Steven Spielmann
Steven Spielmann
January 1
Elvio Tintero Grangia NV. Nice under $10 sparkler, honest. Nice blanc de blancs style with some pleasant subtleties here and there.
Renardat-Fache Bugey-Cerdon NV. Last bottle of this I had was delicious effervescent sweet strawberries, light and unassuming. This one had much more texture and was a little more vinous, less sweet fruit and more interesting to drink.
January 1-2
Chevillon Bourgogne Passetoutgrains 2006. I think this wine is underrated and a pretty good deal. Its got lots of great gamay character, comparable to many of the cru Beaujolais I drink in this price range or above, plus a little bit of pinot subtlety and some of that Chevillon stiffness (but not so as youd have to wait more than 3-4 years after the vintage to drink except in 2005).
January 3
Brun Beaujolais Blanc Bourginnonne 2007. It is what it says it is, bright gold and full of deliciously nutty chardonnay with incredibly bright fruit. A little sweeter than Id ideally prefer. Its hard to do better than this for the price (or twice the price for that matter).
January 5
Monasterio de Corias Ocho Meses Barrica Vino de la Tierra de Cangas 2006. Somewhere between Chinon and Chambolle I took a right turn and got off in Asturias. On opening this had a sweet red-fruited nose, which has now mellowed out to incredibly elegant earth notes. (I keep coming back for another sniff.) The palate is silky and pleasant. Not terribly multidimensional but the notes it hits, it hits really well. I suspect this is mostly old vines; it has the intensity and lightness, at any rate. Reminds me a little bit of the 2007 Guy Breton Morgon VV. A blend of Mencia and several other grapes.
January 8
Domaine de Fontsainte Corbieres Reserve la Demoiselle 2006. If there were a high quality, relatively un-spoofed Bordeaux-Styled Napa wine made out of Carignan I imagine it would taste like this, except without as much grain. The carignan palate rigidity is almost entirely tamed and there are some petite sirah style blueberry notes; otherwise it is typical for the grape, taken in a sweet red fruit sort of direction. I am highly dubious about the bottles claim of 13% alcohol Id give it a fucked-up factor of 8.
January 9
Roulot Bourgogne Blanc 2006. Not much on the nose. Incredibly balanced on the palate, world-class in fact, lemon and hazelnuts. Yum. But, when it warms up a little it becomes more disjointed. Hmmm needing to be cool is not something that you expect in this price range. A little pain grille joins the nuts and lemon on nose and palate at this temperature, which is nice. Surprised to report that I prefer the Brun.
January12
Lopez de Heredia Rioja Tondonia Gran Riserva 1987. Layers upon layers of brothy berry fruit, nicely resolved tannins, just the barest hints of oxidation and vanilla. Impeccably balanced; no blockbuster yet deliciously alive. Excellent! Tempranillo really is a pretty good grape when you get right down to it.
De Tarczal Gewurztraminer 2008. Definitely on the light, lemony, and racy side for Gewurz. Some nice floral aromatics with just a hint of the lychee/tropical fruit/rose flavors. Very accessible rendition of the grape.
January 13
Zarrak-Berri Costa Guipuzcoana NV. This works. Its got a little lemon but not too much, bone-dry, a little spritz, very mineral, like a muscadet without seashells kind of. Enough acid to cut through anything, almost at a vinho verde level. Awesome with yogurt-covered peanuts from the local food co-op.
January 15
Pinon Vouvray Brut NV. Mildly unpleasant at first sip, this had nice body and tasted so alive (as all of Pinons wines do to me) that it won me over in the end. Not as rich as the 2001 Huet we drank over the holidays, but thats not necessarily a flaw. I am not as big a fan of sparkling chenin as I expected to be thus far.
Puzelat Touraine KO: In Cot We Trust 2005. Wow, what a fantastic wine this is. Full of fruit, white pepper, minerals, limestone, and seamless tannins you dont notice until they dry your whole mouth. This is my favorite expression of Malbec so far and this wine is in a great place right now.
