Because it's cold outside, let's drink some Champagne!

Ok, it is a freaking minus 89 degrees outside (who says people from the South always exaggerate?), so you'd think we would be in the mood to drink some good Madiran and Brunello? Err, well no. We were, as always in seems somehow, in the mood for some good Champagne.
A few friends, a perfectly done brandade de morue to go along (my wife nailed the dish) and 4 champagne. Yup, life is good.

The wines were tasting blind 1st and then, as usual, enjoyed with dinner.



1998 Henriot Champagne Brut Millésimé
Elegant and subtle nose with some green olives, lemon and yeast. Lively with a nice balance of autolysis character and fruit. This particular bottle was not showing many tertiary aromas. Really nice to drink and true to the style of Henriot. I feel Henriot is somehow underrated.


N.V. Jose Dhondt Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
Some candy like flavors on the nose with an oxidative character. It gives you the impression the wine was raised in barrels whereas only stainless steel is used here.
Barely bubbly, rich honey, round and rather flat.
I think the bottle might be off...

2002 Henri Goutorbe Champagne Special Club
Rich and powerful nose. I thought this was a blancs de noir.
Honeyed, some red berry fruits and white chocolate on the palate, it needs time for the acidity to finally show up. A nice light saltiness refresh the finish.
Definitely from a warm vintage but given some time in the bottle, this should show really well.
I'd love to try again in 10 years.
The 2002 is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. The wine was fermented in stainless steel and malolactic fermentation was blocked. Fruit is coming exclusively from Ay.



1996 R. & L. Legras Champagne Cuvée St. Vincent Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru
Lovely nose, mineral. Floral and plenty of citrus and pear. Leesy as well with white chocolate
High acidity and full of energy, this tastes really young. After having the 1990 twice, I can tell this is a cuvee that can age 20 years easy and benefits from it. This cuvee is made only in special years.




I'm still thirsty.....

Debauche a Morgon

About a month ago, Marcel Lapierre died. I never got the chance to meet him but all I read about him was the same: genuine and talented.
In his memory, we organised a little tasting of Morgon, one of the 10 Beaujolais Crus. Roasted chicken and home made oven French fries was on the table. This was a time to enjoy those Morgon, friends with simple rustic food.



2005 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
Lactic nose and palate.Quite peppery with nice strawberry. Floral (violets) and spicy (cinnamon).
Darker fruit than the 2007. Nice to drink.



2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon Cuvée Mathieu
Could not find any info on that cuvee, named after his son.
More energy and acidity than the 2005. Plenty of floral notes on the nose as well as some herbs.
Drinking very well now.

2006 Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon Javernières
Nice balance and structure. Definitely darker than the Lapierre and Foillard.
Some coffee notes. Good grip on the finish.
Closed for the moment and needs time.



2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée Corcelette
From sandy soils. Red fruits, floral notes with strawberry. With air, it's "pinoting". A little darker on the finish. Good structure, soft, elegant and full of energy.
There's also a light steminess. Nice to compare this cuvee with the regular Cote du Py to see the influence of sandy soil vs schist.

2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py
This is superb. A touch of licorice, nice mix of dark/red fruits with strawberry and blackberry. Great floral lift with violet. Pure with a Chambolle like texture. It's borderline Burgundy but still Beaujolais.

2006 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py Cuvée 3.14
Very old vines (90 years) from Cote du Py. Raised exactly the same way as the other cuvees: 6 to 8 months in barrels (at least 2 years old) depending on the vintage.
Somehow hard to tell this is gamay but at the same time, this is a wine that is way too young. There's also an impression of new oak which is quite surprising since there's none ! Round, plums and cherry, impressive weight.
This needs serious time !

2009 Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Côte du Py Vieilles Vignes
Purple, somewhat jammy on the nose. Grapey, blood orange and a lot of dark fruit. Only fruit and a lot of it right now but at the same time I find it a little angular.
Not sure where this is going.


Plenty of good wines, genuine, authentic and without heavy extraction or trying to hide behind oak. Low SO2 on Lapierre and Foillard.

I loved the 2007s and it seems that they're drinking very well right now. Based on those ones and some of the previous bottles, they look to be for the short term drinking. But boy, are they delicious !

The only 2009 of this line up and well, typical from '09: a lot of fruit !! It will be interesting to see how they age. A 2009 JP Brun, L'Ancien at Boulud 2 months ago was also full of fruit but seemed enough underlying acidity to keep him balanced for a few years.

Also interesting, the obvious style differences of the winemakers with Lapierre keeping a fresh, red fruit profile, gouleyant Morgon, Foillard being maybe a little more elegant and depth and Desvignes showing much darker fruit than the 2.

But the most important thing is that in spite of the style impact of those winemakers, all the wines were showing a sense of place and their terroir.



A great night, thank you.

Pommard and Volnay Blind Tasting: another lesson of humility

Here we are again, tasting blind Pommards and Volnays. I always thought it was easy to distinguish those 2: Volnay being softer, more floral with a feminine side and Pommard being the Man in the house. The terroir is of course having a huge impact on the style for those 2 neighbouring climats (going south you will go through Pommard then hitting Volnay before reaching Meursault).
Well so much for generalisation!

2002 Domaine Jean Garaudet Pommard
Lovely nose with fresh red fruits and floral notes. Earthy.
Mushroms notes on the palate with a smoky finish. Long finish. Really impressive.
I though this was a Volnay!
2003 Prince Florent de Merode Pommard Clos de la Platière
Very fruity nose, candied. Grenadine notes. Hint of mint. With air, it becomes riper with even more fruit. Palate is darker, red plums. Not very enjoyable on the palate with some wood. It showed more Pommard like with air.
I was surprised to see this was an 03 and it did not show the roasted side of the vintage but this was definitely candied.
1990 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Champans
Showing evolution on the rim. Tired nose and palate. Moldy. The wine has seen better days.
Surprised to see the vintage as the few 90s I had were still going strong and quite ripe.




2001 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds
Well so much for the hail in '01. This is simply superb and textbook Volnay. Floral, red fruits, balanced and elegant and showed great depth and weight.
2004 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes
Really weird with strong eggplant and ashes notes. It takes a lot of air and time for the fruit (nice cherry and raspberry) to appear. Still very backwards
There's also a steminess that I appreciate. Vin droit, Lafarge style.
Austere but there's definitely something bringing you back. The last drops were really good.
2001 Domaine de Courcel Pommard 1er Cru Grand Clos des Épenots
Smoky and herbs but quite shy.
Balanced with hint of earthiness but very simple on the palate and seems closed. The finish is nevertheless impressive.
Just like the Lafarge, it takes a lot of time for the wine to develop complexity. All about nice and clean dark cherry and strawberry with a touch of leather.
Firm and elegant. This needs 4-6 more years.
2006 Louis Latour Volnay 1er Cru En Chevret
Fruit, fruit and more red fruit. It tasted extracted to me.
No sense of place, no terroir. Where's Burgundy?



