Hasta La Ideas

In a luxurious marriage of champagne and gastronomy, Moët & Chandon has teamed up with France’s three-Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alléno for Le &, a “culinary journey” at Moët &…

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1. The Science of Champagne That effervescence that defines the most celebratory drink in alcohol’s repertoire happens to be one giant happy accident. As physicist Gerard Liger-Belair explains in his new book, “Uncorked: The Science of…

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One of my favorite people to sit down and have a glass of champagne with is Dom Pérignon’s head wine maker, the doctor turned Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy. He’s a magician, a poet and a man deeply passionate about the quirks of the land and the grapes it…

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Beauty through balance in a sommelier’s portfolio of small-batch wines

Acid Inc. may suggest an illicit obsession, but for sommelier David Weitzenhoffer and his partner Laura Supper, the name (professionally called A.I. Selections) relays their passion for wines higher in acidity—a key component for an exceptionally well-paired meal. “You can feel acidity in wine usually as that sort of prickling sensation toward the front of your tongue,” Weitzenhoffer explains. “To me acidity does several things with food but the most important is that it gets its claws into the flavors that are already on your palate and marries the flavors in the wine with that of the food. It also has an important role in cutting richness, and balancing out high acid dishes like crudo, tomatoes, vinaigrettes, etc.”

Wanting to learn even more about the fine art of such balance from beginning to end, Weitzenhoffer left his post at Lidia Bastianich’s renowned restaurant Felidia and moved to northwest Italy, where he worked with artisanal producers around the vineyards of Piedmonte. Four years ago he put this knowledge to serious use and began importing these small-batch wines to restaurants in New York, San Francisco and LA.

With just about 40 producers in their portfolio—most of which are organic or biodynamic—Weitzenhoffer and Supper concentrate on finding wine that is a reflection of the people making it, working off the ethos, “Good wine; good people”. They seek out conscientious farmers who know their terroir and distinctly cultivate their vines, leading to wines that have a clear focus and excellent finish. “Some of these artisan producers are making wines with more soul and character, great age-ability, and most importantly wines that are more food appropriate, all the while creating a wine that comes from a specific place—a wine that couldn’t come from any other place than their little piece of earth,” says Weitzenhoffer.

We had the pleasure of tasting several wines with Weitzenhoffer recently, who guides you through a selection casually, but with great understanding of each wine at hand. We started with Champagne, tasting both a glass of crisp bubbly from Michel Rocourt and then one from Doyard—which Weitzenhoffer explains is “not so bubbly it sears your tongue, it has a rich yeasty quality while using acidity to keep it fresh. It’s why it is poured by the glass at places like Babbo, Jean Georges, AI Fiori, and others here in New York.”

To accompany the classic cheese and crackers snack, Weitzenhoffer suggests a Lambrusco, especially the Ca’ Montanari Opera02 Lambrusco, which he says is unparalleled stateside. For white wine, Weitzenhoffer says he is a “sucker for Chablis”, which is made from Chardonnay grapes, but “due to the sea shells in the soils has a great minerality, and chalky character that makes it ideal for all sorts of early courses—trout, various crudo, pea soup, oysters!!!” He recommends a Chablis from the mother-and-daughter team at Château De Béru, an organic farm situated on the clay and limestone slopes of the Chablis Grand Cru foothills.

“For me Nebbiolo is the most complex wine in the world and while it takes a little work and often time to fully understand the grape, it is so great with various foods from lighter meats, to heavy meat,” says Weitzenhoffer. Most wine drinkers know that a good Barolo or Barbaresco isn’t cheap, so he suggests trying a Nebbiolo d’Alba, a younger wine made from the same grapes. “Cascina Luisin makes one from old vines and is delicious”, he says. “I’d be thrilled to walk into a retail shop and spend $27 on a bottle like this that drinks like something much more expensive.”

With the mentality that “wine is for the people”, Weitzenhoffer and Supper’s approach sets out to enlighten palates with perfectly balanced, yet ultra-interesting wines that enhance food and transport you to the place where it was created. A.I. wines can be found in restaurants like Craft and Blue Hill in NYC, Terroni in LA and Bar Tartine in San Francisco.

The world’s preeminent brand of bubbly launches their most intense vintage to date

The summer of 2003 was blistering hot in France, only to be followed by an extreme winter and harsh spring filled with unusual frosts that destroyed a majority of the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay crop. While this doesn’t sound ideal to anyone, such conditions are even more peril when your business is producing vintage Champagne. Thanks to the inclement weather that year, no house could produce a solid vintage, except of course, the masterminds at Dom Pérignon‘s Abbaye d’Hautvillers.

Launched today, Dom Pérignon’s vintage 2003 tastes like the marvel that it was to yield. Cellar master Richard Geoffroy describes it as “a duality between restraint and expression,” but above all for him this particular vintage speaks to their deep-rooted philosophy and commitment to the brand’s legacy. “There was never the slightest doubt that we would produce a vintage that year,” he explained via satellite at the NYC premiere. Making high-quality Champagne is at the very heart of what Dom Pérignon does, and they saw this challenge as a test of their greatness—one they haven’t endured since producing another of Geoffroy’s favorites, the vintage ’76.

The perfectly balanced 2003 is the upshot of a powerful tension between the white and black grapes. The vintage has character, but remains quintessentially Dom Pérignon with a round, rhythmical finish that dances delicately between mineral and floral flavors. To the skilled chef de cave, the 2003 is an intense memory, and Geoffroy beautifully captures this by saying, “I wish every single vintage could be as strong as 2003.”