Rijckaert 2006 Bourgogne Blanc (Burgundy) An austere skeleton of a wine, clean, direct, and stark. Nice enough, but it sacrifices any hint of complexity for directness. (12/08)
Lini 910 Labrusca Lambrusco Bianco (Emilia-Romagna) Fragrant. Green apples, acidity, and fun lightness. My first white Lambrusco; I didnt even know they existed until I saw this bottle. (12/08)
Pepe 2001 Trebbiano dAbruzzo (Abruzzi) Smells, unmistakably, of kriek lambic, with all the sourness and brett that impliesand not some easy-drinking Lindemans bottling either, but an extreme, take-no-prisoners Cantillon version. The texture is of drying soup, with fantastic minerality enveloped in lanolin. Very complex and strikingly long, with fine balance. Not that this is any surprise, but the wine is very divisive; among a half-dozen tasters of this bottle, about as many despise it as adore it. (12/08)
i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Colli Orientali del Friuli) Fairly advanced for this bottling, which has spent some time in a warmish store (Vintages, Belmont Center) and might have been displayed standing up for a time. All this really means, though, is that the wine is a lot closer to full maturity than pristine bottles: honeysuckle and fine-grained pollen with a lovely milky texture and very good length. (12/08)
Blanchard Vin de Table de France Lot 1 (Loire) A mysterious wine. A bit of online research leads to the following: sauvignon blanc and, believe it or not, cabernet (franc or sauvignon, we dont know) vinified white. The thought behind the closure is equally mysterious: a crown cap under a wax capsule. Kind of irritating. OK, so how about the wine? Bewildering is what it is: foamy, powdery, and sweet, with a bit of lime. Very, very strange. (12/08)
Rauen 2004 Detzemer Maximiner Klosterlay Riesling Auslese Trocken 7 05 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) Makrut lime, fresh coconut, and papaya. Bright and sunlit, and while the wine is good in a tropical sort of way while it lasts, the finish is disappointingly short. (12/08)
Scholium Project 2007 Eurydice Rocky Hill (California) Pinot gris, according to the web site. Ill take their word for it. All I can get out of this wine is wax and fatand not the fat that critics use to suggest a lack of balancing acidity. No, I mean actual fat. Stale fat, too. But mostly, it smells and tastes of wax. Are they kidding? (12/08)
Scholium Project 2006 The Prince in His Caves Farina (California) Sauvignon blanc, and for a change with this producer the cpage is actually reflected in the wine, which smells of sweat and asparagus, tastes like green pepper, and is dominated by a fierce, off-putting acidity. (12/08)
Scholium Project 2007 Naucratis Lost Slough (California) Verdelho. Given a sufficiently open mind, this actually seems like it might be wine: sweet mango and persimmon, albeit with the texture of a smoothie. Drinkable, but you wont want much of it. (12/08)
Lurton Chteau La Louvire 1979 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) Young-tasting, believe it or not. Lime with hints of Sprite the wines a bit slurpy but this eventually resolves to tonic and sorbet. Filaments of metal drift through the finish. Precise. Very good, but almost excellent. (12/08)
Dillon Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion 1974 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) Molten aluminum, creamy, and very long. A touch of brown sugar hints at the age, but this has held up extremely well. Very, very good wine, but drink up. (12/08)
Gros Domaine de Montbourgeau 2000 ltoile Cuve Spciale (Jura) Racy minerality in a wind tunnel. If there was such a thing as chalkfruit, this would have it. Intense and pear-textured (but not -flavored), with a tartness that really emerges as the wine airs. Extremely good. (12/08)
CH Berres 2001 rziger Wrzgarten Riesling Auslese 12 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) Raw iron and light petroleum, perhaps some aluminum. Shockingly primary (almost raw, actually); this not only is far from maturity, its not even close to closing up yet. (12/08)
Lini 910 Labrusca Lambrusco Bianco (Emilia-Romagna) Fragrant. Green apples, acidity, and fun lightness. My first white Lambrusco; I didnt even know they existed until I saw this bottle. (12/08)
Pepe 2001 Trebbiano dAbruzzo (Abruzzi) Smells, unmistakably, of kriek lambic, with all the sourness and brett that impliesand not some easy-drinking Lindemans bottling either, but an extreme, take-no-prisoners Cantillon version. The texture is of drying soup, with fantastic minerality enveloped in lanolin. Very complex and strikingly long, with fine balance. Not that this is any surprise, but the wine is very divisive; among a half-dozen tasters of this bottle, about as many despise it as adore it. (12/08)
i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Colli Orientali del Friuli) Fairly advanced for this bottling, which has spent some time in a warmish store (Vintages, Belmont Center) and might have been displayed standing up for a time. All this really means, though, is that the wine is a lot closer to full maturity than pristine bottles: honeysuckle and fine-grained pollen with a lovely milky texture and very good length. (12/08)
Blanchard Vin de Table de France Lot 1 (Loire) A mysterious wine. A bit of online research leads to the following: sauvignon blanc and, believe it or not, cabernet (franc or sauvignon, we dont know) vinified white. The thought behind the closure is equally mysterious: a crown cap under a wax capsule. Kind of irritating. OK, so how about the wine? Bewildering is what it is: foamy, powdery, and sweet, with a bit of lime. Very, very strange. (12/08)
Rauen 2004 Detzemer Maximiner Klosterlay Riesling Auslese Trocken 7 05 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) Makrut lime, fresh coconut, and papaya. Bright and sunlit, and while the wine is good in a tropical sort of way while it lasts, the finish is disappointingly short. (12/08)
Scholium Project 2007 Eurydice Rocky Hill (California) Pinot gris, according to the web site. Ill take their word for it. All I can get out of this wine is wax and fatand not the fat that critics use to suggest a lack of balancing acidity. No, I mean actual fat. Stale fat, too. But mostly, it smells and tastes of wax. Are they kidding? (12/08)
Scholium Project 2006 The Prince in His Caves Farina (California) Sauvignon blanc, and for a change with this producer the cpage is actually reflected in the wine, which smells of sweat and asparagus, tastes like green pepper, and is dominated by a fierce, off-putting acidity. (12/08)
Scholium Project 2007 Naucratis Lost Slough (California) Verdelho. Given a sufficiently open mind, this actually seems like it might be wine: sweet mango and persimmon, albeit with the texture of a smoothie. Drinkable, but you wont want much of it. (12/08)
Lurton Chteau La Louvire 1979 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) Young-tasting, believe it or not. Lime with hints of Sprite the wines a bit slurpy but this eventually resolves to tonic and sorbet. Filaments of metal drift through the finish. Precise. Very good, but almost excellent. (12/08)
Dillon Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion 1974 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) Molten aluminum, creamy, and very long. A touch of brown sugar hints at the age, but this has held up extremely well. Very, very good wine, but drink up. (12/08)
Gros Domaine de Montbourgeau 2000 ltoile Cuve Spciale (Jura) Racy minerality in a wind tunnel. If there was such a thing as chalkfruit, this would have it. Intense and pear-textured (but not -flavored), with a tartness that really emerges as the wine airs. Extremely good. (12/08)
CH Berres 2001 rziger Wrzgarten Riesling Auslese 12 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) Raw iron and light petroleum, perhaps some aluminum. Shockingly primary (almost raw, actually); this not only is far from maturity, its not even close to closing up yet. (12/08)