My Article: Fruit Off The Tree

I was hanging at the Standard Grill in the Meatpacking District of New York last night with Dan Tepfer, a jazz pianist who will be performing at my wine event on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

Over the course of the night, we ordered a couple of stylish Loire bottles. I really enjoy drinking wines from the Loire Valley because this region offers many fascinating wines that are excellent quality for the money. I tend to order Loire when I am in Paris as well. Dan was jazzed (sorry for the pun) to drink Loire because he grew up in Paris. He also seems to like the wholesome, no-nonsense style of the wines. He has friends that live there as well.

The first bottle was an incredible 2012 Thomas Labaille Sancere Chavignol Les Monts Damnes. This wine blew me away with its fantastic, steely character and intensity of reserved fruit, bright acidity and a minerally finish. It lasted for minutes on the palate. It was great with the fresh Beausoleil oysters.

The next wine was a natural wine — a 2010 Jean-Paul Thevenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes. I loved the beautifully ripe fruit in this wine. It was so frank and real. Yet I must admit that the high, volatile acidity and slightly fizzy undertone was annoying at first – not to mention the cloudiness. I had the wine decanted to give it some air.

“This is the shit that I love,” enthused Dan. “It’s so real. It’s like free jazz. There is innocence. There is a purity. It’s like picking fruit off the tree.” Dan explained that he tastes the “complexity in the wine as wrong as it is.” He compared it to free jazz, when the genius of a musician comes through even if he or she is hitting the wrong notes.

I must admit that I didn’t agree at first, but I loved his thoughts on the wines last night and it made me think differently. It made me taste and enjoy the wine for reasons other than the parameters that I usually use as a wine critic. Indeed, sometimes the genius of a wine can be different than what we normally think.