What they didn’t spend in money they made up for in time. Natural wines from those producers haven’t gotten priced up by collectors yet. They’re very limited production, not things you’ll find in most shops, some are sold only direct from the winery. A couple are sold out so not available at all unless maybe you find a restaurant that bought some.
Kind of goofy that they list the winemaker rather than the winery.
Scar of the Sea solera rose of Pinot Noir No. 2
Stagiere “This Slant of Light” Chardonnay
Scar of the Sea Palomino (I don’t think it should be called “fino”) - sold out
have bought from Wine Store Marlboro NY before; have not heard of Independent Spirits in Chicago.
for Copenhagen, I was advised by others to just buy a bottle instead of the pairing.
for Kyoto, mandatory pairings (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) were disliked by everyone at the table. i’ve had the same sakes elsewhere which to me were much more harmonious with different applications. to me, one very good sake in particular detracted from the dish and made me underrate the sake until i’ve really enjoyed it 3x after. maybe just a different palette, expectations, and direction.
The meal in CPH was good, but the wine pairings were so bad that it pretty much turned me off of pairings going forward.
One of the wines was presented in an unmarked jug because it was “made in the back woods of Germany by a friend of the Chef” or something like that. It tasted like sour turpentine. Utter farce.
that’s the wine list of a restaurant without a wine director but an owner that loves vibes (the bottle list was put together and supplied by a local wine shop)
The wine pairing list has a very strong point of view: all California wines, all natural. That focus automatically means relatively low prices (and alcohol levels) compared with what you typically find at Michelin places. All but one of the wineries are familiar to anyone who frequents natural wine bars or shops in California. All except for Los Angeles River Wine Co., which is new to me (but a successor to the legendary Scholium), have excellent reputations in that scene.
Anne-Sophie Lahme, a trend researcher in Denmark who specializes in food, said there were “quite a lot of rumors” about other chefs in Copenhagen, but that the media had fixated only on Noma.
“René is the one getting hit because he’s the superstar,” she said. But, she added, he’s likely not the only problem chef in the city. “I have heard even worse from other kitchens.”
Additionally leaning into Calfornia for natural wine is stupid cause it’s easily one of its weakest areas of wines being made in California. It’s like buying shitty ingredients for the food because you like the process - which kitchens would never compromise.
On top of that, there’s really no correlation between alcohol level in “natural” wine and “traditional” wine.
Like i said in the prior comment, the wine list itself, is FILLED with “traditional” well made wine ( at terrible pricing).
This coastal site, farmed using regenerative and biodynamic principles, is now their home vineyard. With it, they now steward 42 acres in total, over 4 different vineyard sites, with their small team. All the wines are made naturally - with native yeast, no adjustments, and bottled unfiltered.
As someone who finds most wines with more than 13% ABV undrinkable, I can assure you that there is a correlation. Lots of winemakers in the “natural” scene prefer to pick earlier (lower brix = less alcohol). Indigenous yeasts often produce less alcohol than commercial ones. It’s also just a matter of taste: people who make, sell, or drink natural wines quite often hate Parkerized wines.
If this is natural wine that the majority of top end burgundy producers are natural wine producers. They add sulfur. One of the biggest nonos for the movement.
It’s not binary. It’s not “natural wine v parkerized wines”. The best wines in the world fall into neither of those categories.
Calling Scar of the Sea’s practices “marketing nonsense” seems like ignorant prejudice to me.
Parkerized vs. “natural” is certainly not binary. There’s no reason you couldn’t make a Parkerized wine with indigenous yeast and without additives, but it’s a lot easier with Mega Purple or the like. Once in a while my natural wine club includes bottles that are 14.5%. On the flip side, lots of winemakers who follow mostly “natural” practices don’t use the label, especially ones that are just doing things mostly the way their ancestors did in the 19th century, like DRC.
There’s no one definition of “natural wine.” Maybe some people consider it synonymous with 00, which means nothing added or removed, just grapes and the yeast that’s on their skins. Minimal sulfites are probably the most common exception natural winemakers make.
no one is talking about parkerized wine here except you.
under the principle of following “natural practices” that don’t use the label, it extends a whole lot farther to much better wine in california than the list provided. Plenty of great wineries in CA make wine like scar of the sea. So it really hurts the argument.
The purpose of the wine pairings were to save money. It’s easy as that.
Yeah, that’s the only reason anyone could possibly put together a pairing consisting entirely of natural wines from California. Same reason they bought all the produce from Sysco.
