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Up in yer Grille

[brun fleurie grille midi]JP Brun “Terres Dorées” 2009 Fleurie Grille Midi (Beaujolais) — In contrast to a surprisingly dead regular 2009 Fleurie (probably just a bad bottle), this was singing a beautiful, jaunty little tune. Flawlessly ripe fruit, some spice, plenty of life and light. Delicious, and one of the best 2009s I’ve tasted at this stage of their lives. (9/16)

Screamin’ Pajé Hawkins

[roagna pajé]Roagna 1999 Barbaresco Pajé (Piedmont) — This takes an half-hour or so to unwind, and then improves steadily for well over an hour; I’m sure it would have continued, but the recipients of such beauty were greedy consumers. Dried flowers, dried bark, faint woodsmoke upon a parched sunrise. Fullness with delicacy, hardness with yield. A lovely, lovely wine. (7/16)

Made by Cori’s daughter

[corison]Corison 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) — Advancing more quickly than I’d have guessed, though it’s still far from home. All the dust and minerality one could want, with fine-grained wood seamlessly integrated with tobacco and dark particulate fruit. Lovely and balanced, as Corison almost always is. (7/16)

Hounds, unreleased

[esj bassetti]Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah Bassetti (San Luis Obispo County) — The reason I work out: I want to be old enough, one day, to say that I’ve had an ESJ made from syrah or the Southern Rhône grapes that was over the hill. Leather and dried blackberry jerky, powdery soil, firm structure, but mostly just about force without excess. Let it age. (7/16)

Mary Lincoln

Dashe 1999 Zinfandel Todd Brothers Ranch (Alexander Valley) — Some of these are fruitier than others, some are more resolved than others, but they all have this in common: dirt and a hard-edged structure. This is one of the gentler, more aromatically generous versions, and it’s eminently approachable. (7/16)

Drink up, or Elsa

[hacienda elsa]Hacienda Elsa 2003 Bierzo (Northwest Spain) — Mencia’s dried flowers on full display, with an only semi-leaden thud of overweighted structure. But while there’s more resolution in store, I think the fruit will die before that’s finished. As European 2003s go, this is one of the good ones. (8/16)

Roilette paper

Coudert 2011 Fleurie Clos de la Roilette (Beaujolais) — Bracing, with its gritty fruit cowering a bit under a quick brake-tire screech. An ill-timed opening, but I’ve no reason to believe things won’t resolve for the better. (8/16)