Browse Month

December 2006

TN: Yalumbering

[Yalumba]Yalumba Muscat “Museum Reserve” (South Eastern Australia) – 375 ml. Overwhelmingly sweet (of course), with slow-caramelized dark brown sugar, maple and molasses lent bucketloads of baking spice from the long oak aging. I find differentiating these wines almost impossible – they’re mostly of a piece no matter the initial materials – except in two ways: their structure (which is especially key in the face of so much sugar) and their oxidative qualities (here at a relative minimum, given the style). This is a fairly simple, obvious expression, but it’s quite enjoyable (for non-diabetics) all the same. (12/06)

TN: Dulong to measure

[bottle]Lavergne-Dulong 2003 Bordeaux Supérieur (Bordeaux) – Previous bottles have been decidedly international in style. Suddenly, the wine has turned to Bordeaux: cedar, tobacco (with a bit of a green edge) and drying cassis with structure and even some acidity. Have I unfairly maligned this wine as Napa-esque? I guess we’ll see with further aging. (12/06)

TN: Set the Pic

[PSL]Cavalier “Château de Lascaux” 2001 Pic Saint-Loup “Les Nobles Pierres” (Languedoc) – Dark garrigue full of summer-brazened herbs and smoky, concentrated blackberry. There’s lovely structure and balance to this wine, which is decidedly masculine, but straddles a nice division between the untamed farmer and the mannered urbanite; the wine’s sophistication is not in its airs, but rather in its confident sense of style. Worth owning in quantity. (12/06)

TN: My two gods

[Savoie]Raymond Quenard 2004 Chignin Mondeuse (Savoie) – A little bottle-funky at first opening, but this eventually drifts away, leaving a wine that’s surprisingly structured and hard-edged given its light, high-mountain strawberry fruit. There’s crisp acidity, but the tannin is definitely the main player here (not that there’s a lot of it, just a lot vs. the other elements), and I’m not sure the wine is fully integrated yet. Long- or short-term, then, it needs to age. But I think the result will be worth it. (12/06)

TN: Matthew, Martin, Luke…

Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah (California) – Growing steamier, sweatier, and more long-ridden leathery with each passing month, this sheds its California roots and looks towards Gallic climes as it ages. It’s still quite full-bodied and balanced, but the black’n’blueberry fruit is fading under the animalistic imperatives of aged syrah. A delicious wine, a ridiculous bargain. (12/06)

TN: Nalle formed

[Nalle]Nalle 2004 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – Soft and juicy for a Nalle zin, showing friendly red-faced berries and cherries with a sun-dried tomato sauce acidity and a little lightly-smoked wood influence. Nalle’s zins show so much upfront pleasure that it’s difficult to believe they age. But they do. Still, this vintage seems a bit less appealing than usual. (12/06)

TN: Vista print

Sierra Vista 2000 Zinfandel Reeves (El Dorado) – Hard-edged wild berry fruit ripped and rent by thorny vines and the slashes of a razor, with shattered tannin and acid providing a fierce sort of structure. Zinfandel can mellow into something Bordeaux-like with age, but it can also go in this direction…one that’s more difficult to love, but in a strange way might be a little more appealing. In any case, this is a somewhat angry wine that may benefit from a little more age; on the other hand, at that point the tannin might dominate. It’s a judgment call that I’m not qualified to make. (12/06)

TN: Lagrein & red

Mumelter “Griesbauerhof” 2004 Lagrein (Alto Adige) – Dark metal tubing, structured and iron-driven around the edges but a little hollow and windy at the core. The iron elements actually verge on bloody, as there’s a significant brett component, and the dark fruit residue doesn’t quite match up to it. It’s good, in a peculiar sort of way, but it’s definitely not a crowd-pleaser, and I’m not sure that age will improve things; it would in the absence of brett, but… (12/06)

TN: Over low heat

[Nußbrunnen]von Simmern 2004 Hattenheimer Nußbrunnen Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Granitic strawberry and pleasant, light-minded sweetness bring initial pleasure…but then the wine starts to unravel, leaving these elements disintegrated and uncooperative. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I expect a little more from this producer. (12/06)

TN: Two more Trimbachs

Trimbach 2000 Gewurztraminer (Alsace) – Stone fruit jerky, tending towards slight bitterness and showing less acidity than one might prefer. It’s in a good place right now, riding a line between primary fruit and mature gewurztraminery characteristics, and the lack of acid means it probably won’t continue to develop in salutary ways. So drink up. (12/06)

Trimbach 1998 Riesling (Alsace) – Molten iron filings with a wet, slate-like character chunked up by something a little more organic-earthy…edging towards, but not actually reaching, the mushroom family. Fully mature, balanced, and really, really nice. (12/06)