Christine et Gilles Paris Morgon Douby

Christine et Gilles Paris Morgon Douby
Varietal: Gamay
Region: Morgon, Beaujolais
Year: 2014
Price: ~ $24

I started writing about this wine for a quick review on Instagram, and lost my shit a little. I hate that I have been able to drink so many beautiful wines I love so much over the last year, and yet I have not had time to legitimately write about them. It's hard because as much as I enjoy writing about wine in general, what I truly love is writing about wines that inspire me. This blog started as writing about every wine I drank, but it became more about writing about wines that made me feel like I needed to write about them.

And while every wine I spend any time on is because I feel like I need to, this wine, this wine made me feel like I was going to die if I didn't actually write about it. Not a fucking Instagram post. Because I'm not here because I was writing fucking Instagram posts. I'm here because there is something to wine that is so much bigger than me, or my silly emotions, allusions or similes. I'm not here because of writing 7 Wines To [Verb] [Pronoun] [Adjective] [Season] or explain Charmat Method in a charming way for my book, which is what I should be doing. I'm here because I cannot not tell someone-- anyone!-- about this wine.

Even if I hadn't started drinking this as the sun started to set, it would have reminded me of "Waterloo Sunset". ♫ ... But Ben & Marissa cross over the river where they feel safe and sound. And they don't need no friends, as long as they gaze on Morgon Sunsets, they are in paradise. ♫ 

Not quite what the Kinks said, but the sentiment remains. The Christine et Gilles Paris Morgon Douby tastes like big chewy Sweettarts, ocean foam & young summer love, and feels as relaxed as a lit joint. I want to curl up with this bottle and my favorite records on crisp, green, post-war, suburban grass in a bikini, smelling like Coppertone and Hawaiian Tropic. There is an easiness about it that tastes like cranberry-soaked privilege wrapped up in the security of a balmy summer night and your whole life ahead of you. 

It's so fucking youthful and fresh that you wouldn't be able to even appreciate this shit if you were youthful and fresh. It takes the wisdom and complexity that you can taste on the mid and back palate-- that same wisdom and complexity you have as an adult-- to appreciate it. 

Because cannonballing into pools with my sister was always my favorite, and aimless sunset walks down Euclid Ave. with Sager in our cut-offs were always fun, and I always knew urban hiking through Echo Park with Tecates and Ben were the only butterflies I wanted for the rest of my life. And although I knew these memories were always going to be the best, you still don't really comprehend it in the moment. 

This wine tastes like the moment a favorite memory washes over you. 

You have no choice but to be swept away.

AS WE HAVE SEEN HERE TODAY.

Tasting Notes: Smells like Raspberry Banana smoothies made of sparklers. Crisp and tart with cranberry, red currant, a touch of radish and awesome minerality, but is so so smooth. Also has nice tannic structure, which is a thing I just said aloud and hated myself for BUT IS STILL TRUE. 

Ross Test: AMAZING, but I couldn't with good conscience do more that a couple swigs because this is so much better to share. 

Solminer Linus Rosé

Solminer Linus Rosé
Varietal: Syrah
Region: Santa Ynez, California
Year: 2015
Price: $24
Retailer: Direct from winery (online shopping rules)

I wrote this whole thing explaining that despite spending most of my life being referred to as "little bro" and saying everything is "fucking tight", I'm a sophisticated lady who listens to Music For A Sophisticated Lady. And then Neil, who gave me the fucking record, walked in and was like, "You are definitely not a sophisticated lady." 

And I mean, I'm not.
Not in the classical sense.
Or really any sense.

But I am modern and knowledgable, which are both synonyms of "sophisticated", so if the only thing keeping me from being "sophisticated" is that I primarily wear basketball shorts and no make up while chugging wine and cussing too much, then I am fine not being sophisticated or a lady. But it did ruin the lede of this piece. Although that was a waste of my time, it actually worked out because I didn't realize that this rosé was named after the winemakers' son, and it's probably for the best I didn't go comparing it to any sophisticated or unsophisticated ladies. 

BUT THE BLOG MUST GO ON. With or without a cohesive through-line. 

The Solminer rosé is a gorgeous deep coral; a color I love to wear but something I would normally see in a bottle of wine and actively avoid due to the sweetness such a color usually indicates. But the Linus is tart and dry with electric strawberry, and reminds me of this Glass Animals song. It's upbeat with an accelerated acidity that bursts through the palate and long into the finish. With its sharp, sour red fruits, it is very refreshing, and begs to be gulped. It drinks young, but you can taste how much technique and talent went into it. It's one of those bottles that you hate to drink so quickly because you know it's special, but you just can't help it. 

