WTN: 2005 Drouhin Saint-Veran

2005 Drouhin Saint-Veran

Sipping same as I type.

Golden hue. Excellent floral nose. Fruit forward taste. Nice light weight sipper. Perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon while I paint the *&#^%@! trim in my Son's bedroom. At $10.79 USD I say "Hell yes!".

Sam,

I love those wines as well--any really well made Macon. We drink lots of the stuff in the summer. St. Veran can be the best QPR as it used to be classified Pouilly-Fuisse and sold for a higher price. You may already know that

Macon and Chablis need to be explored by more folks who think they know what Chardonnay tastes like and think they don't like it! Those clear crisp flavors are so refreshing! And it's Chardonnay!!

I live in South Bend. Where do you live in Hoosierland?

Jim Lester
Wyncroft, LLC

I love those wines as well--any really well made Macon. We drink lots of the stuff in the summer. St. Veran can be the best QPR as it used to be classified Pouilly-Fuisse and sold for a higher price. You may already know that

Yes, I knew that St. Veran had been P-F at one time. I can pick it up for less than half the price of most P-F's and I don't taste much of a degradation in quality. We drink St. Veran, as well as P-F in the summer for the most part, but it did brighten up my trim painting.

I am due south of you in Kokomo.

Great Sam,

If you ever get to the Bend, call me. Cell is 574-286-8942 We have a nice group of wine folks here who dine and wine together on occasion. I have two friends whom I taught winemaking to that have made two vintages now of unoaked Chardonnay from Lemon Creek Farms in Berrien Springs, MI. They have a nice patch of Chardonnay Dijon clone 96 and sell some of the grapes to home winemakers. The wine tastes like a Macon wine with lovely pear and Golden Delicious apple flavors. You may enjoy tasting it.

Additionally, I own Wyncroft, a small boutique winery just over the border in Buchanan, MI. Glad to show you around and barrel taste.

Jim Lester
Wyncroft, LLC

Nice wine, Sam. I had a glass while resting from installing bamboo flooring in our new closet. It would be fun to be competent in this sort of arena.

Clogged up the power nailer; with luck got a manual replacement at Home Depot, they were out of the fancy hammer with lots of weight and rubber exterior -- but I had one from the air pressure place -- so the closet is 80% done, I've got two sets of flooring equipment to return by 8:00 am tomorrow and 20% to install against the back wall where neither of the nailers will work -- the wall is too close -- so I'm drilling starter holes and banging in finishing nails -- sounds over whelming frankly for an OF ...

Guess I'll finish the bottle and worry about the rest of it tomorrow.

Hey thanks for the TN. I picked up a bottle of this about a week ago along with a bottle of the Drouhin P-F. The P-F went well with an herb-crusted roast loin of pork, so well that I bought another bottle. Any food match suggestions for the St.-Veran?

Sam,
I agree on the Drouhin S-V. When I was PT-ITB, this was by far our largest selling Chardonnay year in and year out, domestic or imported. The stuff would fly out the door by the case load.
Bill

If you ever get to the Bend, call me.

James,

Thanks for the kind invitation. I would love to visit your winery sometime when I'm in the area.

Any food match suggestions for the St.-Veran?

I think that scallops would be an excellent choice for the S-V. A nice baked white fish with a little squirt of lemon might be a good match as well.

Sam,
Like the others, I too like this wine for its QPR value and its straightforward Chardonnay character. Here's what I wrote in November about the '05 version:

Out to dinner last night with a visiting speaker who expressed a desire for a Chardonnay, we settled on a bottle of the 2005 Drouhin St. Veran, conveniently priced that night at the restaurant for $11.50 (normally $23)

nose: initially, some buttery notes, later turning to lemons and a hint of apples
palate: initially, soft and buttery, but after 10 minutes, the wine got crisper and more delineated with lemony flavors emerging; medium body with a fairly crisp finish

Overall, a very nice effort from Drouhin, especially considering the price. This is not a wine for the long haul, but it'll probably drink well for the next 1-2 years. The speaker, who had mostly had CalChards, liked the wine quite a bit.

Mark Lipton