You know it's Friday the 13th when you bash your shin so hard into the side of a stationary bike that you wind up at the doctor's office. Guess I'm glad I wasn't riding in traffic this morning! Too early for wine but not too early to write about it.
Olga Raffault 2021 Chinon Rosé. Great as always: lively red fruit and peach, finishing dry and herbaceous, slightly saline. Juicy and mouthwatering.
Veyder-Malberg 2014 Wachau Grüner Veltliner Hochrain. Still seems pretty youthful, though the acidity is less than piercing, and there’s a savory edge to the fruit that suggests maturity—something like the difference between fresh and preserved lemon—as well as pleasant notes of wooliness and camphor. One bottle left and I won’t rush to drink it too soon; this seems like a candidate for continued mid-term development. I'm not experienced with aged Grüners, but now have a bunch, and this is a promising sign.
López de Heredia 2012 Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia. Black cherry fruit, very bright and high-toned, bloody and savory-herbaceous, moderate tannin. Very expressive on opening but shut down in the glass a bit, returning to life with some time. CT reviewers suggest time in a decanter, and I agree; with that caveat, it’s delicious now but has lots of room for further development.
Dirty and Rowdy 2014 Mendocino County Chardonnay, Alder Springs Vineyard. Crushed seashells and a spritz of citrus on a light frame. This shows astonishingly few signs of age, and while the second half of the bottle had lost some verve 48 hours later, it was still fresh and tasty. Not sure this will develop much more, but seems in no danger of falling apart. Excellent with a simple fish dinner.
Sottimano 2014 Barbaresco Pajoré. Was looking for a Nebbiolo that would be accessible and this seemed promising, as it proved to be, though I'd say the wine is still only half-mature. Velvety texture on the front, superfine sandpaper on the back. In between, a concentrated flavor sandwich of road tar, raspberry jam, and rose. If that doesn’t sound appealing, trust me, it is. I have one more and will hold till 2030+.
Château de la Guipière 2022 Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie, Les Clos des Morinières. I fondly remember being able to buy Briords for around this price (<$14 as part of a mixed case) but never really found a substitute I liked. This isn't Briords, but it's also not the watery, flaccid $12 Muscadet that seems to haunt the all the receptions and faculty dinner parties on East Hill. Citrus, saline, minerals, good definition and energy.
Porter Creek 2012 RRV Pinot Noir, Hillside Vineyard, Old Vine. This bottle was an interesting ride. It started out floral, with reticent red fruit on the palate that didn’t seem concentrated enough to counterbalance some bitter tannin on the finish, so my first impression was: nice but heading downhill. After 30-45 minutes of air, the midpalate fleshed out substantially and the finish came to seem more herbaceous than bitterly tannic: promising. But with even more time, the aromatics flattened out, and while the wine didn’t fall apart, it seemed increasingly one-note. Not cherry cola but moving that way. I think I’ll try decanting the next one a couple of hours in advance, which might just mean that the whole bottle moves to stage 3 sooner, but you never know (I have three more).