WTN: Copain, Papes, Ridge, Jaboulet, Chadwick

Lunch notes:

2002 Javillier Meursault Let Tillets Cuvee Speciale – medium yellow colour, good fruit in the nose with clean chardonnay character, citrus and floral nose, good length, crisp finish.

2002 Copain Pinot Noir Cerise Vd. (Anderson V.) – medium colour density, an immediately identifiable pinot nose, more French than new world, ample fruit and medium long finish. Very nice.


2000 Giorgio Primo Chianti Classico (La Massa) – earthy fruit nose OK concentration, very dry finish.

1981 Ch. Montrose – corked! Biggest disappointment for me as I love the house and appreciate the vintage while many seem to have forgotten it. Don’t know if it would have held up after all this time, but we’ll never know from this bottle. A shame.

1995 Ch. Kirwan – this Margaux was fairly dark, with a pleasant nuttiness to the nose that turned out to be it’s best feature, as the fruit was only adequate and it tapered off into a dry somewhat tannic finish. Off bottle? I am upgrading timing on my holdings of this for investigation soon to find out, as I had hopes for it.


1999 Clos des Papes CNduP – medium colour depth, a cherry and mocha nose, pleasant, and now a soft, friendly tasty wine that doesn’t need any further cellaring.

2004 Eddie Feraud CNduP – darker wine with the nose a bit tight, drinking well now, mouth in the mouth and well balanced.

1999 Ridge York Creek Petit Sirah – warmer wine, dark and with a nose of berry fruit, soft tannins in the mouth and a long soft sweet finish. Should have been served after the next wine.

1991 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle – last time I opened one of these, it was classic Asian spice, pepper and blackberry. This time the dominant impression was of vanilla. The spice was still there, but it seemed almost new world given the vanilla in the forefront. Medium colour, lots of acidity, and some smokiness, tasty and good length.

2001 Chadwick – this Errazuriz wine was lovely, with a slightly ripe slightly rubbery nose with some briar, a slightly off dry impression on mid palate, but finishing dead dry. Very good.

2008 Poplar Grove Syrah – no one saw this as a BC wine. Quite dark with a blue fruit nose, soft and very slightly off dry in the mouth pleasant and fairly extracted.

We finished with a blind Pineau des Charentes that I didn’t catch the name of and I had to go back to the office while everyone else went to find a couch somewhere to nap until dinner. Life is so unfair sometimes!

[Jenise]

2002 Javillier Meursault Let Tillets Cuvee Speciale – obviously chardonnay, obviously white burg, obviously meursault with that pineapple nose. Never heard of this producer, but the wine performed way above expectations for a 10 year old village wine. Most of us thought '04 or younger. Kudos to David for not just brining this, but buying it in the first place. Especially in light of what happened later, was sorry Manny passed up the older California chardonnay (restrained, burgundian style) that I brought just in case more whites were needed. Would have been an interesting comparison.

2002 Copain Pinot Noir Cerise Vd, Anderson Valley. Medium color, very good pinosity in the nose with a bit of that California iodine. Otherwise quite Burgundian and excellent on the palate; every time I have an Anderson Valley pinot I wonder why the world doesn't clamor for more of this appellation. This bottle is proof that they should; well, at least the Europhiles should.

2000 La Massa 'Giorgio Primo' Chianti Classico (La Massa) – Spicy, some mud toward the end of the midpalate indicating, for me anyway, that the wine is past peak and the fruit is heading into a dark hole. Still enjoyable, but drink up if you have them.

1995 Ch. Kirwan – Did not pick up Bordeauxishness initially on this wine, and a Bordeaux that provides so few clues is usually a disappointment. This one was; very drinkable and no major flaws, just kind of lacking in every department.

1981 Ch. Montrose – My wine. CORKED.

1999 Clos des Papes CNduP – Spicy with ripe tomato skin and green tomato leaf. Fully mature, very delicate and pinot-like at first, develops some peppery notes with time. Delicious.