Some very interesting wines here with the Angerville Taillepieds showing really well in my opinion and maybe this vineyard escaped the hail in '01. The Clos des Epenots needs more time and is another example that 2001 is really a nice vintage in Burgundy that every lovers of classic Burgundy should have on their radar. I was lucky to be able to spend more time with the Lafarge and was able to taste its transformation over a few days.

It was quite difficult on some occasions to differentiate Pommard from Volnay. Pommard maybe masculine but it is in fact more about an iron fist in a velvet glove.

A few Extra-Bruts

For some reasons, the last 3 champagnes I had were all Extra-Brut. Very interesting as all 3 managed to have very different styles and texture.


Ulysse Collin Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs
Very light bubbles, this is more a wine than a Champagne. Very mineral, a touch of wood, not a lot of fruit (hint of green apple/lemon). I really like the austerity and focus of this Champagne. Long finish. Very subtle.
Olivier Collin, is located in Congy in the Sézannais, south of the Côte des Blancs. While waiting to get some of his family's land back, he did an internship at Selosse in 2001 and this had a huge influence on the way he works now. Carefully taking care of his vines, using no chemicals, it seems Olivier is ready to try new directions such as organic or biodynamic certification (maybe?). As his master, Olivier makes his fermentation and malo in barrels.


Marie-Noelle Ledru Grand Cru Extra Brut
I really enjoyed this one. 85% pinot and 15% Chardonnay. This is very elegant and very steely. You can definitely tell there is no dosage. A little bit austere with lively mousse, there's a hint of red fruits with lemony notes. With air, more yeasty/brioche notes.

Marie-Noelle, in Ambonnay, does everything in her cellar but also in the office: multi-tasking for sure ! Trying to work as natural as possible, no chemicals in the vineyards and no sulfur added after disgorgement. All her Champagnes are really showing the beautiful terrroir they come from. Unlike the other 2 producers here, she does not use any wood.

Vouette et Sorbée Extra Brut Fidèle
Based on 2007 vintage and disgorged in December 2009. 100% pinot noir.
Not easy to approach, it is nevertheless a fascinating Champagne. Wonderful nose with some wood notes and spices. There's also a nice chalkiness. Not a lot of bubbles, mineral on the palate with again some light oak notes. Not a ton of fruit even though this is 100% pinot. This is quite elegant and not very exuberant but rich as the same time. It's an experience hard to describe.
I'd like to try one with a little more age but this is really good.

Certified organic since 1998, Bertrand and Hélène Gautherot are trying to work with a minimalist intervention and let the terroir speaks. All champagnes are vinified and raised in barrels and once in the glass, need time.
No acidification, no collage or cold stabilisation. Some SO2 is used only during the harvest and nothing afterwards. Of course indigenous yeast is used.

Magic with no tricks

After our blind tasting on sauvignon blancs from all over the world, we all agreed that this grape became uninspiring and a commercial caricature with no depth, elegance or class. Only a handful winemakers can work with this grape and do magic (Cotat, Boulay etc..).
I was lucky enough to recently try one sauvignon blanc who gave me back some hope. When I drunk this bottle, I asked myself what is the trick behind to do such an amazing wine. Well, thing is there's no trick at all: no chemicals as the domain is organic, no sulfur at all (neither during fermentation and bottling), no additives. I told you: no tricks.
The wine is from Les Cailloux du Paradis and its winemaker Claude Courtois who has been working naturally for a very long time. He is located in Soings en Sologne, 150km east of Saumur.

This 2008 cuvée is called Quartz, a vin de France, made from old sauvignon blanc vines and most of them are franc de pied i.e. pre-phylloxera. The very obvious thing is that this does not taste like any other sauvignon blanc. The terroir and winemaker managed to sublime the grape here. This is ripe but has a tremendous acidity and showed pear and spices (the wine is vinified and raised in barrels) and finally the minerality takes over while it keeps evolving in your glass. Only 11.8% (!!!), this is a wine with no sulfur added, and needs time to blossom. Much, much better on day 2. The way the power, acidity and minerality are managed remind me of Francois Cotat.

Do yourself a favor, get out and grab a bottle and let the wine takes you away.

At school with Anselme Selosse

Rendez-vous was given: Caves Legrand, October 19th. For the second time this year, I was going to spend some time with one of the most interesting winemakers you can find: Anselme Selosse.

Anselme started with a quick introduction on his domain. Located in Avize, he took over his father after his studies in Burgundy which he says had an impact on the way he's working. He conducted a biodynamic agriculture from 1995 to 2001 and quit because he wanted more freedom while still respecting the vines.

Interestingly, when asked about the people who influence him he mentions 4 names:

-Didier Barral from Faugeres because of the way he brought an entire ecosystem in his vineyards

-Sylvain Pitiot from Clos de Tart

-Claude Bourguignon (soil expert)

-Jean Marie Pelt, French botanist who founded the European Institute of Ecology

When the date of this dinner was set up, Anselme disgorged (last March) 6 bottles of his 2003 vintage. Because he wanted to show us the impact of the dosage, after disgorging those 6 bottles he used a different dosage for each of those: no dosage, 0.06 cl, 0.12 cl, 0.18 cl, 0.24 cl and .30cl.

One important thing to realise is that even for the highest dosage here, we are still in the Extra-Brut category and Selosse Champagnes are always very low in dosage.

So here we go on this dosage class, just like Anselme did when he choosed what he was going to do with his 2003 vintage: try different combinations and see the one(s) with the most balance.

For my part, I really enjoyed the 1st one (no dosage) and the 4th one (0.18cl). The last 2 I thought we too heavy and were almost sticking to your palate (even though once again it is still a very low dosage). The 2nd and 3rd were not bad but you could sense something was missing.

Anselme eventually picked the 4th one for his 2003 vintage (o.18cl).

It was really interesting to see the impact of the dosage. To me a few things stood out:

-It seems like he has an impact on the oxidative character: the more dosage you have, the less oxidative character you feel (white chocolate, quince) and the less dosage you have, the more oxidative character you sense (curry notes).

-Also, it looks like it has a light impact on the effervescence: it is less bubbly with low dosage.

Again those are my impressions on those very particular bottles. It would be interesting to check this out on other producers.

Then, we were treated with 5 different Selosse vintages: 2005, 2003, 2002, 1999 and 1998.

His vintage always sees 50% of new wood and comes from 2 parcelles in Avize (100% Chardonnay): Chanterelle (oriented East) and Maladri (Coteau, oriented South). All the champagnes were disgorged the day before the dinner and were not dosed.

