1996 Bourgueil "Les Perrières" C&P Breton

Karen,
Nice to hear that about the ‘11 Croix Boisée. I have some and will probably open one soon while waiting for the weightier years to open up.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
Nice to see a note on this. Breton was a darling among disorderlies in the early days of wine bulletin boards, especially with the terrific '95, '96 and '97 vintages, but then basically disappeared from our collective view when they unceremoniously dumped Dressner and didn't bother to tell him, but had Kermit notify him. I wouldn't be surprised if disorderlies like Kay Bixler, Jeff Connell and Don Rice may still have some bottles around.

Don’t forget about me. I still have about 20 cases of various 1995-1997 Loires left which include a couple of cases of assorted mid-1990s Bretons. The Bretons I’ve had in recent years that weren’t corked have been spectacular. I’m happy to share with anyone who makes the trek to Atlanta once it is safe to do so.
 
I wasn't a Loire Red drinker in the 90's, but have a modest stash of 05 Senechal and Perrieres, which I plan to hoard for a while yet.

I've been dipping into my 09 and 10 Baudries - Guillot and Grezeaux - last year and this one, and they've shaken up my hierarchy of preferences - vying with my heretofore favorites from the magic realm of Burgundy. I hate the word 'revelatory,' but it's apt here. I guess I should try an '11 Croix Boissé, on the strength of the discussion.

Any love for Hureau here? I've encountered his wines rarely, but they've over performed in every instance, IMHO. I still have a couple of 05 Lisagathes somewhere in the crannies of my vault.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I wasn't a Loire Red drinker in the 90's, but have a modest stash of 05 Senechal and Perrieres, which I plan to hoard for a while yet.

I've been dipping into my 09 and 10 Baudries - Guillot and Grezeaux - last year and this one, and they've shaken up my hierarchy of preferences - vying with my heretofore favorites from the magic realm of Burgundy. I hate the word 'revelatory,' but it's apt here. I guess I should try an '11 Croix Boissé, on the strength of the discussion.

Any love for Hureau here? I've encountered his wines rarely, but they've over performed in every instance, IMHO. I still have a couple of 05 Lisagathes somewhere in the crannies of my vault.

Notes forthcoming on the 2011 Croix Boissée but it is still showing a good bit of structure. That's fine, but I'd plan the meal accordingly.
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
1996 was/is a great vintage for the region, I've got some various bottles (including the Breton Perrieres) in deep storage somewhere. It's all well and good to have a lot of wine to choose from, but it doesn't mean diddly, bo, unless you can lay your hands on it, and right now that's not an option (no, I'm not in prison and not a tent evangelist)(not yet at least).

But you just reminded me that I do have a bottle of 1996 Olga Raffault Les Picasses here in the bunker that maybe is ready by now. But are those Raffault wines ever really "ready"? They're like Biondi-Santi or the early Dunn Howell Mountain wines -- I've never had one that tasted as magnifico as the critics and fanboys tell me they should. At least optimism for Raffault comes with a lower price of admission, but one should live one's life not solely for "potential", no? And speaking of price of admission, I'm not admitting anything other than that I believe the slightly pricy Now-Again vinyl reissues of David Axelrod's Capitol Trilogy sound way better than the original Capitol Records pressings. And Carol Kaye's Fender bass playing is pretty out of this world, her best performances ever (even better than her Nancy Sinatra and Glen Campbell hits) this side of the "On Any Sunday" soundtrack, said score written and arranged by Dominic Frontiere, whose music might be viewed as achieving a level close to Axelrod's in the way that Sattlerhof's Sauvignon Blanc is close to Tement's or Meiomi will put you in mind of Belle Glos to the point that you might not be able to tell the difference but for the wax drizzled all over the bottle, Raveneau-like but not really. But Frontiere might have become an Axelrod but it turned out he didn't need to; he married well and wound up with great seats at Rams football games, so what does that tell you?

-Eden ("On Any Sunday" followed Frontiere's star-making work on the "Star Trek TV score," begging the question: If you rev your straight-pipe Harley in outer space and there's nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? I'm thinking 'no' because there's no air to move in outer space and that implies no sound. Or maybe they'd come up with something like Aston Martin did where they put engine sounds through the music system to make you feel more vroom-vroom!!)

I have a bottle of the 89 Les Picasses standing up downstairs. I'll report back when I've had a sip. I suppose I'll queue up the Nancy Sinatra channel on Pandora for the occasion. Probably not Glenn Campbell, though.
 
Reporting as promised.

A translucent wine, admittedly on the darker side. Subtle Chinon, as they seem to become after a couple of decades. Performed well over two nights. Comfortable, like a well-worn overstuffed chair at grandma's. Muted perfumes and cooking spices, again like memories of grandma. All in all, a fine drink.
 
originally posted by Bob Semon:
89 Les PicassesReporting as promised.

A translucent wine, admittedly on the darker side. Subtle Chinon, as they seem to become after a couple of decades. Performed well over two nights. Comfortable, like a well-worn overstuffed chair at grandma's. Muted perfumes and cooking spices, again like memories of grandma. All in all, a fine drink.

michael broadbent often noted that cheval blanc darkened with age. this he attributed to the cabernet franc, and the fact that cheval blanc had the highest percentage of any top growth in bordeaux. the logic that was presented to explain this development was that polyphenols and anthocyanins age/mature/precipitate out at different rates. as the ratio of the two change with age, the one that provides the colour (the anthocyanins?) becomes more dominant. and the cabernet franc is the only bordeaux grape that has anthocyanins and polyphenols in this initial balance, thus allowing this phenomena to occur.
 
Back
Top