Field Report: The Ten Bells

Presenting the first guest blogger in Terroirists history: Jeff Vejr of Portland, OR has visited New York, NY and has returned with a scintilating blog post in-hand. It is below; please enjoy responsibly.

Location: 247 Broome Street (Lower East Side), New York, NY 10002-3837
www.thetenbells.com

Sometimes when duty calls, one must rise to the occation. I had notified the Terroirists that I would be traveling to NYC for the National Kermit Lynch tasting event on April 27 and they put in a simple request: cover the event for the blog, and throw in a wine bar review if possible. Great minds drink think alike, because I had already planned on doing a little research and development in the Big Apple.

There are not enough days in the month to even begin to cover all of the wine bars in New York, so in order to widdle my choices down, I turned to my friend Google. After typing in my chosen search terms “natural wine new york wine bar” (try it, it works) the results came back (there was only one) with the name Ten Bells. Ten Bells? Could Google be wrong? Was I being sent to a bells and wine specialty shop? Armed with my MetroPass, I set out to find this wine bar on an uncommonly cold and rainy night. Joly’s speed young man. Joly’s speed.

Discovery

Apparently, signage isn’t en vouge in this neighborhood as all of the bars, restaurants, and café’s on Broome Street can attest. This must be tourist protection. After a few walk-bys, it was evident which establishment was the ellusive Ten Bells. I wiped the wet hair out of my face and walked in.

Entry

Immediately, the dimmly lit, cavernous feel engulfs you. Everything is dark except for the thin white marble bar top, illuminated by votive candles — cool factor: 100. I snag one of the last remaining seats at the bar and shortly notice that the menu is written on a chalkboard on each wall. Excellent, we are saving trees here too. Through the dim light, underneath the heading “White” I noticed the word “Movia.” Now I know I’m home.

Disappointment & Redemption

Bliss, Condensed

I order the Movia, but the Movia is sold out. This is disappointing, but it means that a lot of people have consumed the Movia, and that is a great thing. The bartender (a jovial Frenchmen) could see my unhappiness, but he had a remedy, he knew what would cheer me up. It was (out of a magnum) the 2007 Thierry Puzelat “La Tesniere” Touraine Blanc (75% Menu Pineau, 25% Chenin Blanc), which cured me to the fullest. The minerality hit me immediately. I started smiling and scrambling to read the day’s oyster selection. This wine wa begging for oysters, it was shouting at me to do the right thing! I ordered half a dozen each of the Fanny Bay (B.C.) and Malpeque (P.E.I), but this wine was so damn delicious I couldn’t wait for the oysters, so I savored sip after sip of this briny, crisp, lemon zesty white goddess from the Loire. This glass went on a solo trip. Oysters are up! Another glass of the Touraine PLEASE! It was an amazing pairing which took the wine to new heights (from the meatiness of the oysters), and the oysters were lifted by the acidity and lemon zest notes in the wine.

Food & Wine

I’m a huge fan of the small plates format (obviously) — especially when executed right. I’m looking for homemade, creative, and fresh/seasonal dishes. Food, like wine, is meant to be shared; it should be communal, you should have fun trying different dishes, pairing them with wines and talking to your dining compainion(s) about what works, what doesn’t, what is a must try and what you want to attempt to make yourself at home. The menu is extensive relative to the size of the kitchen.

I see Smoked Duck Breast on the menu and order it after devouring the oysters. I could see the cook slicing up the duck breast; it was clearly house cured and smoked and had perfect texture, perfect smoke, and an excellent fat-to-meat ratio. I paired this with a glass of 2007 Domaine du Cros Marcillac Rouge ‘Vieilles Vignes’, which is a stunning wine. I had tasted this wine before, but only once. Made of 100% Fer Servadou from an 80+ year old vineyard, this wine has an iodine/iron backbone that really held up and complimented the smoke.

Next up was the Hand Cut Steak Tartar. I can’t pass up Steak Tartar, who dosen’t like uncooked meat? There was a good amount of green onion and horseradish throughout and it was way too horseradishy for me; the onion and horseradish took away from the meat. It seemed I had ordered onion and horseradish tartar. I was teary eyed, literally — not good. It would have nuked any wine pairing option, so I choose a bread pairing instead to soak up the heat. I wasn’t deturred and was still riding a wine nerd high, so I ordered the daily empanada special. Hallelujah.

The empanada was handmade and was stuffed with chorizo and cheese. Excellent! Next up was the pulled pork slider with pickled onions. I needed a bigger wine to go with this, so I settled for the 2007 Descendientes de José Palacios ‘Pètalos’ — 100% Mencia from Bierzo, Spain. Ah, the wine gods are making up for the Movia now. The Mencia was dense, with great spice and stone fruit notes. By this time I was holding court with the fellows behind the bar. The staff was great and we traded wine recommendations back and forth. Then the wine sharing hit new levels. Bottles from underneath the counter came out and the real action started. I was blind tasted on a couple wines, a Cabernet Franc from the Loire and a Tempranillo from Spain. I nailed them both, cementing my memebership into their unofficial wine club. We became fast friends, said our warm goodbyes, and hoped that our wine paths would cross again someday. Four hours well spent.

If you find yourself in NYC, do yourself a favor and stop by Ten Bells. You will not be disappointed. If you live in NYC and you haven’t been, GO, this is a special place. Who knows, the Movia might be back in stock.

Wild Fermentation

All this talk about wild fermentation has really got me excited.  Here’s more about how yeast and bacteria turn grapes into wine.

The following thoughts are based on a conversation I had with Mike Moyer, Professor of Enology at the Walla Walla Community College, while taking my laboratory practical exam.

