Browse Month

June 2007

TN: Vosne on the range

[bottles]Mongeard-Mugneret 1983 Vosne-Romanée Les Orveaux (Burgundy) – Old but hanging on; it gains strength in the forepalate as the evening goes on, but loses a bit on the finish. There’s old morels and dark earth with some coffee elements in the vapor trail. Tannin is emergent (as tends to happen in older red wines), and tinged by a very slight greenness. (6/07)

Cathiard 1993 Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Pretty, dominated by black truffle that crescendos on the finish towards ripe strawberry. Very long and lovely. The pure essence of Burgundy. (6/07)

Thomas-Moillard 1990 Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Soft but insistent, with morels, black cherries and a thick, youthful palate that is far more primary-feeling than I’d like. It’s a little big, and definitely low in acidity. But it’s flavorful, despite the sludgy leanings. (6/07)

Forey 1995 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – An old nose of crushed roses (and other flowers), with lots of earth. Polished and once-beautiful, but it appears to be on the decline. This smells better as the evening progresses, but the palate never really catches up. (6/07)

Potel 1999 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Concentrated framboise liqueur. Hugely fruity, with good acid and prettier floral notes on the finish, which is lengthy. Very primary, and I always worry about liqueur notes in Burgundy. (6/07)

Potel 1998 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Black cherry and herbed shiitake. Extremely dense. Frankly, this is too young to judge, though I do note the shift towards black fruit vs. the ’99. (6/07)

Grivot 1999 Vosne-Romanée Les Beaux Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Black and blue syrup with a cardboardy underpinning. I don’t care for this very much. (6/07)

Rion 1998 Vosne-Romanée Les Beaux Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Corked. (6/07)

Michel-Noëllat 2002 Vosne-Romanée Les Beaux Monts “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – Mushroom and truffled earth with deep roots. Beautiful, verging on stunning, and though young there’s already an earthy complexity that’s utterly captivating. Wow. (6/07)

Arnoux 1996 Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes “1er Cru” (Burgundy) – A slightly sour attack, then turning to mixed cherries sprinkled with tarragon and strawberry seeds. The structure is forceful and somewhat hard, with high acidity as well. It improves with air, but it’s still on the slightly grating, herbal side. (6/07)

[vineyard]Bouchard “Château de Vosne-Romanée” 1990 Vosne-Romanée Aux Reignots (Burgundy) – Butterfat and blocky, chocolate-coated blueberry. Long but monolithic, and decidedly uninspiring. (6/07)

Mongeard-Mugneret 2001 Richebourg “Grand Cru” (Burgundy) – Massively complex, with soft waves of fading red berries and mixed peppers and peppercorns. The key is the texture, which is utterly seductive and elegant. Gorgeous, with more development ahead. (6/07)

TN: Double bubble

[map]Jacquesson 1996 Champagne Avize “Grand Cru” Extra-Brut (Champagne) – Gorgeous fino-reminiscent esters on the nose, with a satiny texture (despite great acidity) and preserved lemon on the finish. This still has a ways to go, but it’s a terrific Champagne. (6/07)

Feuillatte 1996 Champagne Brut Rosé “Cuvée Palmes d’Or” (Champagne) – Mildly but pleasantly oxidized, but otherwise mostly flat, showing old strawberries and dead leaves. Definitely past its best drinking window. (6/07)

TN: Cotat tail

Pascal Cotat 2002 Sancerre La Grande Côte (Sancerre) – Perfumed hazelnuts and anise with molten quartz seething down the sides and then rising up again through the core. Very insistent, with strong acidity and a long finish. Gorgeous. (6/07)

TN: Harry Morgon

Desvignes 2000 Morgon Côte du Py Javernières (Beaujolais) – Served blind, with guesses all over the map, and none of them close…save Panos Kakaviatos, who briefly mentioned Beaujolais on his way to the general consensus of “no idea.” There was agreement that it tasted nothing like pinot or Burgundy, but that’s as far as it went. As for the wine: meaty and dark, with smoke berries and herbal, cough-drop eucalyptus. Very structured and moody. This would appear to have some years left to go, though it’s a pretty interesting wine right now. (6/07)

