Browse Month

December 2009

Capmartin & Caprowan

Capmartin 2007 Pacherenc du Vic Bilh Sec (Southwest France) – Very aromatic, and in an intriguingly elusive way. Flowers? Whitewashed rock? Herbs? All and none of those things, I suppose; this is not a wine that wishes to be nailed down. There’s just enough structure to give it support, and an interesting crescendo to the finish. Nice. I’d consider holding it for a short while to see if it develops some wax and texture, except that the synthetic closure virtually guarantees a short life. (9/09)

Gevrey Sinclair

Jadot 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy) – Surprisingly harmonious at this stage and given the in-your-face nature of the structure. But harmony there is, which I suppose bodes well. Soil is rich brown and light dusk, fruit is fulsome and berried, and both tannin and acidity are hard to miss. At the right price, this could be a solid choice. (8/09)

Gaddafi

Mas de Libian 2008 “Vin de pétanque” (Rhône) – Bretty and twisted. I think there’s a rough little quaffer in there somewhere, but the wine’s not clean enough to know. (9/09)

Maurin Povich

Domaine La Berangeraie 2005 Cahors “Cuvée Maurin” (Southwest France) – Impossibly dense and virtually impenetrable, a post-rockfall coal mine of a wine, with smoke, black earth, tar, rosemary, and not-yet-discernable fruit. Do not approach. (9/09)

Stinky infant

Quinta do Infantado Tawny Porto Medium-Dry (Douro) – After much dalliance upon the occasion of this producer’s first appearance on U.S. shores, I gave up ever buying their wines, due to the vast majority of them (approaching 90%) being corked…but only mine. Everyone else seemed to be able to enjoy the wine in untainted form. I can certainly claim no evidence of systemic taint, and in fact it seemed to be very much a personal vendetta the TCA gods were waging against me (and, unfortunately, against the producer’s wines when they were so unlucky as to be carried home by me, or opened by someone else in my house), but trying to find an intact bottle was just hopeless. So after a hiatus of a few years, I decided to dip my toe in these stanky waters once more. The result? What else? Corked. Corked into oblivion. Obviously, I am not meant to own or drink these wines. (9/09)

Let me stress, per the comments below: this is, as far as I can tell, my issue and my issue only. I am personally cursed by being virtually unable to experience a non-corked Infantado. My results should not — and in fact, have not — been replicated by others.

The sun Rosal morning

[bottle]Terras Gauda 2004 Rias Biaxas “O Rosal” (Northwest Spain) – Ripe lemon and the aroma of salt flats, plus some squiggly structure and a lot of sun. Nice. (8/09)

Melty cheese

Losada Fernández “Viña do Burato” 2007 Ribeira Sacra (Northwest Spain) – A brett bomb. Snappy acidity, and there’s some sappy red fruit whipping around in there somewhere, but the fecal stench is overwhelming. (9/09)

Rubentis, rufixtis

[vine]Amesguren “Ameztoi” 2008 Getariako Txakolina Rubentis (Northwest Spain) – A tidal pool of light raspberry froth laden with white flowers, foaming and fizzing with life (and, to abandon the metaphor, carbon dioxide). Lovely, burst-of-youth stuff. (9/09)

Toi story

Amesguren “Ameztoi” 2007 Getariako Txakolina (Northwest Spain) – Froth, salt, needles, and…not much. I’ve struggled with whether or not this wine actually has any inherent characteristics other than its texture for a while, and the conclusion is increasingly that it does not. It might just be this one vintage, though. (8/09)