Rousset Crozes-Hermitage 2004. I didnt get such a great read on my one glass of this wine but it was OK. Off on the blueberry/petite syrah end of the syrah flavor spectrum rather than the dry and peppery end. Seemed pleasant and fruity.
Domaine de la Voute de Crozes Cote de Brouilly 2007. This is a really excellent Beaujolais in the 07 vintage I prefer it to both Breton and Foillard (havent cracked any Descombes yet though). It has a brown sugar and spice complexity woven through nice medium-bodied gamay fruit that I really dig. Great QPR too.
January 15-16
Paul Bara Brut Reserve Champagne NV. Very good, though my last bottle seemed more complex. Pinot dominated yet light on its feet, very correct, an intriguing hint of roses, nice finish. Better the second day.
January 18-19
Renaissance Cabernet Sauvignon Sierra Foothills 1999. A wow wine. It could be a little more complex and mineral and it could be slightly less full of sweetness in its black and purple fruit profile, but this is off the charts delicious. It tastes incredibly young and fresh, has delightful aromatics, good acid, great fruit, and enough subtle complexity (licorice, herbs, sweet mulberry, etc.) to make it interesting to drink. Tannins are present but integrated and unobtrusive. The freshness makes you think this will last 100 years, but my suspicion is that it probably has another 5-10 at the top of its game and then many years after that where the bell pepper element will emerge and gradually overwhelm all the goodies in here with vegetality. Certainly not as impressive on the second day. I may have been slightly biased towards this by the awesome steak I served with it, but I really do think its pretty excellent stuff.
January 22
Chatelus Beaujolais Nouveau 2008. Left over from last year. Still in fine shape, maybe slightly faded. Kind of like a cross between the DuPeuble Nouveau and the Cedric Vincent non-Nouveau.
Francois Chidaine Montlouis Clos Habert 2006. I wasnt expecting this at all maybe the most surprising wine of the month. Lots of tastes I normally only experience in Sauternes e.g. loads of mango coming out of a light, vivacious chenin frame. Moderate acid and sweetness, botrytis. Interesting!
January 24
Chateau Galand Bordeaux Superiure 2005. Eleve in futs de chene, and 12.5% alcohol. Classic style. Merlot, oak, decent acid, broad-ish on the palate but not cloying. Some fruit to go with the wood, drying tannins, and crisp greens. Not great, but not bad I wound up drinking more than I expected to.
Mionetto Prosecco Brut NV. Hint of apple at first, quickly gave way to pears and sugar cookies on the nose and palate. Dry and very petillant. Becomes slightly unpleasant in its sweet astringency after a few sips, and after a glass and a half I go back to the Galand.
January 25-26
Louis Michel & Fils Chablis 1er Cru Montmain 2006. Correct Chablis, on the light side. There is a nice expansive rounding out in the mouth that is commendable, and stoniness, as well as a slight hint of herbs and vanilla. Nonetheless, mean wine, sort of like a nasty grandmother about to throw an old metal desk ornament at you.
January 26
Chateau dOupia Les Heretiques 2007. Surprisingly pleasant, more so than the last time I had this. Nice dark cherry fruit and a lot of acid, light-medium body. Ripped right through the burger I had with it, would have preferred more lushness for the pairing. But hard to complain at the price.
January 27
Jadot Beaujolais, not certain of the vintage. Two glasses at a restaurant. Is it OK if I kind of like this wine? Its not great, but it tastes like gamay from the Rhone end of Beaujolais and has enough acid and flavor to complement food.
January 30
Bottex Bugey-Cerdon NV. Sour strawberry, celery, green apple on the appealing nose. Sweet, pleasant simple strawberry palate without much depth.
Lapierre VdP des Gaules 2008. Fat, offputting strawberry nose, weird sweet vegetal syrup on palate. Disgusting! Perhaps a flawed bottle, but not corked since its under screwcap. My other bottle of this was merely insipid. Not even in the same neighborhood as his Morgon maybe two bad bottles in a row, but I am growing dubious of this value.
