Keith Levenberg
Keith Levenberg
Marie-Noelle Ledru 2008 Brut Nature - As screechy and austere as these are on release but the fruit is deep and brassy in tone, too much so. 1 or 2 people called it oxidized, but not in the sense that it has actual oxidized flavors, it just feels stale.
Raveneau 2001 Chablis Blanchot - Very pretty preserved lemon fruit flavors with a tactile sandy texture. The bottle age has put the focus on the ripe, fleshy side of the fruit as opposed to the screaming citric acid of young Chablis. Yet it still tastes young, objectively speaking, it's just that young Raveneau is never this expressive or open-knit.
Raveneau 2006 Chablis Blanchot - Too boring to focus on next to the '01.
Egon Muller 2011 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese - Distressingly dark bronzing color. Tastes fresher than it smells since it still has racy acids and a salty streak but it is also thick and very, very sweet, gets listless and flabby when it's not ice-cold.
Peter Lauer 2011 Schonfels GG - Orders of magnitude fresher. Pale and ultra-cleansing fruit featuring pears, lemon/lime, little white flowers. You know those soap commercials where someone is bouncing across fields of green and stony mountain streams - this is like that.
Lafarge 2009 Volnay Clos des Chateau des Ducs - Pretty cherry fruit more accessibly sweet than you might expect from a young Lafarge but more restrained than you might expect from an '09.
Pousse d'Or 1993 Volnay Caillerets - Nice mature burgundy nose dipping into the classic barnyard and forest floor, pale red fruit turning stony on the back end. Very well-integrated structure with tannin nicely brushed over puts this in a great drinking spot.
Potinet-Ampeau 1964 Volnay-Santenots - Vin de merde.
Adrien Belland 1978 Chambertin - Intensely smoky and meaty aromas like if someone had vinified the free sample platter at Hickory Farms. The texture is all pinot but those intense smoky sausage flavors might have had me guessing Hermitage if this had been blind.
Clos de Tart 2005 - Still searingly oaky with sweet jammy fruit. Both elements mellow out some with time in the glass but then the structure gets more ragged.
Clos de Tart 2001 - Sweet baking cinnamon bun aromas. But on the palate the fruit is cool and restrained and like many '01s in a very comfortable drinking zone.
Chateau Rayas 2007 - Noxious. Like kids medicine that tastes so vile they have to add a ton of sweetness to make it possible to force even a tiny bit down the gullet, which instead of masking the grossness just makes it taste both gross and grossly sweet.
Chateau Beaucastel 1990 - People who like Beaucastel will find this the kind of thing they like.
Raveneau 2001 Chablis Blanchot - Very pretty preserved lemon fruit flavors with a tactile sandy texture. The bottle age has put the focus on the ripe, fleshy side of the fruit as opposed to the screaming citric acid of young Chablis. Yet it still tastes young, objectively speaking, it's just that young Raveneau is never this expressive or open-knit.
Raveneau 2006 Chablis Blanchot - Too boring to focus on next to the '01.
Egon Muller 2011 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese - Distressingly dark bronzing color. Tastes fresher than it smells since it still has racy acids and a salty streak but it is also thick and very, very sweet, gets listless and flabby when it's not ice-cold.
Peter Lauer 2011 Schonfels GG - Orders of magnitude fresher. Pale and ultra-cleansing fruit featuring pears, lemon/lime, little white flowers. You know those soap commercials where someone is bouncing across fields of green and stony mountain streams - this is like that.
Lafarge 2009 Volnay Clos des Chateau des Ducs - Pretty cherry fruit more accessibly sweet than you might expect from a young Lafarge but more restrained than you might expect from an '09.
Pousse d'Or 1993 Volnay Caillerets - Nice mature burgundy nose dipping into the classic barnyard and forest floor, pale red fruit turning stony on the back end. Very well-integrated structure with tannin nicely brushed over puts this in a great drinking spot.
Potinet-Ampeau 1964 Volnay-Santenots - Vin de merde.
Adrien Belland 1978 Chambertin - Intensely smoky and meaty aromas like if someone had vinified the free sample platter at Hickory Farms. The texture is all pinot but those intense smoky sausage flavors might have had me guessing Hermitage if this had been blind.
Clos de Tart 2005 - Still searingly oaky with sweet jammy fruit. Both elements mellow out some with time in the glass but then the structure gets more ragged.
Clos de Tart 2001 - Sweet baking cinnamon bun aromas. But on the palate the fruit is cool and restrained and like many '01s in a very comfortable drinking zone.
Chateau Rayas 2007 - Noxious. Like kids medicine that tastes so vile they have to add a ton of sweetness to make it possible to force even a tiny bit down the gullet, which instead of masking the grossness just makes it taste both gross and grossly sweet.
Chateau Beaucastel 1990 - People who like Beaucastel will find this the kind of thing they like.
