Poulsard

S

Steven Spielmann

Steven Spielmann
Over the weekend I sampled the two a lot of you have been sampling, the '06 Puffeney and the '04 Tournelle. Both were very good. I preferred the Tournelle because I am a sucker for clean, pretty fruit; the Puffeney has more complexity and I think with a few more years of bottle age may ultimately be the better wine.

The color and texture of these wines are fascinating.

Two observations:

1. I am home alone and so quaffed the whole bottle of each with dinner. Very easy to drink, like the country wines I sometimes buy while vacationing in Italy for a euro or two per liter. Whatever the alcohol levels are (12.5 by bottle), they are easy on your mind and body, and produce no hangover.

2. Both went very well with charcuterie as advertised. A very interesting thing happened with the Puffeney in particular. At first I thought, 'wow, what a wild finish', and then I realized it had resurrected all the food flavors I had had in my mouth a minute before. It was like a memory pill for my taste buds. These wines brought the food and my mouth to a higher state of consciousness.

Without food the acid was a little high for me, though not oppressively so.
 
The Puffeney Poulsard we drank in January was completely inhospitable before food. Don't know Tournelle, will look out for it. Whole bottle by yourself? Impressive.
 
Drinking the '04 Ploussard de Monteiller from Tournelle at the moment. Opened it late last night, so I only got to drink half the bottle by myself. I can see how a whole bottle of this would go down easily, especially if you're eating something (and that something could be some pate and comt cheese like I have in front of me).

You know, I'll give you that this is clean and pretty, because it is definitely that. But, I'm not getting a whole lot of fruit out of this. There's a touch more than yesterday, but that's not saying much. I can't tell if there was fruit here before and it's just aged now, or if it was never really there to begin with. And, clich alert, I've had ross that were darker than this (for whatever that's worth). Truthfully, I don't even care that there isn't any 'fruit'. It's a nice wine. We can be friends, but I'm not going to go to bed with it.

I'm going to have to do some more exploring of this Ploussard grape, so far not too impressed (at least as something by itself). I think I liked the Trousseau from Bornard a touch more.
 
Your general impressions line up with mine, Lars, although I did get some fruit (not big fruit, but it was there). I liked both wines for what they were and they were good with food, but esp. at the price point I'm not sure they're going to be regular staples around here.

I'm glad my quaffing prowess is acknowledged far and wide!
 
Who says philosophers can't jump?

I've had better luck with Trousseau than Poulsard, so much so that the former has become one of my favorite grapes, but a 99 Poulsard from Overnoy was one of my favorite wines ever (about two years ago).
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Brooklyn Guy's tasting panel
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Levi, yeah, I read that post before I opened the bottle and was truly hoping to like it as much as some of you did. If anything, I'd say my take on the Tournelle was similar to how Brooklynguy felt. I do think it would have shined at the proper dinner table. Unfortunately, both nights I drank it, I wasn't eating anything more than some pate and cheese (which of course helped the pleasure factor of the wine a bit).

Oswaldo, thanks for the heads up on the '99 Overnoy. I'm hoping to find any (new or old) when I get to Arbois... That is if Guilhaume and Cory haven't pillaged all the bottles by the time I get there.
 
I really think Poulsard (the ones I had anyway) is all about the food. I mean, these well-made examples were pretty good higher-acid lighter-bodied mountain wine without food, but to me most of the virtues of these wines are really at the table. I find that makes them a little harder for me to talk about, actually.

I will give up a bit of geek cred by admitting that I have never had Trousseau, but I am positive that it is about to vie with Petite Rouge for favorite grape status around here as soon as I open the Bornard I've got tucked away downstairs. Except first I've got to finish drinking all these half-empty bottles my friends dropped by after a tasting....
 
A recent bottle of Puffeney Poulsard "M" was downright scintillating, sans-food. Aromatically & texturally that thing was amazing. Damn near perfect, if there is such a thing as a "perfect" wine.

Does it blow anyone else's mind that Puffeney makes as much wine as he does?
 
Ditto. I just had the '06 PPM and it was pretty good, but perfect?

I do like these wines texturally, and it's not that they're too harsh without food or whatever, but I found that their flavors were just way more interesting with food.
 
Ditto and Ditto. The '06 "M" is drinking beautifully right now. Perfect wine? Good question but I could certainly rate it as one of those epiphanal wine experiences for any budding wine geek.
 
originally posted by Steven Spielmann:
I will give up a bit of geek cred by admitting that I have never had Trousseau, but I am positive that it is about to vie with Petite Rouge for favorite grape status around here as soon as I open the Bornard I've got tucked away downstairs. Except first I've got to finish drinking all these half-empty bottles my friends dropped by after a tasting....
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In January we had the 2006 Bornard Trousseau Le Ginglet and it was fine but not the stuff to generate favorite grape status. The ones we've liked best, even more than Ganevat, have been the 2006 Tissot Singuliers.
 
originally posted by Collin Casey:
Does it blow anyone else's mind that Puffeney makes as much wine as he does?
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I agree that the 06 Poulsard M is really excellent. But, what makes you think Puffeney makes a lot of wine? I'm pretty sure he has about 8 hectares, which is not a large domaine. His cellar is under his house, and his cuverie is right next door. This is not a large operation.
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Collin Casey:
Does it blow anyone else's mind that Puffeney makes as much wine as he does?
Click to expand...

I agree that the 06 Poulsard M is really excellent. But, what makes you think Puffeney makes a lot of wine? I'm pretty sure he has about 8 hectares, which is not a large domaine. His cellar is under his house, and his cuverie is right next door. This is not a large operation.
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Neal says he's making around 50,000 bottles annually - not chump change, but actually less than I'd heard previously.
 
originally posted by Steven Spielmann:
Ditto. I just had the '06 PPM and it was pretty good, but perfect?
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These wines vary pretty wildly from bottle to bottle. The '06's were showing like hell for a good while, and then poof - some good to damn near perfect bottles. That's Poulsard "M".
 
originally posted by Collin Casey:
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Collin Casey:
Does it blow anyone else's mind that Puffeney makes as much wine as he does?
Click to expand...

I agree that the 06 Poulsard M is really excellent. But, what makes you think Puffeney makes a lot of wine? I'm pretty sure he has about 8 hectares, which is not a large domaine. His cellar is under his house, and his cuverie is right next door. This is not a large operation.
Click to expand...

Neal says he's making around 50,000 bottles annually - not chump change, but actually less than I'd heard previously.
Click to expand...

That's about 2.5 tons per acre, which makes sense. 4,000 cases is a lot compared to, say, Overnoy, but is still a pretty small domaine.
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Collin Casey:
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Collin Casey:
Does it blow anyone else's mind that Puffeney makes as much wine as he does?
Click to expand...

I agree that the 06 Poulsard M is really excellent. But, what makes you think Puffeney makes a lot of wine? I'm pretty sure he has about 8 hectares, which is not a large domaine. His cellar is under his house, and his cuverie is right next door. This is not a large operation.
Click to expand...

Neal says he's making around 50,000 bottles annually - not chump change, but actually less than I'd heard previously.
Click to expand...

That's about 2.5 tons per acre, which makes sense. 4,000 cases is a lot compared to, say, Overnoy, but is still a pretty small domaine.
Click to expand...
I couldn't believe it when I heard that there is approximately 12 cases of Overnoy brought in for the whole country.
 
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