Joel Stewart
Joel Stewart
2006 Cantillon, Iris, Belgium - Lambic, tho apparently unique in that this is 100% barley (no wheat). That is not what is odd to me. Total unrepenting VA here is what is odd....this is light cloudy yellow pickle juice with C02. The brewer just said to him/herself: shit happens but Iris sounds better than "Shit". Interesting for it's nervyness (and wine-like bottling as well) but too simple in that single-minded nervyness to ask for more than a glass. VA was way better when I didn't think about it....
Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider and Sohn, Aventinus, Weissen-doppelbock - 8.5-9%, 510ml ($6) - Cloudy yellow/brown with amber tones when held up to light. A yellow/ cream colored head swells in the glass, then dissipates. Smoke, juniper, raspberry, caramel, molasses and old world apothecary medicinal herbs on the nose. This smells more like closed ancient doors in medieval dungeons compared to the more open punchy citric and piney notes of NW micros I cut my teeth on, and that's always been my hurdle with Eurobeers. NW micro brews, with few exceptions, taste fresher to me, Eurobeers (in bottle at least) taste mustier, as if the grains were stored too long and the bottles not thoroughly washed. On the palate, the beer is gently petillant, but not lacking. Just enough to lift the flavors thru the mouth (many of which echo the nose). Dates, savory touches and raspberry (subtly so) then cloves and spice on a pleasant finish. I don't get the bananas that many seem to note however, (fine with me). Medium body, smooth, even silky. If you go for the style, this is not bad hooch. I'd certainly give it a shot from the tap, but it's not clamoring for any more text.
2007 Domain L'Ecu, Cuvee Guy Bossard, Muscadet Sevre et Maine, 12% - Clear greenish gold in the glass and a reticent Chablisienne nose hinting at limestone, lemon peel and clean beach smells. Lifted pillowy feel on the palate, but otherwise the wine is a bit tight and disjointed at first. This vintage seems anemic compared to what the 06's have become. That said, there is a licked chrome handlebar saline quality here that pulls the flavors through nicely from mid to finish. Not much else happens before or after. Day two, the nose is even more closed and the palate even more open. The chromey roundness has expanded in a good way: it's the dominant note of the wine now....and is actually impressive, given the surrounding austerity. Add to that a bit of flinty smoke and more than usual bitterness, and it still adds up to a quirky battle in a bottle. One could find elegance here if the surrounding environs were quiet enough, but let's face it.....the wine is comparatively average. I may get another to lay down and see what time will tell, but I'm glad I still own a few 06's.
1999 Chateau Vari, Monbazillac, (13%) Clear amber/orange in glass, this is mostly semillon, with small amounts of sauv. b and muscadelle. Average vine age is 40 yrs in clay/limestone soils. Annual production is ca. 8,000 bottles....etc...etc....Apricot, orange rind, toffee, smoke and botrytis on the nose. The palate shows much of the same in descending order and the delivery is quiet, seamless. This reminds me a bit of the Rutherford Glen dessert wines (Chambers Rosewood Muscat in particular) what's enjoyable about this is that similarities aside, the wine operates at a higher toned level: it ain't sticky....it's refreshing...even at 10 yrs. Also, at $17 for a 750ml, it's half the price of a Chambers. As a test to see how sweet wines would do with "ordinary" food, we paired this with homemade "pizza", via toasted nan brushed with almond and shiitake butter, then blue cheese and prosciutto broiled on top. Great match up. Pumpkin soup joined in and worked fine too. Whaddya know, dessert wines can hold their own at the dinner table.
2007 Pieropan, Soave Classico - 12%. Caveat: my first Pieropan. This seems the Italian version of a muscadet....minerally, earthy nose with some limestoney sea air notes mixed with grassy herbs. Much later a bit of floral and lemon custard. Palate is bright, dry, with subtle touches of honey and a slightly nutty note on the finish mixed in amongst a salty lemon tang. Over time, I felt there were also suggestions of chablis notes as well. Nothing wrong with the wine, though it doesn't leap across the palate with much verve. Anyone had the cru La Rocca? This and the dessert wines I'd be curious to try, but I won't buy this again.
