2009 is going to be insane in Beaujolais. This wine was a revelation of purity and honesty. This Nouveau is as serious a Gamay as I’ve had, Cru, Loire, or otherwise. Just beautiful.
Floral and slate. It reminded me of Pinon’s Vouvrays in approach and Sec-tendre style, but was distinctly Riesling. Quenching.
Funked with a little blacktop and earth, but tremendous acidity and cool a blip of sweetness on the finish. Ironically perfect with pork bbq.
Brun’s little L’ancien is still rocking, fresh lively Red-fruits and graphite, and evolved well in the glass over the course of an evening.
The 07 Vacqueyras is Huge, rugged and full of plums, pepper and garrigue. Soft and fuzzy around the edges, I missed some acidic lift that I’ve tasted in Texier’s 07s, but this is still altogether solid and accessible.
bestdrinkever goes back to it’s roots with the old URL:
http://bestdrinkever.wordpress.com/
Update your links. Hard conversion 3/10/10.
Wild!?
Bubbling orange wine. Mrs. Bestdrinkever thought it had more to do with beer than with wine (with the crown cap, frizzante, and murky color), and I totally agree. It was brimming effusively with loads of gardenias and orange blossoms, with a sly herbaceous twist and a minerally finish. Lightly bubbly and round on the palate. Balanced – Cantillon-like, but without the insane acidity and with the beautiful honeyed and floral Malvasia hallmarks. And tannins too – adding some grip to the finish. Awesome and strange and so fun to drink – if it were 5 bucks a bottle, we’d all be in trouble.
EDIT: After 24 hours, the frizzante was obviously gone, but it stood up perfectly and evolved beautifully with more yeasty, honey, floral, and cured-meat notes like a trappist ale. The tannins started to come through more firmly and more and more mineral quality game through on the finish. Probably more delicious and compelling on day 2.
Pinon Vouvray ‘Cuvee Tradition’ 2008: Exceptional. Tongue-tingling acid-sweet balance – Perfectly sec-tendre. Quince, ruby-grapefruit, chalk, and wax. A little sassier than the ’07s.
G Schueller Gewurztraminer ‘Cuvee Particuliere’ 2005: Lychee and orange cream-sicle, with a waft and fresh flowers and funk and red apples. Some sugar, but nothing out of whack.
G Schueller Gewurztraminer 2006: Ridiculously aromatic – Rose gardens for miles. Similar, but bigger, richer and sturdier than the ‘Cuvee Particuliere’. More heat, but maintains a great balance. This isn’t going anywhere for awhile. 3 days open, it was still interesting. I definitely find a lot to like in the few of Schueller’s wines I’ve tasted, though the Gewurztraminers seem a little less versatile than the Rieslings.
JB Brun Terres Dorees Beaujolias Blanc 2008: Lean, with green apple, peachpits and fresh apricot. It seems a little softer than the 07s, but still light-years away from anything tropical or buttery. This is so clean and pure – it’s a stripped down, honest version of Chardonnay, and one of the finest under $20.
JP Brun Terres Dorees Cote-du-Brouilly 2008: Started slow and simple, this picked up some serious steam after a few hours open. Dark-red-fruited Gamay, with time gained power and a plusher texture. Super-drinkable.
Chateau d’Oupia Minervois 2008: Showed very uninspired and flat. An odd bottle, or maybe tough vintage?
Texier Cotes du Rhone Brezeme 2007: Classic, classy Syrah. Meaty, with wild thyme, licorice, and dark fruit – but light on its feet. With time, a great earthy, umami component emerged. Enjoy with a smokey stew.
Texier Cotes du Rhone Villages Vaison-La-Romaine: Very generously black-fruited, open and accessible, but smartly balanced with spicy/savory flavors and fresh acids. This wine is clearly made with great care – an excellent grenache, coming from I, who was almost ready to write-off the varietal all-together this past summer for its goopy-nitro tendencies.
Bocella ‘Rasott’ Campi Taurasini 2006: Damn fine, and singing with dried herbs, soy sauce, bittersweet chocolate, cedar, and black cherries. Chewy and full of murky sediment. Fantastic with braised beef shanks.
