Another worthwhile Tokyo wine-bar: Vineria

So what is it with Mejiro, the rather innocuous cubby hole of a neighbourhood abutting the egregious architectural spew of Ikebukuro and its long fringed, spiky haired, frilly-dress-wearing tribes? Not only is Mejiro a part of Tokyo boasting large gardens and older homes of taste, but it houses two of Tokyo's better wine-bars tucked amidst tasteful izakayas and the ubiquitous incandescent glow of Tokyo. I wrote about Le Mont-St-Michel (www.creperie-mont-st-michel.com) in my last post. In this one I will introduce Vineria (http://www.lavineria.jp/index_en.html).

Vineria is situated left out of Mejiro JR station, past le Mont-St-Michel and on the same side of the street about 100 metres further down at 1F Mejiro Core Bldg, 3-5-12 Mejiro, Toshima-ku 171-0031. Tel. 03-3565-0461. As the name suggests, Vineria specializes in Italian fare and wine and is a sort of casual restaurant/wine bar with a long counter and open kitchen behind, as one enters, which empties into a red brick and stucco dining room that reminded me of a well-kempt roadside place in rural Italy. There are wine fridges overflowing and a selection of bottles around the edifice of the ceiling that made we want to wander about grabbing things such as la Fortuna's Brunello, swathed in a morbid looking blue and grey label evoking Visconti's burning backdrops in The Damned. Aside from the label, la Fortuna's wines are among the fine, traditionally hewn Brunellos and are rarely found in Tokyo. Esoteric perhaps, but most importantly, delicious stuff was everywhere!

Vineria's list is particularly strong in Piedmontese wines and southern 'indigenes' with a slew of Fianos and Grecos that made we want to come back with a large group. This I did the following night but rather than boring you with what I drank, allow me to elucidate the moment when I knew that Vineria was worth its weight in gold in a city boasting lots of politesse but frequently, stifled by style over substance.

I had had a rough night before hauling the body back out to Mejiro yet again. I sat down. Greetings from the staff were cordial rather than yelled at ear-splitting volumes, as is often the way in Japan. I wanted a beer. I thought it ill-appropriate to have beer in a wine bar. I didn't want to look too long at the list. I wanted somebody to acknowledge my splitting head, throbbing limbs and sticky hair. I wanted somebody to take control. Vineria's irreverent yet supremely knowledgeable and passionate sommelier, Nobuhisa Koizumi, did just that. Miraculous! He brought a glass of 2008 Pigato Vigneto Isasco from Punta Crena, a fine Ligurian estate. The crux of this dialogue was that my sagging body reacted to the wine as if it was a remedy to all of my ills. It was the rare type of wine that I wanted to drink in aggressive drafts, the pine scented and white pepper aromas reverberating on a full, slightly viscous palate with tingly minerality for verve and refreshment.

I ordered chicken livers grilled on high quality Japanese charcoal, or bincho, doused in good olive oil and served with arugula-the type of simple rustic fare that I like to eat in wine bars. There is much more to Vineria, both on the wine list and menu. However, I hope this anecdote proves good enough reason; a suitably stimulating tale; to get you out to Mejiro. Vineria is not cheap. It is not part of the hordes offering poor quality wine at low prices. What it does offer however, is fine quality wine by-the-glass or bottle and excellent food at reasonable prices, more than justified by capable staff and an effusive sommelier in Koizumi.

Worthwhile Tokyo wine-bars: le Mont-St-Michel, Mejiro

Excuse the post of me in the Nikkei but a friend sent me this only this morning and I had no idea that it had even been published. Then again I had been committing idolatry at the Smashing Pumpkins' concert last night. I went with a scowl as it was only after I had purchased the ticket that I realized Billy Corgan-the doyen of beautiful lyrics in rock and hazy guitar that spoke to the darkness in so many of us through the '90's-was on his own. I wanted at the very least Jimmy Chamberlain on the drums. But what a show! I have seen them seven-times now and this was among the greatest shows. The kid on the drums looks about nineteen but can he play! Tonight, Tonight brought a tear as Billy whined 'The resolute urgency of now...tonight...tonight! 'What an honour! Stream of consciousness be gone....and back to the topic of wine-bars!

