The Vulgar Little Monkey Translucency Report

Burgundy = good

2011-06-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

Over an excellent dinner at Rue Cler as the fifth wheel to two of my good friends and their wives. I have to give special mention to an English pea fritter that was essentially a falafel made with English peas. It may not sound great or exciting, but it was beautiful; in its simplicity.

1997 J. A. Ferret Pouilly-Fuissé Les Ménétrières
Over the hill. Too bad. I had a magnum of the Clos with the boys at Terroir SF not too long ago that was fantastic.

2008 Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers
This was my second time with this wine in the last two weeks. The previous bottle was a bit underwhelming, especially in comparison. I think it has to do with being opened about 5 hours before dinner. It was much more expressive than the previous bottle, but was still very pretty and light on its feet. I like the Neillon style and this should be better in a couple of years.

2005 Pernot Bâtard-Montrachet
This was an excellent bottle, if a very young one. I’m someone who likes the qualities that white Burgundy shows when young and this had all those in abundance. Intense minerals and stones awash in white floral scents and yellow stone pit fruits. As the night wore on, it got even younger and the structure became mouthwatering to the point of excruciating. If I had other bottles, I’d hold off for another 3-5 before checking in again. Very, very good wine.

2001 Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Cras
I opened this several hours before dinner and it really needed the air to open up. This is a more soil-driven, ferrous version of Chambolle. At an interesting place where the fruit is receding into something more permanent and the sous bois tones are starting to creep into the space left behind. This was complex on the nose and, at times, silky on the palate. I think this will really come into its own with a few more years in bottle. I’ll try another one in 3-4 years. I’ve been drinking my Barthod’s lately to try to figure out how they are aging and to determine future buying strategy. I was worried that they may never come around. I’m not really worried about that anymore. The wines are up there with Mugneret-Gibourg (an admittedly different idiom) for Burgundy.

2008 d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds
This started off aromatically pure and full of crunchy red fruits and purple flowers. Lots of fun to drink and right in my wheelhouse for pinot noir. After a few hours is started to get a bit blowsy and fuzzy which I think is more a testament to stage of development than overall quality.

N.V. Pinon Vouvray Brut Non Dosé
Great with a simple plate of strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Pinon Brut in all its forms obviates 95% of my Champagne needs.

Another experiment with surpising results

2011-05-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, you learn something new about a wine you thought you knew and, maybe, an experiment pays off. I had more or less given up on the 1996 and 1997 Clos du Papillon years back after they seemed to go into an oxidized spiral. I decided to let a couple of bottles sit just to see what would happen.

1997 Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos du Papillon
The first thing to grab me was the color, a light yellow tinged white rather than a golden color. The nose was full of pretty flowers and wet stones. What was piercing intensity as a young wine, was lithe grace as an older wine. On the palate, it was organized, but the big structure had faded to a latticework of slender, interconnected elements. The wine was lively on the palate, but in a mature wine way, not an intense puckering way. This is exactly how I had hoped these wines would turn out, but they never looked like they would get here. Maybe it was just a good bottle. Maybe as soon as they started showing weird, I should have hid all of my bottles. Anyway, as these things tend to work out, this was my last bottle. If you have any, I strongly encourage you to dip in.

Interesting experiment

2011-05-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Grilled out with friends on a beautiful Spring evening.

2007 George Descombes Brouilly
I’ve been really enjoying the Morgon lately from the same vintage and was curious about how the Brouilly was doing. Doesn’t have the same minerality or focus, but it does have really pretty fruit with herbal and floral notes. Not much on the tannin side, but the acids are present enough to keep freshness in the wine. I tasted from a bottle that showed much better a few days later. Maybe we should have let this get some more air. Regardless, I’d finish these off over the next few years.

Next up, I had saved my last bottle of Franc de Pied from 2007 to have with my friends Noel, a natural wine aficionado. In case you don’t know, a portion of the Clos Guillot vineyards, which is rich in limestone and mostly clay, was planted Franc de Pied by the Baudry’s. Almost all the vines have succumbed to phylloxera by now, with only a couple of rows still alive, but they are probably not long for it either.

2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied
It was interesting how different these wines started out. This was bigger and darker in terms of fruit and with deeper notes of leather. The contrast between the wines only grew with about an hour of air. The Franc de Pied became more diffuse and started to unravel, while the Clos Guillot became more complex as it stretched along its structural frame. The Franc de Pied are really not wines for aging, they are to be enjoyed in their exuberant joyful youth, as the Baudry’s intend.

2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Clos Guillot
Much tighter on opening and dominated by an intense limestone quality. This reminded me of putting down lines for a football pitch in the early morning. This cuvee has been a bit of a mystery to me, seeming over the top in 2005 and odd in the context of the 2006 Baudry stable, I think that this vintage bears the idea that Matthieu is circling around what he wants from this site and starting to define it. There are also notes of fruit and herbs and meadows but they are all wrapped in that tangy package. The tannins are firm without being brutish or drying, the acidity strong, but not mouth-puckering. I haven’t bought Clos Guillot for the cellar in the past. Well, the past is the past as they say. This is worth trying now, although it should be better in a couple of years.

Old friends, all good

2011-05-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

An excellent night for wines as everything showed really well. Thanks to the guys at Vin Rouge in Durham for great food and service.

1998 R. López de Heredia Rioja Rosado Viña Tondonia
Great showing for this. Earthy onion skin notes lead into some pretty red fruits. There are some woodsy, herbal notes as well. Still some structure. Went really well with the sweetbreads dish on offer. I know people like to age these, but I don’t know why.

1994 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée W
This was stunning. The texture was rich and unctuous without being over the top and broad. Honey comb and yellow fruits allied with herbs and some minerals bring together a complete package. I really think that decanting this wine for about 45 minutes made a big difference. The is a cool sort of autolytic thing I get from this wine that reminds me of Bernard Morey Chassagne Caillerets. I really love Kalin wines and I realize I own none. I bought this bottle the day I drank it and have been doing the same for 10 years. The last time I bought Kalin to cellar was 12-15 years ago and those are long gone. This needs to change.

1996 Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées
Opened and decanted for an hour and then returned to the bottle. By the time we drank it a couple of hours later, it had totally transformed from a wine that showed a lot of savory, umami and sous bois qualities to a wine that showed much more fruit compote with those other things sliding to the background. The structure did the same thing. At first, I was worried that this could be another screechy 1996 experience, but while the structure was present at first, it receded into a pleasant nuance and scaffolding for the flavors. While this was not one of those mind-bending bottles of Burgundy, it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyable.

A good showing for a 1996 Barolo, finally

2011-05-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to drag my friend Matt to Bella Mia coal oven pizza the other day. Maybe isn’t on par with the best of New York, but it is damn good. Miles above anything else in NC and will surely be worth a mention of top pizza joints in the country one day.

2009 Do Ferreiro Albariño Rías Baixas Cepas Vellas
OK, not an obvious choice to take to a pizza joint, but Matt wanted to drink it. There is something so saline and savory about this wine that is difficult to describe. Deep and intense and just makes you want to eat a Grand Plateau aux Fruits du Mer. Succelent and bracing at the same time. Profound.

1996 Marcarini Barolo La Serra
This was exciting. A wine that is coming into its drinking window with beautiful tertiary aromas starting to come to the fore as the fruit steps backwards into the mélange. There was a beautiful warmth and leather quality to the palate. The tannins could still resolve a bit, but if you want to start busting into your stash now, you won’t be disappointed. I’ll drink another bottle in 2 or 3 years, but this should be rising towards a plateau that will last for 12 or so.

The happiest I've ever been about a corked wine

2011-05-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

At J. Betski’s in Raleigh.

1999 Freie Weingärtner Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
Deep golden/green color. The nose is still white pitted fruits and Achleiten stone. I can't think of another vineyard with this kind of stony signature. It really does smell like a glass full of rocks. I would have liked a bit more generosity on the palate, there was something that wasn't quite cohesive, keeping it from being excellent, but it was very good.

1999 Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Honivogl
Man, what a bummer. This wine has been a monument to Gruner Veltliner and I thought for a minute it might just be some mustiness that would blow off. That was not to be as it got more and more chlorinated as it was open. The strange thing is, I've never been happier for a bottle to be corked as it forced us to order from the list, and what we ordered blew our minds.

1993 Louis Jadot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots
The nose was full of beautiful fruit with spice and sous bois notes developing around the edges. After a couple of hours of being open, it began to shut down a little bit. I think that it has a little upward potential if the structure resolves a little. It's close now, but the tannin are still a bit hard on the back end. It has great lift and the nose is amazing. Very much the Vosne side of Nuits.

2001 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche
I opened this mid-afternoon on Josh's advice. By the time we tasted it at around 7 it was beautiful. Full meaty nose with hints of minerals, leather and other sauvage animal notes with some black and red fruit skins underneath. Really well put together. Smooth but still structured and cut. The structure was there to help the wine get across its meaning, not to dominate or distract. Given what the air did for it, I think this has years of development ahead of it. It is a hard wine to rate in the circumstances because the food wasn't geared to this type of wine, it was opened with another restaurant in mind. Really impressive and a singular expression of Côte-Rôtie.

1979 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese Sang
We purchased this off the list at J. Betski's because the Hirtzbereger was corked. Man, what a great piece of luck. The color was an ambient golden. The nose was still full of gooseberries and slate with only a hint of diesel or milkyness. On the palate, the acids really lit the wine up, giving the sensation that it was glowing in your mouth. It was driving itself into pleasure centers of the brain that rarely get tickled, sensual and intellectual all at once. It was the sort of experience that just stops you dead in your tracks and you just have to say "Damn". Easily the best white wine of 2011 and a steal even of the list. It was so good that we ordered another bottle to enjoy over conversation with the chef and the owner of the restaurant. Really shockingly good and I'd advise anyone who runs across a bottle to buy post haste!

What I do for my friends

2011-04-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

Went to dinner at Rue Cler with Matt. Brought his two favorite wines since he is leaving for a month.

2002 Azienda Agricola Stanislao Radikon Jakot Venezia Giulia IGT
A deeper color than when I last had it. After some air, the nose really opens up. This is my favorite of the Radikon wines and while this bottle doesn’t have the intensity of past bottles, the 2002 vintage was probably not a great candidate for aging. Not that these bottles should be aged in any event.

2003 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg
This showed a lot of wood on first opening. After about an hour in the carafe, the wood started to become more of a complement, with notes of spice, rather than a focal point. This has excellent texture with a nose and palate that is pure Bourg. This wine, along with the 1997 of this and Breton’s Perrières of the same vintages, is the wine that made me question perceived wisdom about vintages and to start asking questions about how the wine can be so remarkable and fresh in such a hot and challenging year like 2003. What this comes down to is not so much ambient temperature, but soil depth. There is very little topsoil at Bourg and underneath is pure rock, according to Nady Foucault. The same is true of Perrières, according to Pierre Breton. This same topic came up a couple of years later with Kevin Harvey at Rhys when discussing his various vineyards. Although the Skyline wasn’t the coolest of his vineyards, it had the poorest soil which really makes the plant struggle to ripen and forces the roots very deep to find water.

Hiatus

2010-12-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

Maybe permanent, maybe not.

Bourgueil and excellent rosé

2010-11-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Vin rouge with Centerba crew

2007 Alice et Olivier De Moor Bourgogne-Chitry
2008 Alice et Olivier De Moor Bourgogne-Chitry
This was surprising because I expected the 2007 to show more richness than the 2008 and it was the opposite. Calling either one big would be a mistake, but in comparison, the 2008 seemed fatter and plumper.

2007 Éric Texier Condrieu Janrode
Still showed well, but I would drink sooner rather than later. Eric is making the best expressions of viognier for my palate. This is not oily or glommy in the mouth and has beautiful floral notes on the nose instead of all that richness and lychee crap.

2002 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal
I’ve always loved the 2002 Breton wines for their dashing, rapier-like personalities. This comes in at something like 11.7% alcohol and has an unmistakeable mineral tang to the blue and red fruits. The finishing tannin have a chalky quality to them, but in a good way. This is starting to loosen and I think will be in a window for a while. I’ll probably drink my other 6 bottles in as many years.

1996 Pierre-Jacques Druet Bourgueil Vaumoreau
Druet’s best site and it shows. Still some fruit left at the core and still has enough structure that there is some grip, this has matured into a fine example of Bourgueil.

2009 Domaine Brana Irouléguy Harri Gorri
A pale salmon rose, the nose is somewhat brambly and jumps at me right away. I like the briskness with a hint of tannin. I take it that this is a blend of cabernet franc and tannat and it has a bark-like spiciness to it. This was the first time I’ve had this so far this year, but it won’t be the last. One of the best rosé wines I’ve had this year.

Bad news for 2002 Beaujolais

2010-10-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks I have had both of the wines below and found them to be fading hard and losing their middle. I am surprised by this turn of events.

2002 Michel Tête Juliénas
Shot from the word go. Browning at the edges, dried out.

2002 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette
Upon first opening, the smell of the cork and the aroma right out of the bottle was promising. In the glass it was also hollowed out in the middle. Damn.

I’ve got a Desvignes Côte du Py on deck. If it’s toast, I’ll be pissed.

Al fresco with saignée

2010-10-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

These notes are very impressionistic and don’t include many wines that were sampled. This was from a really fun evening of dining al fresco with two guests from opposite coasts: Cory Cartwright of saignée and Sophie from Chambers St. It was a potluck of sorts and everyone chipped in with food and wine and general good spirits. The pork shoulder that Will braised was especially good. My braised short-ribs were subpar, like most of my exes, they needed more liquid and attention.

2009 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Riesling Senior Faß 6
Beautiful wine. Like rainwater with floral essence and stone pit fruits. Gentle, balanced, and composed. The Lauer wines jumped out at me the first time I ever tried the MWM portfolio and every bottle I’ve had since falls completely in line. Although I preferred the liveliness of the 2008 version, this wine is fantastic. Drink your own body weight fantastic.

2009 Reinhard & Beate Knebel Winninger Brückstück Riesling Feinherb
In comparison to the Lauer, this is a bit bigger and more fruit driven. I don’t want to give the impression that this was indelicate or imprecise in any way, it’s just in comparison to the ethereal Lauer. This showed more stone notes to balance the deeper fruit tones.

N.V. Equipo Navazos Jerez-Xérès-Sherry La Bota de Fino "Macharnudo Alto" Nº 18
So I’m working through some sherry these days in an attempt to get my head around it before heading to Spain in March. This is my second La Bota and it is an excellent Fino. Full of almond skin and minerals with the autolytic esters. I’m not sure that I like this more than the El Maestro Sierra Fino. It was hard to really concentrate on it with all the hubbub. I’ll try another bottle on a more quiet evening with a bottle of the Maestro Sierra for comparison.

1998 Mugneret-Gibourg Ruchottes-Chambertin
Whoa. This was totally outlandish. The nose stank of candied rhubarb. I’ve never smelled anything quite so singular. There were a lot fo other Gevrey type things going on including that sort of animal mineral quality that I associate with Gevrey wines. There was some leather, woodsmoke, spice, and cherry, but the rhubarb thing was so dominate it was crazy. This is texturally getting to a much better place than my last bottle in early 2009. Wow, I wonder where this is headed?

2001 Forey Echezeaux
This was a controversial bottle. There was a burnt rubber and gunpowder presence that overshadowed the nose that I associate with reduction, but that Cory and Will insisted was Brett. In any event, I was interested to see if the oak that Forey wines have when young would still show. It did. There were some brambly Echezeaux notes in there, but the reduction made it hard to get too. Oh well.

1998 Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Now this has a diaper thing that I associate with Brett. On the downslope, I guess. Some faded grenachy fruit. Doesn’t peak much interest. Who cares, right?

2000 Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo Ghemme Collis Breclemae
Didn’t get much of a read on this. More delicate than the Pora. with a granitic note to the fruit. Some earthier elements coming out. Nice texture.

2001 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pora
Leathery with dried cherries and earthy richness. There was a brothiness to the wine that had a distinct savory quality.

