmistakable character.

In the extreme south, we have the Steiermark (Styria) region, which is known for its zesty Sauvignon Blancs, and is synonymous with fresh, aromatic white wines, with some of the most challenging terrain due to the steep inclines. The Steiermark region is further split into three sub-regions, one of which is the Südsteiermark. The soil structure here are as diverse as the grape varieties, ranging from sandstone and slate, to marl and shell limestone. The warm and humid Mediterranean climate results in a long and drawn out growing period for the vines, with cool nights that help to encourage the development of fine aromatic elements in these distinct and delicately fresh wines.

For more information, I recommend you consult the excellent Austrian Wine website, which provides a significant amount of detail on the DACs, the grapes, and the wines.

In the next article, I will introduce the wines we presented at the event from one of the three wineries, followed by a third and fourth posting in the series.

Austria – A Taste of Culture, Ottawa Sept 20

We'll be presenting a number of Austrian wines at the Austria – A Taste of Culture event on September 20, 2011 at Juniper Kitchen & Wine Bar, 245 Richmond Road, Ottawa!  One of the wines will be Hannes Sabathi's Klassik Sauvignon Blanc, currently available at the Spoke Club in Toronto.  Register at the Taste of Culture website and be sure to come by and try the great wines from this country!

Armagnac Hors d'Age

Domaine de Papolle Armagnac Hors d'Age is being released September 12th in the LCBO! A heartily recommended buy for lovers of cognacs and even whisky lovers who'd like to try something new! LCBO Product Page and Inventory

Corks, Oakville

We are extremely excited to announce that our wines will be available at Corks restaurants in Oakville starting this Friday! Be sure to visit them at 305 Lakeshore Road East.

The Massandra Collection

Tony Aspler wrote a great brief history of the Massandra Collection, wine production in the Crimean Peninsula, and the wines that are stored there: The Massandra Collection