Browse Month

December 2006

TN: Peevish pinot

[Loring]Loring 2004 Pinot Noir Brosseau (Chalone) – Red-black fruit, soupy and searingly alcoholic. More like a harsh, grappa-infused berry liqueur than wine, and not a particularly balanced one as well. The next day, however, the alcohol has calmed down somewhat…perhaps a nice sweet rum rather than grappa…which makes it a little less painful to drink. But it’s still profoundly imbalanced. (12/06)

Faiveley 1993 Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy) – The aromatics (old berries, forest floor, fresh morels) are muscular and enticing, but the wine is wan and decrepit, leaving only a dried-out, scratchy tannin and in its wake. Twenty-four hours later, the palate has made a little bit of a recovery, with some emergent red fruit peeking out of the grave. Unfortunately, it soon doesn’t much matter, as a “sherrying” of the wine eventually buries the improvement once and for all. (12/06)

TN: The grapes are always sweeter

Rolly Gassmann 1997 Auxerrois Moenchreben de Rorschwihr (Alsace) – Wind-blown spice with crystallized peach, vague mixed vegetable notes (perhaps mostly carrots?), and a sweet fatness only slightly mitigated by acidity. It’s very appealing, but in a slobbering, affectionate dog sort of way. (12/06)

Trimbach 1990 Riesling “Cuvée Frédéric Émile” “Sélection des Grains Nobles” (Alsace) – From 375 ml. Crisp orange, apricot and creamy peach – slightly unusual for CFE, though this is an SGN – but fear not: the massive, molten steel minerality soon asserts its dominance over all else. There’s plenty of sugar here, still, yet the wine is drying in a most delicious way. It’s partly the aforementioned metal, partly the acidity, and partly the process that seems to happen as botrytized & unoaked sweet wines age. But whatever the chemistry, this is an incredibly poised wine, still not fully mature, and perhaps not even drinking to 75% of its potential. (12/06)

Fonseca 1963 Port (Douro) – Ripe, roasted and cooked cherries loaded with sticky fruit syrup and big sugar. Soft and fully resolved. This is a truly delicious wine, and yet…I don’t know, there’s something missing. Maybe a bit of structure would be welcome, or maybe it’s just the tiniest bit simpler than one would like. Then again, maybe I have ridiculous expectations. It is a heck of a wine. And yet… (12/06)

TN: Fade to pink

Iché “Château d’Oupia” 2004 Minervois Rosé (Languedoc) – The sun-dried wild thyme is starting to heat up from the alcohol; a sign that this rosé is coming to the end of its useful life. It was delicious while it lasted, and there’s still some enticing earthiness to the package. But drink up nonetheless. (12/06)

TN: Them

Martin “Château Gloria” 1992 St-Julien (Bordeaux) – Mixed herbs and dried cocoa dust with black fruit, black trumpet mushrooms and dark earth. The structure, which has more acid than is the modern norm, and tannin that has edged carefully but inexorably towards graphitic, is still firmly in place, and reasonably balanced as well, yet I’d still call it fully mature. (12/06)

TN: Egon in a second

[Scharzhof]Egon Müller 1995 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 7 96 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Puréed chalky rocks with a creamy silk overlay, showing sharp apple cider on the midpalate, and a gorgeous, clean, (mostly) sugar-resolved finish. Those afraid to hold a kabinett for ten-plus years should pay attention…though it’s true that this never was an ordinary kabinett. (12/06)

Dönnhoff 1995 Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese 10 96 (Nahe) – Rich and ripe as these things go, showing salted clementine, grapefruit and tangerine with strongly aromatic white flowers on the finish. I’d say it’s as ready as it’s ever going to be. (12/06)

[label]Vereinigte Hospitien 2005 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese 19 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Odd, like an otherwise engaging party guest who occasionally delivers himself of the most off-putting utterances. There’s high-toned, plasticene-synthesized quartz and strident grapefruit zest, yet there’s appealing sugar balanced with the sharp bite of malic acid as well. Perhaps it just needs time to learn some social graces, but I’m not at all pleased with the initial direction of the fruit. (12/06)

TN: Toil, trouble

[BdB]Pierre Moncuit Champagne “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Cuvée Pierre Moncuit-Delos” (Champagne) – Lemon curd dust and crisp green apple; incredibly clean at first, it quickly accumulates weight and bread-influenced complexity, yet never sheds its clarity or crispness. Pure palate excitement. (12/06)

Moët & Chandon Champagne Aÿ “Grand Cru” Brut Les Sarments d’Aÿ (Champagne) – 100% pinot noir. Strawberry and orange blossom, very floral and dark red in tone, with a hint of watermelon (perhaps even Jolly Rancher) brought out by the rouged acidity. Fascinating and unique, though not quite as strikingly magical as the pinot meunier version of this triply varietal set. (12/06)

TN: Let the fennel in

[vineyards]Soard “Domaine de Fenouillet” 2005 Vin de Pays de Vaucluse (Rhône) – It sounds both unkind and unhealthy to say, but this is rustic old red wine made through grape-stained socks. The thing is, this footwear quality comes off as a good – though particular – thing, with the rough-hewn red and purple berries lent an actively organic aroma. There’s some vague nods in the direction of structure, but mostly this is a pleasurable representation of the kind of regional wine one doesn’t actually get to taste outside of the region of production; there’s freshly-ironed clothes and a comb taken to the hair, but the peasant within remains. (12/06)

TN: Kitchen Zinck

Zinck 2001 Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg “Grand Cru” (Alsace) – There’s a piercing quality to this producer’s Pfersigbergs that doesn’t block one bit of gewurztraminer’s pork-bottomed hedonism; it’s partially good, strong acidity, but also a slicing, diamond-sharpened minerality. This was very good young, but it’s getting better, and the best years of all are unquestionably ahead of it. (12/06)

TN: Gini in a bottle

[La Frosca]Gini 2004 Soave Classico La Frosca (Veneto) – This gives the strong impression of being not entirely dry, with cotton candy stone fruit and a light, squishy minerality. It’s a fun wine, but don’t look too closely, because there’s less there than meets the palate. (12/06)

TN: White noise

Lageder 2004 Pinot Bianco (Alto Adige) – Fine-ground rocks in a downy pillow, braced by crisp, lemon-apple acidity and showing fresh, lightly herbed grapefruit notes. As solid and basic as white wine can be. (12/06)

[Pinot Bianco]St. Michel-Eppan 2004 Pinot Bianco Schulthauser (Alto Adige) – Austere in structure but organoleptically zingy. Waterfalls over chalk and granite cliffs; this tastes of the mountains more than it does of grapes. A fine, albeit fruitless, wine. (12/06)