WTN: Sour Oak Soup and Refreshing Hipster Gamay

We tried two wines tonight before watching our weekly episode of "Millenium" (the old Chris Carter series from 1997 or so). Served with spicy tomato bisque, a salad, and pork tendeloins grilled meidum rare.

2003 Murrietta's Well Meritage. When we poured this into the decanter, the dread miasma of vanilla appeared. Oh no! Basically, sour oak soup. Not stored perfectly (if anything, too cold), but no heat damage visible. Just a wash of milky vanilla oak, with unexciting Bordeauxish-sorta fruit and a distinct sour note. Bleh. Bleh. Bleh. Some people have much more oak tolerance than I, but I think this was actually more expensive than the 1998 Lopez de Herreira we drank earlier this weekend.

2005 Puzelat Le Telquel (Loire, Gamay). Cute label with a great cartoon daschund-I think the French do "cute" better than the Japanese!

Puzelat definitely has a style-extremely high acidity and a refreshing tone. This wine was much darker in color than the pink "cider" from a couple weeks ago, but it had a very similar bracing cranberry flavor that I thought really complemented, somehow and some way, the tomato soup and the pork. Not sure why, but the soup actually made the wine taste earthier and richer.

You couldn't give me a bottle of the Murrietta's Well, but the Puzelat, at 1/3 the cost, I would buy again.

BRIAN'S RANT: How many of you experience severe buyer's remorse?? I actually TASTED the M.W before buying it. How could I make such a big mistake? I don't think my palate has changed that much (180 degrees). Is it bottle variation? Need for more aging (although the tasting was two years younger)? Just a bad phase? I've heard of wines shutting down, but becoming sour oak soup???? Very frustrating.

It's not just nationality, either, I tasted Elizabeth Spencer E/S Syrah and Chard today, and these are lovely complex, rich, and savory wines with a lot of character. I also stopped at Clos Du Val and enjoyed their lineup-earthy, balanced, not oaky, and delicious. Their Pinot, for $26 club price, is light and elegant and earthy, yet it's made with fruit from the Carneros region, a region that often seems to produce Cherry Feaygo wines. So....how could I make such a big mistake with the Murrietta's Well?

2005 Puzelat Le Telquel (Loire, Gamay). Cute label with a great cartoon daschund-I think the French do "cute" better than the Japanese!

Puzelat definitely has a style-extremely high acidity and a refreshing tone. This wine was much darker in color than the pink "cider" from a couple weeks ago, but it had a very similar bracing cranberry flavor that I thought really complemented, somehow and some way, the tomato soup and the pork. Not sure why, but the soup actually made the wine taste earthier and richer

Nice description of the Puzelat style. I think of it as "crunchy" myself, even when the wines are deeply fruited like this one.

And I also think they are a better match with lighter more acidic foods.

Ah...tomato soup has plenty of acidity, hence the nice combination! I really thought they complemented each other very well.

I will probably pick up another bottle of the In Cot We Trust, too. (Is Puzelat despised by other French winemakers? That's something I'd expect from Australia ) . Same Puzelat style with nice darker fruit.

Is Puzelat despised by other French winemakers?

I have no idea. I am sure everyone is despised by someone. The Terroir folks might have more detailed gossip.

But, the Puzelat brothers have been very successful at marketing their wines and getting them all over the place in Paris, so, naturally some people grumble about their overexposure.

So....how could I make such a big mistake with the Murrietta's Well?

Two words: bottle variation! Of course, it could be lots of things, but always amazes me how much variation between bottles is possible.