I post some notes so you guys don't kick me off the board

SteveTimko

Steve Timko
2002 Domaine Charles Schleret Gewurztraminer Herrenweg de Turckheim - France, Alsace, Turckheim, Alsace AOC (8/14/2009)
Still a baby. Let it sleep. Tight and it didn't help that it was a pop and pour wine because Andy got to dinner late. But there's a lot of stuffing in this wine. Quite nice tonight and I'm guessing it will be gorgeous in five to 10 years. Already a brassy gold color. A nice gewurztraminer nose but not great. That will probably come with age. Citrus smells and the beginning of some floral components. On the palate, lychee, which you'd expect, and some nuttiness and white fruit. A touch of honey on the finish. More dry than say Zind-Humbrecht or Weinbach. Quite nice. A Neal Rosenthal import.

2006 Bodega Norton Malbec Reserva - Argentina, Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo (8/14/2009)
A nice wine but as Andy noted really demands something like a big, thick steak. Glenn cautioned about the intrusive oak and right now it clearly does more than frame the grapes. But I'll give it the benefit of the doubt as a reserve and I'll expect the oak will integrate as the wine ages. The oak shows up on the nose, along with tobacco and and sweet, ripe fruit smell. The palate is all about dark fruits. Plums, blueberries. A bitter dark chocolate. And, of course, oak. The finish was quite nice and made up for the oak. I'm guessing this will be a killer wine around 2012. A TGIC wine import.

2008 Domaine Tempier Bandol Ros - France, Provence, Bandol (8/14/2009)
So there's the scene in "Pulp Fiction" where John Travolta's hitman Vincent is on a date with Mia, played by Uma Thurman. And he says he wants to try a $5 milkshake t because' he's never had a $5 shake. That's my attraction to Tempier rose. I want to try a $32 (on sale at Kermit Lynch) rose, because I've never had one. After drinking it tonight, I'll say it's a heckuva of rose. But is it worth three times what I paid for a 2007 R. Dubois & Fils Bourgogne rose, the best rose I"ve had this year? No.
It's a sleek, elegant rose. Exquisitely balanced and even with some structure. Light salmon color. Wonderful nose of spices and watermelon. Definitely red fruits on the palate. Glenn said it reminded him of pinot noir. I'm thinking more grenache. A nice focus with good acidity. Very easy to drink. And a long finish, the best part of the wine. This is a great wine to go with food or by itself. I just don't think it justifies the heavy price tag. I've got one more I'm going to let age and see how it tastes in a year or so. A Kermit Lynch import.
 
Tempier ros is very, very good, but has become overpriced compared to what else is out there. I think even at Tempier they would admit it -- but they've got the demand and non-active shareholders to satisfy. I prefer the 2007 to the 2008.

I've not had Schleret's Gewurztraminer because I'm not a particular fan of the grape, but in general, I love his wines. According to Rosenthal's book, there is no successor, alas.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Tempier ros is very, very good, but has become overpriced compared to what else is out there. I think even at Tempier they would admit it -- but they've got the demand and non-active shareholders to satisfy. I prefer the 2007 to the 2008.
Overpriced, except compared to Domaine Ott; that's $7 more here. I've never cared for the Ott.

I just had the '08 Tempier the other night. Even out of the plastic tumblers at the Costa Rican BYOB we took it to, I thought it was tasting damn good. Just as Steve described it above. I never did grab any of the '07, though all I ever heard was how great it was. If I could afford a case of the '08 I would do it, but in reality, I'll be lucky to get another bottle (maybe two).
 
Sorry Steve, but how can I trust your tasting notes when you're obviously concocting fantastic yarns about unicorn-like promotions?

Sure, it looks as if you've actually tasted the wines and you really had me going for a minute there, but then you get to that parenthetical aside about "(on sale at Kermit Lynch)" and truth flies out the window and you lose all veracity. I mean, anyone who knows anything about wine and the four-tier system knows deep in their heart that the chance that Kermit Lynch would ever put the current vintage of Tempier ros on sale are about equal to the chance that Neal Rosenthal and Louis-Dressner would merge in order to effect a leveraged buyout of Vine Connections and conquer the beverage world with a Savignin-flavored Sake2Me.

Are you sure you didn't mean St. Ferrol or Terrebrune? I think that both were on the KLWM Bandol Bomb-out list last month.

-Eden (on the other hand, if you like Schleret's style you should check out the Kuentz-Bas lineup)
 
Steve, if you can scrounge up enough cash for a third bottle...try aging one. I did this with some 1993's (back when a case of the stuff was within reason) and we drank our last bottle of it in 2004. It had evolved (yes! evolved!) into a very pretty wine, with lots of interesting spice and underbrush flavors.

I also had the chance (in 1995, I think) to taste a 1974 rose at Tempier. Never would have pegged it at 21 years of age!
 
They put it on sale and I sent an email to K&L to see if they were going to have it cheaper. But it was less at Kermit Lynch than at K&L.
They announced the sale on their blog but they've since removed it.
They had boxes and boxes of Tempier blanc there as well. In prior years that stuff wss always here and gone.
 
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