Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
Everything is relative. With Lapierre and Foillard served alongside, it's a little hard to tell.
CWD: What did you drink last night (or whenever)?
- Thread starter Jayson Cohen
- Start date
Everything is relative. With Lapierre and Foillard served alongside, it's a little hard to tell.
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
well what else do you call an oak smoothie?
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
I, at least, associate lactic notes with a prevalence of lactic acid, the only acid in the fixed acid category that is a wee bit volatile. Unrelated to oak, a distinctly different (and much more volatile) nasal irritant.
Jim Hanlon
Jim Hanlon
Last night with some friends. One moving to Portland, we drank well to wish him a happy transition.
2002 Ganevat Savagnin Les Vignes de Mon Pere: I remember when I thought buying this at $100-125 was a stretch, but a forgivable indulgence. This may have become an Insta unicorn, but damn it's great wine. The depth of fruit here is really unsurpassed. Clean, precise, nuanced. There were five of us, and I was glad to share this because it's special and the folks there appreciated it, even those who hadn't been familiar going in. But it's also one of those wines where you'd like a quiet evening and perhaps just one person to share with. Different experiences, each made special by a pretty remarkable wine.
1981 Foreau Vouvray Clos Naudin Demi-Sec: Nose started out strongly in the realm of indoor, basement pool and never lost that quality. It may have diminished, or I may have started to become a little nose blind. It did develop some of the more typical wooly, lanolin character. The nose never had anything that could be described as fruit, or in shouting distance of fruit. Not even a sniff of pear. The palate eventually opened up and showed some nice mature Chenin honey. I'm glad this wine crossed my path, but it was more a curiosity than a pleasure.
2018 Walter Scott X-Novo Chardonnay: A few months ago we did a dinner of West Coast Chardonnay for folks with Burgundian sensibilities and this wine showed very poorly. Today it was brought for a chance at redemption. It was decanted 12 hours before dinner, and then left in the decanter at room temp all day. The idea was to see if the intense reduction would subside. It did. Tasted blind, I didn't recognize it as a Walter Scott, much less the X-Novo. But it still didn't really live up to the hype. As someone said, this wine is priced about the same as Roulot Bourgogne, and the Roulot is a more pleasurable wine. I will say that these wines seems to need age, unless you're just into drinking the reduction thing and saying it's great. And lots of people are.
2000 Dom Perignon: I'm not knowledgeable about Dom and have never owned a bottle. But it was a pleasure to drink one that's fully mature and a point. This isn't a very strong vintage, but there's something to be said for catching a good wine at its apex, which is what happened here. Very vinous and a pleasure with some cheese popovers between the apps (whites) and entrees (reds). If you happen to have this wine, consider opening it this year.
2002 Eyrie South Block Pinot Noir: This is from the original planting at Eyrie. Really stupendous. Deep, embracing, gentle nuance and complexity. A cashmere cardigan of a wine. Not Burgundy or all that Burgundian. Oregon, and so well expressed. This is also at its apex or perhaps just over. Won't last forever, but a privilege to drink. These Eyrie bottlings are expensive, but justify their price in the overall marketplace given this level of quality. I'd rather spend an evening with this bottle than many, many more expensive Burgs.
2004 Puffeney Vieilles Vignes: This wine is so good. Captures all that was special and joyous about Puffeney -- there's fruit, but detailed and delineated, with non-fruit complexity and a sneaky assertive structure that reminds you that this is a vin de grade and really frames everything. It was uniformly attention grabbing around the table. This may still be on the upswing. I only have one more bottle and will wait at least 10 years. But glad to have opened this one now. It was a wine that really makes you feel privileged to have a cellar. I hope some of the wines I buy these days give this sort of experience down the road.
2002 Ganevat Savagnin Les Vignes de Mon Pere: I remember when I thought buying this at $100-125 was a stretch, but a forgivable indulgence. This may have become an Insta unicorn, but damn it's great wine. The depth of fruit here is really unsurpassed. Clean, precise, nuanced. There were five of us, and I was glad to share this because it's special and the folks there appreciated it, even those who hadn't been familiar going in. But it's also one of those wines where you'd like a quiet evening and perhaps just one person to share with. Different experiences, each made special by a pretty remarkable wine.
