Biodynamic Wines At Corkbuzz

This Sunday I attended a wine class at Corkbuzz wine studio which is located at 13 E 13 Street. Recently opened, I’ve stopped in a couple of times to have a glass or two at the bar and I found the place to have a nice vibe with a cool crowd. I’ve been wanting to take one of their classes.

They poured six wines, all white and all Organic/Biodynamic. We started the tasting with a Champagne, the Fleury, Fleur de L’Europe NV Brut. Dark gold, yeasty and crisp with sherry like overtones. Made from wines from the 01 and 02 vintages. The featured speaker was Nicolas Joly, France’s “apostle” for biodynamic wine making which takes into consideration not only the soil and air but radio waves and magnetic fields and how they affect bio-life. Mr. Joly was a very passionate speaker, he sort of reminded me of a wine making Doc Brown from Back to the Future. They poured two of his wines, the 09 Les Vieux Clos Savennieres and the 07 Coulee de Serrant Grand Cru Savennieres. According to Karen MacNeil of the Wine Bible,Coulee de Serrant is considered to be one of the “greatist white wines in the world”. Wow. The vineyard is owned by Mr. Joly. Both wines had a deep amber color, very dark. Both wines are Chenin Blanc. On the Les Vieux I got aromas of pickle juice with an earthy, wild mushroomy finish. On the Serrant I got toastiness on the nose, chewy fruit and the same earth, wild mushroom on the finish. Mr. Joly said that about 5% of thegrapes in both wines had botrytis which is unusual because I associate botrytis with dessert wines. That explains the earthy flavors I was getting.We tried three wines from the Josmeyer Winery which is based in Alsace. The 09 Pinot Blanc, the 08 Pinot Auxerrois Vielles Vignes “H” and the 09 Riesling Grand Cru. The wines were gold in color, not as deeply colored as the wines from Joly, and the Alsacian wines had brighter fruit than the Loire wines. I really enjoyed the Riesling, with lemon and rosemary on the nose, good fruit with juicy, mouth-watering acids on the finish.