Keith Levenberg
Keith Levenberg
Nicolas Serrette 2016 Cornas "Henri" - Centenarian vines but this mixes new style and old. Luminous magenta color with a general profile that's fruity and slate-like, checks the mineral box but not the animal or vegetable, and tannins are solid but tame for young Cornas. If there's an old-vine signature it might be the fruit getting ratcheted into inky territory on the back end.
Larmandier-Bernier NV 1er Cru Rosé de Saignée - My kind of rosé Champagne. (NB - I hate almost all rose Champagne.) No pink or cotton candy flavors, takes some of the deeper flavors from the red grapes without the girly flavors. Bone-dry, bracing, refreshing, and chewy with a craggy, stony crunch.
Goyo Garcia Viadero 2009 Finca Valdeolmos - Also from ancient vines but alas this once-astounding wine is now crumbling apart because somebody decided that making wine to hold and improve in the cellar is less important than joining the no-SO2 club, the anti-vaxxers of the wine world.
Domaine Etxegaraya 2005 Irouleguy Cuvée Lehengoa - Prephylloxera tannat. A dozen years I've had these bottles! Hard to believe. One on release was excellent, another shortly thereafter was closing up, and this was my first time dipping my toes back in since then. Opens with a gush of ultra-fresh just-crushed blueberry scents and the color of the wine was neon-bright. But the raw tannin does come back and reassert itself so after that initial flirtation with primary fruitiness it turns stern and veers towards closing back up. Still no idea what the future holds for this.
Do Ferreiro 2010 Albarino Cepas Vellas - More prephylloxera. One of the best Cepas Vellas I've ever had - strike that, one of the best white wines I've ever had - and showing ridiculous depth and character relative to what was going on here just a few years ago. A mineral bomb on the nose combining a slight gunpowder funk (mild in comparison to the 2007 of this) with pure oceanic scents of seashells and seabreezes. The fruit is pure and cooling, a spa treatment for the palate with the fruit of an Alpine white and the refreshment factor ratcheted up with cucumber, white flowers, and that intense ocean brine that reverberates on the back end like you've just swallowed an oyster. Has to be one of the greatest seafood wines in existence. What smart people buy instead of dropping C-notes on trophy Chablis.
Poitout 2014 Petit Chablis L'Inextinct - Prephylloxera (non-trophy) Chablis. A couple years years ago this was all on the fruit side of the grape, now it's STGT Chablis like a mouthful of crushed oyster shells against a watercolor backdrop of pale, pure fruit. Doesn't taste *older* but all of its character is out there in full-peacock fashion and if this is how you like your Chablis (I sure do) it's surely in a, if not the, peak condition.
Viuva Gomes 2010 Collares Branco - Prephylloxera and premoxed.
Enderle & Moll 2017 Weiss & Grau - E&M needs to patent whatever color this is, which is practically a genre unto itself. Call it salmon wine. Grapefruit, melon, and peach flavors give this off-the-charts Gatorade-dunk refreshment value similar to E&M's grauburgunder but I've never had the pure grau show the finesse of this with its flowing, satiny texture from the skins.
Scott Paul 2008 "Audrey" Pinot Noir - From own-rooted old vines in the Maresh Vineyard, which is spoken of locally in hushed tones in a way its broader reputation hasn't quite caught up with. Screwcapped. On release this was very fruity and sweet out of the gate and needed time to mellow, now it's the opposite, lean and autumnal out of the gate but a few hours in it recovers its rosy-red fruit, a little paler and sans baby fat. Not sure if there is something more ahead of this, though, or WYSIWYG.
Rhys 2006 Swan Terrace Pinot Noir - On release this was the deep, dark, fruit bomb of the lineup. Now it has a red-fruit profile that's almost plush and airy with Vosne-Romanee-like five-spice aromatics. Still tastes young for its age (probably fresher than the average 2006 Burgundy) but vastly changed relative to where it was.
Rhys 2009 Skyline Vineyard Pinot Noir - A bit rusty and more evolved than anticipated. Turns nicely silky with air but I expected this to freshen up more than it did.
Domaine Gallet 2015 Côte-Rôtie - Some of you may remember the shelves of Garnet stacked with '99 Gallets - it took me a long time to try one because they were so cheap it made you suspicious, but who could resist that super-charming hand-drawn label? At some point they replaced that with a totally generic one (when I unpacked my 2010s it was like what I imagine it's like to get coal in your Christmas stockings), but I'm pleased to announce that the generic one has now been replaced with a new super-charming hand-painted label and all is right with the world again. And it is still stupid cheap considering the quality level and consumer price index. This probably ran me a McD's extra value meal more than the 1999. No-doubter aromatics right from the pop of the cork, with a burst of fresh, sticky blueberry fruit as if it is just starting to simmer down to jam, along with textbook scents of olive tapenade. The fruit is rich and glossy enough to mask the tannin at first but it eventually turns more muscular and granular, the fruit tones turn redder, and a mouthful of crushed rock emerges on the finish. Very, very drinkable despite its intensity.
