Accept no substitute

Old friends of the family came down to visit and brought with them some MD lump crab meat for some fantastic MD crab cakes. There really is no substitute for the real thing.

2009 Michel Gahier Chardonnay Arbois Les Crets

Some people have claimed to find this wine “too vintage marked”, whatever that means. I found it to be excellent, just like every Gahier wine I’ve had so far. This was clean, bright, and well proportioned. Plenty of yellow pitted fruits and stone nuances. Lively and bright, a svelte middleweight. I think this would probably age pretty well for 7-10 years, but for my palate, I can enjoy it now. This was a superb match for the crab cakes. For the price and reasonable availability, Gahier is becoming my go to source for Jura wines.

2010 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Griffe du Marquis

Wow. This is the second bottle of this and if anything, it might be even better and showing a more savory side. Truly great wine.

2010 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard

I haven’t had a St. Innocent wine in a while, but the last one I had, a Brickhouse Vineyard, showed resemblance to this wine in that it was only moderately colored. This showed nice lighter red tart fruit with nice spice notes on the top and some earth underneath. I liked the sense of structure that it had. Not a big wine, but well framed. This fit well with a Kelly Fox Momtazi I had a while back. I think this could improve and soften over a few years, but there is no shame in drinking it now. I found that it liked about an hour in the decanter.

2009 Broc Cellars Vine Starr Red

I’ve really been enjoying Chris Brockway’s wines over the last couple of months and this zinfandel might be my favorite. Made in a lower octane style, the wine presents a face of zinfandel that I haven’t seen for a while. What greats you are earthy and savory notes, not the fruit jam that so many others offer. You have to wait a while for the fruit, but it's there. Went really well with food, as it has every time I've had it. I'm interested to see how this develops, but I only have a single bottle left to me now. I guess I'll give it 2-3 years? I think Chris is making the kind of wines I've been looking for from CA and I'm really excited to drink through all of them. Speaking of the real thing, this is it.

Headcheese and hachis

Met up with my friend Noel after a long slog at the shop for some headcheese and hachis parmentier at the bar of Vin Rouge. We decanted both of these bottles and drank them over a couple of hours.

2006 Hubert Lignier Gevrey-Chambertin

Started out tight with only a hint of fruit and spice on the nose. With some time it became more expansive, the spice giving way to other earthy and woodsy notes while the fruit deepened in pitch and in weight. Nicely balanced with good tannic structure, this develops into a lovely mid-weight Gevrey with wood and soil tones. I think it will probably be even better in 2 or 3 years. This could be one of those sneaky villages wines that someone will pull out of their ass in 15 years that blows you away.

2010 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Griffe du Marquis

Holy crap is this good. The texture is pure velvet and brings to mind the old cliché, iron fist in a velvet glove. Lots of fruit and flowers followed by minerals over the structure. Not aromatically complex yet, even after decanting, but really succulent on the palate. It makes me want to say, “very fine, indeed.” Part of me thinks this is the best Beaujolais ever made.