Thinking Outside the Boxwood

"I like a challenge," Rachel Martin says, and she has one. We should all be so fortunate.

Martin is director of the (relatively) new Boxwood Winery in Middleburg, Virginia, and she is in New York City on this July midday with the humidity rising on 53rd Street outside The Modern, that delightful - if painfully punctual in not letting anyone in before precisely 11:30 - restaurant that is an adjunct to The Museum, or perhaps the other way around, debuting her wines to large group of writers. With her are her father and mother, John Kent and Rita Cooke, who own Boxwood, and Stephane Derenoncourt, the Bordelaise wine consultant well-known for very carefully choosing his clients. If the name "Cooke" sounds familiar, John's father, Jack, was a sports and communications impressario best known for honcho-ing the Washington Redskins during their heyday.

Rachel's challenge is that she wants to make Boxwood not just a good regional winery, but a great one sold in key U.S. markets and in France, where she studied winemaking in Bordeaux after a hitch in Napa Valley. With a small winery (maximum cases: 5000; vineyard: 16 acres) and what is currently not considered prime-time cru real estate, that is a challenge that other East Coast wineries have attempted, notably Kluge in Charlottesville, with limited success.

There are three Boxwood wines, all Bordeaux in style and grape contents. Topiary is a Right Bank blend, Boxwood is a Left Bank blend, and a Rose is all Cab Franc. Price for the serious wines is $25, and $12 for the Rose. All are certainly worth their prices.

The first vintages of Topiary and Boxwood were from the 2006 vintage, which the group of assembled wine writers taste, along with the bottled 2007 and the 2008 barrel samples. The 2007s are quite nice, but we are not blown away nor do we expect to be. Derenoncourt, who believes in following the terroir and not leading it, cautions that, while the clay-based Virginia soil is very good for wine, it is not suitable for making big wines, so he settled on elegant ones. The two are certainly that, and their charms rise the longer they are swirled and sipped in large- bowled stemware over plates of rare Colorado lamb. But in addition to their understated, well-balanced fruit, they also have substantial tannins, more sensed than tasted, that bodes well for long aging. And we have to remind ourselves that the vines were not planted until 2004, so it may be another year or two before the wine will justify a price increase.

In short, I taste a very good present and a better future for the Boxwood reds - no white wines allowed - as long as Martin, the Cookes and Derenoncourt stay the course.

One of the best lines of the day - well-honed on previous occasions, no doubt - is Cooke's recounting of the family's lack of financial success with prior forays into farming. "My father lost his shirt with race horses," he says above the chuckling, "and I lost my pants raising purebred Angus." He admits that he would not be the first investor to be completely disrobed in trying to make a great wine that returns a profit.

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New Publications: What do winemakers groove on (can I still say that?) when they are making wine, and does it change depending on whether they are crushing or racking? The musical answers are in my front-of-the-book piece in the August issue of The Wine Enthusiast (give me a note, and I'll shoot you a scanned copy)... Appellation America recently uploaded to its site two articles of mine on Long Island wineries - one on the lack of vineyard land mass in The Hamptons, and another on the North Fork's potential engagement to Merlot (photos by Ella Morris)... there is a cameo appearance in Amtrak's Arrive magazine that I wrote about their Acela-grade menu... and The Hunt magazine has features of mine on the Spice Guys (local chefs who dare to go beyond oregano) and one on people who collect fine art.

Follow my columns each Wednesday at http://www.delawareonline.com/, click Life, click Food. Tweet? @Battonage.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

In Bordeaux, VinExpo Calls for VinPartytime

By day, they manned booths, walked miles of exhibit floors, poured wines or tasted them and took part in discussions about the current State of the Vin -- but at night, last week at VinExpo2009, the Bordelaise and their guests from around the world partied on!

Like most guests, I had more invitations than I could accept. I missed some good parties, such as the Grand Crus dinner at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, because I needed to recoup after a tour of Cahors that bumped into VinExpo week. Nine hours of sleep later I was ready to go again.

But I managed to catch some good times as well. First there were annual induction ceremonies such as the ones held by the St.-Emilion Jurade Fete de Printemps (I was honored to be inducted into the society) and the Commadeurs du Bontemps' Fete de la Fleur at Chateau d'Issan on the last night of the exhbition. During the reception for the fete, I paparazzied my hostess for the week, Anabelle Cruse Bardinet, proprietor and winegrower at Chateau Corbin, the blonde in the shot upper left along with her friend Isabelle Perrin of Chateau Carbonnieux.

