We tasted tonight (5/16/07) some (mostly) New French Wines:
1. Apremont VieillesVignes AC: Vin de Savoie (11.5%; 100% Jacquere) Rene et Beatrice
Bernard 2005: Pale yellow color; very attractive floral/apple some minerally/waxy
rather Vermintino-like quite attractive nose; very tart/acid apples/floral minerally/
metallic/steely very austere flavor; med.long lean/tart/austere floral/apple minerally
some steely/metallic finish; lovely nose but quite austere on the palate. Good price.
$15.00
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2. Chignin Bergeron LesDamoiselles AC: Vin de Savoie (100% Roussanne; MeBaD)
Jean-Pierre et Jean-Francois Quenard/LeVillard/Chignan 2005: Med.gold color; beautiful
floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne some creme brulee/butterscotchy perfumed nose; tart big/
lush very floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne some butterscotchy/creme caramel ripe flavor;
very long tart/lush ripe/floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne finish; a terrific Calif-style
Roussanne much like a Jaffurs. Terrific value at $18.00
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3. Betts&Scholl HermitageBlanc (13.5%; http://www.BettsAndScholl.com) Chave/Hermitage 2001: Med.
dark gold color; slight oxidized/nutty/toasted hazelnuts waxy/resiny slight herbal
rather strange/interesting earthy/stoney/Marsanne nose; soft somewhat earthy/stoney
appley bit hazelnutty austere/hard flavor; med.long earthy/hazelnutty/stoney finish;
good example of HermitageBlanc; speaks mostly of Marsanne; not as stupidly priced
as their Rouge & not a great Chave but still overpriced by about $30. $70.00
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4. AlainGraillot AC: Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (13%) 2005: Med.gold color; lovely strong
green olive/waxy/old Semillon/minerally bit hazelnutty slight smokey/roasted complex
nose; lovely hazelnutty/olive/minerally slight stoney/creme brulee/waxy flavor; very
long/lingering waxy/minerally/hazelnutty/olive finish; a lovely Roussanne/minerally
Rhone Blanc at a very good price. $33.00
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4a. MadisonVnyd Villard-SeyvalBlanc NewMexico TW 2005: Pale yellow color; slight
pineapply/floral stoney/metallic/austere low-key nose; off-dry light pineapply/stoney/
metallic clean austere flavor; med.short stoney/pineapply austere finish; no plastic/
hybridy character at all; bit dilute but a pleasant blanc. $10.00
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5. JLChaveSlctns AC: St.Joseph Offerus (13.5%) 2003: Dark color; quite bretty/unclean/
merde some roasted/smokey pungent/graphite/ozone/carbon arc little fruit nose; tart/
lean/thin/screechy no fruit slight roasted/graphite flavor; short lean/thin/acid
no fruit quite bretty/barnyardy/unclean finish; hard to believe this is a 2003;
way too unclean for my taste; avoid. $27.00
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6. Alain Graillot AC: Crozes-Hermitage LaGuiraude (13%) 2004: Med.dark color; attractive
green olive/roasted/espresso/classic NR complex slight Syrah/blackberry nose; very acid
quite green olive/roasted/espresso/classic NR hard/tannic/lean flavor; long roasted/
espresso/green olive tart/hard/lean bit toasty/pungent finish; classic NR character
but rather hurtey on the palate; liked the regular better at hlf the price. $45.00
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7. Ch. Mourgues du Gres Capitelles Sone/Sole/Mihil AC: Costieres de Nimes (14.5%)
Francois Collard/Beaucaire/Gard 2004: Unredeemingly corked; as bad as I've ever
seen; TCA poster child. $20.00
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8. Ch. Mourgues du Gres Terre d'Argence AC: Costieres de Nimes (MeBaC; 14.5%;
http://www.MourguesDuGres.com) Francois Collard 2005: Very dark color; strong plummy/blackberry/
Syrah slight smokey/pungent some floral/lilacs/Calif Syrah-like nose; bit hard/tannic/
rough/rustic peppery/spicy/blackberry/Syrah/plummy slight dusty/earthy flavor; med.long
