Top of the Popped: Cornelissen

Making their official West Coast debut….drum roll please….the wines of Frank Cornelissen!!! I’ve been waiting a while to get my hands on these and thanks to Amy Atwood us Cali peeps can finally enjoy these Mt. Etna anfora goodies.

Please excuse the cellphone photos, they suck.

When everybody on the block heard that Amy would be by the shop with open bottles of Cornelissen, they hightailed it over to taste. Jesse from Salt’s Cure, Willy from Tasting Table, Jonathan from Hatfield’s and even Anthony Wilson all came ’round.

Cornelissen is a die hard naturalist- NO treatments in the vineyard (organic, biodynamic or other), no sulfur additions in the cellar and only native yeast fermentation, of course. He also has quite the collection of 400 liter terracotta anforas and ferments and ages almost all of his wines in them. If you’re thinking, wait a second- Frank Cornelissen doesn’t sound Italian! You are super freaking smart. He’s Belgian. And was drawn to the incredible volcanic soils of Sicily’s Mt. Etna back in 2001 by way of Burgundy, where he was at one time a wine broker.

So, we tasted the 2010 “Munjebel 7” (the 7th time he’s made this wine) a blend of carricante, coda di volpe and grecanico that spend 4 months on their skins. I really dug this stuff (pictured above). It has a kind of celery and preserved lemon vibe going on and the texture is such a mouthful of glorious chew, but still has a vibrant freshness. Love. Other fav? The “Munjabel 7” Rosso (blend of 2009 and 2010 vintages). It’s 100% nerello mascalese and damn sexy. I dubbed this “vampire wine.” As in, if I was a vampire, this is the stuff I would drink when not drinking blood and trying to be civilized. Strawberry seeds, pomegranate, ash, iron, violet flowers and sturdy tannins. Again, Love.

These ain’t super cheap, but definitely worth the dollar bills.

What’s for Sipper, Jon Erickson?

I first met Jon last year at the Barbera Meeting in Asti, Italy. My first thought: that is one handsome, seriously stylish dude. Second thought: Is he married? Kidding. Sort of. The answer to that question is YES. To a woman, whom is every bit as (or more) beautiful/stylish/talented, named Jayne Battle. And together they own Jayne’s Gastropub in San Diego. The food is ridiculous, the design is spot on and I can think of no other place I’d wanna hang while in San Diego.

Let’s get to know Jon, shall we?

Name: Jon Erickson Hometown: Westport, CT  Location: San Diego, CA

Favorite seasonal beverage: The Pimm’s Cup works all summer long, especially here in San Diego where it never ends.

Favorite cocktail or spirit: The Corpse Reviver #2 is an incredible cocktail.  Equal parts gin, Lillet, fresh lemon and Cointreau with an absinthe rinse, shaken with ice into a chilled glass with a single Luxardo maraschino cherry.

Favorite place to grab a drink: The Turf Club in the Golden hills neighborhood is a great place to drink.  You grill your own $7 steaks and get stiff drinks in a dark, un-renovated 1950’s bar.  There are better cocktails to be found in SD, but the faux prohibition suspenders and $14 drinks grow tiresome.

Favorite toast: Jayne’s favorite toast is one from her hometown of Liverpool: “Get it down yer neck.” {ed. note: I LOVE this. I’m stealing it.}

Favorite post-dinner quaff: Something sparkling, preferably Bollinger Brut Rosé Champagne

Favorite food & beverage pairing: Pizza pairs well with traditionally made high acid, tannic Nebbiolo.  Try the entry level Langhe Nebbiolo from Produttori del Barbaresco.

If you could travel to one region of the world right now for its food and/or drink where would you go? I would head straight to Cal Pep restaurant in Barcelona for some Pan Con Tomate and their cast iron skillet, made to order Tortilla Espanola washed down with a glass of Spanish beer with lemon.

What’s for sipper? I will be drinking a glass of Kabaj Rebula from Slovenia.

That’s a photo I took last year of Jon’s car. Yeah…

And if you want to see a photo of Jon disgorging a bottle of Movia Puro, check out this Do Bianchi post and also mine (with appearance by Anthony Wilson!) The man knows his way around some Puro.

Livin’ La Vida Puro



At Jaynes last Sunday, Jon had the brilliant idea to pop open a bottle of Movia‘s Puro Brut Rosé. <<high five>> I had never had this wine but knew of it and was super excited to taste. I was even more excited to see someone open a bottle. Firstly, a little background info in case you’re wondering what the hell the words Movia and Puro are-  Movia is a winery in Italy’s far northeastern region of Friuli. And it is also a winery in Slovenia. Huh? Their acres of land straddle both countries, as a few wineries do in the area, because the borders of Slovenia and Italy have ebbed and flowed over the years.  Ales Kristancic is the (bio)dynamic winemaker behind it all and produces some of Italy’s most interesting (and delicious) wines. Alder at Vinography has an informative post about Ales, Movia and tasting notes on a lot of the wines here if you so care to take a gander.

the beginning

Jon went to the cellar to retrieve the wine and came back with a punch bowl full of water and a bottle of Puro turned upside down. What is all this craziness? Well, Puro is a metodo classico sparkling wine made from pinot noir. With Champagne and almost any other bottle fermented sparkler you will come across, the bottle has been disgorged (dead yeasts removed.) Puro is undisgorged… Ales makes you work for the prize in the bottle. I will once again point you towards the master, Do Bianchi, for video footage of someone opening a bottle and for his coverage on the “how to open a bottle of Puro debate.”

Anthony Wilson was up for the disgorging challenge and Jon stepped aside to teach a new student the ways of the Puro. With steady hands and strong spirit, Anthony approached the punch bowl.

anthony

Into the water it goes, as A-Dub begins to turn the bottle with cork firmly in hand…

a dip

Aaannnnd- success. The aftermath…

dirty bath

Time to get it in our glasses for pete’s sake. The stuff in the bottle…not the punch bowl.

beauty

A thing of sparkling beauty.

menagerie

wine porn