WTN: Muscadet, Calera, China, Portugal, Longueville, Taylor

Forumite Antti (+ another Antti and a couple other friends) were at my house today for an off-line. We started off with a lovely wine, a Muscadet. We continued with several blind wines and ended up with two open wines (the Longueville and Taylor). It was a nice evening, meeting Antti Nevalainen, a port freak, for the first (and hopefully not the last) time (though we have "met" on-line before).

• 2004 Chéreau-Carré Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Cuvée des Ceps Centenaires Château de Chasseloir - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine (7/8/2006)
  Lovely, typical Muscadet scents if a touch fruity: mineral, sea breeze, sur lie. The palate gives a nice acid mouth wash, but has fine fruit for those who like that sort of stuff. Long and mineral aftertaste. Lovely stuff!
• 1992 Changyu Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Red Wine - China, Unkown (7/8/2006)
  Purple, small rim. The nose is deliciously sour - like unsweetened yoghurt, with cassis, much vegetality, slight pepperiness, much herbs - but with nice fruit as well. The palate is very savoury, with nice acidity, still some tannins but they aren't too much to the fore. Very nice! A dead ringer for a decent Cab F! Certainly the best Chinese wine I've had.
• 1997 Calera Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Mount Harlan (7/8/2006)
  Fairly dark red for Pinot. The nose was surprisingly nice! It had plentiful red berries, earth, a touch of resolved oak in the ketchuppy style à la maturing modern style Italian Sangioveses. The palate has great concentration of fruit, has fine acidity, is surprisingly tannic for the grape (as it isn't done by Faiveley!), but is more an elegant style than power pinot. I was very, very surprised to learn it has 14,7% abv!!!! Nice!
• 1997 Calera Pinot Noir Mills - USA, California, Central Coast, Mount Harlan (7/8/2006)
  Dark red for the grape. The nose is a bit anonymously international, but pleasant anyway: a touch of integrated oak, very earthy, deliciously tomato like red berries, but opulently fruity. The palate also was opulently fruity, but also nicely tannic and acidic. The taste, however, lacked the minerality and earthiness of the nose. Nice enough, but I really preferred the Jensen. Like in the Jensen, the extremely high alcohol (here 14,6% abv) wasn't noticable.
• 1997 Lungarotti Torgiano Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio - Italy, Umbria, Torgiano (7/8/2006)
  Very dark red. The nose is raisiny, pruny, over-ripe, but initially very Bordeaux-like with hints of earth, lead, cigar and a sharpness reminiscent of cassis. The palate is very fruity, not quite jammy, with high but soft tannins, low acidity, very modern. If you like the modern stuff, very good. For me: only decent and lacked soul.
• 2000 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (7/8/2006)
  I have once been given this blind before, and I liked it very much, though 2000 isn't really a vintage that I've cared for in Bordeaux (it hasn't been to my taste been ripe, but over-ripe) but this wine really pleased me despite the rather low acidity. Dark red. The nose is quite lovely. Though there is some oak, the predominant scent is of herbs and vegetation and cassis. With these typical Cab F scents, this wine seems to be very typical Lalande (though, of course, there isn't much Cab F in it) despite the warm year. The palate is softly fruity, with fine and soft tannins, but is a bit low in acidity, but does have the delicious bitter but refreshing elements I hope for. Long and savoury and mineral aftertaste. Lovely despite the low acidity!
• 2001 Quinta do Côtto Douro Grande Escolha - Portugal, Douro (7/8/2006)
  Very dark red. The nose is at the same time earthy, terroir driven yet modern in its abundant fruitiness. It had a pronounced and delightful vegetal streak in it which I really loved. The palate is tannic, sweetly fruity, with fine acidity, plentiful but soft tannins and fine length. A very fine example of the mid-modernist style. Nice!
• 1980 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (7/8/2006)
  Dark red still, little signs of age. The nose is lovely showing a bit of nuttiness, a bit of alcohol despite 7 hours decanting, expressive fruit dominant in the red berry domaine, some signs of coffee. The palate is very sweet as typical with Taylor, again red berry dominated, with resolved structure, but going strong. For my tastes needs still five years, but is a very, very fine Port indeed.

Posted from CellarTracker

[*]2001 Quinta do Côtto Douro Grande Escolha - Portugal, Douro (7/8/2006)
Very dark red. The nose is at the same time earthy, terroir driven yet modern in its abundant fruitiness. It had a pronounced and delightful vegetal streak in it which I really loved. The palate is tannic, sweetly fruity, with fine acidity, plentiful but soft tannins and fine length. A very fine example of the mid-modernist style. Nice!

Great stuff, I agree. One of my favorites. Although (at least as far as I know) it was considered one of the staunch traditionalist wines. I think the natural fruitiness of the grapes used and warm climate may give it the impression of being intentionally bigger.


Best,
Joe

Great stuff, I agree. One of my favorites. Although (at least as far as I know) it was considered one of the staunch traditionalist wines. I think the natural fruitiness of the grapes used and warm climate may give it the impression of being intentionally bigger.


Best,
Joe

I though the wine just a bit too sleek and not rustic enough to be classified as totally traditional - though of course not all traditional wines need to be such, but what tipped the scale for me was that this lacked a sense of place despite the earthy elements. Hence my classification of mid-modernist, but one such that I will gladly drink.