tannic/rough strong blackberry/Syrah finish; rather Calif in style w/ some rusticity;
terrific red for the price. $20.00
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9. LosPlanos Syrah Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes (14%; eee.EuropeanCellars.com)
SCEA Domaine LaFage/MasDurand/Canet en Rousillon/France 2004: Very dark color; very
strong blackberry/black cherry/Syrah big fruit bit earthy some toasty/oak dusty/old
vines rather Priorat-like nose; soft/rich huge fruit/blackberry/black cherry/Syrah
some earthy/dusty/old vines slight rough/rustic flavor; med.long lush toasty/oak strong
blackberry/black cherry finish w/ some tannins; big/extracted fruit w/ slight rough/
rustic character; needs several yrs yet; very/very good value. $12.50
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10. Roc D'Anglade Vin de Pays du Gard (13%; MeBalP) Remy Pedreno/Vigneron/Langlade
2004: Very dark color; slight bretty/unclean rather mousey/mouse turds/hantavirus/
merde some dusty/old vines slight black cherry nose; soft/smooth rather unclean/bretty/
horse shit some blackberry flavor; med.long smooth very unclean/horse shit slight
blackberry/fruit finish w/ some tannins; some rather interesting things in this wine
but too unclean and horse shit (as distinguished from barnyardy/brett) for my taste.
Overppriced at $38.00
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11. Livon Riul Vnyd Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso DOC: ColliOrientali del Friuli (13%)
Livon Dolegnano 2003: Black color; strong plummy/boysenberry/juicy some earthy/dusty
bit rustic some high-toned/framboise bit pencilly/oak very attractive nose; tart bit
pencilly/Fr.oak rather tannic/hard somewhat boysenberry/plummy flavor; med. rather
hard/tannic somewhat licorice/plummy/boysenberry pencilly/Fr.oak finish; needs
several yrs yet; very attractive/interesting nose but hard on the palate. $27.00
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12. Ermacora Refosco del PeduncoloRosso DOC: Colli Orientali del Friuli (13%) 2005: Very
dark color; quite juicy/grapey/plummy/berry very floral/fragrant/lilacs slight earthy
quite aromatic nose; off-dry (?) very juicy/plummy/berry/boysenberry floral/lilacs
rather hard/tannic flavor; lots of grapey/plummy/licorice/boysenberry bright/juicy
finish w/ hard tannins; needs several yrs perhaps; attractive price at $16.00
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13. Arbin Mondeuse AC: Vin de Savoie (12.5%) LesFils de Charles Trosset 2005: Very dark/
black color; very intense licorice/framboise/floral/violets/plummy big fruit bit
earthy/dusty nose; hard/tannic strong licorice/framboise/floral bit earthy/rustic/
minerally very interesting flavor; med. hard/tannic plummy/licorice/floral some
earthy/dusty finish; a rather rough/rustic wine w/ loads of fragrant fruit; very
attractively priced at $17.00
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14. Carlisle RussianRvrVlly Mondeuse (15.5%; 100 vines planted in 1910; 25 cs) 2000:
Very dark/black color; slightly corked/wet cardboard some plummy/licorice/black cherry
some toasty/menthol/oak nose; rather menthol/plummy/blackcherry/boysenberry slight
cardboardy/musty/corked/TCA rather hard/tannic flavor; med.long very hard/tannic
rather cardboardy/musty black cherry/licorice finish; still some interesting but
seems eviscerated by the TCA; so sad, damn corks, thank you Portugal. $27.00
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15. Ramsey NapaVlly Refosco/Mondeuse (13%) 1993: Very dark color; somewhat earthy/dusty
interesting licorice/floral/violets some smokey/pungent/oak/cedary/pencilly slight
piney/rosemary complex nose; some dried out/tannic/hard strong licorice/smokey/pungent
slight floral/violets complex flavor; med.long hard/tannic/bit dried out some licorice/
violets/floral rather cedary/pencilly/oak taosty/pungent finish; lots of interesting
things therein but seems to be drying out somewhat and has seen better days.
