WTN: Burg, Nahe, Italy, etc

Since we knew Monday wasn't meatless I decided Sunday could be, while Betsy played the opening matinee for Prima Donna I made a lasagna with mushrooms and spinach, a potato/asparagus soup, and prepped broccoli for roasting. She finished dinner while I ran her bows up to Chappaqua, we sat down to a nice dinner and the 2007 Pacalet Gevrey-Chambertin. Bright red fruits, lively, earth and a little dead leaf aroma. Medium-bodied, intensely earth (though I'm not sure I would have gone towards Gevrey if blind). Quite enjoyable, especially knowing it wasn't at usual Pacalet premium. Thanks to Salil for heads up. B+/A-

On Monday we took the dog and went over to friends' home for a dinner of spaghetti with red sauce loaded with meatballs, sausage, and braciole; there was also salad and Vidalia onions in white vinegar. And, of course, a few wines

2010 La Vieille Ferme Blanc
Ron was ambivalent about this, but I consider this a real rarity- a $7 wine that can hold one's interest. Hay, earth, citrus, apple, decent acidity, not long but at price quite good. B

2006 Mustilli "Cesco di Nece" Aglianico (Sant' Agata dei Goti)
Quite masculine,  dense dark fruits and tar. B

2004 Fontodi Chianti Classico
Black cherry, cedar, leather, still a touch of tannins, but drinking well overall. B+/B

Tuesday with butter/herb salmon, brown rice and nori, and spinach, the 2008 Brocard "Valmur" Chablis Grand Cru. Good acids, minerally, but really so tight that hard to get a handle on. Next night more lemony, chalky minerals, good length, but hint of oxidation starting. I should have re-tried at 8 AM. ? on night one, B+ on night two.

Wednesday we went to Gem Cuisines, started with Sichuan chicken pouches and tiny clams in a tangerine/black bean sauce, then shared chicken with two vinegars,red braised prawns with baby bok choy, and snow pea leaves with mushrooms. $10 corkage, with good stems, and we enjoyed the 2007 Schafer Frohlich Bockenauer Felseneck Spatlese GoldKapsel. Initiallytight but opens nicely. Big but with a solid core of electric acid, apple and tropical fruits overlying green herbs and mineral,
Like the 2009, a very good wine. B+/A-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

That Pacalet Gevrey's really nice, particularly at the CSW price. Heard about some bottle variation with those (though I think that's to be expected with the Pacalet style - or maybe people aren't checking the bio-d calendar before opening bottles ), but pleased to hear your bottle was so good.

Those Frohlich GK Spats are fantastic wines. Can't wait to see how they develop.

Hi Dale -

Thank you for the notes. I am with you and Salil on the 2007 Pacalet, especially if you found a great deal on it. Otherwise, the Pacalet wines can be kind of pricey for me, even if I understand their limited production and all.

Thank you for posting on the Fontodi Chianti as well. I have not tried the 2004 edition, but was very impressed by their wines at a tasting that I attended last fall. Anyway, I sampled a couple of 2004 Chianti Riservas recently that I will post notes on soon, and they were still rather tannic. Haven't tried a non-Riserva 2004 in a while though - I would have expected those to be less tannic by now. Oh well.

Andrew, Fontodi makes Chianti that are definitely on masculine/tannic side, I'd expect most CCs are less tannic than this.

Was thinking re the Pacalet as I had another Gevrey this week. Really love the wine. But in a funny way the "non-interventionist" winemaking signature sticks out more than some "interventionist" wines. The Pacalet has more in common with say a Foillard Morgon (which I love) than most Gevreys.

Agreed Dale, though I am curious to try a few of the Pacalet village wines together (say, the Nuits, Gevrey and Chambolle village wines) to see if there's a real difference or whether the 'Pacalet' signature dominates them all. (If so, I'll be glad I didn't spend on any of the top 1ers or GC bottlings )

Does he use semi-carbonic maceration on all his wines?

Andrew, Fontodi makes Chianti that are definitely on masculine/tannic side, I'd expect most CCs are less tannic than this.

Was thinking re the Pacalet as I had another Gevrey this week. Really love the wine. But in a funny way the "non-interventionist" winemaking signature sticks out more than some "interventionist" wines. The Pacalet has more in common with say a Foillard Morgon (which I love) than most Gevreys.

I realize that you put quotes around the words, but do you consider carbonic maceration to be non-interventionist? I suppose that it is, in one sense, since you aren't even crushing the grapes, but it does impart a rather invariant character to the wine, which is what I think you're saying here. I wonder if, like oak treatment, the imprint left by CM might not integrate into the wine with time (if all goes well) so that with age we'd see more terroir in evidence?

Mark Lipton

I actually wasn't aware or at least didn't remember that Pacalet used semi-carbonic maceration, but that makes sense. I was just remembering when I first heard of him the buzzwords were non-interventionist, low sulphur,etc. But prices were too high for me to really investigate. I am very bad actually at discerning winemaking techniques from finished wine- if you place a totally destemmed Burg next to same vintage/village wine that is totally full cluster, I can probably pick out most times, but if you put a glass in front of me and ask me to guess winemaking techniques I'll fail miserably.