2003 Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
Well, fuck me. In the midst of so many more important wines, leave it to a Baudry Grézeaux to come in and make you wonder why you bother with anything else. Pristine notes of black and red fruits buttressed by the inimitable stone and dark earth notes of Grézeaux. A mouth of fruit and gravel with a tangy snap. Showing really, really well. A different version than the 2002 from a week ago, but no less compelling.

2005 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore
Great showing. Rich, but not over the top. Nice to know Cory was suitably impressed by his run in wi9th this wine. I’ve said it many times, Vatan transcends grape and is a sui generis expression of Chavignol.

There were some other wines, but I cannot for the life of me remember them. More importantly, there was a lot of great food and conversation shared with great friends. Everyone should do this kind of thing more often. I mean, this is the whole point, right?

Update

2010-10-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Late September through mid-October is a hopelessly busy time for my day job. Mix in a little health scare and, well, something has to give.

Fear not, I have a good amount of back notes, including Cory Cartwright's recent visit in which we battle to the death over Brett vs Reduction.

Keep the faith.

In which I drink Champagne

2010-09-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Ulysse Collin Champagne Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs
At the bar at Rue Cler having a salad frisée with a duck egg we were sort of tired from a long weekend of wine and food so wanted to keep it light. This was just the wine for that. Lots of folks compare Collin to Selosse and that’s not quite right. Vilmart is the much better comparison. I loved the hint of wood on the nose, it added a element of spice with a slight vanilla edge (but awesome Madagascar vanilla, not shitty extract) and was very reminiscent of mid 1990s Création from Vilmart. The mousse was mouthfilling and lively. Really a great bottle that went fantastically with food. Will need to check the vintage. Maybe Peter is right about this whole Champagne thing.

Check it out

2010-09-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Even though you should subscribe to Champage Guide if you care about Champagne, Peter Liem will contribute to the World of Fine Wine blog. This is great news for those of us who value Peter's incredibly erudite thoughts about wine.

He also happens to have great taste in football.

Brooklynguy made me think

2010-09-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

In a very nice post, Brooklynguy (whose blog I’ve begun reading in earnest and I’ve linked to) brought up a point that I think many people miss about the purpose of cellaring wine. A wine cellar isn't just a trophy cabinet or a hoard of treasure. I've said before that it is an extension of your kitchen, a type of root cellar. There are many excellent wines that aren't true vin de garde, but are excellent accompaniments to food and really shine with a with a couple of years of cellaring. Once you start to think of wine in this way, I think it helps to develop a much more sophisticated appreciation for wine in general. If your wines for daily consumption are all of the buy-today-to-drink-tonight variety you'll be missing a whole spectrum of enjoyment.

Here is a short list of wines that are very reasonable that I have found to gain character with a little age (2-3 years post release).

Baudry Cuvée Domaine Chinon
Roilette Fleurie
Dom. Ste. Anne St. Gervais
Clos Roche Blanche côt
Gamot and Cayrou Cahors
Brovia barbera
Montesecondo CC
Felsina CC Riserva

Guillemot Mâcon
Roally Mâcon
All Muscadet from Marc Olivier, Luneau-Papin, Bregeon, Landron (see David Lillie's excellent article in The Art of Eating).
Hüet pétillant
Pinon Vouvrays

What are some little wines that you cellar?

Subscribe to the Art of Eating

2010-09-22T08:35:00.001-07:00

If you don't already, you should subscribe to Ed Behr's excellent little wine and food rag.

In the current issue, David Lille of Chambers St. Wines, authors a warm and lovely tribute to Muscadet and the handful of dedicating artisans that bring such excellent wine into being.

David is a hero to the VLM-TR, even if he is a commie, and we'd love to see him write more often.

Dressner at 3cups

2010-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

At a wine dinner at 3 Cups with Shawn Mead of Louis/Dressner

2007 Jean Manciat Mâcon Charnay Franclieu
This was exotic and wildly floral. Lots of ripe melon type fruit with honeysuckle type flowers. Some richness but not sloppy. This had an almost carnal quality to it that I found really compelling.

2007 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition
Showed as beautiful as ever. Juxtaposed with the Manciat, it was more mineral, linear and restrained. Lovel yellow pitted fruits with maybe some apples in there surrounded by white flowers and some herbs.

2009 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien
Plump and volumptuous with pitted fruits and berries. There is the typical mineral spine, but buried pretty deep.

2008 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette
An interesting counterpoint to the vivacious Brun. This was more aromatically complex and had a tart cranberry type of fruit on the nose.

2007 George Descombes Brouilly
This was really gorgeous. Drinking superbly with tons of aromatic expression and seamless texture.

2007 Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin
This was another surprise showing as I expected it to be really tight. The palate was a little firm, but the nose was a very Gevrey, animal, mineral, wet earth, dark red fruited concoction. Really interesting and well delineated. I have completely ignored 2007 Burgundy, but I might pick up some Esmonin.

Afters
2004 Domaine de Briseau Coteaux du Loir Les Mortiers
This bottle seems a bit faded from the last one I had. Still has the white pepper and ash notes that I associate with pineau d’aunis. IIRC, this has some côt in it which explains the darkish color.

2009 Clos Roche Blanche pineau d’aunis rosé
I get to enjoy more of this than is probably fair. Another lovely bottle of this excellent rose. It just feels healthy to drink this.

Puzelat of summer

2010-09-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

With a simple dinner of salad frisée and poulet roti at Rue Cler with Damon.

1989 François Pinon Vouvray 1er Trie
This is broader and sweeter than the 1996, but still not a full on moëlleux. Has matured to take on some brown sugar and spiced fruits but there is still a bit of freshness and honeysuckle in the nose. On the palate it is balanced and full if not quite as linear as the 1996. No reason to age it further, although SFJoe would probably argue with me. I like where it is now, although it should at least hold.

2005 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine
After going through most of my 2004 and 2006 of this wine, it is time to start in on the 2005. It is a different beast from either of those two vintages. This is as rich and full a wine as I’ve had from Baudry. Savory notes over top of rich fruit with a full palate presence. Manages to hold it all together without being too rich but I must admit I was a bit surprised by the wine. Not in the mold of other vintages I’ve had. Damon thought it was great, as did our waiter. I’m still not sure what to think. I have the better part of 2 cases to figure it out. I mean, it’s Baudry after all.

2008 Thierry Puzelat Touraine La Tesnière
I just can’t get enough of this wine right now. I’ve been drinking bottles of it as Rue for the last month and they are now pouring it by the glass. This is a cruchy, herby, tart, mineral mélange of green fruits on the nose and palate. Refreshing, bone dry but not aggressively acidic the way that menu pineau can sometimes be. This wine is intriguing and almost too easy to drink at the same time.

My dinner with Andre

2010-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Andre Tamers had his west coast representative in town and had me along for dinner. Holly was charming, affable, and full to the brim with knowledge and anecdotes. It just so happens that we know about 600 people in common and it is amazing we have never met (although I think we must have at some point). Bravo to Andre for bringing her on board. I was doing more socializing than real analyzing so keep that in mind; however, a couple of wines clearly shone or disappointed.

Dinner was at Vin Rouge in Durham and Matt provided excellent food as always and Michael was spot on with wine service, again, per usual.

2007 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis
Clearly past it’s drinking window. These need to be drunk fresh. The rosé is also much, much better. This is one of those pleasures that should probably stay in France.

2005 Domaine Ganevat Savagnin Côtes du Jura Sous la Roche La Combe de Rotalier
I liked the 2002 of this a great deal and was eager to try this version. Didn’t seem to have the same tension as the 2002, but had good weight and length and that intensity I like from good sous voile wines. For my personal tastes, Ganevat is clearly at the top of Savagnin producers. I still have no idea how this will age. I know it will hold, but how will it really change? Will it be glacial? I suspect. I’ve never cellared these wines, I tend to buy them and drink them. I’d love to hear from anyone who cellars these.

2008 Ganevat Côtes du Jura Pinot Noir Cuvée Julien
I don’t get the hype. I guess it’s a nice wine, but would be crushed by Barthod or Mugneret Bourgogne.

2005 Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Clos des Briords 1.5L
This was a great showing by this wine. Maybe it will come together. I was worried that the vintage was too fat and would never shed that baby fat to become what we recognize as Briords. Contrary to that fear, if this magnum was a leading indicator, it seems to be doing just that. Becoming more focused and mineral, it also seems to have absorbed some of the fat and turned it into some yellow fruits. This will always be on the bigger side and won’t be confused with 2002 or 1996, but it could end up being more interesting in the medium term than I suspected. I have a 750 at the house waiting to drink and will see if this is a one off phenomenon or a portent.

2005 Château du Cayrou Cahors
Even though this is young, I liked it a lot. I have a soft spot for both this and the Gamot and I don’t know why. There is a kind of regal quality to their rusticity, sort of like a country gentleman, and a real sense of density and place. I am not sure what the signature terroir of Cahors is, but tis is the type of wine I think of. Dark and almost black purple, sauvage aromas of black and blue fruits enveloped in leather, tree bark and 14 hour hung game (top that Schildy). There is also a nice minerality underneath everything else. I should own some of this. Was not wildly tannic, perhaps due to the merlot in the blend, but drank well the following day.

1996 Vietti Barolo Brunate
Astoundingly disappointing bottle. Decanted for several hours, this never really opened up. Seemed a bit dilute, which do0esn’t make any sense given how it showed as a young wine and where it should be. Maybe it’s in a dumb phase, I don’t really know.

Dressner at Poole's

2010-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

A Louis/Dressner wine dinner at Poole’s Diner in Raleigh. Ashley made a hell of a meal to go with the wines and the staff, and especially Matt Fern made it a very fun evening. The wines all showed remarkably well. Must have been a Thai Stripper day on the Biodynamic Calender.

(2008) François Pinon Vouvray Brut Non Dosé
Nice mousse and a fine structure. Lovely bread and pitted fruit notes. Unapologetically bubbly chenin. Maybe lacks the depth of Huet, but this was clean, vibrant and superb, overall. The Pinon wines are such remarkably rock solid values.

1999 Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Le L D'Or
I tasted from 3 different bottles of this, two of which were brilliant. There was a mature depth to the fruit, a kind of bottle sweetness, and a real viscous sense of the earth. Probably the best experience I’ve ahd with this wine. The third bottle wasn’t corked or otherwise flawed. It seemed younger and also completely flat and innocuous. Almost like another vintage was mislabeled.

2008 Franck Peillot Roussette du Bugey Altesse de Montagnieu
The Alpine meadow strikes again. Frank makes such a lovely version of altesse. It is floral and yellow and gentle, but just when you think you have it figured out, it is something else. This wine is terribly easy to drink and graces the table rather well. The course here was an expertly fried chicken thigh over an okra hash. Everything was right with the world.

2008 Arianna Occhipinti Sicilia IGT SP68
This was the best showing for this in a while. It had everything I loved about this wine, from the startlingly pure and focused aromatics to the crisp and refreshing palate. I love the wines sharpness and cut, although I can see where it might be too acidic for some folks. This was served with some crazy ass carnitas dish over fresh butterbean and corn succotash style dish.

2005 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Le Clos
This is great wine. For several years, I made the mistake of buying all the Poyeux and Bourg I could afford, but ignoring the Clos. In fact, the Clos (unsurprisingly) is much closer to the Bourg in comportment. While young, this was velvety and quite long. It needs five or so years and will probably drink beautifully for 20 or even more, but can be enjoyed with the right food by the impatient. With Piedmontese beef over a foraged mushroom risotto, one couldn’t ask for more.

Gamay broth

2010-09-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday chicken social with Will, Brad, Christine, and Vicky. Lively conversation mostly centered around music, but wide ranging.

2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
On the first night, this had really rich fruit and an almost meat broth quality. Umami in wine, who knew? (As an aside, I always found it curious the was David Schildknecht would identify chicken broth in some Chablis, but it was sometimes there and a more beefy broth was definitely here.) There is pretty deep finishing fruit. On the next night it has calmed down a bit and there isn’t as much of the fruit sap and the broth quality has also become just a more general meatiness. There is some structure here, but not like one finds in Coudert or Desvignes.

2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
This bottle never showed the umami side of the other bottle, but had plenty of fruit, although never as sappy. It did show a little bit of heat on the back end the longer it was open. The best of these two experiences was the first bottle on its first night.

2005 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette
It took a while for this to open, and it never did completely, but what it did show was a refined wine of some length. This has, not as brooding quality, but a steely one which brings to mind the iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove tropism. Very pure red fruits, some woods-y aromas and a strong mineral spine with firm but fine tannins. A good dose of them for gamay as well. Just starting to enter a good window

To go with cheese, we scrounged around Will’s fridge for some whites, we came up with some interesting wines.
2004 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese #14
This was fantastic. Really penetrating nose of green grape and slate and a bit of herbs. I love the refreshing briskness of the wine. I could drink tons of this. It was a very nice foil for the cheese.

1997 Gallo of Sonoma Chardonnay Late Harvest Style
Not bad at all. Not particularly good, but not cloying and with the cheese did fairly well.

Vin de Soif

2010-09-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Having dinner with my friend RJ who was packing things up before closing on his house and heading out to Seattle for good. Had a light dinner of apps and charcuterie at Vin Rouge. Excellent.

2002 Radikon Jakot
This is my favorite of the Radikon whites for reasons I cannot fully explain. I am of the belief that these, with exceptions, gain nothing from extended bottle aging I convinced RJ to bring out his last bottle. It showed OK, but a bit more loose than previous bottles. While still a very good drop, I’ve had better bottles.

2008 Foillard Morgon
When you are in the mood, nothing else will truly suffice. Again, this was not the best bottle of this I’ve had, a bit less overt fruityness (which was sort of what I was looking for) but still able to tickle all the right spots on my palate and even spine. If you don’t like this, you really need to ask yourself if wine truly is your beverage of choice.

Carafe of joy

2010-08-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I have a quiet dinner at my brother’s restaurant, Rue Cler, which allows me to relax and enjoy it as a simple pleasure. Dining with an old friend we were able to drink two fantastic wines by the carafe to accompany a perfect three course meal. Each was $17 for 500 ml. The whole meal was $94 before tax and tip. When my brother and his partner opened this place about 5 years ago, everyone doubted them, but look at what has happened since. There are 5 more restaurants downtown and more scheduled to open soon. Every now and then I get to sit back and be proud.

2009 Domaine de la Pépière La Pépiè Rosé
Of course Marc Ollivier has made a beautiful little rosé from cabernet franc. Maybe a bit more strawberry-ish than one would expect from this master of minerals, but a focused and delightful drop and perfect to accompany our first course. Does Marc ever make a misstep? I can’t remember one.

2009 Damien Coquelet Beaujolais-Villages
Holding a bit of CO2 which blows off after 10 minutes or so. This has a natural feel to it, but with a pretty wave of fruit with bones underneath. Delightfully unassuming with the meal which let us enjoy the food and conversation without intruding.

Assorted excellence

2010-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

1999 Nikolaihof Riesling Steiner Hund
This was a couple of different wines during the evening. When it was first opened it was all rocks and seemed to lack density and had no fruit. I insisted to Michael that there was real density there, it just might take a little bit. It started to emerge about an hour or so later starting as floral notes and then becoming deeply pitched with fruit and hints of honeysuckle, all the while keeping it’s frame and mineral spine. A great wine.

1971 Huët Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg
This also did some neat tricks over the course of the evening. At first it tasted quite dry, which can happen with older Moelleux in my experience, and then started to sweeten up and take on more baked fruit and spices. It never got sweet, sweet, but certainly became richer and more interesting. A very fine wine.

1998 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays
I dropped this by the restaurant and had it opened 2 hours before dinner. That first nose upon opening was fantastic. Spice and earth around fruits in a heady perfume. Over the course of the evening it became diffuse and then hardened. Not really sure what to make of that development. I’m not sure that the future will make it better, but now is not a good time so I’d sit on it rather than open now.

