Some old favorites, some new wines and a nice, long Sunday afternoon celebration of a friend's birthday.
2011 Azienda Agricola Caparsa Chianti Classico Caparsino Riserva - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG (9/11/2020)
Oh! My best bottle yet of the 2011. This bottle has tannins that are more resolved and a more lifted fruit profile. Dark cherry, herbs, leather and a hint of licorice trails the tobacco and the tannin on the finish. These wines have been such a great addition to our table. (92 points)
2016 Azienda Agricola Caparsa Chianti Classico Caparsa - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG (9/11/2020)
Consistent with previous bottles. A house mainstay. (91 points)
2013 Melsheimer Riesling Lentum - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/12/2020)
Holy crap! What in the actual fuck is this? Mineral and fruitless on entry, saline herbal notes. Maybe kelp? There is some citrus rind and stones. Finally, some fruit peaks out, but it doesn't really matter. This is wine in a different idiom. I've never had this before but it is something I will seek out in the future. This is uncompromising but not uninviting or unyielding. As long as you are willing to meet the wine halfway it is super complex and interesting. I love wines like this. A bit of google says that this is the fever dream of a rogue winemaker which spent 3 years fermenting and was bottled sometime in late 2017. I'm not sure it would be something we'd drink all the time, but I'll definitely follow these wines. (92 points)
2015 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition - France, Burgundy, M“connais, Viré-Clessé (9/12/2020)
Has maybe shed just a touch of baby fat and is showing a bit more on the floral side, honeysuckle among other white and yellow flowers. There is a sucrosité to the finish that is wiped clean by juicy acids. Lovely. (92 points)
2015 Flavio Roddolo Dolcetto d'Alba Superiore - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba (9/12/2020)
This bottle seemed to have an extra level of juiciness to previous bottles. It's the kind of wine that makes you realize that Stanko Radikon was totally right about 1L being the right amount for dinner. A 750mL never seems like enough. Roddolo makes some of the most soulful and delicious wines in the Langhe to my palate. (92 points)
2008 Guy Larmandier Champagne Signé François Vieilles Vignes Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne (9/13/2020)
This is another chalky and seemed somewhat tighter than previous bottles of this wine. With a bit of air it opened up to show a bit more richness to the fruit. Not a particularly autolytic Champagne. Only a slight lack of cohesion in the middle keeps it from being great. (93 points)
2014 Domaine de la Bongran (Thevenet) Viré-Clessé Cuvée E. J. Thevenet - France, Burgundy, M“connais, Viré-Clessé (9/14/2020)
Well, it looks like I wasn't paying enough attention last time I had this. Well, I'm paying attention now. This is the most precise version of this wine since the 2008 and may turn out to be even better. There is a sense of grace and delicacy and a lifted filigreed nature. More on the flowers and mineral side than often is the case. I love this. (93 points)
2013 Ghostwriter Cabernet Sauvignon Bates Ranch - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz County (9/15/2020)
OK, here we go. This has moved forward substantially. Real density and old school mountain cabernet feel. This reminds me of the Mount Eden Old Vines cuvée before the vines were pulled out. These are the old, diseased vines from Ahlgren plot. More savory than those old Mount Edens. It's earthy, leathery and chewy with dense but fine tannin. The black currant and dark cherry/berry fruit is draped throughout entire structure with notes of tobacco both on top and on the finish. Really a great wine with room to grow. (94 points)
2018 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken AP 19 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/15/2020)
An interesting showing and I'm not sure whether it's me or whether this is a temperamental wine. It started off a bit shut down but after an hour or so of air, it started to open up. It wasn't the dramatic, dragon slaying wine from a couple of weeks ago, but it was very, very good. I bought less of the trocken in the last few years because I don't think I really got it. Not going to make that mistake with 2019. (92 points)
2015 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese 'Schmitt' - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/16/2020)
Manages a that neat Mosel trick of being pretty sweet and still weightless. Has layers of fruit, stones, flowers and stones but not tons of perceptible acidity. Maybe I'm too used to Falkenstein at this point and acidity of other wines doesn't really stand out. Hard to have more than a glass but has held up well in the refrigerator. Would be hard to pair with food but a nice apertif. From digging around this is an Auslese. This is a new wine for me, I find it interesting enough to try again if it crosses my path, particularly in a vintage with more pronounced acidity, but I'm not going to hunt for it. (91 points)
2016 Guy Breton Régnié - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Régnié (9/16/2020)
This was in a perfect spot for me. The color was a hazy red and the nose of crunchy red fruits, meadow flowers buzzing with insects and a low key framework of tannin to counterpoint the tart acidity. This may be the Platonic form of a lunchtime red wine. So delicious now, I would attack the bottles in my cellar if I had more. (92 points)
2018 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (9/17/2020)
