Browse Month

June 2007

TN: Hune are you?

Trimbach 1995 Riesling Clos Ste-Hune (Alsace) – 375 ml. This bottle’s off, showing flat, waxy oxidation and few of the qualities that make CSH special. (6/07)

TN: Via Veneto

Quintarelli 1994 Valpolicella Classico “Superiore” (Veneto) – Smoky, showing midpalate fatness and a texture that billows between leather and satin. There’s quartz at the core. Concentrated, beautiful and long. I’m not sure there’s much Valpolicella character here anymore, however. (6/07)

TN: The Nervi of some people

[vineyard]Nervi 1990 Gattinara Vigneto Molsino (Piedmont) – Crushed soy flakes, smashed roses, and blackened, crunchy cereal. A little crusty. This is sort of an angry old man, and yet somehow it’s compelling as well. Strange. (6/07)

TN: Lur-king horror

Lur Saluces “Château de Fargues” 1990 Sauternes (Bordeaux) – Extremely advanced – already a dark, dark brown – with an absent nose. Too off to judge, really. (6/07)

TN: The Collioure of money

[vineyard]Parcé Frères “Domaine de La Rectorie” 2005 Collioure Rosé “La Goudie” (Roussillon) – This shows the sea-lashed force of the sun-baked hills in a rather incredibly elegant, dancing light…like the sun sparkling off a Mediterranean shore. Intense but flawlessly restrained strawberry, white pepper and crisp leaf notes show up, but this wine is all about its beautiful, seductive bipolarity. One of the best rosés I’ve ever tasted. (6/07)

TN: Fresh pavement

Henry’s Drive 2004 “Pillar Box Red” (Padthaway) – Burnt, reduced essence of cola, with traces of charred espresso (reheated four or five times), a weedy, green tannic structure, and a lot of overpowering unpleasantness. The alcohol sticks out the instant one tries to pair anything…anything…with it. Heavy, tedious, and awfully sloppy. Bad wine. Bad wine. (6/07)

TN: Joe

[valpolicella]Allegrini 2001 Veronese “Palazzo della Torre” (Veneto) – Big and obvious, with highly-structured skins and char, but very little that’s appealing. (6/07)

TN: Blanck fate

[label]Blanck 2002 Gewurztraminer Altenbourg (Alsace) – Intense, sun-baked varietal topnotes of peach and lychee lead to deeper, spicier, more mineralized strata within. This is big and intense, but it’s also structured, and will age very nicely. Right now, it’s still in a fine, open, youthful state, though bottles here and there are starting to close. Soonish, it’ll need a half-dozen years – at least – to show its stuff. (6/07)

TN: Boutin your lip

Boutin “Château La Roque” 2004 Pic Saint-Loup “Cuvée les Vieilles vignes de Mourvèdre (Languedoc) – Ageable and thus in need of decanting, showing dark, fierce fruit and concentrated, leather-clad meat residue amidst a cowboy structure of straps and chaps. A touch untamed, and all the better for it. (6/07)

TN: Keep it Secret, keep it safe

[vineyard]Cave de Cairanne 2005 Vin de Pays de la Principauté d’Orange “Secret de Campane” (Rhône) – Grenache, carignan & cinsault. It’s thick, perhaps even a bit sludgy, and though there’s a decent amount of acidity it’s completely overwhelmed by the weight of this wine. That said, it’s not particularly dense or concentrated, just heavy. And that said, it’s very tasty and goofily affable. It’s simple, but it’s $5.99. What do you want for six bucks? (6/07)