It is with great reluctance that I go wine-bar hopping in Tokyo. While there are some fabulous places such as Shonzui in Roppongi and Nuits Blanches in Shinbashi to mention a couple, many are tokenist set-ups selling a smattering of exceedingly dull and inexpensive wines that-despite the punctilious attention to storage in Japan that better bottles receive-are often left in warm alcoves as decorations. It was with exuberance and a grin therefore that I threw myself into the lists at two outstanding wine-bars in Mejiro.

The first is located out of the eponymous JR station's only exit and a left-turn away. It is Le Mont-St-Michel (www.creperie-mont-st-michel.com), about 30 metres down the street on the left-hand side. The first floor is a creperie while the second houses a slick little wine-bar with yes, a holy grail of not the merely drinkable, but wines that make one giddy in the acknowledgment that good wine can be sold even in perpetually recessed Japan as long as there are staff with brio and passion; an owner with vision and good taste.

In fact, Le Mont-St-Michel is fueled by owner Yves Ringler's love of southern France although the list does not end there. Quality producers' Chignin, Cote de Brouilly and Chinons are poured by the glass to accompany charcuterie, while the leading light of the Loire, Chateau du Hureau Saumur-Champigny, is represented across various cuvees. It is the south though that sparks Yves' zeal and wines from the Languedoc and the Roussillon in particular.

Yves has decided to import a select swag of wines from these regions among which, is the particularly impressive Mas Champart 'Causse de Bousquet' 2007. This is a large-framed wine boasting the ripeness of the south and in particular, of the 2007 vintage. Aromas of fig, damson plum, pepper and briar are focused by a ferruginous energy from schistous terrain. You see, Saint Chinian is very much a tale of the right side and wrong side of the tracks. It is kind of like Chapel Hill North Carolina or any other American town really, except in this case, we are not talking about the difference between affluence and the ghetto, but the palpable juxtaposition between schist and clumsy old water-retaining clay! Champart's propitiously located vineyards-all on the hallowed schist-give the wine an energy that sashays and shimmies enough to negate the cloying warmth and sweet fruit that often mars wines from warm to hot regions. Moreover, there is a dollop of Mourvedre in the blend which provides focusing tannins and a moreish brush of tobacco flavour. Looooong!93

Another wine that Yves imports and sells at the bar is Domaine de la Mas Neuf's la 'Compostelle' 2008, a white wine of distinguished refinement from Costieres de Nimes. The nose is akin to lemon curd and truffle with a cool herbal twist. It is very much natural yeast-driven. The palate is broad with reverberating notes of apple, pear, quince and stone fruits, yet not at all sudsy or too blowsy. The wine has been raised in third-use d'Yquem barrels apparently to give it some lift and tang from residual botrytis. Long and persistent and most importantly, very easy to drink. This is not something that I can often say about wines from these parts which is why they have rose. 91

More Orange NSW: Ross Hill Wines

I apologize for this attenuated piece. The picture by the way is of my daughter Matilda and not Jack, my beautiful son and traveling companion. She has nothing whatsoever to do with this story but certainly a great deal to do with me so I thought it best to show you a photo of the bolshy little lass.

Kindly refer to the two previous entries on Mudgee and Orange to establish some sort of context of where this is all leading. Otherwise, put yourself alongside me, my brother Glen and my almost-five-year-old son Jack, buckle up and grab a glass! We are off to Ross Hill (www.rosshillwines.com.au) to meet the highly informative Phil Kearney and taste some finely detailed wines; etched with Phil's brio and Orange's altitudinal zing and transparency.

While Bloodwood has always been at the rugged vanguard of small, independent grape-growing and winemaking; doing things in a sort of free-spirited, carnal and highly individualized manner; Ross Hill boasts numerous manifestations: contract grower, contract producer and now, under Phil's aegis, a winery that represents a sort of cutting-edge cool climate zeitgeist. Perhaps that is going too far! Nevertheless, Phil's commitment to ambient yeasts, quality material, and his intricate knowledge of Orange's vineyards and ripening windows, imbue his wines with an inherent freshness and polished veneer that less proficiently crafted wines lack. For that is what Phil and Ross Hill seem to represent: proficient craftsmanship rather than the zeal and wild yelps of, say, Bloodwood. Phil's wines are polished in the best sense for their purity of fruit flows with a forceful sense of place.

