WTN: 2 Provence nights (plus Bordeaux, Rhone, Champagne)

My local non-serious wine group met Friday at Alex’s, theme was Provence. We started by the fire with some liver mousse Alex had made, along with cheeses, olives, and the
2021 Chateau Les Valentines Cotes de Provence la Londe Blanc. LIght, floral, a little musky. Good acids, clean and easy. B-

Then to table for an excellent Provencal daube served with pasta (including GF options). The reds were blind


#1) dark berry fruit, a little earth, I thought Mouvedre and guessed Bandol, though it was a little lighter. 2021 Du Bagnol Marquis de Fesques Cassis B

#2) lighter, redder fruit, a little peppery spice, nice in an easy drink young style, I guessed Cotes de Provence. 2022 Mas de Gourgonnier Les Baux de Provence B

#3) no guesses as my wine. Dark powerful fruit, grilled meat, a light espresso note, young and long. 2015 Pibarnon Bandol. B+

#4) lightest body, fresh strawberries and cherries, with floral notes and a touch of green pepper. Grenache I guess but turns out a grape I don’t know. 2022 Clos Cibonne Cotes de Provence 'Cuvee Speciale Tibouren' B/B+

#5 - medium bodied, peppery fruit, a little short, 2021 Peyrassol Cotes de Provence Cuvee des Commandeurs Rouge B-

#6- light, raspberry and cherry, sweet and easy, I think more Syrah/Greanche than Mourvedre. 2016 Chateau Les Valentines Cotes de Provence B-

Fun night.

Then Saturday we headed up to Sleepy Hollow for a cassoulet dinner. While group gathered, we had foie gras and Sausage (got to warm up for the cassoulet!) and the NV Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve (2016 base). Nice showing, pear and peach fruit, challah, with a chalky mineral edge to the fine finish. B+

Then to table where we had scallop crudo on puntarelle alla Romano, and then the gorgeous cassoulet. Mark had worked on this 4 days (starting with confiting the duck). Really spectacular.

He started us off with 3 blind wines. #1 was sadly corked, #2 and #3 were beautiful. After someone guessed St Estephe I went with St Julien. Correct. I thought #2 was Beychevelle, Mark said actually #1 was (!986) . Hmmm. We switched to guessing vintages, not 1970. Not 1981. Not 1966, nor 1978. Mark takes pity and lets us know #2 is 1986 Gruaud-Larose and #3 is Gruaud-Larose. I’m astounded, while I loved these wines, and have loved
82 & ‘86 Gruaud before, these were much more elegant and feminine than my memories (especially the ‘86).

1986 Gruaud-Larose
No sense of 86 tannins here, a ripe wine with cassis and cigabox.Supple and silky, Lovely, long, and powerful. A-/A

1982 Gruaud-Larose
Tobacco and black fruit, perfumed nose, resolved tannins, nice length. A-

Rest of the wines weren’t blind

1995 Pradeaux Bandol Longue Garde
Brambly black fruit, leather black olive. No hurry but drinking very well now. B+/A-

1998 Tempier Bandol Cabassaou
Coffee, blackberry, earth, nice approach but falls off a little on finish. A bit disappointing.B/B-

2009 Barge Combard Cote Rotie
Ripe candied fruit, I thought just hot, but others got a weird bubblegum note and thought an off bottle. B-/C+

1998 Bastide Blanche Bandol Longue Garde
Late addition, could have used more air, but a very young but very charming Bandol. Structured, balanced, give time, B/B+ for now, but could easily be my favorite of the Bandols.

Apple pie and biscotti for those that indulge. Fun night- outstanding food, interesting wine, fun company.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Great notes.
Both Gruauds were exceptional. Initially I preferred the 1982 but the 1986 changed gear after a half hour and for me just won the beauty contest.

The Barge was extremely disappointing, and the three Provence wines came across as a tad rustic, especially after the clarets. Rustic perhaps but a lot of flavor, especially if you like some herb in your wine. My nod went to Bastide, but the Pradeaux had remarkable length.

[David M. Bueker]

Lots of Bandol! Very nice.

Served with my non traditional cassoulet, which included merguez and andouille sausages, we started with the Bordeaux, as I did not want the strong flavors to clash with the wine. Dispense with a couple of other wines, Beychevelle 1986 which was corked and a candied atypical Barge 2009.

Bordeaux

Gruaud 1982. And 1986.
Seem to come from a seriously damp cellar; the 1986 had no front label and was identified from the back, and the 1982 had a tiny fragment sticking to it with the year.

The 1986 started it slowly. My experience of the wine was of fairly brutal tannins, but instead the wine was beautifully balanced, the tannins had softened, and the wines had a the refinement of the best of Saint Julien. Better still, it continued to improve in the glass, and within half an hour, it had overtaken the gorgeous 1982.97

The 1982 was all perfume and fruit, with some tertiary elements coming through. The finish was long and layered. A superb wine. 96

Bandol
1995 Pradeaux Bandol Longue Garde
An excellent Bandol. Garrigue,and savory elements. Not quite ready, but delicious. 90

1998 Tempier Bandol Cabassaou
Nice enough, but fell short of expectations. The fruit and spice did not have enough power in the mid palate to drive it home, so the finish was short medium. 88

1998 Bastide Blanche Bandol Longue Garde
My favorite of the three Bandols. Quite muscular, and seemed far younger than its contemporary, the Tempier. Fruit, mint, licorice and garrigue. I think I would have really loved this wine, had I opened it at the beginning of the meal, and nursed it through the evening. 91

[Jenise]

Dale, I'm surprised that the Tibouren was new to you. I guess this is a regional thing, though there's absolutely no reason for my neck of the woods to know anything your locale doesn't know in spades, but Clos Cibonne wines are highly sought after by the local geek community and I get to taste a few every year.

