Summer vacations over, offspring back in her northern lair, time to kick off the Fall drinking season. My buddy Marcelo visited Robinot in May and brought back these essays in winemaking. In a glorious Obon fire, last night we sacrificed them to the great god Geekus, accompanied by a Marcia menu of this & that.
2009 L’Ange Vin Fêtembulles VdT 12.0%
A natural pétillant made with chenin. Turbid, with large bubbles. Attractive aromatics, with lime, Fuji apple, banana and yeast. Carbonation rather mild, but with biting acidity. Bone dry, to the point of unfriendliness. Nose is much more appealing. Served with roasted cashew nuts and small scooped baked potatoes filled with Roquefort & cream.
2005 L’Opera des Vins Symphonie du Temps Jeane y Erre 13.0%
Made from purchased chenin. Jeane y Erre is a jeu de mots on Jasnières, which cannot appear on the label. Rich nose, yeasty, with waxy butter, mineral, burnt sugar, on a bed of light and (for once) pleasing oxidation. Substantial mouth feel, chewy and thick, with good acid/sweet balance, though tilting towards the former. Robust and impressive, but no crowd pleaser. With Bucheron and honeyed figs on a field of greens.
2005 L’Ange Vin Rosé Cuvee Bistrologie VdT 12.0%
Pinot Noir. Dark for a rosé. Idiosyncratic nose of strawberry Jell-O, chalk, and Band-Aid plastic. Bone dry, + acid than sweet, complex, and not the least bit interested in sycophancy. With gravlax sprinkled with lemon honey mustard sauce on blinis.
2009 L’Ange Vin Le Regard du Loir No. 1 VdT 12.5%
Marcelo claimed this was a Gamay bottled for Japan but I found a French site claiming it was Pineau d’Aunis. So we put it to the nose and mouth test and … were not sure. The aromatics were very Gamay but the taste allowed for carbonic maceration PdA or PN. Cognitive dissonance ensued. The idea that CM is the great leveler, converging the tastes of some natural wines, seemed forceful here. Aromatics were gorgeous, with explosive strawberry, cloves and twigs. Thick, dense, chewy, yeasty, bone dry, the nose again more attractive than the suite. Served with beef ragú on a purely vehicular polenta disc.
2006 L’Ange Vin Nocturne VdT 13.0%
Old vine (80-100 yr) Pineau d’Aunis. Smoky, serious, with exotic spices. Light carbonation, more acid than sweet, but delicious with a mini bowl of cassoulet. On its own, however, has no particular interest in pleasing the customer.
2005 Domaine de Baumard Quarts de Chaume 12.5%
Honey, botrytis, apricot compote. Good density, but too ripe and sweet. Found this cloying. Could be baby fat or a rejection of ingratiatingly treaclish impulses. Served with a version of tiramisú, replacing mascarpone with whipped egg whites & cream.
In conclusion, the Robinots were more interesting than pleasurable, and the Baumard was like a large and needy puppy slobbering over the hand that pets. Perhaps the Robinots are this dry to help the low/no sulfur regime, but the come hither aromas felt like bait & switch once succeeded with such austere follow throughs.