impressions from LD/CSW event at City Hall

Today I met a couple of friends for lunch and wine exchange, then headed over to City Hall when Chambers St. Wines was doing a charity tasting of Louis-Dressner wines. Kudos to CSW and LDM for their efforts, which should have raised a nice sum for Partners in Health, a topnotch group doing good work in Haiti. People were staggered, but it quickly got full. I sampled less than half the tables. Due to my natural inpatience with waiting.I decided to skip the Beaujolais tables, as I have a lot and have tasted a lot, and tried to skip fave producers where I had tasted or bought most of what they were offering. Still, I missed many producers I'd have liked to try, because I was on schedule. Especially sorry I missed Baudry, Causse Marines, Still, tasting is less important than what PIH does.

Below is a few impressions based on a little more than an hour of circulating. I'm not the most physically gifted taster, I'm used to spending an hour (or an evening) with a wine before deciding what I think. So my impressions based on quick pours, tastes, and spits are of limited value, but I always like to record nonetheless. But in any case a fun time seeing lold and new friends, tasting a load of interesting wines, and helping a good cause.

I tasted a few things I either neglected to note or can't read writing, but t thought:

Domaine de la Pepiere (Ollivier)
I actually didn't mean to try the regular 2009 Muscadet, as I have several already, but when I had my glass out to ask for other Marc Ollivier quickly poured, That's ok, nice wine. I really enjoyed the 2009 Gras Moutons, slender but not lean, good length, a buy.

Luneau-Papin
I liked the 2009 Clos des Allees and loved the 2007 L d'Or. The 2005 Pueri Solis was fleshy and not especially Muscadet-ish, but I liked enough to put on buy list. I thought there was something a bit off on my pour of the 2008 Terre de Pierre La Butte de la Roche- chemical edge. Not sure what was happening, maybe just me

Franck Pascal
A couple of Champagnes that didn't wow me

Franck Peillot
This might have been the find for me. I know people have a good opinion of Peillot, but somehow I've never gotten around to try- a mistake. I liked the 2009 Roussette du Bugey Altesse very much- floral and crisp. The 2009 Pinot Noir was good too- some found it too cherry, but I liked its cough drop character. But the 2008 Bugey Mondeuse was my favorite- leafy and lovely, bright red fruits, earth.

Rene Mosse
I really enjoyed the 2009 Anjou Blanc, fresh and bright, a buy. Others preferred the richer  Rouchefer, which I liked, but not as much as the less expensive one (not that anything at this tasting was really expensive). But I really didn't care for the red.

Cazin
An old fave. I thought the 2010 Cheverny was nice, but the '08 Cour -Cheverny was one of my wines of tasting- I always like this wine,but this was one of my faves of entire tasting.

Domaine du Moulin, Herve Villemade
New producer for me. The NV Bulle was a (slightly) pink (slightly) bubbly, fun and frothy. The Cheverny blanc was nice, though I think I slightly preferred Cazin. The 2009 Cheverny rouge had a bretty edge, but I explained to a friend I didn't mind that leathery strain of brett, and quite liked the wine. Might buy. But the 2009 "Desire" in mag was also bretty, and this one was more sewagey- not for me.

Filliatreau
I didn't care much for the tank sample of the '10 Saumur, finding it too grapey, but I have little experience with unfinished wines, so grain of salt. But the 2009 "Grand Vignolle" Saumur-Champigny was very good, and I plan on buying. The 2006 Saumur-Champigny was quite nice, too, might take a look when it arrives.

Eric Texier
I only tasted the 2009 CdR blanc, which was fine but not compelling, others liked better,. I tried twice to revisit to try reds, but crowd was too daunting.

Occhipinti
Nice to try, and to tell the winemaker how much I like her olive oil as well as her wines! The 2009 SP678 Bianco was quite exotic, huge nose of herbs and pine resion. Light but mouthfilling. The SP68 red was also interesting and good. The 2009 Tami Frappato was fresh and light, but the 2009 Tami Nero d'Avola edged it,

Radikon
I didn't care much for the 2005 Ribolla Gialla, but the 2005 Oslavje was nice in a pine resin meets hint of oxidation style. But the 2005 Jakot was my favorite, one of the wines of the tasting for me (I swallowed!), deep and complex.

