WTN: Celebrating the warmest June on record

We all need reasons to celebrate, why not? Now that NOAA says it's official: June was the warmest on record for the Lower 48. At least these wines were not:

Dom. Joseph Roty, Marsannay, 'les Ouzely', 2008
Crunnchy red fruits. The wood has faded and but stays in the background unlike earlier bottles where it stuffed up your nose. Still youthful. B+

School House Vineyard, 'Mescolanza', Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District, 2009
This is such a cool little big wine that you could picture the Dig Ems frog harping about. Aromatic dust and damson plum on the nose, this is a savory-sided zinfandel, perhaps due to its blend (zin, petite sirah, carignane). Sour cherry, raspberry puree, cement dust, with a sweet end-note, but still having some strong tea bag tannins on the finish. Very nice weight and balance for a wine sporting 14.2%, has a nice liveliness. A-

Mastrojanni, Brunello di Montalcino, 2008
Almost lactic aroma. Sour cherry, with umeboshi plum. Has a strange weight: full at first but then thins in the middle. Wood that needs to resolve. A grenache-like sweetness, which is fine if you like your Italians to taste like Chateauneuf. 15%

Texier, Domaine de Pergaud, St. Julien en St. Alban, 'vielle serine", 2010
Losing the vibrant deep purple this had upon release. A floral aroma, with some iodine and salt marsh plum. Quite different from an earlier bottle I had: having lost lush baby fat, the acidity is showing more now in this medium-bodied syrah, turning crisper as it leans toward red fruit. I'm not sure what this will morph into with age, as it feels thinner than it did at conception, and less charming too. Here's hoping it doesn't shed more fruit. 13% B/B+

Chateau Musar, 2003
Here is a hot year wine that doesn't feel 'hot'. A high toned, red fruited, wine with a spicy finish, just a slight musky feel to it. What's not to like? Needs lamb kebabs. A-

G. D. Vajra, Langhe, Freisa, "Kye", 2006
I like Vajra's Barolo, but this wine I don't understand. Pretty thick and uni-dimensional, with charred mulberry and blackberry juice, some slight camphor and gum mastic notes on the end, only medium-lowish acidity. Interesting to try once, but I won't be fooled again. 14.5% B+/A-

[David M. Bueker]

It was an exactly normal June here in Connecticut.

I am not clear on your markings. You seemed to like the Texier more than the Vajra, in fact you seemed to not like the Langhe. Are the grades random?

It was an exactly normal June here in Connecticut.

CT is not the totality of the Continental United States (in fact, just a small, tiny corner of it).

I am not clear on your markings. You seemed to like the Texier more than the Vajra, in fact you seemed to not like the Langhe. Are the grades random?

Definitely not random. I liked the Vajra better than the Texier: it was better made, but not in the style that I prefer. Freisa is never this heavy. The Texier, if you read the notes, had acidity that was out of whack. I enjoyed a bottle of the same wine immensely when it came out, but this 2nd bottle did not thrill me, and in fact, I thought something wrong with it. Perhaps this has more stuffing than I thought. It sure didn't have the puppy-love slurpability of the first. I have another bottle to find out years hence.

[David M. Bueker]

Not trying to say the lower 48 wasn't hot...just not here. July is shaping up as a scorcher so far.

Your note on the Vajra reads as outright dislike.

[Jenise]

Good to see a note from you again, Mark.

We've had an odd summer, actually, in Northern California. There is media about a hot summer and fire season, but. We have had heat waves, but they have been quite brief (a few days) and there have also been periods where it seems temperate. This morning was freezing-the fog was visible from Vacaville 50 miles from the Bay, and Fairfield is overcast with fog. Cold marine wind as well.

I'm confused about the grades as well. I guess I am used to Dale's letter grades-and he grades much more harshly than you do!

I'm confused about the grades as well. I guess I am used to Dale's letter grades-and he grades much more harshly than you do!

Sorry if any confusion. I try to grade like a college prof would grade, basically most kids are "above average" (at least in their own minds!) and it is a relative scale where shown effort and latent potential are taken into account. I think Dale's grades a bit tougher than mine and his letters do not correspond to mine.

For the Kye, the wine seeming to offer misunderstandings, it was fine...if you like big, modern wines that are rather forceful. I don't care for that, but I am not going to take points away from that just because I don't like the style. It was still well-made with nothing really out-of-whack, but for the price (around $36 or so), I don't wish to buy it again. I could see how it work in different situations though. Whereas the Texier got points reduced because I remember how much I liked the first bottle. This one I didn't care to drink that much, so it got smote.

I don't think my grades are tougher than Markus's , just maybe he gives more weight to more objective standards (not flawed, what winemaker intended). I think EVERYONE's scores are only meaningful in context of that author.

FWIW, I think our takes on the Kye aren't that different even if I score less- had blind a few years ago
[b]
#1 - by time I try someone has already guessed Italy and it's been confirmed. Big, tannic, fruit-driven. I'm thinking something like modern Aglianico, but it's from the north- the 2006 Vajra "Kye" Freisa. I pretty much could guarantee if you gave me 25 guesses as to variety I'd have never gone to Freisa. B/B-
[/b]

I don't think my grades are tougher than Markus's , just maybe he gives more weight to more objective standards (not flawed, what winemaker intended). I think EVERYONE's scores are only meaningful in context of that author.

FWIW, I think our takes on the Kye aren't that different even if I score less- had blind a few years ago
[b]
#1 - by time I try someone has already guessed Italy and it's been confirmed. Big, tannic, fruit-driven. I'm thinking something like modern Aglianico, but it's from the north- the 2006 Vajra "Kye" Freisa. I pretty much could guarantee if you gave me 25 guesses as to variety I'd have never gone to Freisa. B/B-
[/b]

[David M. Bueker]

The reason I gave up scoring. I hope (though I don't always succeed) that the note makes it clear whether I actually liked the wine, and why.