Cupping

"There is no mystery to cupping, only endless intrigue." Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia coffee

We here at Marlow and Sons will be hosting cuppings every Friday in the month of March. Counter Culture, our new coffee purveyor, will be in our back room at 10 am pouring and discussing. The cupping process is a means for evaluating the intrinsic merits of coffee as well as compare different coffees on a level playing field. During each cupping we will evaluate three coffees from start to finish. We will take notes of the coffee's dry fragrance, aroma while steeping and the brightness, flavor, body and aftertaste of the coffee. After, we will compare and contrast notes, opinions and thoughts on what we sample. For many beginning cuppers, evaluating coffee with others will open your eyes and your taste buds to nuances in a coffee you might have otherwise missed.

Should be fun, I can't wait!

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Bonita Dekalb: Bathroom 2008

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Niero

This wine is interesting because it comes from the area of Condrieu, one of few white wine appellations in the Northern Rhone. Growing Syrah means the Nieros, a father-son team, can't call it Condrieu. They have to call it Vin de Pays des Collinnes Rhodaniennes, which is a more basic regional qualification. Syrah from the northern Rhone is usually very expensive so this is a great value. It is an undercover gem. Also, the Nieros are practitioners of "lutte raisonee" which means reasonable interference. It is a sustainable approach to organic agriculture using sprays or other methods only if absolutely necessary but for the most part abstaining.

They also make Cotes Rotie and Condrieu. The northern Rhone is a very ancient area where the vineyards are super old and positioned on very steep terraced hillsides making labor manual and extremely hard. Syrah is native to the northern Rhone and never blended, lending authenticity All other Syrahs are second or even third in our opinion.

Traditionally these wines are tannic but this wine is made in a younger more approachable style, as even its bottle implies. The wine is ready to drink now, in comparison to Cote Rotie (roasted slope) which could take years to be accessible. It has a shorter maceration, i.e. spending less time in contact with the skins, which makes the wine less tannic and more fruit forward, like a gay bar.

Niero is medium bodied, earthy and has an herby quality to it. Like wet pipe tobacco. This wine and other northern Rhone Syrahs are perfect to go with our grass fed steaks. Also good with cheese like the mild and nutty Vermont Ayre! Noble, historical, and drinkable.

"I love da niero. He's a fabulous actor."- Sara Moffat

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