Right from wrong

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Fun night, dedicated to a selection of wrong-latitude French reds (three older Trévallons and two upstarts) and a horizontal of immature great whites.

2011 Domaine du Possible "C’est pas la mer à boire" Côtes du Roussillon 14.0%
Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, schist soils. Smells carbonic. Quite structured, half quaffer, half serious. Would have guessed 12.5%. A bit bitter on the finish, but quite nice.

2007 Domaine de Trévallon Blanc VdP des Bouches du Rhône 13.5%
Roussanne 37%, Marsanne 37%, Clairette 14%, Chardonnay 12%. 50% new barrels. Exotic aromas, dulce de leche, bananas, white flowers, and an oxidative edge (no fried avocados). Somewhat lacking in acidity, but top-of-the-pops fruit, with no oak or sanctimonious unctuousness.

2007 Domaine J.L. Chave Hermitage Blanc 14.5%
80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne. 60+ yr old vines, one third vinified in barriques, the rest in shiny steel. Standard high-grade minerality and white flowers, but the oak, despite the apparent élevage restraint, seemed excessive. Also lacked a bit of acidity. But this is white Chave Hermitage, so of course mightily impressive to even the jaded psyche.

2007 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 13.0%
Finally a great white with balance. The Kimmeridgean minerality one might expect, enervated by acidity. Didn’t fit the Southern France theme, but you never say no to Raveneau.

1988 Domaine de Trévallon Coteaux d’Aix en Provence - Les Baux 12.0%
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Syrah. Leather, balsamic, soy sauce, rubber, wet earth. Fine acidity, great balance. No nube, but rates impressively on the tertiary scale.

1990 Domaine de Trévallon Coteaux d’Aix en Provence Les Baux 12.0%
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Syrah. Balsamic, soy sauce, herbaceousness. Savory, much more acid than the 88. Less complex aroma, yet fresher all around.

1998 Domaine de Trévallon VdP des Bouches du Rhône 12.0%
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Syrah. Balsamic, soy sauce, cigar box. Savory, and very acidic. Similar to the 90, but more bangin’. Great stuff.

2011 Domaine Richeaume Columelle VdP des Bouches du Rhône 14.5%
51% Syrah, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot. Babyfatty but multilayered aroma, prunes, caramel, coffee, wax, graphite. Kinda sweet, tending towards the horrid new world, but the alcohol is unobtrusive, and there’s no oak invasion. Could become interesting in a decade.
 
Yes. I opened the Possible thinking it was a white, but took the oops moment in stride. By consensus, the whites were opened in order of ascending acidity and the reds in order of descending sobriety.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
...enervated by acidity...
Click to expand...

Are you sure that's the word you were looking for, O.? If so, a bit more explanation might be warranted.

Mark Lipton
 
A rollicking generous and still shoot decided to celebrate his birthday with an epic clash of titans from his year of birth. Called some who flatter themselves that they are your friends for providing the banking of the court, along with the face sparkling half, and consorts lucky ones (and shiny) of others. On the left, the two biggest names in the universal church of Tempranillo. On the right, two of the most gallant names of Bordeaux, originating from the soft pre-SpongeBob decade. It was raining pitchers and electricity is gone; everything was conducted in a twilight climate, the growing darkness of contrasting environments with increasing illumination of gifts, merry laughter ringing in morumbenses and adamantine walls.

With initial tidbits:
NV Sylvie Paulhiac-Delalot Champagne Cuvée Extra Brut Explosion Charly sur Marne 12.0%
Organic agriculture. 67% Pinot Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir, 23% Chardonnay. Imported by Jenny and Francois, buy to host blind. Still sober, enjoyed the mineral aroma with delicate yeast bread. Boca refreshingly acidic, but perhaps this element too dominate at the moment, as a real gross extra burst.

NV Vouette et Sorbée extra brut Fidèle 12.0%
100% Pinot Noir, kimmeridgian soils. Served cold seemed shy in aroma, but with the rising temperature was getting aromatically exquisite, with chalk, light yeast, and great minerality. Mouth immediately perfect, balanced, delicious, harmonious. Sucker Punch.

With a delicious cod brandade:
Saumur Blanc 2010 Guiberteau Clos de Guichaux 13.5%
Beautiful aroma without wood with wax, straw and white flowers typical of the grape. In the mouth, ultra acid, asking for food, but with great weight. Quite different from a Guichaux 2011 that we had recently that seemed to have too much wood and was only 12.0%. I wonder what there was to change so much? This 2010 yes, it's a beauty.

2008 Stephane Le Cossais Montlouis Volagré 13.5%
Last vintage of this producer early deceased in 2009. A little wood in the aroma and mouth, but nothing that causes an armed revolt. Beautiful fruit with great weight. Too bad he will not be able to evolve to the point of not using any wood.

With rice oxtail and duck rice came one of the most memorable processions to which a mere mortal can aspire:
1970 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja 12.0%
Started by imposing an unparalleled level of both aroma and mouth. Ex-cellar 2009 bottle intact expression of one of the great wines of the world, the kind that makes a beacon of understanding. A menu tasting liquid.

1970 Vega Sicilia Unico Ribera del Duero 13.0%
If you have suffered a little in comparison to the first (what wine does not suffer?), was still spectacular, wonderful aromatically, with ideal weight and mouth. Beautiful, aristocratic, noble, Bourbon, Infanta of Castile, Ferdinand and Isabella, all this and more.

1970 Ch“teau Palmer Margaux (without abv)
Even though it looks the weakest of the four, was beautiful, and shine in any other company. Tar and other tertiary beautiful. Handful of palmers.

1970 Ch“teau Latour Pauillac 12.0%
In the second half of the second half the Bordeaux team sent in their leading scorer and slightly decreased the rout. Exquisite wine, still looking young; complex, lush, dense and light at the same time. Mint and licorice aroma, delicious glycerin in the mouth. A Latour de force, no doubt, and muy hermoso, as even the most closeted spa rep would have to admit.

With two Brazilian cheeses from Bruno the master cheesemaker:
1970 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia white 12.0%
Another estupendousness bought at the winery in 2009. Super young, without the expected oxidative note, and a type of greasiness that does not come from wood. Acidity beautiful. Aromas and flavors of green corn evolved to artichoke, suggesting some sensory kinship. Sensational, and a privilege to take.

With pain perdu and vanilla ice cream:
1949 Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu demi-sec (without abv)
Speaking of privilege, hard to find adjectives to describe the honor here. Showing a wonderful tan that only time can paint. Oxidative (ma non tropo), drier than demi-sec (for sugar, over time, declines more than the acidity), with aromas of a complexity that would not know how to live up to this point beyond Baghdad.

But what is perhaps most impressive about these events, impacting the lives of any oenophile, is how the wines, stupendous as they are, need to be complemented by gran reserve chemistry among the present. Only then the first shows a calling higher than being a liquid, that of a social glue that passes over temperaments and ideologies, from the left of Fidel Castro to the right of Ayn Rand. Everyone a level above.
 
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