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TN: Bury Goldwater

[vineyard]Goldwater 2005 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Herbal and grassy. This gets past the underripe chile pepper and most (though not all) of the slightly underripe bell pepper, but doesn’t swing the other way into tropical sweetness, which is good. There’s some pear residue, which helps smooth things. That said, it’s a bit on the wan side. (4/07)

TN: Bobby Castilla

Vinicola de Castilla “Señorio de Guadianeja” 1990 La Mancha Tempranillo “Gran Reserva” (Central Spain) – Old, sweaty oak, malted milk chocolate and rum. This is a big, heavy wine with decent acidity, very drying tannin (which feels like it comes primarily from wood), and an unpleasant finish of wood-derived vanilla and chocolate. A victim of its winemaking. (12/06)

TN: Little weisshauses for you & me

[soil]Colterenzio “Prædium” 2005 Pinot Bianco Weisshaus (Alto Adige) – Stones, water, rocks, sun and gravel, with only the faintest hint of lime-flavored tonic to intrude on the geologic exhibit. Despite all this minerality, it’s somewhat soft on the midpalate. Call it Minerality Lite. (4/07)

TN: Willi the wimp

Willi Schaefer 2004 Riesling 01 05 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Simple, showing pith and lemongrass with a faint, edge-of-the-palate sweetness. There’s not much more to be said about this wine, really. (4/07)

TN: Freisa crane

Tenuta Migliavacca 2005 Monferatto Freisa (Piedmont) – Fabulously aromatic, with bursts of ripe summer berries and their spring flowers, dustings of freshly-ground pink and white peppercorns, and hints of mincemeat on the finish. Insistent acidity brings the wine into completely harmony with food. A delicious wine, with plenty of structure, and though I’d like to age some, it’s going to be hard to stay away from it in the interim. (4/07)

TN: Bach up

Trimbach 2004 Riesling (Alsace) – Strong and balanced. Transparent molten steel and crisp, ripe apples cascading down a waterfall to a rocky end. Long and intense, with absolute clarity. I’ve said it before: the best yellow-label riesling in years. (4/07)

TN: Play that funky music, white wine

[bottling machine]Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut Blanc de Blancs (Alsace) – Grapefruit rind, apple skin and bright light, focused with laser-like intensity in each bubble. There’s no complexity here, but there’s fine precision. (4/07)

TN: Race for the Cure

[vineyard]Joguet 2003 Chinon “Cuvée de la Cure” (Loire) – Ripe, leaf-tinged blackberry…plucked from the wild with fruit, flower, leaf and branch intact…over a firm bed of black earth and decaying, morel-infused autumnal forest bed. There’s plenty of structure here, but it’s smooth and ripe, and this would seem to be a wine meant for aging. Nicely formed. (4/07)

TN: Morgon words

JM Burgaud 2004 Morgon Côte du Py “Vieilles Vignes” (Beaujolais) – Frowning black fruit, mixed wild mushrooms, crushed and soil-ridden flowers shudder under the steady drumbeat of deep-toned contrabass structure. It’s pretty, but masculine; approachable, but ageable. It’s quite a wine. (4/07)

JM Burgaud 2005 Morgon Côte du Py “Vieilles Vignes” (Beaujolais) – Structure built upon structure, with only the blackest, night-shadowed hints of bitter chocolate cherries and blackberries peeking through the heavy metal bars in which they’re encaged. Throbbing but forbidding, and in no mood to be opened anytime soon. (4/07)

Guignier 2004 Morgon “Réserve Vieilles Vignes” (Beaujolais) – Clipped and trimmed about the edges, which is a shame. At the core there’s a slick, dark-earth/dark-berry juiciness and some light but firm tannin, but there’s just not much else going on here. I’m not sure I see a future…or a present. (4/07)

TN: Drunk Monk

[bottle & glass]North Coast Brewing “Brother Thelonious” Abbey Ale (California) – Strong and insistent, with caramelized apples and nuts, but the insistence eventually becomes harassment, and then everything just leaves. Someone forgot to finish this. (4/07)