The 2005 showed some butter and light vanilla. Very Burgundian, got better with air gaining balance. Needs time.

The 2002 showed honey and spices along exotic fruits.

The 1999, wine that I've been lucky to have a few times now, is a very solar champagne (14.5%!). It is quite opulent, quince but again some minerality appears with air and give freshness to the wine.

The 1998 starts to show truffle notes with a hint of exotic fruits.

There's also in every wines a light and refreshing bitterness on the finish. Anselme mentioned that this is partly due because of the slow pressurage he's doing. Overall I believe, but this is personal, that his vintage Champagnes need time to acquire the perfect balance and to allow the mineral spine, so precious to Anselme and true to Avize, to reveal itself.

Another unforgettable moment with Anselme.

2005 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillots

After looking for the non sulfur version without any success(and it seems like he stopped doing it after 2005), I picked this 2005 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillots. This was a spectacular wine with violets exploding with black olives and red fruits. This is expressing so much its Northern Rhone roots, it's just great. Super long finish.
As always very elegant, almost Burgundian, this wine will probably be a gem for a good 10-12 years.
This wine does not see any new wood and Allemand is certified Organic.
Man, this is good.

Laundry list

A short post to talk about a few wines, tasted double blind, just before our white Burgundy tasting.




2004 Domaine de Montbourgeau L'Etoile (Jura): Very well made and balanced Etoile. Mostly Chardonnay with a little dash of Savagnin.
Unmistakably Jura, elegant oxidation, some light curry and spicy notes with yellow apple. Nice even though this is a little simple.

2009 Michel Delhommeau Muscadet, Cuvée St. Vincent
Spicy mineral pear with citrus. Hint of orange and some exotic fruit. A touch of yeast. With air, the minerality fades and the exotic fruits become more apparent. Floral as well.
It's enjoyable but definitely ripe, especially for Muscadet.
None of the blind tasters recognised muscadet and some even went to Languedoc or CdP.....



2005 Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Marine: Upon opening, nose was all lemon butter milk. More energy on the palate with again lots of lemon. Round, showing a little bit of heat (although only 12.5%) and nutmeg.
The finish is a little flat.

1999 Fred Magnien, Chassagne Montrachet Les Morgeots (Rouge): well this is definitely ripe. The oak is still lingering, not totally integrated yet. It is definitely Burgundy but quite modern and I'm not a big fan of this ripeness and texture.

2008 Vincent Prunier Bourgogne rouge: Light cherry core. There's a caramel, nutty tone on the nose. Nice floral notes and red currant. Round with med- acidity. It's a little sweet on the palate with ripe strawberry. My guess was Oregon pinot. It's ok but a little overdone for my taste. People liked it much better than I did. Surely well made.


2000 Edmond Duclaux Côte-Rôtie: Very tight on the 1st night showing absolutely no Northern Rhone character. Then on the 2nd day, the nose was great: plenty of olives and floral notes with bell pepper and ham. The palate is slightly stewed though and the wine lacks finesse. With a little more freshness, this would have been much more enjoyable.
2005 Damien Laureau Anjou Clos Frémur: Almost opaque and viscous in the glass. A lot of violets and cassis with a touch of bell pepper. There's also a beam of raspberry fruit in this dark mix. Firm tannins. This is a massive wine. Almost like a raspberry liquor on the palate wrapping licorice an charcoal. Ripe. I liked it much more the 1st time I tried it. This time, it was too powerful. A big steak would help here for sure. But I think I like his Savennieres (which are awesome) much more.

A battle in the heart of Burgundy: Puligny vs Meursault vs Chassagne

Cool temperatures and the very beginning of fall was perfect for our blind tasting of the night: the 3 most prestigious communes for whites in the Cote de Beaune: Puligny-Montrachet / Meursault / Chassagne Montrachet.

Driving from Beaune, you are going to hit Meursault first then Puligny to finish with Chassagne, the southernmost communes of the 3.

With the fear of having many oxidized bottles, we started the tasting (all blind).

1st Flight


2008 Chartron et Trébuchet Puligny-Montrachet
Very lemony with a hint of oak and minerality. Austere. It lacks energy on the palate.
Simple. Not bad but at $50, ouch !

2001 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets
More powerful than the previous wine. Nutty and smoky with a hint of mango. Round, spicy and apple. While well made and with decent complexity, it lacks depth.
Disappointing. And I thought it was a Chassagne...

2001 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les
Premox. What should have been a gem was showing signs of premox....and was pretty much undrinkable.

2nd Flight

2000 Domaine Rémi Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Le Poruzot
Some exotic fruit on the nose (pineapple), pear and citrus. Nice grillé. Palate is a little soft and almost lactic.
Not bad but quite straight forward. This specific bottle will not last very long.


2006 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte
Grillé noble with a hint of minerality. Well balanced. This is quite Meursault like in character.
Round and orchard fruits. Powerful. The finish is not totally focused but this wine was my favorite of the tasting.
Nice.

1998 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières
Corked. 2nd flawed bottle of the night.




This rather small sample was interesting to taste even though there were, in my opinion, no really outstanding wines. The fact that the Ramonet and Boillot were flawed surely did not help.

Funny to see that the Fontaine-Gagnard wine was among the favorite of the night even though the Boudriotte terroir is more famous for the red Chassagne. Nevertheless this was a nice wine. I would love to do another round with more wines, especially Puligny which is my favorite of the 3.

Nice to see that all the wines were showing a sense of place and were definitely Burgundian.

Delicious times

The 2009 vintage in Beaujolais is hailed as the very best vintage in recent memories. It will be interesting to see if like in the Loire Valley, wines have maintained a decent acidity level to balance the high sugar content.

This 2009 Damien Coquelet Chiroubles is only my second 2009 Beaujolais (after a Clos de la Roilette) and this was a beautiful and delicious one. Damien's father in law in the great Georges Descombes. No chemical and indigenous yeasts are used by Damien.
The nose is pure and inviting. Nice minerality with bright fruit (cherry, cranberry and plum) with a hint of licorice. Earthy and floral, this is quite complex. Balanced, delicious with good acidity. There's also a slight green touch ( reminded me of green peas). Definitely Beaujolais, the bottle was gone really fast....














Also, after drinking his Patrimonio recently, the 2008 Antoine Arena Muscat du Cap Corse was another delicious wine. Very floral and with some lytchee on the nose, sweet but with enough acidity, this is another wine quite easy to drink. It was, in my opinion, a marvelous pairing with my wife Tres Leche (thanks Mary for the recipe!).



Two nice examples of winemakers working consciously and the result is showing in their wines.

Don't post if you're drunk

I guess his mom forgot to tell Uncle Bob that he should not post on the web when he's drunk...
Another precious, priceless one liner from his Majesty. This is what he posted after having diner at a Philly restaurant last week:

Parker quote

Wine expert Robert Parker showed up at Bibou, the well-regarded French BYOB in South Philly, last night.