2007 Villa Loosen, Riesling QBA.......Reisling as well holstered teenage tits.
1998 Mastroberardino, Radici Riserva, Taurasi - (13.5%) Clear beef juice red with substantial bricking in the glass. Nose of fig, plum, cherry, hints of smoke, forest and fennel. Overall the nose is riper fruit than typical "earth and leather" c/o Italy, but it doesn't exclude the latter either. Palate is sappy bright red cherry mostly, some deep red fruit tucked in underneath with a drying finish. Well structured. I wanted to really like this wine, but in the end, i just liked it. Overall, it seems a competent food matcher. Not begging for attention on it's own, but, on the other hand at $50+ substitutes abound. (Disclosure: this was served at a large gathering, amongst several wines....not my kind of appraisal tasting....notes are from a glass tasted over time.)
2006 Puzelat Romorantin, Loire (13%) slightly turbid amber color. Resin, sap, rosemary cuttings, rain smells and some savory on the nose. Very intriguing. Palate at first starts off a little gangly, with oxidised/VA pickle jar notes doing battle with electric tobacco/citric tones. Not in an especially good place....but give it some air time. Off dry in a way that somehow reminds me a bit of Verget's macon's for some reason (ie rather than a fresh fruity sweetness, it's more of a handmade candied quality). It's not German Ries RS. Because it's hard to identify or describe well, I am reminded that I really need to put together my own flow chart for understanding flavors in wine as results from various winemaking decisions (I don't know why this sweetness doesn't remind me of fresh fruit, but I recognize the profile...)
2006 Clos Tue-de-Boeuf, Vin Blanc, VDT, Loire (13.5 %, and apparently 100% chardonnay, tho the label tells nothing) - slightly cloudy gold green in the glass and what has become for me a standard Puzelat nose of leesy green grape must and perfumed soap (esp. "Cow Brand Beauty Soap"- Blue Label). Sounds awful? No, not really...fruit, flowers, soap and animal fat have something in common...somewhere. Compared to the smokey, overly oaked '05 Chablis that got opened at the same time, this was delightfully itself, different, and altogether satisfying. Well balanced fruit, lees, acidity and tannic tang, Puzelat whites continue to win me over.
2007 Rossojbleo, Nero d'Avola - well made, showing cab franc/refosko notes and bright red saline cherry notes prior to the tobacco bite on the finish. Lots of personality with that foresty nose too.
NV -(2008) Caves Da Cerca, "Ouro Verde", Vinho Verde, Portugal....Took
it to a tasting last night and again my suspicions were confirmed: This is Louie Armstrong in a bottle.
Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider and Sohn, Aventinus, Weissen-doppelbock - 8.5-9%, 510ml ($6) - Cloudy yellow/brown with amber tones when held up to light. A yellow/ cream colored head swells in the glass, then dissipates. Smoke, juniper, raspberry, caramel, molasses and old world apothecary medicinal herbs on the nose. This smells more like closed ancient doors in medieval dungeons compared to the more open punchy citric and piney notes of NW micros I cut my teeth on, and that's always been my hurdle with Eurobeers. NW micro brews, with few exceptions, taste fresher to me, Eurobeers (in bottle at least) taste mustier, as if the grains were stored too long and the bottles not thoroughly washed. On the palate, the beer is gently petillant, but not lacking. Just enough to lift the flavors thru the mouth (many of which echo the nose). Dates, savory touches and raspberry (subtly so) then cloves and spice on a pleasant finish. I don't get the bananas that many seem to note however, (fine with me). Medium body, smooth, even silky. If you go for the style, this is not bad hooch. I'd certainly give it a shot from the tap, but it's not clamoring for any more text.
2007 Domain L'Ecu, Cuvee Guy Bossard, Muscadet Sevre et Maine, 12% - Clear greenish gold in the glass and a reticent Chablisienne nose hinting at limestone, lemon peel and clean beach smells. Lifted pillowy feel on the palate, but otherwise the wine is a bit tight and disjointed at first. This vintage seems anemic compared to what the 06's have become. That said, there is a licked chrome handlebar saline quality here that pulls the flavors through nicely from mid to finish. Not much else happens before or after. Day two, the nose is even more closed and the palate even more open. The chromey roundness has expanded in a good way: it's the dominant note of the wine now....and is actually impressive, given the surrounding austerity. Add to that a bit of flinty smoke and more than usual bitterness, and it still adds up to a quirky battle in a bottle. One could find elegance here if the surrounding environs were quiet enough, but let's face it.....the wine is comparatively average. I may get another to lay down and see what time will tell, but I'm glad I still own a few 06's.
