Browse Month

December 2008

Fondation & empire

[vineyard]Josmeyer 2001 “1854 Fondation” Pinot Gris “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Steel-jacketed pear. Teutonic in construction and attitude, with a lot of ferric minerality…especially as the wine drifts away on a steel breeze. If there’s a quibble, it’s the usual one in Alsace: more sugar than the wine really needs. The wine’s likely to firm with age, so in the future this might not be as much of a problem. (12/08)

Chicken Cooper

Cooper Mountain 2001 “Estate” Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley) – Juicy-fruity. Pear and light fennel, plus a bit of pollen-infused honey; the wine has a dry, mead-like texture that’s fairly interesting in a wine. Good acidity. Very approachable. (12/08)

VV CV

Ollivier 2002 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sue Lie” Clos des Briords “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) – Tastes of paper, bones, and erosion…first whitewashed, then turning completely transparent with time in the glass. These ends the wine pursues with unwavering focus, and various attempts to dislodge it from its position with food achieve nothing. The finish is a bit of a white dwarf at the moment, but I expect broadening down the road. Well down the road. (12/08)

Lacryma of passion

[vineyard]Mastroberardino 2000 Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio (Campania) – Very aromatic, though both the nose and palate are in danger of being overwhelmed by the wine’s signature volcanic ash, and the texture is pretty much all Vesuvian at this point. Dark, small-berry fruit fills in the corners. I’m not sure I’d hold this any longer. (12/08)

You better, you better, Albrecht

Jean Albrecht 2006 Pinot Blanc “Réserve” (Alsace) – Starts better than it finishes. Basic apricot and spiced cream, with nothing rising above a minimal volume. Pleasant for a few moments, but the finish is essentially absent. (12/08)

Kruger National Park

Kruger-Rumpf 2004 Scheurebe Kabinett 24 05 (Nahe) – Green grapes and some perfumed tropicality, with just enough acidity to keep it from being syrup, and a few vague gestures in the direction of rocky minerality. Drinkable, for sure, but just as surely forgettable. (12/08)

Tohu are you? Hu, hu? Hu, hu?

Tohu 2004 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – By-the-numbers Marlborough sauvignon. Bell pepper? Check. Tart, citrusy acidity? Check. An aggressive sort of sizzle to the palate? Check. There’s not much else to this wine, but I suspect no one cares at this price point. (12/08)

Mills brothers

[winery]Mills Reef 2003 Sauvignon Blanc “Reserve” (Hawke’s Bay) – The wood here isn’t apparent on the nose or palate, but it files off all the variety’s signature edges, leaving a smoother, rounder core of greenish-yellow fruit. Which has, in turn, been diminished by age, leaving a pleasant and somewhat creamy layer of something a little more stone fruited in its wake. This is probably at the end of its useful life, and it’s definitely a low-volume wine, so proceed accordingly. (12/08)

Hannibal Nectar

Moët & Chandon Champagne “Nectar Impérial” (Champagne) – Fruit-sweet, with only the barest suggestion of Champagne-ness. I suppose this appeals to label drinkers, but why not just choose moscato d’Asti, which is more flavorful, more fun, and much cheaper? (12/08)

S’parro

Sparr 2002 Gewurztraminer (Alsace) – Dark and fairly advanced; well-spiced goop with darkly leaden shards of minerality. Goes with pretty much nothing, food-wise, but useful as a heady aperitif. Drink up, though. (12/08)