I know Cibonne for the roses, but never had a red before (any cepage).

Mark, a couple of non-traditional sausages, but on the whole pretty classic!

Then Saturday we headed up to Sleepy Hollow for a cassoulet dinner. While group gathered, we had foie gras and Sausage (got to warm up for the cassoulet!) and the NV Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve (2016 base). Nice showing, pear and peach fruit, challah, with a chalky mineral edge to the fine finish. B+

Then to table where we had scallop crudo on puntarelle alla Romano, and then the gorgeous cassoulet. Mark had worked on this 4 days (starting with confiting the duck). Really spectacular.

Very wise. Anything more filling than a light app or salad is a colossal mistake when serving cassoulet.

He started us off with 3 blind wines. #1 was sadly corked, #2 and #3 were beautiful. After someone guessed St Estephe I went with St Julien. Correct. I thought #2 was Beychevelle, Mark said actually #1 was (!986) . Hmmm. We switched to guessing vintages, not 1970. Not 1981. Not 1966, nor 1978. Mark takes pity and lets us know #2 is 1986 Gruaud-Larose and #3 is Gruaud-Larose. I’m astounded, while I loved these wines, and have loved
82 & ‘86 Gruaud before, these were much more elegant and feminine than my memories (especially the ‘86).

1986 Gruaud-Larose
No sense of 86 tannins here, a ripe wine with cassis and cigabox.Supple and silky, Lovely, long, and powerful. A-/A

1982 Gruaud-Larose
Tobacco and black fruit, perfumed nose, resolved tannins, nice length. A-

Two wines that evoke fond memories in me, too. My notes on the '82 are lost to the mists of time, but the '86 I opened in 2021 with similar results to yours. Amazing how that forbidding wall of tannins from its youth has melted into silken loveliness.

1995 Pradeaux Bandol Longue Garde
Brambly black fruit, leather black olive. No hurry but drinking very well now. B+/A-

1998 Tempier Bandol Cabassaou
Coffee, blackberry, earth, nice approach but falls off a little on finish. A bit disappointing.B/B-

That Pradeaux qualifies as mid-adolescent What a great pair of wines.

1998 Bastide Blanche Bandol Longue Garde
Late addition, could have used more air, but a very young but very charming Bandol. Structured, balanced, give time, B/B+ for now, but could easily be my favorite of the Bandols.

... and that one, too! An embarrassment of riches!

Thanks for the notes, Dale. What a fun pair of evenings.

Served with my non traditional cassoulet, which included merguez and andouille sausages, we started with the Bordeaux, as I did not want the strong flavors to clash with the wine. Dispense with a couple of other wines, Beychevelle 1986 which was corked and a candied atypical Barge 2009.

Well, "traditional" is a bit hard to pin down in this case. A mutual friend of Dale's and mine (and Bill S's) who runs a gite in the Correze would say that Phaseolus beans are non-traditional since they came from the Americas and that cassoulets would have used broad beans originally. Myself, I think as long as you have meat, garlic and beans, you qualify as being in cassoulet territory.

Bordeaux

Gruaud 1982. And 1986.
Seem to come from a seriously damp cellar; the 1986 had no front label and was identified from the back, and the 1982 had a tiny fragment sticking to it with the year.

The 1986 started it slowly. My experience of the wine was of fairly brutal tannins, but instead the wine was beautifully balanced, the tannins had softened, and the wines had a the refinement of the best of Saint Julien. Better still, it continued to improve in the glass, and within half an hour, it had overtaken the gorgeous 1982.97

The 1982 was all perfume and fruit, with some tertiary elements coming through. The finish was long and layered. A superb wine. 96

It sounds like they may have come from an ambiently-cooled cellar such as my own, as my experiences with the '86 mirror your own. It also sounds like the infamous Cordier funk was in abeyance, or at least not that prominent.

Bandol
1995 Pradeaux Bandol Longue Garde
An excellent Bandol. Garrigue,and savory elements. Not quite ready, but delicious. 90

1998 Tempier Bandol Cabassaou
Nice enough, but fell short of expectations. The fruit and spice did not have enough power in the mid palate to drive it home, so the finish was short medium. 88

1998 Bastide Blanche Bandol Longue Garde
My favorite of the three Bandols. Quite muscular, and seemed far younger than its contemporary, the Tempier. Fruit, mint, licorice and garrigue. I think I would have really loved this wine, had I opened it at the beginning of the meal, and nursed it through the evening. 91

That '98 Tempier sounds a bit atypical. KLWM import? My own recollection is of a profoundly deep and powerful wine, but again my notes are lost to time.

It sounds like a wonderful evening, Mark, and a fantastic lineup of wines. Dale didn't say, but I assume this was a SOBER gathering?

SOBER sadly never returned after COVID, though most of us get together in various combos (4 SOBER people there Sat)

SOBER sadly never returned after COVID, though most of us get together in various combos (3 SOBER people there Sat)

Ah, 'tis a shame, Dale, but so many good things were lost to the bloody pandemic. Attending a SOBER gathering was one of my life's ambitions (along with a Nobel, but a tad easier to achieve) but now shall have to go unfulfilled, sadly.

[Jenise]

I know Cibonne for the roses, but never had a red before (any cepage).

Okay, but you said you hadn't had the grape. Most Cibonne roses are also Tibouren, but perhaps you had the Tentations which is more a typical Provence blend.

aha, I've never known the cepage. I should have said I've never knowingly tasted!