WTN: Midweek indulgence (Truchot and Levet)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:41 amDinner with David last night, catching up while watching the end of the baseball season and opening a few stunning wines with a dinner of short ribs and various roasted veggies.
We started with a 2006 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Hohereck which was very pleasant; dense and showing plenty of ripe fruit and minerality with an exotic floral topnote, surprisingly well balanced for an '06 and leaner than I remember from my last bottle a year ago. But the main events were a pair of amazing red wines.
2004 Domaine Truchot-Martin Morey St. Denis Vieilles Vignes
Thrilling as ever. Pale, delicate, incredibly fragrant and not showing even a hint of green. There's that usual Truchot perfume of fruit, earth, florality and so much else, an ethereal palate presence with a beautiful lightness of touch and bright acids keeping it very lively, and it's showing stunningly well right now. A real treat, as always.
2007 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche
Just a fantastic expression of traditional Northern Rhone syrah, combining black olives, pepper, a bright florality and vivid meaty notes into a very fragrant, polished whole. The tannin here is incredibly fine grained and a lot of the structure comes from the acidity, making it really easy to drink now - there's a seamlessness on the palate and a sense of real purity to the flavours.
We started with a 2006 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Hohereck which was very pleasant; dense and showing plenty of ripe fruit and minerality with an exotic floral topnote, surprisingly well balanced for an '06 and leaner than I remember from my last bottle a year ago. But the main events were a pair of amazing red wines.
2004 Domaine Truchot-Martin Morey St. Denis Vieilles Vignes
Thrilling as ever. Pale, delicate, incredibly fragrant and not showing even a hint of green. There's that usual Truchot perfume of fruit, earth, florality and so much else, an ethereal palate presence with a beautiful lightness of touch and bright acids keeping it very lively, and it's showing stunningly well right now. A real treat, as always.
2007 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche
Just a fantastic expression of traditional Northern Rhone syrah, combining black olives, pepper, a bright florality and vivid meaty notes into a very fragrant, polished whole. The tannin here is incredibly fine grained and a lot of the structure comes from the acidity, making it really easy to drink now - there's a seamlessness on the palate and a sense of real purity to the flavours.