2004 Eddie Feraud CNduP – Devin's wine. Strangely didn't take a single note on this wine, but I liked it a great deal. I have some Eddie Ferauds in the cellar I haven't tasted yet, am quite happy about this.

1999 Ridge York Creek Petit Sirah – Very dark fruit, very blue and black on the palate and in the glass, big mouthfeel with iron and licorice. Hard to pin down at first because so few of us drink Petite Sirah; this wine points out our mistake. Excellent.

1991 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle – Smokey vanilla nose, raw pipe tobacco spice and coconut. No tannins. Soft and tasty with a lot of resonance. A wine to go curl up in a corner with.

2001 Errazuriz Chadwick – I was in a very different place than you re this wine. I presume that what you're calling 'briar' is what I didn't like about it, it's a green cactus-kind of thing that I occasionally taste on Chilean and only Chilean wines--regardless of variety, I've even tasted it on pinots--that I don't care for at all. I set the glass aside to come back to later and found the fruit had fleshed out a bit covering up more of that green thing, but not erasing it completely. Not what I hope for from a $50 bottle.

2008 Poplar Grove Syrah – you captured it well. This tasted more like another Chilean than any wine from BC.

I didn't get the Pineau des Charentes' name either. Very apple cider nose and hazelnutty on the palate without the mild oxidative character that the others I recall having had. On the simpler side with lower acidity, but enjoyable.

Interesting notes, Jenise, and a different take on some of the wines than my impression, which is fun.

We'll enjoy your Californian mature chard another day. I pulled a 1997 Saintsbury Chard recently that was delightful.

You appear to have coined another word in your review of the Copain (assuming that you mean something oter than my wife does by 'excellent pinosity"....)

Kirwan - I guess I was about the only one in Bordeaux with this one, but I agree, mediocre Bordeaux ain't like the real deal (found a bottle of 1978 Lanessan in the cellar on the weekend, popped it, tasted and consigned it to marination duty. Opened a bottle of the 1995 and drank it)

Clos des Papes - I wasn't getting that much tomato leaf on it, but agree - delightful wine.

Chadwick - interesting that you got more of the green than I did, or maybe it just bothered you more, to the point where you didn't enjoy it. I have some of this and may open one some time so you can have a second look.

Am currently thinking about what wine to bring next month to keep you guys confused. I've done Aussie wines and off vintages of Bordeaux and now mature Hermitage. May have to resort to the Arufiat!

[Jenise]

We'll enjoy your Californian mature chard another day. I pulled a 1997 Saintsbury Chard recently that was delightful.

I said "older" but that only means compared to brand new. Need a good adjective for "has a little age on it", which is how I'd categorize a good 6 year old domestic chardonnay most days. Not so surprised about the 97 Saintsbury. A better (cooler) vintage for whites than reds, and Saintsbury makes wines that last though you wouldn't typically name Saintsbury in the same sentence as, say, Stoney Hill, whose wines are made for the long haul.

Re the Clos des Papes and the Chadwick, sometimes I wonder about our sensitivities. You and I both have good palates, but we don't identically taste the same thing to the same degree in wine. The tomato leaf really stood out to me, but it's a note I love and am familiar with from mid-California pinots (Santa Barbara especially). Where the opposite is true about the Chadwick. UGH. I didn't find it at all subtle, rather quite noticeable and a disagreeable characteristic I have only had in Chilean wine. I presume its an underripeness thing but if is, I'm mystified why underripe Chilean wines would taste different than underripeness from anywhere else, regardless of grape. Must be something else, but I haven't a clue what. I actually own some Chadwicks, bought after a tasting you and I went to at Manny's other restaurant. I'm thinking they're 2000's, though, instead of the 01's.

[David M. Bueker]

Every time I drink a Ridge Petite Sirah I wonder to myself why I don't own (and drink) more.

Every time I drink a Ridge Petite Sirah I wonder to myself why I don't own (and drink) more.

I had the impression you drank enough already....oh, you meant more Ridge.....

[Jenise]

Every time I drink a Ridge Petite Sirah I wonder to myself why I don't own (and drink) more.

I know. We owned the majestic '91.