Mini Robinot Horizontal

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Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Over consecutive evenings, three zero sulfur added 2006s from Jean-Pierre Robinot, during episodes of The Mentalist, a well-written cop show featuring an endearingly raffish main character. As usual, the labels show artwork by Robinot (left and right) or his daughter, Juliette (center), then six years old:

Diversos_002.jpg
For the artistic record, Juliette also made these other labels, at age three, five and ten (note the stylistic regularity):

Diversos.jpg
The brushwork may not be as academically accomplished as the kind seen on Mouton labels, but I prefer the family angle. For those of you who wish WD were closer to WWD, Juliette lives in Paris, with mom. For those of you who wish WD ventured deeper into evolutionary behavioral psychology, this is daddys way of showing that, even though he chose to leave Paris for the provinces, baby is always on his mind (note to self: takes one to know one).

2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Le Charme du Loir Jasnires 12.5%
100% Chenin Blanc. Spent 36 months in tank. Yellow shading to gold. Light oxidative almonds with a dense and lovely suggestion of minerals and flowers. Thick leesy texture, fine acidity. Mild oxidative flavor, sits well in the overall context. Very enjoyable.

2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Cuve Juliette Robinot Jasnires 13.0%
100% Chenin Blanc. From older vines, 20% ungrafted. Spent 36 months in barrel. Deep yellow gold. Oxidative and botrytis aromas. Vinified very dry, with vibrant acidity and very fine body and texture. Also very enjoyable.

Both whites were pleasurable, my only reticence being the aromatic dearth. The mouth angle, in both cases, was very satisfying, but there was no cascade of descriptors to generate a bubble with the words "Yes sirree brum, I am having a complex organoleptic experience."

It was, also, almost embarrassing to note that both Marcia and I have become more accepting of oxidative whites, no doubt due to their ubiquity in recent experience. Embarrassing because, even though we all know that tastes can be acquired, it is slightly unnerving to witness oneself smack in the middle of being reprogrammed by exposure. Like copping a feel on the transience of all experience. Oy vey, siamo tutti mobile!

2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Nocturne VdT 13.0%
Pineau dAunis. 80Y vines. Two barriques per vintage. Church spices, crushed rose petals, rosemary and raspberry/strawberry aromas. Good balance, mild tannins, light CO2 fizz. A bit short on the finish, but aromatically beautiful. Almost the inverse of the whites in terms of mouth/nose disequilibrium.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Le Charme du Loir Jasnires 12.5%

2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Cuve Juliette Robinot Jasnires 13.0%

...my only reticence being the aromatic dearth...
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Is that perhaps their place on the aging curve?

I don't have much experience with Robinot but what I have tasted was not exactly fine or delicately aromatic. Then again I'm sure you had good exposure on your recent trip.

And interesting to hear about your taste conversion. Maybe it will wear off with time.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Le Charme du Loir Jasnires 12.5%

2006 Les Vignes de lAnge Vin Cuve Juliette Robinot Jasnires 13.0%

...my only reticence being the aromatic dearth...
Click to expand...

Is that perhaps their place on the aging curve?

I don't have much experience with Robinot but what I have tasted was not exactly fine or delicately aromatic. Then again I'm sure you had good exposure on your recent trip.

And interesting to hear about your taste conversion. Maybe it will wear off with time.
Click to expand...

I was wondering if it might not be an effect of the oxidative aromas, sort of masking whatever else there might be. As for the taste the conversion, it feels like an innocence sort of thing, unrecoverable once lost. Bring on the vin jaune...
 
Thanks for the notes Oswaldo.

I have a 2002 Vouvray L'expression that I was waiting to open. Maybe I should give it a try now....
Hopefully it won't show oxydative notes as I'm not sure I want that in my Vouvrays...
 
You're in luck, Arno!

WTN: 2002 Robinot lOpera des Vins Vouvray lExpression
Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:46 am

We picked up a bottle of this at La Cave de lInsolite and were pretty excited to try something that has never been tried before. Im kidding, of course, but I cant find any reference to this wine anywhere and it feels like a crapshoot to open something made with almost no SO2 on the other side of the pond after more than, say, five years. Jean-Pierre is a natural wine maker in the Loire and Otto recently reviewed some of his wines. Color is a pretty but not deep tone of gold. First aroma to hit me is oak, curious since I believe most natural wine makers shy away from it. Then come some barnyard, asparagus, barely perceptible honey and custard, and a growing sea of white flowers. Marcia also got some dishrag. All in all, the elements make for a wonderfully complex bouquet. The mouth feel is frizzy because there are some bubbles hugging the glass, no doubt the result of secondary fermentation. Should be a fault, but isnt. There is the barest hint of oxidation, at this level giving a welcome dimension of pleasure. Slightly bitter finish but, again, it all hangs together. In short, a wine that appeals to the intellect and the senses, a complete ride. Loved it. In a peculiar kind of way, it felt like going out in the wilderness. A complete ride into the wilderness.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
You're in luck, Arno!

