With my Catalan Bean Stew w/ Chorizo, tried just off the boat from PaulMarcusWines:
1. DiGiovanna Viognier IGT Sicilia (Organic grapes; http://www.DiGiovanna-Vini.It; 13.5%) 2007: Straw yellow color; rather stoney/earthy very weak pear/floral slight Viog nose; soft/fat slight tinny/metallic some stoney/minerally very light pear/floral flavor; short fat/soft/mushy light stoney/minerally slight metallic finish; very little Viog character; a pleasant/simple/clean/eviscerated Sicilian white. $14.00
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2. MaisonAngelot Mondeuse VDQS Bugey (12%) 2007: Very dark color; classic Mondeuse plummy/licorice quite dusty/earthy rather grapey/perfumed/fragrant slight herbal nose; quite tart/lean plummy/licorice/Mondeuse fairly dusty/earthy/minerally rather tannic/hard flavor; med.short dusty/earthy somewhat hard/tannic/acid rather plummy/licorice/grapey/Mondeuse finish; the tannins say it needs some age but my instincts say "no". $21.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I've been interested in Mondeuse ever since I tried one of MikeOfficer's Mondeuse from barrel out in his garage. His Mondeuse is still the gold-standard for the variety in my mind. I can never think of this variety w/o the image of a fearsome Mongoose coming into my mind.
SteveLagier & Carole Meredith have 0.4 acres of Mondeuse planted that'll give its first crop this year off their Estate. Steve refers to MondeuseNoir as the bastard Uncle of Syrah, hence their interest in the variety. Syrah is a cross, probably from the Savoie, of Deureza and MondeuseBlanche. It was long thought to be the same variety as Italy's Refosco, but DNA has indicated otherwise. There is a small amount of Refosco planted in Calif (like at AtlasPeak), but it has since been shown to be MondeuseNoir.
This Bugey had that elusive aroma of plums & licorice w/ slight floral/grapey hints that I find characteristic of Mondeuse. And they tend to be on the rough/tannic/hard side that would suggest they might age well. But I find them to resemble Dolcetto a lot, which suggests they won't age very well. It would be fun to do a vertical of Mike's Mondeuses sometime.
Tom