Wine impressions 11-2-22

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
Wine impressions 11-2-22

2012 Lagier-Meredith, Malbec - while fan of neither the grape nor the style, one must give credit when a plan comes together. With home-made pizzas, this was terrific - powerful against the cheese and starch but flavors that matched well with mushrooms. An unexpected treat.

2021 Vincent, Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge - another in the line of well crafted, firmly structured Ribbon Ridge Pinots from this producer with lots of fruit. I buy a case yearly and always feel I under purchased.

2012 Cowan Cellars, Pinot Noir Anderson Valley - my favorite of all the Pinots I made and still true to its turf, supple and in no danger of fading.

2020 Louis Michel, Chablis Butteaux - it’s already shed the lactic note I often get from very young Michel and shows good character and depth. The lemon skin notes harmonize well with the mineral/chalk elements, even at so young an age. Good stuff. (Note: this is not the VV)

N/V Guy Larmandier, Cramant Brut Zero Grand Cru - while bubbles are fine they usually do not impress; this does. With a few years, this may actually make me a champagne nut. Young but promising.

N/V Tarlant, Brut Nature - another lovely wine, seeming more ready to drink than the preceding. Hard to choose between the two, at present.

2019 Francois Pinon, Vouvray Sec - I wanted quality Vouvray Sec when I bought this and I got it. And for about half of what I’d have to pay for Huet or Foreau. While I love them all, I’m happy with the price and the wine.

2019 Dom. Pepiere, Clisson - atypical Muscadet but a beautiful, balanced wine that gives me more volume and texture than most Muscadet but keeps the acidity. A fav in my house.

2011 Dom. de Roally, Vire-Clesse - opened to accompany beet and ginger soup; which it did well. The RS has never suited me despite the obvious quality of the wine but it has calmed and, with the right food, sings - it’s swan song however, as this is the last bottle of a case.

2018 Dirty & Rowdy, Mourvèdre Evangelho Vineyard - even with decanting for an hour or so, this is very much the same showing as I have gotten on most occasions I’ve opened one. That said, it will do. IMO, one of the great red wines of CA and it never disappoints.
Maybe, just maybe, I’ll age one long enough . . .

2007 Huet, Clos du Bourg Moelleux - a marvelous, constantly changing, fully engaging wine that carries its RS well and was excellent with fresh pears.

Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:

2019 Francois Pinon, Vouvray Sec - I wanted quality Vouvray Sec when I bought this and I got it. And for about half of what I’d have to pay for Huet or Foreau. While I love them all, I’m happy with the price and the wine.

2019 Dom. Pepiere, Clisson - atypical Muscadet but a beautiful, balanced wine that gives me more volume and texture than most Muscadet but keeps the acidity. A fav in my house.
Click to expand...

I know there's lots of Pinon Love on this board, but the wines have never spoken to me. Given the fair prices, I keep trying, and recently had this 2019 Sec. But my takeaway is always that it's certainly well-made wine for good value, but more what I might drink in a restaurant given various limitations, as opposed to looking forward to opening at home. But we all have our own tastes.

I'm completely in agreement on the 2019 Clisson. Delicious wine, and I've been successfully evangelizing to my friends who do not know Muscadet using that wine, all the while explaining how it's not the typical profile.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Florida Jim:

2019 Francois Pinon, Vouvray Sec - I wanted quality Vouvray Sec when I bought this and I got it. And for about half of what I’d have to pay for Huet or Foreau. While I love them all, I’m happy with the price and the wine.

2019 Dom. Pepiere, Clisson - atypical Muscadet but a beautiful, balanced wine that gives me more volume and texture than most Muscadet but keeps the acidity. A fav in my house.
Click to expand...

I know there's lots of Pinon Love on this board, but the wines have never spoken to me. Given the fair prices, I keep trying, and recently had this 2019 Sec. But my takeaway is always that it's certainly well-made wine for good value, but more what I might drink in a restaurant given various limitations, as opposed to looking forward to opening at home. But we all have our own tastes.

I'm completely in agreement on the 2019 Clisson. Delicious wine, and I've been successfully evangelizing to my friends who do not know Muscadet using that wine, all the while explaining how it's not the typical profile.
Click to expand...
Friends of some credence agree with your Pinon assessment - but “I wave my private parts in their general direction.”
Clisson good; Mongo bad.
(Sorry, you caught me in “movie mode.”)
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Florida Jim:

2019 Francois Pinon, Vouvray Sec - I wanted quality Vouvray Sec when I bought this and I got it. And for about half of what I’d have to pay for Huet or Foreau. While I love them all, I’m happy with the price and the wine.

2019 Dom. Pepiere, Clisson - atypical Muscadet but a beautiful, balanced wine that gives me more volume and texture than most Muscadet but keeps the acidity. A fav in my house.
Click to expand...