WTN: 2002 Robinot lOpera des Vins Vouvray lExpression
Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:46 am

We picked up a bottle of this at La Cave de lInsolite and were pretty excited to try something that has never been tried before. Im kidding, of course, but I cant find any reference to this wine anywhere and it feels like a crapshoot to open something made with almost no SO2 on the other side of the pond after more than, say, five years. Jean-Pierre is a natural wine maker in the Loire and Otto recently reviewed some of his wines. Color is a pretty but not deep tone of gold. First aroma to hit me is oak, curious since I believe most natural wine makers shy away from it. Then come some barnyard, asparagus, barely perceptible honey and custard, and a growing sea of white flowers. Marcia also got some dishrag. All in all, the elements make for a wonderfully complex bouquet. The mouth feel is frizzy because there are some bubbles hugging the glass, no doubt the result of secondary fermentation. Should be a fault, but isnt. There is the barest hint of oxidation, at this level giving a welcome dimension of pleasure. Slightly bitter finish but, again, it all hangs together. In short, a wine that appeals to the intellect and the senses, a complete ride. Loved it. In a peculiar kind of way, it felt like going out in the wilderness. A complete ride into the wilderness.
Click to expand...

I knew I should have searched on WD....Thank you Oswaldo!
Funny enough, I also got the bottle at La Cave de L'Insolite! Did you find the oak intrusive on the palate? Michel told me I could wait a little so that the oak becomes even more subtle.
 
You won't find that with the search function because that was from when I was prepping for my MW so that I could join WD. I barely remember drinking the wine, such is my Alzheimer's, so the note is all that's left (sigh).

PS: Robinot started the winery in 2002, so some new oak is probably to be figured in the equation, even against ours and his wishes...
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

PS: Robinot started the winery in 2002, so some new oak is probably to be figured in the equation, even against ours and his wishes...
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Definitely no. You never get new oak against your wish.

Used barrels is a huge market. You can find barrels that have seen 1,2,3,...5...10 wines. You can buy them from growers or tonneliers. You can have them kind of sterilized if you wish. You can clean them with high pressure high temp devices like Moog Cleaners, and then steam them to be sure.

Buying safely old barrels is a piece of cake and was in 2002.

BTW a clean 3 wines barrel direct from Gilet or Franois Frre is around 150.00. A new one is 450. From good estate like Mugneret Gibourg freshly emptied, 100.
A five wine old in very good shape from a good estate is 60...
 
Great to know, Eric, thanks. Richard Leroy said that when one buys used barrels from tonneleries, they don't tell you who the previous owner was, and that he had found traces of SO2 and tartaric acid (used by previous owners) in the used barrels he had bought. So I had understood that the only way to be absolutely sure that the used barrels wouldn't impart something that you didn't want was to buy them new and steam them and age them yourself. Jo Pithon also said that he considered that ideal, though not always economically feasible.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Great to know, Eric, thanks. Richard Leroy said that when one buys used barrels from tonneleries, they don't tell you who the previous owner was, and that he had found traces of SO2 and tartaric acid (used by previous owners) in the used barrels he had bought. So I had understood that the only way to be absolutely sure that the used barrels wouldn't impart something that you didn't want was to buy them new and steam them and age them yourself. Jo Pithon also said that he considered that ideal, though not always economically feasible.
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And both those guys make wines marked by wood, good though they may be.

I would be a lot more worried about microbes than SO2. Oswaldo, you are almost always going to have tartrate precipitates, I'm puzzled by why Leroy would care.
 
Richard Leroy said that when one buys used barrels from tonneleries, they don't tell you who the previous owner was
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And yet, "these are used barrels from [famous winery X]" is an unusually common thing to hear at wineries. There was a week in which I wondered if every barrel Chteau Margaux ever used was being repurposed in the Rhne, based on the claims I was hearing from winemaker after winemaker. From what I gathered, the idea was that Ch. Margaux was obviously receiving the very best barrels available, and thus by buying from Ch. Margaux, these wineries were participating in that quality.

I did ask some questions, but eventually it seemed pointless; the belief was firm, the story equally firm, and in the end it seemed not to matter as much as the results.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Oswaldo, you are almost always going to have tartrate precipitates, I'm puzzled by why Leroy would care.
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I understood him to mean precipitates from previous acidulations, stuck in the grain, that might by absorbed by his musts.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by SFJoe:
Oswaldo, you are almost always going to have tartrate precipitates, I'm puzzled by why Leroy would care.
Click to expand...

I understood him to mean precipitates from previous acidulations, stuck in the grain, that might by absorbed by his musts.
Click to expand...
That's the disconnect. You get those precipitates for free without any acidification. The assumption that they are a record of manipulation is unwarranted. The inside of the old barrels at either Cotat, or Olga Raffault, or rustic vigneron of your choice are all covered in KHT crystals. When and whether they precipitate depend on pH, temperature, alcohol content and etc., but you get plenty straight from the grapes.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by SFJoe:
Oswaldo, you are almost always going to have tartrate precipitates, I'm puzzled by why Leroy would care.
Click to expand...

I understood him to mean precipitates from previous acidulations, stuck in the grain, that might by absorbed by his musts.
Click to expand...
That's the disconnect. You get those precipitates for free without any acidification. The assumption that they are a record of manipulation is unwarranted. The inside of the old barrels at either Cotat, or Olga Raffault, or rustic vigneron of your choice are all covered in KHT crystals. When and whether they precipitate depend on pH, temperature, alcohol content and etc., but you get plenty straight from the grapes.
Click to expand...

The point might be that barrels with tartrate deposits will afford less microxygenation than barrels with open pores. As you say, that would be true for any used barrels, so I suppose it would only be a case for using new barrels [shudder].

Mark Lipton
 
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