Valerie Forgues 2016 Touraine Gamay - Didier Barrouillet consults here and this is nice but no CRB magic. Surprisingly dark and dense for Loire gamay.
Larmandier-Bernier NV 1er Cru Rosé de Saignée - My kind of rosé Champagne. (NB - I hate almost all rose Champagne.) No pink or cotton candy flavors, takes some of the deeper flavors from the red grapes without the girly flavors. Bone-dry, bracing, refreshing, and chewy with a craggy, stony crunch.
Goyo Garcia Viadero 2009 Finca Valdeolmos - Also from ancient vines but alas this once-astounding wine is now crumbling apart because somebody decided that making wine to hold and improve in the cellar is less important than joining the no-SO2 club, the anti-vaxxers of the wine world.
Domaine Etxegaraya 2005 Irouleguy Cuvée Lehengoa - Prephylloxera tannat. A dozen years I've had these bottles! Hard to believe. One on release was excellent, another shortly thereafter was closing up, and this was my first time dipping my toes back in since then. Opens with a gush of ultra-fresh just-crushed blueberry scents and the color of the wine was neon-bright. But the raw tannin does come back and reassert itself so after that initial flirtation with primary fruitiness it turns stern and veers towards closing back up. Still no idea what the future holds for this.
Do Ferreiro 2010 Albarino Cepas Vellas - More prephylloxera. One of the best Cepas Vellas I've ever had - strike that, one of the best white wines I've ever had - and showing ridiculous depth and character relative to what was going on here just a few years ago. A mineral bomb on the nose combining a slight gunpowder funk (mild in comparison to the 2007 of this) with pure oceanic scents of seashells and seabreezes. The fruit is pure and cooling, a spa treatment for the palate with the fruit of an Alpine white and the refreshment factor ratcheted up with cucumber, white flowers, and that intense ocean brine that reverberates on the back end like you've just swallowed an oyster. Has to be one of the greatest seafood wines in existence. What smart people buy instead of dropping C-notes on trophy Chablis.
Poitout 2014 Petit Chablis L'Inextinct - Prephylloxera (non-trophy) Chablis. A couple years years ago this was all on the fruit side of the grape, now it's STGT Chablis like a mouthful of crushed oyster shells against a watercolor backdrop of pale, pure fruit. Doesn't taste *older* but all of its character is out there in full-peacock fashion and if this is how you like your Chablis (I sure do) it's surely in a, if not the, peak condition.
Viuva Gomes 2010 Collares Branco - Prephylloxera and premoxed.
Enderle & Moll 2017 Weiss & Grau - E&M needs to patent whatever color this is, which is practically a genre unto itself. Call it salmon wine. Grapefruit, melon, and peach flavors give this off-the-charts Gatorade-dunk refreshment value similar to E&M's grauburgunder but I've never had the pure grau show the finesse of this with its flowing, satiny texture from the skins.
Scott Paul 2008 "Audrey" Pinot Noir - From own-rooted old vines in the Maresh Vineyard, which is spoken of locally in hushed tones in a way its broader reputation hasn't quite caught up with. Screwcapped. On release this was very fruity and sweet out of the gate and needed time to mellow, now it's the opposite, lean and autumnal out of the gate but a few hours in it recovers its rosy-red fruit, a little paler and sans baby fat. Not sure if there is something more ahead of this, though, or WYSIWYG.
Rhys 2006 Swan Terrace Pinot Noir - On release this was the deep, dark, fruit bomb of the lineup. Now it has a red-fruit profile that's almost plush and airy with Vosne-Romanee-like five-spice aromatics. Still tastes young for its age (probably fresher than the average 2006 Burgundy) but vastly changed relative to where it was.
Rhys 2009 Skyline Vineyard Pinot Noir - A bit rusty and more evolved than anticipated. Turns nicely silky with air but I expected this to freshen up more than it did.
Domaine Gallet 2015 Côte-Rôtie - Some of you may remember the shelves of Garnet stacked with '99 Gallets - it took me a long time to try one because they were so cheap it made you suspicious, but who could resist that super-charming hand-drawn label? At some point they replaced that with a totally generic one (when I unpacked my 2010s it was like what I imagine it's like to get coal in your Christmas stockings), but I'm pleased to announce that the generic one has now been replaced with a new super-charming hand-painted label and all is right with the world again. And it is still stupid cheap considering the quality level and consumer price index. This probably ran me a McD's extra value meal more than the 1999. No-doubter aromatics right from the pop of the cork, with a burst of fresh, sticky blueberry fruit as if it is just starting to simmer down to jam, along with textbook scents of olive tapenade. The fruit is rich and glossy enough to mask the tannin at first but it eventually turns more muscular and granular, the fruit tones turn redder, and a mouthful of crushed rock emerges on the finish. Very, very drinkable despite its intensity.
Valerie Forgues 2016 Touraine Gamay - Didier Barrouillet consults here and this is nice but no CRB magic. Surprisingly dark and dense for Loire gamay.