Parker posted this:

•Marcassin Estate chardonnay 2000
•Leuwin Estate 2004 chardonnay
•Guigal 1990 white Hermitage
•Dagueneau 2006 Silex
•Beaux Freres 1994
•Haut Brion 1982
•Vina Tondonia 1976
•Catena Alta 1997 Malbec
•Rostaing 1991 Cote Rotie La Landonne
•Guigal 1991 La Landonne
•Guigal 1985 and 1988 La Mouline
•Guigal 1989 La Landonne
•and a few others
"I loved everything about this place...the quality of the food alone merits a must visit," he wrote. "Add the BYO and no corkage....and better yet...no precious sommelier trying to sell us some teeth enamel removing wine with acid levels close to toxic, made by some sheep farmer on the north side of his 4,000-foot foot elevation vineyard picked two months before ripeness, and made from a grape better fed to wild boar than the human species....we all know the type-saving the world from drinking good wine in the name of vinofreakism.

Ha ! Isn't beautiful? here's uncle Bob giving us lessons on what we should drink.
What do we learn here?
- if you love acidity in your wines, you suck
- if you dare drinking wines that Bobby do not like, you suck
- if you think differently than Bobby, well you still suck
- if you are a sommelier, well you're precious and yes you also suck (you have to love the description of sommelier when you see the kind of wines he drinks...anyway...)
- if you're not Bob, you suck. Period.

When you're a "public" figure, I believe there are things you must not say. We have here a perfect example of someone who feels threaten by all the changes in the wine world and who is losing his authority.
I just can't accept being insulted because I don't have the same tastes. How old is he? 5 ? Coming from someone who has been preaching for diversity in wine that's laughable.

A funny coincidence is that yesterday I was reading an interview of Pascal Delbeck, who knows a thing or two about wines, after being in charge of Ausone for more than 20 years. In this interview, Mr Delbeck makes a very pertinent note:" Mr Parker has a simple taste, very simple taste. So easy that all the oenologues who have money and common sense can make a wine to please him and exploit his taste".

Vive la difference.
I don't have anything to add.

Ladybug, ladybug...what ladybug?!

Ok, I guess you know what's coming....2004 Burgundy. Whenever there's something wrong in a 2004 Burgundy, it has to be the ladybug. It's vegetal? well it's because of the ladybug. It sucks? well it's again because of the ladybug..

There has been much discussions about the vegetal, green aspects a lot of 2004 Burgundies showed. I think this has influenced, maybe unconsciously, many people and whenever they were drinking, they were actually looking for a greenness in the wine. And if there was one, well it could not be because of a lack of ripeness or anything else. I have to admit that 99% of the 04 Burgs I had were all pretty good. Only average was a Voillot Volnay VV which decided to never open. So much for that ladybug.

Even talking to Clive about it, it seems like it was not really a big issue. Maybe it was US-centric as I also never really read anything about it in the French magazines.

Anyway, everybody is free to its own opinion of this topic and as long I can keep finding crazy deals of closed out Burgs, I could not care less.


So this week, I had a lovely 2004 Roumier Chambolle Musigny. This wine kept getting better over 4 days and showed a beautiful Chambolle character. Balanced, very floral with nice red fruits with a dash of darker fruit as well. Good acidity with the oak being more and more integrated every day. This will be really cool for the mid term drinking.

Maybe the ladybugs never found their way to Christophe's vineyards.... :-)

A few biodynamic wines

While we're enjoying some time off in Southern California, we spent 4 days in San Francisco. I love this city and during our stay I bought a few wines to drink while in Newport Beach. For the 1st time, we went to San Francisco Wine Trading Company. I would really recommend anyone to stop there. Friendly staff and great selection for Provence and Languedoc especially.


Anyway, somehow, the 1st 3 wines we drunk were all issued from biodynamic wineries and were all great wines.

The 1st wine was a wonderful 2001 Marcel Deiss Burlenberg Pinot noir. Grown on limestone soil, this pinot would trick any blind taster and will lead you to Burgundy. I'm usually not a fan of Alsatian pinot noir except for the René Muré Clos St Landelin and this Deiss. There's a great spiciness with an impressive volume on the palate. Bright sherry with some blood orange. Mineral and long, this is drinking really well.
Then, we moved to the 2007 Clos Marie, Coteaux du Languedoc Pic St Loup, Cuvée Manon. Located just north of Montpellier, Christophe Peyrus farms in vineyards biodynamically. Made with typical southern grapes with a majority of grenache blanc (40%) and roussanne (30%) completed with clairette, maccabeu and carignan blanc. Raised in barrels, this shows a perfect balance and the wood is now completely integrated. Lovely nose with lemon, pear and mandarin. Hint of anise mixed with floral notes. Slightly nutty as well. Touch of fresh butter. Fat on the palate but with a surprising acidity and freshness. Only 12.5%. The most surprising thing in this wine is the incredible freshness. I was impressed. Bravo !
To finish our biodynamic journey, a superb 2008 Bott-Geyl Riesling Les Elements was sacrificed. Started very steely and mineral on the nose. Very lemony with grapefruit and floral notes with a touch of petrol. Very enjoyable nose. Almost dry, soft with very good acidity. Green apple. It's a little simple on the palate right now. Really easy to drink. Very nice wine.

While biodynamic practices do not assure great wines, this was the case here. Careful and thoughtful winemaking leading to balanced and low alcohol wines.

Selosse and Huet: masters of their domain

To start my Bday dinner, my wife prepare some pasta dough and created some Lemon ravioli. This is a great dish and we needed 2 whites to go along. A friend brought the 1996 Huet Le Mont Sec and I opened a Selosse Initiale (disgorged nov 2007).


I was super excited to try an aged Huet as all the ones I had were only 2 to 4 years old. This turned out to be a great experience. The Huet showed a rich nose with honey, pumpkin, quince with hint of flint. Dry, borderline of having a touch of RS, the high acidity gives the wine plenty of energy in spite of its fatness. Lemony honey with the slightest hint of oxidation. What I loved was the Chenin character.

The Selosse, as always was a unique experience. This bottle was more oxidative than the last one I had. The nose was stunning and complex. The oak is so well used. You feel like drinking a white Burgundy (with a hint of Jura in this bottle !). There's a strong minerality associated with ripe fruits.

Both wines were perfect with the lemon raviolis. But even more interesting maybe was that the 2 wines showed similar characteristics: oxidative notes, richness, high acidity and minerality. I would not have thought about it before but the luck of drinking those 2 wines side by side opened my eyes.

I will always keep learning....

The king of Provence

The very 1st time I had a Trevallon it was a revelation: depth, elegance and complexity. All of this is too rare in Provence.

