Browse Month

February 2009

Martian fonts

Font-Mars 2007 Picpoul de Pinet (Languedoc) – Juicy greenish-yellow fruit, intense and insistent but not sharp. Some leaves and twigs complete the picture. A guzzler. (2/09)

Dog days

[vineyard]Dog Point 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Sophisticated and polished. There’s minerality here under a blizzard-textured storm of pale fruit, edged by green yet more richly-hued at the core. Recognizably sauvignon, perhaps even recognizably Marlborough, but atypical in the best sort of way. (2/09)

Flightless wine

EMB “Kiwi Cuvée” 2006 Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France Sauvignon Blanc (Loire) – Soft-tart green apple. Clean and simple. But the name is an abomination, and all involved should be profoundly ashamed of themselves. The French – rightly – have a hair-trigger reaction when it comes to protecting their appellations, brands, trademarks, and patrimonial nomenclature. The existence and tolerance of this wine is thus the rankest hypocrisy. (2/09)

Tohu are you? Tohu? Tohu?

Tohu 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – A textbook historical summary Marlborough sauvignon, combining the brash green of the old and the sweeter tropicality of the new. Not particularly exciting, to be sure, but highly representative. (2/09)

Go south young pinot

Montana “Brancott” 2007 Pinot Noir (South Island) – A wretched nose of rotting garbage and moldering stew makes it very, very hard to put this wine in my mouth. But I persevere. And the palate isn’t all that bad. A little strawberry, some red cherry, perhaps a bit of raspberry, light and relatively friendly, though edging towards unwelcome lozenge flavors. But ugh, that stench. (2/09)

Felluga caviar

Marco Felluga 2006 Collio Ribolla Gialla (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – As ribolla goes, this is a medium-light version…which is to say, it would be somewhat leaden were it a different grape. There’s a decent amount of crispness, but the wine will never be light on its feet. Wax, candleflame, preserved lemon, green leaves, and the barest hint of a brown, gravelly minerality. But it’s also fairly short, and somewhat insubstantial. (2/09)

Gin

Martini 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) – Artificial blackberry syrup, in taste and texture. The damage done to this name by the new owners is unforgivable. (2/09)

Sweatin’ to the Rainoldis

Rainoldi 2002 Valtellina “Superiore” Sassella “Riserva” (Lombardy) – Buttered toast with a slight char. Red fruit that’s been sitting in the sun too long, with a nice bite of amaro and barely-restrained aggression, but why does it taste like nasty old oak diluted with brackish water? Barely drinkable. (2/09)

J.S. Trimbach

Trimbach 2005 Pinot Blanc (Alsace) – Apricot skin around a mostly transparent sphere of some light-minded metal. Good structure. Light, friendly, simple. (2/09)

Lohr of the ancients

[vineyard]J. Lohr 2007 “Wildflower” Valdiguié (Monterey) – Lightly sweet without much else to show for it. Chewy, almost gritty berries, with a nice tartness that carries through and a good bit of grip. Its insubstantiality is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it hasn’t been messed with…but only somewhat. (2/09)