1999 Chateau Vari, Monbazillac, (13%) Clear amber/orange in glass, this is mostly semillon, with small amounts of sauv. b and muscadelle. Average vine age is 40 yrs in clay/limestone soils. Annual production is ca. 8,000 bottles....etc...etc....Apricot, orange rind, toffee, smoke and botrytis on the nose. The palate shows much of the same in descending order and the delivery is quiet, seamless. This reminds me a bit of the Rutherford Glen dessert wines (Chambers Rosewood Muscat in particular) what's enjoyable about this is that similarities aside, the wine operates at a higher toned level: it ain't sticky....it's refreshing...even at 10 yrs. Also, at $17 for a 750ml, it's half the price of a Chambers. As a test to see how sweet wines would do with "ordinary" food, we paired this with homemade "pizza", via toasted nan brushed with almond and shiitake butter, then blue cheese and prosciutto broiled on top. Great match up. Pumpkin soup joined in and worked fine too. Whaddya know, dessert wines can hold their own at the dinner table.
2007 Pieropan, Soave Classico - 12%. Caveat: my first Pieropan. This seems the Italian version of a muscadet....minerally, earthy nose with some limestoney sea air notes mixed with grassy herbs. Much later a bit of floral and lemon custard. Palate is bright, dry, with subtle touches of honey and a slightly nutty note on the finish mixed in amongst a salty lemon tang. Over time, I felt there were also suggestions of chablis notes as well. Nothing wrong with the wine, though it doesn't leap across the palate with much verve. Anyone had the cru La Rocca? This and the dessert wines I'd be curious to try, but I won't buy this again.
2007 Villa Loosen, Riesling QBA.......Reisling as well holstered teenage tits.
1998 Mastroberardino, Radici Riserva, Taurasi - (13.5%) Clear beef juice red with substantial bricking in the glass. Nose of fig, plum, cherry, hints of smoke, forest and fennel. Overall the nose is riper fruit than typical "earth and leather" c/o Italy, but it doesn't exclude the latter either. Palate is sappy bright red cherry mostly, some deep red fruit tucked in underneath with a drying finish. Well structured. I wanted to really like this wine, but in the end, i just liked it. Overall, it seems a competent food matcher. Not begging for attention on it's own, but, on the other hand at $50+ substitutes abound. (Disclosure: this was served at a large gathering, amongst several wines....not my kind of appraisal tasting....notes are from a glass tasted over time.)
2006 Puzelat Romorantin, Loire (13%) slightly turbid amber color. Resin, sap, rosemary cuttings, rain smells and some savory on the nose. Very intriguing. Palate at first starts off a little gangly, with oxidised/VA pickle jar notes doing battle with electric tobacco/citric tones. Not in an especially good place....but give it some air time. Off dry in a way that somehow reminds me a bit of Verget's macon's for some reason (ie rather than a fresh fruity sweetness, it's more of a handmade candied quality). It's not German Ries RS. Because it's hard to identify or describe well, I am reminded that I really need to put together my own flow chart for understanding flavors in wine as results from various winemaking decisions (I don't know why this sweetness doesn't remind me of fresh fruit, but I recognize the profile...)
2006 Clos Tue-de-Boeuf, Vin Blanc, VDT, Loire (13.5 %, and apparently 100% chardonnay, tho the label tells nothing) - slightly cloudy gold green in the glass and what has become for me a standard Puzelat nose of leesy green grape must and perfumed soap (esp. "Cow Brand Beauty Soap"- Blue Label). Sounds awful? No, not really...fruit, flowers, soap and animal fat have something in common...somewhere. Compared to the smokey, overly oaked '05 Chablis that got opened at the same time, this was delightfully itself, different, and altogether satisfying. Well balanced fruit, lees, acidity and tannic tang, Puzelat whites continue to win me over.
2007 Rossojbleo, Nero d'Avola - well made, showing cab franc/refosko notes and bright red saline cherry notes prior to the tobacco bite on the finish. Lots of personality with that foresty nose too.
NV -(2008) Caves Da Cerca, "Ouro Verde", Vinho Verde, Portugal....Took
it to a tasting last night and again my suspicions were confirmed: This is Louie Armstrong in a bottle.