1995 Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Les Saint Georges
This was a surprise bottle for me from Michael and was an incredibly generous gift on his part. If there is an argument for Les St. Georges to be classified as grand cru, then the wines from Gouges and Chevillon make the best case for that. Where one really gets the class of Les St. Georges is in the structure and mouthfeel. There is such a pristine quality to the tannins, they are fine and almost velvety but also completely frame the wine with a lattice structure. It’s a nice trick.

Fantastic Mâcon

2010-08-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

2007 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition
I could have included this in the Beach Week Highlights, as it was one of those two, but I had another bottle with recent Durhamites Noel and Marie the other night over dinner. These wines continue to amaze me with their joyfulness and sheer charm. I think Macon chardonnay may be one of the most underrated beverages in the world. I can’t remember the last time I had a Roally or other Thévenet or Guillemot wine that I did not love. The 2007 version has beautiful sun kissed floral fruit with some weight on the palate cleared elegantly by the back end structure. I’ve had this with several different kinds of foods and unless beat over the head with spice, it has never failed to shine. I have an embarrassing admission to make: I haven’t been cellaring these wines. I buy them and drink them and then the vintage is gone and I have forgotten to put any away. That stops this year. I’ve had older vintages that have aged beautifully (although not as many as I would like) and will be putting a case of this up. You should do the same and enjoy it over a decade or more.

Bordeaux second wines

2010-08-26T09:07:00.001-07:00

Are for douche-bags.

Avoid.

Beach Week Highlights

2010-08-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Every year my family gathers from the far corners of the US to converge on the beach for a week, there is a lot of drinking involved. Some of the wine highlights.

2009 Clos Roche Blanche gamay
The first bottle was tight, more tannic and mineral but the second bottle was stunning. Stop you in your tracks gorgeous with layers of fruit buttressed by the structure and that whispy nose I get from CRB gamay that screams naturalness to me. This is a great wine.

2009 Damien Coquelet Beaujolais-Villages
Fresh, vibrant, and a great coif without any of the three bottles being particularly memorable.

2009 J-P Brun Beaujolais l’Ancien
The one bottle of this I tried was fairly tightly wound, much like the first bottle of CRB gamay. Given my experience with the synthetic closure I would drink this sooner rather than later and won’t be loading up.

2009 Pepière Muscadet & 2009 Clos Roche Blanche pineau d’aunis rosé
Yes & yes. Emphatically. Duh.

2009 Three Trees (Tom Lubbe) Côte Catalanes Blanc
This is a blend of rolle and macabeu, IIRC. I am a huge fan of this wine and I’m generally not a fan of white Rhônes and below. In fact, I’m pretty much a fan of all of Tom’s wines even if the labels make them look Australian.

2006 Sanguineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
A very interesting wine. Clearly sees a decent amount of time in casks of some kind as the color is a translucent ruby. Fragrant and elegant and almost willfully Victorian. A racous dinner with grilled steaks was probably not the best setting for such a wine, but I was so intrigued that I snagged the remaining bottle to take home and assess at a more leisurely pace.

A note on Sherry and freshness

2010-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend André Tamers of De Maison Selections has been adamant about the issue of freshness and Sherry. He loves the joys of the beverage and is worried that many people are turned off to the joys of it because they get bottles that are simply too long in the tooth. He believes in this so strongly that he has had his producers of Manzanilla and Fino put the bottling date on their back label.

Manzanilla and Fino a wonderful accompaniment to all sorts of tapas and especially things like grilled sardines. It's dangerous for em to just drink it as a refresher because I'm likely to drink tons and get totally smashed.

Take some to the beach with you to have with shrimp. You'll thank me.

Terrible (with a Sherry exception)

2010-08-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

Terrible

One of those nights where nothing tastes good. Well, nothing but sherry that is. Must have been a root out of your ass night on the Bio calendar.

2008 A Coroa Godello Valdeorras
I liked the nose. Seemed driving, yellow, and mineral. Palate was too flabby for me.

La Cigarrera Manzanilla
El Maestro Sierra Fino
Gutierrez Colosia Fino Elcano
These three were the highlight for me. The Cigarrera Manzanilla was its normal, briney, delicious self and was gone almost as fast as it appears. The Maestro Sierra is the more complicated and complex wine. There is a real vinous drive here. The Colosia Fino Elcano gets lost a bit in the middle of these two, but it is still a fine Fino. Sherry is delicious, especially with fresh NC shrimp.

2003 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan
Disgusting. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.

1998 Eric & Joel Durand Cornas
Hollowed out and done. Poor.

2007 Isole e Olena Chianti Classico
This was fine, I guess. But I expected more from this producer. The merlot was really showing which took away from the enjoyment.

2005 G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe
I had been really keen on trying this bargain Barolo and I have loved other Vajra wines in the past. Tonight it seemed blocky, and not in a Barolo way. Sort of all mushy whereas blocky Barolo will be stern and unyielding. Given how I feel about the producer, I’ll probably give this another try.

Excellent Fontalloro

2010-08-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

1995 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Fontalloro

This showed really well. Coming together with nice secondary notes of leather, earth and a hint of underbrush. The fruit is desiccating but not completely gone. The tannins move from the front of the palate to the back and are very suave and almost unnoticeable with air. Went very well with barbeque. While this is ready to go now, it should hold and maybe improve in the medium term. I’m not sure that I’ve conveyed how much I liked this, if you have any you should try it soon. The interesting thing about this wine is how often I prefer it to the Rancia, not always, but quite often. Trying the 2006s side by side, the Fontalloro was head and shoulders above. I guess wood doesn’t really bother me.

LA Drinking

2010-08-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dinner with old friends at a Cantonese place in Monterey Park. Huge spread of whole fish, lobster, prawns, suckling pig, duck, etc. etc. Amazing meal, great time.

2002 Domäne Wachau Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel 1.5L
Taking on a slightly golden color, it still maintains a sense of freshness even while taking on some weightier, more herbal notes. It still a sting of those yellow and green fruits, but a sort of softer mineral underpinning and notes of flowers and honey. It still has some structure, but only enough to hold it together, not so much as to hold anything back. I do not see anything to be gained by further aging, unless you just like old wine flavors, as it seems to be in a very pretty and balanced state for current drinking. My favorite wine on this occasion and I probably drained at least half the magnum.

2008 Melville Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir Carrie's
My friends had brought this back from a visit to Melville (which is a very pretty property with a nice tasting room and gracious folks). It is a bit high octane for me, but it wasn’t so far out of whack that I couldn’t enjoy it. There is a woodsy quality to the wine that makes me suspect whole-cluster fermentation, at least in part. The fruit was savory and not jammy, despite the high alcohol, but the texture was a bit thick for me. I’m happy to try these wines, but this would be tiring to drink and I’m not a buyer.

2005 Giuseppe Quintarelli Veneto IGT Primofiore 1.5L
While this was very good, it was a bit blockier than I would have liked. This had a real savory quality to the red and blue fruits. In fact, I think the fruits played second fiddle here. Maybe this will age into something a bit different because it seemed to close down towards the end of the night.

2008 Venica & Venica Collio Malvasia Bianca
I’ve missed the reliable presence of this producer in my market. I’ve always been a fan of the range, but have a soft spot for the seductive malvasia. Floral, spicy and almost raunchy it is a perfect fit for LA drinking. Seductive and a nice compliment to the food. I would drink this more often if I could.

Dauvissat

2010-07-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

1996 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest
Pretty good. What I was worried might be oxidation, Eric clarified as something else, a bit of botrytis. That’s kind of interesting and I wonder if this is common in what people perceive as oxidized white Burgundy. Is all the later harvesting in the Côte d’Or contributing to rising levels of botrytis in the vineyards which the vignerons do not know how to handle? This led to a discussion of Thevenets wines and how they are able to manage the botrytis so elegantly. Always enlightening spending time with Eric.

2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest
A good bottle of this. Perhaps less bright and stone fruited than I would have wanted, but a good bottle nonetheless. I’d suggest going ahead and digging in. I think I liked this better a few years ago.

Is this what we’ve come to? I don’t mind drinking my chardonnay on the early side, I like the tension and the acids, but it seems to me that Chablis from top vintages from top producers need to be enjoyed for their youthful vigor rather than their tertiary qualities? If that is the case, maybe we’ll see prices drop to reflect this new reality.

Disappointing Truchot

2010-07-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

These are some notes from last winter over dinner with my brother, my dad and André before the Carolina game.

2008 Emilio Rojo Ribeiro
Just landed recently and this most precious of Spanish whites is still a little clunky. Very one dimensional for a Rojo, but not surprising given it’s youth. There is some depth there and with some time, there will be complexity. Just not now. Try again in 6 months or so (I did and it is.)

2002 Domaine Truchot-Martin Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Blanchards
Started out showing pretty poorly so it was given a decanting. At the end of the evening it had started to open up, but was nowhere near the lacy, sappy wine that I had hoped to have. Bottles within a few years of release were lovely, so maybe this is just shut down a bit. I’m going to let the rest sleep for at least 4 or 5 years; although, given the recent run up in Truchot pricing, I might be forced to sell.

2006 Azienda Agricola Cos Nero di Lupo Sicilia IGT
This is a lovely wine. Fresh and lively with crushed berries and herby floral notes all over. This was sappy and vibrant and just delicious. You could drain an entire bottle and not even know it. Every bottle of Cos red I’ve had recently has been fantastic. Perfect foil for food as well.

Superior Valpolicella

2010-07-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

With a friend at the bar at Pop's. Johnnie rolled out a nice thin pizza with all sorts of craziness on it.

2004 Monte Dall'Ora Valpolicella Classico Superiore La Stropa
I had a delicious, uncomplicated bottle of the 2006 Valpolicella recently and wanted to try the La Stropa, which is the more “serious” bottle. I didn’t pay tons of attention to it since I was dining with a colleague from out of town and we had a lot of business to attend to. Most definitely richer in terms of fruit and depth than the “regular” Valpolicella, but I’m not sure that it is more complex although it isn’t less complex. There doesn’t seem to be a structural reason to age it. I guess if you want to get rid of the fruit then do so. For me, it is spot on right now and seems like it has the balance to drink well for the next few years, at least.

Ding dong the bitch is dead

2010-07-20T06:53:00.001-07:00

Dinner out with my friend to celebrate the finalizing of his divorce from his whore ex-wife.

2007 François Pinon Vouvray Silex Noir
Very nice, correct and gentle for young Vouvray, but expected given the vintage. Interesting the difference between this wine and the Tradition. I wouldn’t cellar this for the long term, but drink it up over the next few years. Francois makes such lovely wines consistently every vintage, despute what weather is thrown his way. They are always marked by the vintage and he rolls with that and massages it rather than fighting it. Knowing the man, it fits perfectly with his personality.

1996 Hubert Lignier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Baudes
Like the Mugneret the other night, in an in-between phase, but still delicious after a couple of hours. I wish I had been able to open it much sooner, like 3 or 4 hours. It is notable different from recent 1996s from Mugneret and Barthod in that it is richer with more torrification notes, which is to be expected from Lignier I suppose. No overt wood, per se, but wood definitely played a part in the élévage. Some sappy dark red fruit on the nose with some smoke, cocoa, and espresso notes (the torrification) that don't dominate or overpower, but are still there. There is a jangliness on the palate where the acidity doesn't know exactly where to sit and shuffles about for a bit. This leads me to believe it either needs more air or better yet more time in the cellar. 3-5 years should do the trick and it ought to drink well for a while after that. Very good wine and my only remaining bottle.

Back in the saddle

2010-07-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

Consumed with friends noshing on some stuff late into the evening.

1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese
My last bottle of this and I probably did it a disservice by not having it with food (I had brought it out of storage to take to J. Betski’s). That being said, it was delicious and although had started to have some brown sugar type bass notes to the normal riesling fruit compote. Has absorbed a bunch of structure and I like where it is now, even if I did like it better with more zip and other would like it better with more age. No sin to drink now, just be sure to do it with food, the wine deserves it.

2006 François Pinon Vouvray Brut Non Dosé
A bit looser this vintage than I remember from the previous (2004), which indicates lower atmospheres which is not a surprise given the warmth of the vintage. I quite liked this although not everyone liked it as much as I did. I rarely buy Champagne anymore due to the price and because there are producers such as Huet and Pinon that take such care in producing excellent sparkling chenin. I don’t see any good reason to age this as it doesn’t have the structure I normally associate with Vouvray Brut which improves with age. This would do very well at the table but we drank it without food.

2008 François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Tradition
A delicious example of this wine from Pinon. In this vintage the total acidity was not off the charts, but the malic ratio was higher than normal, thus the perceived acidity is strong. You can barely sense the residual sugar, it is more of a background note than a demi-sec wine. Very good and should do well for several years or many, depending on what you like.

2006 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine
Quite simply fantastic. I can’t decide whether this or the 2004 is my favorite vintage of this wine. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my case as I have been drinking bottles here and there and only have 3 or 4 left. This should be a case purchase every year for everyone. Really an astoundingly versatile wine that ages gracefully and grows in interesting ways over the medium term. I’ve been saying this for several years, but it bears repeating, Matthieu and Bernard Baudry are putting together as fine a line of wines as any vignerons anywhere. At the prices they sell for, they are a great bargain.

32 Days

2010-07-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

My post is up over at saignée.

Take a look and comment there.

There are several other fine pieces.

Will have new content tomorrow.

Hiatus almost over

2010-07-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

If anyone is still out there this is an announcement that stating Thursday July 15 this blog will actually be up and running again.

Work and life got to stressful for a while back in February and as I am fairly ambivalent about blogging, I sort of let it pass. I've been planning on re-starting, but just couldn't find the little push that I needed.

Well, on Thursday I'll be participating in Cory's 32 days of Natural Wine and I figure if I'm going to give that SF hipster some content, I may as well start writing here again.

I'm going to try to commit to 2-3 posts a week. I think that is possible.

cheers, y'all.

Beer-wine

2010-02-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Donati Malvasia 2007

Very well could be Orange wine. As a poster on Wine Disorder said, it does have a beer-ish quality to it, but maybe more towards a dry Bordelet Cider that is on the older side. At first, I was just OK with it, but it got better for being in the glass. I really enjoyed my two glasses with a salad and grilled bone in pork chop. Worth checking out not just for the curiosity but for the pleasure. I really like all the wines I've had from Donati and they all seem to do well with food.

Even good wines can let you down

2010-02-16T13:54:00.001-08:00

Saddled up to the bar with my friend Susannah to have a bit of wine and some food. We started with escargots and and finished with Cassoulet and hachette parmentier. None of the wines went with any of the foods. None of the wines showed particularly well either. Strange night.

2007 Cá de Noci Vino di Tavola Notte di Luna
Started out a bit cheesy, but once it blew off, became really pretty and floral. Lacked a bit fo structure. Decanted half into a small 500mL container. There did seem to be a divergence with the decanted half showing a bit more structure. Doesn’t have the breathtaking beauty that made me fall in love, but nice.

2000 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Cairanne Haut-Coustias
I decanted this off the sediment for about 45 minutes then recanted it into the rinsed bottle. It showed very strangely at dinner. The structural proportions of the wine were very desirable. Still some acidity and tannins that were fine grained and noble. As far as flavor profile though, it was muted and didn’t show much of anything on the nose or palate. Maybe a bit of fruit here and there and a hint of licorice but nothing of real interest and did not really improve with or the experience of the food.

2006 Domaine Berthoumieu Madiran Cuvée Charles de Batz
Inky in that way that tannat can be. Not super aggressively tannic. I found it slick and somewhat flat with no real complexity. Even after decanting for a while, it still never got particularly interesting.

Wines of the Year (2009)

2010-02-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

In honor of Cory Cartwright, Wines of the year 2009.

And why not? The list is missing great bottles I had at friends’ houses or restaurants of which I don’t have a true record.

The very best:

1997 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg
Knoll has made some of the greatest wines I’ve ever had. This bottle was one of the highlights of my year. I’ve commented on this before, but strangely, I don’t own nearly as much of wines I love this much as I should.

1990 Chave Hermitage
Will turn out to be one of the great wines of my lifetime. Hell, it already is. Reconfirmed at a Chave dinner this year.

