WTN: How very, very odd...

[Otto]

Duboeuf Moulin-à-Vent 2001 Flower label (i.e. the unoaked version of the generic wine) 13% 13,35€

It starts out so very nice that I almost took back all the negative things I've said about Duboeuf. There was a touch of earth, lovely sweet yet savoury fruit, perhaps a little too Pinot Noir -like (I like my Gamay to taste like Gamay) but still with all the lively raspberry aromas. The palate was a little full bodied, with the loveliest levels of acidity, and a tiny oxidative hint to the fruit à la Musar or d'Angerville, i.e. something that seems like it belongs to the wine, not something that came through e.g. mechanical cork failure. The aftertaste is nice and long. I did miss the minerality that the best Bojos can have, but who cares: this seemed like fantastic stuff. Until....

.... I had let the glass sit for a minute. I swirled and brought it up to my nose. What the f**k? It smells like a St-Julien!?!? Toasty, grainy oak, I could have sworn it was that but I thought this label doesn't see any oak. Ok, I'll admit, I'm still enjoying this but that toasty smell is odd. What else apart from oak can cause it?

-O-

[Robin Garr]

That toasty smell is odd. What else apart from oak can cause it?

Otto, <i>sur lies</i> treatment can certainly do it, especially in whites; and I've encountered unwooded Grenache that I would <i>swear</i> had been abused with oak within an inch of their life, so I guess a combination of ripeness and varietal character (in certain varieties) can spoof oak as well. Since Grenache and Gamay both show typical red-berry character (albeit different berries), that might be my guess.

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

At least you did not get a mouthful of bananas! Remember the discussion about the yeast Georges uses for the Nouveau?!
After the licorice bubblegum I found in the Veramonte SB, nothing surprises me. BTW a Rose tasting tonite downtown.