DuPeuble Beaujolais Nouveau 2009. Brilliant eye-catching light ruby color. Nice, very floral nose, with spring flowers and light raspberry. Thin-ish palate but would be delightful with food.
Chermette/Vissoux Beaujolais Cuvee Vielles Vignes 2009. Again with the nice florals, a little more berry richness. Well-realized fruit on palate again a food wine this is impressive and has a nicely knit texture.
Domaine de la Voute de Crozes Cote de Brouilly 2007. Just a small sip from the end of the bottle, still tasted good as per earlier this month, but did not get a read on it.
Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2006. Blood ruby nose with rich syrup. Some brett? never noticed this in a Foillard before. Has a little bit of tannic sap, which I like. Theres a slight odd greenness which Ive also never noticed in a Foillard before. Not as good a showing for this as previous bottles but still pretty good wine.
Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2008. A little tinny by comparison to the 06, but sweeter fruit, and none of the offputting green or brett. Really exceptionally fine nose, a little light for Foillard overall though.
Chermette/Vissoux Moulin-a-Vent Trois Roches 2006. What a wonderful surprise! This has a regal nose and a darker, more raspberry character than the other wines here. Very delicious and has years of positive evolution ahead of it. I considered cellaring this and declined when it was on the market and I think I may regret that decision a bit now, although I dont cellar much. Really nice fruit. More aging potential than the Foillard or Breton.
Guy Breton Morgon Vielles Vignes 2007. For what it is right now the wine of the night. The Foillard is made from more profound fruit but this bottle is somehow more completely what it is. Strawberries with a hint of leather, tobacco, and earth on the nose. Very burgundy! Full, silky palate with nice acidic lift, delicious. This will last as long as the fruit continues to dominate the bretty/earthy flavors, one year or ten I dont know. Experience here is consistent with a previous bottle FWIW.
January 31
Domaine Tourade Vacqueyras 2006. Smooth, classic rhone with a friendly darker fruit profile. I only got a little bit of the Vacqueyras terroir signature but I was pretty hung over from the beauj-fest the day before. Would like to try this again.
Elvio Tintero Grangia NV. Nice under $10 sparkler, honest. Nice blanc de blancs style with some pleasant subtleties here and there.
Renardat-Fache Bugey-Cerdon NV. Last bottle of this I had was delicious effervescent sweet strawberries, light and unassuming. This one had much more texture and was a little more vinous, less sweet fruit and more interesting to drink.
January 1-2
Chevillon Bourgogne Passetoutgrains 2006. I think this wine is underrated and a pretty good deal. Its got lots of great gamay character, comparable to many of the cru Beaujolais I drink in this price range or above, plus a little bit of pinot subtlety and some of that Chevillon stiffness (but not so as youd have to wait more than 3-4 years after the vintage to drink except in 2005).
January 3
Brun Beaujolais Blanc Bourginnonne 2007. It is what it says it is, bright gold and full of deliciously nutty chardonnay with incredibly bright fruit. A little sweeter than Id ideally prefer. Its hard to do better than this for the price (or twice the price for that matter).
January 5
Monasterio de Corias Ocho Meses Barrica Vino de la Tierra de Cangas 2006. Somewhere between Chinon and Chambolle I took a right turn and got off in Asturias. On opening this had a sweet red-fruited nose, which has now mellowed out to incredibly elegant earth notes. (I keep coming back for another sniff.) The palate is silky and pleasant. Not terribly multidimensional but the notes it hits, it hits really well. I suspect this is mostly old vines; it has the intensity and lightness, at any rate. Reminds me a little bit of the 2007 Guy Breton Morgon VV. A blend of Mencia and several other grapes.
January 8
Domaine de Fontsainte Corbieres Reserve la Demoiselle 2006. If there were a high quality, relatively un-spoofed Bordeaux-Styled Napa wine made out of Carignan I imagine it would taste like this, except without as much grain. The carignan palate rigidity is almost entirely tamed and there are some petite sirah style blueberry notes; otherwise it is typical for the grape, taken in a sweet red fruit sort of direction. I am highly dubious about the bottles claim of 13% alcohol Id give it a fucked-up factor of 8.