Then there was the lovely luncheon hosted by Pierre Lurton at Chateau Cheval Blanc (photos below). While munching and sipping, some of us wondered how many cases more of Cheval could have been produced if the lawn where we were eating had been planted to vines instead. Lunch at Chateau Lagrange featured an excellent show-and-drink presentation by director Bruno Eynard of the terroirs and tastes of the estate's various plots and how he blended wines from them to make 2008 Chateau Legrange, which is still in the barrel.

Olivier and Anne Bernard have the reputation of being among the best hosts in Bordeaux, and they kept their record intact with a rollicking outdoor reception and tented dinner at their Domaine de Chevalier for the annual "Tour de France" event with seven winemaking partners (think Pol Roger, Leflaive, Faiveley) from around the country. At Chateau Lassegue, Pierre and Monique Seillan hosted a Bordeaux barbecue (partner and horseman Jess Jackson was a scratch) with tours of the vineyard in classic American sports cars and country music by the Rusty Pants (it must lose something in translation). The fiddler (upper right) may be pure French, but she sure played great downhome American music.






But the highlight of the week just might have been a private tour of Le Pin by owners Jacques Thienpont and Fiona Morrison. Le Pin is an unmarked, small, unpretentious country house, but its basement cellar helped launch the garagiste movement that was instrumental in changing how Bordeaux grew grapes and made wine and is also the source of one of the world's greatest, rarest, most expensive wines.

I'll diet tomorrow.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Visiting with the 26th Generation Antinoris

I just returned from a wine writing assignment in Italy where I had the opportunity to visit several of the Antinori estates and discuss wine and food with the three Antinori daughters who will eventually succeed their father, Piero Antinori, and who represent the 26th generation of the famous family that has been making wine since the 14th Century.

Albiera, Allegra and Alessia Antinori all have primary roles in the family business, all are very friendly, unpretentious, smart and attractive, but they are all refreshingly different in their styles and interests. I look forward to writing about them more in the weeks ahead.

Two other writers and I had dinner with Alessia at La Pinetta restaurant on the Tuscan seashore near the family Tombolo Talasso resort and later lunch with her at their Tignanello Estate in Chianti. Next, an alfresco pig-roast lunch with Allegra at Guado al Tasso, where she also raises thoroughbreds. We had two dinners with Albiera, first at Badia di Passignano and then at the Cantinetta Antinori in Florence, the first of a small chain of restaurants by that name, located just downstairs from the family enclave at Palazzo Antinori and a few steps from the city's famous duomo. In between all this, we also stayed at the Antinori's Fonte de' Medici agritourism farmhouse at Montefiridolfi and visited other estates at La Bracessca and Castello della Sala in Umbria. During this time, we had a wide array of excellent wines with matching Tuscan food.

In short, the enterprise Antinori is amazing in its history and its very modern approach to wine, food and travel. As Albiero and Allegra have children already, a 27th generation of Antinori winegrowers seems like a sure bet.

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New Publications: In the June issue of The Drinks Business, my article titled "Barmy Days in Balmy Bordeaux" chronicles the 2008 Bordeaux growing season, the anguish of a late harvest, the elation of the vintage's reception at Primeurs and the wacky campaign that followed.

The May/June issue of Sommelier News carries an article I wrote about three wine tastings that each raised an interesting discussion -- about vintage quinta Ports, the orthodoxy of biodynamics, and Moueix and the return of good shippers' Bordeaux. It's called "Cuvees of the Tete."

Please let me know if you would like a pdf of either article.

Twitterdumb: Follow my tweet life on Twitter at Battonage.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Chablis & France's Long, Cold Summer

Two new articles arrived on my doorstep during the past couple of days -- both, not surprisingly, were about France. Above is the opening page of my cover article on Chablis in the June issue of Drinks magazine. The second is a report on the 2008 vintage in France -- "France's Long, Cold Summer" in the June issue of the Beverage Media publications. If you can't lay your hands on one or two, let me know and I'll send you a copy.

Also, don't forget my Top 5 summer wines at www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/drinking.

Until the next time....

