WTN: Mixed bag of values

Notes on various wines I've had randomly over the last several weeks that I hadn't posted on.

2007 Stadlmann Zierfandler Mandel-Höh
My first experience with Zierfandler, Stephen and Joe from Crush had lots of praise for this and at $26 I figured a bottle was worth trying. Starts out with bright pear, guava and herbal scents that lead into a palate full of bright white fruits and savoury almond notes - then on the back end a wave of minerals rush in as this finishes completely dry, leaving behind all sorts of stony and saline flavours. Really streamlined, precise and polished with no sign at all of the 14% alcohol indicated. Really nice.

2008 Stein St. Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrasen Riesling Spätlese trocken
Another highly recommended wine from Stephen and Joe at Crush from a spectacular vineyard. It's like somebody liquefied a razor. Incredibly bright, clear citrus and pear fruit with touches of orange and herbal elements on the back end, but what really stands out here is the intense minerally character underneath and the sense of precision and detail, as if each flavour's being etched into the tongue with a needle. Taut, lean, streamlined and beautifully balanced, one of those rare trockens that manages to be absolutely bone dry without a sense of austerity or lightness - just fantastic wine, and at the price it's a stupid good value.

2007 Edmunds St. John That Old Black Magic
After seeing David Bueker's immense praise for this, I added a bottle to a recent CSW order. David's spot on; pure red and dark fruits, earth and herbs, elegant and fresh. Yum!

2001 Antonio Bernardino Paulo da Silva Vinho Regional Estremadura Casal da Azenha
Wild stuff; sauvage meaty, smoky and leathery aromas on top of deep red and dark fruited flavours, intense and quite rustic with solid acids and plenty of tannins beneath, but delicious with grilled pork. Glad to have more. And at $16, this is one of the most unbelievable wine values I've come across. (Thanks to Oswaldo and David Lillie for their enabling efforts!)

2008 Château de Coulaine Chinon Clos de Turpenay
David Lillie at CSW also recommended this when I was hunting for more Chinon. Starts out with bright currant and black cherry fruit, then it turns deeper and more savoury as herbal and gravelly, earthy elements emerge with bright acids and a spine of firm, grainy tannins beneath it. Lots of depth and stuffing here, lovely wine. Also have a bottle of their 08 Les Picasses which I'm now quite excited to try soon.

2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine
Very nice, fresh red fruits and cassis over gravel and herbs with a touch of green pepper on the back end. Really finessed and elegant with bright acids and a lightness of touch.

2009 Clos Roche Blanche Gamay Touraine
YUM!!! (If anyone's opening this soon, just be sure to decant a while though.)

2009 Clos Roche Blanche Gamay Touraine
YUM!!! (If anyone's opening this soon, just be sure to decant a while though.)

Any of the geraniums in this?

When you say decant, is that because the wine is too young and grapey tasting, or something about the structure?

As much as I like high-acid wines, this gamay has often seemed a bit too under-fruited and a bit too herbal for me. But perhaps in Rich 09 things are different?

Am excited to start tasting 09s from everywhere.

It's young but not overly grapey, there's structure but it doesn't dominate the fruit. It's a pretty rich Gamay with lots of really delicious red fruit and vivid, fresh black pepper, but at first it was a little monolithic - with air it really opened up and all the flavour/structural components integrated seamlessly (after about an hour or so in the decanter).

It's a pretty rich Gamay with lots of really delicious red fruit and vivid, fresh black pepper...

Sounds like this wine is still fresh and snappy. So it will take a lot more than whatever heat 09 had to turn this wine soft. Speaking of which, I wonder what the 03 tasted like. Never had that one.