January 9
Roulot Bourgogne Blanc 2006. Not much on the nose. Incredibly balanced on the palate, world-class in fact, lemon and hazelnuts. Yum. But, when it warms up a little it becomes more disjointed. Hmmm needing to be cool is not something that you expect in this price range. A little pain grille joins the nuts and lemon on nose and palate at this temperature, which is nice. Surprised to report that I prefer the Brun.
January12
Lopez de Heredia Rioja Tondonia Gran Riserva 1987. Layers upon layers of brothy berry fruit, nicely resolved tannins, just the barest hints of oxidation and vanilla. Impeccably balanced; no blockbuster yet deliciously alive. Excellent! Tempranillo really is a pretty good grape when you get right down to it.
De Tarczal Gewurztraminer 2008. Definitely on the light, lemony, and racy side for Gewurz. Some nice floral aromatics with just a hint of the lychee/tropical fruit/rose flavors. Very accessible rendition of the grape.
January 13
Zarrak-Berri Costa Guipuzcoana NV. This works. Its got a little lemon but not too much, bone-dry, a little spritz, very mineral, like a muscadet without seashells kind of. Enough acid to cut through anything, almost at a vinho verde level. Awesome with yogurt-covered peanuts from the local food co-op.
January 15
Pinon Vouvray Brut NV. Mildly unpleasant at first sip, this had nice body and tasted so alive (as all of Pinons wines do to me) that it won me over in the end. Not as rich as the 2001 Huet we drank over the holidays, but thats not necessarily a flaw. I am not as big a fan of sparkling chenin as I expected to be thus far.
Puzelat Touraine KO: In Cot We Trust 2005. Wow, what a fantastic wine this is. Full of fruit, white pepper, minerals, limestone, and seamless tannins you dont notice until they dry your whole mouth. This is my favorite expression of Malbec so far and this wine is in a great place right now.
Rousset Crozes-Hermitage 2004. I didnt get such a great read on my one glass of this wine but it was OK. Off on the blueberry/petite syrah end of the syrah flavor spectrum rather than the dry and peppery end. Seemed pleasant and fruity.
Domaine de la Voute de Crozes Cote de Brouilly 2007. This is a really excellent Beaujolais in the 07 vintage I prefer it to both Breton and Foillard (havent cracked any Descombes yet though). It has a brown sugar and spice complexity woven through nice medium-bodied gamay fruit that I really dig. Great QPR too.
January 15-16
Paul Bara Brut Reserve Champagne NV. Very good, though my last bottle seemed more complex. Pinot dominated yet light on its feet, very correct, an intriguing hint of roses, nice finish. Better the second day.
January 18-19
Renaissance Cabernet Sauvignon Sierra Foothills 1999. A wow wine. It could be a little more complex and mineral and it could be slightly less full of sweetness in its black and purple fruit profile, but this is off the charts delicious. It tastes incredibly young and fresh, has delightful aromatics, good acid, great fruit, and enough subtle complexity (licorice, herbs, sweet mulberry, etc.) to make it interesting to drink. Tannins are present but integrated and unobtrusive. The freshness makes you think this will last 100 years, but my suspicion is that it probably has another 5-10 at the top of its game and then many years after that where the bell pepper element will emerge and gradually overwhelm all the goodies in here with vegetality. Certainly not as impressive on the second day. I may have been slightly biased towards this by the awesome steak I served with it, but I really do think its pretty excellent stuff.
January 22
Chatelus Beaujolais Nouveau 2008. Left over from last year. Still in fine shape, maybe slightly faded. Kind of like a cross between the DuPeuble Nouveau and the Cedric Vincent non-Nouveau.
Francois Chidaine Montlouis Clos Habert 2006. I wasnt expecting this at all maybe the most surprising wine of the month. Lots of tastes I normally only experience in Sauternes e.g. loads of mango coming out of a light, vivacious chenin frame. Moderate acid and sweetness, botrytis. Interesting!
