Champagne
Deutz Brut Classique NV is a nice enough Champ, in a ripe and fruity style.
Deutz Bl de Bl 2002 is a very pretty wine. Mineral, steely, bright, elegant, crisp and pure. I love this type of wine.
Deutz Brut Rosé NV is a very floral wine with nice sweetish, strawberry hints. Nice!
Deutz Brut 2000 is open and earthy, nice and long, but the fruit is a bit wider than I would like.
Deutz Cuvée William Deutz 1998 is very Pinot-dominant at the moment with floral and figgy notes to the fore, with the steel and minerals buried underneath. It is a very vinous Champagne.
Bordeaux
Château La Louvière Blanc 2003 is an oaky mess. This coupled with the lowish acidity makes this a difficult wine for me. But I don’t mean that this is as weak as most other 2003 whites I’ve had from Europe – in fact this retains its freshness, and some degree of acidity even, better than many examples. But I still don’t like it.
Château de Rochemorin Blanc 2003 isn’t so oaky as the Louvière, but is soft from lowish acidity and is a victim of the year.
Château de Cruzeau Blanc 2004 is a pretty nice wine, not oaky, very Sauvignonny, fresh and long.
Château de Rochemorin Rouge 2002 is a typical Pessac it its earthy yet floral nuances. It is ripe yet structured and though young is showing nicely anyway.
Château Tour de Ségur (Lussac St.-Em) 2000 is ripe and nice on the nose, but too soft on the palate – I need more acidity.
Loire
Didier Daguenau Silex 2005 is bright and impressive if you like this style. I don’t. I’m not a great fan of SB anyway, and I find that there are ketchup-like scents that I tend to associate with oak, which make the whole ill-defined. When I drink SB, I want it to be bright and mineral, but not a supremely concentrated package like this one.
Didier Daguenau Pur Sang 2005 is like above. There’s a teasing touch of aromas that I put down to oak (do these see oak?) that I think muddles with the aromatics of the grape. I’m not too impressed.
Domaine de l’Ecu Muscadet Expression de Granit 2004 is my type of wine. Supremely mineral if a bit shy on the nose. The palate gives me a lovely acid mouthwash yet is friendly enough in the fruit department to keep the whole beautifully balanced. I like it very much.
Domaine de la Haute Borne Vouvray Tendre 2004 is a nice little wine. It smells of Vouvray and tastes slightly sweet like it should be. It is long, and though apparently this was a difficult vintage, this wine is one I would be happy to drink whenever.
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Clos du Bourg Sec 2005 is lovely, utterly lovely. The nose is of hay and mineral water. The palate is dry and intensely mineral yet friendly and ripely fruity. I really wish I could buy this.
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Clos du Bourg Moëlleux 2003 a bit blowzy but not a bad effort for the year. It retains enough acidity to keep the sweetness in check. Decent.
Domaine Yves Martin Sancerre Chavignol 2004 was IMO a bit off: a nose pungent with dark tones, almost like liquorice. I asked if it was off, they thought it a bit funny also but didn’t have a spare bottle. A shame, as there was some lovable minerality underneath the liquorice.
Nicolas Joly La Coulée de Serrant 2002 is a freakish wine, but I like it. It is funky and oxidative with hay and minerals well to the fore. The palate is big and ripe and mineral. Certainly not to all tastes, but it works for me. I would rather have the purity of the Huet, however, especially at the price this goes for.
Rhone
Domaine du Vieux-Lazaret (Jérôme Quiot) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Exceptionnelle 2003 had all the true characteristics I hope to see in CdP yet was marred by high alcohol (15% abv). The palate also was true to type but hot. At least it wasn’t raisiny like so many from the year.
Chateau Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2003 surprised me. I liked it. It had a slight roasted aspect to the fruit, but was otherwise a bright and savoury type of wine. It is rather tannic yet has nice (i.e. not over-ripe) fruit. I bought a bottle of this to try at home since I don’t always trust my senses in such a big, crowded, hurried tasting, but I liked it at home also. It is bright and fresh despite being big.
Savoie
Domaine Louis Magnin Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron Grand Orgue 2001 is a very big and ripe wine, with lots of sweet fruit, rather low in acidity yet still retaining enough freshness to be drinkable. It has interesting savoury notes – a bit like the hay I find in Chenins – that keep the nose intersting also. I rather like it, though it is a style of white that I rarely drink.
-O-
