Here are some notes from recent dining at home with the extended family.
N.V. Duval-Leroy Champagne Brut. Here we have a wine with a bright, zesty nose of green herbs, lemon zest, chalk and graphite that isn’t real deep or complicated, but lively and fresh. It is similar in the mouth, with an overt zestiness to the green apple, lemon, flint and other mineral notes that are taut, crunchy and direct. It isn’t real nuanced or graceful, but is driven, tense and acutely cut with fresh acidity and flavor.
2009 Domaine Clos des Rochers Auxerrois Grand Premier Cru Moselle Luxembourg. This wine makes me think of an alpine meadow in Spring, with its lovely aromas of white flowers, honeysuckle, granite, tree fruit, hay and lemon candy that are extremely pretty but not overly delicate or anything. In the mouth, it has an interesting density and full-knit texture to it that I wasn’t expecting and although it opens with a little tingle of frizzante on the entry, it is immediately more fleshy and waxen through the rest of the palate journey. There is solid density of gently sweet and flowery flavor here, too—apples, pears, white peach, clover and hay among them. I like this a good deal and like the QPR on it even better.
2010 Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Rose. This is a rather pale pink in color and offers up fresh aromas of sweet strawberry and rhubarb to go along with crunchy minerals and chalk in a pleasant give and take. In the mouth, it is gentle and rather easy-drinking—with a soft palate impression and decent plumpness of strawberry, citrus and other berry fruit flavors. It is pleasant and quite pretty, but not really cut or overtly refreshing, so while I think it is appealing to a wide range of palates, I would not plan to sit on this wine too long.
2010 Bodegas Gurrutxaga Bizkaiko Txakolina Rose. This is very much a darker-colored wine—almost burnt orange-red in color. It is more muscular and wiry in nature on the nose, with a lot of salinity and mineral notes supporting dried cherry fruit aromas. On the palate, it continues the theme of crunchy, salty character—with a little tickle of effervescence ratcheting that up even more. Otherwise, it features tart cranberry and cherry fruit in a much more taut and dry style that definitely calls out for food. Though not likely to be an immediate crowd-pleaser, it is interesting, different, and kind of fun to have in the summer repertoire.
1985 E. Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde. This wine displays a rather intriguing and complex bouquet of hickory-smoked bacon, coal, old leather hides, cigar wrapper, sarsparilla, brown leaves, toasted nuts, furrowed earth, blackened orange peel, pomegranate and tiny hints of funky barnyard. As the night goes on, it just shows more and more facets of its masculine, brawny personality while slowly seeming to leave the coarser barnyard notes behind. In the mouth, it is extremely masculine and savory—full of earthy, ashen and leathery qualities that tend to over-ride the smoked cherry and pomegranate sorts of fruit notes. Although there are no real tannins left to contend with, the wine is quite dry and in fact becomes far too dry and attenuated on the finish as the evening wears on. I think it was a bit of a challenge for my non-geek guests, but I enjoyed it (though not nearly as much as a fantastic bottle from two years earlier). I think I would recommend drinking up.
1995 E. Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape. The nose here is a delightful panoply of sweaty horse saddle, tilled earth, rawhide leather, black pepper, persimmon and dried cherries all done in a gently rustic and layered way that is decidedly more earthy than the 2000 and just seems to hit me exactly the right way on this occasion. In the mouth, it is full of deep red fruit flavors accented by toasted citrus peel accents and cool savory notes throughout. It has a cool personality but also a little bit of nice sweetness to the somewhat open-knit and resolved fruit flavors. It has good presence and push and some soft tannins, so while I think this is drinking at or very near to its peak, it ought to hang in there a bit longer, too.
2000 E. Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape. The 2000 offers a plusher bouquet all around, with lots of high-toned cherry and raspberry fruit aromas right out front and some interesting minor notes of cocoa, earth, tobacco, menthol and smoked meat in support from time to time. In the mouth, it considerably fresher in tone and character than the more resolved 1995—providing plenty of sappy raspberry and cherry flavors that have solid grip and are well-framed by plentiful but yielding tannins. It is clean, juicy and finely-balanced, but ultimately just not as characterful as the 1995.
2004 Ovid Experiment E0.4 Napa Valley. We decanted this for about 2 hours before drinking it with beef tenderloin. The bouquet is plush and powerful, hitting the nostrils with layers of blueberries, chocolate, red currants, burnt embers, menthol leaf and cedar. In the mouth, it more medium-bodied than full, but it has sneaky density to it and loads of glycerin. I like the little streak of menthol and tobacco running beneath the rich chocolate and mixed currant-fruited core. It has plenty of push, a very nice depth of fruit flavor and those interesting leafier accents to keep it grounded. It stays rock solid all night long, with no drop-off at all, and I think I’ll hold my other bottle for a while longer to see where it goes.
-Michael