This past weekend I drove 1,500 miles (round-trip) in two days so that I could visit my wine cellar and come home with all sorts of choices.
My neighbor says I am a most particular man.
I never thought of it that way.
2006 Edmund Vatan, Sancerre Clos La Néore:
13% alcohol; prematurely oxidized, not to the point of sherry but sufficient to dampen the enjoyment of an otherwise excellent wine.
2009 Broc Cellars, Vine Starr:
13.3% alcohol; my wife loves this wine and, while I enjoy it, I’m still trying to figure out exactly why; maybe it’s the bright and penetrating nose or the strongly flavored palate that is laced with ample cut; what ever it is, this white brings plenty of flavor to the table with powerful acidity and no wood. Not a wine I want often but, on occasion, one that can’t be replaced.
1999 Hirtzberger, Grüner Veltliner Honivogl:
13.5% alcohol; roses and pineapple on the nose with hints of resin and sea salt; much the same in the mouth where the floral notes keep it from cloying and the resinous quality delivers the “pong;” a long, integrated finish. If you are expecting power or punch, you will miss the beauty and almost lilting quality that this delivers. Greater than the sum of its parts. At, or very near, peak.
With pumpkin curry, symbiotic.
2005 Luneau-Papin, Muscadet Clos des Allées:
12% alcohol, cost on release was $13; fresh as mountain stream water, scented with flowers and citrus; tasting of mineral, citrus and almonds; thirst quenching, supple and beautifully balanced.
Day two: this is such an individual Muscadet; I really think that if I could only have one melon in my life it would be this, year in and year out; just glorious, engaging both the senses and the intellect and reminding me that good Muscadet is about energy. Wonderful wine!
2002 Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie Cuvée Tardive:
13% alcohol; not remotely Fleurie in delivery; that said, it is rich, dark, smells and tastes of Baker’s chocolate and earth, is more savory than sweet and is quite long. Very satisfying with burgers, oven fries and home-made coleslaw.
2004 Dom. Leroy, Bourgogne:
12.5% alcohol, this bottle was a ‘leaker’; swampy and stemmy on the nose although not without that sort of very old Burgundy appeal; sour in the mouth and not pleasant. Set aside for another day.
Day two: less aggressively stemmy, less fruit and more complex but still sour.
(Aside: One hopes this showing is as a result of the failed closure and not indicative of the wine itself.)
1994 Laurel Glen, Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain:
12.5% alcohol, high neck fill, substantial sediment; warm fruit and bell pepper nose; in the mouth the bell pepper tends to destroy any impression of ripeness, its tannic and angular, showing minimal complexity; drying finish. Over the course of the evening the wine smoothed only marginally. This has neither developed nor softened with age and while it has some intellectual appeal, it rates low on the enjoyment scale.
2001 Edmunds St. John, Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty:
14.4% alcohol; like it was bottled yesterday; clear, singular and flamboyant boysenberry fruit nose; much the same in the mouth as the fruit is completely in charge and intense, the slightest hint of structure and good balance; medium finish. This wine has considerable cellar time to go before it develops complexity but it has the fruit for decades. With vegetable hash, very good, indeed.
1999 Dom. Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques:
13.5% alcohol; ripe, red cherry nose with the faintest hint of mineral; similar on the palate in a medium bodied delivery that is straight-forward and clean with ripe, sweet fruit; a medium finish. Nothing here says Gevrey or the vineyard but rather, this tastes much like a very clean and medium bodied Russian River pinot from a good producer. No earthiness, no muscular impression, no elegance; no “there” there and an overall impression of sweetness. Good with assorted cheeses.
(Aside: I have had all of the Clos St. Jacques wines from 1999 save Clair’s and this is in the class with Esmonin; it does not even approach Rousseau’s or Jadot’s bottlings.)
Best, Jim