Best value:

2006 Montesecondo Chianti Classico
Silvio is getting better and better. I had more of this than any other single wine this year. The best value this year.

Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet
Marc is a god and a genius in my book. Tasting at his cave is always one of the highlights of my year. The 1996 and 2002 Briords deserve special mention, but it’s ALL great.

In no particular order except reds then whites, bottles for which I have a record that struck me as meaningful:

2001 Roagna Langhe Rosso
I’ve been through a case and a half of this over the last couple of years. Fantastic wine.

2004 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine
I’m smart enough to buy at least a case of this most years. This is the vintage I’m currently enjoying.

2004 I Vigneri di Salvo Foti Etna Vinupetra
The bottle I had this year was spectacular. Isn’t always the case.

1982 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia
In many other years, this would be the wine of the year. Out of magnum it was sublime.

1989 and 1995 Chave Hermitage
Both pretty damn close to the 1990 in quality, but each different in style. Beautiful. A reminder of what Chave used to be.

2004 Domaine de Briseau Coteaux du Loir Les Mortiers
Good bottles are among the best pineau d’Aunis based wines I’ve ever had. Some variability.

1993 Ridge Monte Bello
A great cabernet and speaks volumes about the potential of these wines. Too bad no one is listening.

2002 Domaine de Bellivière Coteaux du Loir Le Rouge-Gorge
Still the best Bellivière I’ve had. Unfortunately, my last bottle.

1999 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes
An excellent wine in a beautiful place. Probably my favorite Charmes I’ve ever had.

2006 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boissée
This wine did a complete turn-around after sitting for a bit. I was blindsided by it’s epic beauty and grace, despite the ripeness of the vintage.

2006 Cá de Noci Vino di Tavola Notte di Luna
A wine that I could, and did, drink at every opportunity. At least half the NC allocation. Not profound, but amazingly fun and flexible.

1999 Nigl Sauvignon Blanc Ernte
I went through the rest of my case years ago and this last bottle was a science experiment. It didn’t just hold, it turned into a precise cut diamond.

2002 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore
While the 2005 may become a great wine, this already is. Profound.

1996 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer
Linear and laser like and still fresh. I kinda wish I hadn’t stopped buying this wine. Better than any Trimbach I had this year.

Excellent Napa Cabernet

2010-02-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Had dinner with my friend Susannah at Vin Rouge.

2005 Edmond Vatan Chavignol Clos la Néore
No longer painful to drink it has started to uncoil a bit, but there is still a sense that there is a ton of babyfat sitting on the structure of this wine. While this doesn’t have the linearity and precision of past great vintages like 1996 and 2002, it has an amazing depth. I’m not sure it will ever surpass those two examples (and really, who cares about splitting hairs among greats… oh wait, I do) but it has the potential to be a monument to Chavignol. Drink now to check in, otherwise this should age slowly.

1990 Dunn Vineyards Howell Mountain cabernet sauvignon
This was a quite formidable and lovely example of Dunn Howell Mountain. Avoids all the roasted flavors that some 1990 Napa cabernet can display. This had more of the dusty tannin that I associate with Dunn Howell Mountain, as opposed to the 1991 which has seemed unexpectedly lush. This still has good fruit, some secondary cabernet aromas of forest floor, leather, and tobacco. I like the way this wine is showing, but it will certainly age gracefully for the foreseeable future. In terms of drinking window, I’d say it depends on your preferences in flavor profiles and structure. This is in a good place for me right now, if you wait you might miss the show.

2003 Ferrando Carema
This was showing really surprisingly well. I’ve heard about successes in nebbiolo from 2003, Levi Dalton is a proponent, but have yet to find any charm myself. Certainly a looser interpretation of the standard Ferrando Carema, a wine that is generally fine-tuned and crystalline. This was fruity in the way that Chignard Fleurie is fruity, almost lavishly so. It does have a bit of stoniness and structure, but it is mostly a happy delicious mouthful of fruit. No reason not to drink these now.

Peace & quiet Grézeaux

2010-02-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

Quiet Tuesday dinner at the bar at Vin Rouge. Started with rabbit rillets and then moved to rabbit loin with mushroom duxelles topped with seared foie gras.

2003 Baudry Chinon Grézeaux
The fruit has faded towards the background in this bottle, but the Grézeaux stoniness has become very prominent. Earthy and mineral on the palate with a bit of tobacco and maybe some dry, bitter cocoa (I hesitate to say that, but just a smidge, you know). Had a glass of 2002 Leoville Las Cases alongside this and the difference between spoofed wine and unspoofed wine is pretty clear. It proved an interesting juxtaposition of type. As for this wine, it seems as though it is starting to get into a period of change. I’ll probably not drink another bottle for a couple of years.

Birthday blues

2010-02-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to be in France this week. Sunday I would have been at Marc Ollivier’s and today at Clos Rougeard for my birthday. Instead, I’m at work. As it happens, I had these wines on New Year’s Eve with lots of oysters and an amazing veal chop. So I’m there in spirit if anyone is checking on my blog during the trip.

2008 Pépière Muscadet
Is there a better wine to wash down oysters (and clams for that matter)? I can’t remember Marc ever making a wine that wasn’t at least very good. The man really is a hero of the world of wine.

1997 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
The regular Clos has been drinking well for a few years now, so I figured the Poyeux might be beginning to open up. To cut to the chase, no it isn’t. The nose begins to open up and it is very mineral and sort of Chambolle like, to put it in context, although with distinctly different scent profile. Lean red fruit with stones with a bit of wood influence still there. I tend to think that the Clos and the Bourg, because they are flat and on richer soil, tend to come around earlier, whereas Poyeux is on a calcaire slope, so it may stay leaner for a longer time. This certainly does not show at all like a hot vintage wine. I only have one more bottle and won’t be touching it for another 5 years, at least.

City mouse, country mouse

2010-01-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

My old friend and mentée Sophie was in town from her job at Chambers St. in the big city to visit family and us country folks. We put together some wines and I asked Matt, the chef at Vin Rouge, to put together a meal for us. Had I had this meal in 2009, it may have been my meal of the decade. It was the match or better of any meal I’ve had anywhere. The thought that went into the dishes to match them with the wines showed a real depth of understanding and intelligence.

2007 Pépière Granite de Clisson
Marc Ollivier is a fucking genius. Out of magnum and it still disappeared way too quickly.

2002 Domaine Ganevat Savagnin Côtes du Jura Sous la Roche La Combe de Rotalier
An interesting comparison between these two wines. This had much more aggression and “sherry” type character and was more what I was looking for. I guess I value austerity in these wines.

2002 Domaine de Montbourgeau Savagnin L'Etoile
Much rounder and less expressive. This is a slightly confounding wine as the 2000 was a much more intense and deeper experience. Not bad, just not terribly interesting.

1996 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées
Corked as hell. There is no god.

1995 Dugat-Py Gevrey Coeur de Roy
Clunky with that beet thing I’ve been getting from Dugat-Py recently. There was an intriguing mineral quality to the wine, but it was unbalanced and disjoint with drying tannins and no real purity or persistence. A great disappointment. I really think these are only impressive as young wines.

1999 Fourrier Gevrey 1er Cru Combes aux Moines
Showed the most concentration of any wine perhaps save the Ganevat, but without deep color or “extraction”. I think the best way to describe this is as sinewy. Tight cords of wine strapped together. The wine wasn’t particularly backward and did the best job of changing around as it opened. Had a profile I’ve come to expect from Combes aux Moines, with plumier fruit and a kind of earth/mushroomy aspect. I’m going to wait a few more years before opening another one.

2006 Ezio Voyat Chambave Rosso Le Muraglie
I had high hopes for this wine, but was disappointed. It isn’t that it was a terrible wine, it was just really bubblegum and obvious. Not what I expected at all. That didn’t change over the three hours we had it open.

1996 Pierre-Jacques Druet Bourgueil Fiefs de Louys
At one point, the nose was really intriguing, but I think this wine is past it’s best for my tastes, although others who like really old wines might like it in 10 more years. I liked it a lot more several years ago.

1994 Ridge Monte Bello
Surprisingly, this might have been the most complete wine at the table. Still, it didn’t show as well as a bottle of 1993 enjoyed in the last few months, it was richer but lacked the style and finesse of that wine. However, this is still a good bottle of cabernet that doesn’t stomp all over the food it’s served with. Luscious fruit with some hints fo American oak herbiness and a hint of vanilla that are integrated rather than sitting on top. I don’t’ think there is any point to further long term cellaring of this. It should drink well for a good 7-10 years. I’ll drink my last bottle in the next couple of years.

2004 Conde de Hervias Rioja
It was late and this was a bit woody, but not too much so. Still had some structure. Did really well with the venison. I might actually grab some of this to lay down, just fro shits and grins. I have no idea what’s going on, but I don’t have any tempornillo in my cellar so what the hell.

Modernism doesn't always work

2010-01-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

In architecture, design, and a bunch of other areas, I'm a staunch modernist. With Barolo, it's been more of a mixed bag for me.

2004 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet
This bottle still has some nice driving minerals left. This is my last bottle due to the plastic corks and it didn’t let me down. A very nice accompaniment to a plateau fruits de mer. Really good cut and verve while noticeable mellower than as a young wine.

1995 Azelia Barolo Bricco Fiasco
I was hoping that this would prove to be ready to go. The combination of modernist and ho-hum vintage has worked very well for me with the 1993s. Maybe I shouldn’t have decanted. In any event, it started out with an attractive nose of deep cherries, flowers, smoke, cedar and a bit of spice. The palate seemed to have some voluptuousness to it. Well, we didn’t drink it for another hour and a half and during that time the structure really came out. Even the venison sausage could barely dent the structure. The nose remained pretty, but the tannin started to dry out the palate and the acids became disjoint. I told the guys to put the rest back in a bottle and try it the next day. It was my last bottle and I definitely missed the spot on it. I’ll let that be a lesson with respect to the rest of my 1995s. Hold for 5 more years or so.

Dumb

2010-01-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well, against my better judgment and advice from the boards, I went ahead and opened a 2005 Desvignes Morgon Javernieres. I thought that if I gave it a decanting for an hour or two and then had the bottle with a hanger steak at Vin Rouge, all would be well. Not exactly. Totally shut down. Hard. Do not touch for 3-5 years, I think.

Wines showing terribly

2010-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been posting with regularity. Early January is a very busy time for me.

Sometimes wines are terrible, and sometimes otherwise decent wines show terribly.

2005 Brewer-Clifton chardonnay Seasmoke
Wow, chardonnay flavored vodka. Ken ordered this off the list just to see. We drank maybe half the bottle and that’s only because it cost so much and we were trying really hard. If people think these wines are balanced, they really don’t know shit about wine. If someone offers you a glass of this, it is an insult.

2005 Bruno Clair Marsannay les Grasses Têtes
I’d heard rumor that 2005s were still open and lush. This was neither open nor lush. Just kinda meh.

1995 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie
Lean and linear. Developed some OK aromatics, but more on the smoky and meaty end and less of the flowers and fruit. It never really seemed to open up from a textural standpoint. I think another 5-7 years would help it. Certainly couldn’t hurt because this shouldn’t have been opened.

Briords and Chaumes

2010-01-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

With a bunch of oysters and then dinner with my friends Andre and Damon, once again at Vin Rouge.

2004 Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Clos des Briords
This was a magnum. Softer than this wine has shown from 750 in the recent past, which is a bit curious, but consistent with the other magnum I’ve drank. Had this with Bluepoint and Lockwood Folly oysters. The latter are from North Carolina and the comparison was interesting, if damning to the Blupoints. The Lockwoods were much firmer and briny than the Bluepoints. While this wasn’t the best showing for 2004 Briords, it was still very nice with the oysters and went down very easily. I’d say drink over the next year or two but the 750s have shown younger. Maybe it was the first try at bottling mags and they are more developed. I don't have an explanation.

1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes
This showed much more Vosne qualities than the Reignots from the other night. More blue and black fruits with hints of spice and earth. There were still some mineral underpinnings and a decent hit of acid which helped with the freshness. I enjoyed how it showed but it could probably benefit from at least a few more years in bottle for the aromatics to completely unfold. I liked this better than that recent bottle of Reignots and it was a very good, though not great wine.

Special report: 2005 Beaujolais

2010-01-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

A special treat to make up for not posting last Friday. These notes are from Spring 2007 that I found while doing some housecleaning of old files.. Of particular interest is that the 2000 Brun l’Ancien was corked and the 2005s have become an undrinkable mess under fake cork. Puts the difficulty of dealing with this issue in sharp relief.

My tasting group gathered for our (more or less) annual Beaujolais dinner. This year the focus was on the 2005 vintage, a vintage thought to be the best since the legendary 1991. I'm in no position to dispute that as the tasting showed many wines with excellent density, structure and balance and a couple of surprises. We had a fantastic meal of hearty French fare put together by my brother and the staff at Rue Cler (if you are ever in the triangle, make sure to stop in for dinner). The thing that really struck me tonight was that some surprising wines like the Savoye, Chignard, and Diochon showed so spectacularly. The Savoye and Diochon look likely candidates for the cellar as well. Another smaller lesson is that it is time to start finishing off your 2000s. This was never likely to be a long lived vintage, so I'd get what's left in them now rather than waiting. This brings up an interesting issue about how much 2005 Beaujolais to buy. It is certainly a stupendous vintage that should drink well for 20 years (at least if the 1991 Coudert I tried in February is indicative of the future behavior of the best 2005s). I didn't put any 2003 or 2004s in the cellar and will probably be loading up, maybe not in blackwoodian quantities, but more than I've ever bought before.

2005 Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien
Nice dark but translucent robe. Bright fruit and that crunchiness I associate with l'Ancien. An excellent showing tonight with plenty of stuffing, structure, and length. Clearly punching above it's weight class and as good a young l'Ancien as I can remember. At least one person thought this was the best wine of the night.

2005 Michaud Brouilly Prestige de Vieilles Vignes
Kind of a letdown after the rave reviews this has been receiving. Nothing wrong with it, but rather mute on the nose and out of it's depth in the company of many of these wines tonight. Best in terms of it's mouthfeel, but I expected to have more on the nose and a greater sense of style.

2005 Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Côte de Brouilly
This is really dominated by its structure today. Tastes of chalk and tannin and really doesn't show the seamless texture and fruit. Not sure what to make of it. I mean, I like the structure and the ascetic qualities, but I would like the promise of fruit coming into balance.

2005 Chanrion Côte-de-Brouilly
Tastes almost artificial in this company. Kool-Aid-ish and not terribly interesting.

2005 Clos de Roilette (Coudert) Fleurie
I've already had this several times, so I spent less time with it than maybe I should have. While it is no surprise that 2005 is an excellent vintage for this wine, what did surprise me was that I preferred the Tardive to this bottling. That almost never happens.

2005 Clos de Roilette (Coudert) Fleurie Cuvée Tardive
As alluded to above, this may be the first time I've preferred the Tardive to the regular cuvee from Coudert. I think because of the massive amount of baby fat they both have, it was the sheer expressiveness on the nose of this wine. Bought a case of magnums (cool!) and will fill my cellar with this spherical wine. Tons of fruit, as one would expect, but it was the clarity and poise of the nose that made this wine so dramatic. If I had a complaint, it would have been the absence of structure, but my guess is that it was just covered in baby-fat.

2005 Chignard Fleurie Les Moriers
This wine showed brilliantly and was another wine that exceeded expectations. Really sparkeled with fresh flowers, fruit, and rocks. It was mouthfilling, but not heavy and washed off the palate with fresh acidity, bright flavors, and nice structure. Not sure this will be a long ager, but should be a delight for the next 3-5 years.

2004 Vissoux (Pierre-Marie Chermette) Fleurie Poncié
This turned out to be a 2004 as well. Pretty much undistinguished, but I didn't put much effort into it either.

