All of our managers and wine staff travel at least once a year to a wine-growing region somewhere throughout the world. Traveling is one of the many aspects of Joe Canal’s that sets us apart from other wine shops. We know that by meeting the winemakers, walking the vineyards and tasting new wine from the barrel, we can see first-hand the passion that goes into each bottle. We can then convey this commitment to quality to our customers. Rather than having you just looking at a label and a score, we believe it is our responsibility to bring you closer to how the wine was made and the people who made it. We'll be sharing their trip reports with you here on the BottleBlog.
In June 2011, Debbie Miller Nelson, Wine Manager of the Iselin store had the privilege of traveling to France and immersing herself in French food, culture, and most importantly, wine! Here is the 4th installment of Debbie’s trip.
It is Tuesday and we have a one hour drive to Pouilly Fuisse which is great since we stayed up so late in the hot tub! Our first trip of the day was to visit Antoine Vincent at his home and winery. Antoine is a great guy who has officially taken over for his father Jean- Jacques (who later joined us for lunch).
Antoine does have vineyards behind his home and he teaches us about the soil and the landscape of the area which is more like a bowl.
We explore the vineyards driving through town and I even have a great picture below which has the town of Pouilly and the town of Fuisse in it. Yes, it all makes sense to me now.
After our tour, we head back to the family dining room (which looks more like a castle complete with a full set of knight’s armor – Martin from Frederick Wildman put the head armor on) and enjoy a 2010 barrel tasting of the whites and then their first ever Beaujolais which is phenomenol!
When we are finished, Antoine’s wife and mother treat us to a buffet lunch with meats, cheeses, smoked salmon, an egg delicacy, veggies and the highlight – chocolate mousse that his mom made. This was the best chocolate mousse I had ever tasted. It was light and fluffy with raisins macerated in rum. Antoine kept saying to his mom, you were really heavy handed with the rum. She just shrugged. Gotta love his mom! Antoine invited me to work a harvest… I wonder if my bosses would let me go?
Deb’s Spotlight
JJ Vincent Pouilly-Fuisse 2008
The wine has a bright nose of lemon and pineapple. It is crisp with great acidity and minerality with a silky finish and flavors of tropical fruits. A nice wine to pair with tilapia or roast chicken.
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