This is rosé at its best. As plush as Provence, and as crisp as California.

Tasting Notes: Neon strawberry and orange zest with like, a kazoo bursting with acidity, and mouthfeel like your favorite well-fitted viscose t-shirt. 

Ross Test: I drank a fourth of the bottle. So. YES.

Drink Sustainably, Episode Two: Handpicked Grapes & J. Brix Counoise

If you're anything like us, you probably don't know much about wine. Other than that it tastes really really good and supposedly should be enjoyed responsibly. In Episode 2 of Drink Sustainably, @marissaaross tries a bottle of koo-nwahz, that's made from handpicked grapes. Starring Marissa A. Ross, wine editor at Bon Appétit.

Because irony is inescapable, it's pronounced "J Bricks". 
LE SIGH. :(

Grab your bottles of J. Brix from their website! 

Thinking of You ♥

Just wanted to check in, and apologize for not updating very much of late. With the amount of writing I'm doing for Bon Appétit and the book, it's been hard. I, of course, couldn't be happier with things, and am so grateful for these incredible opportunities. But shit is hard. Writing a book and writing for a magazine are two very different skills. It's easy to write here about wines I love and do whatever the fuck I want, but a totally other thing to write 75 words on Valdiguié while being funny while not cussing or making sex jokes, or write a whole chapter on tasting that isn't just me being like, "DO YOU BABE!"

I've been beating myself up about it quite a bit. I want to be this funny wine writer that everyone believes I am, that I know I am, but it's not that simple. It's hard for me to churn out articles, to write one-liners on Zinfandel and technical but fun chapters on regions. And I hate that. I hate that it's hard when what got me to this point was how easy and fun it was for me to write about wine.

But nothing worth having has ever been easy. I've only been doing all this for a year. And it took me five years to get to that point. And maybe it will take me another five years to get really good at all this, but I'm going to do it. I'm doing it. 

I'm not one for inspirational quotes, but I heard one recently I had to pin up in my office. It's been helping me a lot with all these ~feelings~ and I hope it helps you too. It's a nice reminder to just keep going when all you want to do is smoke bongs, eat pizza and watch Gossip Girl in your sweatpants, and maybe cry. 

Excellence is a habit, just like stuntin'. 

PUT IT IN THE AIIIRRR.

Cheers to you, and your own pursuit of excellence.

Drink Sustainably, Episode One: Pesticides & Thibaud Boudignon Rosé de Loire

SUSTAINABLE FASHION AND SUSTAINABLE DRINKING? YES PLEASE!

Thrilled to announce my video series with Reformation! There couldn't have been a better collaboration. Not only are we both dedicated to sustainability in our work, but I'm obsessed with their clothes. We have another three videos coming for the next three weeks so make sure to tune in and learn more about the different sides of sustainable wine, and watch me review even more delicious low-intervention wines. 

The Thibaud Boudignon Rosé de Loire “à Sacred Thirst” I'm drinking is 100% Cab-Franc rosé and is $24 at Lou Wine Shop. 

On The Foodcast: Chatting Natural Wine, Mindy Kaling, Singing Vinho Verde's Praises, Pool Rules & More

Bob Kramer is widely known in the restaurant world as the Yoda of knife making. And he wants you to know how to actually care for your knives. In today's episode, he shares tips every home cook should know. And later, we catch up with our new contributing wine editor Marissa A. Ross, who makes the case for natural wine.

My first appearance on Bon Appétit's Foodcast! It starts with knife king, Bob Kramer, and then I come in about twenty two minutes later and I chat about all sorts of stuff with my very cool boss and overall cool dude, BA Editor-in-Chief Adam Rapoport. 

Domaine Glinavos Vlahiko

Domaine Glinavos Vlahiko
Varietals: Vlahiko & Bekari
Region: Epirus, Greece
Year: 2009
Price: ~ $22
Retailer: Lou Wine Shop

I don't know what happened to me as a kid that made me so obsessed with all things sour, but whatever it was, well, it happened. And now we all have to deal with it. I say "we" because as my reader, you are subjected to what could be called "too many" strikingly acidic wines. But I can't help it! Just like I couldn't help chewing on sourgrass I'd find at the softball field, eating berries my father told me weren't ripe, or stealing lemons from a neighbor's yard to suck on &/or use to create natural highlights because Seventeen Magazine LIED TO ME AND TOLD ME THAT WAS POSSIBLE.

