WTN: St. Inno, Te Awa, Joguet, Clos St. Jean, Vieux Tf

[Jenise]

Some recent reds:

From a brown bag tasting:

2010 Borgogno Dolcetto d'Alba
Berries, peppery, much acid, good but not great: not hard to get 'Italian' but after that we were stumped. 'Dolcetto' never popped into our heads.

2000 Te Awa 'Boundary', New Zealand
This Bordeaux blend was stunning and easily the best red of the night. Highly aromatic and rich without being sweet, qualified guesses were evenly split between old and new world provenance. Gasps were heard round the table when it was revealed to be over 80% merlot. At peak, but should hold here for a few years.

2010 Blue Mountain Gamay Noir, British Columbia
Light with tart cactus pear fruit and cumin, tight and green. Not a good showing for BM's Gamay Noir which I've liked in other (warmer?)vintages.

2001 Joguet Clos de Chene, Loire Valley
Wet horse and a bit of poop overwelmed the nose initially. Needed time to show some herbs and fruit, and even then it gave those grudgingly. Think some decanting would have served it better.

2007 Domaine L'Oustal Blanc 'La Louviniere' Minervois
Pleasant, ripe and full like a California grenache. In fact, when it turned out not to be that, we had trouble thinking what else it could be.

2003 Bernard Griffin Merlot, Washington
Biggest surprise of the night. Nobody at this table thinks well of Bernard Griffin nor would they dare suggest holding onto a BG merlot, but dang if someone didn't, and dang if it wasn't pretty decent in spite of the Amercan oak.

2007 Clos St. Jean Chateneuf du Pape
Strange. Barely recognizable for CdP or the warm 07 vintage. Nothing Californian here, rather it was green and weedy. A thumbs-down from all.


So the next night, I opened another Clos St. Jean to compare:

2009 Clos St. Jean, Chateneuf du Pape
Warm red cherry fruit, lush on the palate and rather modern/international. Our house guest, tasting blind, thought it might be a California pinot. And though very slurpable, somewhat ordinary for a CdP but comforting after the 07 in light of the fact that I have more 09's in the cellar and a half dozen '10s purchased for fall delivery.

And then just to assure myself that my take on the CSJ wasn't unfair, and to give our guest a new experience, I opened a:

2007 Vieux Telegraf, CdP
OH YEZ, as our dear Rogov used to say. Here is magnificence. The alcohol that had disturbed me on the first tasting a few years ago has somehow resolved into the spicy raspberry fruit and en pointe acidity and tannins and a long, rich finish. Drinks beautifully without decanting. Outstanding.

And then because pinot had been mentioned, I pulled a:

2005 St.Innocent Seven Springs Vineyard Pinot Noir, Oregon:
Mistake. Too tight for immediate drinking, so we set it aside for a day or two--we didn't know which it would need. Turned out to only need one. Classic St. Innocent Seven Springs (I have yet to taste what Evening Land has done with the vineyard, which they now own): beautiful black cherry fruit with Asian spices, mushrooms and brooding foresty notes. Excellent structure. Needs just a bit more time for drinking without prior decanting, but this wine is getting very close to ready and should age well in the bottle.

IMO red Loire is destined for failure in a blind tasting of this kind. It's just not a show wine.

I've had the 2000 Boundry and liked it very much, probably because as you say it straddles the new/old world styles. Great to see it perform well. Here's my own note on the wine:

• 2000 Te Awa Boundary - New Zealand, North Island, Hawkes Bay, Gimblett Gravels (3/19/2012)
  This wine (under cork closure) is toward the mature end of its drinking window and drinking wonderfully. Its fruit is round, mature and broad with some nice acid and a little bit of tannic structure keeping it alive. There is a bit of band-aid and a smoky dark cigar and leather note keeping the low end solid. Softening but still firm enough to hold together. I get the impression that NZ reds use acid rather than tannins and oak to form structure, which means that the wines aren't long long lived. This one is in a good place (for this pristine bottle) but I wouldn't push it much longer. Nice to drink NZ wine with some bottle age.
  B

[Jenise]

IMO red Loire is destined for failure in a blind tasting of this kind. It's just not a show wine.

I've had the 2000 Boundry and liked it very much, probably because as you say it straddles the new/old world styles. Great to see it perform well. Here's my own note on the wine:

• 2000 Te Awa Boundary - New Zealand, North Island, Hawkes Bay, Gimblett Gravels (3/19/2012)
  This wine (under cork closure) is toward the mature end of its drinking window and drinking wonderfully. Its fruit is round, mature and broad with some nice acid and a little bit of tannic structure keeping it alive. There is a bit of band-aid and a smoky dark cigar and leather note keeping the low end solid. Softening but still firm enough to hold together. I get the impression that NZ reds use acid rather than tannins and oak to form structure, which means that the wines aren't long long lived. This one is in a good place (for this pristine bottle) but I wouldn't push it much longer. Nice to drink NZ wine with some bottle age.
  B

Matt--so nice to know someone else knows this wine. This was my bottle, and our last bottle of two cases we've drunk through during the last six or so years. It's been a great wine all along, though I tended to keep getting early warning signals that made us drink it sooner rather than hold it for the most part. This last bottle suggests we over-reacted, but based on the bottles before this I wouldn't have bet on it. Fantastic wine, though.

IMO red Loire is destined for failure in a blind tasting of this kind. It's just not a show wine.

Depends on the crowd. For certain groups around here it would have been the most promising category in that list.

Plus I'm guessing the brett Jenise found didn't help matters much.

[Jenise]

IMO red Loire is destined for failure in a blind tasting of this kind. It's just not a show wine.

Depends on the crowd. For certain groups around here it would have been the most promising category in that list.

Plus I'm guessing the brett Jenise found didn't help matters much.

Actually, my comments didn't do the Joguet justice. It and the Te Awa were the standouts of that group, but it took quite awhile for the Joguet to pop and I guess inside my own head I was thinking I've had better aged bottles of Joguet, too.

Rahsaan - Red Loire is perhaps my favorite category of wine, Joguet probably my favorite producer. I just don't think always it shows well in that setting. Which is a plus in my book, actually.

Since we're on the subject, Chambers St has put 3 bottlings of 2009 Coulaine on sale. I've not had wine from this heralded vintage, but I am a big fan of Coulaine and the prices are phenomenal.

Jenise, I bid on and won six bottles of the 2007 Vieux Telegraphe "La Crau" in April 2010 when it was my favorite of a tasting of 8 or 9 CdP of the 2007 vintage. (Roger Sabon and Beaucastel were my second and third favorites.) I haven't opened any of the Vieux Telegraphe yet and had planned to take one to Joel's and Sally's at MO'COOL. Unfortunately I can't find where I stashed the six bottles so took a Super Tuscan instead. Maybe next year.