This is a perfectly nice wine, if a bit heavy with some honey and burnt sugar on the edges. The sweetness balances out Thai vegetable curry quite well, but it's a bit soft and diffuse on its own. I haven't been regularly drinking Huet for a few years so I don't know if there has been stylistic drift or just a function of the vintage. Not a wine I would rebuy but I did buy a mix of 2019 secs to try so maybe I'll get a better read after that. (89 points)
2014 Giovanni Canonica Barolo Paiagallo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/18/2020)
A really interesting and throwback sort of showing. On the first night, this was clenched mid-weight wine. The tannins weren't overbearing but were forceful in their way. Classic Barolo notes of cherry, flowers and a leathery/tar type undertone. Fine grained and strict but worked well with the food and showed a promising future. After a couple of days with the last 20% of the bottle stored in the fridge and then allowed to warm on the counter it has completely unclenched and now had a nose of baking spices and potpourri with the fruit seeming more kirsch like. Really cool to get a preview of a wines trajectory in miniature like this which you don't get as often with modern wines that tend to be made without as much exposure to oxygen as in the past. (91 points)
2018 Ferme de la Sansonnière (Mark Angeli) La Lune - France, Vin de France (9/19/2020)
Hmmm, not sure what the deal is here. My thinking is that it's just a bit closed down because it doesn't have the immediate appeal of the 2017 and also seems a bit more dense and structured. I wonder if a bit more time open would have helped as it often does with these wines but this was our first bottle for four people so it went pretty quickly. (89 points)
1999 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Ca'mia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/19/2020)
This was a very confusing wine. When I first decanted it in the afternoon, it showed a great nose full of fruit as well as maturing savory notes. About 5 hours later from the decanter it showed a strange musty aroma and was all savory and earthy notes and had become tannic again. We moved on and I saved the rest for the next day. The mustiness had gone away and it showed as a maturing nebbiolo with all of the umami notes and some dried fruit. Still a bit more structure than was pleasant. I found this showing confusing and I'm perplexed about when to open another bottle. (90 points)
1999 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (9/19/2020)
Not the best nor the most disappointing bottle of this wine. It didn't have much of a chance to open as it was a substitute for the disappointing (at the time) Brovia. Well fruited and complex with soil and gamy notes. The structure seemed to come to the fore pretty quickly so I'm not sure what to do with my last bottle. Maybe if you give it more time to open up it will show better, but it was still pretty darn good. (92 points)
2002 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur Blanc Brézé - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur (9/20/2020)
Wow, this wine is so intense. Golden colored but searingly bone dry. Starting to take on some honeycomb and lanolin mature notes but there is just so much chalky limestone covering the lemon. It's really interesting how the white is the most reflective of vintage among the Rougeard wines. I find the reds really consistent from both a style and quality perspective from vintage to vintage. The white is all over the place and this is a perfect representation of 2002: bracing and intense with a driving mineral finish. Fascinating. (93 points)
2015 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/20/2020)
I had saved my last bottle of this to try with these particular folks and we didn't get to it last time so it was eagerly anticipated given my recent stellar experience with the 2018. It has shaved off some of the rough edges of mineral intensity which has paved the way for more floral notes to show. This is a really pretty and precise wine. I feel like I use the word filigreed too much but it really applies here. Gossamer too. I wonder if the 2018 will end up in a similar spot. (93 points)
2015 Laherte Frères Champagne Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut Les Beaudiers - France, Champagne (9/20/2020)
This was really good. It was filled with red fruit and flowers. Texturally, it was vinous and smooth with hints of cream. It was chalky on the finish but not particularly strict. I'm not one for all Meunier Champagnes in general but this specific wine is excellent. (93 points)
2016 Laherte Frères Champagne Rosé de Meunier Extra Brut - France, Champagne (9/20/2020)
This was less fruity and leaner than the Beaudiers. The fruits were more tart and a bit more mineral. Got lost in the shuffle a bit but I would like to revisit this again. Laherte wines are good. (91 points)
2005 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru (9/20/2020)
Well, this is nice. For Sophie's birthday, a bottle she sold me while at Astor back in the beginning of her NY sojourn. The depth and purity of the fruit really shows why this site is called Griotte. Woodspice and a bit of smoky, mineral nuance curling among the fruit all draped on a lattice like tannic structure. Shows a bit of that gamy/earthy Gevrey character underneath the regal fruit. Really so many of the things that we all love about Burgundy, that silky fruit, those haunting nuances and structure that is all finesse. But, as Jim might say, oh my! that fruit. Really lovely and worth what I paid for it, but I'm not so sure about current prices. It's really too bad because as special occasion wine for a regular guy, this is great and suited to this special occasion with dear friends. However, as an IMPORTANT WINE, I might be a bit underwhelmed. Such is the ultimate issue with these crazy price increases that it taints experience with so many wines. (95 points)
