continued here. Tasting notes follow:
Joly 1989 Savennires Clos de la Coule de Serrant (Loire) Chalk, dry honey, complex minerality, and a long, very dry finish. Good acidity. A very good wine not all the way to maturity, but getting there. (9/08)
Guffens-Heynen 2000 Mcon-Pierreclos Le Chavigne (Mcon) Very dry and structured, mild oakand not much else. Seems OK, but theres not a whole lot of there there. People whose palates I trust insist that these are good, atypically-Guffens wines to which Im regularly unfair, but Ive yet to see it. (9/08)
Couhins-Lurton 2001 Pessac-Lognan Blanc (Bordeaux) Stones and grass with a deft grace note of oak. Fuller-bodied than this note suggests, though the finish is short. (9/08)
Nikolaihof 2003 Riesling Steiner Hund Reserve (Kremstal) Steel, wet aluminumbut also, some pointy alcohol. Good balance otherwise. A bit of a victim of its vintage. (9/08)
Trimbach 1993 Riesling Cuve Frdric mile (Alsace) Metal (mostly iron) with huge acidity and receding complexity. Very slightly oxidized on the finish, and while the wines still quite intense, I think it needs to be consumedthough with extended aeration, it does freshen a bit. There's some discussion about whether or not this is a representative bottle, which isn't resolved. (9/08)
Raveneau 2003 Chablis Butteaux 1er Cru (Chablis) Corked. (9/08)
Louis Carillon 2002 Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts 1er Cru (Burgundy) Gorgeous texture, very tactile (to the point that it almost feels like theres residual sugar, though obviously this is highly unlikely), melony, long, and quite complex. Impressive. (9/08)
dAngerville 1993 Volnay Clos des Ducs (Burgundy) Earthen, with dark fruit and strappy tannin. Some mature flavors, and some less sois this a wine in clear need of additional age, or is it showing a slight tannic imbalance that will be exacerbated as time marches on? Ill leave the debate to those who own some, but despite the chew its pretty extraordinary right now. (9/08)
Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah (California) Smoked meat, a little bit of brett (a first from this wine, at least in my experience), blackberries, and a dusting of char. Smooth and elegant in the context of California syrahwhich isnt, in a wider context, all that smooth and elegant. Still, I like it, and this is the first bottle that, to me, seems like it might be sniffing around the edges of maturity. (9/08)
Rinaldi 1999 Barolo Brunate Le Coste (Piedmont) Corked. (9/08)
Gerin 1999 Cte-Rtie Champin Le Seigneur (Rhne) Dense, chewy leather, and earth studded with peppercorns. No fruit as such, but who needs it? Basically, you either like this sort of thing or you dont. I do, despite believing apparently mistakenly that Im not a huge Gerin fan. (9/08)
Loville Poyferr 1990 Saint-Julien (Bordeaux) Tobacco, cassis, dark black fruit, and still-immense but balanced structure. Rather fantastic at the moment, though obviously well short of maturity. (9/08)