Celebrating Holidays: Wines for the Thanksgiving Table

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Sure, the holidays are about family and friends and togetherness–something most of us have been lacking lo these many months. But, nearly as significant, the holidays are about food and wine–and about sharing that food and wine with the ones you love (and have missed). So as we come together (carefully still) this season, let’s make sure you fill your Thanksgiving table with wines that will surprise, satisfy, and delight. To that end, the staff at Paul Marcus Wines has offered a prime selection to help get you started.

Go BiG

I haven’t seen my family in a large or large-ish gathering since 2019. The pandemic has accelerated and changed so much, but when I think of all the things I miss, and want changed back (though nothing will go back to what it was, exactly), family gatherings are at the top of the list. For this year’s Thanksgiving, I’m going to pop some Champagne and open both red and white Burgundy with our Thanksgiving meal. I’m thinking: go BiG. I haven’t gone BiG during the pandemic, but I’m feeling like life ought to be celebrated in a BiG way.

So here are a few selections for this year’s festivities:

Try a bottle of the astonishing 2012 Francis Boulard ‘Petraea’ Brut Nature, made from 100 percent biodynamically farmed pinot noir. The fruit for ‘Petraea’ comes from 60-80-year-old vines planted on sandy limestone soils in a single estate parcel in the northeast corner of the Montagne de Reims. The combination of ripe fruit and a long aging process, with no dosage, yields a dynamic, captivating result.

Or perhaps try a Burgundy or two from the masterful Dominique Lafon. His red wines are deep and complex–I have loved them for 30 years, and his new releases might be his best yet. For instance, the 2017 Dominique Lafon Beaune Epenottes, from a plot farmed by Dominique just outside of Pommard.

His whites are gloriously bright and exuberant as well. Grab the 2019 Dominique Lafon Meursault if you want a total stunner of a rich wine with ripping acidity. Sensuous.  For more ideas, come on in and ask us for recommendations. We’re always happy to help.

— Chad Arnold

Have You Heard About Poulsard?

Poulsard (also known as ploussard) is the second-most-planted grape (after chardonnay) in the Jura. Thin skins and a pale red color are the signatures of this variety, and long ferments draw out maximum flavor and texture. The 2018 Domaine Ligier Arbois Poulsard spends 10-12 months in vats before bottling, increasing its generous flavors, textures, and scents of sour cherry, pomegranate, cranberry, and earthy spices. Bright and complex with good acidity and a lovely finish, it’s a perfect choice for your holiday gatherings.

— Rene Duer

 

It Ain’t Easy Being Easy

On T Day, we celebrate being as stuffed as a turkey. Therefore, the wines should be easygoing–easy on the brain, easy on the stomach. The 2018 Unturned Stone Stowaway Red fits the bill. Zinfandel and carignan are richly flavored grapes that tend towards weight and alcohol, but this winemaking couple handles them beautifully. The blend is only 12.5 percent alcohol, has no silly additives, and comes from the historic, organically farmed Talmage Ranch vineyard. It drinks soft and fresh with berrylike fruit, without being at all “sweet.” It’s just easy to like.

–David Gibson

Beaujolais Bounty

The versatile, nimble wines of Beaujolais, made from the gamay grape, are ideal accompaniments to the wide-ranging Thanksgiving feast, and we have a number available at PMW.

The 2019 Jean-Claude Lapalu Eau Forte comes from one of the most revered growers and winemakers in the region, a leader in the natural wine movement. While not bottled as a single cru, the grapes for this wine are sourced from Brouilly. Lapalu does not make Eau Forte in warmer, riper vintages, as he intends it to be lighter on its feet with less tannic structure. It is aged in amphora, which adds to its silky texture, and it has the flavor complexity of a cru wine without the extraction and tannin. A great start to the heavy meal, it will complement the pre-meal cheese spread and cranberry preserves.

The Moulin-à-vent cru takes its name from the iconic windmill (moulin) that proudly stands above the vineyards. Nicknamed the “Lord of Beaujolais” because of its wines’ “noble” fragrance, this appellation tends to offer wines with a bit more body and intensity. The 2017 Merlin Moulin-à-vent is just starting to show its tertiary notes from the bottle age–dried cranberry, dried rose petal, and forest floor. Aged in new French oak, with notes of licorice and spice as well as a solid tannic structure, it’s a wine to last the meal from start to finish.

