Browse Month

October 2008

A sparkling anniversary

[sign]Roederer Estate “25th Anniversary” Brut (Anderson Valley) – A reliable performer. This version tastes a little more like a balance between ripe chardonnay stone-fruitiness and deeper, redder pinot tones (usually, the wine leans towards its red grapes), and gives the impression of more fatness than it actually possesses; the finish ends up being quite balanced. (9/08)

I want to live, I want to give

Edmunds St. John 2007 “Heart of Gold” (El Dorado County) – Very cranky when opened, not showing any of the fun fruit, structure, or aromatics I expect. Damaged? Probably not, given the source; perhaps just a weird bottle. (9/08)

VT day

[botrytis]Faller “Domaine Weinbach” 1994 Gewurztraminer “Vendanges Tardives” (Alsace) – Heady spiced lychee with light skin tannin. Very intense, as befits the house style, but the structure is considering abandoning this wine; while it will certainly maintain richness for many years (perhaps decades) to come, I’d consider drinking it soon for maximum balance. (6/08)

Schwach the monkey

[bottle]Bernard Schwach “Domaine du Moulin de Dusenbach” 2004 Riesling Schlossberg (Alsace) – Piercing, high-minded and treble-toned minerality comes off the wine in flakes. Long and really, really good. (6/08)

Jessey’s girl

Jessey “Domaine du Closel” 1997 Savennières Moelleux “Cuvée Isa” (Loire) – Quite literally smells like garbage. The palate is chalky and rough, with a mineralistic aspect, and while the wine comes off as dry there’s a thickness that can only come from the sugar. However, the wine is so utterly aromatically repellent that only the nasally-challenged could even contemplate actually putting it in their mouth. (6/08)

Wehlen’ up

JJ Prüm 1995 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 08 96 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Carries the lithe lightness of a kabinett, with the power of its full pradikat held in reserve. Gorgeous balance. But it’s an infant. An embryo. (6/08)

Where are Q and Moneypenny?

Trimbach 2003 Riesling “Cuvée M” (Alsace) – Really intense, with a silk-and-satin texture, and coiled minerality within. That anyone could produce a wine of this poise in 2003 is baffling; that a winery that could is Trimbach is completely unsurprising. (6/08)

Welk

Féraud “Domaine du Pégau” 1998 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Cuvée Laurence” (Rhône) – Gorgeous, if shockingly young, with thickly-layered tannin. Needs to return to its rest for a while. (6/08)