43rd Annual Louis/Dressner Tasting and Benefit for Partners-in-Health

Thanks Ben and Sharon.

A recent taste of the '13 basic Rosso from Montesecondo was superb. It is beautiful right now and ready to drink. The '14 Rosso I thought was a bit disjointed and could use some bottle time. I thought the Tin (2012?) was on another level, airy but with very elegant structure and energetic. I've never seen or tasted the Trebbiano. What did you think about it?

Nice to hear about JP Brun and the Descombes. I am buying both almost every year now. The Descombes Morgan VV might be my favorite Beaujolais currently, if I had to pick just one.

Tough about the Cascina degli Ulivi.
I haven't had a lot of them but have a very good memory of one bottle of the Filognotti, it was a standout.
It leaned towards some of the uber natural wines but was not overtly infected.
 
I didn't concentrate too much on the Montesecondo Trebbiano, I'm afraid. I asked Jean-Paul Brun about the 2011 Grille Midi, which he thought still needed time but might be worth opening a bottle of if you have a few.
 
Pee being "desert Bactine", I bought Degli Ulivi's Gavi Filagnotti and its antidote, the P'tit Blanc. My piss-poor palate mistook the micturition for mint.

Emphatically agreed on Pinon, though: wife and I both flipped for his inaugural Les Déronnières.

Nice surprises for me and my battered maw were La Stoppa's savory Macchiona and Barbera. These were in a completely different, darker register than the other reds I sampled (~60%; more thorough with the whites): a cello among violins. Dunno how much of that was their being a few years older.

I second the ranking of first for Descombes Brouilly VV. Was eager to try Montesecondo but somehow couldn't find them - where the hell were they? In the little back room near La Stoppa & Occhipinti? On the long table with the orange and the infectious? Behind a secret revolving bookcase?

Is it ever kosher to BYO munchies? I'm new to these things and found Act 2: The Reds increasingly rough sledding (and thank the g-ds we're mostly talking Loire and Beaujolais bantamweights). Renardat-Fache's Bugey (14 pretty nice, 15 better yet) was instant relief; ideally, carafes of that would be freely available instead of water. At this tasting and, you know, in life at large.
 
To follow on from what I heard from Louis-Benoît Desvignes at the tasting, I opened a 2011 Javernières last week and it was delicious. Youthful, if very much approachable after a short decant.
 
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