04 Les Giroflées

M

Marc D

Marc Davis
I was looking for a rosé in the wine closet and found a lone bottle of this. We had a bunch of nice garden veggies (well the peppers and eggplants were really small but tasty) and some beautiful local tomatoes (local tomato season lasts about 3 weeks here) to make a ratatouille and I wanted something pink.

There was no vintage on the label, but the cork had 2004 on it.
The wine was copper colored with hints of orange. It still has some sparkle from CO2. I'm pretty sure this was bottled with CO2 and it was not from refermentation in the the bottle. It smells lovely, very alive, lots of that green herbal Pineau d'Aunis flavors. I read someone describe this as agave once and I agree with that. The wine is modestly sweet but with the CO2 and acidity it manages to pull it off quite well. There is some cracked pepper, and some red fruits like wild strawberry, but the dominant flavor profile was the herbal.

It worked very nicely with the meal. I think this would be a very polarizing wine with the slightly funky Pd'A flavors and residual sugar. I thought my wife would hate it but she liked it very much. I thought it was great.

Bravo Eric and Cristine for making a wine like this.
 
Interesting, thanks for the update! I still have a few of these. I absolutely loved them on release but have found the last few too weird for me, the last one maybe a year and a half or two years ago. No issues with the alcohol sticking out?
 
originally posted by Cliff:
Interesting, thanks for the update! I still have a few of these. I absolutely loved them on release but have found the last few too weird for me, the last one maybe a year and a half or two years ago. No issues with the alcohol sticking out?
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I finished my glass before it hit room temp. When the wine was cool I didn't notice the alcohol at all.
 
I never remember the Giroflées as having a lot of alcohol. When I was browsing through my bottles I saw a bottle of the 2005 Hommage à Louis Derré. Now that is a big bottle of wine.
 
It was a question of balance, not that the level is high in an absolute sense. I think the varietal character has come out more with age, which adds to the effect. I'm still interested in seeing where they go.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Marc D:
When I was browsing through my bottles I saw a bottle of the 2005 Hommage à Louis Derré. Now that is a big bottle of wine.
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Any thoughts on when to try it?
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Really no idea, but I'm going to wait a bit more I think.
 
originally posted by Marc D:
04 Les GirofléesI was looking for a rosé in the wine closet and found a lone bottle of this. We had a bunch of nice garden veggies (well the peppers and eggplants were really small but tasty) and some beautiful local tomatoes (local tomato season lasts about 3 weeks here) to make a ratatouille and I wanted something pink.

There was no vintage on the label, but the cork had 2004 on it.
The wine was copper colored with hints of orange. It still has some sparkle from CO2. I'm pretty sure this was bottled with CO2 and it was not from refermentation in the the bottle. It smells lovely, very alive, lots of that green herbal Pineau d'Aunis flavors. I read someone describe this as agave once and I agree with that. The wine is modestly sweet but with the CO2 and acidity it manages to pull it off quite well. There is some cracked pepper, and some red fruits like wild strawberry, but the dominant flavor profile was the herbal.

It worked very nicely with the meal. I think this would be a very polarizing wine with the slightly funky Pd'A flavors and residual sugar. I thought my wife would hate it but she liked it very much. I thought it was great.

Bravo Eric and Cristine for making a wine like this.
Click to expand...
This wine is one of the seven wonders of the world; almost up there with le Vingt Brumaire. I'm guessing its' maturation curve extends to approximately forever. No on the sparkle - maybe possibly a slight prickle, but no.
 
Jeff, of course you are right. There was a thin stream of bubbles that rose up in the bottle on first opening, then a slight prickle in the mouth. I remain an enthusiastic drinker but a poor translator of the experience.
 
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