WTN: 2007 Breton Bourgueil Trinch!

2007 Catherine & Pierre Breton Bourgueil Trinch! 12.0%
Right after removing the plastic (boo!) cork, bottleneck showed moldy aromas, almost naphtalene, which had mostly dissolved entirely by the time I poured an hour later. In the glass, pleasant cherry, still a little musty (often find this in cab francs), with a hint of tar and a nice frame of damp earth, or forest floor strewn with criss-crossed twigs (you can always tell, from the taste, whether the twigs were criss-crossed or parallel...). Before food, first mouthful showed more acidity than fruit, not for sipping on the porch or at a cocktail, but promising if you want a food wine. Food made the acid/sweet balance just right and, from that point onwards, I enjoyed it very much, finding it the just about the perfect entry level cab franc. Marcia said she would have liked more actual fruit, as opposed to twigs and wet earth, etc., but I have no complaints, not at this price.

2007 Catherine & Pierre Breton Bourgueil Trinch! 12.0%Before food, first mouthful showed more acidity than fruit, not for sipping on the porch or at a cocktail, but promising if you want a food wine..

Not to be too much of a nitpicker because I guess it all depends on personal preferences (as always), but I must confess I never understood this attitude. I find these types of wines perfect for sipping on the porch or at a cocktail because they are refreshing and lively. The one use I find difficult for these wines is for a quiet night at home when I want something complex to contemplate. But otherwise I don't see why they have to 'only' be 'food wines'.

2007 Catherine & Pierre Breton Bourgueil Trinch! 12.0%Before food, first mouthful showed more acidity than fruit, not for sipping on the porch or at a cocktail, but promising if you want a food wine..

Not to be too much of a nitpicker because I guess it all depends on personal preferences (as always), but I must confess I never understood this attitude. I find these types of wines perfect for sipping on the porch or at a cocktail because they are refreshing and lively. The one use I find difficult for these wines is for a quiet night at home when I want something complex to contemplate. But otherwise I don't see why they have to 'only' be 'food wines'.

This is defined by your palate, Rahsaan. Many folks find these wines too acidic, which makes them taste tart or shrill without food to buffer the acidity. You don't, so they make fine aperitifs, but it's very much a function of sensitivity to acid.

Mark Lipton

This is defined by your palate, Rahsaan. Many folks find these wines too acidic, which makes them taste tart or shrill without food to buffer the acidity.

I guess. But if the wines really taste shrill to people then they'd probably be better off finding something else entirely to have with their meal. There are certainly wines that I find shrill and I usually don't find much reason to drink them at all. Good Loire Cabernet Franc is refreshing and not shrill.

But, I guess it's all relative!

Chiming in here... I had the 2002 version of this, which was a lovely wine, but a little simple (I bought it before I knew more about the different Breton cuvees) and I found it better with food than without. Acidic wines like this tend to need a ballast. While drinking them alone is doable, I'd much rather have something with it that enhances the experience. But for some reason, acidic whites don't bother me as much, and I seem to be able to like them solomente.

Acidic wines like this tend to need a ballast. While drinking them alone is doable, I'd much rather have something with it that enhances the experience...

I guess. My only point is that 'drinking wines alone' covers a wide range of circumstances and for drinking at a party or before dinner it seems preferable to have lighter refreshing wines rather than richer more complex wines that might be better suited to slow contemplation.

[David M. Bueker]

Though lighter, refreshing wines don't always have to be acid-dominated. Balance is even more crucial when drinking wine as an aperitif.

Though lighter, refreshing wines don't always have to be acid-dominated. Balance is even more crucial when drinking wine as an aperitif.

Exactly! This is why we have have Beaujolais!

Rahsaan, I didn't find it shrill, just more acid than sweet (before food). May be semantics, but I don't understand that to mean shrill.

I see "lighter refreshing wines" v. "richer more complex wines" as a somewhat different axis of discussion than "more acidic" v. "less acidic," so I agree entirely with David's "lighter, refreshing wines don't always have to be acid-dominated. Balance is even more crucial when drinking wine as an aperitif."

With food, balance seems less crucial. One could even make a case in favor of some pre-food imbalance, one that will right itself with food. Pre-food balance could mean insufficient grip later.

What I find especially interesting about having a single wine at home in the evening is the opportunity to first taste it with a "virgin" palate, and then see what food does to the acidity. Tonight we are having some people over for a tasting of 5 Loire wines (3 Puzelats and 2 Baumards), and I'll only be able to do that with the first one. The subsequent wines will all be tasted with a "buffered" palate, which is fine, of course, but a little less instructional.

I see "lighter refreshing wines" v. "richer more complex wines" as a somewhat different axis of discussion than "more acidic" v. "less acidic," so I agree entirely with David's "lighter, refreshing wines don't always have to be acid-dominated. Balance is even more crucial when drinking wine as an aperitif."

Ok. So I guess your comment was mainly about the 2007 version of Trinch! which probably is more acidic than other versions. Despite the fact that Trinch! wines are usually in a lighter refreshing style (with varying degrees of acidic-ness).

I found the 2007 Trinch! to have a suggestion of under-ripe fruit alongside the acidity. Still quite fresh and appealing though, so not a wine I would disregard on this basis.