WTN:American grower's Vouvray,fine Pomerol,Corsican white..

Faced by the evidence that we are not getting any younger and that preservation of health requires more moderation in consumption of both food and wine, we are now opened less bottles and are holding over more wine for consumption on subsequent days. My TNs reflect this. One consequence is that I reach less for my mature bottles, not because I like them any less than before but because they deteriorate too much overnight to give any pleasure the next day, thus requiring consumption in one session .

Highlight in the last month was the “discovery” of a fine Vouvray made by an American vigneron, Peter Hahn. There is a YouTube clip of him talking about his wine in French about as good as it gets for an English mother tongue person but I couldn’t find one in English. Another very good one was Château Beauregard 1998. The long note on Guigal's generic CDR was a submission for a Palate Calibration Exercise on another site; my appreciation was about average for that community.

2014 Domaine Patrick Hudelot Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits (2/20/2017)
Disappointingly dull. Medium/light body and colour, just a little sour cherry on the nose, little fruit, matt texture, acidity, rustic....Yawn! We left half the bottle. This was recommended by the Gault Millau magazine and some others, so I must conclude that it was showing better on its youthful fruit when they tasted it about a year ago.


1998 Domaine Lafran-Veyrolles Bandol - France, Provence, Bandol (2/21/2017)
At first I thought that this bottle would equal one which I drank in 2010 with its quite opaque colour and texture, fullish body, discreet rose tinted red and dark fruit and dark hued leather. But as the bottle progressed and with the lamb accompaniment the dark, leathery side increasingly dominated perhaps helped by a touch of brett. Let me not exaggerate; it was still enjoyable and good but it was once a lot more.


2014 Joseph Mellot Coteaux du Giennois La Gaupière - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Coteaux du Giennois (2/28/2017)
AFAIK this is the first C.Giennois which has come my way and this bottle doesn't encourage me to be seeking them out in the future. Clearly based on SB with citrus flavours veering to grapefruit, it was quite small and short on the palate with, if not the notorious cat's pee notes, then at least muddy dog. Fair.


2014 Domaine Henry Pellé Menetou-Salon - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Menetou-Salon (3/4/2017)
Chosen at the Spinnaker restaurant with the intention of having a lightish PN to accompany several dishes and to not overload us with alcohol for the drive home, it turned out to have have rather more colour and substance than expected with an attractive Pinot nose showing rich kirsch touches and medium body with quite complex fruit and some structure on the palate. I will see if I can find this to buy for home. Good.

[list][*]2014 Château de Varennes Savennières - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières (3/10/2017)
Since the 2010 vintage, I have found this wine a good QPR buy at c.€10 with very little vintage variation. The '13 at a similar age to this was a little less appealing than the others because slightly more acidic. This '14 is back to form with perhaps more youthful charm than most. Colour is a limpid pale yellow and the nose is fresh with some citrus and lots of minerals. The medium bodied dry palate plays variations on the same themes with nervous tension, some underlying "gras", fresh acidity and a mineral spine which is perhaps slightly less saline than I noticed in previous years. Very pure but still quite simplistic, it can be expected to develop more complexity. Good+.


2012 Les Arpents du Soleil Orange - France, Normandy (3/12/2017)
A nice crisp dry white but not great personality or QPR at €11 for 50cl. Better value to be had from, say, Muscadet, Mâconnais.....


2015 Domaine de la Charmoise Gamay Touraine Les Charmes du Gamay - France, Loire Valley, Touraine (3/16/2017)
10 months after the first bottle, rustic streak confirmed. Not my favourite entry level effort from Marionnet.

PS on 3/18/2017; I am enjoying this more than before with the rustic streak less noticeable. However am unable to say whether this is due to pairing, veal, or the two days opened.


1997 Cantine Giacomo Ascheri Barolo Vigna dei Pola - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (3/17/2017)
I was not expecting a lot from this wine, which was a lucky dip and modestly priced purchase in a supermarket and which had shown rather dully 7 years ago. It has opened up a lot since then and, last night, on a medium+ body was showing discreet but mature and attractive red fruit, quite caressing texture, some balsamic notes, minerals, fine acidity and still present but ripe tannic backbone. Very good now.


2015 Famille Amirault-Grosbois Bourgueil Les Caillottes - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil (3/18/2017)
Following the Marionnet Gamay, one can't help noticing much greater refinement coming from the Cabernet franc at Bourgueil. Medium bodied at most full of charming and lively red fruit with some gras, typical touches of charcoal, faint pepper, minerals, lively non-astringent acidity and some backbone, this is elegant and moreish. Will it age? Don't know, but why wait? Good+.


2013 Château Ollieux Romanis Corbières-Boutenac Cuvée Aristide - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Corbières-Boutenac (3/22/2017)
Aromatically quite shy at present with a medium+ bodied palate showing savoury complexioned fruit, a touch of leather, hints of spice and vanilla, some minerals with a slightly prickly sensation (but no visible bubbles) plus decent acidity and backbone. Good.

PS on 3/26/2017. The half full bottle has not only held up well after 4 days under VacuVin in the fridge but is in some ways better - more open, sweeter seeming fruit and smoother texture with just some orange peel notes pointing to decline in a matter of hours though giving nice complexity at present.


