DC Dressner Dinner @ Dino

M

Matt Latuchie

Matt Latuchie
felt very lucky to be a part of this assemblage of dressner lovers in dc. most had met joe before and had great stories to tell about him - i am sad that i never got to meet him in person.

DRESSNER DINNER - Dino, Washington DC (11/7/2011)

Seven of us assembled at Dino to celebrate the life and work of Joe Dressner. A selection of his wines were pulled out of storage and most showed superbly. It was a great evening - thanks to Bob for organizing and for the generosity of all the guests.

I wasn't able to taste everything at the table, I think a couple slipped past me.

2008 Domaine Mosse Anjou La Lettre a Elise - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Anjou

Probably the biggest surprise at the table. From a producer unfamiliar to most of us, this was a really elegant example of what Chenin from the Loire can be. Had some tropical fruit notes, with white florals, dense minerals and nice acidity.
2002 François Cazin (Le Petit Chambord) Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles Cuvée Renaissance - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Cour-Cheverny

Medium-bodied with nice floral and mineral notes. This also had fresh melon tones on the palate that were elegant and balanced. Drinking well.
2002 Domaine de Bellivière Coteaux du Loir Vieilles Vignes Eparses - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Coteaux du Loir

General consensus was that this was over the hill.
2005 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Granite de Clisson - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine

Corked. (NR/flawed)
2010 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine

Another beautiful bottle. As before, this is denser than the airy Sur Lie with perfect balance.
2006 François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Tradition - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

Elegant melon and floral tones on the medium-bodied palate. Had nice weight to it with nice acidity on the finish. Drinking well.
2002 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cuvée Gamay - France, Loire Valley, Touraine

This is the first time I've tried a CRB Gamay with this much age on it. Overall it had interesting floral notes, cool fruit and nice minerality.
2010 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

Similar notes to the bottle I had the night before. Just terrific stuff.
2005 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

A bit tight at first, but this opened up and had beautiful cool red fruit dense minerality with subtle earthiness and elegant florals.
2005 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

This was double-decanted before consumption. This is exactly what I love in wine. Expressive fruit that's balanced perfectly with minerality, earthy tones, and enough acid to make your mouth water.
2007 Thierry Puzelat Pinot Noir Touraine - France, Loire Valley, Touraine

Really impressed with this elegant pinot. Had great earthiness with fresh red fruit, subtle tobacco and florals.
2006 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Les Galichets - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

Showed well. Nice earthy notes with good spices, some funk and cranberry. Great stuff.
2001 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cuvée Cot - France, Loire Valley, Touraine

A stylish Cot with nice spice, violets and sleek dark fruit. Drinking well.
2000 Éric Texier Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

This was decanted for about 90 minutes beforehand. Medium-bodied with cranberry, smoked meat, dark florals and spices on the palate. Good stuff.
2002 Pierre-Bise Quarts de Chaume - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume

Enjoyed its freshness. Had nice tropical fruits, minerals and beautiful florals. Not incredibly dense when compared to other QdC, but I liked that.

Posted from CellarTracker

(updated with the edits from yule)
 
Thanks for posting these notes Matt. By the end of the night, everything was a blur, and it is nice to have this list to reference everything.

Basically, from what I can remember, I thought all the wines showed really well (with the exception of the corked Clissons and the Belliviere).

You missed the 2010 Pepiere Clos de Briords. It was light, lithe, and elegant, with gentle hints of lemon, minerals, and salinity. Tasty stuff.

I think the Mosse was a 2008 (at least the bar code tag had an '08 on it) and I believe it was a Vin de Tables and not an AOC wine. And, with all due respect to the Cuvee Renaissance (which showed very well), this was probably my favorite white. Just a knock out example of Chenin (though the Pinon wasn't half-bad either).

The Breton Les Galichets and CRB Cuvee Cot were still tannic, but the tannins seemed very fine-grained to my palate and the wines showed very well. The Cuvee Cot left a particularly strong impression on me and I'm looking forward to checking in on my Pifs (which I believe has quite a bit of Cot in it).

The Puzelat Pinot Noir was excellent. It was just a really elegant expression of pinot noir and of Touraine. It was probably my favorite red and reminds me that I should buy more Puzelat.

It was also my first time trying the CRB Gamay and I enjoyed it. An interesting expression of gamay, and it was great that we had so much Roilette on the table to do a side by side comparison.

I wished I had more time with the Texier Hermitage, but I was pretty much done by the time I got to it. Hopefully there will be a next time where I can linger over it a little longer. I also didn't get to try the Raffault.

And the Quarts de Chaume might finally convert me to dessert wines. Really tasty stuff.