Trevallon is located in the heart of Provence in Saint-Etienne-du-Grès, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, 25 km south of Avignon and 7 km west of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (beautiful village), on the northern slopes of the Alpilles. The vineyard covers 17 hectares: 15 hectares of red grapes, made up of equal parts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Plus 2 hectares of white grapes, 45 % Marsanne, 45 % Roussanne and 10 % Chardonnay.

Trevallon is a pretty recent domaine and when Eloi Dürrbach wanted to plant vines he had to use dynamite to break the rock. During the '73 , Eloi was able to plant his first 3 hectares of vines. The 1st ever Trevallon was produced in 1976, a great year since this is my birth year :-)

Cabernet sauvignon and syrah are not very common in Provence even though Jules Guyot in his famous "Etude des vignobles de France" says that Cabernet Sauvignon used to be grown in Provence before the phylloxera crisis and that, blended with Syrah, it could produce excellent wines.
The whites grapes are grown on the north-facing slopes allowing to keep acidity and therefore freshness in the wines.

Because in 1993 the INAO required a maximum of 20% of cabernet in the Baux de Provence AOC, Trevallon was forced to the Vin de Pays AOC (Bouches-du-Rhône). Tough to swallow when you're making one of the best wine in the region...

Eloi point of view in the growing and winemaking is what I admire:
-the soil is nourished organically and ploughed
-No pesticides, insecticides, only sheep manure

Only native yeasts are used and acidity is never corrected. Wine is either punched down by foot or pumped-over.
Red wines are raised in barrels for 2 years and 1 year for the whites which are never racked. Lees are not stirred as Eloi believes it brings too much richness to the wine.

In 1996, Eloi asked his father, an artist, to design labels, different each year and reflecting the profile of the wine in this particular vintage.



The 1999 Trevallon Blanc was an outstanding wine. Golden color. This is drinking so well right now. Enticing nose with rich spicy honey mixed with apricot. Throw in the mix a floral touch, light almond and a wax sensation as well and you have a very complex nose. Based on the nose, you would almost expect the wine to be sweet but this is totally dry of course. Full body and fat, low acidity but amazingly this is never heavy or cloying. Instead, you simply can not stop drinking this wine. It coats your palate with again this honey but also a nice and refreshing citrus note plays with the apricot and almond. Really a great wine with a very strong white Hermitage profile. I'm impressed.

The 2006 Trevallon Blanc was very similar except for a lighter color. The nose is a treat with great complexity: lemongrass, honeysuckle, honey, licorice...Full body but really balanced, could not pinpoint one particular fruit on the palate. Wine coats your mouth with additional light butter notes on the finish. Even the wine is fat, there's enough acidity to keep you drinking it...
I want to revisit this wine in 7-9 years.


Very interesting to compare both vintages. The 99 is really similar to any good white Hermitage and the 2006 is more Provencal, at least for the moment. 7 years apart and without any question some similar characteristics.
Trevallon is one of the few wines that I buy every vintages as I have total faith in those bottles.
Long life to the king !

A night in Chambolle-Musigny

Haaaa Chambolle....Just the name gives me goose bumps. I imagine a lovely perfumy wine, light with finesse...a wine to drink with good friends and while chatting about everything and nothing.

On this beautiful evening in Chicago, finally able to have diner outside, we were all excited to taste blind a few Chambolle.
Squeezed between Morey-St-Denis and Vougeot, it has 2 Grand Crus: Bonnes Mares (shared with MSD) and the famous Le Musigny. The better 1er Cru is arguably Les Amoureuses.

Ok, let's start the Chambolle fest.

We went through 7 bottles and a good sign was that pretty much all of them were empty...

Part 1

2006 Digioa-Royer Chambolle: There's a bloody, iron touch on the nose completed with nice floral lift. Elegant red fruits both on the nose and palate. Tannic grip and well structured. It flows lightly on the palate while being nicely balanced. I thought this was 1er Cru quality. Very well done. This is drinking really well right now. I don't see it ageing 20 years but this will probably improve over the next 4-6 years. (13%)

2004 Domaine Drouhin, Oregon, Willamette Valley: A pirate in our tasting. Darker nose than the previous wine, quite a lot of licorice, almost like a zan candy. Blue fruits with a touch of grenadine. Palate shows again some blueberry and strawberry with still this licorice wrap. This is rather easy to drink and simple. This was not screaming Oregon but at the same time, it "made" sense once the bottle was revealed. But at $40, easy pass for me. (14.1%)

2004 Domaine Bertagna, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Plantes: a controversial wine. Half of the people thought this was corked. I did not think this was corked at all, even though there was definitely something a little off. Started like fish sauce, very shy and muted. Three hours later, it was a totally different wine showing some enjoyable red fruits, a hint of minerality but with an eggplant like aroma floating in the middle...This needs to be re tasted. (13.5%)

2004 Robert Groffier, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Hauts Doix: Man, what a stunning nose: floral (roses) and mineral, a touch stemmy, mix of red/dark fruit...wow...On the palate, the ripeness was a little too much and the wine tasted literally sweet. But 30mn later, the wine was balanced (still ripe) and the acidity came through and let a stream of dark fruits (dark cherry) shine. Some subtle licorice. Definitely 1er Cru quality here. Some of the group thought the oak was too much and while I'm usually overly sensitive and pissed by the oak, I thought it was smartly used and integrated. It's there for sure but this is a young wine. I think this Chambolle needs more years to be even more balanced but Groffier style is also part of the game here. We're in the modern camp of Chambolle but this will be a really good wine in the future. (13.5%)

Part 2

2006 Domaine Collotte Chambolle-Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes: Modest red fruits with a light touch of oak (coffee notes) on the nose. Not much going here. Tannic and heavy because of a lack of acidity. Hard to identify Chambolle. Ripe strawberry with hint of plums. Never heard of this producer based in Marsannay. (13%)

2001 Gislaine Barthod, Chambolle 1er Cru Les Fuées: Started with a little dusty, old basement nose. It then opened with interesting blood orange notes, red fruits and iodine. Hint of mushrooms brings earthy tones to the wine. You can sense power underneath this young wine. I found it to be a rather masculine Chambolle with somehow not so clean palate. Nevertheless this was really good. (13%)

2007 Domaine Ponsot Chambolle-Musigny Cuvée des Cigales: 43 years old vines. I have to admit this was not showing so well tonight as I found it very tight and close. Maybe a hint of bacon along elegant red fruits. Feminine, light on its feet, I'd like to re taste to better understand this wine. (12.5%)

This was overall a really nice interesting and good line up. I have not had many Chambolle before and I enjoyed the wines. You could see, with maybe one or two exceptions, that those wines definitely had a common profile: elegance, red fruits, floral. Of course, both the climats and the winemakers have an impact on the final wine but I'm happy to see a sense of place. Also interesting to see that the only non Burgundian wine is the only clocking over 14%.

