TN: Wu Again (July 20, 2021)

[Jeff Grossman]

attendees: Brad, Jay, Jayson, Don & Melissa, Jeff

We gather to try the new vintage Huet, and I'll bring the new Nervi-Conterno rose, too.

But, really, we gather mostly so we can gather.

Most of the wines showed well.

Nervi-Conterno 2020 "Il Rosato" - 13.5% cherries and roses, vivid acids, lightweight, nice summer wine, just a tad sweeter than a Provencal wine

Huet 2002 Vouvray Brut Petillant Reserve - olden and golden, Brad thinks it has been showing like this for 10 years (hence, it's premox'ed (but he thinks everything is premox'ed)) but it just seem appropriately aged to me - it hasn't the bitterness of a premox wine, there is a truffle-like savoriness running hard over unripe apricots, "but it tastes more like structure" -Don

Thomas-Labaille 2019 Sancerre "Les Monts Damnes" Chavignol "Cuvee Buster" - 14.5% creamy, minerally, some apricot fruit peeking through, smells 3/4 of the way to being Chablis, does not show the high alcohol, this is really excellent

Brundlmayer 2015 Riesling Heligenstein 1er "Lyra" Kamptal Reserve - Lyra is a trellising scheme, yes that is really good with the fried squid!, dry dry dry but with so much extract, full and fat and rich but its generous acids save it, a great balancing act and pretty impressive

Huet 2020 Vouvray Demi-Sec "Le Mont" - pure, kinda quiet though, lovely just-so sweetness, but not a stellar performance for me (I bought the moelleux)

Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1995 Pauillac - 2.5 hr double-decant, this is amazing: smoky, black-fruited, enough pencil-lead for an entire ecole secondaire, plummy, just wow

Ch. Climens 1986 Barsac - a little musty, at first, but then the cork comes up; what a shame as the wine underneath seems incredibly beautiful

Zind-Humbrecht 1995 Pinot Gris Hunawihr "Clos Windsbuhl" - 14%, Hunawihr is the town which the vineyard Clos Windsbuhl is above, nose is amazing, demi-sec sweetness, not dissimilar to the Sauternes on the nose, it's really a lightweight dessert wine

Ch. Soucherie - missed!

Pierre-Bise 1996 Coteaux du Layon Rochefort "Les Rayelles" - from a NNW-facing vineyard (therefore ripens late, therefore has time to develop lots of botrytis), very dark, almost mahogany, mouth full of praline and brown sugar, nice but a bit simple and heavy; the story is told at the table that people used to pull the cork on these very young due to the premature browning

Beautiful bottle shot by Brad, of course:

 

[Jayson Cohen]

‘20 Huet popped on Day 2 when the structure became more apparent. Lovely lemon verbena tones. Although I liked it fine at dinner. In the same vein as the ‘16 I’d say.

I have Bise more credit than you and Huet Petillant more than Brad.

Why Jay gave me the GPL to take home, I don’t know, but Thanks! Really pretty on the second day.

 

[Brad Kane]

Always a fun night with this group.

That Nervi is entirely crushable. Just what a rose should be. The Brundlmayer with the salt and pepper squid dish was a revelation. One of my favorite food and wine pairings in awhile.

I don't agree with your take on the ZH being like a lightweight dessert wine. Even young, it was never more than off-dry and time has seen some of the sweetness disappear, though the botrytis richness is there. I thought it showed well, but is certainly past peak.

Like Jayson. I also liked the '20 Huet LM demi better than you did. It showed quite softly at first, but, as it usually does, it grew with air. Superb wine, though I do think I prefer the '19 to it. Sorry, but that '02 Petillant had no fruit and all the signs of the pox.

Loved the '95 Grand Puy Lacoste, but it was a bit lost with the meal. The sauce on the lamb was just not right for it.

A shame you missed the '95 Soucherie Chaume. It was delightful, showing classic aged Chenin character, though in a lighter style package, as their '95-'97 wines do. It was kind of blown away by the much richer and sweeter Bise. Again, I disagree on your take on it as there was plenty of acidity to support it. That's the beauty of the '96 vintage. That reminds me, twenty-five anniversary. We'll have to get a '96 Loire jeeb together!

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Brad Kane:
That reminds me, twenty-five anniversary. We'll have to get a '96 Loire jeeb together!

I might have one or two of those.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by Brad Kane:
That reminds me, twenty-five anniversary. We'll have to get a '96 Loire jeeb together!

I might have one or two of those.

I have only a few, moelleux and sec.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by Brad Kane:
That reminds me, twenty-five anniversary. We'll have to get a '96 Loire jeeb together!

I might have one or two of those.

I have only a few, moelleux and sec.

I’ve got a lone bottle of the Huet CdB 1er trie. The first one was badly corked, though, so I’m a bit gun shy.

Mark Lipton

 

[Marc Hanes]

I have one bottle of 1996 Clos du Bourg Moelleux 1ère Trie and that's it.

(Then pretty sure next oldest I have is a 1999 Clos du Bourg Sec.)

 

[Mark Anisman]

i can offer :
1996 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Mont
1996 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg
1996 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg
the jeeb is in the Bay Area, correct?
bestest, MSA

 

[Jay Miller]

I have several bottles of the 1996 Le Mont Moelleux 1er Trie

 

[Jay Miller]

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Labaille Buster as I usually prefer the regular bottling despite the lesser aesthetic value of the label.

I'm now wondering how good the regular bottle might be.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Jay Miller:
I'm now wondering how good the regular bottle might be.

I know where you can get it.

 

[Mike Evans]

I’m running low on my 1996 and 1997 Pierre Bise CdLs, but it’s always nice to see a note on one. If anyone is ever in Atlanta, I have a lot of 1996 Loires I’d be happy to share.