Browse Month

July 2012

Zooty

Trimbach 2001 Gewurztraminer “Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre” (Alsace) – Crystalline and restrained. While it’s this latter quality that always marks this wine’s youth, it’s the former that emerges with age, which is not the case for the great majority of even Alsace’s best gewürztraminers, even the ones that age beautifully. As this one has…and it’s worth noting that it’s nowhere near done, either. Bright, light-infused peach and pear, still crisp (another sorely lacking quality of gewurztraminer from Alsace, and especially in these climate-changing times), and just an absolute joy to drink. No, it doesn’t have the lurid decadence of, say, a Weinbach at peak form. The Trimbach style, as damaged as it has been by the inevitabilities of ever-hotter vineyards, still reigns over this wine. While I’d hesitate to say it’s analytically dry, it performs as nearly so, and unlike richer gewurztraminer can still mingle, politely, with dishes that aren’t obvious gewürztraminer partners. (7/12)

By his trade

Boxler 2008 Edelzwicker “Réserve” (Alsace) – Boxler gets this blend so, so right each and every time, letting all the grapes play their part without dominating (as is the case with virtually every other edelzwicker, even the good ones), which just goes to demonstrate the point that sometimes, it really is about the winemaking. Gentle fruit, light-washed and hovering somewhere between stone, whitened, and sepia, recedes as gently as noontide. A lovely wine. (7/12)

Don’t ask zwei

Bründlmayer 2010 Zweigelt (Weinland) – Not a 750 ml, but instead a one-liter bottle, which is the perfect size for such an incredibly easy-drinking wine. Gentle blackberry, soft structure, hints of nerve without getting on any…the wine drains itself from the glass, until the bottle’s gone. And by the way, we need more liters of zweigelt. (7/12)

They call me Granajolo

Boucher “Domaine de Granajolo” 2009 Corse Porto-Vecchio (Corsica) – Starts crisp and somewhat aggressive in its polished lemongrass sort of way, but it always seems to be straining. For or against something, I can’t tell, but it mars the wine. (7/12)

Fées Wray

Bizeul “Les Sorcières du Clos des Fées” 2008 Côtes du Roussillon (Roussillon) – A rich, pleasant wine with an almost foamy structure – I don’t think it’s fizzy, but it’s also not out of the question that there would be a touch – and layers of appealing red fruit. The whole thing is then frosted with the fetid stink and stench of brettanomyces, which is my usual experience of this wine. Alas. (7/12)

For he’s a jolly good Chicchivello

La Querciola 2007 Langhe “Chicchivello” (Piedmont) – Dolcetto, barbera, & nebbiolo. I usually find such blends a confused jumble, and as a rule have little use for the vast majority of such Langhe rossos that employ this trio, but this isn’t bad. It takes the fine-grained adhesion of nebbiolo, chunks it up with bold dolcetto, and then gives it a little airspace with barbera. It’s a dark-fruited wine, leaning heavily on its tannin (which is, I fear, an unavoidable consequence of this particular blend), but it’s an amenable partner with food. There’s even some minerality. Maybe time will bring more? I wouldn’t place a large bet on it, but I’d probably wager a bottle or two. (7/12)

Myrina Sirtis

Buceci 2010 Nero d’Avola “Myrina” (Sicily) – Chewy and just a bit wild, as if the grapes couldn’t quite be wrestled into politesse. Fiercely dark, of course, with a fair bit of prominent (rather than lush) structure for a sun-drenched southern red, though of course there’s more tannin than acidity. Rocks and dark, dark soils…or perhaps charred old-growth forests…as well. I don’t expect much from this wine, and as a result it somewhat exceeds my expectations. (7/12)

Donjonson

Panis “Chateau du Donjon” 2011 Minervois Rosé (Languedoc) – Heavy. Lurid. Tastes neon-magenta, if I can introduce some synæsthesia all up in this joint. (This bit of age-inappropriate verbiage brought to you by having just read Whitney Adams’ blog.) Alas, it’s a chore to drink. (7/12)

Kermit the Scotch

Laphroaig 10 Year Scotch Whisky (Islay) – What the ten-year lacks in complexity vs. its older brethren, it makes up for in lashes. Not eyelashes, the kind involving whips and Russian women wearing leather caps. There’s a fulsome, smoky/peaty/gravelly whisky present, but there’s a persistent flagellation one must accept to reach it. I like having this around, but it’s not a whisky I want to spend too much time contemplating…no matter how many tails the cat has. (7/12)