Browse Tag

cabernet france

Between a rock & a hard place

[lenoir]Lenoir “Les Roches” 2006 Chinon (Loire) — A disagreement about the quality of these wines (it’s 2 pro-, 2 anti- in our over-lubricated group) leads to a quick cellar run, and while this is pretty and somewhat rustic it doesn’t make a strong case for itself…though personally, I wouldn’t be opening one of these now; all my best experiences with Lenoir involve a lot more age. If it seems like I’m not saying much about the wine…well, I’m not, because there’s not much to say, other than the previous. Leave it be. (4/16)

Fifty Cent (x2)

Druet 1997 Bourgueil “Les Cent Boisselées” (Loire) – There is a spectacular classed-growth 1975 Bordeaux on the table, yet this wine makes an aggressive bid to steal the show. It’s a ’97, yes, and thus a showy vintage that’s mostly in full flight or slight decline by now, but wow does this make a spectacular attempt at brilliance. Mixed pepper dusts with a lavish velour texture, plus an intense, humid, almost sweaty aspect; I feel transported to some remote Zulu hut during the intensity of a war council. Yes, ridiculous analogies are the bane of tasting notes, but a wine this good deserves only the most abstruse flights of fancy. In the end, it’s like drinking dryness, but the most exciting dryness you’ve ever experienced. Wow. Just: wow. Purchased at the property. (7/12)

Guioff

Guion 2009 Bourgueil “Cuvée Prestige” (Loire) – So very hard. Under the tannic weight-slam measured by its tonnage there’s dark, dirty, punk rock fruit that will, one day, clean up enough to be presentable at the Kennedy Center. Come that day, I expect that the aromatics will be rather lavish. But there’ll always be that hard edge. Gravity doesn’t go away. (2/12)