WineLovers Discussion Group

Tim York wrote:Savennières Cuvée Spéciale 1996 - Château d'Epiré - Alc.13% has so far proved the only satisfactory wine (and then only after a decade) out of a disappointing assorted purchase of 3 dozen at this estate in the late 90s. Its colour was deep yellow but there were no signs of oxidation of the nose and palate (Germaine disagreed mentioning Arbois which I did not get). The nose was subdued at first but bloomed somewhat giving aromas of honeyed minerals, nuts, wax and hints of apple and pear pie. The palate was quite full, rich, long and seamless with lively mouth-watering acidity and burnished fruit enhancing the aromas. Did I imagine a touch of cabbage on the finish or was it a bad interaction with some ginger in the sauce? 16/20.

One of the fallen darlings of Kermit Lynch's book, nice to see a note on one of the original McCoys.

2008 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords (France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine)

Dry, crisp, clear, and steely. A bit of spritz and an aspirin finish. A lot of mineral and flint, citric acid. Tightly wound, razor sharp. Very bright.
B-

A quick (and completely uninformative) note on a 2007 Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée that Jay Miller opened tonight.

Christ this is amazing. Why do I not own this? (Held its own in a lineup of mature, old-school Bordeaux with 1975 Pichon Baron and 82 and 90 La Lagune.)

Matt Richman wrote:2008 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords (France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine)

Dry, crisp, clear, and steely. A bit of spritz and an aspirin finish. A lot of mineral and flint, citric acid. Tightly wound, razor sharp. Very bright.
B-

I guess many here may think this will last ten years? Rahsaan, are you around?!

Here is a note from Jim Budd...>

http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/2010/03/m ... es-of.html

2008 Thierry Puzelat Touraine La Tesnière (Pineau d'Aunis) 12.5%
Completing three consecutive nights of Puzelats, this was the one I was most looking forward to, having really enjoyed the 2007 last year. Rich aromas of stemmy red berries, church spices and sous bois. A surfeit of secondary fermentation fizz makes me regret not having decanted, or at least double decanted for three hours like I did with the 2007 (note to self: read previous notes; ya might learn something). Good acid/sweet balance, good structure, but just too fizelat for transport to take place (when the sulfite's away, the mice have their day). Still quite drinkable, but compromised. Must try an udder.

Any conclusions from the trio? There has been some discussion about the "sameness" of natural wines, and the paucity of sulfites has been singled out as a possible cause. Well, there were strong similarities betwen the 07 Gamay, the 08 Pinot and the 08 Pineau. But I would attribute this to neighboring terroirs and cellar practices before pointing the digit at SO2. Hardly scientific, of course; for that, we'd need a triple blind trial involving three blind laboratory mice and those three see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys. Bring on the white coats.

Bob Parsons Alberta. wrote:

Matt Richman wrote:2008 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords (France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine)

Dry, crisp, clear, and steely. A bit of spritz and an aspirin finish. A lot of mineral and flint, citric acid. Tightly wound, razor sharp. Very bright.
B-

I guess many here may think this will last ten years? Rahsaan, are you around?!

Here is a note from Jim Budd...>

http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/2010/03/m ... es-of.html

Interesting piece from Jim about how Muscadet is having difficulty in regaining shelf space in supermarkets after the small 2008 harvest. I would have thought that Muscadet was sufficiently distinctive and well established as an appellation, particularly in France, for there to be a pent up demand in event of temporary shortage. Apparently that is not the view of the buyers for supermarkets.

I wonder if David would be won round by a wine like this Sancerre La Grande Côte 2004 – Pascal Cotat– Alc.12.5% (Vignoble à Chavignol – Ni Collé – Ni Filtré), made from Sauvignon blanc.
This wine bears little resemblance either to the tart but invigorating Sancerre which I used to enjoy in Paris brasseries a generation ago with a plateau de fruits de mer or to a typical Sauvignon varietal wine.
N was fresh, aromatic and complex with notes of white fruit (mainly citrus with gooseberry touches), honey, minerals and hints of spice (sniffing the neck of the empty bottle about 15 hours after opening, the bouquet is still fresh and delicious).
P was medium/full bodied with good length, firm substance, depth, backbone, bracing acidity and some “gras”. At first, with squid in a tomato and fish stock sauce, the honeyed note was quite prominent with the fruit and minerals more in the background but later, with scallops and particularly Sainte-Maure goat cheese, the flavour profile came into a mineral balance and integrated perfectly.
To those who think that Sauvignon cannot make wines with class, I urge them to try a Sancerre from this Pascal Cotat estate or from François Cotat. The styles, quality and even labels are similar. Their wines benefit from ageing 10-20 years (superb 96s) and this one certainly has a lot of life left; 16.5/20++.

Salil wrote:A quick (and completely uninformative) note on a 2007 Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée that Jay Miller opened tonight.

Christ this is amazing. Why do I not own this? (Held its own in a lineup of mature, old-school Bordeaux with 1975 Pichon Baron and 82 and 90 La Lagune.)

So I should be glad that I bought that disorderly bottle?

Bob Parsons Alberta. wrote:I guess many here may think this will last ten years? Rahsaan, are you around?!

I haven't had the 08 Briords but I have one downstairs. Need to start opening!

David M. Bueker wrote:So I should be glad that I bought that disorderly bottle?

I had considered grabbing one yesterday while at Crush. Though I ended up leaving with a 2002 Joguet Clos de la Dioterie Franc de Pied.

2005 Puzelat Touraine KO Clos de la Roche (Malbec). Too bretty for my tastes. Blind from smell alone I might of picked this as a Beaucastel. With enough air through dinner (I should have decanted) the rough edges started to smooth and a fairly attractive blueberry note started to peek through. I don't drink much Malbec and the ones that I've enjoyed have been current releases, so perhaps I let this sit too long.