Roger Morris

25 Things I Love About the Vineyard

We started going to Martha's Vineyard in the early 1980s, first just Ella and me with a couple of friends who introduced us to it, and then the whole family. Our entry point was a cottage in Oak Bluffs rented from a professor at Syracuse. Later we purchased our own place in Vineyard Haven which we still own -- my brothers Ed (Nashville) and Dave (southern Illinois) and their wives. For a time, when Ella was working in New York City, we went there about twice a month in the summer, usually flying in from Newark or LaGuardia and running about the island in a dilapidated Chrysler convertible -- our beach car -- that we would drive up in the spring from Pennsylvania and drive back in late fall. We close things down in the winter. Usually, my brothers and I will do road trips for opening and closing, arguing the political gamut from refined socialism (Ed) to 60s liberalism (me) to Rush Limbaughism (Dave). We decided after many seasons that road beers are no longer cool and, besides, cause too many pit stops.

Ella and I return less often these days, but there are still many things we love about the place, the first being, in true Vineyarder fashion, that it's not Nantucket.

Let me count the ways:

1. The ferry trip from Woods Hole. A 45-minute ride that caps off a seven-hour drive and gets us slowly re-accomodated to Vineyard culture.

2. Island radio. We turn on WMVY as soon as we get in the door and open up the windows to air out the house. Island radio is not pre-programmed, an indie, so we never know what we're going to hear. But when they play either James (Taylor) or Carly (Simon), we know it's summer again, and we're on the Vineyard.

3. Mid-day drinks at the Harborview in Edgartown. I love this place, even after they remodeled the bar this year. My order is always a Manhattan up, unless I decide to have duck fries (sinful frites cooked in 5% duck fat, 95% oil with melted cheese like/if not Manchego and truffle oil), in which case I'll have a Stella.

4. Browsing the bookstores. The Bunch of Grapes in Vineyard Haven (VH) burned last year but should be back in operation from temp headquarters, but I like even better Edgartown Books, which has a spartan simplicity I love; when I leave there with a new purchase, I feel like a college kid again and want to say, "Gee, that was neat!"

5. Dinners at the BYOBs. There is a contrarian streak at the Vineyard which often slows "progress," which ain't always a bad thing. For some reason, VH, West Tisbury, and Chilmark never repealed Prohibition, so you can drink but not buy there. Favorite BYOBs are Outermost Inn (overlooking Gay Head) and run by James' brother, Hugh, and his wife; Lambert's Cove; Beach Plum Inn (overlooking Menemsha), and Le Grenier in VH.

6. Le Grenier. Jean Dupon steadfastly keeps a menu that might have been served in his native France in the 1970s - rich sauces, lots of organ meat, snails to die for, drenched garlic bread, and, Ella's favorite, creamed spinach. It's a hangout for the VH literati, and it was once common to see Mike Wallace, Art Buchwald and William Styron holding forth. Now, there's only Mike, whom I hope to see some time this year.

7. Letting celebrities go unnoticed. Vineyarders pride themselves on leaving celebrities -- literary or otherwise -- alone. Carly can go shopping without being bugged. Ted Kennedy and his retinue came in once as we were just being seated at the Beach Plum and went through the whole dinner unfawned, except for an exiting diner (not us) who quickly said, "Thanks for all your work," as she walked by. (The only time that I saw people lose their cool was when Bill Clinton was playing golf on a hole fronting the highway at Farm Neck. Several cars stopped, and people started taking pictures.)

8. Shopping Saturday morning at the Farmers' Market in West Tisbury. The farmers look like tie-dyed 60s hippies with their goods displayed on tables, pickup truck beds and Volvo trunks. Cool. The produce is good, it's organic -- and my car smells like fresh basil for a week.

9. Browsing the art galleries. Mainly along Water Street in Edgartown and Main Street in Vineyard Haven plus the Red Barn in West Tisbury.

10. Picking up hitchhikers. The Vineyard is the only place I know where people still "thumb" - something I did during my teen years in West Virginia - and most of the people I pick up are kids, late for their jobs as wait staff at restaurants in another town.

11. Watching sunsets from West Chop. Great view out over the Elizabeth Islands.

12. Lingering over breakfast at the Artcliff. Always bustling, friendly, small. The most-diverse breakfast menu and a good place to become introduced to linguica.