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16. Domaine de Fauterie St.Joseph (13%) Sylvain Bernard/Viticulteur/St.Peray 1990: Med.
dark color; beautiful complex/roasted/toasty/espresso/green olive spectacular/complex
classic NR/C-R nose; tart/smooth beautiful roasted/espresso/green olive/smokey very
complex flavor; very long/lingering smooth slight astringent classic NR/coffee/
espresso/meaty/smokey/gamey finish w/ light tannins; may go another 5 yrs but ready
to drink up; terrific example of fully mature Cote-Rotie. Larry's mystery wine.
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More Pompous Pronouncements from The Bloody Pulpit:
1. Chignin: I've often found the Savoie Roussannes to be a rather austere/stoney/earthy
terroir-driven rendition of Roussanne. This Quenard is a whole nuther breed of cat.
It has a richness & texture that speaks more of Calif Roussanne than France (the
ultimate accolade for any French wine), yet a good acid & structure & minerality
underneath that is so velly/velly French. Terrific Roussanne.
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2. SouthernFrance: Several rather interesting wines from lesser regions in Southern
France. They can be some real values here but they can also be a bit spotty. The
(uncorked) Collard was quite impressive. Replacement btls & new vintage on the way.
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3. Refosco: I was most interested in trying this Mondeuse, as this is a variety I find
quite interesting. It is stated that Mondeuse and Refosco (dal Peduncle Rosso) are
the same variety, but both the French and the Italians vehemently deny this and
claim the variety as their very own. As you would expect from them. So that's the
reason of Italian wines in a French wine tasting. A year ago, I held a tasting of
14 Refoscos, including two New Mexico versions. These two Italian versions were
pretty much like those we tasted then; some great fragrant nose w/ a hard/tannic
character underneath the fruit on the palate.
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4. Carlisle Mondeuse: To my judgement, MikeOfficer make probably the best Mondeuse in
the world. He has a passel of Mondeuse in his TwoAcres vnyd that he sometimes keeps
and bottles separate. On release, this was a classic Carlisle wine, but pretty tough
and tannic and clearly in need of age.
I had high hopes for the btl. Alas, there was a slight corkiness/TCA to it that
pretty much robbed it of fruit. Arrrggghhhh. Even so, there were still some very good
things that poked thru the TCA veil. Alas, last btl of this rare wine.
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5. Arbin Mondeuse: Easily this is the best Savoie Mondeuse I've yet had. Very big/fragrant
fruit w/ that classic underlying Mondeuse tannic bite. Never had a Trosset before, but
I was impressed.
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6. MissionWines: Seems like everytime I go into this SouthPasadena wine shop, I find some
things I can't live without. My rep-HdR stop was just another such one. Dave McDonald
and Chris Mishke (sp?) pack a lot of interesting wine in a small sjop.
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7. Ramsey Refosco: When I first had KentRasmussen's Refosco back in '95, I was pretty
impressed. Very classic Refosco w/ juicy/plummy/black cherry fruit and a rather toasty/
oak character that is common in Kent's reds. I presume the grapes came from the
AtlasPeak planting of Antinori/Peterson. I had taken this out to Calif afore Rhone
Rangers to share w/ MikeOfficer, but plans fell thru. So this btl has been to Calif &
back, but doubt it suffered for that. Alas, I think those Refosco grapes have been
pulled and Kent never made another one.
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8. Domaine de Fauterie: This was a wine we bought, cheap, about $14, back in the early
'90's. It was a spectacular value then, still is. I didn't expect it would go this
long and had already drunk up mine. But Larry pulled a TomHill and dragged this
decrepit relic out of his archives. It was in great shape, like most of us relics are.
Ohhhhh, the classic EdStJohn lament...shoulda bought more!!
Haven't seen this wine around for many a year & don't know if it's brought into
the USofA or not anymore.
TomHill