2011 Azienda Agricola Caparsa Chianti Classico Caparsino Riserva - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG (9/11/2020)
Oh! My best bottle yet of the 2011. This bottle has tannins that are more resolved and a more lifted fruit profile. Dark cherry, herbs, leather and a hint of licorice trails the tobacco and the tannin on the finish. These wines have been such a great addition to our table. (92 points)
2016 Azienda Agricola Caparsa Chianti Classico Caparsa - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG (9/11/2020)
Consistent with previous bottles. A house mainstay. (91 points)
2013 Melsheimer Riesling Lentum - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/12/2020)
Holy crap! What in the actual fuck is this? Mineral and fruitless on entry, saline herbal notes. Maybe kelp? There is some citrus rind and stones. Finally, some fruit peaks out, but it doesn't really matter. This is wine in a different idiom. I've never had this before but it is something I will seek out in the future. This is uncompromising but not uninviting or unyielding. As long as you are willing to meet the wine halfway it is super complex and interesting. I love wines like this. A bit of google says that this is the fever dream of a rogue winemaker which spent 3 years fermenting and was bottled sometime in late 2017. I'm not sure it would be something we'd drink all the time, but I'll definitely follow these wines. (92 points)
2015 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé Tradition - France, Burgundy, M“connais, Viré-Clessé (9/12/2020)
Has maybe shed just a touch of baby fat and is showing a bit more on the floral side, honeysuckle among other white and yellow flowers. There is a sucrosité to the finish that is wiped clean by juicy acids. Lovely. (92 points)
2015 Flavio Roddolo Dolcetto d'Alba Superiore - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba (9/12/2020)
This bottle seemed to have an extra level of juiciness to previous bottles. It's the kind of wine that makes you realize that Stanko Radikon was totally right about 1L being the right amount for dinner. A 750mL never seems like enough. Roddolo makes some of the most soulful and delicious wines in the Langhe to my palate. (92 points)
2008 Guy Larmandier Champagne Signé François Vieilles Vignes Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne (9/13/2020)
This is another chalky and seemed somewhat tighter than previous bottles of this wine. With a bit of air it opened up to show a bit more richness to the fruit. Not a particularly autolytic Champagne. Only a slight lack of cohesion in the middle keeps it from being great. (93 points)
2014 Domaine de la Bongran (Thevenet) Viré-Clessé Cuvée E. J. Thevenet - France, Burgundy, M“connais, Viré-Clessé (9/14/2020)
Well, it looks like I wasn't paying enough attention last time I had this. Well, I'm paying attention now. This is the most precise version of this wine since the 2008 and may turn out to be even better. There is a sense of grace and delicacy and a lifted filigreed nature. More on the flowers and mineral side than often is the case. I love this. (93 points)
2013 Ghostwriter Cabernet Sauvignon Bates Ranch - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz County (9/15/2020)
OK, here we go. This has moved forward substantially. Real density and old school mountain cabernet feel. This reminds me of the Mount Eden Old Vines cuvée before the vines were pulled out. These are the old, diseased vines from Ahlgren plot. More savory than those old Mount Edens. It's earthy, leathery and chewy with dense but fine tannin. The black currant and dark cherry/berry fruit is draped throughout entire structure with notes of tobacco both on top and on the finish. Really a great wine with room to grow. (94 points)
2018 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken AP 19 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/15/2020)
An interesting showing and I'm not sure whether it's me or whether this is a temperamental wine. It started off a bit shut down but after an hour or so of air, it started to open up. It wasn't the dramatic, dragon slaying wine from a couple of weeks ago, but it was very, very good. I bought less of the trocken in the last few years because I don't think I really got it. Not going to make that mistake with 2019. (92 points)
2015 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese 'Schmitt' - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/16/2020)
Manages a that neat Mosel trick of being pretty sweet and still weightless. Has layers of fruit, stones, flowers and stones but not tons of perceptible acidity. Maybe I'm too used to Falkenstein at this point and acidity of other wines doesn't really stand out. Hard to have more than a glass but has held up well in the refrigerator. Would be hard to pair with food but a nice apertif. From digging around this is an Auslese. This is a new wine for me, I find it interesting enough to try again if it crosses my path, particularly in a vintage with more pronounced acidity, but I'm not going to hunt for it. (91 points)
2016 Guy Breton Régnié - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Régnié (9/16/2020)
This was in a perfect spot for me. The color was a hazy red and the nose of crunchy red fruits, meadow flowers buzzing with insects and a low key framework of tannin to counterpoint the tart acidity. This may be the Platonic form of a lunchtime red wine. So delicious now, I would attack the bottles in my cellar if I had more. (92 points)
2018 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (9/17/2020)
