Dressner at 3cups

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.

Beach Week Highlights

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.

Big bad box

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.

Sunday dinner #5

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.