WTN: Voss SB, Petit Bocq (St. Estephe), Blue Mountain Pinot

[Jenise]

From the past few days:

2004 Voss Sauvignon Blanc, Napa (actually, Rutherford)
Ripe but tangy, melon and grass. Refreshing when ice cold but too much RS to hold our interest once it got a little warmer.

2000 Petit Bocq, St. Estephe
One of Bordeauxs miniscule producers, just 1,000 cases a year. In fact, Parker's entry on this winery bemoans the fact that there's too few for the export market. Well, some got out because I bought these at the Wine Exchange years ago. Since no one's likely to know these, I'll add some further information: at 80%, this producer uses more merlot than any other producer in St. Estephe, and Parker suggests that the property should be promoted to 5th growth or at least Cru Exceptionelle. Perhaps that happened in the recent re-class. Not sure. Anyway, this wine's drinking splendidly right now. We decanted it for about an hour. The merlot has put on a lot of weight since infancy (where it was light bodied, and had a powdered sugar and vanilla nose. I wouldn't have purchased it, but Bob liked it. Now I'm glad he did.) Has the unmistakeable nose of Bordeaux, and on the earthy side. Secondary development is in progress and adds a whiff of funk to the warm black cherry fruit. Very good wine. Went great with short ribs and pasta in tomato-onion broth.

2003 Blue Mountain Pinot Noir stripe label, Okanagan Valley BC
My first taste of the most recent release, and wow. This winery makes the most crystalline pure pinot noirs I've ever had, and the 03 is all joy. As usual, somewhat light in color and as usual tasting and looking oak free, and yet there's a richness in the flavor you don't quite expect from the color. Tasting this wine is like trying to dance within the space of a single tile--there are no big gestures, it's all little things but they add up to a lot. Outstanding.

I've heard good things about Blue Mountain. I didn't get to visit with them when visiting the valley last year. Did you get the wine in Canada, or is there a US source?

[Jenise]

I'm on their mailing list, Randy; there's no other way to get the wine. There's none at retail even in Canada. It sells out within hours, too; if you're not near your computer the minute they send out the notice, you're SOL. For instance, I ordered half a dozen of the pinot then on second thought tried to change my order to a case? Too late--six was all I could have. Fair but ruthless.

[Jenise]

Addendum to Bucko: you have to pick up at the winery or take delivery in Canada, too.

2000 Petit Bocq, St. Estephe ...this producer uses more merlot than any other producer in St. Estephe, and Parker suggests that the property should be promoted to 5th growth or at least Cru Exceptionelle. Perhaps that happened in the recent re-class.

Solly Chally, close but no Lewinsky: Cru bourgeois superieur. I tried to find some, and now I know why I couldn't. Thank for the notes; I'll enjoy it vicariously.

We had planned to open our 1989 Beaucastel last night. But when we arrived at camp, the interior cabin was covered with a layer of soot from the maintenance man cleaning the chimney with the wood stove doors open, or whatever he did to do a tattoo on our brand new carpeting. Every counter, piece of furniture, blind, and everything else with a surface was covered. Lynn spent five hours on her hands and knees cleaning and almost crying. We take our shoes off, for God's sake. Never even had a guest, kid or animal in the place. We might as well have invited a lumberjack team to tramp through with their muddy boots for a month.

So, in melancholy moods we opened the cheapest bottle in our cellar, here: 2000 Larose Trintaudon. (Didn't have a Chasse Spleen to chear us up.) We'll try the CNdP again tonight. Still almost summer weather. Green grass, ice free lake; we're about to take a walk to work up an appetite for a pork roast.

BTW, put up our first Christmas Tree since 1969 - while Lynn cleaned. Brightened her up a little.

Merry Christmas!!!

Covert

[Jenise]

Oh how awful. I so sympathize with both of you--I'd have been near tears, too. What a horrible thing to come home, too. I remember in Huntington Beach one night coming home to see water flowing out from under the garage door. Of course, the house was flooded. Where had we been? Dining out. At a restaurant called Tsunami. The humor in that was the only thing that kept me from crying, too.

The Bocq was the first 2000 I've tried. I've really beren good at keeping my hands off things, but I decided yesterday that my self-imposed Bordeaux education has stalled and I need to drink one of everything I have around that I've never tasted before, get a sense of them. The Bocq was the first victim: I actually thought when I tasted it, "Oh, Covert and Lynn would like this." I was hoping you'd have some. I have two left. Next bottle: 2009.

Of course, the house was flooded.

The Bocq was the first 2000 I've tried.

I can likewise sympathize; our basement flood was bad enough. Hard to imagine the house proper.

I'll keep on the lookout for the cru. We're making it a point to stock up on the genre for Friday night drinking.

The '89 Beaucastel didn't float our boat. To us it was way too polite: no bret or barn. Got to experience what a little more acid in wine is like, but it basically wasn't much more interesting than the occasional CNdPs or Gindondases we have at picnics. Structurally it was an excellent wine. Just no soul.

We have only a few cases of Burgundy left. When we get through them, I think I will quit buying anything other than Bordeaux. Life is getting way too short to miss a night on a substitute.