January 24
Chateau Galand Bordeaux Superiure 2005. Eleve in futs de chene, and 12.5% alcohol. Classic style. Merlot, oak, decent acid, broad-ish on the palate but not cloying. Some fruit to go with the wood, drying tannins, and crisp greens. Not great, but not bad I wound up drinking more than I expected to.
Mionetto Prosecco Brut NV. Hint of apple at first, quickly gave way to pears and sugar cookies on the nose and palate. Dry and very petillant. Becomes slightly unpleasant in its sweet astringency after a few sips, and after a glass and a half I go back to the Galand.
January 25-26
Louis Michel & Fils Chablis 1er Cru Montmain 2006. Correct Chablis, on the light side. There is a nice expansive rounding out in the mouth that is commendable, and stoniness, as well as a slight hint of herbs and vanilla. Nonetheless, mean wine, sort of like a nasty grandmother about to throw an old metal desk ornament at you.
January 26
Chateau dOupia Les Heretiques 2007. Surprisingly pleasant, more so than the last time I had this. Nice dark cherry fruit and a lot of acid, light-medium body. Ripped right through the burger I had with it, would have preferred more lushness for the pairing. But hard to complain at the price.
January 27
Jadot Beaujolais, not certain of the vintage. Two glasses at a restaurant. Is it OK if I kind of like this wine? Its not great, but it tastes like gamay from the Rhone end of Beaujolais and has enough acid and flavor to complement food.
January 30
Bottex Bugey-Cerdon NV. Sour strawberry, celery, green apple on the appealing nose. Sweet, pleasant simple strawberry palate without much depth.
Lapierre VdP des Gaules 2008. Fat, offputting strawberry nose, weird sweet vegetal syrup on palate. Disgusting! Perhaps a flawed bottle, but not corked since its under screwcap. My other bottle of this was merely insipid. Not even in the same neighborhood as his Morgon maybe two bad bottles in a row, but I am growing dubious of this value.
DuPeuble Beaujolais Nouveau 2009. Brilliant eye-catching light ruby color. Nice, very floral nose, with spring flowers and light raspberry. Thin-ish palate but would be delightful with food.
Chermette/Vissoux Beaujolais Cuvee Vielles Vignes 2009. Again with the nice florals, a little more berry richness. Well-realized fruit on palate again a food wine this is impressive and has a nicely knit texture.
Domaine de la Voute de Crozes Cote de Brouilly 2007. Just a small sip from the end of the bottle, still tasted good as per earlier this month, but did not get a read on it.
Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2006. Blood ruby nose with rich syrup. Some brett? never noticed this in a Foillard before. Has a little bit of tannic sap, which I like. Theres a slight odd greenness which Ive also never noticed in a Foillard before. Not as good a showing for this as previous bottles but still pretty good wine.
Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2008. A little tinny by comparison to the 06, but sweeter fruit, and none of the offputting green or brett. Really exceptionally fine nose, a little light for Foillard overall though.
Chermette/Vissoux Moulin-a-Vent Trois Roches 2006. What a wonderful surprise! This has a regal nose and a darker, more raspberry character than the other wines here. Very delicious and has years of positive evolution ahead of it. I considered cellaring this and declined when it was on the market and I think I may regret that decision a bit now, although I dont cellar much. Really nice fruit. More aging potential than the Foillard or Breton.
Guy Breton Morgon Vielles Vignes 2007. For what it is right now the wine of the night. The Foillard is made from more profound fruit but this bottle is somehow more completely what it is. Strawberries with a hint of leather, tobacco, and earth on the nose. Very burgundy! Full, silky palate with nice acidic lift, delicious. This will last as long as the fruit continues to dominate the bretty/earthy flavors, one year or ten I dont know. Experience here is consistent with a previous bottle FWIW.
January 31
Domaine Tourade Vacqueyras 2006. Smooth, classic rhone with a friendly darker fruit profile. I only got a little bit of the Vacqueyras terroir signature but I was pretty hung over from the beauj-fest the day before. Would like to try this again.