Julienas may not be as notable as, say, Morgon, but that is not because it is lacking in potential. The region experiences more sunlight exposure than the other Beaujolais crus, and when combined with its varied, decomposing blue stone and schist soils, Julienas can pump out wines of real power. Expect a weightier mouthfeel with darker fruits. The lively 2019 Laurent Perrachon Julienas is a classic example at a pretty unbeatable price. It boasts dark, peppery fruits with some tannin, though not quite as dry as the Merlin. It will be great with the all-in-one forkful of dark turkey leg meat + stuffing + cranberry sauce.

–Emilia Aiello

Wild Turkey

Win the “most far-flung and obscure island wine” sweepstakes this Thanksgiving with the 2020 Tsiakkas Mouklos Mavro, a light, shockingly fresh red from the nation-island of Cyprus. The Tsiakkas family farms 80-year-old, ungrafted, bush-trained vines in sandy, volcanic soil at over 3,000 feet of altitude. Mavro Ambelissimo is the variety, and Mouklos is the name of the vineyard. It’s super-light in color, and the profile is light red fruits, with delicate floral and herbal notes. As with gamay, poulsard, schiava, pelaverga, and similar wines, the great acidity and liveliness help this wine play well with everything on the Thanksgiving table. Definitely chill it a bit. Fun fact: The Republic of Cyprus issued a stamp featuring the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in 2009; someone there must be doing the Thanksgiving thing!

Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, famously banned gamay from Burgundy in 1395. The 2017 Marchand-Tawse Coteaux Bourguignons Gamay proves him wrong. Here is gamay from 45- and 75-year-old vines in Vosne-Romanée–aromatically Beaujolais, but structurally Burgundy. Dark-fruited, stony, and earthy, with a hint of spice, it’s a stylish yet relaxed guest on the Thanksgiving table. It’s the absolute antithesis of Beaujolais Nouveau and the perfect Venn diagram for lovers of real Beaujolais and/or Burgundy; a gamay of breed and class, yet not without that good gamay slash of hedonism.

–Mark Middlebrook

 

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar

Every family has that one cousin who’s just so affable, charismatic, and laid-back–the one who gets along with everybody and yet doesn’t talk too much. That, my friends, is Cousin Oscar. Made from a single parcel of old-vine cinsault in France’s Languedoc, the 2020 Domaine Rimbert VdF ‘Cousin Oscar’ is a luscious and bright bowl of red berries with just a whiff of peppery spice. Bursting with acidity and charm, this unassuming bottle will complement just about anything you throw at it–and at less than 20 bucks a pop, it’s perfect for those guests who might overstay their welcome. To quote Col. Sherman T. Potter of M*A*S*H fame, “Not enough o’s in smooth to describe this.”

–Marc Greilsamer

 

For more Thanksgiving suggestions, from the classic to the unconventional, please stop by or give us a call at the shop. Happy holidays!

/0 Comments/by Paul Marcus Wines

Regional Roundup: Greece (and Cyprus)

Homer, by my count, mentions wine at least 87 times in The Odyssey–and that’s not including “the wine-dark sea,” his oft-repeated epithet for the Mediterranean. Oh, what I would give to have been invited into Odysseus’s wine cellar:

And there, standing in close ranks against the wall,
Were jars of seasoned, mellow wine, holding the drink
Unmixed inside them, fit for a god, waiting the day
Odysseus, worn by hardship, might come home again.

Despite thousands of years of important wine history, Greek wine in the 20th century had descended into an abyss of too rustic, often oxidized regular wines, and cheap, pine-resin-infused retsina. That all began to change in the 1980s, and today there’s a plethora of exciting wines made from an ample range of characterful indigenous grapes grown in often-mountainous terroirs on both the mainland and the islands. At Paul Marcus Wines, we’re excited to feature a number of Greece’s most notable current producers.

2019 Inomessiniaki Moschofilero Mati Fortuna

Moschofilero is an aromatic white variety, similar to yellow muscat. This one comes from scenic Peloponnese–the large peninsula just west of Athens. Floral and herbal aromas leap out of the glass, and yet the wine is bone dry on the palate. “A garden in a glass,” you might say. If that sounds like fun to you, try it as an aperitif or with fragrant Vietnamese and Burmese dishes.

2018 Anatolikos Vineyards Fine Assyrtiko

The island of Santorini has long championed assyrtiko, and there’s no question that this impressive variety is capable of making complex, mineral, salty whites. This example, however, is from the northeastern mainland, specifically Western Thrace, and it’s an organically farmed blend of assyrtiko (90 percent) with a bit of malagousia. This is a bigger-boned and more complex assyrtiko, but it retains the grape’s trademark acidity and minerality. Think octopus (Greek for “eight-footed,” of course), tomatoes, and anchovy pizza.

