Loire Trip III & IV (end of the saga)

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by VLM:

originally posted by Brzme:

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Do you guys think Didier is a genius in fieldwork? In cellarwork? Are you thinking nos. 2 & 5 or the reds?

Didier is years ahead of any grower I know. Since he gets perfect grapes from such an innovative and perfect fieldwork, inspired among others by M. Altieri's work, all the wines have depth and purity to me. The rest is a matter personal taste.
If Catherine and Didier made the choice of all the fancy naturalness, they would have been the true heroes of the natural wine world.
They chose the real work instead of the show. I admire.

+ 1,000,000

Didier's work in the vineyards is truly astounding. He has created his own ecosystem geared towards protecting a healthy environment for the growing of grapes.

His terroir is shit in the grand scheme of things, what he does is magical.

Honestly, while I'm impressed by everything I've read of their fieldwork and philosophy my only real basis for my statement is this:

When I sometimes get tired of wine and consider just selling off the lot and drinking orange juice for the rest of my life (don't worry - even in this morbid fantasy I don't take up newt collecting) I drink a glass of CRB and I fall in love all over again. I've had more complex wines, I've had more knock-your-socks-off wines, but there is a harmonious purity to CRB that is as life-affirming as any glass of wine I've had. When people occasionally ask the silly question of "if you could only drink one producer's wines for the rest of your life who would you choose" they're the ones I name.

 

[Kay Bixler]

originally posted by Jay Miller:
When I sometimes get tired of wine and consider just selling off the lot and drinking orange juice for the rest of my life (don't worry - even in this morbid fantasy I don't take up newt collecting) I drink a glass of CRB and I fall in love all over again. I've had more complex wines, I've had more knock-your-socks-off wines, but there is a harmonious purity to CRB that is as life-affirming as any glass of wine I've had. When people occasionally ask the silly question of "if you could only drink one producer's wines for the rest of your life who would you choose" they're the ones I name.

Ditto.

 

[John Roberts]

originally posted by SFJoe:

several older vintages of Dard & Ribo Hermitage

High risk choice. It's not really their goal when they make the wine, to my understanding.

Though I do have one old bottle in the fridge that I dread to open.

How old is old? I am sitting on some 2005. I assume that's not a problem, right?

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by John Roberts:

originally posted by SFJoe:

several older vintages of Dard & Ribo Hermitage

High risk choice. It's not really their goal when they make the wine, to my understanding.

Though I do have one old bottle in the fridge that I dread to open.

How old is old? I am sitting on some 2005. I assume that's not a problem, right?

I'll have to look, but I bet mine is from the late '90s.

It's probably from Crossroads, too. I should just throw it out unopened.

I don't think those guys intend their wines to age. I would not keep them intentionally. I would drink up.

Of course, I could be surprised or wrong at any moment.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

The ones Rodolphe recommended against at Repaire de Cartouche were '98, '99, things like that, if memory serves. (Oswaldo?)

There shouldn't be a negative spin to his advice/dissuasion on some of the wines. It wasn't about trying to "keep" something from us, nor an attempt to "sell" something else. (In fact, the wine he and Oswaldo finally ended up agreeing on was about 1/3 the price of the other ones inquired about.)

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by VLM:

His terroir is shit in the grand scheme of things...

Do you really think so? It always seemed obscure and unrecognized, unblessed by the monks, but pretty great. Up on the premeire cote, all that amazing limestone. There is certainly a potent signature from the terroir in the wines.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
The ones Rodolphe recommended against at Repaire de Cartouche were '98, '99, things like that, if memory serves. (Oswaldo?)

There shouldn't be a negative spin to his advice/dissuasion on some of the wines. It wasn't about trying to "keep" something from us, nor an attempt to "sell" something else. (In fact, the wine he and Oswaldo finally ended up agreeing on was about 1/3 the price of the other ones inquired about.)

1998 and 1999 were the ones we were considering, and I think there were three other (later) vintages.

Rodolphe was definitely disinterested from the point of view, as you point out, but the (body) language seemed closer to not liking the wines (in which, case why have them) than thinking they'd be a poor match for the food.

Perhaps one more thing to consider: from our pov, there was little risk in ordering a high risk wine because we could just reject if offal; from his pov, if he's had a string of damaged bottles, perhaps he didn't want to risk more rejections from someone who appeared knowledgeable.

 

[SFJoe]

more easygoing and less tannic than the CRB Gamay tasted earlier in the day, though probably far less age worthy.

You know, Catherine is no advocate of long aging for the gamay. I have heard her mumbling under her breath about Kay Bixler in this regard.

Mexican mole

Now that you're out of the woods, you know what they use to thicken that sauce, right? There's a great scene in Kermit Lynch's first book about it.

spoke highly of SFJoe

I am greatly honored.

 

[VLM]

originally posted by SFJoe:

originally posted by VLM:

His terroir is shit in the grand scheme of things...

Do you really think so? It always seemed obscure and unrecognized, unblessed by the monks, but pretty great. Up on the premeire cote, all that amazing limestone. There is certainly a potent signature from the terroir in the wines.

Premeire cte on the wrong side. Pretty flat. Deep-ish soil, compared to really top notch sites.

I think that Didier & Catherine make as fine of wines as it is possible to make from where they are. True benchmarks for others to aspire.

 

[Brad Kane]

Brilliant read, Oswaldo. Many thanks!

 

[Scott Kraft]

I'll have to look, but I bet mine is from the late '90s.

It's probably from Crossroads, too. I should just throw it out unopened.

I don't think those guys intend their wines to age. I would not keep them intentionally. I would drink up.

Of course, I could be surprised or wrong at any moment.

I had some of these very bottles. Don't toss 'em when you can sell them to idiotic hipsters on buyshitwinehere.com! (I'm pretty sure I know who bought my D&R actually.)

 

[SFJoe]

I should also defend Francois Pinon against the charge of appearing at the Dive. No witness has ever placed him at the scene.