1981 Foreau Vouvray Clos Naudin Demi-Sec: Nose started out strongly in the realm of indoor, basement pool and never lost that quality. It may have diminished, or I may have started to become a little nose blind. It did develop some of the more typical wooly, lanolin character. The nose never had anything that could be described as fruit, or in shouting distance of fruit. Not even a sniff of pear. The palate eventually opened up and showed some nice mature Chenin honey. I'm glad this wine crossed my path, but it was more a curiosity than a pleasure.
2018 Walter Scott X-Novo Chardonnay: A few months ago we did a dinner of West Coast Chardonnay for folks with Burgundian sensibilities and this wine showed very poorly. Today it was brought for a chance at redemption. It was decanted 12 hours before dinner, and then left in the decanter at room temp all day. The idea was to see if the intense reduction would subside. It did. Tasted blind, I didn't recognize it as a Walter Scott, much less the X-Novo. But it still didn't really live up to the hype. As someone said, this wine is priced about the same as Roulot Bourgogne, and the Roulot is a more pleasurable wine. I will say that these wines seems to need age, unless you're just into drinking the reduction thing and saying it's great. And lots of people are.
2000 Dom Perignon: I'm not knowledgeable about Dom and have never owned a bottle. But it was a pleasure to drink one that's fully mature and a point. This isn't a very strong vintage, but there's something to be said for catching a good wine at its apex, which is what happened here. Very vinous and a pleasure with some cheese popovers between the apps (whites) and entrees (reds). If you happen to have this wine, consider opening it this year.
2002 Eyrie South Block Pinot Noir: This is from the original planting at Eyrie. Really stupendous. Deep, embracing, gentle nuance and complexity. A cashmere cardigan of a wine. Not Burgundy or all that Burgundian. Oregon, and so well expressed. This is also at its apex or perhaps just over. Won't last forever, but a privilege to drink. These Eyrie bottlings are expensive, but justify their price in the overall marketplace given this level of quality. I'd rather spend an evening with this bottle than many, many more expensive Burgs.
2004 Puffeney Vieilles Vignes: This wine is so good. Captures all that was special and joyous about Puffeney -- there's fruit, but detailed and delineated, with non-fruit complexity and a sneaky assertive structure that reminds you that this is a vin de grade and really frames everything. It was uniformly attention grabbing around the table. This may still be on the upswing. I only have one more bottle and will wait at least 10 years. But glad to have opened this one now. It was a wine that really makes you feel privileged to have a cellar. I hope some of the wines I buy these days give this sort of experience down the road.
Christian Miller (CMM)
Christian Miller
Great description. In the more affordable realm, Eyrie's Pinot Gris is really interesting and fine, and I'm not a big PG fan.
Jim Hanlon
Jim Hanlon
Rahsaan, I'm sure that sooner or later life will bring you back to the Bay Area for a visit. When it does, we will fete you with Puffeney, Ganevat, and stinky old Chenin.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
Is the Puffeney VV a red or a white? What grape? The description is fine, except totally color blind.
Jim Hanlon
Jim Hanlon
Red blend of Poulsard, Trousseau, Pinot Noir. With wines this good, those are details.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
On consecutive Flower nights, a horizontal of Lafarge’s three top 1ers. In 2008, we were lucky enough to visit the winery, where we tasted these from barrel. Almost fifteen years later, we revisited them at a hopefully suitable point in their arc, given the less muscular vintage.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets 13.0%
Aroma seems a little tired, dominated by tertiaries (black tea, mushrooms) on a bed of blackberries. Surprisingly tannic, powerful, yet balanced. No sign of oak. Marcia comments that it resembles Nebbiolo more than Pinot, which makes us think of all the times we have heard analogies between the two varieties. But these analogies generally emphasize Nebbiolo's potential to achieve traits associated with Pinot, rather than the other way around. In any case, I found this a bit of a tough love, even with food.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Chateau des Ducs (Monopole) 13.0%
Aroma is more elegant, also dominated by tertiaries (shoyu, rust). Mouth is much less tannic, with good balance. No sign of oak. This one resembled Pinot, not Nebbiolo, but a well-structured Pinot. And it went beautifully with food.
