WTN: Grab Bag

NV Bossard-Thuaud Vin Mousseux de Qualité
Not bad. More or less ‘clean’ and straightforward sparkly if that’s what you want. Although there was a slight nutty funky note that caused some discord in my sensitive palate, but nothing that would disturb large groups drinking large quantities.

NV Bouchard Inflorescence Champagne
Slightly toasty but mostly lemony, fresh, and bright with silky minerally edges. I understand this is the ‘entry-level’ wine so I wasn’t expecting too much elegance but there was enough to keep me satisfied. YMMV. That said, clearly not where one goes for QPR. Also, I understand these are single-vintage wines but there was no indication of the vintage that I could find on the bottle. So this note is probably useless for those who may have other bottles.

1998 Louis Jadot Beaune Clos des Ursules
Resolved and pretty in the soft faded no-edges kind of way. So I can enjoy a glass or two with dinner. But this is also slightly metallic and I’m thinking it was damaged at some point because other folks tell me this wine should not be showing this old.

2008 Domaine Pépière Muscadet
Nice and lively as you know. Although this time I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should have opened the 08 Briords.

2006 Michel Tête Juliénas Domaine du Clos du Fief Cuvée Prestige
Some nice flesh here although overall pretty crisp, structured, and not as giving/fun loving as I had been led to believe. Good material but probably needed more time to loosen up than I had to give it (2 hours).

[David M. Bueker]

I would not go so far as to call the Inflorescence "entry level". I've had it up against some pretty stiff competition & it held its own fairly well.

Thor opened a '98 Gouges the other night (Les Chênes Carteaux), and it was somewhat metallic as well. I liked the aromatics a lot, but the palate left something to be desired.

As an aside, I was looking for the exact spelling of Les Chênes Carteaux on CellarTracker & came across a funny description of the '98: Not amazing, yet definitely not offensive.

Finally - shouldn't you always open the Briords?

I would not go so far as to call the Inflorescence "entry level". I've had it up against some pretty stiff competition & it held its own fairly well.

I meant entry-level in the Bouchard lineup. Isn't this his youngest vines/least special/cheapest bottling?

Thor opened a '98 Gouges the other night (Les Chênes Carteaux), and it was somewhat metallic as well. I liked the aromatics a lot, but the palate left something to be desired.

Interesting. I had a couple of bottles of that 98 Chênes Carteaux last year and they were never lacking palate weight and they were not tilting metallic/thin. If anything they tilted Gouges Tannic but there was also a good amount of fruit to buffer and I quite liked them. For what they were. But it sounds like they may have gone downhill pretty quickly since then.

Finally - shouldn't you always open the Briords?

Yes yes. This is what I get for shaving off a few dollars of the per bottle cost for a large gathering!

1998 Louis Jadot Beaune Clos des Ursules
Resolved and pretty in the soft faded no-edges kind of way. So I can enjoy a glass or two with dinner. But this is also slightly metallic and I’m thinking it was damaged at some point because other folks tell me this wine should not be showing this old.

Rahsaan,

The ’98 CdU is one of my all time favorite red Burgs. I stumbled into half a case of it quite by accident. We drank them all up from 2006 through 2008. You must have run into a bad bottle, or the wine went over the hill quite rapidly. My notes are included below:

Decanted for approximately one hour.

Color: Ruby red with a bit of a purple tinge.

Nose: Pleasing, but not overwhelming berry/dark fruit with just a hint of plowed earth in the background.

Taste: Fresh and light on the tongue. Nice acidity which blew off quite a bit after time in the decanter. Berry and cherry notes. Super smooth and integrated, all elements in balance. Lingering finish, with just a hint of interesting anise at the end.

The ’98 CdU is on of my all time favorite red Burgs. I stumbled into half a case of it quite by accident. We drank them all up from 2006 through 2008. You must have run into a bad bottle, or the wine went over the hill quite rapidly..

I think I had heat damaged bottles. I recently bought two bottles each of the 98 and the 01 CdU. I opened one of each back in November and posted that they seemed evolved and there was some discussion about how they were probably damaged because other people had positive experiences similar to yours. So I wasn't expecting much from this 98 and I was actually happy that the second bottle of 01 was corked. Because I could then return it for something else (the Inflorescence).

[David M. Bueker]

I would never have called the Gouges thin, but metallic did ring a bell.

I would never have called the Gouges thin, but metallic did ring a bell.

Well, now that you mention it, all the 98 Gouges wines I had last year (CC, Porrets, Village NSG) had doses of brett which showed as 'sweaty' in my bottles but might have moved into the 'metallic' manifestation with time or in different bottles.

Either way, you've given me an idea of what to bring to dinner with Thor tonight!