I know there's lots of Pinon Love on this board, but the wines have never spoken to me. Given the fair prices, I keep trying, and recently had this 2019 Sec. But my takeaway is always that it's certainly well-made wine for good value, but more what I might drink in a restaurant given various limitations, as opposed to looking forward to opening at home. But we all have our own tastes.

I'm completely in agreement on the 2019 Clisson. Delicious wine, and I've been successfully evangelizing to my friends who do not know Muscadet using that wine, all the while explaining how it's not the typical profile.
Click to expand...

I'm mostly just curious Rahsaan, but does your assessment of Pinon include les Déronnières?
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Can't remember if I've had it. Is that your favorite Pinon bottling?
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i wasn't asked, but that won't stop me.
from 2014 on, probably yes.
as far as pinon in general, his moelleux is ridiculously light on its feet with age ( next to foreau and huet ) without lacking requisite impact.
i have also greatly enjoyed aged bottles of his "cuvee tradition" which i believe is a sec tendre, and consider them unique style-wise
 
I am firmly in the Pinon camp, and I love how quickly we all converged to Déronnières as the zenith. Love that bottling.

2021 though will be a whole mess of new bottlings from what I’ve seen as the growing season required out of the box thinking by Julien. Should be interesting once they hit the market.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Florida Jim:

2019 Francois Pinon, Vouvray Sec - I wanted quality Vouvray Sec when I bought this and I got it. And for about half of what I’d have to pay for Huet or Foreau. While I love them all, I’m happy with the price and the wine.
Click to expand...

I know there's lots of Pinon Love on this board, but the wines have never spoken to me. Given the fair prices, I keep trying, and recently had this 2019 Sec. But my takeaway is always that it's certainly well-made wine for good value, but more what I might drink in a restaurant given various limitations, as opposed to looking forward to opening at home. But we all have our own tastes.
Click to expand...

I recall you not being particularly impressed at the Foreau-a-thon some years back and my commenting to you that it didn't appear you particularly like Chenin. It's sounding more like that's the case if you're unimpressed by at least two of the top Loire producers. Not that there's a problem with that. More for me.
 
?! Loire chenin is my core white wine love, along with German riesling. I don't remember being unimpressed at the Foreau-a-thon, but Foreau is a reference producer for me, and I'm a fan. That said, I do have more exposure and feel more connection to Huet. And Chidaine is another core producer for me.

So of those big 4, it's only Pinon that doesn't speak to me. I've gone in and out of the chenin further west, but alcohol levels have always been an issue there, so the core for me is still Vouvray/Montlouis. But so many great producers all over the Loire!
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:

So of those big 4, it's only Pinon that doesn't speak to me. I've gone in and out of the chenin further west, but alcohol levels have always been an issue there, so the core for me is still Vouvray/Montlouis. But so many great producers all over the Loire!
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone would argue that the terroirs at Pinon are equal to those of Huet or Foreau (nor Clos Baudoin). So I guess I agree, sort of.

Once upon a time (say between 2000-2010), I found that Pinon Vouvray was - by far - the most useful of all those producers in a restaurant setting because of QPR and availability. Also because Pinon Vouvray was often sec tendre and the balance was just right. Chidaine pricing was also reasonable then, while Huet was always quite a bit more expensive, and as long as Huet was imported by Robert Chadderdon, I could not buy it.

Now all the ABVs have crept up, so the wines are much less useful to me (for drinking, obviously, not buying for others).

I looked up Pinon where I am and all the wines were 13.5%. The Pinon prices are much higher here than I remember them, but Huet has always cost much less than in the US. (For comparison: Pinon Les Déronnières 2019 is the same price as Huet Le Haut-Lieu Sec 2021). Chidaine's prices are higher every year with the Bournais Franc de Pied now $90.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Can't remember if I've had it. Is that your favorite Pinon bottling?
Click to expand...

i wasn't asked, but that won't stop me.
from 2014 on, probably yes.
as far as pinon in general, his moelleux is ridiculously light on its feet with age ( next to foreau and huet ) without lacking requisite impact.
i have also greatly enjoyed aged bottles of his "cuvee tradition" which i believe is a sec tendre, and consider them unique style-wise
Click to expand...

Well, 2014 was the first time Les Déronnières was bottled as a separate cuveé, so...
 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:

I'm mostly just curious Rahsaan, but does your assessment of Pinon include les Déronnières?
Click to expand...

After all the prompting in this thread, I figured it was worth buying a bottle of 2020 Pinon Les Déronnières. Delicious for sure, and maybe more enjoyable for me than other Pinon bottlings. Lots of grippy substance. Was not a bolt of Enlightenment from the sky, but it may be too late to expect that!

Still, I thank chenin for all of its options, and look forward to drinking more.
 
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