Again, I'm no great taster, and do especially poorly in speed tasting. But this was a fun and worthy event, and I'll buy some wine based on it. I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency. 

Dale,
It's good to hear your impressions of the NYC event. Did you not get a chance to sample the '02 Cazin Renaissance? I heard that they were pouring it. I'll get a chance to gather my own impressions later this week at the (first ever!) Chicago event. Details to follow.

Mark Lipton

Dale,
Good to catch up today. Nice way to spend an afternoon - fun tasting, nice to meet a lot of the winemakers and catch up with some old faces. Only downside was the heat in the room - some of the wines I thought suffered from serving temperature, but otherwise there was a lot of interesting stuff. (Though I also missed a bunch of wines and a few tables altogether, between palate fatigue and not wanting to fight the crowds.)

Liked all the Pepiere and Luneau-Papin Muscadets. The '05 Pueri Solis was quite unusual - more like a white burg than a Muscadet, creamier and fleshier and I may get some. Pierre-Marie Luneau also had opened an '82 L de L'Or later that was very nice - focused, a little more creamy with a baked lemony flavour component I enjoyed. Though I still don't plan on putting Muscadet away for 2-3 decades.

Pascal - wasn't that thrilled by the Champagnes. I preferred his still Coteau Champenois rouge (80% Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir, nice leathery and minerally accents around red fruit, liked a lot though I don't imagine it'll be cheap).

Cazin - was an idiot and didn't go there when the table was relatively open, then stayed away from the bigger crowds.

Fillatreau - find of the tasting for me. Pretty inexpensive Saumur Champigny that I found very refreshing and bright - herbal flavours over fresh, ripe red fruits with savoury earthiness stood out in all 3 wines, and I will be looking out for some.

Baudry - fabulous, but no shock there. The '10 Rosé was a bit cloudy (early bottled sample), but incredibly tasty and refreshing. The 09 Grezeaux was wonderful again; liked the '09 Clos Guillot a great deal though found it a little more tannic and gritty than the Grezeaux. The 08 Croix Boissee is very young and structured now but I think that'll be tremendous with time.

JP Brun - worth the effort to move through the crowd in front of his table. Liked the Beaujolais Blanc a lot, the Cote de Brouilly and Morgon were delicious, and the Fleurie was a knockout.

Pinon - the '09 Vouvrays (Cuvee Tradition and Silex) were tasty, though a bit on the ripe/round side. May have been the serving temperature though as the room was WARM. Will certainly try at least the Tradition with dinner some time soon, but the impression I got was that the '08 Tradition is more my style with slightly leaner fruit and snappier acids. The Cuvée Botrytis was stellar.

Tete/Clos du Fief - flat out delicious. I should buy more.

Desvignes - really, really good 09s. The La Voute St. Vincent Morgon is perhaps the most approachable and friendly '09 Beaujolais I've had yet.

Texier - great to finally meet Eric, and the wines were fantastic. The CdR blanc was delicious; very refreshing and elegant, and all the other wines were great. I'm very glad to be sitting on several bottles of the St. Julien en St. Alban Vieille Serine.

Peillot - missed the table, kicking myself after reading your and Oswaldo's (on WD) praise

Occhipinti - the SP68 Bianco was very fragrant and pretty, liked it but the reds did not do it for me.

Radikon - struggled with the Ribolla Gialla, liked the Jakot a LOT though; as you said deep and complex and hard to spit.

Shortlist of wines I couldn't spit out and had to swallow:
2009 Texier St. Julien en St. Alban Vieille Serine
Anything at the Baudry table
2005 Pinon Vouvray Cuvee Botrytis
2005 Radikon Bianco Jakot
1982 Luneau Papin Musscadet Le L d'Or

I didn't taste very much but the 06 Closel CdP was very nice, such character. And the DeMoor wines were fun, especially as I rarely buy Chablis.