2005 Clos de Fief (Tête) Juliénas
A great vintage for this wine which a couple of folks thought was the best of the night. I seem to have a real weakness for Tête's wines. They have a really brash, deeply cherry quality that is tangy and deep without being too flirty to be taken seriously. There is always a dark mineral underpinning to the fruit and a purple flower quality tot the nose. No doubt at least a couple cases will make it into the cellar.

2004 Clos de Fief (Tête) Juliénas Cuvée Prestige
Turned out to be the 2004. To my palate, not a great year for this cuvée, but polished and graceful if a bit herby. Amazing how old this looks next to the electric 2005.

2005 Lapierre Morgon
This showed the most aromatic complexity of the low-sulfur Morgons without any of the unbalanced qualities that can sometimes plague this wine. Lots of ripe berries and herbs here and less structured than I would have thought. Again, covered in baby-fat I presume. I'm definitely a buyer, but maybe in small-ish quantities.

2005 Savoye Morgon Côte de Py
For me this was one of the big surpises of the tasting. Lighter in color than many of the other wines and more mineral and structured. Has a vinous quality that surpasses many of the other wines. While stern and serious, it still tastes like Morgon. It reminds me quite a bit of the wines of Desvignes. I do not know very much about this producer, but to my palate this was one of the 2-3 best wines at the table. I will certainly put some of this in the cellar.

2005 Foillard Morgon Côte du Py
This has an herb and seeded berry jam quality that I associate with this wine. A distinctive profile and the 2005 is no different. Lots of fruit and baby fat make it appear a bit simple, but delicious. A slight wiff of VA (this wine usually has some) makes me a bit wary of cellaring, but the potential is definitely there.

2005 Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes
This wine was mildly corked. It seemed off at first, but it took a while for the TCA to become apparent. Too bad as the 2002 was the star of the dinner for that vintage.

2005 Vissoux (Pierre-Marie Chermette) Moulin à Vent Les Deux Roches
One of the most deeply colored and fruited wines. I've always found the Vissoux Cru to be stylistically quite different from the Cuvée Tradition. However, you have to give it it's due. It shows waves and waves of deep fruit over a bright granite slab. A delicious wine if not especially complex.

2005 Diochon Moulin-A-Vent Vieilles Vignes
This was the other big surprise. Really an excellent wine with herb and mineral infused fresh crushed berries, excellent length, and precise structure. I have developed a theory on Diochon, that the wine is ho-hum but in excellent years, it will be truly excellent (see the 1991 and 1995). Really, this was shockingly good.

2000 Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien
Corked. Damn.

2000 Clos de Roilette (Coudert) Fleurie
It was tough having these together with the newer wines. I had a bottle of this in September with my folks and it showed great. It looked tired (a bit of browning, but that could be the lighting as well) and showed it a bit. I'm planning on finishing off my remaining bottles over the next 6 months.

2000 Clos de Fief (Tête) Juliénas
See above. Also tired, although maybe a bit more spine left than the Coudert.

Atypical in a good way

2010-01-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

Over dinner with my friend John at Rue Cler. Most of the time, I want wine to have typicity, an admittedly elusive idea. Both of these wines weren't typical but were still interesting and enjoyable.

2007 Conti Sertoli Salis Chiavennasca, Raccolta Terrazze Retiche di Sondrio IGT
This is 100% nebbiolo pressed off the skins and made as a white wine. If I had to drink it blind I would be hard pressed to figure out the grape. Sort of rolle like but with a bit of pinot gris thrown in and a distinct musky spiciness. I don’t want to make it sound too low toned, because it was upbeat and fruity in a kind of lemon drop way. Interesting wine that I could make a habit of drinking.

1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots
Atypical for Vosne, this has a very tangy and driving mineral nose. Something I might expect from a Chabolle like Fuées. It’s also fairly lean on the palate with the fruit veering towards the red, a cranberry type of thing best describes it. Never really becomes silky and sauve, but is still interesting and enjoyable. A rather severe wine for Vosne. Time might sort some of this out. I guess give it a few more years.

Wines that are a bit crazy

2010-01-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

From another fine dinner at Vin Rouge with old friends.

2002 Foreau Vouvray Sec Clos Naudin
Not quite into focus as of yet, but rounding into something interesting. I like these wines when they reach a stage where they still have some useful vigor, but aren’t downright painful. This still has nice fruit notes of apple with a dollop of honey, as I’ve found common with Foreau sec at this stage. What I love about the Foreau Vouvray, and the sec especially, is the rusticity of chenin, the wild aggression, and the sense of abandon. In general, I tend to prefer the sec from Foreau and the demi-sec from Huët if I were to compare which is totally unnecessary, but a fun exercise. Fun to check in on now, but will sure age well for my lifetime.

2002 Radikon Venezia Giulia Oslavje
While there were evidently rains in 2002, I’ve found this to be even more successful than 2001 and 2003 for the most part, although it really depends on the bottle and the circumstances. I have a friend who prefers this blend to the other single variety flavors from Radikon. I like this very much as well. I always enjoy introducing these wines to friends who haven’t had them. I’ve generally found that folks really like Radikon in particular. This was another case of that. Served with rillets, this was a perfect compliment. Sometimes folks serve these wines with fish course which Ii think is a terrible idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if it contains the same chemical compounds, due to the skin contact, that makes red wine taste odd or metallic with fish. In any even, another excellent Radikon. I simply can’t drink enough of these wines. I’d drink a couple a week if I could afford to.

2001 Conti Sertoli Salis Valtellina Sforzato Canua
I’ve always been a fan of this wine, but often don’t know what to do with it. Should it be a wine for contemplation to enjoy after a meal with some salty, hard cheese, or should it go with a rich stew of some sort? Actually, either of those would do, but I think the food choice needs to be particular as I don’t find this wine to be very flexible. That said, it was wild, rich, heady, and delicious. On the young side, I’d wait a few more years before opening one.

Unheralded excellence

2010-01-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Over dinner with my friend Ryan at Vin Rouge.

1999 Mugneret-Gibourg Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots
This was a spectacular bottle. Of the 3 I’ve tried from my stash, all have shown amazingly well even tasted years apart. Seems to be a very Vosne expression of Nuits. Elegant, silky, with very seductive fruit and spice elements. Finishes very polished and long with non-obvious structure. I think this wine often gets underestimated in the Mugneret line-up. Should age gracefully for 15 years or more, but is balanced and fun to drink now.

Question of the year

2009-12-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

People ask me annoying wine questions all the time. This thought provoking question was posed to me by my friend Ken, and it really got me to think.

What is the one truly noble grape?

Answer: chenin blanc

Reasoning: it is the only grape capable of producing great wine in every form: dessert, demi-sec, sec, and bubbles.

It was hard to argue. Chardonnay and riesling are the other grape varieties that jumped to my mind, but there are too few examples of sweet chardonnay (but don’t you love the Bongran and Guillemot versions) and Sekt riesling has never really floated my boat.

I’m not sure this is the last word, or even important, but it sure as hell is an interesting thought experiment.

Hope all you little monkeys have a great 2010. Seriously, fuck 2009.

What we mean when we talk about natural wine

2009-12-31T07:56:00.000-08:00

When Descombes is good, it is very, very good.

2006 George Descombes Régnié
Beautiful, fragrant and the epitome of what we look for here at the VLM-TR. I must admit, I had some rough experiences with Descombes many years ago, but the wines that I’ve had over the last several years have been very good to stunning. This is undoubtedly a natural wine. We might not be able to rigorously define it, but I sure as shit know it when I drink it. The enveloping nose of herbs, flowers, blossoms and a bit of spice is followed by that gossamer palate that caresses and dances across your senses. I can’t see a reason not to drink it now, the structure is resolved and it seems perfectly á point. This is what we mean when we talk about natural wine.

Big bad box

2009-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

Some colleagues were in town for a meeting so we ditched the crap dinner at the hotel for a great meal at Rue Cler.

2008 Manciat Macon-Charnay
We started with a carafe of this wine that my brother gets from Jean Manciat in a 10L bag-in-box. What a luxury to have such stellar wine in that format. In visits to Europe we’ve been trying to get more folks to do this. Once we were able to get Julienas from Michel Tete others started to take note. We now can get wine from Manciat and Eric Texier. Delicious, refreshing, unpretentious Macon.

1995 Matrot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières
My last bottle of this and a wonderful bottle. It had a bit of bottle funk that is not uncommon to Matrot. I was worried that it might be pre-moxed but after 20 minutes of air, I knew that wasn’t the case. Showed the honeyed stone quality I expect from a Matrot Perrières with maybe a bit of minerality missing. Very good, if not great wine. It should last for a while, but I’d drink it now-ish unless you really like older Mersault.

2006 Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied
As usual, this is a lovely, giddy bottle of wine. Juicy, svelte, and silky. The fruit rolls through the palate without ever cloying and the end of a glass comes as a surprise becuase you’ve managed to pound it so quickly.

2006 Clos Roche Blanche La Closerie
Another excellent bottle of this. I may like it more than others, but the smokey, meaty quality they coax from the blend of cabernets. I really like this wine and this vintage has been particularly successful for me.

2003 Breton Bourgueil Les Perrières
This bottle showed a lot more of the underlying structure of the wine. It has been covered by waves of blue and black fruits since it was released and has been almost impossible to not drink. I really need to stop drinking it though because I think it will age in really interesting ways if the 1997 is any indication. Drink one if you have a few otherwise, hold for a few more years for more complexity.

2007 Castello di Verduno Pelaverga Basadone
Light orangish/cranberry fruit that was herby and strange. In other words, fairly classic Peleverga. I find the Burlotto to have more intensity and depth to it, but this example does in a pinch. Somewhat over-shadowed by other wines at the table, but more than just a curiosity.

2008 Texier O’Pale
I haven’t had this wine in a while. Man was it good. The balance between the fruit, sugar, and acid was spot on and the wine was delicious and refreshing, especially since it followed the meal.

Best laid plans

2009-12-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

These are some old notes from dinner at Lantern with a couple of friends. Despite picking some wines that would normally seem to be excellent, it was one of those nights where none of the wines were that interesting. It happens.

2007 Do Ferreiro Albariño Cepas Vellas
Good as always. This year’s version seems leaner and more obviously structured than in the past few years. It could just be the lack of babyfat. Lacked a bit of aromatic intensity tonight; however, this is generally a very cool wine that everyone should try at least once.

1998 Bernard Dugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Eh. Never really became interesting. There was a beet thing that sort of threw me off (the beet thing is something I’ve come across in quite a few Dugat-Py wines). The cork was a bit soaked, so it may have seen some temperature before it got to me. Regardless, I think that these wines are not really for me.

1981 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Bosconia
I’ve had this wine several times and this was a good, but not great bottle. This could have something to do with stemware and serving temperature or it could be that some bottles are just better than others.

Re-unification with old friends

2009-12-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

At Woodberry Kitchen, a recent restaurant in Baltimore from my old friends Spike and Amy Gjerde. The restaurant is beautiful and the food is magnificent. I know a lot of people in the restaurant business and I have to say that Spike is the least cynical and jaded guy I know. He brings so much passion and excitement to what he does that it’s inspiring. If you are ever in Baltimore check it out. Hell, go to Baltimore just to check it out.

I was in Baltimore for my high school reunion, having dinner with a couple of old friends that I had not seen in many years. I had a blast.

1996 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 1er Cru La Forest
This seemed to be a little bit over the hill to me. It wasn’t totally shot, but there were some oxidized type notes that took away from the remaining fruit. What I’m trying to figure out is whether this is pre-mox, heat damage (would have had to happen before it got to me), or simple bottle variation (the wine is 13 years old). Anyway, approach with caution.

1989 Domenico Clerico Barolo Bussia
So when I first had this wine on release, it was the first Barolo that really knocked my socks off and started me pursuing modernists and traditionalists in equal measure. As a young wine, this had the most pure driving fruit I had ever tasted. It was so incredibly pure that it redefined the taste of cherry and the aroma of rose petal for me. The previous bottle had been in a strange state, but it has been 6 or 7 years since then, so I was hoping that at 20 years this was ready to go. The wine still seemed to have some fruit, but with the tannin mostly under wraps. There was not much in the way of complexity, but there was a lot of depth to the fruit and enough structure to work well with the food. Not really what I was hoping for, although a lot of what was there when it was young is still here now. I remain unconvinced by these modernist wines and don’t really know how to recommend drinking them. Will they be great in 30 years? Ever? Do I need to have a different context for what I expect out of aged Barolo? Maybe that is the answer. The wines will hold their fruit longer but may fail to develop the kind of complexity that Barolo lovers crave.

1992 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain
This is a wine that I had for the first time with Spike and I have been drinking through my bottles over the years, so it is only fitting that I drink my last bottle at his restaurant. What a great bottle of wine this turned out to be. It has never really drunk poorly through its life and now it is in a perfect state of maturity for me. Shows that lovely mineral touch on the back end that I really loved about these wines through the mid-90s. The fruit had mellowed and the tannins had rounded out but the wine still retained a sense of freshness. The alcohol is listed at 12.5% and this wine has always seemed to have an excellent balance between tannin and acid. I hope I am conveying how good this was. My buddies both said it was one of the best, if not the best, wines they had ever had. In the end, isn’t that the whole point? If you have this, do yourself a favor and drink one now although it should continue to do well for several more years.

Sunday dinner #6

2009-12-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

Another Sunday dinner, but this one is much more recent. With roast chicken, fingerling potatoes, and sautéed broccoli rabe.

1999 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle 1er Cru Les Charmes
This was decanted for a 45 minutes to an hour before we started into it. Wow. Just wow. Charmes is not my favorite from Barthod, I tend to like the more muscular mineral qualities of Fuées and Veroilles. However, tonight it seemed like the perfect wine. Deep sappy fruit with a gossamer cloud of flowers, herbs, spices and minerals all around. Charming in a very deep sense. The fruit was sappy and long and the structure kept everything in proportion. A really fantastic showing and I would encourage you to try one if you have multiple bottle for the joy it will give you now, but this should age for at least another decade based on balance alone.

Sunday dinner #5

2009-12-14T13:26:00.000-08:00

Given the crappy weather lately, these notes from a lovely Indian summer Sunday evening (we had some great ones this year) with some steaks off the grill, last of the butterbeans.

2006 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine La Closerie
I’ve been through a fair number of bottles of this lately and very happy about that fact. Smooth and deliciously earthy cabernet that can almost seem glossy and sumptuous. There is plenty going on including smoke, herbs, fruit, leather and what have you. This could age in interesting ways, but I’m having a hard time not drinking it now, and really, why wait when it’s this good?

2005 Jacques Puffeney Poulsard Arbois "M"
Not the kind of wine you should just pop and drink, needed a good hour or more to open up. Lacey and alpine with a sense of depth to it, but really got bigger and even a bit blocky. Enjoyed conversation and drinking it with the steak too much to pay very close attention, but it left the impression of a very good wine that I think would definitely improve in a couple years, but I don’t have enough experience with this particular bottle to be sure.

WTF is Orin Swift?

2009-12-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

My friends Matt and Michael had a rare evening off a few weeks ago and we got together at my place to hang out, have some roast chickens and drink some wine.

2006 Fourrier Gevrey VV
I decanted this for about an hour and a half. I liked it more than my buddies who were at dinner. I think this was a classic example of where Fourrier is right now. You camn see the kinship between these and Pacalet, but where Pacalet’s wines are strident in their definition of what they are trying to be, Fourrier’s wines seem to acknowledge that there are other ways of thinking about wine, while subtly making the case for this way of thinking. Aromatically pure, yet completely impossible to pin down. A moving target that when you try to grab it, it flows between your fingers. Ready to go now and may develop more with age, but I don’t think anyone has quite figured out yet what the aging curve is going to be for Fourrier’s wines.

2000 Château Haut-Bages Libéral Pauillac
This was a big surprise. I have sort of laid off of Bordeaux over the last decade, but this wine was very good. It still had some nice primary fruit of the blue and black sort, but there was also a nascent trickle of woodsmoke, tobacco, and herbs framed by really fine grained tannin. At the right price, I’m a definite buyer of this.

