Wine reports from my trip to Paris, but be warned, I am a student, so no opulent gorging on First Growths and Starred Chefs.
1996 Domaine Maume Gevrey Chambertin « En Pallud »
Has a bit of the rustic violence at first, but fills in relatively quickly with juicy succulent evolved meaty berries, still with some piercing mint tannins on finish, but this goes quite well now with a dish comprised of Out of Region eggplant, tomatoes, and mustard. No rush, but it’s getting there.
1998 Pierre Gimmonet Champagne « Oenophile 1998 » Extra Brut
Round juicy but with mineral acid definition, but still a bit soft. Not bad, very correct, but a bit boring.
NV Larmandier Bernier Champagne « Terre de Vertus »
Mineral, earth, and bubbles. Nice. But I don’t remember previous bottles being so fizzy (and obscuring the earth dammit !), even over several days.
2004 Jamet Cotes du Rhone
To quote the Distinguished Poster from Florida : Oh My God ! Juicy fresh dark smoky chewy bacon, yes, yes, yes, and yes.
2000 Jamet Cote Rotie « Elégance »
Smoky elegant slippery bacon plums. Elegant and fun as hell, with a slight herbal kick that gives it a crisp element but still mostly slippery juicy smoky pleasure.
2004 Jamet Cote Rotie « Elégance »
To quote the Distinguished Poster from Florida : Oh My God ! Relatively thick smoky violet bacon but still juicy and elegant with a slight crisp note in the back but not herbal as in the 00. Much more material than the 00 Elégance, and more silk and more texture than the 04 CdR. Killer wine. Ripe, cool, fresh, and succulent. Did I say YES !
2004 Clos du Tue-Bœuf Touraine « La Guerrerie »
Juicy vibrant clear crunchy fruits, but a bit gravelly, ashy, tobacco-ey, whatever you want to call it, it also had a muddled note. Not sure if that is just me and my anti-blending bias, but despite the lovely vibrant structure the flavors were a bit muddled and unconvincing.
2004 C&P Breton Chinon « Beaumont »
This is my kind of wine, lovely purity, a bit square and blocky on the fruit, but firm, present and clear, lovely.
2005 Domaine des Sablonnettes Anjou « Les Copains Aussi »
Somehow my dining companions preferred this to the above Beaumont. To me it was just dark fruity and annoying Anjou gamay, with not enough grip or texture and too damn primary gummy.
2004 Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Sec
Class. Firm, gorgeously ripe and elegant on the finish, a bit crisp, a bit tropical, a bit broad, the structured elegance you would expect. Lovely.
2002 Stéphane Cossais Maison Marchandelle Montlouis-sur-Loire « Dix Huit Mois »
A new producer for me, and although this retails in the same ballpark as the benchmark Chidaine wines (approximately 15euros I believe) I would happily buy this again even if it didn’t quite have the electricity of the better Chidaine wines. Still, it had lovely tingly cotton kumquat crushed aspirin tactile fuzz, reminiscent of Choisilles or Breuil, but with a thicker more savoury middle, that flirts with being too heavy, but remains crisp enough to drink. Nice golden fuzz, nice mineral buzz, nice.
2002 Château Pierre-Bise Anjou « La Haut de la Garde »
This opens big boned rich and broad and still so damned creamy. Over several days it gets crisper and fresher and tastes more like chenin, eventually showing the sweet orange of the production, but also waxy nuts and drying tannin finish that speak to its origins. Claude thinks this will swallow the oak with time, and maybe it has the underlying complexity to last, who knows, but for now the following wine is more my style.
2002 Château Pierre-Bise Savennières « Clos de Coulaine »
This is what I’m talking about. Crisp white flowers, nice mineral persistence, still creamy and beeswaxy and showing the production, but also crisp and fun fun fun, even if not too complex.
2000 Domaine du Closel Savennières « Les Caillardières »
This was opened in the wine shop because I didn’t believe it would be showing well and the clerk wanted to prove me wrong. I win, he loses. Flat apple pear juice with funky tinned notes. No improvement over time. Although the finish did seem firm and elegant, for whatever that is worth.
2004 Philippe Tessier Cour Cheverny « La Porte Dorée »
Juicy sweet and ripe with refreshing acid elements, but it tastes so anonymous and oaky for the moment. When did this start ? I read previous vintages were different ?
2002 Edmund Vatan Sancerre « Clos de la Neore »
Starts off shy but as it airs and warms it shows a lovely zesty limey minerally pure drop of slushy tactile clear stone rocks that dances and tingles on the tongue. But I’m being redundant. Wonderful !
2004 Josmeyer Pinot Gris « Le Fromenteau »
Classic crisp and fresh, gains color and fruit with air, but too boring to get me excited.
1998 Marcel Richaud Grenache Moelleux
Sweet grenache with crisp flinty notes. A nice match with cherries sauteed in butter and accompanied by lemon cream mousse. Otherwise, not much on its own.