Wine & Spirits - June 2019 - 19

A crowd favorite, this rich
Muscadet comes from a parcel
of vines planted in 1930, on
clay and silica soils over granite. It's farmed under biodynamics and spontaneously fermented in stainless-steel tanks,
where it rests for seven months
on the lees. Imported by Louis/
Dressner, NY

BRIAN LOEHR

Arlequin Wine Merchant,
San Francisco

Domaine de la Pépière
2017 Muscadet Sèvre-etMaine Clos des Briords $20

WHY LOEHR PICKED IT:

When I go for Sichuan-style
foods, Muscadet is my go-to.
This wine doesn't have the
typical dry-riesling minerality
one associates with [wines
for] spicy food, but it mellows
out the spice. The stoniness

and fruitiness of the wine
held up with the spiciness
and the roundness of the
eggplant.
The Muscadet was my favorite of the twelve. A bunch of
us thought it was chenin-
because who would think
Muscadet, first of all? You
think Muscadet for oysters,
not for spicy Chinese food.
That was, without a doubt,
the surprise and success of
the evening. -ANDY BOOTH,
THE SPANISH TABLE

DOMINIQUE
HENDERSON
Gemini Bottle Co.,
San Francisco

Forlorn Hope 2016 Calaveras County Queen of the
Sierras Rorick Heritage
Vineyard Estate White $20
Matthew Rorick tends vines
on schist soils over limestone
at 2,000 feet elevation in the
Sierra Foothills, farming
organically. He foot-treads his
albariño, picpoul, verdelho
and chardonnay, coferments
them spontaneously in opentop vats, then ages the wine in
neutral oak barrels.
WHY HENDERSON PICKED IT:

I chose the wine for the aromatics but mainly the weight
and texture. With spicy food,
having something to coat
your palate goes a long way.
I just knew it was a weird
blend but it extinguished
the heat without being
sweet. It was a sophisticated
extinguisher.
-JOSIAH BALDIVINO, BAYGRAPE

It surprises me how much
the wine powers out the
spice. With the spiciness, it
brings my palate back to life,
resets it to zero.
-BRIAN LOEHR, ARLEQUIN WINE

This riesling grows in Los Alamos, on an ancient sand dune
ten miles from the Pacific. It
was pressed without sulfur,
settled, then decanted and
allowed to spontaneously ferment in stainless steel.
WHY MADUENO PICKED IT:

LEE MADUENO

Flatiron Wines & Spirits,
San Francisco

Stirm 2016 Santa Barbara
Kick-On Ranch Riesling $20

I wanted to bring a representation of California. Riesling
is still such a maligned varietal in California and that's
unfortunate because there
is so much good domestic
riesling. This one is unusual
because it goes through full
malolactic and it's unfiltered

and unfined. So it's a little bit
richer in the midpalate-and
I thought that might be interesting with spicy food.
When I first tasted it, on its
own, it was so floral and aromatic-it was so gewurzy.
Now, it's so mellow.
-JOSIAH BALDIVINO, BAYGRAPE

The riesling is just so easy
to drink and such a nice
refreshment after all the
spice.
-MAEVE DECOUVELAERE,
KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2019

Wine & Spirits - June 2019

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