2007 Billard Saint Aubin 1er Cru Les Castets
This was definitely young, but snappy and full of verve. It was slightly better a few days later from the re-corked bottle. Well balanced with the sort of snappy, crunchy fruit that has a sort of cloud of herbs and flowers around it. A promising wine from a producer that I don’t know much about but I will try more wines from in future.

2005 Orin Swift The Prisoner
This was terrible and truly undrinkable. I really don’t know how folks can put up with such a pruney, soupy mess. Really bloody awful, someone should be ashamed.

No mox for me

2009-12-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

With little necks in white wine, garlic, butter and a salad frisée.

1996 Pierre Matrot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes
This sure as hell wasn’t prematurely oxidized and there was no blue-ish tint to the cork. It had gone to a nice secondary phase of life developing some of the “bottle funk” that Brad loves so much, but retaining enough fruit and mineral type stuff to make me happy. In fact, it could still be a bit young but unfortunately, it was my last bottle and among the last bottles of white Burgundy in my cellar. A shame, because it went spectacularly well with both dishes and was a delightful refreshing drink as well as a very good expression of Combettes. Drink now or hold for a few years or more depending on storage.

Good and strange

2009-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

2003 Roagna Solea
I’ve really enjoyed drinking this wine over the last year or so. It is so flexible and food friendly. It has a noticeable structure (from the nebbiolo I guess) that is sort of like skin contact, which buttresses nice fruit and minerals. I’ve only had this vintage and the 2001 and while I was skeptical at first, I am now a true believer.

2005 Giuseppe Fanti Portico Rosso
This wine is a blend of teroldego, cabernets franc and sauvignon with some merlot from the Dolomites. I don’t have much experience with the producer’s reds, more with the whites, but if this is any indication, there is true excellence at this estate. Vibrant and juicy fruit skates a trellis of firm structure that borders on crunchy, but never quite slips from the wire. The wine is invigorated, invigorating, and compliments the food by cutting through it with structure and following it with flavor. It is on the expensive side, but well worth a try. It is drinking well now, but could improve over the medium term, I think.

Dinner with the old man

2009-12-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

1999 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot
Dad loves Cornas and probably hasn’t had tons of Allemand. This bottle had a capsule that didn’t spin, so I thought it would be a good bottle to experiment with. The cork was soaked through and some had leaked under the capsule. Happened in transport by the local distributor because I bought this on release and have cellared it since. Despite the less that pristine nature of the bottle, the wine was still fantastic. Nuanced in all the ways you expect from Allemand. Decanted, it starts out very syrah and then picks up steam as it unfolds becoming more and more Cornas as the evening progresses. As usual, Allemand manages the trick of taming the coarser qualities of Cornas without entirely eradicating them. I still have no idea how he manages such a fantastic balancing act, but as I’ve been saying for about 8-10 years now, this is the archetype for Northern Rhône syrah to my mind.

2005 Viña Sastre Ribera del Duero Crianza
This wine started off surrounded by a vanilla cloud of oak. However, there was something going on underneath, some dark earth and minerals but most of all a sense of cut. The bottle really developed over the course of the evening. The oak moved towards the background, integrating more with the wine which became more fragrant and red fruited as the evening progressed. It was a wine of power and nuance by the end, a cool combination, and seemed distinctly tempranillo in character. It showed really well with the crazy ass, 21 day dry aged Côte-du-Boeuf that Matt pulled out of his ass. Easily the best Ribera del Duero I’ve had in a good long while. I might have to buy some of this to see what happens.

Nearly recent Rhones

2009-11-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

2005 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
For whatever reason, this doesn’t seem to be shutting down. Admittedly, this bottle was opened a few days before and was kept in the fridge less a glass, but still, it is remarkable how well this is showing as a young wine. If you missed out on this vintage, don’t make that mistake again.

2004 Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny La Guerrerie
Not a great showing for this, but still a nice dining companion. A bit wobbly.

2001 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Cairanne Cuvée Prestige
After a couple of poor showings over recent months, I had begun to really worry about these wines. Well, it looks like I was just having a run of bad luck with bottles. This was outstanding and everything I want out of a grenache. Sappy and pure with herb laced fruit that was pinned together by focused tannin.

2000 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Cairanne Haut-Coustias
This was the disastrous wine from a couple of months ago. Wacked out by overwhelming VA. This bottle was an entirely different story. Full of fruit and with that tangy mineral underpinning and structure that mourvedre shows in this limestone site.

1999 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Cairanne Haut-Coustias
As well as the 2000 showed, it will always be the weak sister to this wine. Sappier and more focused with a wider spectrum of flavors, both fruit and otherwise. This has always been a great wine and one that one can never have in high enough quantity. I’ve gone through most of 2 cases over the years and wish I had several more.

Old notes but still germane

2009-11-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

Some friends and an old professor got together to celebrate my good friend RJ’s completion of his PhD. It’s a group that doesn’t get a chance to spend time together very often as we are spread out over the country at different universities. I haven’t laughed that hard in years.

1999 Gosset Champagne Brut Grand Millésime
Showed pretty well. Definitely made with a “house style” in mind, but that’s OK with me. It was a bit doughy and such but with good structure and a fine mousse.

N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve
Out of magnum. Very good bubbly. My regular Champagne these days, to the extent that I drink Champagne. I like the leanness and minerality.

2004 Breton Bourgueil Nuits d'Ivresse
From magnum. Ready to go and showed pretty well. We were telling old stories, laughing, eating, and drinking. The wine seemed perfectly suited to that kind of conviviality. Never my favorite of the Breton line-up, every wine has its purpose and this one was fulfilling it perfectly.

2006 Domaine Brana Irouléguy Harri Gorri
A bit disappointing. I was hoping for something more interesting. Kind of glossy and flat.

2002 Radikon Venezia Giulia Jakot
What I love about these wines is that people are immediately drawn to them. I’ve had people say to me that the wines are unsellable and that people don’t get them. I think that’s horseshit. At a table full of people that like wine, but are not geeks by any measure, they all loved the wine without any prodding from me. It’s delicious and great with food. I’d drink it every day if I could afford to.

30 yr old Chinese Liquor
WTF? Crazy.

Johnny Walker Blue Label
Delicious. We drank the whole bottle. If it were cheaper, I’d have it on hand all the time.

Misled by curiosity

2009-11-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I’ll let curiosity get the better of me. I’m usually very disciplined about not opening wines way too young and I had a feeling that a 2001 Jasmin Côte-Rôtie wouldn’t exactly be peaking, but I was really curious about it and wanted a feminine syrah, well that’s what I got. I also mis-remembered the number of bottles I owned, so I really did let curiosity kill this cat.

2001 Domaine Jasmin Côte-Rôtie
Barky and light, beautiful ruby color, some sour cherry cranberry fruit, not too smokey, clinched on the palate, but began to open up after 1.5 hours of being open. Flowers started showing and there was a ferric quality to the fruit on the palate and it also showed some meaty tendencies. Acid sticks out now, but the tannins are nice and fine grained, if a bit biting. I’d say at least 5 more years before I’d touch one of these.

I'm back

2009-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

I’d like to apologize for being away for so long.

A combination of a lot of travel for work and some for pleasure which meant lots of work when I got back has kept me from updating.

I’ll be around for a while and will keep the blog updated regularly for the next couple of months.

So, I was in London, Paris and New York recently.

Met Peter Liem in London to go see the Arsenal sweep Birmingham aside 3 – 1 at the Emirites. It was a fantastically good time. We had a very mediocre dinner with some mediocre wines, but it was not enough to even put a dent in my pleasant mood. (If you haven’t already sign up for his excellent guide to Champagne at ChampagneGuide.net, worth every cent.)

I was in Paris for work, and managed to find a stomach bug which sidelined me for three eating days.

The best meal I had was a long lunch at Le Comptoir at the Relais St. Germain. Great food and a short but excellent wine list. The standout wine was 2008 Lapierre Morgon was fragrant, luscious yet focused and complex. Really stunningly delicious wine that I could drown in happily. We also had a great bottle of 2007 Descombes Brouilly Vieilles Vignes.

On the prodding of Peter and Sharon, I also picked up a bottle each of Vouette et Sorbée Saignée de Sorbée and Blanc d’Argile. They were € 54 and € 46. Those are fairly expensive wines when you are spending dollars. I was disappointed in the Saignée de Sorbée. I found the wine to be very lose, with a sort of muddled nose and unstructured palate. The Blanc d’Argile was better with sharper delineation and better structure. These are very expensive in my market (the Blanc d’Argile is ~$90). Peter thinks that I would like a different vintage (this was most likely the 2005), but at those prices, I doubt I’ll be trying them again unless at a tasting or if someone else is buying. I liked a Drappier Brut Nature Sans Soufre a lot more than either, however. It was bright and lively with plenty of focus and flavor. I’ve had the Brut Nature before, but never the Sans Soufre.

NY was a blast. 2 days of Louis-Dressner tasting with old friends and evenings at the Ten Bells.

Had the Platonic form of the chicken wing at Ippudo. Great Hakata style ramen as well, of course.

Also attended the Amphora dinner at Convivio, but I’ll save that for a separate post. It was nice to finally meet Mike Steinberger. I recently read his book Au Revoir to All That. I really enjoyed it and can highly recommend it.

New content coming soon.

Old Platts

2009-10-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Whoa. These notes are at least a year old. Just found while cleaning.

My friends the Platts throw great dinner parties. They are very good cooks and company, so I never turn down an invite if I can help it.

N.V. Larmandier-Bernier Champagne 1er Cru Terre de Vertus
From magnum. Certainly my favorite wine from Larmandier and among my favorite Champagnes. Everything you expect from this wine. Driving and uncompromising with intensity and focus. Clean, pristine and gem-like. Yes.

2005 Paolo Bea Bianco Santa Chiara
I’m not the hugest fan of this wine. I liked it better when it was made straight and not as an orange wine. Maybe the grapes or the site don’t lend themselves to it. I’m not sure, but it doesn’t pick up the drive that good orange wines have.

2005 Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet Cuvée Granite
From magnum. Just awesome. Marc Olivier is a genius.

2006 Fèlsina Chianti Classico
The new vintage and seemingly good, but a little too young and grapey and unevolved to really get a read on. Two or three bottles thrown back uncritically.

1996 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sori Paitin
I was thinking that this may be entering a good drinking phase and it is almost there. I liked the structure, but it wasn’t showing the aromatic evolution that I would like. I’d hold for a few more years to let that come out and by then it should be very good wine. Will probably continue to develop well for a good while.

And sometimes it disappoints

2009-10-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

After posting recently about the joys of well-stored wine, I feel compelled to point out that it doesn't always work out that way.

1995 San Giusto a Rentennano Percarlo
I had been curious about how this wine was progressing. It was so tough and backwards for so long, I thought it might never come around. Well, it has, but I’m not sure that it was worth the fuss and the wait. It didn’t become something as interesting as I had hoped all those years ago when I stashed it away. I probably would have liked it better a couple of years ago, but maybe it went straight from having tons of structure to having none, I don’t know since it has been a while. The color is still dark and the palate is resolved and velvety. Texturally, the wine is quite nice, but it lacks aromatic drive and punch. Perfectly good and a nice enough accompaniment to an excellent osso buco prepared by my brother, but disappointing in the context of my expectations. This wine wasn’t too expensive back when I bought it (I’m sure it was around $25, I was still in grad school).

I met David Simon

2009-09-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

No shit. I was walking through the Dulles airport yesterday getting to the shuttle to my gate and I saw David Simon walking towards the same shuttle. I said, "Are you David Simon?" he said yes, and I said " The Wire is the best show in the history of TV." He said thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I said, "Well, it has a deeper meaning to me, as a fellow Baltimoron," he gives a little laugh.

We ended up sitting next to each other on the shuttle and chatting for however long it took. He talked to me about casting The Wire ("there are so many massively talented black actors out there that don't get work"), his new show ("I'll get to piss off another city") and Fruity Rudy in Gen Kill ("we read every single hispanic guy that was in that kind of condition, and even thought about dropping the character a bit because it doesn't read well, but eventually, some people you just can't make up and Rudy is one of them) about the Marines at the Emmys ("I didn't go, but they went and wore their dress blues and had a blast") about whether Hamsterdam was based on any kind of reality (he was heading to Amsterdam "[chuckles] nah, about the closest I knew of was a guy who would say 'business hours are 4-8'").

This man is the Mencken of our time. If you haven't watched The Corner, The Wire, or Generation Kill, you absolutely need to. When I said the Wire was the best show ever on television, I wasn't bs'ing. It really is. It might be the best narrative fiction ever put to film. Seriously, just take a look at the Directors and especially the Writers involved.

I wish I would have had the chance to ask him if the 5 seasons were really based on the Greek tragedy archetype and all sorts of other things, but was damn happy to have met him.

I have actually said, out loud to friends that David Simon is one of the people I would really like to meet (I would have preferred a couple of hours over drinks, but 5 minutes will do) and lo and behold, I got to meet him.

Also on the list, Arsene Wenger. I'm heading to the Emirites in a couple of weeks, so who knows?

Great gobs of fire

2009-09-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Michael invited me over for dinner. Grilled some lamb with a Provençal mix of potatoes, olives, roasted peppers and tomato. The Châteuneuf was a good match, the Barolo not as much.

1998 Janasse Châteuneuf-du-Pâpe Vielles Vignes
I liked this more than I expected. The wine was incredibly rich and dense with lots of compote fruit that seemed to stick to the inside of the mouth. There were some complimentary garrigue components, but the main sensation and flavors were jammy fruit notes. Although seemingly balanced, it was not a delicate sort of balance, more like two Greco wrestlers pushing for position. The alcohol grew a bit tiring for me, but the first glass did go well with the food.

2004 Roagna Barolo Rionda
I know, I know, infanticide, blah blah blah. I wanted to check this out as a young wine to see the structure of it so that I can understand it as it ages. This is a new vineyard for Luca and co. and it is one of the great vineyards, if not THE great vineyard, of Barolo. It is more open than one might expect. This displayed a really distinct and piercing note of fennel/anise. While more lush than I would have expected, it does have some tannin buried underneath that came out more as the evening wore on. Not nearly as strict as the Roca et Pira bottling from Roagna. My guess is that this will drink well on the early side. Maybe 6-8 years, but with continued development for a good long while.

Dinner with a colleague, and I enjoyed it.

2009-09-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed these bottles over dinner with a colleague and his wife. This was a nice treat for me as I generally don’t socialize with folks from work, but this particular colleague I’ve really enjoyed getting to know and he has been an invaluable ally while getting situated here.

2001 Nikolaihof Riesling Federspiel Vom Stein
My last bottle and a very good showing. While I may have preferred it younger for the zippiness and mineral character of youth, it has settled into a nice yellow-fruited vaguely honey-suckle/floral mid-life roundness. Quite delicious and should be drunk soon if not now.

1996 Domaine de Courcel Pommard 1er Cru Grand Clos des Épenots
This bottle showed very well, in a quiet, mature and understated way. I generally find this wine to be among the most elegant in Pommard. My colleague’s wife, who claims to not really like red wines quite liked this. As she put it, it’s very velvety and not heavy, in fact, it has that beautiful weightless quality that we all love in red Burgundy. I’ve been pretty happy with Courcel wines and they are still relative bargains. This wine can be consumed now, but I think it will continue to show well for a while.

WNMBWMTF & Croix Boisée

2009-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Dinner with WNMBWMTF and her folks at Rue Cler. The new chef has really stepped up the game. WNMBWMTF’s folks have been pretty open and appreciative to cool wine, so I thought I’d test them further.

Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve
As usual, this is an great way to start a meal and a good value in real Champagne. Not the best bottling I've had of this, but still pretty good. I mean, for Champagne.

2007 François Chidaine Vouvray Clos Baudoin
Indicative of the vintage, this is slight and pretty with hints of honeysuckle over some pearish fruit, light as Spring rain with hints of rocks. Good and satisfying wine. It'll be interesting to see what Francois is able to do with this vineyard as he gets it under harness and has more experience working it. The 2008 was certainly promising in February but will need more time. This is ready to drink now.