Echoing the comments of others, yesterday's event was for a terrific cause (PIH). The tasting itself was not withouts its challenges; from large crowds to some temperature issues ( a very warm room and some wines served at less than ideal temps). Here are my brief impressions with the caveat that my wine tasting skills (taste and spit) in an event of this size (over 100 wines) are of significantly less value than under more normal circumstances.

Franck Pascal
Tried two of his champagnes and wasn't impressed.

Franck Peillot
2009 Roussette de Bugey Altesse - very nice, floral and honey notes, good balance
2009 Bugey Pinot Noir - nice wine, good cherry fruit
2008 Mondeuse de Bugey - more earthy than the Pinot

Alice and Olivier De Moor
2008 Bourgogne Chitry - really liked this, lean and crisp
2009 Chablis Le Vandangeur Masque - very crisp, good chablis

Domaine Mosse
2009 Anjou Blanc - very nice chenin blanc, nutty and sour notes, fresh
2009 Anjou Blanc Rouchefer - a rounder style, nice wine but I preferred the less expensive version
There was a cabernet franc that I didn't care for.

Domaine Cazin
2008 Cour-Cheverny Romorantin - nice wine, chives and grass, nice mouthfeel

Domaine Filliatreau
I really liked the 2009 Saumur-Champigny La Grand Vignolle (vines grown in chalky soil)

Domaine Baudry
2009 Chinon Les Grezeaux - my favorite of the lineup

Domaine des Terres Dorees
All four of Brun's wines were good to very good. I especially liked the 2009 Cote de Brouilly and the 2009 Fleurie Grille Midi Vielles Vignes.

Renardat-Fache
Not my favorite style of sparkling (demi-sec) but could see it being a hit with a non-geeky crowd.

Cascina degli Ulivi
A couple whites from the cortese grape which I'm not very familiar with.
2009 Vino da Tavola Bellotti Bianco - aromatic, almond notes, interesting
2009 Gavi - aromatic, nut and pear notes, both of these wines would probably pair well with cheese

Occhipinti
2009 IGT Sicilia Rosso SP68 - fresh and balanced, easy to drink
There were two red wines bottled as 'Tami' which is a collaborative effort between Arianna and another winemaker. Arianna said that the intention of the Tami wines is to be more accessible based on price. The Frappato was light and not bad but not as good as Arianna's own Frappato. Same for the Nero D'Avola...I preferred it to the Frappato but its not as nice as Arianna's own Nero D'Avola.

Radikon
The 2005 Jakot is a beautiful wine, hits all the notes as far as complexity and balance.

Quinta do Infantado
Porto Tawny - for a reasonable tariff, a very honest and pleasurable tawny

This is very interesting. I tasted through what I could during the Louis/Dressner Grower Tour's visit to SF (between shifts at two different jobs). As always mightily impressed, and even if I had been there for the entire four-hour tasting I'm pretty sure I couldn't have made it through the entire lineup. But I did make good educational use out of what I did taste.

The interesting thing is the divergence among opinions of those who attended the New York event and what I experienced and heard at the San Francisco event surrounding Franck Pascal's Champagne. Reactions and the flutter among my fellow tasters was very positive regarding the wines, and my take on them was similar. I tried the NV Sagesse Brut Nature, which may have been (notes are hard to read here) 57 percent Pinot Meunier, 5 percent chardonnay and the rest Pinot Noir. I loved the nose, found it ethereal. And I must admit the differentness of Pinot Meunier-dominated noses is something I have a weakness for, but I almost never find them ethereal. Heavier, harder mouthfeel, I still found it wonderful wine. The 2005 Harmonie Blanc de Noirs (50-50 Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir) was a fruit explosion and tasted like the best fruit cookie ever. Nothing, to be honest, I'd be tempted to age, but delicious and notably so. The Confiance Coteaux Champenois was a blend of 2007 and 2008 and 80 percent Pinot Meunier and 20 percent Pinot Noir - ethereal nose again, layered, ethereal, some completely awesome notes of sour-oriented beers (Jolly Pumpkin to be specific), this is completely outstanding and completely different. And, alas, Salil is correct - it ain't cheap.