2020 Markou Vineyards eMeis Red

This light, fresh, spicy red from the Peloponnese is agiorgitiko (a.k.a. St. George, Greece’s most widely planted red variety) and mandalaria farmed organically and fermented with 100 percent carbonic maceration–in the style of many a Beaujolais. It begs for a light chill and perhaps some sausages or even grilled fish.

2019 Tetramythos Mavro Kalavrytino Natur

Here’s another fresh red from the Peloponnese, from the rare, über-local variety mavro kalavrytino. It’s darker-fruited and a little more earthy than the preceding, but still light on its feet and low in tannin. Farming is certified organic, and the grapes are foot-tread. Try it with mushroom dishes or truffled cheeses.

2020 Thymiopoulos Naoussa Xinomavro Young Vines

Naoussa is a wine appellation in the northern Greek region of Macedonia (not to be confused with the Republic of Macedonia, the country right across the border). Xinomavro, often compared to Italy’s nebbiolo, is the star grape in Naoussa. Thymiopoulos’s organically and biodynamically farmed young-vine version is akin to an easygoing Langhe nebbiolo: fresh, with moderate tannins and aromas of olive, spice, and underbrush. Give it a go with tapenade or lamb.

Crete is the southernmost Greek island and the largest producer of wine in the Aegean Sea. We recently brought on four new wines from the Lyrarakis family. They founded their winery in 1966 and now work with 100 small, independent growers all over the island (in addition to farming their own vineyards). Their focus is on indigenous varieties, and they are intent on improving both farming and vinification throughout Crete.

2020 Lyrarakis Assyrtiko Vóila

Made from 100 percent assyrtiko grown at 580 meters in the Vóila area of eastern Crete, this stony, herbal, lemony, and lean wine undergoes 16 hours of skin contact. Drink it with creatures of the sea or fresh cheeses.

2019 Lyrarakis Plytó Psarades

Plytó is an indigenous variety that was saved from extinction by the Lyrarakis family in the early 1990s, when they planted it in the family’s “Psarades” vineyard (at 480 meters altitude in central Crete). Plytó makes a fresh, citrus, and mineral white wine with an herbal tinge. Dolmas, pesto, and sole piccata would be worthy complements.

2020 Lyrarakis Liatiko Kedros Rosé

This direct press rosé is made from the indigenous red variety liatiko, the most widely planted grape on the island of Crete. These grapes come from ungrafted vines planted over a hundred years ago on Mount Kedros in eastern Crete, at an elevation of 850 meters. Think of it as Provençal rosé, but with brambly fruit and a saltier finish. A consummate aperitif wine, it’s also great with meze/tapas and just about anything else on a sunny day. (Our meager allotment is running low, so this is one to jump on now.)

2019 Lyrarakis Liatiko Aggelis

From the Aggelis vineyard in eastern Crete, this red wine is 100 percent liatiko, from ungrafted vines planted in the 1930s. As a red wine, liatiko tends to be lightly colored, with floral and spicy notes. You’ll find black pepper, smoke, and stones, along with a little tannic kick. How about spanakopita, falafel, spiced meatballs, or kebabs?

We’ll finish our tour not in Greece, but in the Republic of Cyprus, an island nation south of Turkey and west of Syria with a long cultural and political (and contentious) connection to both Greece and Turkey.

2020 Tsiakkas Mouklos Mavro Red

This lively, pale-colored wine comes from the Tsiakkas family, whose winery is located near Cyprus’s Mount Olympos. Mavro ambelissimo is the variety, and Mouklos is the vineyard–north-facing at 920 meters altitude. The grapes, farmed organically, come from 80-year-old, ungrafted, bush-trained vines in sandy, volcanic soil. The indigenous fermentation (80 percent whole clusters) and 35 days of (gentle) maceration all take place in stainless steel. Delicately floral and herbal, with great acidity, this is for lovers of gamay, poulsard, schiava, pelaverga, and the like. Chill it a bit, and then enjoy it with charcuterie, moussaka, pork, or lamb.

/0 Comments/by Mark Middlebrook

Special Offer: Save Up to 20 Percent on Big Bottles

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Ready or not, the holidays are upon us. In celebration of the festive season, your friends at Paul Marcus Wines are offering a discount on all large-format bottles for the entire month of November! Get 15 percent off any magnum-sized (or even larger-format) bottle; receive 20 percent off if you buy two or more biggies. Please visit us at the shop or online to learn more about our selection (whites, reds, rosés, bubbles) of large-format bottles. (In our online shop, use discount codes magnum15 for one bottle or magnum20 for two or more bottles at checkout.)

 

/0 Comments/by Paul Marcus Wines