1996 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée
I’m of two minds about this wine. The nose is gorgeous, with just enough bottle sweetness and secondary aromas to flesh out the residual stone-pit fruit and minerals. There is an undeniable chalky quality to Croix Boissée and this wine has it in spades. What really makes this wine rise above the crowd is the precision of it. You can truly tell the quality of the site. The palate is in a little more confusing place at the moment. It is coiled enough, but doesn’t really seem to fan across the palate. This could mean one of two things: either the palate is drying out or it is just not quite there yet. I think I'll wait another 3-5 for my next bottle.

Goat cheese and archetypes

2009-09-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Matt cooked a dinner out at Elodie Farms not too far back. Elodie Farms is a local producer of goat cheese that both he and my brother use. Dave, the owner, is a riot and it was a fun evening.

2004 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore
How does one critique the archetype? A great wine. Maybe not as intense as the 2002 or as dense and tactile as the 2005, but great wine.

2002 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Bourgogne
A decent showing, but not especially complex or interesting. Most folks rate this Bourgogne very highly, but it isn’t in the Mugneret or Barthod league, IMO. I've been disappointed with most 2002 d'Angerville at this stage. They just seem dull and flattened out. I guess this might re-emerge in a couple of years, but this is my last bottle and I wish I had drank it when it was young and exhuberent.

2005 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine
The “go-to wine” right now. Whatever that means. But in all seriousness, while this wine has all the material in place to age pretty gracefully, it is no crime to dig in now. However, that being said, the 2004 is drinking much better at this particular moment. I think this wine is an outrageous value and really flexible at the dinner table.

The gods smiled

2009-09-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

This was one of those nights where everything showed fantastically. In fact, for the reds each was the best bottle of said wine that I've ever had; although, it has been a good while since I've had the 82 Pichon-Lalande.

2007 Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boissée
This isn’t showing nearly as well as the 2006 at the moment. It was a much leaner vintage and the wine is more elegant and pretty and soft spoken. Still there are plenty of flowers and chalky fruit. It’ll be interesting to see where this is at in 6 months or so.

1996 Edmond Cornu Corton-Bressandes
My best bottle yet of this and easily the best showing I've had from 1996 red Burgundy thus far. Still retaining some fruit notes, but happily moving on to secondary sous bois with a heady nose that adds spice to the mix. This was really beautiful and delicious. I could have drunk the whole bottle myself. This is why we cellar wines.

1993 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Monte Bello
This was amazing. The best California cabernet I've had this year. The nose was a stunning mix of that Montebello smokey oak (with hints of American-ness), dark earth and minerals and impeccably fresh red and blue pitted fruits. Still has enough tanning to frame the wine nicely and enough acid to provide lift. For me, this is in a perfect place. It will surely last and maybe even improve depending on your preferences, but since I like to catch wines when they still have some fruit and tanning but have added secondary bottle complexity, this was great for me. I’d be a buyer of well stored bottles, even at close to $100. This really is “first growth” quality. However, I should note that the alcohol is 12.9%, so it must not be phenologically ripe. Dumbasses.

1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse Pauillac
This was to be the star of the dinner, the Important wine. Loyal readers know how I feel about Important wines, but we were so deep in conversation about this, that and the other that we forgot to genuflect and ended up enjoying it for it’s luxuriant mouthfeel and combination of earth, herbs, tobacco and dried fruit swirling around the dark fruit compote that was still at the core. This bottle was fully resolved and ripe yet still elegant (not ripe in a cal cult way). The cork was soaked so I’m not sure if it has been pristinely kept before my friend got it, but I would say if you own this, there is no harm in drinking it now.

Why we have cellars

2009-09-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

I’ve said this several times before in several places on the intertubes, but it bears repeating. The reason to have a wine cellar is not to have a Collection. Sure, there are a few bottles that I have that folks would consider trophies, but all of my wine was bought with the intention of drinking. The real reason to keep a cellar is to drink little wines, or at least not Important wines when they’re aged properly. The other night, the we’re-not-married-but-we’re-more-than-friends and I went to dinner at Vin Rouge. As it turns out, Matt had whole cow rib with the bone in from which he cut an enormous Cote-du-Bouef. Wow.

1991 Laurel Glen Sonoma Mountain Estate cabernet sauvignon
The color has started to take on some bricking and the nose has settled into some nice tertiary aromas. It is in a fairly quiet place now, no more angry youth or awkward adolescence. Desiccated fruit, vegetation, everything. There is something about Patrick Campbell’s cabernet that has a distinctly gravelly quality to me. Something I think of as Graves-ish, in a way but something all its own. This wine is very good and a comforting partner to food and conversation. Without the weight of Greatness on its shoulders, it can just be. There is something refreshing about that which I instinctively gravitate towards. I’m not sure what anyone would gain by aging this longer except if you wanted to see where it goes when really old.

The gods frown

2009-09-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the gods frown and you just can’t find a good wine experience. Maybe it was the high pressure system, maybe the phase of the moon, or maybe just coincidence.

1998 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape
What a disappointment. I was in the (very) rare mood where I wanted a nice, lush grenache and Charvin seemed like the answer. This bottle wasn't. It was flat and dull and without and of the richness and depth I would expect. In fact, only 1 off my 6 bottles of this wine lived up to my early expectations. This bottle didn't have any technical flaws other than being just average, even for grenache. This reminds me why I got out of the Châteauneuf game, it so rarely delivers what I want.

2006 Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée
I had heard (or really read) rumors that this vintage of Croix Boissée was a replay of 2003, a wine that was drinking splendidly young. What better way to keep your hands off 2002, 2004, 2005 than have a ready to drink replacement for the Croix Boissée urge. Wrong. Tight, tight, and tight. Showed really piercing acidity and was like a limestone brick in the mouth. Some pretty things going on in the nose, but not in any sense showing well. I stuffed the cork back in to try in a couple of days.

Châteauneuf blanc, who knew?

2009-09-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

An old friend from graduate school who I haven’t seen in several years was in town. We enjoyed dinner at Rue Cler.

2006 Éric Texier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Vieilles Vignes
My guest claimed to not be that into white wines. I told her she had no idea what she was talking about. Well she sure came around to this hogging the last glass for herself. It started off slowly, but was refreshing and linear from the start. As the bottle opened, it started to put on flesh and the flowers became more deeply perfumed and the palate broadened. This has been my favorite Châteauneuf Blanc for a few years now. Eric is doing some seriously good work here. I think the wine is a blend of bourbelanc and clairette.

1996 Joël Taluau Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil Vieilles Vignes
Inspired by a recent FLAJim note about this wine, I thought I’d check in on one of my remaining bottles. I really like where this is at the moment, although others might want it to have more time. I like the sense of shape that it has right now. Trapezoidal. There are fine mineral and dirt bones underneath of leafy/tobacco top notes. Somewhere in between some dried red fruits are sensed more than tasted. Very good wine but in such a great vintage one becomes aware of the gulf in class between it and the better sites in Bourgueil and Chinon.

Renardat-Fâche Vin du Bugey-Cerdon
Alpine and delicious. I could drink my bodyweight in this wine.

2008 Bodegas Ostatu Rioja Blanco
For whatever reason, I really like this wine. It doesn’t stick in the memory in any profound way, but it has drive and purity and is a nice antidote to muggy Southern weather.

2006 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition
I’ve commented on this wine several times. I can’t stop drinking it even though I know I should wait a few years. Why I don’t have a cellar full of Roally, I don’t know.

Even non-geeks love geeky wine

2009-09-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank the Politburo and the other disorderlies for making this the refuge of choice on the intertubes.

Over the weekend, I enjoyed a magnificent bottle of 2006 Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boisée. This was screaming delicious from the moment it was opened. Thrilling nose of stones, Sweettart, limestoney that seemed to shimmer and pulse. On the palate it was racy and alive, as if it had absorbed its fat and transformed it into muscle, but with just enough cushion so as not to be freakish. One of the best bottles I’ve had in a while. Exhilarating, even to the decidedly non-geek I was dining with.

A difficult act to follow, but a bottle of 2001 Chevillon Les St. Georges was stellar, if not quite as captivating, but that’s some hair splitting. Unlike the Baudry, this was tight upon first opening. Clinched and with its structure in the forefront it took a while to open. Once it did, it was excellent. Everything you could want in a Burgundy. Layers of fruit, minerals, and brush, draped atop a lattice like structure. This may be the most consistently pleasing wine in all of Burgundy. I’ve never had one be brutally mean, even if I opened it too young, and I’ve never had one be terrible, even in difficult vintages. This vintage has epic written all over it. It should be a fine wine for a couple of decades although you can enjoy it now for those silky layers of fruit if you have a decent stash.

We followed these up the next day with a stunning bottle of 2006 George Descombes Morgon. My mother loves Descombes and put a huge dent in my stash the last time she was here. This bottle showed splendidly with lacey stoney fruit that mixed in hints of flowers, herbs and sunshine. About as delicious as a wine can be and I see no reason to age it further. Incidentally, non geeks love this wine.

Last but not least, a wine that I think really typifies Wine Disorder, the 2007 Puzelat pineau d’Aunis La Tesniere. I’ve always had a soft spot for the wines of Thierry (and those he makes with his brother Jean-Marie) and I’ll accept the odd flawed bottle or rough patch to experience the gorgeousness of something like this. This bottle was fresh, vibrant, snappy but with just enough pineau d’Aunis grip to stand steadfast in the face of some fatty food. I could drink my bodyweight in this. Really.

I’m with Blackwood, all hail 2007!

Happy Birthday Wine Disorder. I think we all know that I’m the obvious choice for Stalin.

Wine Disorder is 1 year old today

2009-09-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Go on. Go over to Wine Disorder and check it out.

Dressner has been out as a member of the Politburo and then summarily purged.

This is a fantastic board full of witty and erudite folks. For some reason, there are those that find it too clubby or intimidating. All wine boreds are clubby. Don't be intimidated, just dive right in. You'd be surprised at how welcoming folks are.

Now, about the lack of posting on my blog. It has been a ridiculous summer. I was in a crazy car accident in June that threw me for a loop

And then following that, I presented to the ER with chest pains, had an irregular EKG and was kept for observation. It turns out that after a complete work-up, I was fine, but it scared the shit out of me.

The I had to travel a bunch, the HVAC system for the upstairs fucked up and flooded my house which is still in the process of getting fixed and tons of other hassles to deal with.

Anyway, I have some notes that I'll try to put up in the next week or so and then try to get back to a more normal schedule if anyone still bothers to check.

cheers ya'll.

I'm starting a Death Panel

2009-08-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested?

The caveat is that you actually have to know something about statistics, epidemiology, or economics.

That rules out most of you since you are either English majors or idiots (or both).

No, your bed ridden 92 year old grandma cannot have a quadruple bypass even though you really want her to make it to your brats 3rd birthday party.

Really people. GROW THE FUCK UP.

Fucking natural wine

2009-06-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

This post is part of 31 days of natural wine put together by Cory Cartwright. Sharon and I are posting together today in support of that occasion.

The funny thing is that people always put me in the Alice Feiring, Joe Dressner, Marc Angeli camp. While a number of wines that I love happen to be natural, I don’t love them because they are natural wines. I’m no fucking communist. More of a libertarian, really.

As my example, and a wine I had last night, take the 2003 Baudry Chinon Grezeaux. 2003 was a formidable challenge for many in the central Loire and producing balanced wines was a challenge. Mathieu and his father Bernard succeeded, as they often do, in producing excellent wines. This is a nice vintage to own now, because it is early maturing. Another remarkable thing about this wine is that it retains its Grezeaux-ness in the face of this erratic and very hot vintage. The vines are old and the roots deep. This terroir isn’t the best that the Baudry’s own and Matthieu seems to be bored by it (he’s much more interested in the potential of the Clos Guillot and his new vineyard). So by what means do the Baudry’s make great wines? They slide into natural by the definition outlined by Cory for this project, but Dard wouldn’t consider them to be (or even drink them, he refuses to drink wines that aren’t made like his, evidently. In addition, his wines do a lousy job of expressing terroir. What a douche-bag.)

So should it matter?

When the subject of natural wine comes up (or when I’m arguing with Guilhaume, Dagan or Luc)), I often think of a discussion I had with Eric Texier when he used Clos St. Hune as an example great terroir overcoming industrial winemaking. I think that the more closely you work with nature, the better that expression will be but the smartest people I know refuse to be dogmatic about it. In fact, if you are dogmatic it probably mea ns you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about.

The key to being a good vigneron is flexibility. Being dogmatic is more of a marketing ploy and being natural for its own sake is no better than hiring Rolland and making Rollandicated shit. The vignerons I respect most Baudry, Fourrier, Mugnier, Barthod, Mendez, Texier (don’t tell him though) are flexible in their approach and intellectual about the process. None subscribe to an approach that limits options, yet all stick as close to natural as possible and make wines of incredible clarity and often aching beauty.

So, should you give a shit about whether a wine is “natural” Only if you’re an idiot. I making natural wine a better way to express terroir, almost assuredly.

I also want to take the opportunity to confirm that Sharon and I are having an affair. It was her idea. I call her winegrrrlll in the sack.

Other folks don't know shit

2009-06-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Dinner at the Vin Rouge bar with a couple of friends.

1996 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile
While not shimmering like a recent bottle of the1995, this was certainly a very good bottle. It has started to take on some secondary notes and isn’t the limestone brick to the mouth that it used to be. No signs of the imaginary premature oxidation. Really, when will this thing go away? I’m sure it’s true for some wines (I did buy Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagnes, yikes), I’ve experienced it myself, but anytime anyone has a disappointing and most likely heat-damaged white wine, the cry of “pre-mox” (that’s what they call it) comes out. Calm down. Wine gets horribly mistreated all the time from the second it leaves the winery cellar (sometimes, even on the loading dock at the winery itself). No sense in making something more mysterious than it needs to be. Not sure this is ready to fully dive into yet, but worth trying if you have multiple bottles.

1996 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses
Really kind of boring and on the wrong side of its aging curve. It lacks any remaining structure and the flavor profile really isn’t all that interesting. Compared to other 1996s I’ve had over the past few years, this is not in the first or second tier. Probably should have been consumed years ago, but instead I listened to people who said it was way too young and kept this bottle as an experiment. They don’t know shit. When it comes to cabernet franc, I’m the man.

More quiet wine

2009-06-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Roast chicken Sunday social with my friend Will, who is re-entering the wine business after a hiatus. He roasted the chickens on his Big Green Egg. I really need to get one of those. Saw the Easy All Stars later and they were pretty boring as a live act. I really like the cover albums, Dub Side of the Moon and Radiodread, but it doesn’t translate into an interesting show.

1993 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain
I’ve been praising quiet excellence lately and this wine fits perfectly in that idiom. I paid no more that $25 for this bottle on release and it has been resting comfortably ever since. Lots of eucalyptus and dark pitted fruit flavor. The wine has a kind of vegetal quality that is at the edge of dark, damp earth. There is just enough structure left to compliment the fattiness of the chicken and a smoky nuance at the back end. Not a great wine, but a wine of lovely balance and quiet assurance. I can’t express with enough vehemence how important wines like this are to the enjoyment of life. It was quiet in that we both enjoyed it immensely without having to be distracted by it. It was there to be a component while we enjoyed our meal and talked of other things. A wine which is a compliment to the evening and a life well lived.

Excellence and surprise

2009-05-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

Had dinner with my good friend RJ at the iconic Durham restaurant, Magnolia Grill

1998 Mugneret Ruchottes-Chambertin
After the calamity of a corked bottle the night before, this bottle was wonderful, if still a bit too young. Upon opening there was a quick rush of heady Gevrey aromatics, framed by a very sublime spice-box type note. After that it shut down for a while before slowly opening over the course of the evening. As it so often is with great wines opened before their prime, the last glass was the best and left me aching for more. It showed true breed and excellence. Not open for business yet, but something to enjoy over a long evening if you are in that sort of mood. I can imagine a 6 hour conversation with Blackwood over this wine. This is the last vintage before the section of the oldest vines were pulled up due to disease (the replanted section is now the villages Gevrey). I would hold another couple of years.