Very interesting that the wines got such a different reception over there, but there's always so many factors at play. I haven't heard what wines were served back east.

Amazing opportunity though, and always a highlight of my tasting year.

1982 Luneau Papin Musscadet Le L d'Or...must have been a real treat! `82 correct?

The interesting thing is the divergence among opinions of those who attended the New York event and what I experienced and heard at the San Francisco event surrounding Franck Pascal's Champagne.

Keith,
the wines served were I believe the NV Segesse and the 2005 Harmonie Extra Brut , but I'll doublecheck sheet later today. I didn't dislike them, just didn't think at $50-60 they were potential buys for me. And as noted I'm not great at large tastings with quick tastes. Another factor might have been tasting order. I initially planned to do whites, reds (I'm actually fine with doing reds first, but we started at a white-centric table, and I wanted to be consistent), and finally sweet wines - probably having roses and sparklers with whites but plan quickly fell apart as it got more crowded. Became clear that once you were talking to a vigneron, probably best to test range. So maybe the Champagnes suffered from where they were- did I taste after Luneau Papin or Peillot? Can't remember.

I put in an order for a mixed case at CSW - couple of Peillots and Luneau Papins, the Mosse Anjou, Cazin Cour -Cheverny, Filliatreau Grand Vignolle, Radikon Jakot, etc along with 2 thngs not in tasting I already wanted (T-Labaille and CRB SB). I could have easily filled another cases if finances and cellar space would have allowed.

Mark,
the 02 Renaissance was there, but that was I think first table I visited, and I foolishly thought I'd be able to return and was avoidng RS. But at least I've had before. With limited time in general I was concentrating on new wines.

Bob,
the '82 Muscadet wasn't open when I hit L-P table, but someone noted in on another board, so vintage is correct.

Bob,
the '82 Muscadet wasn't open when I hit L-P table, but someone noted in on another board, so vintage is correct.

Thanks Dale, I saw that on WB. Must have been a real treat for those fortunate tasters.

So maybe the Champagnes suffered from where they were- did I taste after Luneau Papin or Peillot? Can't remember.

Dale,

Always a ton of factors at play, so we never really know. But, I found it interesting that despite whatever order you tasted it in or other idiosyncratic factors, it wasn't just you. Most bulletin board recollections of the New York event had the Franck champagnes as meh, whereas most of the people I chatted with at the San Francisco event were all atwitter about the wines. Always interesting to first see what the specific wines were, but there's often an element of the unknown.

For the record, I sampled the Champagne after the Peillot wines. Not a perfect order, but I least I did the Champagnes before I hit the Roagna table for the barolos - which. were. stunning.

Keith

Keith,
I agree that the juxtaposition between SF and NYC is interesting. I tasted the Pascal champagnes (Sagesse and Harmonie) at the end of the tasting. I would say my indifference towards them may have had to do with a combination of palate fatigue and price point. I would have to add that I don't have much experience with champagnes that have a large percentage of Pinot Meunier. However, I do really like the Laherte Freres Champagne Chavot Brut Tradition that CSW sells for $40. The Laherte Freres is 60% Pinot Meunier.....an excellent champange for the money.

I'm sorry Roagna wasn't at NYC tasting, I've enjoyed the wines in past ('93 and '95 were extraordinarily well priced in a distributor dump few years ago here). I'll probably include some on my next order.

The tasting sheet lists both Sagesse Brut Nature and Harmonie Extra Brut as NV, but CSW site lists later as 2005. I'm assuming that the Harmonie is all 2005 fruit, but NV due to early release. I'd rank them above meh - didn't wow but I thought good- but over $40 I want my attention grabbed (which it sounds like happened in SF). I thought about bottle variation- Salil at least tasted about same time I did - but seems like multiple people had similar reactions.