Browse Month

January 2008

Have you any wool?

[beer]Black Sheep Ale (England) – Stiff but sophisticated, showing burnished hops and a amber-waves-of-grain character. Very good, if exactly the life of the party. (12/07)

Black Sheep “Riggwelter” Yorkshire Ale (England) – A little less restrained than its basic ale counterpart, with a somewhat more exuberant suggestion of spice and stone…though it eventually gets around to a certain embarrassment at its outburst, and retreats to a more refined comfort zone. Beer that wears a suit, but can still be enticed to tell the occasional off-color joke. (12/07)

Peter principle

[bottle]St. Peter’s Winter Ale (England) – Bitter, strong, and yet somehow watery, with a tremendous amount of classicism and intensity undone by a fundamental lack of conviction. Every sip is the same: “I really like this…oh, wait…no, I’m not sure,” so I guess the key is just to keep drinking it, without pause. (12/07)

Just add sugar

[vineyard]Pacaud-Chaptal “La Croix Chaptal” 2004 Clairette du Languedoc “Vieilles Vignes” (Languedoc) – Very crisp and bright, which is not something one gets to say about a Languedoc white very often. Blind, I might guess viognier (the slight alcoholic burn) or something else white and Rhônish (the very slightly oxidative nut/stone fruit character), but the wine doesn’t really fit into any truly familiar paradigm, and there’s a bright, sunny grapefruit quality to its fruit. Good, but mind that heat. (1/08)

Feuillatte to empty

Feuillatte Champagne “1er Cru” Brut (Champagne) – From magnum. Spiky acidity like fresh-squeezed supermarket lemons comes rushing like a tidal wave, leaving very little opportunity for further examination in its headlong rush of tart destruction. Which is just as well, since there’s not all that much to this wine. There’s a hint of some complexing yeastiness, but mostly this is just tart, bubbly, and disappointingly simple. (12/07)

Grin and Barrouillet

Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2006 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc “No. 2” (Loire) – Surprisingly thick, and strongly suggestive of residual sugar (true? I’m told not) , though the wine is in overall balance. The classic chalkiness is highly present, and the fruit is sunnily white to the point of near-transparency. I think age will do this wine some good, but it’s immensely appealing in a way the CRB sauvignon blanc hasn’t quite been for a while (which is not to demean previous wines’ quality, only their accessibility). (12/07)

The trouble with Tribouley

Tribouley 2005 “Orchis” Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes “Vieilles Vignes” (Roussillon) – Yummy. Just lip-smackingly appealing, in an obvious way. I suppose people who actively dislike fruit can satisfactorily avoid this, but I just don’t understand what’s not to like. There’s big, chewy dark fruit, there’s just a hint of brightening redness, and there’s even a little bit of sun-dried herbality (though nothing one might call “green”). Pure fun. (12/07)

Vajra infection

Vajra 2006 Langhe Rosso (Piedmont) – Simple and beautiful, which is not someone one can often say about nebbiolo (which usually requires complexity to achieve beauty), and one of the best bargain bottlings of this sometimes difficult grape. It’s floral and suggests, more than actually delivers, a passel of red berries, with a light chomp of tannin and a firm, spinal acidity. A party wine for wine geeks, though it does even better with food. (12/07)

Juffer, me later

Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 3 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Weird for a good 24 hours, after which it’s still a bit odd, showing a light char to its ripe, red fruit core of intense sweetness paired with fiery, slightly burning acidity. Heat-damaged and closed, perhaps? I’ve got more, so we’ll see. (12/07)

White Willow

André Blanck 2004 Pinot Blanc Rosenburg (Alsace) – Gentle and somewhat timid, showing stone fruit and a little acidity, but not much in the way of a defining character or statement. Not that one should expect too much from pinot blanc, but still… (12/07)

Back to Front

[vineyard]Glover’s 2001 Pinot Noir Front Block (Nelson) – Tannic. Tannic. Aside from the license plate, we’d been warned by others, so we can’t claim to be completely unprepared. But this much tannin in an otherwise helpless pinot noir is still shocking, no matter how prepped one feels. It’s got waves of acidity to match its tannin, too, with stringy bark, walnut, dirt and gravel making up virtually the entire palate. The finish is – big surprise – bitter. And sour. And…oh, never mind. You get the picture. (3/05)

Glover’s 2001 Pinot Noir Back Block (Nelson) – The difference between this and the Front Block is allegedly a matter of slope. Whatever the change, it’s for the better, with a richer, riper fruit core that is, nonetheless, still pummeled into near-oblivion by chewy, nutty tannin and a dirt-filled, bitter finish. It will probably age longer than the other, though to what end I can’t imagine. I don’t “get” this wine either, though I fail to “get” it somewhat less than the previous version. (3/05)