Browse Month

June 2008

A cute angle

[ste-chapelle window]With a heavenly slab of foie gras poached in Banyuls (thankfully free of any suspiciously white sauces), I ask our somewhat munchable sommelière if there’s a glass of Banyuls that might go better with it than our Condrieu. I don’t get one. Instead, she launches into a mini-soliloquy, explaining that what I really want is a dry red wine. Well, no I don’t…but she does seem convinced. I finally consent. It’s just as well she doesn’t return to inquire after the pairing, because it’s awful. We appear to have lost the love, the hottie sommelière and I.

…continued here.

Riesling rising

Trimbach 2004 Riesling (Alsace) – Dry as a bone…a bone that’s been etched by fierce buffets of flaked iron and sandstone. Excellent. (6/08)

German fox

Allemand 2001 Cornas Reynard (Rhône) – Decanted without having to ask, it’s still (as expected) quite firm, with dark black earth soaked with dried blood, finishing lush with iron-rich flavors of both. Very mineral-dominated, with excellent structure. Grows with air, though in the end we run out of wine before that unfolding is complete. Balanced and long, but not at its best at this stage. (4/06)

Virtual reality

Villard 2004 Condrieu Le Grand Vallon (Rhône) – Lush honeysuckle, peach blossom, plus pear and peach syrups. Long. Thick and slightly lurid, with a dry bite on the midpalate. There’s fair acidity, which is about all one can expect from most Condrieu these days. It gets better with air. Not up to Christophe Pichon’s standards, but pretty tasty. (4/06)

0007

Blot “La Taille aux Loups” Montlouis Pétillant “Triple Zero” (Loire) – Flat and chalky, aromatically unexciting, and yet absolutely palate-cleaving. This is an…aggressive…choice for a by-the-glass pour, and (as I’ll find out later), it’s not alone in that regard. (4/06)

Cheesy

Villeneuve “Château de Roquefort” 2003 Côtes de Provence “Les Mûres” (Provence) – Rough strawberry, mixed cherries, and earth. Very, very, very concentrated, with ripeness and intensity to spare, plus a sharp, scraping acidity (how’d they get that in 2003? never mind, I don’t want to know) that cleans up after the wine’s gone home for the day. Striking. Good? Maybe. (4/06)

Hélène

Darroze 1974 Bas-Armagnac (Southwest France) – Warming alcoholic heat, but balanced and supple. Concentrated black raspberry with notes of walnut. And…is it? Yes, it is. A touch of cream (4/06).

Two first names

[vineyard]Scott Paul 2006 Pinot Noir “La Paulée” (Willamette Valley) – This takes a little while to rev up the engines, and drinking it now isn’t all that rewarding an experience. But it’s very, very good under its thick, downy blankets of youth; dark fruit, satiny earth-flecked morel, and a plush texture yet to be revealed. Wait for it. (6/08)

The witch, Paul Gascoigne, and the poplar

[label]Martilde 2004 Oltrepò Pavese Barbera “la Strega e la Gazza e il Pioppo…” (Lombardy) – This is probably the most “difficult” barbera I’ve ever tasted, though not in a bad way; it’s simply ridiculously young, and impossible to get at through layers upon layers of puff-pastry tannin. There seems to be a core of intense, fierce fruit, and the acidity is considerable, but right now this is a wine of structure, length, and the promise of duration. (6/08)