WTN: Chew on this

[Jenise]

So a friend of mine got some Bojo samples and brought them over to share over dinner. They have no prior experience with Beaujolais wines. I was very sorry to hear that the sample pack had included a JP Brun rose that had already been consumed. Drat!

I opened this Pouilly Fume to start:

2018 Francis Blanchet Pouilly-Fumé Kriotine Sauvignon Blanc
Nose shows some diesel, and on the palate it's all about canned pears. Bit of talc in the background, and an unexpected sweetness on the finish.


For the main course I served cedar-planked fresh Columbia River steelhead glazed with oyster sauce spiked with orange zest and ginger over lemon-pepper orzo and we tasted thru her three wines:

2018 Domaine des Fonds Saint-Amour Gamay
Very fruit-forward and carbonic, riddled with grapey, Bazooka bubble gum notes. Donated it to my vinegar project.

2017 Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Les Charmes Gamay
Medium bodied, strawberry fruit, graham cracker, pleasantly peppery. Mostly top notes so though it drinks fine now I sense there's more depth to come with time.

2016 Louis Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Château des Jacques Gamay
Traditional and savory, medium bodied, showing very well right now with earth, tomato and geranium leaf.


I hadn't realized she was bringing three bottles so I had chilled this next wine just in case, and though we'd truly had enough wine by the time I popped it I couldn't resist pulling it later to prove that the problem with the Saint-Amour wasn't typical of all young/2018 Bojos.

2018 Frédéric Berne Beaujolais-Villages Lantignié Granit Rosé Gamay
Dense, fruity and fleshy, with heavy spice and kirsch notes. Could be a bit cloying at room temp but cold straight out of the fridge on an 80 degree day? A gift.

[David M. Bueker]

I really like those Jadot MaV Beaujolais.

2018 Francis Blanchet Pouilly-Fumé Kriotine Sauvignon Blanc
Nose shows some diesel, and on the palate it's all about canned pears. Bit of talc in the background, and an unexpected sweetness on the finish..

You don't evaluate the wine, but this combination sounds pretty rough to me. Diesel is a tough note, and canned pears are never a good note in my book, indicating wines that are oxidized/too old/too malic-ey, and then the 'unexpected' sweetness doesn't sound like it helped either. From the descriptors I might have expected an older wine, but this was 2018. Maybe it was more than the sum of its parts?

Rahsaan said:

You don't evaluate the wine, but this combination sounds pretty rough to me... ...Maybe it was more than the sum of its parts?

I took away that this probably was not WOTN.

[Jenise]

You don't evaluate the wine, but this combination sounds pretty rough to me. Diesel is a tough note, and canned pears are never a good note in my book, indicating wines that are oxidized/too old/too malic-ey, and then the 'unexpected' sweetness doesn't sound like it helped either. From the descriptors I might have expected an older wine, but this was 2018. Maybe it was more than the sum of its parts?

Astute. That diesel note was odd, almost cheesy, reminding me of an aged Savennieres, and there was no sign of the "fresh lime leaf" I noted on a previous bottle. So while the wine was both pleasant and drinkable, it was severely out of whack with my expectations. I had to look at the bottle again to ensure yes, that WAS the bottle I meant to grab. Seemed older.

You don't evaluate the wine, but this combination sounds pretty rough to me. Diesel is a tough note, and canned pears are never a good note in my book, indicating wines that are oxidized/too old/too malic-ey, and then the 'unexpected' sweetness doesn't sound like it helped either. From the descriptors I might have expected an older wine, but this was 2018. Maybe it was more than the sum of its parts?

Astute. That diesel note was odd, almost cheesy, reminding me of an aged Savennieres, and there was no sign of the "fresh lime leaf" I noted on a previous bottle. So while the wine was both pleasant and drinkable, it was severely out of whack with my expectations. I had to look at the bottle again to ensure yes, that WAS the bottle I meant to grab. Seemed older.

Pleasant and drinkable sounds better than I might have guessed. So, at least it was that!

[Jenise]

Well, let me put it this way, there was nothing that would come across as flawed to someone who didn't have prior familiarity.