Dan Donahue wrote:I don't drink much Malbec and the ones that I've enjoyed have been current releases, so perhaps I let this sit too long.

Malbec/Cahors can age just fine. As can other Cot from the Loire.

But Puzelat is a special unstable/lowish SO2 case.

I am really enjoying this month’s WF. I am opening a Loire wine frequently and it gives me an excuse to open outstanding bottles like the Joguet Chinon Dioterie 96, already reviewed, and this Vouvray Perruches 2002 – Domaine du Clos Naudin, Philippe Foreau – Alc. 13% - (€20 for 2007). (AFAIK the Perruches labelling is only used for the Belgian market; elsewhere the same wine is simply labelled Demi-Sec.)
C: Medium yellow
N: Wonderfully expressive with notes of white fruit (a lot of pineapple), quince, apples and pears, almonds and minerals.
P: Medium bodied, linear and long, perfectly balanced and focused, mouth-watering acidity offsetting discreet sweetness with a gentle crescendo to a firm finish with all the aromatic elements in perfect seamless harmony with just a little apple and pear pie coming out on the aftertaste. I guess that this wine easily has another 20 years ahead of it and will reveal greater complexities; already 17.5/20+++.

Thanks for the great note, Tim, most salivacious.

I was a bit disappointed in this after liking the 2007 more:

2008 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Granges (France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon)
Firm and acidic with some pretty floral notes. A bit lacking in body and concentration, a bit short on the finish. Nice tar and violet. Not the best vintage of this, I suspect.
B-

Oswaldo Costa wrote:Thanks for the great note, Tim, most salivacious.

Sounds delicious. Oswaldo, just imagine raiding Tim`s cellar. All those goodies!

You are both welcome .

WTN: `05 Chateau Prince Anjou-Villages Brissac, Levron-Vincenot.

Great vintage, up-and-coming domaine, 14% alc, $26 Cdn. Good natural cork, opened one hour but not decanted. No sediment noted, my second bottle in six months. 100 % CF.

Color. Black with thin crimson rim. No sign of age at all, are they all (CF) as inky as this?

Nose. Not too aromatic, spice, currants, "plum, cherry" from across the table. Thankfully no veggie notes!

Palate. Initial entry thoughts are ripe tannins on day one, black fruits, hint of lead pencil on finish and some green peppers. Served slightly chilled, fair acidity, good length but needs food to avoid some unpleasant tone here? Think this is tad over the top/pumped up but 2yrs might help. I was more impressed with my first bottle.
Raspberry on day 2 with more pepper and softened a little. Perfect with a stuffed leg of lamb with a mushroom duxelle.

WTN: Bourgueil Cuvée Prestige 1989 - Domaine des Chesnaies, Lamé-Delisle-Boucard - Alc. 12%. My remarks should be read in the context of this wine's being somewhat dominated by its pairing, a fine piece of rare beef prepared simply; this is a not a very hard test, however.
C: Transparent but a bit darker than the Dioterie 96 but with more bricking at the rim.
N: Went through several phases; at first fine gently sweet red fruit with pencil shavings and a dash of fine tea, then a metallic streak obscured the rest and finally it came back into balance with a touch more roundness.
p: Medium bodied at most with the attractive aromas from the nose continuing, soft textured, smooth, even a touch bland lacking the purity and grip of the Dioterie and showing hints of rottenness of the finish perhaps presaging break-up. The overall effect was, however, sweetly elegant and the last glass away from the beef seemed more characterful; 15.5/20+.

Bob Parsons Alberta. wrote:WTN: `05 Chateau Prince Anjou-Villages Brissac, Levron-Vincenot.


Color. Black with thin crimson rim. No sign of age at all, are they all (CF) as inky as this?

That's 2005 for you. Lots of density to the wines.

Bob Parsons Alberta. wrote:WTN: `05 Chateau Prince Anjou-Villages Brissac, Levron-Vincenot.100 % CF...are they all (CF) as inky as this?

So should I assume that you have data verifying that this is 100% Cabernet Franc?

Because Anjou-Villages often has Cabernet Sauvignon as well. And Anjou is a pretty hard hot place (less limestone than further east, more schist) so the wines are much sterner than Chinon or Bourgueil. Plus the 2005 thing as David said.

2006 Domaine de la Noblaie "Les Chiens-Chiens" Chinon.
This was a very nice discovery at 58 Degrees Wine Bar in Sacramento. Wonderful tobacco notes overlaying the bright and fresh, yet deep and rich red berry and cassis fruit. The "green" notes do come through on the finish, but they are an element, a component of the total package. I love the tobacco here! Very nice!

The Wine Doctor does not have a profile for this Domaine, but it was a happy discovery for me!

I'm with Tim in admiring the wines from Pascal and Francois Cotat in Chavignol, Sancerre although I seem to prefer them within six years of the vintage. I may be opening one this month.

WTN: `07 Laurent Perraud Muscadet Domaine de la Vinconniere, Loire V.

$20 Cdn, 12% alc, synthetic cork, organic, Charta "Terra Vitis".
On the shelf downtown there is also the higher-end Les Egards plus the Granite De Clisson. Not a well-known producer.

Color. Medium yellow, no green. Nice depth of color.

Nose. Lime, apple, floral, melon. No sea-shells on the sea-shore!

Palate. Initial thoughts were dry, tad flat, seems more successful/drinkable verging to room temp. Modest acidity with melon, citrus, apple. "Lacks the mineral elements I am used to" from across the table. Unimpressed, way too neutral for my taste. Even shrimp did not help this wine, pity.