13. The beaches. The great thing about the Vineyard is that it has inlet beaches with baby waves and ocean beaches with granddaddy waves. And, if you're so inclined, there are even nude beaches out around Gay Head. I prefer walking along them in winter to sunbathing, but then I don't have a John Boehner tan.

14. Perusing the Vineyard Gazette. It's a throwback to old-style community newspapers and a bit like an island house - great ambience but needs a paint job.

15. Driving along Middle Road. The essence of the rural nature of the island.

16. The Vineyard airport. It's the cutest small airport, and you can have a good, cheap (for the island) breakfast there -- whether or not you're flying.

17. Ice cream at Mad Martha's. An island institution. Bet you can't eat a cone without it dripping all over you.

18. Walking through Cottage City. Cottage City is a group of Victorian-era, brightly painted small houses at the edge of Oak Bluffs that were part of the summer camp meetings that once flourished here. Great photo stuff.

19. Friday-night lobster rolls. Buy them at the Episcopal Church in VH. Full of great juicy lobster meat.

20. Exploring Chappaquidick. Forget your car - there's a long line in summer to get on the small ferry - and explore the small island off Edgartown by foot or bike instead.

21. Buying fresh fish at Menemsha. This little port is picturesque, but, better yet, you can buy seafood from the island fleet's previous night's catch -- or specially cooked for you.

22. Lying in bed late at night and listening to the fog horns warning ships when the weather gets thick.

23. Returning each year to favorite stores and seeing the new stock. What's up at Midnight Farm and Rainy Day?

24. Island light. It's difficult to describe, but everything seems to glow with a pastel tinge.

25. The just-say-no attitude. Islanders don't do anything they don't want to, no matter how much political pressure there is. No traffic lights, no over-development, no bridge to the mainland. They may need our cash, but we come on their terms.

(PHOTOS by ELLA MORRIS)

Until the next time...

Roger Morris

The Writer as a Portrait Artist

Part of the pleasure of being an independent writer is talking with people and telling their stories, and it seems that I have been doing a lot of these pleasurable word portraits recently.

Chef Andy Little (top) of Sheppard Mansion inn and restaurant in Hanover, PA, is profiled in the current issue of Signature Brandywine, as is artist Sarah Lamb, center, with her pug Weezie. To the left is wine importer Peter Weygandt, who looks through a glass lightly in my article in the current issue of The Hunt.

Not all of my recent writing has been about people, however. Just posted to the epicurious.com site are my tips on 5 great, inexpensive summer wines along with matching recipes from the site's Gourmet and Bon Appetit files.

Also a click away is AppellationAmerica.com, where I do my debut article for AA on the Brandywine Valley winegrowing region.

In Drinks magazine's current issue, I talk about Italy's Great White North, which produces most of the Italy's best bianco, and the February issue of Caviar Affair carries my take on the country's best Prosecco region.

More is in the pipeline from my recent visits to the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux. Next up in June: Italy, Cahors and Bordeaux again for VinExpo 2009.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Tasting Bordeaux '08 as '09 Budding Starts

Returned from Bordeaux last evening after tasting well over 150 blended barrel samples of the 2008 vintage, including top growths Ausone, Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Haut-Brion, Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Margaux, and Cheval Blanc. It was an amazing week, purple teeth and all.

The 2008 vintage is surprisingly good, and will be a great one to buy as futures, as prices are expected to be decreased significantly from the less-impressive '07 due to economic conditions. The overall report on the vintage -- a very long and difficult one in the making -- is excellent fruits and balanced acids producing wines that will be long and velvety as soon as the dusty, chocolate tannins calm down. If there is a knock, it is that not all the tannins are well-integrated in some wines, especially in several second to fourth growths in St. Julian and Pauillac. The dry white Bordeaux were more spotty in their performances.

I'll be writing more on the vintage in a half-dozen publications here and abroad and will give alerts as those appear.

In the meantime, life goes on in the vineyard. Bud break was just beginning at most chateaux during the week of primeurs (Haut-Brion, always early, has young leaves already), and at Chateau Fonplegade (above) farmer Ramone and his horse Ulysse do a shallow turning of the soil on either side of the vine row.

As we celebrate Bordeaux 2008, the 2009 vintage is beginning in the vineyards.

Until next time...

Roger Morris