1996 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (3/23/2017)
Another crumbly cork and a bottle less open and harmonious than the second. Indeed it was more like the first with initially a slight aroma of a cement mixer at work which fortunately dispersed rapidly to reveal similar sour cherry, grilled rare meat, leather and rusty metal with olive hints. Very good.


2013 EARL Peter Hahn Vouvray Clos de la Meslerie - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (3/24/2017)
This is a delicious young medium bodied and very dry Vouvray showing bright white fruit and minerals beautifully focussed with mouth-watering acidity, underlying roundness and backbone. There is plenty of scope for the development of more complexity but already very good.


2012 Louis Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Château des Jacques - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent (3/25/2017)
This was in a half bottle at the charming restaurant, le Moulin Fouret, and was served at room temperature, warmer than I would serve at home but it supported well that temperature. More evolved than I was expecting and quite Pinot like with an expressive and complex aromas of cherry tinged mature red fruit, medium body, quite velvety texture, fine minerals and well integrated acidity and soft structural tannins. Good+.


2013 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (3/28/2017)
Nose typical of the region showing brambly dark fruit, some pepper and a hint of liquorice. Later on it opened up somewhat adding some plum and a little cherry. Palate medium/full bodied and quite structured but not giving the follow through and development of fruit and aromatics which I expected from the nose. Fair acidity and good structure with a dab of chocolate towards the finish. Sound and robust but a bit simplistic and lacking in charm and moreishness; one-third of the bottle left. It will be interesting to see if it opens up tomorrow.

Re-tasted on 3/30/2017, the wine is better integrated and more expressive after 48 hours under VacuVin in the fridge. With hindsight it looks as if decanting would have been beneficial. But I think that there are better CDRs and CDRVs around for the same price (€9) or less. Just about good


2014 Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Grande Réserve - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (3/29/2017)
Good, robust and typical Sancerre with citrus aromas, mainly grapefruit, medium+ body, lively fruit and minerals, underlying roundness, moreish acidity and good backbone. Good+.


1998 Château Beauregard - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol (4/1/2017)
Right from first sniff on opening, it was clear that this was a winner. Colour was still quite deep and dark. The nose was a superb blend of mature red fruit with balsamic, tobacco and fine mushroom notes, like truffles and ceps. Palate was medium/full bodied with good length, rich but still lively red fruit, velvety texture, some forest floor development, backbone and at first quite marked acidity which integrated better as the wine got more air and warmed a couple of degrees. This is what Pomerol is about. Excellent.


2015 Clos Sonnenta Corse - France, Corsica, Corse (4/2/2017)
This is a delicious young Mediterranean white which, unlike many from the south-eastern French mainland, avoids heaviness and obtrusive alcohol (only 12% here). It is medium/light bodied and full of white fruit, mainly citrus, Mediterranean herbs and some minerals and is enlivened by fresh moreish acidity and saline backbone. Probably needs to be drunk young but good+ right now.


2012 Les Allées de Cantemerle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (4/3/2017)
This is the second wine of Ch.Cantemerle, of which I have fond memories from visits to my parents in the 60s and 70s. This does not live up to those memories but hopefully the Grand Vin '12, of which I also have some bottles, will. Nose of red fruit, especially raspberry, with a touch of grilled meat and vanilla. Medium bodied palate with the same flavours but somewhat simplistic and raw with more marked acidity than ideal for balance. Maybe more time will smooth out some of the angles but I doubt if there is enough here to come close to the fragrantly elegant wine of my memories. Quite good.
Retasted on 4/4/2017, it had lost some bloom.


2014 Château les Fontenelles Bergerac - France, Southwest France, Dordogne, Bergerac (4/4/2017)
This followed the remaining third of a bottle Les Allées de Cantemerle and I preferred it for its greater purity of fruit and simplicity of ambition. Good wine and very sound QPR at €6.
PS 4/5/2017: 24 hours later, I find that my TN did not do justice to this wine. There is some complexity of fruit as well as purity and some density and backbone. Not for ageing, I think, but I upgrade to "I like" and 88 points and will be looking to buy more if not sold out.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the extensive notes. I thought about chiming in for the Guigal event, but the '12 is the current vintage at my stomping grounds rather than the '13.

Nice notes Tim. I too passed on the CdR, only the 2012 here.

Re the Guigal CDR, there were sharply divergent notes and scores during this Palate Calibration Exercise, far more than I would normally expect from different palates and bottle variation in a young wine. Part of the explanation lies in the fact that there are some 2 million bottles of this wine sold in each vintage so inevitably different bottling runs, if not different blends. However, it is quite possible that different blends are made to meet the perceived taste preferences in different markets. I know that the Rolland consultancy offers advice to its customers on how to do that. But that wouldn't explain why most of the divergent as well as the "normal" TNs came from the UK.

BTW a number of people tasted, noted and scored the 2012 and FWIW their average scores were higher than those for the 2013.

Nice. Always good to hear about new Vouvray with a backstory.

I really like the 2009 vintage of the Louis Jadot Moulin a Vent Chateau des Jacques but mine was listed as "Clos de Rochegres" which may be a special parcel? I bought two of these and have one remaining.