We tried these three L-M Mondeuse at our Wino's tasting on Wed:
1. Lagier-Meredith Mondeuse MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.1%) Lagier-Meredith Vnyd/Napa 2013: Very dark color w/ little bricking; very strong herbal/licorice/Mondeuse light toasty/oak bit rustic slight floral/lilacs quite aromatic slight earthy nose; fairly strong Mondeuse/licorice/bit earthy slight drying out fairly tannic bit rustic slight Savoie-like flavor w/ ample rough tannins; showing a bit of drying out character on the palate and a bit of advanced age but a lovely expression of Mondeuse.
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2. Lagier-Meredith Mondeuse MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.5%) Lagier-Meredith Vnyd/Napa 2015: Very dark near black color; very similar Mondeuse/licorice nose w/ a bit less aromatics & more of a licorice/pungent nose; bit softer more intense Mondeuse/floral/licorice somewhat richer/lusher some toasty/oak flavor w/ strong rough tannins; pretty close to ideal drinkability.
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3. Lagier-Meredith Mondeuse MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.0%) Lagier-Meredith Vnyd/Napa 2019: Very dark near black color; bit more toasty/oak more youthful very strong Mondeuse/licorice bit harder more floral/Mondeuse/licorice flavor; still needs a bit more age.
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More monduz from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. There was not a whole lot of difference in character between these 3 Mondeuse. The '13 showed a bit more advanced maturity and the '19 was a bit more youthful. All showed classic floral/licorice/pungent character. All can use another 3-6 yrs of age I would guess.
Mondeuse (Noir) is an ancient grape grown primarily in the Savoie in the eastern Alps of France. It is one of my favorite grapes, both in France and Calif. It has only been recently released by FPS as Mondeuse. When they brought the cuttings down from the Jackson U/Cal experimental, they misread the map & sold it as Refosco of Italy. A more accurate map of the Jackson vnyd was discovered in the UC/Berkeley and those vines were identified as Mondeuse... which was confirmed by DNA testing. So there is a lot of Refosco being sold in CA which is, in fact, Mondeuse. Steve & Carole was one of the first to label it as Mondeuse. Their Mondeuse is World-class expression of Mondeuse.
Tom