I will get to the wines after the gym and purging myself of the excess inherent in taking traveling chefs around Tokyo......

As I was saying, I hoped to get to the polished wines of Ross Hill after some exercise and rest. I have had enough rest now after trekking about Tokyo with visiting chef Mark Best, of Sydney's 'Marque' restaurant. Marque entered the Pellegrino Top 100 Restaurants this year and Mark received something akin to the hot newcomers award. Bravo! Personally, I think Mark to be the best restaurant in Sydney and have thought so for the last eight-years. Majimup truffles with parmesan cheese; yes please!

Back to Ross Hill where according to geology studies, the richness of the basalt deposits that run through Orange is considerably richer than at the more meager site of Bloodwood. These wines thus, tend to be richer sans overt pepperiness, according to winemaker Phil Kearney.

Sauvignon Blanc 2009: grown at 800-1050 metres at the top of a ridge. The wine is wild-fermented in tank and remains on skins over and beyond a long ferment, for six-months! This is a rather radical approach for any Sauvignon and results in a very chalky, resilient and judiciously phenolic palate due to the balance of rich fruit. The severity of texture took a little getting used to but the wine is incredibly focused, layered and long; bristling with intent and impact. Pow! Dageneau's wines sprung to mind as did Brander's cuvee, 'Au Naturel', out of Santa Ynez. Arguably the finest 100% Sauvignon Blanc I have tasted from Australia and perhaps, from the New World per se. 91

Pinot Gris 2009: hailing from fruit grown at 900 metres, this is made from 100% free-run juice to mitigate the overt chewiness that bothers many Pinot Gris. The wine's complexity lies with the broad, mushroomy funk of the ambient yeast, reverberating with pear and ripe baked apple notes in the mouth. Broad and textured with moderate length and intensity. 87

Chardonnay 2009: steely flinty notes and a lovely green tinged hue lead to a palate that is perhaps a little tangier than the restrained aromas belie, with flavours of nectarine and peach. Quite fruit forward in the mouth and remarkably, for a wine that is nevertheless distinctly of a cooler idiom, the wine has seen 100% malolactic fermentation (MLF). As Phil explained however, and as I recalled in the mind's recesses from my MW studies, wines that undergo 100% MLF and are left to settle have less of the overt buttery aroma, or diacetyl, than wines that have been blocked at less than full MLF. This is because diacetyl is actually synthesized by the malolactic bacteria in due course. This is why therefore, wines that have MLF blocked at say 50%, can taste more buttery and creamy than those that are left to their natural predilections. 88

Pinot Noir 2009: fibrous aromas of wet forest, hints of orange rind, cola and Chinese spices lead to a textural mid-weight palate. Surprisingly, the grapes had been fully de-stemmed. Long and svelte and initially, rather moreish. As the wine warmed in the glass however, sweetness became more apparent. Perhaps some whole clusters in the ferment would do the job, although attaining the phenolic ripeness in the stems in such a cool, elevated site is the conundrum. What to do? Vineyard management techniques to attenuate the ripening window perhaps? Easier said than done. 89

Shiraz '10: an example of the former winemaking regime, according to Phil. Rich, eucalyptus and bourbon-like tones of heavily toasted American oak (likely the A.P. John cooperage that many Australian winemakers blame for the overt eucalyptus tones in certain Australian wines such as this). Not for me. 83

Shiraz '09: conversely, a starkly different manifest of the grape due to Phil's touch. Soaring aromas of peat, violet, smoked meat and ripe blueberries. Very fine! More fruit-scented than the howling Bloodwood wines but certainly of a very similar high quality. In the mouth echoes of pepper keep the wine in line and tamed; while the finish is expansive, multi-layered and formidably long despite what remains, a mid-weight rather than full throttle wine. The alcohol is a civilized 13.5%. 94

Tempranillo '10: handpicked by disabled children in a vineyard behind a local school. Sweet/sour cherry, hints of orange rind and a dusty palate balanced by long, finely grained tannins. Unresolved fermentation aromas but this wine bodes to be savoury and very, very drinkable. 90