The best damn Chinon I've had in a long while, maybe ever

originally posted by kirk wallace:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by BJ:
No fair, you have to come to Seattle for the dinner. I started the whole thing!
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Poor BJ! I'm in if it's in Seattle. A good excuse for cross-continental travel.
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How about we compromise and do it in Portland?
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Very sketchy geography, Kirk. I'd say that a true compromise position would put it somewhere in flyover country, say about Chicago? Yeah, that seems about right to me....

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
Surprising, Brad, as the period from '91 until the early/mid-aughts is known as a very difficult time for the domaine.
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My name's is not Brad but feel free to call me Brad if it makes it easier to keep track of this thread.

I'm not sure that the "difficult time" was starting in the mid-90s or even whether they affected the wine much anyway. It's been my experience that the 1996 and 1997 Joguet wines are pretty terrific. Varennes, Dioterie and Chêne Vert have always been my benchmarks for Chinon, even though I'm pretty ecumenical about the region. Sure, I like Beaudry and Raffault and Breton as much as the next person, but Joguet is what I cut my teeth on and I've been known to drink (and even ]enjoy) wines from the aforementioned "off" vintages.

-Eden (this whole "difficult time" and "off vintage" stuff bugs the hell out of me. Let a thousand flowers bloom! Not every wine needs to be 102 points before I allow it to grace my glass! WTF, let another thousand flowers bloom, just because)
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by BJ:
No fair, you have to come to Seattle for the dinner. I started the whole thing!
Click to expand...

Poor BJ! I'm in if it's in Seattle. A good excuse for cross-continental travel.
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Awww...

You have to let us know if/when you're in town!
 
originally posted by MLipton:

Very sketchy geography, Kirk. I'd say that a true compromise position would put it somewhere in flyover country, say about Chicago? Yeah, that seems about right to me....

Mark Lipton
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Huzzah!
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
originally posted by Brad Kane:
Surprising, Brad, as the period from '91 until the early/mid-aughts is known as a very difficult time for the domaine.
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My name's is not Brad but feel free to call me Brad if it makes it easier to keep track of this thread.

I'm not sure that the "difficult time" was starting in the mid-90s or even whether they affected the wine much anyway. It's been my experience that the 1996 and 1997 Joguet wines are pretty terrific. Varennes, Dioterie and Chêne Vert have always been my benchmarks for Chinon, even though I'm pretty ecumenical about the region. Sure, I like Beaudry and Raffault and Breton as much as the next person, but Joguet is what I cut my teeth on and I've been known to drink (and even ]enjoy) wines from the aforementioned "off" vintages.
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Ymmv, Eden. Many consider those excellent mid'90s vintages from them to be severely disappointing. I know there have been threads on it over the years on the various boards. Even this one, I believe. If only the search engine worked.

Fwiw, I agree with you on those bottlings, but especially for '89 and '90 and post, say, '04.
 
originally posted by fillay:
originally posted by MLipton:

Very sketchy geography, Kirk. I'd say that a true compromise position would put it somewhere in flyover country, say about Chicago? Yeah, that seems about right to me....

Mark Lipton
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Huzzah!
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You are of course right, Professor. And I could get on board for Chicago, but probably not in March. Not Chicago's best month, IIRC.

Perhaps we can arrange a roaming Cab franc jeebus: starting in the east (Brooklyn), moving west to Racines, then PDX (or Seattle); and a boffo finish in the middle when the weather turns nice-- say late May?
 
I hadn't kept up on Joguet and liked some '90s wines from there. What happened post-'04? I do think I tried one cuvee or another in recent years that was pretty wood marked.
 
There have been a few different winemakers in the last decade - I recall both FX Barc and Kevin Fontaine. Comparing Joguet and Baudry doesn't make sense to me - it's like comparing Gevrey-Chambertin and Beaune. Just visit the vineyards and it's apparent - different situation, different soil, different vines etc.

Even during the 'difficult' times Kermit Lynch probably got the very best bottlings, and perhaps a couple of Paris 3*s. London bottles weren't great, from what I remember.

For what it's worth, I still pick up some bottles from time to time. Great terroir is great terroir.
 
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