Baux Geste

originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
I had a d'Aupilhac 1996 Reserve wine that was 100% Carignan the other day at it was quite admirable.

Claude Kolm has also expressed his admiration for that bottling. Maybe that VDP is sourced from less interesting fruit.

Mark Lipton
I used to buy that from Kermit in about that era, it was pretty tasty stuff.

Cheap, too, but those were the days.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
I had a d'Aupilhac 1996 Reserve wine that was 100% Carignan the other day at it was quite admirable.

Claude Kolm has also expressed his admiration for that bottling. Maybe that VDP is sourced from less interesting fruit.

Mark Lipton
I used to buy that from Kermit in about that era, it was pretty tasty stuff.

Cheap, too, but those were the days.

His Lou Maset bottling for $10 is really good and his Montpeyroux, for around $18, is pretty amazing. A 2000 drunk 2 years ago was stunning.
Sylvain Fadat is a very sweet guy and his wines are underrated in my opinion.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
I remember liking Trevallon very much back when I could get the 89 and 90 for something like $15 a bottle. I now know why I no longer see them in the market.

Sums up my experience as well.
 
... The husband of the couple at the table nearest ours became aware we were Americans and proceeded to vent his animosity of Bush at us. We were to blame for inflicting Bush on the world. Apparently not only as a nation but us personally...
Such idiocy at a personal level, especially when you consider that millions of French agreed with Bush and millions of Americans agreed with Chirac.
 
Our last night in Baux. An unfortunately mediocre dinner at the well-regarded Bistrot de la France in Paradou. From a producer with many fans here, wine was a 500ml of the 2006 Patrick Jasmin Cote-Rotie 12.0%, alas disappointing. Quite a bit mora oaky than the 2004, and with a bitter finish, which may or may not be from spending too much time in wood. The low alcohol and correct acid/sweet balance were hardly enough to compensate. Bummer. Not a glorious finish to an otherwise mostly wonderful two weeks. Tomorrow we start five days down on the coast, not far from Bandol.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Quite a bit mora oaky than the 2004, and with a bitter finish, which may or may not be from spending too much time in wood.
The internet, in two places, says he uses barrels for 10 years and then puts new ones into rotation. So, if it was a 'new barrel' year, you could get 25-30% new wood.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Quite a bit mora oaky than the 2004, and with a bitter finish, which may or may not be from spending too much time in wood.
The internet, in two places, says he uses barrels for 10 years and then puts new ones into rotation. So, if it was a 'new barrel' year, you could get 25-30% new wood.

Combine that with a root day....
 
originally posted by kirk wallace:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Quite a bit mora oaky than the 2004, and with a bitter finish, which may or may not be from spending too much time in wood.
The internet, in two places, says he uses barrels for 10 years and then puts new ones into rotation. So, if it was a 'new barrel' year, you could get 25-30% new wood.

Combine that with a root day....

and a 500 ML bottle....
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Baux GesteArrived in the Provençal town of Paradou yesterday for a two week stay. Dinner was at the picturesque medieval town of Baux, from which both the AOC Baux de Provence and the mineral Bauxite derive their names [Bauxite was first mined here, just as Denim (aka De Nîmes) was first mined in Nîmes]. Anyway, this charming hamlet, which even sports ruins of Roman sports, is perched high on a craggy and striated hilltop, to better protect its ancient inhabitants from marauding brigands. Repast was at a restaurant with awesome views of the waning sun, mediocre food being, alas, the corrolary of visual plenty. But a 500ml of the nearbly 2010 Chateau Romanin Rosé 12.5% peformed its modest duties with considerable aplomb. Unlike this evening's 375ml of the also nearby 2010 Mas Sainte Berthe Rosé AOC Baux de Provence 13.0%, whose sweet candied edge seemed to derive from a mixture of the additional 50 basis points and multiple personality disorder springing from a mix of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault. More to follow.

Disclaimer: the AOC authorities have promised me, in exchange for writing about my adventures in the region, the right to bear the prestigious honorary surname of Bauxman.
I loved that little town of Baux when I visited there. And we even visited the "type locality" of bauxite, an outcrop just down the road from the village. Figured I had had to visit there, since I have done computer modeling of its formation.

Overall, this is an interesting appellation with occasionally some very high quality. I still remember drinking a $20 1982 Baux de Provence in a restaurant north of Walla Walla--great wine, but they could not sell it to the Americans so they discounted to table wine status and it was soon gone...
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Quiet dinner at our rental, with delish cheese, ham, sausages and salad. Wine was the 2004 Chateau Vignelaure Coteaux d’Aix en Provence 13.5%. 70% cabernet sauvignon, 25% syrah, 5% grenache. Same blackberry, rosemary and leather I’ve been experiencing everywhere here, but I’m not complaining. Delicious acidity, attractive tannins, unobtrusive oak fully integrated, a lithe pleasure that ended all too soon. And not predatorily priced. Yum.

Based on this showing I picked up two more half bottles (the above was also a half bottle) from the same store. The first was very oaky, unrecognizable. The second, last night, also very oaky. WTF? Praise withdrawn.
 
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