Thank you Bob for inviting me and everyone else for bringing such great wines this evening!
 
ah...i tagged the Briords note to the wrong day, so CT didn't pull it for this dinner. thanks for pointing that out yule. also, i'll make a change to my vintage on the Mosse.
 
Too bad about the '02 Eparses. My last bottle of the '04 was wonderful a few months back, but probably at peak. It was a very lean, mineral driven wine on release, very dry with almost no fruit whatsoever. With time in bottle it developed a wonderful slightly honeyed richness.
 
Great notes Matt.

Gail and I walked away with remains of the Breton, the CRB Cot and the Mosse Anjou. Both the Cote and the Mosse Anjou showed beautifully the next day. The Breton though was completely oxidized. All in all, with only one corked wine and one senescent and the rest showing nicely, this was a fitting tribute to Joe.

Truth in advertizing: I brought the Texier Hermitage and it was not a bottle imported by Joe. The ruling of the table was that it was symbolically his, though.
 
originally posted by slaton:
Too bad about the '02 Eparses. My last bottle of the '04 was wonderful a few months back, but probably at peak. It was a very lean, mineral driven wine on release, very dry with almost no fruit whatsoever. With time in bottle it developed a wonderful slightly honeyed richness.
Click to expand...

My 02 Eparses have turned brown and oxidized. A few years ago I had one (perhaps with the midwestern Chemist at BLT fest) that was still hanging on but they seem to have lost their freshness.
 
I am surprised more people aren't freaking out more about the quality of the '10 Briords around here. Or maybe we have just become bored by the consistent brilliance of Marc Olivier and its just not conversation worthy anymore.
My favorite recent vintage for pure bliss right out of the gates drinking and seems to be built to last a while.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
What's the secret handshake to get into the loop on things like this in D.C.? Especially for Dressner. Was there a post on it?
Click to expand...

Curious about that myself. It's like freshman rush all over again. Sigh.
 
originally posted by Doug Padgett:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
What's the secret handshake to get into the loop on things like this in D.C.? Especially for Dressner. Was there a post on it?
Click to expand...

Curious about that myself. It's like freshman rush all over again. Sigh.
Click to expand...
The two of you may need to hang around Weygandt's shop more often.
 
This group is more or less an evolved hangover of a group that knew Robert Callahan and Joe Dressner. Off-lines get called on no particular schedule anymore by one of us, who just contacts names he or she remembers from here or there, when he or she gets the urge. I know my existence is unrecognized by numbers of DC groups as well. In any case, Ian, I'll try to remember to get your name added if we happen ever to do something again. Or, you could always try calling one yourself. It is truly a disorderly group.
 
originally posted by Tom Glasgow:
originally posted by Doug Padgett:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
What's the secret handshake to get into the loop on things like this in D.C.? Especially for Dressner. Was there a post on it?
Click to expand...

Curious about that myself. It's like freshman rush all over again. Sigh.
Click to expand...
The two of you may need to hang around Weygandt's shop more often.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely true.
 
That is really strange about the 02 Eparses. I still remember being blown away by a bottle of this in Paris in 04 or thereabouts. It had nothing in in that did not signify a very long haul bottle. Was this just in an awkward stage?
 
originally posted by robert ames:
so what about my last bottle of '02 calligrame? i thought i could keep it more or less as long as i wanted.
Click to expand...
I have more than one. I guess I should look in on them.
 
Not sure what happened but my sense was going going gone but something may have happened to my bottles that did not happen to yours.
 
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
originally posted by slaton:
Too bad about the '02 Eparses. My last bottle of the '04 was wonderful a few months back, but probably at peak. It was a very lean, mineral driven wine on release, very dry with almost no fruit whatsoever. With time in bottle it developed a wonderful slightly honeyed richness.
Click to expand...

My 02 Eparses have turned brown and oxidized. A few years ago I had one (perhaps with the midwestern Chemist at BLT fest) that was still hanging on but they seem to have lost their freshness.
Click to expand...

...to my enormous dismay. I'd been so looking forward to the 2002's. I'm wondering what happened... these were purchased thru G.........iste/Seattle. So looking forward to Loir, disappointing. Calligrammes intact. HMMmmmmmm
 
originally posted by Tom Glasgow:
originally posted by Doug Padgett:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
What's the secret handshake to get into the loop on things like this in D.C.? Especially for Dressner. Was there a post on it?
Click to expand...

Curious about that myself. It's like freshman rush all over again. Sigh.
Click to expand...
The two of you may need to hang around Weygandt's shop more often.
Click to expand...

Matt does seem to be taking on the role of D.C. wine event kingpin.
 
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