A last minute Tuesday night meal out with a couple of local friends. All with assorted plates of decent Chinese food. None of the wines really suited the food except the combination of the Baudry and what was, essentially, a Chinese scramble with roast pork and other goodies. Serious hangover food. I’ll have to remember that.
2005 Carl Loewen Riesling Varidor
This was quite good. I’m not sure if it is full tröcken, but there was no perceptible residual sugar. Very citric and stoney with a 2005 broadness to the palate, although this was not broad or big in the traditional sense, just in a 2005 versus a 2004 sense. Unfortunately, didn’t really seem to sing with the food.
2005 Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
Fucking awesome. What did you expect? Anyone who knows me knows how much I love this wine and I buy at least a case every year. I continue to be amazed at how approachable some of the 2005 Chinon and Bourgueil have been lately. What I love about Grézeaux is that it is so distinctive. There is a dark, mineral, earth quality that marks the wine every year, whether it was rain plagued like 1998, perfect like 2002, or hot like 2003, this wine always has that signature. A wine I’m certain I could pick out quintuple blind. The thing is, it is probably the third best terroir that Baudry owns (Criox Boissée and Clos Guillot have a much better exposition), albeit with the oldest vines. It is a flat parcel, near the house, with dark soil studded with softball size rocks, the grézeaux. There is also usually a purple quality to the fruit, and in certain years (like 2002 or 1996), it will have a lovely floral quality as well. Certain to age for 15-20 years, it is no crime to enjoy this exuberant Spring but I don’t think it will really hit stride for another 5-7 years.
2003 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène
This was kind of awful. Really limp, loose, boozy, and glommy. Not much to do with it except dump it out. I guess it did have some nice spice on the nose, but the rest was not to my taste at all, and wouldn’t be to the taste of anyone with taste. Avoid.
2 comments:
I have only had the 2003 Les Grezeaux but I thought it was phenomenal, velvety and grippy and dark but with that pronounced minerality you talk about: super-clean like well-filtered glacier water. Only 12.5% even in 2003. Talk about a wine taking you to a place, although for some reason I see myself at 6,000 feet in Oregon's High Cascades. One bottle is totally not enough.
I recommend Malvasia bianca - anthing from the heavily perfumed to the sublime.
ZOT!
Arthur Przebinda
Founder, redwinebuzz.com
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