Baby, It's Cold Outside...

Winter is well and truly here.  As I write this entry, the snow is falling steadily and the entire tri-state area is hunkering down in preparation for a blizzard of 'historic' proportions.  I get a thrill from the frenetic buzz just before a big storm. Of course, it helps that I have a near non-existent commute -- all of 5 minutes -- and that I am walking distance from our village 'downtown' so last minute provisioning is easy.  My school aged daughters have  bright-eyed excitement from an early school dismissal and are already settled in their fuzzy pajamas for an afternoon of movies.  We are all provisioned up.  I'm set to work from home for a day or so.

And so, after a whirlwind holiday season, I am really looking forward to this first real 'snow day'. I'll rue the shoveling later.  But for now, first thing's first -- I can write a wine review that I have had 'in my head' since I tasted this wine last week at Kingside restaurant at the Viceroy Hotel in midtown, NYC. 

The 2010 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey La Framboisere, is a "Village" level Burgundy from the Cote Chalonnaise. The 27 acre vineyard La Framboisere is located in the heart of the village of Mercurey's Premier Crus vineyards to the northeast of the village. Grapes are hand harvested and sorted on site in Mercurey and then are brought to the cellars in Nuits-St.-George for aging. The wine is aged in a combination of stainless steel and oak for 12-14 months.  Typically, clay and limestone soils in Mercurey make for rustic, earthy, and more full bodied Pinot Noirs.  

I found this wine a delight to drink and more delicate and balanced than overtly rustic. On the nose there is ripe red fruit (strawberry and cherry) with hints of cedar, earth, and floral notes. Light to medium bodied on the palette, there is good acidity giving it structure -- some tart strawberry and raspberry notes which are balanced by savory woodsy forest floor and velvety suede-y tannins that create a lingering and satisfying medium-plus finish.  The wine was amazingly food friendly and paired well with an eclectic mix of flavors (a beautiful warm herbed lobster salad on toast, deep fried baby artichokes and even a skirt steak, on the rare side). In my opinion, this wine is a terrific, fresh expression of a village level Burgundy drinking well right now, with a complexity that belies its fairly reasonable $30 price tag.  Simply put, a great glass. I want to recreate this drinking experience again. I will seek out a few more bottles from my local retailers... as soon as we dig out from the storm! 

Stay warm and stay safe, friends. Grab a glass and get cozy.  Let's toast to snow days!

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