Corsica: it's not fair

Yup, it's not fair.

Not only they have Laetitia Casta


a beautiful island

and awesome cheeses

but they also have some ass kicking wines with authentic winemakers who pay ultimate respect to their terroir and vines.

This was a beautiful Sunday in Chicago and along home made sausages, we drunk 4 Corsican wines I brought back from home.

The program was 2 Patrimonio, 1 from Calvi and one from Porto Vecchio.

While decanting the 2 Patrimonio, we started with the 2008 Clos Culombu. A blend of 50% Niellucio, 30% Sciacarello, Grenache and Syrah. The nose is great with nice pure fruit on the nose. Pepper and garrigue notes with red fruits and a touch of blackberry comes along. There is a great energy on the palate with a nice lift on the finish. Very good structure. Served slightly above cellar temperature, it is a superb wine for summer.

The second wine was on the opposite spectrum. The 2004 Domaine de Torraccia Oriu (Porto Vecchio) is a blend of 80% Niellucciu and 20% Sciaccarellu. Fermentation is done with indigenous yeast and follows with a soaking from 15 to 21 days between 26 and 30°C with a finishing on “marcs”. The blend is aged in concrete tanks for 18 months, then at least two years in bottles. Brickish rim, masculine wine. Darker profile. Gamy nose. Slightly stewed fruit but enough acidity. Needs food. Long meaty finish. Overall a very good rustic wine which needs some air. Taste a little older than its 6 years. This Oriu cuvee is the top one for Domaine de Torraccia. The grapes are grown on the granitic soil.

Manual weed control with hoes, no chemicals, and harvesting the grapes by hand. The only treatment they use for controlling mildew in their certified-organic vineyard is bouillie bordelaise. The wines do not see any kind of wood.

We then moved on to the 2 Patrimonio, maybe the best know appelation from Corsica using mainly Niellucciu (must be at least 90%), a cousin of Sangiovese.

The 2007 Antoine Arena Morta Maio was simply beautiful. Antoine Arena is the star of Corsica. Doing everything as natural as possible, using absolutely no chemicals or fertilizers, only indigenous yeast, his wines always show great purity and depth. Here also, no wood at all is used but instead concrete or stainless steel tanks. This is 100% Niellucciu, young vines (replanted in 2001).
For such young vines, this is fantastic. Very sangiovese like with a lot of pure red fruits, dusty cherry. The tannins needs to soften up a little bit but give the wine its strcuture. Earthy with very good acidity. Bravo !

The last wine was a 2007 Yves Leccia Patrimonio. Yves Leccia left the family winery in 2004 to create his Domaine d'E Croce. Vines are around 20 years old and here also everything is made with respect to the soil. Schiste, calcareous and clay are the main types of soil. Here 10% of grenache complements the niellucciu. At this point, it needs more time than the Morta Maio. Lot of fruits, you can feel the potential is here but it will blossom in 4-6 years. Dark cherry with a very velvety texture. Some herbs with a nice mix of red/dark fruits. Overall, less acidity and a little darker profile than the Morta Maio. Very good as well.

Overall this was a pretty awesome lineup with all wines showing well. It is so nice to see well know producers not falling for new wood. Those wines all showed an outstanding purity along with a sense of place. This is all that we are looking for....

Sauvignon blanc is fucked up.....

Wow...It is said that you often learn more from your mistakes than from your victories. Well in our case, we learn more from the bad than from the good. Very interesting and disappointing as the same time.

We went through a pretty large blind tasting of 15 Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. 5 flights of 3 wines, totally blind...and boy our taste buds suffered.

2006 Paul Achs Sauvignon Blanc - Austria, Neusiedlersee
Some golden hues. Light kiwi notes with some citrus and hint of flint. Smoky palate with citrus finish. Wine really lacks acidity. With time, strawberry notes appear.
My guess was Aussie...hum....

2009 Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc Te Muna Road Vineyard - New Zealand, Martinborough
Started witn a pungent nose of banana candy. Settled down the next day with more floral, apple and spicy notes.
If the nose changed, the palate stays heavy because of its fatness. The citrus and grapefruit notes can not even help.
Guessed NZ.

2008 Francis Blanchet Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes - Pouilly-Fumé
Started with some weird savory notes. It then evolved to show more flint. But overall it stayed quite shy.
On the 1st day, the wine was barely drinkable as the acid was out of control. I thought the wine was totally acidified. On the 2nd day, it lost the acidity and became almost too flabby and round with modest citrus notes as well. The acidity on the attack still seems fake.
My 1st guess on the 1st day was Chile.
I really don't know what to think of that wine: one day it was way too acid and the next it was flabby.....Huh?

2006 Alois Gross Sauvignon Blanc Sulz - Austria, Südsteiermark
Very aggressive nose. Cat pee, liter box. Grapefruit and over sweet. Totally disliked the wine.
Guessed NZ.
2009 Pascal & Nicolas Reverdy Sancerre Terre de Maimbray - Sancerre
Light red fruits with a hint of mint. There's some acidity on the attack but the finish has no zip.
Boring.

2008 Henri Bourgeois Quincy Haute Victoire - Quincy
Some grapefruit and citrus notes on the nose. A touch grassy with some orange skin on the palate. Med acidity.
It's a balanced and well made wine but rather simple. Price should be $12 and not $25...
The acid gives away the country of origin.

2008 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand, Marlborough
Cat pea and green peas nose. Low acid, very soft and round, a little more lemon on the palate. Ripe with a sensation of residual sugar and licorice.
This is way too flabby and ripe for my taste.
Guessed NZ.

2009 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc - South Africa, Western Cape
Quite smoky nose with asparagus.
Lemon and grapefruit with light mineral notes and med acidity. A pleasant wine.
The smokiness leads you to South Africa here. This is actually pretty decent and enjoyable.

2007 Jean-Claude Châtelain Pouilly-Fumé Domaine de Saint-Laurent-L'Abbaye

Hint of honey, marzipan and butter on the nose...not what I would expect.
Some nice lemon and light mineral notes on the palate but on the finish the wine is completely falling apart like it was 10 years older...Go figure. Not a good wine based on this bottle.
In spite of those flaws, this has a Pouilly profile.

2008 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc - Napa Valley
Started very sulphury. Exotic fruit with a touch of mint with some alcohol.
It's harsh and painful to drink. Disgusting. Terrible.

2009 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva - Chile, Casablanca Valley
A little dirty on the nose with some cooked onions notes along with wet grass and lemon.
Ripe with an annoying sweetness sensation. Good thing is that the palate is not exploding with over the top varietal notes, only showing discreet fruit and a touch of grass but, as many, this is a tiring wine.
Guessed Chile because of the funkiness.

