Montana Sommelier

Montana Sommelier Wine and cocktails SW Montana

The second producer we visited in Sancerre was Jean Laurent at Domaine Vacheron. Their property in the middle of the vil...
11/17/2022

The second producer we visited in Sancerre was Jean Laurent at Domaine Vacheron. Their property in the middle of the village is a crazy mix of ancient and modern. We tasted multiple bottles from the 2020 vintage plus a few older vintages. The single vineyard wines are absolutely incredible.

When I asked Jean Laurent, if Sancerre made the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world he said, “We don’t make Sauvignon Blanc, we make Sancerre. You’re asking the wrong question.” The more we talked with him, his wisdom became more apparent, and his humor. When asked if he knew he’d carry on the family’s winemaking tradition (he’s 4th generation) he said, “I knew I’d be in wine because I’m not wise enough to be the French president.”

Being at Vacheron was a great way to end the Loire Valley portion of our trip. I

After Chinon and Vouvray we headed to Sancerre. As much as I loved all of France, Sancerre was my favorite area. It’s an...
11/11/2022

After Chinon and Vouvray we headed to Sancerre. As much as I loved all of France, Sancerre was my favorite area. It’s an ancient hilltop town overlooking vineyards in every direction and the wine is, to me, some of the best in the world.

Our first stop was Domaine Pascal Cotat. Of Cotat’s wine Robert Parker once said, “some of the finest Sauvignon Blancs I have ever put to my my lips.” He makes two wines from the legendary vineyards Les Monts Damnes and La Grand Cote. When I asked Pascal straight up, is Les Monts Damnes the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world? He smiled, gave a slight nod and pulled out a laminated screen shot of a Lebron James’ Instagram story (photo 5) where he bragged he was drinking Pascal’s wine.

Pascal was gracious to open up a bunch of wine from the last 3 vintages. As we sat around and chatted, he asked about our family and also opened up a 2013 vintage in honor of our first born son.

A few more things. He lets his wine rest in fiberglass barrels, I had never heard of that. He never washes the inside of his barrels (photo eight), and we were honored to be joined by his wife, Sylvie, who helped translate. She was funny and sweet and let us into a little more of Pascal’s personality.

11/04/2022

Johan from Domaine Huet showing us how he turns of bottles of sparkling wine. 12,000 more to go 😂

The underground cellars at Domaine Huet are HUGE! Check out these photos. Some of the cellars are up to 30m deep and if ...
11/04/2022

The underground cellars at Domaine Huet are HUGE! Check out these photos. Some of the cellars are up to 30m deep and if you combined them, they would stretch for 1km.

There were two things that were fun to see besides the sheer size. One, was the very long rows of pupitre (photo 6) where sparkling wine is stored at an angle. There are 9,500 bottles of wine in one row. Johan can do a quarter turn on every bottle in the row in 14 minutes and 31 seconds, which is the length of a Super Bowl halftime show. His favorite so far has been the show from last year with Dre and Snoop.

The second thing I really liked was the large room (photo 7) in the middle of the cellar. It’s significant because when the N***s invaded France in World War II, they stole a tremendous amount of wine. It was a priority for the French to hide as much of their cellars as they could. The wine in this part of the cellar was not only successfully hidden, but the workers at that time invited other vignerons from the area to have social dances here, hidden from the N***s.

It was a really fun experience and Johan was great to hang out with. Oh and all their wine is amazing! Afterward we drove around the limestone cliffs to look at the vines, which are on the ground above the cellar.

Touring the vineyards and cellars of Domaine Charles Joguet was awesome! But our favorite part of the day was when we we...
10/30/2022

Touring the vineyards and cellars of Domaine Charles Joguet was awesome! But our favorite part of the day was when we were tasting through their incredible Cabernet Franc lineup and asked the winemaker Kevin Fontaine what terroir meant to him.

“Short answer, it’s the soils” he says with a smirk, knowing I’m looking for more. “Terroir is three things, the soils, the climate, and the people working and their know how. Those are the most important things. The people link everything together. They transform wines into a relationship with their origin. Without the three you can’t make the greatest wines from where you are.”

Very happy looking at a giant wine list filled with Loire Valley gems! It’s been a few years since we’ve been to a Miche...
10/29/2022

Very happy looking at a giant wine list filled with Loire Valley gems! It’s been a few years since we’ve been to a Michelin ⭐️ restaurant. Auberge Pom'Poire had warm, excellent service with creative and delicious food. It was a night we’ll remember for a long time.

Next we drove to Chinon to meet with Matthieu of Domaine Bernard Baudry. He was very generous to walk us through his lin...
10/29/2022

Next we drove to Chinon to meet with Matthieu of Domaine Bernard Baudry. He was very generous to walk us through his lineup of Cabernet Francs. They make wines from multiple single plots surrounding their domaine in a very old school way. Each wine is remarkably different based off the soil and slope. Getting to try the 2009 Les Croix Boissée was special.

Our first winery visit in the Loire Valley was to Domaine du Clos Naudin and it was pretty magical. We walked the underg...
10/28/2022

Our first winery visit in the Loire Valley was to Domaine du Clos Naudin and it was pretty magical. We walked the underground cellars with Emilie as she told us the history of the domaine and how her 3 year old daughter is the 4th generation who may take over the estate one day. We tasted 7 different wines from dry to Moelleux Reserve (120 g/L of RS). Each bottle was on point🔥

We always have a Priorat on the bottle list at Revelry. And this one is awesome! Alfredo Arribas Gotes del Priorat 2019 ...
08/30/2022

We always have a Priorat on the bottle list at Revelry. And this one is awesome! Alfredo Arribas Gotes del Priorat 2019 is an organic wine made up of 50% Grenache, 40% Carignan, and 10% Syrah. It’s a fresh, light style of Priorat that’s full of ripe raspberries and strawberries and very floral on the nose. Alfredo Arribas is one of the emerging stars of Priorat and he’s created an elegant wine that’s perfect for the end of summer.

The second part of the final day at Oregon Pinot Camp was also special. What I thought was a simple pickup of a fellow c...
06/29/2022

The second part of the final day at Oregon Pinot Camp was also special. What I thought was a simple pickup of a fellow camper at Raptor Ridge Winery turned into a tasting of experimental sugars in sparkling wine, sampling through a few vintages of Pinot Noir, and a lovely tour of the vineyard with the wonderful head winemaker, Shannon Gustafson. Then they treated us to a great dinner at Laurelhurst Market. Perfect way to end the week at OPC 2022!

The last day of Oregon Pinot Camp was one I’ll treasure for a long time. We started the day in a panel discussion with t...
06/29/2022

The last day of Oregon Pinot Camp was one I’ll treasure for a long time. We started the day in a panel discussion with the founders of Oregon Wine. Myron Redford, David Adelsheim, Dick Erath, and Dianna Lett. Anna Maria Ponzi and Jason Lett were also there and shared great stories. We tasted vintage wine dating back to 1981. Leah Adint sat at our table which was fun getting to hear the perspective of a new and very talented generation. Thank you OPC for creating this event.

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