What is Valdiguié?

Earlier this month, I wrote about Red Grapes of California and in that blog was a grape called Valdiguié which was mistakenly called Gamay in California. I wanted to know more about the Valdiguié grape and found a very good article from U.C. Davis.¹
Valdiguié is a grape grown in France where it is also known as Valdiguer, Cahors, Gros Auxerrois, Jean-Pierrou at Sauzet, Quercy, and Noir de Chartres. According Robinson, et. al² the Valdiguié is a fairly recent variety, the origins of which are hypothesized to be in Puylaroque in southern France.
The California Gamay was correctly identified as Valdiguié by Pierre Galet in 1980 and verified by DNA fingerprinting. It belongs to the Cot (Malbec) ampelographic group. The grape gained popularity during Prohibition due to it's high yield and tolerance to powdery mildew. Currently in California, there are approximately 1,000 acres planted in Valdiguié.

The variety is vigorous and late blooming allowing it to escape early spring frosts. It is high yielding producing between 5 to 8 tons an acre. Valdiguié is used for the production of fruity red or rosé table wines.
References:
1. Valdiguié.
2. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 1109-1110, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.

2022 Nervi-Conterno Il Rosato

The birds are chirping in the morning, the daffodil leaves are starting to pop out of the soil, is it spring? Warmer weather is headed our way and with that, the enjoyment of drinking a well crafted rose. In anticipation, we opened up this rose to pair with a chicken dinner. We were surprised that I had never blogged about this rose and I am addressing that deficiency today. This 2022 Nervi-Conterno Il Rosato is imported by Polaner Selections and is a blend of 90% nebbiolo and 10% Uva Rara. It is a dry wine with notes of red berries. It is our go-to rose during the summer months.
To pair with this rose, my husband enlisted our grandson to pound the sliced chicken breast into thin but even pieces in preparation for making chicken saltimbucca. The recipe that they followed was contributed by David Tanis and appeared in Times Cooking. The only time consuming part was marinating the chicken in chopped sage, garlic, red pepper flakes and olive oil for one hour. After that, it was crisp the fresh sage leaves in olive oil, brown the chicken breasts in the same pan and transfer the cooked chicken into a large baking dish. Top with 2 sage leaves, a slice of prosciutto and a slice of fontina and broil for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is bubbling.

References:
1. NERVI-CONTERNO.

Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

This morning, we watched an episode of Wine Masters on sparkling wines hosted by Sarah Heller and Fredrik Lindfors. They went through all of the methods of putting bubbles into wine and elaborated on the styles. It went a bit quickly, so I thought I would investigate a bit more and write a blog.