Wild fermentation with red wine is a great idea.  When a harvest comes in off the vines, there are dozens of species of yeasts, and even more bacteria that are living on the skins.  When we crush and destem the grapes, we introduce a lot of oxygen into the must (crushed up grapes), and this is primetime for microbes to start eating and reproducing.

The first species of yeasts to start eating and making more of themselves include names like Kluyveromyces, Candida, Hansenula, Kloeckera, Dekkera,  and Torulaspora.  Some of these are really good at making chemicals like nail polish remover (ethyl acetate), while others create funky, rubbery, tar, complexities that make a wine multi-dimensional and interesting, if not incredible.  Most of these species die when the wine approaches 3-7 percent alcohol, and then Saccharomyces takes over and eats all the sugar.  He’s the best at this.

Ahhh…I just poured a glass of 2008 Lemberger, and am really happy that I did.  Ok, back to fermenting.  Reds.  Wild.  Great idea if you are looking for multi-dimensional, borderline funkdified, traditional styles.

If you want  clean-cut, American/New World, polished, buffed styles of wine, then your producer has probably selected a packaged yeast.

White wine?  Different story.  Chardonnay?  Yeah, ok.  You can make a wild ferment Chardonnay, because…drum roll…malo-lactic conversion is acceptable.  This is the bacterial conversion of malic acid into lactic acid.  This process make a wine less tart while changing the aromatic profile from apples and fruit towards buttery and nuts.

Riesling? Chenin Blanc? Sauvignon Blanc?  Gewurztraminer?  Wild fermentation is more likely to promote the malolactic bacteria, and these wines will turn out too flabby for what most white wine consumers would prefer.

Both Professor Moyer and myself agreed that if we had a time-machine, we would definitely use it to go back about two hundred years and see how European aromatic white wine regions made their wine.

Here are the techniques modern white wine producers employ to prevent the ML conversion:

1)Refrigeration 2)Sulfites 3)Lysozyme (naturally present in tears, saliva, and egg whites) 4)Low pH 5)Sterile filtration 6)Velcorin

Of these, the one that would be best readily available to Loire, Alsatian, Austrian, Swiss, and Northern Italians of the Middle Ages, up through the High Renaissance until the Industrial Revolution would be 4) low pH.  Our bet is that pre-modern producers picked earlier to achieve these crisp, tart, and aromatic styles that are sought after for the glory and happiness that they bring.

To conclude, if you are looking to try a wild fermented, gutsy, steely, earthy Chenin Blanc, then bring a Coulee de Serrant over to our house and you can be a featured guest on the terroirist show.

Alternatively, try an Old World Winery Sonoma/Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc.  Complex, creamy, soy character with passionfruit, maybe the scent of the road after a short early summer downpour.  Yum…. this wine went excellently with our dinner of hot dogs on ciabatta bread.

Your Friend,

Michael the Microbiologist

Michael Penn

If it pleases and sparkles, sunshine

Sparkling wine is always a fun time, and tonight was not an exception. It made some of us slap the bass and others eat the pizza. All in all, my wine came in last, but no tears have been shed yet. Check out the reviews below:

1st place: 2007 Chateau Guadrelle Vouvray Brut
Descriptors included: dustbuster, mandarin orange, and lychee. Eric is elated that the top two wines came from the Loire Valley tonight, and he says this has a finish of, “granny smith apple”. I think Jolly Ranchers. Tasty.

2nd place: A. Simoneau Touraine Brut 100% Chenin Blanc
Yet another Chenin Blanc from the Loire showing strongly. Marshmellows, bacon, beach, and gummy bears. Despite the outlandish and moderately snobbish tasting notes, this wine is solid and could hold its own against… well… other wines. A finish of flowers lingers flowingly through Floridian flamingos.

3rd place: Graham Beck Brut 53% Chardonnay 47% Pinot Noir
South African goodness. Stinky shoes, graham crackers (coincidence? I think not), and more green apple Jolly Ranchers. We eat that shit up. Solid.

4th place: Mountain Dome Brut
This wine sparked some debate. The only Washington entry of the night, this was tasted last week in Wines of the World class which three of the night’s tasters are in. They claim large variation, with aromas ranging from meatballs to soccer balls. Any sort of ball, and it’s probably spot on. Oh, and it’s yeasty.

5th place: 2007 Vida Organica Chardonnay Mendoza
Argentina comes through, finishing the night how they started the 20th century: in last. I like this wine, and I feel horrible that it was not loved by my peeps tonight. Actually all of the wines were solid, but this may have been the shakiest of them all. Yeast, French toast, and Heather’s vegan grandmother hit the nose. Woot.

The next Cork Dorks United is on March 7 and will feature the infamous wine and chocolate pairings.

Council of Vouvray

2006 Marc Bredif Vouvray ~$19

This Chenin Blanc from the Loire tricked a few folks tonight with a couple guesses of Riesling and one of Pinot Gris. The nose is somewhat lacking in intensity, although Eric says it’s “like walking through a garden”. While subtle, the aroma is much more pleasing than watching re-runs of Frasier. My issue with the wine is the balance between sugar and acid, which is crucial with off-dry whites such as most Vouvrays. The sweetness is just a little bit too high causing the wine to be somewhat flabby. Not flabby like Jared pre-Subway-diet, but more like Jay Leno. Still a good Chenin Blanc, a grape which is often overlooked and underrated.

Eric’s score: 91
Mike’s score: 89
Steven’s score: 89 (unblind)
Jason’s score: 87

Council of Variable Members score: 89

No witty remarks here tonight – just another solid white wine from Northern France. Why anyone would buy a California Chardonnay instead of this blows my brain. “Who let the dogs out?” – Eric.