TN: Jabba the Hütte

[vineyard]von Hövel 2003 Oberemmeler Hütte Riesling Eiswein * 12 04 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Butterscotch and vanilla, layered with thick maple syrup. The acidity barely rises to fair, and that only on the finish. Too obvious for my tastes, and I’m not sure time will help matters. (6/07)

Benedict Loosen-Erben 1990 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese *** 003 92 (Mose-Saar-Ruwer) – Still strong, showing sugar over old waffles, plus ripe apple lending a bit of lift. (6/07)

[vine]Karlsmühle 2002 Lorenzhöfer Riesling Auslese 15 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Extreme intensity in liquid form. Very sweet, dominated by pineapple, but just way too forceful to really enjoy right now. Revisit in a decade, at the earliest. (6/07)

Zilliken 2002 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese 5 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Sulfurous, with great acidity buoying graceful lavender notes. However, the palate is absent and the finish is shockingly abrupt. A sulfur artifact? Or mild TCA? Hard to tell in this setting. (6/07)

TN: Sauternes, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodnight

[grapes]Meslier “Château Raymond-Lafon” 2002 Sauternes (Bordeaux) – I don’t generally like seeing Sauternes (and similar wines) in lineups of higher-acid sweet wines, as I think it’s to their detriment. So I go back to reds for a while, trying to chase the Mosel acidity out of my mouth, and I think it helps. This is silky, coating and then sheathing the palate with tangerine and papaya, then evaporating in a blissful memory of tropicality. The acidity is on the low side (though perhaps not within its peer group), but the wine feels balanced, if a bit fruity. The finish is pure pointillism, by which I mean…well, I’m not sure what. You’d know it if you’d tasted it. (6/07)

TN: Brown jello

[label]Casanova di Neri 2001 Brunello di Montalcino “Tenuta Nuova” (Tuscany) – Served blind, and my guess is that it could really be just about anything from just about anywhere. Hugely concentrated – perhaps overly so – with graphite-textured tannin, very low acidity, and lush waves of rich, ripe blueberry and dark black cherry. Incredibly thick. This sort of wine has an obvious sensory appeal, but the charm doesn’t extend any farther. There’s too much stuffing, not enough form, and the wine says absolutely nothing; it just hums (very loudly) to itself. One learns everything there is to know about this wine in the very first sip. (6/07)

[label]Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona 1990 Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany) – Finely structured with mixed powdered peppercorns, dried black cherry and some ash. This may be a touch on the fruitless side, but then it’s poured immediately after a fruit bomb, so it’s hard to tell. Really nice, otherwise. (6/07)

TN: Original Zind

Zind-Humbrecht 1990 Pinot Gris Heimbourg “Vendange Tardive” (Alsace) – Brooding and intense, with a sticky metallic paste dominating. It’s intense and acidic along most of the ride, but the finish is pillowy and dissipates rather abruptly. Only very slightly sweet, and some won’t even notice the residual sugar. Like so many wines from this estate, there’s power, and there’s power, and finally there’s power…but what else is there? The first sip is impressive, the last sip is boring. (6/07)

TN: Te Matagrano

Edmunds St. John 1999 Sangiovese Matagrano (El Dorado) – Served blind (by me), and while some of the early guesses are in the realm of grenache, eventually a few people close in on it, though no one guesses it’s California sangiovese. Charred strawberry and banana leaves turn seedy and dark, with blueberries and olive pits and a lot of amorphous tannin hanging around in the foreground. This would appear to be suffering from travel shock (it had been on a short plane ride earlier in the day), especially given the fine particulate matter suffusing the wine. (6/07)