[Jenise]

Hmmm...01 Portugal. Somehow, this discussion along with Otto's comment about ripe vs. overripe made me connect with something I hadn't realized before. That there's a universitality to the 01 vintage. Where 03, for instance, was universally torid in the Northern Hemisphere producing fat, silly wines, 01 was overall a spectacular vintage for certain of our tastes--it is a favorite recent vintage in a lot of places: Oregon, Washington, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Bordeaux, the Rhone...heck, maybe even California. Ripe but not too ripe, lots of structure.

Hmmm...01 Portugal. Somehow, this discussion along with Otto's comment about ripe vs. overripe made me connect with something I hadn't realized before. That there's a universitality to the 01 vintage. Where 03, for instance, was universally torid in the Northern Hemisphere producing fat, silly wines, 01 was overall a spectacular vintage for certain of our tastes--it is a favorite recent vintage in a lot of places: Oregon, Washington, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Bordeaux, the Rhone...heck, maybe even California. Ripe but not too ripe, lots of structure.

I beg to disagree - a little I recently posted on a Muga Reserva 2001 and now on this Portuguese 2001, and though both wineries are considered traditionalists, both came across as a little spoofed. I've tasted a bunch of other Spanish 2001s and quite a smaller bunch of Portuguese, and I have to confess that I view them a little bit like 2000 Bordeauxs: obviously great wines if you happen to like very much fruit that is either over-ripe or bordering on it. I don't like that. I'm hoping that I'm proven wrong though, because 2002 and 03 didn't quite please me either. I'm becoming very picky I miss the days when I liked almost everything. But in the rest of Europe, I'll agree: 2001 is very much to my tastes.

BTW, I'm sipping the remains of yesterday's Côtto now. I have to stand by my note that this is either (slightly) the victim of a warm year or then is a mid-modernist. No way could I call this traditional styled Douro.

Muga Reserva 2001 and now on this Portuguese 2001, and though both wineries are considered traditionalists, both came across as a little spoofed.

Muga is certainly spoofy when it comes to Torrid Muga. I thought the '01 Reserva was a bit too glossy and new woody for my liking as well. I'll stick to the Prado with Muga (and hopefully that doesn't go the way of the new lumber yard as well).

[Jenise]

I miss the days when I liked almost everything

I feel that way all the time. Someone not long started a thread on the topic of "Have you become jaded about wine?" and I remember saying no. Since then, I prove to myself every day that I have.

And yes, I agree about the Muga Reserva, I thought the same thing. But I've liked others better.

Great stuff, I agree. One of my favorites. Although (at least as far as I know) it was considered one of the staunch traditionalist wines. I think the natural fruitiness of the grapes used and warm climate may give it the impression of being intentionally bigger.


Best,
Joe

I though the wine just a bit too sleek and not rustic enough to be classified as totally traditional - though of course not all traditional wines need to be such, but what tipped the scale for me was that this lacked a sense of place despite the earthy elements. Hence my classification of mid-modernist, but one such that I will gladly drink.

I guess I just haven't had enough high end rustic Portuguese dry reds. The Barca Velha is more savory than the GE, but that's the only one I can think of. Because of all the different blends, I can't say I know what Portuguese "place" or terroir is, I usually just identify the wines from the fruit. While the Cotto is traditional by Portuguese standards, it certainly couldn't be described as such besides a rustic (say) Bandol. It's also a very young wine at the moment; I didn't even know the 2001 was released yet!

Best,
Joe

[David M. Bueker]

I guess I just haven't had enough high end rustic Portuguese dry reds.

And this is a problem why?

The last 3 vintages of the Muga Especial have started out very oaky. The '96 has calmed down into something beautiful, and the '98, while not as good, is beginning to come around. I tend to find all the Muga wines (except the Prado Enea) very oaky on release.

Otto Nieminen wrote:

1992 Changyu Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Red Wine - China, Unkown (7/8/2006)
Purple, small rim. The nose is deliciously sour - like unsweetened yoghurt, with cassis, much vegetality, slight pepperiness, much herbs - but with nice fruit as well. The palate is very savoury, with nice acidity, still some tannins but they aren't too much to the fore. Very nice! A dead ringer for a decent Cab F! Certainly the best Chinese wine I've had.

Are wines from China readily available in Finland, Otto? Have not been impressed by those I've tasted so far either on business trips to China or procured from a local Asian supermarket.

I've tried wines from Great Wall, Dynasty, Dragon Seal, and a couple others whose names escape me. The only one I can recall from Changyu was a NV red from Chefoo, Shandong Province that was sweet, and at 16% abv rather port-like. Wasn't that bad, just not what I was expecting.

cheers,
al

Are wines from China readily available in Finland, Otto? Have not been impressed by those I've tasted so far either on business trips to China or procured from a local Asian supermarket.

I've tried wines from Great Wall, Dynasty, Dragon Seal, and a couple others whose names escape me. The only one I can recall from Changyu was a NV red from Chefoo, Shandong Province that was sweet, and at 16% abv rather port-like. Wasn't that bad, just not what I was expecting.

cheers,
al

Alex, nothing is readily available in Finland We have the worst alcohol selection outside of Saudi-Arabia. This bottle was brought from Shanghai. I've tried a few too many Chinese wines, but only this and the Grace Vineyards Cab Franc have been pleasant wines.