I wish with all my heart this was a bait and switch, but it's not. It's a warning to bust out the Tagamet because apparently I am hellbent on giving us all Acid Reflux Disease, which judging by the Larry the Cable Guy commercials doesn't seem so bad. He rides a lot more jet skis than I do. (This isn't a first time thought. I tried to find it, but I had a series of very dark tweets years ago where I made fun of Larry the Cable Guy and then descended into the realization that that dude was way more successful than I will probably ever be, and ended up deciding I respect him for his, albeit totally lame, hustle. I told you it was dark!)

The Domaine Glinavos Vlahiko is a lot of tart. It's vibrant with some spice, and is uncomplicated. It tastes like daydrunkenly dancing in a friend's sun-drenched living room right before spring turns into summer. It's warm enough to be in shorts, but still temperate enough for no one to know you decided to try using Tom's Natural Deodorant for a month (before eventually returning back to your daily dose of underarm aluminum). And yeah, you're a good dancer, but you can't fucking waltz. You're not complex. But you've got moves and you know how to move 'em. Your crush is definitely impressed as you're flowing along, inexplicably turning each near stumble into a smooth transition into some variation of something you saw on a YouTube of SoulTrain when you were stoned.

Although it tastes like any day in May in Echo Park as a twenty-something, the bouquet has hints of a really expensive leather jacket your dad wore into a cigar parlor. It's still bright with fruit on the nose, I don't want you thinking this is some Cabernet or something. But there is a maturity to it that you just can't have as a twenty-four year old barista two-stepping between indie-pop and Drake.

All in all, I really want to spend more time with this wine.
And I don't want to get old with it.

I want to be young with it forever, dancing like crazy and looking into the future like we could one day afford our own leather jackets.

Tasting Notes: Rusty cherry color. Red currant, tangerine, leather and tobacco on the nose. Tart, unripe, bing cherries on the palate with notes of forest foliage and salty tannins. Velvety texture and a nice finish that keeps you thirsty for more. 

Ross Test: Pass

On Bon Appétit: The 6 White Wines You'll Be Sneaking to the Park This Spring

The 6 White Wines You'll Be
Sneaking to the Park This Spring

My first BA byline is on stands now! Check it out for my top tips for drinking wine outdoors this spring, and while you're at it, read which white wines you shouldn't forget over at BA online!

Interviewed: THE NOT-SO-BASIC GUIDE TO ROSÉ

The Coveteur's Not-So-Basic Guide To Rosé

As someone who covets most fashion, I was so honored to be interviewed by one of my favorite fashion sites, The Coveteur, on my tips to buying the best rosé this season. 

Julien Courtois "Ancestral"

Julien Courtois "Ancestral"
Varietals: Côt, Gamay & Gascon
Region: Loire, France
Year: 2012
Price: ~$30
Retailer: Lou Wine Shop

It's interesting when your hobby becomes your job. It is so fun and exciting and gratifying, and it is challenging and exhausting, just like you always knew it would be. And then there is this part where you find yourself uninspired and frustrated, because that thing you used to do to relax and be creative is now your job.

But you have to get back to that thing; that thing that made you laugh when no one was around, that thing that took weight off your shoulders no one else could, that thing you couldn't stop doing if you tried, that thing you did for no one but yourself, that thing that gave you purpose before you knew you had a purpose.

And here we are. I couldn't be more predictable if I tried with a Gamay blend. It's like I've lit a bunch of fancy-ass candles, put on Getz/Gilberto and am leading myself to bed to try to rekindle a dwindling romance...

AND IT WORKS!

Julien Courtois' "Ancestral" has me feeling more than satisfied, entirely in love all over again, and convinced that my relationship with wine will last forever.

It's got a mouth on it; acerbic and a little dirty. There's definitely a bite to it, but it is very smooth. Its acidity walks a tight rope of savory tension that leaves you wanting more. This is not a shallow Gamay that you drink before dinner and never think about again. This has a smokey delicious depth to it I want to swim in forever. 

Tasting Notes: Cranberry and black cherry on the nose, with some hints of melted Red Vines. On the palate, there's very tart cranberry and red currant, resting upon a bed of savory smoke. There is this umami-ness to it too, and the mouthfeel is very "freshly laundered white t-shirt." Nicely balanced considering the high acidity. 

Ross Test: Delicious!