2004 Salvo Foti Etna Vinupetra
This was at least three different wines on the night. None of them were as dilute as a bottle a couple of months back. This wine was denser and more aromatically unexpressive at first, then it just popped and was wild and exotic without being overblown. Towards the end of the night, it became seeded fruity in an almost petit sirah way. A very unique wine that always gives something different. This bottle really sneaked up and surprised me.

Too young again

2009-05-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Made a milk braised Boston butt from Brinkley farms. A delicious piece of pork from right down the road.

2002 Louis Jadot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode
I should probably keep my hands off of these, but I really like the way the lean, spice-box fruit shows right now. It is a bit tight and young and not as aromatically expressive as it will be, but I really like how the verve, snap, and tannin work with fatty food at this stage. I’ll try to keep my hands off for at least another 3 years, but this can certainly go for a long time. A great value in red Burgundy.

2005 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py Javernières
OK, I’m pressing my luck with this one. I think it is finally starting to shut down. I bought a good bit, so I could afford to be profligate. No more. Hands off for 2 years and should hold for many more.

Hands on, hands off

2009-05-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

An old colleague from graduate school was in town, so a few of us who are still in the area met up at Rue Cler for dinner. I was boring and had Frisée and a steak. Worked out well though.

2006 Cá de Noci Vino di Tavola Notte di Luna
This was another wonderful showing for this wine. The non-geeks loved it as well which really puts paid to the idea that orange wines are only for geeks. I wish it were cheaper and more widely available for more people to enjoy. As it was, we did. No need to wait, drink up and enjoy.

2005 Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée
Ordered off the list with the idea that it could show well, hell the Grézeaux does and I could check in without having to sacrifice a bottle of mine. Wrong. This bottle had no interest at all in being drunk. It was not expressive on the nose or the palate. It was well proportioned and structured and if you tried really hard you could coax out some complexity, but it is in no place to drink right now. Not at all. I won’t touch a bottle for at least 3-4 years.

Buying the back label

2009-05-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Back in yonder years, when I was a wee lad in wine retail, I used to tell people to "buy the back label" when in doubt.

Mike Steinberger of Slate has a nice article on the same notion, updated for the times.

In praise of the good

2009-05-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

I was just over at Wine Disorder and was redirected to a blog post by my friend Eric Asimov. Although it contains that semi-infamous quote about La Tâche, I think the sentiment is one we discussed at length. The below captures the gist:

This business of favorites is tricky, anyway. People ask me all the time what my favorite wine is, or my favorite restaurant. I can never answer, because it all depends on the context. What am I eating? Where am I? Who am I with? What kind of mood am I in?

I think this is fairly similar to the post I made today about the good versus the great. Something that myself and like minded folks believe is that wine is like food, that is, it is an outgrowth of a place and time and should be part of the table, not a monument, not over fetishized (I mean, who can resist a little fetishism).

This isn't to say that I don't love Mugneret, Quintarelli, Giacosa or La Tâche it just means that there should be a sort of harmony on the table without anything having to try too hard.

I posted recently about a big, super-Chave dinner. I was happy to attend it but I would have rather enjoyed each bottle individually, or in pairs, over a long evening rather than the intensity of the super-tasting event.

Anyway, check out Eric's post he's making some sense.

Perfectly quiet Burgundy

2009-05-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Had a quiet and perfect roast chicken with my good friend Will at Rue Cler. I can always count on my brother to deliver the goods. I think sometimes we underestimate the value of very good wines, matched perfectly, with very good food over the GREAT. Sometimes the GREAT is the enemy of the pleasant evening. Everyone gets so worried about the great, they forget to enjoy where they are and who they are with.

1998 Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges
Of the 1998s I’ve been working through, this is by far the most in the moment. It was surprisingly backward at first, but as it opened, you could feel the structure move towards the back of the palate. None of the off aroma issues that I’ve had with other Chevillon 1998s (particularly the Vaucrains). A focused, muscular, and darkly mineral spine held together the fruit and earth bound notes. By the end, this was spot on. Others might hold it for another 10 years. I say it could wait maybe another couple, but is good now.

Reno Chave blowout

2009-04-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

Most of the time, I don’t really do the tasting thing. I prefer to drink bottles. This event was somewhere in between. There were 9 of us and 19 bottles, plus some bubbles, so there was enough of each wine to get a chance to go back and revisit and enough stemware to let things sit.

Flight 1

2002 Chave Blanc
Fat, ripe and tropical. Kinda mango-ish.

2001 Chave Blanc
Of this flight, this is the most dense and most mineral. Really impressively concentrated and long and just avoids heaviness.

2000 Chave Blanc
This is also on the tropical side. showing a good bit of kinky mango. The creamiest of the three and seems both loose and not louche in the right way.

Flight 2

1996 Chave Blanc
The leanest of all of these wines and is still fresh and vibrant and as such, was my clear favorite. Had a different flavor profile, not so tropical, but more seeded and pitted white and yellow fruits.

1995 Chave Blanc
An interesting contrast to the 1996. Very rich, ripe and round. A good bit of honey and deeper tones. You can tell just by looking at it.

Flight 3

2001 Chave St. Joseph Estate
I found this to be off. A bit of old fishtank.

1998 Chave St. Joseph Estate
Tangy and mineral with good structure. More on the red fruit side than the black fruit, but certainly ripe. Delicious and well balanced with good cut and thrust. Still a young wine that shows a great deal of promise, but it isn’t a crime to drink one today. I would hold for a couple more years before trying again.

1997 Chave St. Joseph Estate
This is fully resolved and ready to go. In that sense, it is showing the best today, even if the 1998 will prove to be the superior wine.

Flight 4

1995 Chave Rouge
I haven’t had this in a long time. Wow, it was really, really good, if too young. This manages to have density and precision at the same time. Really pure with excellent length and delineation of every flavor. Perfectly etched. I would wait at least 5 years before trying another bottle. This will be a great vintage for Chave.

1990 Chave Rouge
This might be the greatest young wine I ever tried, way back in my early days in the wine business after college. It is totally headspinning and monumental. Like great white truffles, it really fills your senses completely. It doesn’t have any over-ripeness just a sense of completeness. It covers the whole spectrum you could imagine from a northern Rhone syrah. I couldn’t be more impressed. It’s a nice thing when a wine lives up to its billing. When this hit $700 a bottle, I was tempted to sell my remaining bottles (that were $45 before case discount). I’m glad I didn’t.

1989 Chave Rouge
Really started out strong, so strong, in fact, that it seemed superior to the 1990 for about 20-30 minutes. Vibrant and long with a spectrum of red fruits with all sorts of earth and mineral notes underneath.

On any other night, the 1995 and 1989 would be clear class of an evening, but the 1990 is truly one of the great wines of our age.

Flight 5

1988 Chave Rouge
I’ve always really like the 1988. It has been a really aromatically complex and Burgundian. This was a good, but not great bottle of this.

1986 Chave Rouge
A vintage that you don’t see often because it is seen as inferior. This wine was all about structure. Like drinking the bones of Hermitage.

1985 Chave Rouge
The best experience I’ve ever had with this vintage. Much fresher and livelier than previous bottles, also with more length and precision.

Flight 6

1984 Chave Rouge
I was really curious to try this as I’ve never had the 1984 before. It was a shitty vintage, so you just don’t see it around. Very cool. It was very lean and mineral with cool flavors that weren’t vegetal or rotten. To me, making an interesting wine in a vintage like this is a true signal of greatness.

1983 Chave Rouge
A very good bottle of 1983, while not a first tier vintage, like 1978, 1989, 1990, 1995, this is certainly close. Fully resolved and rich without pruned fruit or heaviness.

1982 Chave Rouge
Had a strange metallic edge to it. I’m pretty sure this is an off bottle.

1978 Chave Rouge
Corked, wouldn’t you know it. I was looking forward to having the two modern legends, 1990 and 1978 side by side…oh well.

1990 Chave Vin de Paille
Not sure what to say about this. I’ve never had anything like it. Very rich and full of caramel and nuts. Deeply pitched and sweet, but not glommy. I can’t detect much structure. A really unique experience, and given that this is my only bottle (and actually, the only bottle I’ve ever physically touched) will probably remain so. If you have one drink up.

Holy Merlot

2009-04-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

2007 Charly Thevenet Régnié Grain & Granite
Bright and fresh and natural seeming. Has that sort of spring field bug spray quality that I find more pillowy natural wines to have. There seems to be a rocky underside, but maybe that’s just the power of suggestion. I quite liked the mix of floral and herby flavors with the blue fruits and stoniness. I think this has the structure to improve for a little bit and hold well for 5 years of so, but this is the first of Charly’s wines I’ve had, so that’s just a guess. Thanks to David Lillie for recommending this and making internet shopping safe.

1998 Stanislao Radikon Collio Merlot
This started out soft and drinking easily. As I said to Ken, it is delicious but not impressive. The aromatic profile became broader and encompassed plumy fruit, earth and animal notes and as it opened they all seemed to have a chalky, mineral underpinning. This was a really fascinating wine which evolved and moved around. It might seem strange, but it reminded me a lot of Chave Hermitage from the old days. Great with food. A really remarkable bottle of wine which is pretty expensive, but worth trying at least once. No need to age it any longer (Stanislao took care of that for you), but do give it some air.

Fucking cork great Sec

2009-04-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

1996 Huët Vouvray Sec Le Mont
Wesley had never tried a Huet Sec and I was hoping to check in on this and see how it was doing. He is a convert for life. This bottle was magnificent. At the first nose, I thought this would be another case of a wine that won’t budge: a force-field of rocks and minerals. However, the palate was more resolved and as it opened up, it started to display, lanolin, honey and all those really cool secondary nuances. As good a white wine as I’ve had yet this year. I think this is in a beautiful place right now. Wait and you run the risk missing it in this flower.

1998 Mugneret Ruchottes-Chambertin
Corked. Tear. The last vintage before the really old section of vines was torn out due to disease.

2002 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
A replacement off the list for the corked Mugneret. Decanted, but that still wasn’t enough to get it open enough. Don’t get me wrong, the wine was still very good, especially the texture on the palate and the balance of the wine. It was just that it didn’t want to pop. It would have preferred to be left alone.

Don't age Federspiel

2009-04-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

2001 Nikolaihof Riesling Federspiel Vom Stein
This was aromatically lovely, but not the crystalline, perfect beauty that it can be. I think this is maybe a year or so late. Don’t get me wrong, it is still an excellent wine with lots of flowers, fruits, and a sense of being in some mountainous field from a movie. I’ve said this many times, but there is a vitality, and alive-ness to Nikolaihof wines. This is maybe my favorite estate that I have never visited. One day I will make it to the Wachau.

1995 Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes
Once again, this wine disappoints. For whatever reason, it has never fulfilled the promise it showed as a young wine. It’s not flawed, or bad, just completely non-descript and uninteresting. Oh well.

Fading too soon

2009-04-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

At dinner with an old friend. Talking the economy and old times.

1995 Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco
Nice ruby color and a nose that was mineral inflected cabernet with hints of the sangiovese poking out. At first pour, it is still a bit lively, but after sitting in the glass for a while it shows itself to be fully resolved. For my palate, I think I would have preferred to drink this a couple of years ago when it had a feistier structure. I’m surprised that it is so fully mature. Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed as I thought this would be longer lived and more interesting than it ended up being. Unless you like your wine in full tertiary mode, there is no reason to wait another minute.

2007 Puzelat Pineau d'Aunis Touraine La Tesnière
This was holding some gas, as is often the case with young wines from Thierry. Exuberant and a delightful accompaniment to braised pork cheeks. Crunchy red fruits and a tangy mineral quality with the whisps of white pepper coming in and out. Delicious and fun.

Exciting News!!!

2009-03-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

Peter Liem's new site, ChampagneGuide.net is up and running.

Peter and I might not agree about everything (terroir expression in Champagne, for example) but he is among the brightest and most astute people writing about wine anywhere in the world.

You should check out his blog and sign up for his site if you have any interest in Champagne.

Congrats to Peter, I know he has worked his ass off to get this started.

Duke sucks

2009-03-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Had these two bottles with some braised country style pork ribs braised with tomatillos while watching Duke get their asses handed to them by Villanova. What a great night. Duke sucks.

2006 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition
This wine is really hitting it for me right now. It does all the sorts of things I want from Macon. There is a density and intensity to the wine, as there often is with Thévenet wines. However, this does not come at the sacrifice of a floral and mineral side to the wine to make way for more tropical notes. The wine stays fresh and delicious despite being obviously a bit heady. The mineral tang that underpins it never gets shunted. This particular bottle was opened for a glass and then finished 4 days later and it was really on song. I need to lock away some of this where I can’t get to it because it’ll be cool to see where it goes.

2002 Dönnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Spätlese
There is nothing obviously wrong with this wine, it is just a bit soft and boring. It had that creamy thing I don’t like right upon opening. After a bit of air, it seemed to tighten up for a minute, only to lapse again. This would have been better a couple of years ago when it was fresh and bright.

Texier is a Fat Head

2009-03-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

So there is a little secret in Durham. It goes by the name Kurama. In what seems to be your average awful Japanese steak house, there is a sushi bar. At that bar, Tomo-san and Misagi-san put together some truly exemplary meals, not just for Durham, for anywhere. My close friend Ken is a regular there and I joined him and his wife for a 9 course dinner prepared by Tomo-san. It was a very cool mix of a couple of sushi courses but lots of traditional Japanese food.

1995 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Forêt
Had a dank musty aroma that never quite went away. It seemed to for a moment, but would always come back. Not the first time I’ve had this issue with a Raveneau, a shame really.

2003 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
This was its usual weird, wooly self. It proved to be a bit too big and diffuse to really enjoy.

2006 Cá de Noci Vino di Tavola Notte di Luna
This was fantastic. Another orange wine, this time from Emilia-Romagna. I guess eventually I will get sick of this style of wine, but it fit the food so well and was just so plainly delicious that I couldn’t help but be charmed. I’ll be drinking a good deal of this. The only shame is that it is a bit expensive, all these orange wines are. They make such perfect foils for food, it is a shame that everyone can’t drink them whenever they want.

2007 Éric Texier Condrieu Janrode
Even in this difficult vintage, Eric has made a Condrieu that I can really enjoy. Hopefully, he won’t get too fat headed about making my two favorite white Rhône wines (this and the Châteauneuf Blanc). He manages to coax out of viognier its delicate and floral side with lots of cut and shine and leave the heavy, glommy side behind. Well done Eric. Fat head.

Well done Wells

2009-03-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Haven’t seen Andre in a while since he’s been out working his ass off in the marketplace (would you want to be in the wine business right now?). Tough times out there. Got together over at his place for some grilled steaks. Andre does them over the fireplace in his house where he was burning some hickory. It’s a pretty cool setup.

2006 Copain Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Monument Tree
I was really curious to try the “new” Copain wines. $54 full boat at a local retailer. Pricey, but what isn’t these days? 13.0% alcohol listed on the label. Admirably restrained, bright, and focused. I certainly don’t get anything that reeks of under-ripeness. In fact, everything seems to fit together in a nice package. There is a bit of spice, from wood I’m assuming, but it could be the site. The fruit is on the red and pitted side of the spectrum. All things considered a nice wine. I’m not sure about the cost, but I would drink this again if not necessarily buy it in quantity. The kind of thing you could probably find on a decent restaurant list that doesn’t have any Burgundy worth drinking or sufficiently aged to drink. Good for Wells Guthrie for fighting the power. You can make perfectly balanced wine at 13% just by good vineyard work and picking early. Brown seeds my fucking ass.

2003 Château Bourgneuf Pomerol
A minor property and I was a bit worried it would be a mess given my experience with other 2003 Bordeaux (even those that are usually on the restrained side like Chevalier). This was a pleasant wine with modest intentions. The predominant theme was of earthy, almost mushroomy notes surrounding plumy merlot. Well structured and enjoyable. Will probably be better in a few years, but interesting enough now in its idiom.