2007 Thomas & Fils Sancerre La Crele

Shy nose showing some mineral and light smoky notes. Good acid, the palate is also restrained, matching the nose with refreshing light bitter notes on the finish. Interesting cassis leaf notes.
A good wine to match with proper seafood.
Initial guess was Pouilly Fume because of the low fruit.

2008 Hewitson Sauvignon Blanc Lulu - Australia, Adelaide Hills
Totally fake nose, herbal candy like with nail polish. Big with again some herbal notes and taste way too sweet.
Guessed Aussie.

2009 François Chidaine Touraine Val de Loire Sauvignon - Touraine
Very varietal, grassy and a little harsh. Too ripe, spicy apple with grapefruit.
Overall the wine is too aggressive and ripe.
Guessed Cali SB !

2009 Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc - Russian River Valley
Creamy nose, peach custard. Licorice on the nose.
Sweet exotic fruit on the palate. Big. Lots of melon with coconut on the sweet finish.
Exactly what I don't like...This is a cocktail wine.

Man, we did have a bunch of crappy wine.

Two major flaws (at least for our group) were:

-SB became a caricature. Many producers are trying to emphasize the varietal side of the grape without attempting to capture any subtlety or finesse.

-The wines are way too SWEET for God's sake. I know many consumers will love this sweetness in those wines but man this is freaking tiring. You drink half a glass and your palate is shot.

Also, Adelaide Hills is a pretty cool region but the Hewitson was really candied. Why?

The Merry Edwards is adored by many people on wine boards and I believe was proclaimed as the best SB in America by Wine Spectator...hum...yeah...and next year I'm playing with the Red Wings on their 1st line.

The Mulderbosch was a pretty good surprise and overall the French SB were often more balanced and showed more acidity.

I think this tasting made me realise how hard, how difficult it is to make a good sauvignon blanc. Of course, this is personal and many people love many of the wines we tasted. Good for them and for the winemakers. Everybody has a different palate and will love different wines. But in my opinion this grape has became a tool for mass market wines, vinified in a way to please the crowd.

Maybe more than for any other grapes, I buy and drink only from a handful of producers: Francois Cotat, Edmond Vatan, Gerard Boulay, Alphonse Mellot and Pascal Cotat. To a lesser extent Claude Riffault and Gitton are also doing a good job.

What are your go to producers for SB?

Domaine de la Bongran- Jean Thévenet: It does not get any better in Clessé

Domaine de la Bongran consists of 15 hectares spread throughout the foot of the Quintaine hills in the Mâconnais. The name of the area "Bongran" originally comes from "bongrain" (a wine with good origins comes from a good grain).
In Quintaine, the terroir is composed of Oxonian marl and middle and superior Bathonian limestone which at one time was the good fortune of stone cutters for centuries.
The grapes are harvested manually when they are very ripe and, if possible, at the point where they have been affected by noble rot.
The over ripe grapes arrive at the domaine where they are slowly pressed in a pneumatic press. After the must has settled, the juice is transferred to stainless steel tanks or oak barrels where fermentation is initiated slowly with indigenous yeast, finishing 6 to 24 months later.
The wines are bottled before being tasted after ageing for at least several months and sometimes up to 20 years.

Jean Thévenet and his son Gautier are simply making outstanding Viré-Clessé, respecting the tradition of sometimes having a touch of residual sugar. Amazing texture, perfect balance and a capability of ageing for 20 years, nobody, in my opinion, is doing better wine in the area.

This leads to the 1995 Domaine de la Bongran, Cuvée EJ Thevenet Tradition. At the time, the official AOC was just Clessé and became Viré-Clessé in 2002.
Cool golden color. The nose is so inviting and complex: spiced honey, ginger, mango and obvious mineral notes. There is a little bit of residual sugar but this is balanced thanks to the high acidity. More lemon on the palate with a very long nutty finish.
This Clessé after 15 years is so fresh, this is really impressive.

A wine you could drink all day long....

A few days of decadence

Finally escaping Chicago's heat for a few days, we headed to the Hamptons and NY to visit some friends.
Lot of fun and great company and on top of that great wines !

First gem was a magnificent 1999 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Rosé. I believe 1999 was the 1st ever vintage for the rosé. Coming from a chalk soil, this is the lightest rosé I have ever seen colorwise. It barely have any pinkish hue. Brine, see breeze, almond with subtle red fruits. It is very elegant and intense on the palate at the same time. A great Champagne, still a little young in my opinion.
Then a battle of syrah and shiraz followed. The 1999 Côte Rôtie La Mouline and 1999 Côte Rôtie La Turque battled agains a 1994 Penfolds Grange. Ok, ok, for purist it is a battle of Shirah/Viognier against Shiraz/Cabernet.
Well, at least for me, it was not even close....While I thought the Grange showed a nice balance and interesting complexity but a little too ripe. On the other hand, La Mouline opened faster than the Turque (more viognier in the Mouline) but after 2 hours, La Turque won me over with nice bacon fat notes and a finish which lasted almost 3mn. Very impressive and it was nice to see the oak was already digested even if La Turque showed some hint of new oak for the first 30mn.



Next day, the honors were reserved for Bordeaux. A nice, austere and structured 1982 Lynch Bages opened the dinner. I really enjoy their style, never over the top. I was skeptic about the 2000 Cos d'Estournel which followed. But from the very 1st sip, I loved the Asian spices and smoky notes. Pure fruit with very good acidity, especially for 2000, it's slowly entering its drinking window.

We finished with a great 1990 Domaine des Baumard, Quarts de Chaume. It was an explosion of honey, orchard fruit backed up by terrific acidity. Very good wine.



Thanks God the cold I caught was only after all this drinking...!

Great friends, great wines in a beautiful place....Perfect weekend !

A young Vosne ready to rock you

About 2 weeks ago we decided to open a 2004 Meo Camuzet Vosne, Les Chaumes for a dinner with friends.

Les Chaumes, a 1er Cru, is located at the foot of La Tâche and Les Malconsorts, in a slightly deeper clay soil. Vines were planted in the late 50s and 70s. With its classic eastward orientation and good supply of water, it is a fairly solar vineyard which cannot be considered as a late ripener.

According to Jean-Nicolas Meo, this climat shows well even young thanks to its finesse. There's no need to worry about finesse, and in this case, the vinification requires a little more extraction in order to push the wine to its limits. The cap will be broken up more often and the vatting temperatures will be a little higher.

I was super excited to try this Vosne as I'm a big fan of Meo's wines even though sometimes I wish they would lower the amount of wood.

