Browse Month

June 2008

Beauvoir

Rougier “Château Simone” 1998 Palette (Provence) – 375 ml. As usual, lovers of the freshest, fruitiest wines would think this was about a century older than it is. I love it. It’s like drinking an Egyptian ruin, sand-etched and with a few of the features permanently lost to time, but yet wholly recognizable in form and function. (5/08)

Greenore red

Greenore “Single Grain” Irish Whiskey (Ireland) – Peat, herb, smoke, nut, and barrel, with a lot more complexity than I’m used to; I’ve never turned the same attention to Irish whiskey as I have to Scotch whisky, so this is a bit of a revelation. It’s incredibly smooth, but more “alive” than most that I’ve tasted. (5/08)

Albert Poujol

[winery house]Poujol 2006 Vin de Pays de l’Hérault Rosé (Languedoc) – Heavy (due to alcohol; I feel like I’ve made this criticism about so many southern French rosés, even I’m getting tired of hearing myself say it), with slightly lurid strawberry…but the flowers rather than the fruit, and a finish more like strawberry Kool-Aid than I’d like. What happened here? This used to be more identifiable as wine. (5/08)

Brut force

Boxler Crémant d’Alsace Extra Brut (Alsace) – More austere than a crémant should be, reminiscent of the older style of exceedingly ungenerous crémant that does the category no favors. It tastes sort of like paper. So I guess there’s something Boxler isn’t brilliant at, which I suppose is somewhat of a relief. (5/08)

The Rhine of the ancient mariner

[vineyard]Buitenverwachting 2005 Rhine Riesling (Constantia) – A dry, windswept plain of stark minerality, or perhaps like drinking plate glass. With such an endless (but featureless) horizon, I’d like a little more persistence on the finish, but this is a pretty good wine anyway, and there would seem to be potential. (5/08)

Emery High

[bottle & label]Emery Muscat “Efreni” (Rhodes) – Pure muscat, with all the perfumed sweetness that entails, but with a sort of mirrorball minerality shining from within, which lightens what would otherwise be a fairly thick wine. Extremely tasty. (5/08)

Away, away with rum, by gum

[bottle]JM 1997 Rhum “Vieux Millésimé” (Martinique) – Not just sugar and wood, but also smoky and marshy, with a great deal of complexity that very nearly overcomes the weight of the alcohol. No rum connoisseur I, but this is the best I’ve tasted. (5/08)

Arlington National Cemetery

Bertagna 2005 Bourgogne “Les Croix Blanches” (Burgundy) – Really quite tasty, full of spicy red fruit of a zing akin to carbonation, slashed-up rocks, and the promise of a leafier elegance on the finish. Very good. (5/08)

[Title pun censored]

[vineyard]Babcock 2005 “Big Fat Pink” Shiraz (Santa Ynez Valley) – Sticky fake plums. Definitely blush style, even though I don’t know what the actual residual sugar is, and I don’t care for it at all. (5/08)

Yamahai, yama low

Miyasaka “Yamahai 50 Nama” Ginjo Sake (Japan) – I’m not enough of a sake expert to competently discuss the differences. Rather light on its feet, overall, with polish (pun intended) but a general simplicity; the sort of sake you’d drink quickly, on the way to something with a little more verve. (5/08)