Interesting experiment

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.

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.

What we mean when we talk about natural wine

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.

Even non-geeks love geeky wine

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.

Another Tuesday at Rue Cler

Dinner with some friends at Rue Cler. Lovely, as always.


2006 George Descombes Régnié
Although I’m not as blown away by these wines the way others are, this was delicious. Sappy, bright, and light on its feet. Nice floral/herbal streak running through it. Pillow-y almost. Not a wine for aging, but who cares?

2005 Desvignes Morgon Côte-du-Py Javernières
This wine has shed most of its babyfat and is absolutely, devastatingly good. I think it may be the best wine of the 2005 vintage in Beaujolais. The strong soil-driven, mineral core is what really sets it apart. Ample fruit that comes in waves, firm tannin, and a whiplash on the finish. Delicious and complex, it drinks well now, but should age very, very well (in my experience, Desvignes are among the longest lived wines in the region). As good a Beaujolais as I’ve had. I think I’m going to pick up another case.