I'm catching up on some random tasting notes from meals eaten at home during late November/early December. I'm starting with some sparkling and wine whites.
N.V. G.H. Mumm & Cie Champagne Brut Cordon Rouge. This sparkler has some notes of bread dough, rich pear and dried citrus on the nose. It is dry in the mouth, with flavors of ginger, pear, baked apple and ticklish smoke. A little extra squirt of freshening acidity comes in late to help out. It is a bit light on structure and not overly complex, but it otherwise actually does a pretty decent job.
N.V. Camille Saves Champagne Brut Carte Blanche. This wine presents a softly-fruited, elegant bouquet of steeped lemon peel, apple skins, cool stones, raw ginger and light honey. On the palate, it is pleasantly lively, with a vibrant sense of drive and persistence. Fresh flavors of lemon, light caramel and browned apples flow over a creamy, classy texture that has nice acidity running underneath. There is a lot of character, charm, crunch and complexity here (especially for the price) to make me definitely want to buy more.
N.V. Domaine de Montbourgeau Cremant du Jura. There is a real interesting and unique bouquet to this sparkling wine--with notes of brioche, dark ginger and chopped walnuts that evolve more toward mica, wet stones, iron filings, parsley leaf and salinity with time. It is cool and crisp and quite dry on the palate. It is also taut and tensile, with a rigid backbone supporting lemon/lime, steel, salty brine and roasted walnut flavors and a nice squirt of acidity. It slowly unfolds with the walnuts and broth and slightly oxidative notes coming to the fore in a really interesting and tasty mix. In the end, this is real thought-provoking, as well as interestingly tasty.
2008 Cantina Santa Maria La Palma Vermentino di Sardegna Aragosta. This is a very pale-colored wine and has a little bit of unfiltered material floating around inside the glass. The nose is rather quiet, giving up just some mild aromas of soft blossom flowers, apple flesh, wet rocks and sweet chalk. In the mouth, it has a tough steely shell to it all the way through, but tries to offset that with its airy feminine core of chalky grapefruit, white flowers and orange blossoms. It is on the dry, minerally side for sure, and has a crisp salinity to it at times, as well. It is light-bodied, with a bit of herbal character on the acidic and crunchy finish. Overall, the package is a bit stand-offish and austere at this point, with little fruit to show for itself. I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it, but maybe it will be better down the road a bit.
2008 Argiolas Vermentino di Sardegna Costamolino. This has a wide-open bouquet of melon, lemon ball, peach, orange blossom, seashell, river rock, wet wood and a hint of muskiness that pops up from time to time. It is airy and flowery, but fairly complex, turning ever more toward peaches and cream notes with time and air. In the mouth, it has some raw wood showing and is a bit rough-edged with toasty bits. However, beyond that lies a nice ball of fruit accented by lemon ball, mica minerality, peach and green apple flavors that are quite lively and fresh, with a solid acidic twang. It is softer and more appealing to my palate than the Aragosta, but could stand a bit of time to hopefully integrate the wood better.
2007 Inama Soave Classico. This wine features a chiseled nose of limestone, lemon oil and graphite that comes across as taut and lean. In the mouth, it has a very crisp and dry character, featuring flavors of quinine, lemon, straw and light apple and pear in a light-bodied package. It is crunchy and hard-nosed, but does round out slightly as it warms in the glass. Otherwise, it stays dry and focused and fairly unyielding. It might be worth trying some short-term cellaring, I’m not sure.
2004 Inman Family Pinot Gris Russian River Valley. From 2006 through early 2008, this wine was just fantastic, but starting some time in late 2008 it just sort of started to lose its fruit and began to take on an austere quality that this bottle unfortunately also shows. The nose is rather tight and non-descript, with faint aromas of graphite, steel, citrus peel and quinine. In the mouth, it is taut and lean and acidic, with a narrow beam of citrus rind and peach flavors accented by distinct minerality. It feels fresh from the acidity but somewhat devoid of fruit. It is much more about minerals, rocks, steel, citrus peel and white flowers at this stage, with a bit of lemon sourball toward the finish. I have just one left and plan to definitely drink up soon.
2002 Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Spatlese Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Nahe. The cork of this bottle shows some signs of seepage up one side and the golden yellow color seems just a bit advanced to my eye. Also, the nose opens up with some very odd aromas of mulch and caramel that have me worried. However, that unpleasantness slowly fades and is replaced by a much nicer bouquet featuring scents of baked apples, peach pit, pineapple slices and kerosene. On the palate, it is just fine, with a nice purity of mealy apple fruit going perfectly with our butternut squash curry soup. The sugar is nicely interwoven into the flavors and layers of the wine and the wine features solid body and moderate viscosity. All in all, it tastes well-balanced and shows good purity and length.
-Michael