The wine offers a stunning nose which is screaming Vosne. Tobacco, spice, red fruits, floral with the slightest touch of oak.
This was really drinking well, even though the last drops the next day (still don't know how we managed to save half a glass!) had shut down.
Very good ripeness, elegant and med+ acidity, it's pure silk on your palate and the finish is very impressive.
A beautiful Vosne which I think will improve over the next few years.

Interestingly enough, Jean-Nicolas adds that Les Chaumes gives you a pretty good idea of the vintage. I would agree completely here. Even though this 2004 vintage has been (ridiculously) criticized and hammered like hell in the US because of what idiots call 'mean greenies", all the 04 I had showed a nice balance and fruit. Is it the best vintage ever? Certainly not but again only idiots want the same wine year after year...

Finally a good 2007 Chateauneuf !

While I have obviously not tasted every 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape, the several ones I tried left me wondering. Wondering what the winemakers were trying to achieve, beside getting 12583 points from Uncle Bobby. Indeed, over the top, over alcoholic, over everything to my taste, I think I can count on one hand the ones I liked (try Charvin, Vieux Donjon, Vieux Telegraphe).

Monpertuis is not a domain I was very familiar with so I was intrigued and impatient to try this baby. Even more that Philippe Cambie, the Michel Rolland of Chateauneuf, have been consulting for them since 2000. Did he push them to make more modern wines? riper and smoothier?

Well, you have to applaud such a good effort from Paul Jeune and his son Simon. The 2007 Monpertuis Chateauneuf Classique was beautiful, singing in Provencal all the way.

Grapes are coming from various terroirs: from sandy soils to rocky to calcareous and clay soils.
Using around 70% Grenache and from Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault and other varieties.
For this cuvée all the grapes are destemmed before fermentation in cement tanks.
The wine is then aged for a period in large foudres (50 to 70 hl) and barriques (225l) which are usually from 2 to 5 years old.

Obviously young, it is already balanced. Very fresh nose, especially for a 2007, with raspberry, strawberry and garrigue. A little darker fruits on the palate, it stays balanced. Never jammy, med acidity, this is very promising.Structured, firm tannins on the very long finish. Fruit forward right now, this should age very well. Bravo !

Don't read that post...or be ready to cry..!

Last weekend a friend brought a 1983 Domaine de Courcel Pommard Rugiens.
It was my 1st 1983 Burgundy and it was really interesting. From what I read, 1983 was really hot and difficult year, totally dismissed by american critics (what's new?).
This Rugiens was showing exactly like the vintage itself. Rich, sweet red fruits. Still alive even if the acidity is towards the low end. Rustic, a touch of iron and earthy but thanks to the sweet fruits and smooth tannins, this is a wine you could actually drink on itself, even after 27 years (I usually find old wines to be much better with food)! Of course, food completes the wine.


But actually what striked me the most was a little label in the back of the bottle. This tiny little red label with the price of this Rugiens...




Yes, $19.95....not even $20!

By the way, current 2007 release goes for $86....Go figure....

Jean Mâcle Côtes du Jura 2006

After having the 2005 not so long ago, we decided to open the 2006 this time, again with aged gouda.
This 2006 showed a perfect balance, pure silk on the palate. Seemed a little less oxidative and maybe less acidity than the 2005 but still with a nice nuttiness with spices and a super long finish.
Man, this is GOOD !!

Champagne Blind tasting

With temperatures approaching 100F, we all gathered home to taste blind some Champagne. Great tasting, fun night. And thanks God we did not choose Napa Cabs on a day like this.
Note: Flower day during the tasting.

A few generic info on Champagne: located very close to Paris (150Km)and spread over 5 departments: Marne (67%), Aube (22%), Aisne, Haute-Marne and la Seine-et-Marne.

We officially differentiate 4 main zones: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des blancs, Côte des Bar.
17 villages are designated Grand Cru and 44 Premier Cru.

Before starting, we tried 2 wines, tasted double blind:

2007 Kanonkop Estate Pinotage (Stellenbosh, South Africa): Oaky and a touch of heat on the nose (as well as on the finish). Med tannins, soft. Ripe cherry, blackberry and plum. Spices.
Ok but too much oak and alcohol.
Initially thought an Aussie shiraz and then went for Argentinian malbec...
2006 Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches: Purplish. Ripe fraise des bois, blueberry and cherry. A little candy like and extracted.
Correctly guessed Chermette, Moulin 2006 as this is a wine I had last Feb.
Not my cup of tea as I found it a little too extracted and fruit fwd.

Back to Champagne now:
We went through 2 flights, all tasted blind.

1st Flight


Varnier-Fanniere Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée St. Denis (Avize)

Wow...Very complex with interesting savory notes mixed with minerals.
Powerful, lots of depth, brioche and fresh dough with a long finish.
I though this was 100% PN and this is 100% Chard!...Vines are 65 years old and come from a single vineyard in Avize called “le Clos du Grand Père”. A spectacular champagne for the price.
Disgorged 9/5/2007

L. Aubry Fils Champagne Brut 1er Cru (Petite Montagne de Reims)

Oxidative style, hint of butter and truffles on the nose. Very yeasty and lemon notes, the finish is a little heavy. Not bad but I'd like to see more acidity.
Disgorged Dec 2009.
Meunier 60%, Pinot noir 20%, Chardonnay 20%.

Billiot Fils Champagne Brut Réserve (Ambonnay)

Initially tight, it really blossomed with air.
Although this cuvee do not see any oak, you have the impression of a little bit of oak on the nose. Then some lemon and green apple, yeast. Round and vinous but very good acidity, light coffee and brioche notes.
Disgorged June 24th 2009.
Needs a 2-3 years to come around.

2nd Flight


2000 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée (Cote des Bar)

Tight but with a lot of substance underneath. Light oak, powerful and full body, this clearly needs time.
I had many different vintages of the Grande Sendree, but never that young, and this will only gain complexity and depth with more years.

2000 Marguet Père et Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut (Ambonnay)

Man, talk about an interesting nose: tabasco, cheese cracker, butter. Big.
Oxidative style, opulent palate. Majority of PN.
Not really my style as this is too big and no zip.

N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve (Le Mesnil Sur Oger)

Well unfortunately this bottle was probably off. A few people among us already had several times this champagne and none of us recognised it. No Mesnil character, very fruit forward, smoky, it lacks the depth and elegance that Pierre Peters always have.

Overall a very good champagne tasting with different styles among them. I'm really bummed about the Peters which is one of my favorite.
A very good surprise with the Varnier-Fanniere, a really complex NV champagne at a very good price.
Quite a few champagne with an oxidative style. I remember listening to Selosse saying that this is old school champagne, like they were doing 100 years ago. This is to have good acidity and fruit to absorb the oak.
Also, interesting to note that, as my wife said, that among those champagnes, none were showing floral and mineral notes (although we had wines from Avize and Le Mesnil).