I’m not one for verticals, but would welcome a vertical of this in order to have all the Ducs in a row.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes 13.0%
Still closed, showing hints of sousbois, spices, lard and rust. More tannic than the Ducs, but less than the Caillerets. Savory. No sign of oak. Refined, but more intellectual than sensual.
It's been a long time since I've tried this producer's plain Burgundies, but those used to take a decade to become ready, so these 1ers were perhaps less than ideal for being too young. But the aromas all seemed rather evolved, configuring something of a mystery.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets 13.0%
Aroma seems a little tired, dominated by tertiaries (black tea, mushrooms) on a bed of blackberries. Surprisingly tannic, powerful, yet balanced. No sign of oak. Marcia comments that it resembles Nebbiolo more than Pinot, which makes us think of all the times we have heard analogies between the two varieties. But these analogies generally emphasize Nebbiolo's potential to achieve traits associated with Pinot, rather than the other way around. In any case, I found this a bit of a tough love, even with food.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Chateau des Ducs (Monopole) 13.0%
Aroma is more elegant, also dominated by tertiaries (shoyu, rust). Mouth is much less tannic, with good balance. No sign of oak. This one resembled Pinot, not Nebbiolo, but a well-structured Pinot. And it went beautifully with food.
I’m not one for verticals, but would welcome a vertical of this in order to have all the Ducs in a row.
2006 Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes 13.0%
Still closed, showing hints of sousbois, spices, lard and rust. More tannic than the Ducs, but less than the Caillerets. Savory. No sign of oak. Refined, but more intellectual than sensual.
It's been a long time since I've tried this producer's plain Burgundies, but those used to take a decade to become ready, so these 1ers were perhaps less than ideal for being too young. But the aromas all seemed rather evolved, configuring something of a mystery.
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
makes perfect sense: 2006 red burgundy was always not burgundy.
Claude Kolm
Claude Kolm
2006 was quite inconsistent and challenging. Clearly much better on the Côte de Nuits (one can even argue that Nuits and Vosne were better than 2005) than Côte de Beaune, where the biggest challenges were.
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Had 11 people over for campechana, enchiladas, and appropriate accompaniments with everyone bringing whatever wine they wished. Egads, if this is indicative of the wine market with general wine drinkers, then it is rather depressing.
Two people brought bottles of Bread and Butter Napa Chardonnay 20 which rightfully touted butter, cream, and OAK. Way over the top!
And one person proudly brought the Quilt Napa Cabernet Sauvignon '18 which had very notable dimensions of vanilla, chocolate, oak, and, yes, alcohol (labeled 15.25% but probably higher). Quilt is a Wagner Family wine. Again, over the top with this bottling!
Not quite DNPIM, but a close call for these medium-priced wines.
. . . . . . Pete
Two people brought bottles of Bread and Butter Napa Chardonnay 20 which rightfully touted butter, cream, and OAK. Way over the top!
And one person proudly brought the Quilt Napa Cabernet Sauvignon '18 which had very notable dimensions of vanilla, chocolate, oak, and, yes, alcohol (labeled 15.25% but probably higher). Quilt is a Wagner Family wine. Again, over the top with this bottling!
Not quite DNPIM, but a close call for these medium-priced wines.
. . . . . . Pete
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
In the unlikely event that anyone is interested, ditto for the Duckhorn Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon '19.
. . . . . Pete
Jim Hanlon
Jim Hanlon
2020 Gilbert Picq Chablis Vieilles Vignes: My first wine from this domaine, picked up because of favorable discussion on another bored. This is perfectly fine Chablis, but I was hoping for more density and depth from the old vines. At the moment, the wine tastes a little anonymous -- it's Chablis, but there's not much to say for it beyond that. It's not exciting. Not all bottles have to be, but I was hoping for a little more. Perhaps age will help. Those who know the domaine -- what bottlings do you like best?
Last night we opened the 2016 Foillard Cote du Py which was absolutely singing. It had the floral notes that typify this bottling to me, but also had a delicacy on the palate and a red-fruited character that I find increasingly rare in the region. It spurred much discussion of Chauvet, the Gang of Four (Five?) and the recent turnaround Chez Lapierre. Since the power had gone out and rain was falling we set up a table and chairs on the front porch and dined within a stones throw of the Gamay vines, altogether apropos.
Mark Lipton
Mark Lipton