Joel Stewart
Joel Stewart
NV ('07) Raphael Bartucci, Bugey Cerdon Methode Ancestrale Rose - bright red sparkling juice. 4 days later, left on the counter, it began showing signs of gamey interest. remarkably boring overall...and pricey fruit soda.
2007 Puzelat Touraine Sauv b - at first pour, printers ink aromas...then recognizable subtle soapy, funky perfumy notes I've noted in other Puzelat blancs. leesy, roundish, saline with a pleasantly long finish. non-geeks at the table admire the wine without prompting. a decent wine, but for a few dollars more, i'll take the petit buisson.
2004 Puzelat Vouvray Petillant Naturel - surprisingly straightforward...i had hoped for a little more funk actually. this is dry, finely chiseled high toned minerals. I don't really know chenin b, except for the petillant/cremant bends I keep trying.....in those, and in this, i find a shrill, green quality. Maybe chenin b is not my bag. Puzelat Petillant Rose is more my bag.
2007 Dario Princic, Bianco, Venezia-Giuli - cloudy pink/amber...pink lemonade with somber tobacco, broth notes, odd touches of oxi, petillance, allspice, lemon, apricot.......an interesting and very likable wine.
2004 Courtois, Les Cailloux du Paradis, Romorantin. pickle juice, rosemary on nose; striking levels of salt and lemon on the palate, with a not unattractive oxidized note on the finish. interesting. gains complexity with air...pine resin, cracked pepper?.... grapefruit...pickle and sherry....it's weird, it's nice, and i'd buy more at half the price.
1997 Vietti Castigione - very tight. beef blood/ruby at the core, orange wide rim. with hours, pine, creosote, licorice. good acidity, sour cherries, a bit of tobacco tang on the finish, little fruit. i split the bottle and recanted and finished the second half days later....it finally started showing a pleasant nose, but the palate was only fair after all. too young?
1996 Seghesio, La Villa......pours out brown in the glass. 10 mins later it turns a bright orange. weird but cool. floral, tar and every other gorgeous leathery nebbiolo flavor thru the nose. takes 4-6 hrs to open, but from 3 it's rocking. all things, from tar to fruit in a delicate balance. i hate the fact i am sharing this with a guy who judges wine by his OZ skewed opacity meter ("the darker the better"). no matter really...it's too thin for him so he sucks his own bottle and i get the "thin stuff" to myself...
1989 RLdH, Vina Tondonia, Blanco Riserva - as i look over my notes, i realize, this wine is hard to describe. oh well...i'll try. beautiful weird mix of honey, cheese, lemon, caramel, baked pear, sherry cask shavings and with some time, dark rye bread. palate showed similar and was thoroughly pleasing. initial pairing tests showed cream based stuff (shellfish, pork or chicken) brought out the most in the wine....however, when the wine showed signs of tiring later on (bottle was open for some 30 hrs) it was the tomato based sauce which brought the youth back into the wine. go figure. fwiw also...despite what they say, this wine did not work well with seafood alone. no matter...i found other combos. an extremely memorable wine.
1997 RLdH Rosado, Rioja - Second bottle from this vintage and consistent - the nose showed savory bouillion, rosehips, petrichor and apricot. Palate delivered as much. The wine is in perfect balance and works in between flavors of various foods like a figure skater. No, not mind blowing, but subtly ninja-like in it's persistence without yelling. For $25, it's a very nice statement.
2005 Pierpaollo Pecorari, Le Riflessioni Rosso, (Refosco/Cab franc/Merlot - 50/25/25) Isonzo del Friuli - this too is a hard wine to categorize....angular, harsh, but intriguing as well. tannic but not rough...sour cherries, smoke, cab. sauv like notes, perfumey in the glass like a nebbiolo too. low on the fruit, yet ripe, drinkable now...prob drinkable a few yrs from now. i want to try more from this maker.
Am reading Bull's translation of Vasari's "Lives of the Artists" right now....what fun. Are Giotto paintings still hanging in Avignon?
2007 Puzelat Touraine Sauv b - at first pour, printers ink aromas...then recognizable subtle soapy, funky perfumy notes I've noted in other Puzelat blancs. leesy, roundish, saline with a pleasantly long finish. non-geeks at the table admire the wine without prompting. a decent wine, but for a few dollars more, i'll take the petit buisson.
2004 Puzelat Vouvray Petillant Naturel - surprisingly straightforward...i had hoped for a little more funk actually. this is dry, finely chiseled high toned minerals. I don't really know chenin b, except for the petillant/cremant bends I keep trying.....in those, and in this, i find a shrill, green quality. Maybe chenin b is not my bag. Puzelat Petillant Rose is more my bag.
2007 Dario Princic, Bianco, Venezia-Giuli - cloudy pink/amber...pink lemonade with somber tobacco, broth notes, odd touches of oxi, petillance, allspice, lemon, apricot.......an interesting and very likable wine.
2004 Courtois, Les Cailloux du Paradis, Romorantin. pickle juice, rosemary on nose; striking levels of salt and lemon on the palate, with a not unattractive oxidized note on the finish. interesting. gains complexity with air...pine resin, cracked pepper?.... grapefruit...pickle and sherry....it's weird, it's nice, and i'd buy more at half the price.
1997 Vietti Castigione - very tight. beef blood/ruby at the core, orange wide rim. with hours, pine, creosote, licorice. good acidity, sour cherries, a bit of tobacco tang on the finish, little fruit. i split the bottle and recanted and finished the second half days later....it finally started showing a pleasant nose, but the palate was only fair after all. too young?
1996 Seghesio, La Villa......pours out brown in the glass. 10 mins later it turns a bright orange. weird but cool. floral, tar and every other gorgeous leathery nebbiolo flavor thru the nose. takes 4-6 hrs to open, but from 3 it's rocking. all things, from tar to fruit in a delicate balance. i hate the fact i am sharing this with a guy who judges wine by his OZ skewed opacity meter ("the darker the better"). no matter really...it's too thin for him so he sucks his own bottle and i get the "thin stuff" to myself...
1989 RLdH, Vina Tondonia, Blanco Riserva - as i look over my notes, i realize, this wine is hard to describe. oh well...i'll try. beautiful weird mix of honey, cheese, lemon, caramel, baked pear, sherry cask shavings and with some time, dark rye bread. palate showed similar and was thoroughly pleasing. initial pairing tests showed cream based stuff (shellfish, pork or chicken) brought out the most in the wine....however, when the wine showed signs of tiring later on (bottle was open for some 30 hrs) it was the tomato based sauce which brought the youth back into the wine. go figure. fwiw also...despite what they say, this wine did not work well with seafood alone. no matter...i found other combos. an extremely memorable wine.
1997 RLdH Rosado, Rioja - Second bottle from this vintage and consistent - the nose showed savory bouillion, rosehips, petrichor and apricot. Palate delivered as much. The wine is in perfect balance and works in between flavors of various foods like a figure skater. No, not mind blowing, but subtly ninja-like in it's persistence without yelling. For $25, it's a very nice statement.
2005 Pierpaollo Pecorari, Le Riflessioni Rosso, (Refosco/Cab franc/Merlot - 50/25/25) Isonzo del Friuli - this too is a hard wine to categorize....angular, harsh, but intriguing as well. tannic but not rough...sour cherries, smoke, cab. sauv like notes, perfumey in the glass like a nebbiolo too. low on the fruit, yet ripe, drinkable now...prob drinkable a few yrs from now. i want to try more from this maker.
Am reading Bull's translation of Vasari's "Lives of the Artists" right now....what fun. Are Giotto paintings still hanging in Avignon?