Browse Tag

white

Maule-dy lay

Maule 2010 “I Masieri” (Veneto) – Garganega (not 100%, I believe, but mostly…though I don’t have recent data at hand). Salted lemons, bold and weirdly compelling. More precisely, compelling and weird, and compelling in part because of that very weirdness. There’s a bit of a stale note that emerges later, whether from exposure to air (Maule tends to be very low-sulfur even amongst the low-sulfur crowd). Drink quickly, is what I’d say, though there’s every chance that other bottles will be different. (7/12)

Seville sparkler

Barboursville Brut (Virginia) – White grapefruit and green watermelon rind, bouncing between sweet and dry. Pretty decent, though it gets a little plasticky near the end. (7/12)

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)

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)

Formula Foreau 9

Foreau “Cuvée 2004-2005” Vouvray Brut (Loire) – Light, chalky, tentative, and lingering. Delicate yet not as weak as it seems. I quite enjoy this, though I’d be interested to see where it goes with more age. (7/12)

Corazon

Gaetano d’Aquino 2011 Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (Veneto) – Sticky, confected lime candy with very spiky acidity that doesn’t seem entire ripe (or there are other possible interpretations, I suppose). Industrial. (7/12)

Putting the baden before the horst

Badenhorst “Secateurs” 2011 Chenin Blanc (Swartland) – 13.5%. Hybrid Rainier cherry and quinine with a bit of hay, atop a bed of gravel. The finish is a little scrape-y, and there’s very little acidity. Short. Kinda eh. (7/12)