NV Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco 4

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  12/2/2008, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (MUNJEBEL 4 Cornelissen Bianco) Etna Dear Friends, I look forward to this release every year even though the wines are as polarizing as any we offer. I continue to champion this cause because I'm concerned that if we don't, who will? With the continued homogenization of the wine industry, a producer like Frank Cornelissen needs the support of experimental consumers that appreciate his endless hours of handmade toil even though the finished product is, to be polite, controversial. The new releases from Frank's eccentric world are upon us and only one thing can be said: wow. There is nothing that can describe this set to the uninitiated drinker expecting "wine" - I will do my best via the typed word but the only way to experience this reclusive spirit of Mount Etna is to taste the finished product (sort of like describing Pop Rocks to someone - you need to try it to understand). Somehow, the Cornelissen wines have become some of our most popular entries each fall and, in some strange way, they typify what Garagiste is all about: what few others would touch if they wish to stay afloat. We've offered the past three vintages of Cornelissen and each is unique, unstable and oh so intriguing. I'm always afraid each will go the way of my 3rd grade paramecium jar but they never do (I sampled a 2002 last week and it was even better than on first release). Without anything added or taken away (no sulpher, preservatives or stabilizers) the world of Frank Cornelissen has drawn a line in the sand with the cool and the uncool - if you want to be cool, I mean really cool, you announce your affection for Cornelissen's affliction as an everyday wine of choice. If you want to be truthful, you merely admit to having tried them - every wine drinker is all the better for it. Love them or disdain them, I believe you need the experience to help complete a palate that is a lifetime work in progress. Without the experience of Cornelissen, Musigny just tastes like Musigny. With the experience as a reference, Musigny tastes like something even grander than it already is. For education's sake, my I present the masterwork of Frank Cornelissen - attempting to embrace every wine drinker in the world by potentially alienating them one eccentric bottle at a time... Frank Cornelissen Contadino 4 (2006) We offered this last year but many of you asked for a few more bottles so here you go (this is different than the 2007 Contadino 5 we offered a few months ago). If Christmas cake could melt into a soil infested mold of living bacteria swimming in a murky mess of orange essence and sappy, cloudy, tobacco-tinged sarsaparilla, it would be this delicious treat cut from the active hillsides of Mount Etna. While the above description may sound horrific, horror is in the eye of the beholder and I know many Goths from my teen years that would find this not only tame but plebian. An homage to the natural "wine" movement and an experience to initiate one's palate to better understand the rest of the wine world (see above referenced Musigny comment). The fact that we've had so many re-order requests for this is telling - a beverage unlike anything else. Cornelissen does not recommend decanting - I do, for at least 15 minutes. Keep in mind, natural wine gobbles oxygen quickly and this is best consumed on the first evening. Frank Cornelissen Munjebel (Mongibello) #4 Bianco (2007) By far Frank's finest Bianco to date, the 2007 vintage has tempered the idiosyncratic nature of the wine and it is actually enjoyable, even floral and full of intrigue. From the widely known varietals of Grecanico Dorato, Coda di Volpe, Carricante and Cataratto, this white wine has a faintly orange hue with tangerine and citric elements that are captured in a textural blanket of extractive sap and surprising natural acidity. Unctuous but still delicate in flavor spectrum, I find the layered presence of the 2007 to be a revelation for Cornelissen and I think many of you will agree. An oxidative wonder with only 13% alcohol - a wine that should be poured blind in a flight of white Hermitage or Condrieu. Frank Cornelissen Munjebel (Mongibello) #4 Rosso (2006/2007) From 100% Nerello Mascalese grapes, this is akin to Cornelissen's Mon Aieul cuvee as opposed to his "regular" blend (the Contadino). There is more of everything here and the dried fruit and sweet spice compote quality is truly something to behold. Cinnamon sticks, mulling spices and the signature orange peel vie for supremacy with a sense of freshly fallen October leaves from trees grown in volcanic ash. The Munjebel #4 has a nature of suspension where all of the components are held in thick textured animation with a Pinot Noir element that seems diametrically opposed to the murky autumnal fruit - this cannot possibly be real but it is. Frank likens this to "Christmas cake left out in the sun for a month" and I'm not sure I have any vein of reference to argue his analogy. One of a kind - for intrigue it would be hard to top this. Pour blind in a flight of 1990 Chëteauneuf du Pape (or even 1999 Vosne-Romanee). Frank Cornelissen MAGMA "R" (2006) From one of the last pre-phylloxera vineyards left in Europe (at an altitude of over 3000ft) on the flank of Mount Etna, only a few hundred bottles were produced of this red nectar - literally squeezed from the plant one grape at a time. I'm not really sure how to describe this wine - the Deux Freres of the natural winemaking world? The anti-Le Pin? By far the most expensive wine in the oxidative movement sweeping Europe, the regular Magma was an experience that once kept an entire room of collectors hushed for nearly 30 minutes as they indulged (and that was a bottle of what didn't make it into this reserve wine). The Magma "R" (reserve) is, in Frank's view, the finest wine he could ever produce from the solid volcanic ash of the mountain. Think of molten grape extract gliding down a curvy slide, a la Candyland after a bad card, that bumps up against a pool of quicksand made from soil and the most painfully intense sense of terroir and fruit must that can be imagined. Put all of this into a bowl of red, white and exotic fruit with the pulp exposed and starting to ferment - mix it with air-dried tobacco and a liquefied piece of pumpkin pie and it would be the MAGMA "R" - a wine that is so intense, so unlike anything else in the world only a few hundred souls on this planet will ever get to experience it. If you are an "expert" in Italian wine, you cannot truly claim to be until you've poured at least a small sip of this down your gullet. Insane...even more so over a 4-8 hour period as the wine gobbles molecules of oxygen. All are directly from the cellars at Frank Cornelissen with perfect provenance For further information and to reiterate past offers I've penned on Frank, please see Jamie Goode's article (unrelated): http://www.wineanorak.com/magma.htm Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Italy7401 Italy7402 Italy7403 Italy7404