This is a perfectly nice wine, if a bit heavy with some honey and burnt sugar on the edges. The sweetness balances out Thai vegetable curry quite well, but it's a bit soft and diffuse on its own. I haven't been regularly drinking Huet for a few years so I don't know if there has been stylistic drift or just a function of the vintage. Not a wine I would rebuy but I did buy a mix of 2019 secs to try so maybe I'll get a better read after that. (89 points)
2014 Giovanni Canonica Barolo Paiagallo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/18/2020)
A really interesting and throwback sort of showing. On the first night, this was clenched mid-weight wine. The tannins weren't overbearing but were forceful in their way. Classic Barolo notes of cherry, flowers and a leathery/tar type undertone. Fine grained and strict but worked well with the food and showed a promising future. After a couple of days with the last 20% of the bottle stored in the fridge and then allowed to warm on the counter it has completely unclenched and now had a nose of baking spices and potpourri with the fruit seeming more kirsch like. Really cool to get a preview of a wines trajectory in miniature like this which you don't get as often with modern wines that tend to be made without as much exposure to oxygen as in the past. (91 points)
2018 Ferme de la Sansonnière (Mark Angeli) La Lune - France, Vin de France (9/19/2020)
Hmmm, not sure what the deal is here. My thinking is that it's just a bit closed down because it doesn't have the immediate appeal of the 2017 and also seems a bit more dense and structured. I wonder if a bit more time open would have helped as it often does with these wines but this was our first bottle for four people so it went pretty quickly. (89 points)
1999 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Ca'mia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/19/2020)
This was a very confusing wine. When I first decanted it in the afternoon, it showed a great nose full of fruit as well as maturing savory notes. About 5 hours later from the decanter it showed a strange musty aroma and was all savory and earthy notes and had become tannic again. We moved on and I saved the rest for the next day. The mustiness had gone away and it showed as a maturing nebbiolo with all of the umami notes and some dried fruit. Still a bit more structure than was pleasant. I found this showing confusing and I'm perplexed about when to open another bottle. (90 points)
1999 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (9/19/2020)
Not the best nor the most disappointing bottle of this wine. It didn't have much of a chance to open as it was a substitute for the disappointing (at the time) Brovia. Well fruited and complex with soil and gamy notes. The structure seemed to come to the fore pretty quickly so I'm not sure what to do with my last bottle. Maybe if you give it more time to open up it will show better, but it was still pretty darn good. (92 points)
2002 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur Blanc Brézé - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur (9/20/2020)
Wow, this wine is so intense. Golden colored but searingly bone dry. Starting to take on some honeycomb and lanolin mature notes but there is just so much chalky limestone covering the lemon. It's really interesting how the white is the most reflective of vintage among the Rougeard wines. I find the reds really consistent from both a style and quality perspective from vintage to vintage. The white is all over the place and this is a perfect representation of 2002: bracing and intense with a driving mineral finish. Fascinating. (93 points)
2015 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/20/2020)
I had saved my last bottle of this to try with these particular folks and we didn't get to it last time so it was eagerly anticipated given my recent stellar experience with the 2018. It has shaved off some of the rough edges of mineral intensity which has paved the way for more floral notes to show. This is a really pretty and precise wine. I feel like I use the word filigreed too much but it really applies here. Gossamer too. I wonder if the 2018 will end up in a similar spot. (93 points)
2015 Laherte Frères Champagne Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut Les Beaudiers - France, Champagne (9/20/2020)
This was really good. It was filled with red fruit and flowers. Texturally, it was vinous and smooth with hints of cream. It was chalky on the finish but not particularly strict. I'm not one for all Meunier Champagnes in general but this specific wine is excellent. (93 points)
2016 Laherte Frères Champagne Rosé de Meunier Extra Brut - France, Champagne (9/20/2020)
This was less fruity and leaner than the Beaudiers. The fruits were more tart and a bit more mineral. Got lost in the shuffle a bit but I would like to revisit this again. Laherte wines are good. (91 points)
2005 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru (9/20/2020)
Well, this is nice. For Sophie's birthday, a bottle she sold me while at Astor back in the beginning of her NY sojourn. The depth and purity of the fruit really shows why this site is called Griotte. Woodspice and a bit of smoky, mineral nuance curling among the fruit all draped on a lattice like tannic structure. Shows a bit of that gamy/earthy Gevrey character underneath the regal fruit. Really so many of the things that we all love about Burgundy, that silky fruit, those haunting nuances and structure that is all finesse. But, as Jim might say, oh my! that fruit. Really lovely and worth what I paid for it, but I'm not so sure about current prices. It's really too bad because as special occasion wine for a regular guy, this is great and suited to this special occasion with dear friends. However, as an IMPORTANT WINE, I might be a bit underwhelmed. Such is the ultimate issue with these crazy price increases that it taints experience with so many wines. (95 points)