2007 Gerard Schueller Riesling Cuvee Particuliere.
Dry. 13%. Insane ripping acidity, chalk and yellow apple nose, and an intriguing edge of funk (VA?) that reminded me of some much more expensive recent natural wines. A bit awkward on the finish, but c’mon, this is like 11 bucks. Fresh and happy and vigorous and pure – with time, it softened out a bit and continued to develop aromatic complexity (floral) and texture (plusher). Just stunning given the price, although this will not be for everyone. A new favorite at the household. I must explore more wine like this, and hope secured some additional gewurtz and riesling via Chambers Street Wines at the behest of my wife (Kudos CSW!). Anyone have the Pinot Blanc? Anyone out there experience other Alsatians of a similar style?
By luck and chance, I was able to find 2 bottles of ‘hipster’ champagne from Jacques Lassaigne – the Entry-Level Blanc de Blanc Les Vignes de Montgeux and the single-vineyard Les Cotet – both with similar 2007 disgorgement dates. These wines were brought to my attention via Brooklynguy, who documented a more comprehensive tasting of Lassaigne’s Champagnes, with fine notes – and a local importer along with several retailers seem to have some great prices on these cuvees, making them really hard to pass up.
Some good old friends were over for the New Year and it provided a great opportunity to taste these side by side while a chicken was roasting – as this sort of thing is significantly less exciting while alone. Both wines showed a set of family attributes – great clarity and leanness and a focused concentration of fruit and chalky minerality. Definitely both signs of understanding terroir, tight blending of solid base wines, and keen wine-growing practices.
The Montguex definitely seemed relatively a touch softer and more accessible – maybe an attribute of a fractionally higher dosage (the Montgeux was labeled “Brut” vs the Cotet’s ‘Extra Brut’) and a broader blend of base wines (potentially up to 9 different parcels, and several different vintages). Plenty of green apple and lemon cake. Ripe, but high-toned and finessed with vibrant acidity – it opened considerable with time and softened to reveal fresh-pressed cider and quince notes. A very solid and expressive wine value compared to the line-priced big-house bubblies, it was a fine partner with the chicken and would be even better with poached/steamed white fish or crustaceans.
Les Cotet was even more linear and long on the palate – more focus, more poise and a beam of acidity at it’s core. More lightning, less thunder. A combination of tank-raised chardonnay with a small percentage of barrel-aged wine – but same vineyard, several vintages. Super-fresh with all the green apple and citrus of the Montgeux with the addition of a cranberry component on the nose and palate and a chalkier finish all its own. Hours later, most of the bubbles had left, but I couldn’t help thinking about what a clean and complete expression of Chardonnay this was. I’m not a Chardonnay lover or hater, but I loved this. Youthful, but very serious stuff. Unbelievably, I paid less for this than the Montgeux, and will be stocking up in due time.
While these are small production/ hipster wines, they are just delicious and accessible and nothing any wine newb or non geek should be afraid to try. They are great examples of a leaner style of Champagne that might surprise folks raised on the big house juiced-up marquees with their freshness and food-friendlyness and unique charm.
Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs VV (2002 disgorgement) and the 2004 Overnoy/Houillon Arbois Pupillon Savagnin: Both amazing wines, with some strange similarities – both just brimming with character; The champagne–big bright red apples, blood orange, and generous hazelnuts. It had this strange Burgundian earthy umami quality, with a perfect vein of maturity (from 48 months of aging on lees, and 7 years in bottle…). Still years of upside and so concentrated.
The Savagnin was unbelievably alive and vivid on the palate – it just danced with fresh apricot, citrus, almonds, and an insanely mineral finish they just went on and on. I can see what all the fuss is about. I wish I had a cellar full…and will certainly grab any bottles that I may come across. I got this bottle from Chambers Street Wines this past summer – but there seems to be none left anywhere…Where are these obtainable? And where the hell is the Poulsard?
2002 Huet Vouvray Petillant: Exceedingly vibrant, floral, crunchy and precise. Definitely of the same quality as a great Champagne, but expressively Chenin. Perfect pairing with Michel Bras’ mushroom soup.
2008 Lapierre Morgon: Had a glass, yummy, but very primary – like pure cherry juice, and a bit soft. Gave it 24 hours and came back – much more like it. The acidity poked up and focused the whole deal. Secondary spice notes popped up but before I could really geek out, it was gone. Devilishly easy to drink. With balsamic fried eggs (subbed butter for Olive Oil and nono on the non-stick).
2007 Philemon Gaillac Croix d’Azal: Gross. Jalepeno, daikon, and funk. Fruitless and watery. Poured out. I’m a fan of Braucol, but this is Guy-yack.