Method	Description
Traditional Method	Hand-pick whole clusters (mechanization causes split skins allowing for early oxidation, undesired color extraction) Gentle pressing (ie. Many Champagne houses have presses right in the vineyard) 1st fermentation to create still, dry base wine (around 10-11% alcohol) Blending (varietal base wines, vineyard sites, reserve wines, etc) Liqueur de tirage (yeast, nutrients, clarifying agent, sugar) 2nd fermentation in bottle (alcohol increases by 1.2-1.3%) Note: the bottle where second fermentation occurs is the same bottle that the customer purchases. Yeast autolysis (contact with dead yeast cells creates additional flavors, richer texture) Riddling (process of slowly turning and tilting bottles downward in a series of moves so yeast sediment glides to neck of bottle where it can be frozen and expelled) Disgorgement (term for the removal of the frozen yeast cap) Liqueur d’expedition (topping up with wine and any desired sugar level – called dosage – for the final style) Bottle aging (some regions have minimum aging requirements)
Transfer Method	Often hand-picking of grape clusters Gnetle pressing 1st fermentation to create still, dry base wine (around 10-11% alcohol) Blending (varietal base wines, vineyard sites, reserve wines, etc) Liqueur de tirage (yeast, nutrients, clarifying agent, sugar) 2nd fermentation in bottle (alcohol increases by 1.2-1.3%) Yeast autolysis (contact with dead yeast cells creates additional flavors, richer texture) Wine emptied into tanks Filtering to remove dead yeast sediment Liqueur d’expedition (topping up with wine and any desired sugar level – called dosage- for the final style) Re-bottled in a new bottle Bottle aging
Tank/Charmat Method	1st fermentation in stainless steel tanks to create base wine 2nd fermentation in sealed tanks (dry base wine is placed in tank together with sugar, yeast nutrients, and a clarifying agent) Wine is filtered Wine is bottled under pressure
Asti Method	Must is chilled so it does not start fermenting, and is stored until needed. (It is fermented to order to create a fresh, new batch.) When needed, must is warmed and fermentation (the one and only fermentation with this method) starts. Initially, CO2 is allowed to escape. Partway through, the tank is sealed to retain CO2 Fermentation is stopped early (by chilling the wine) at 7-7.5% abv, so the wine is left sweet (with unfermented sugar) and a minimum of 4 atmospheres of pressure. Wine is filtered and bottled
Carbonation Method	CO2 is injected into a wine and then the wine is bottled under pressure
Ancestral or Pétillant naturel Method	Pétillant naturel is the oldest method of making sparkling wine, also known as the méthode ancestrale or ancestral method The wine is moved from vat into individual bottles while it is still fermenting, and then sealed under a crown cap Bubbles are created when carbon dioxide gas, a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation, gets trapped in the wine The wine is not filtered and no dosage (sugar) is added, which is why pét-nat is considered more “natural” than other sparkling wine styles

The last sparkler that Heller and Lindfors showcased was a still wine into which they infused CO₂ using the Soda Stream for carbonation. The experiment went a little awry. We have a Soda Stream and my husband is thinking of trying their experiment.
References:
1. Napa Valley Wine Academy, The 5 Ways to Make Sparkling Wine.
2. Master Class, What Is Pétillant Naturel?, September 28, 2021.

Ponson Champagne

Recently, we had our friends over for oysters and Ponson Champagne. It is made from 100% Pinot Meunier. We loved the combination of oysters and Ponson. True to my MO, I went to the Ponson Website to learn more about the producers and the wine.
The six generations of Bonet-Ponson began with Grégoire Bonnet who was one of the first recoltant manipulants in the village of Chamery in 1862. Jules Bonnet extended the domain by purchasing more parcels in Chamery. Jules' son Raoul moved to another location in the village after the destruction of the family cellar during the bombing in the Second World War. Raoul then initiated the construction of the present day caves to store his small production of about 5000 bottles a year. Raoul was joined by his 14 year old son André, who was in charge of ploughing the family vines with his two horses. André Bonnet met and married Monique Ponson and started the domain Bonnet-Ponson, growing a few plots of Meunier and Pinot noir in Chamery, Vrigny and Coulommes la Montagne. When their son Thierry joined the domain in 1979, all the steps of champagne making were being processed by the family and their 3 workers. At that time, they were bottling and disgorging 70 000 bottles produced per year. In 2013, Cyril Bonnet joined the family domain and in that year they began the conversion of their vineyard to the organic method of cultivation.

The Bonet-Ponsons farm 10,5 hectares of vineyards planted with 3,80 hectares of Pinot noir, 3,30 hectares of Pinot Meunier, 3,20 hectares of Chardonnay and 0,20 hectares of Petit Meslier, first planted in 2016.
Most of their Pinot Meunier vines grows on the lower part of the hills of Chamery and Vrigny, on sandy or clay loamy soil. The fossil shells found in Chamery attest to the presence of the sea in this region thirty-five million years ago.
Most of their wines do not go through any filtration or finning process. Their clarification occurs naturally during the winter when the cellar temperature drops. The wines stay on their lies for a minimum of 7 months before bottling, building up their structure and refining their taste.
References:
1. Ponson Website