I am not immune to the charms of an attention-getting wine label. And the Coup de Boule is a wine that you are definitely going to pull from the shelf and scrutinize. What is it?
La Grange Aux Belles Coup de Boule 2014
This is a fizzy rosé from a Loire Valley producer, La Grange Aux Belles. And the text in the #horrorfont (“Coup de Boule“) means “headbutt”. This aggressive action is ably illustrated on said label.
The Coup de Boule is a “natural” wine, meaning it’s made in a way in both vineyard and winery that’s as little fussed-with as possible. (Usually entails minimal to no sulfur added, though that is just one aspect of natural wine.) Natural wine has been subjected to both regular flogging and passionate defense. (The debate tends to be dichotomous.) If you Google “natural wine” you can peruse both sides of the coin as well as some more nuanced considerations. (I am pro-sulfur as a preservative, BTW.) It’s an interesting category of wine to explore and I’ve had, like all kinds of wine, examples that are exemplary and ones that haunt me like the Boogeyman.
The bottle of Coup de Boule, fortunately, fell into the former. A blend of Gamay (red) and Grolleau (white), it’s sealed with a crown (bottle) cap, so you know there’s some serious fun-factor. Very dry and fresh, a really super wine to bring to a dinner party. More specifically, a pizza party.
You should check out what my friend Elana is doing with her super-cool pizza truck. NBD, just has a wood-burning oven in the back. (WHUT.) Peep: Zaza’s Perfect Pie
In conclusion: The combination of three things–label, wine color, bottle cap–will ensure that, just like me, everyone at the party will want to know what they heck the Coup de Boule is all about. And then, upon tasting, the answer will become apparent: deliciousness!
Shifting gears, a couple random East Village experiences. File this under “Good Grief”:
I also checked out the #LowlineLab. The Lowline is an experiment to use sunlight to grow plants underground. How? Via the website:
Co-Founder James Ramsey, his team at Raad Studio,and Korea-based technology company Sunportal designed and installed optical devices which track the sun throughout the sky every minute of every day, optimizing the amount of natural sunlight we are able to capture. The sunlight is then distributed into the warehouse through a series of protective tubes, directing full spectrum light into a central distribution point. A solar canopy, designed and constructed by engineer Ed Jacobs, then spreads out the sunlight across the space, modulating and tempering the sunlight, providing light critical to sustain the plant life below.
“Coup de boule” reminds me of one of my favorite movies of all time: the original “Three Men and a Baby” (called “Trois hommes et un couffin”) starring Gérard Dépardieu, that has a really funny scene around un coup de boule, which is how I learned that term!
Not the one with Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg?