So the other day we met new friends for dinner in La Conner. We had never met F2F before, but had gotten to know each other online via my local Wine & Food Facebook page and just knew we had uncommon degree of shared tastes. I had said I'd bring a nice red from my cellar. I had a Raphet Burgundy and an old Beaucastel ready to go but hadn't made up my mind which to take. I knew friend Bob had a thing for Chablis and other Burgundy while his wife loved Bordeaux, but I was dying to open that Beaucastel, hence my indecision.
We left home in a state of anxiety as it was snowing and would be a slow trip, and we needed to check into our hotel before arriving at the restaurant. 20 minutes into the journey I realized I'd forgotten the wine. It was too late to turn back so I called the owner of my favorite Bellingham wine store from the car, explained the emergency and asked for any red Burgundy, $100-150. When we got there, Ted had splash-decanted a 2018 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale for me. We grabbed it and ran, then decanted it again at the restaurant. Reading back through notes on this wine on CT, had to shake my head. In Jan this year someone called it simple, and in contrast four months later someone found it dense and heavy. What we had was none of those things. Our bottle was just medium-bodied, closer to delicate than dense, and totally alive with rapturous spice, violets and acidity. Lovely, ethereal. Blind, anyone who knows Burgundy would have immediately recognized its origins.
Before we got around to drinking the red, though, we enjoyed this wine from the restaurant's menu:
2020 Castello di Ama Al Poggio Toscana IGT Chardonnay
Italian whites often have a distinct flavor found nowhere else, an attractive stemmy note that might be from whole cluster fermentation, and this has it in spades along with rich yellow orchard fruit and some floral characteristics. Good body and balance, very classy. $90 on the list.
After the Burgundy we were still feeling the desire for a bit more, and turns out my new friend had forgotten the Sauternes he'd intended to bring, so from the list he ordered a 2020 Petit Chablis Les Charmes du Barrois. Unfortunately, there's no producer name on the front label I took a photo of, and a CT search failed to reveal a PC with that vineyard designation. I called the restaurant and they could not seem to locate a producer name either so god knows what it was, except that it punched well above it's price (would be around $30 retail) and Petit status.
A few nights later at home, we opened the following from a new top tier Washington producer, Pášxa (a first nation name meaning I don't know what), made by the guy I think is this state's best winemaker, Todd Alexander. At $80 ea retail, these wines aren't for beginners, but the price is pretty much the going rate for wines of this quality. 2019 Pášxa Grenache River Rock Vineyard The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater Bright and brooding at the same time. Some flowers on the nose with serious pomegranite fruit, dark cherry and cactus pear. Excellent palate weight, long finish. 15% alcohol sneaks under the radar.
