A Visit to Terroir

Why yes, you silly bean, I in fact did visit Terroir when I was in San Francisco. It was a windy and gorgeously sunny Friday afternoon — days in the city hardly get better — and after walking the Mission and then perusing a lot of art downtown (the SF MOMA, the fabulous Crown Point Press gallery) I was ready for a glass or two. So I trotted down Folsom to pay the boys a visit.

Guilhaume and Luc are extremely friendly as well as knowledgeable. And sweet beard of Zeus, they pour Vin Jaune by the glass! When I asked how wines by Tissot compared to those from Puffeney (Tissot's Vin Jaune was the first of his I'd had), they explained that while Tissot's wines may be more strictly natural, Puffeney's are more transparent and delicate. In any case, I loved my tasting pour of the 2000 Tissot Vin Jaune and its beautiful, complex nut notes. If that weren't enough, they also gave me a tasting pour of a fino sherry from Gran Barquero, a beautiful and very dry wine of typicité that, unusually, has no spirit added!

Did I know that the Bretons made a dry sparkling Vouvray? I did not. It wasn't complex, but it was pure and minerally. Did the Sirch schioppetino they recommended to pair with salume work out? Why yes it did. Had I ever tasted a red wine from the Canary Islands made of a grape called listán negro? No, and I was surprised that this fresh and spicy little number reminded me of northern Italian reds like teroldego; it wasn't at all hot or clumsy. Yep, these guys know how to pick 'em, and they do so in a really nice space, which is just the right mix of comfy, clean, and rough.

Good thing I don't live in SF; I'd lose my shirt in this place. I'm talking major bailout funds, people. Better, after a fashion, to just read Guilhaume's new blog The Wine Digger from afar.