In the interest of full disclouse, and in an effort to not loose the last 3 of you who are readers and not related to me, I suppose this is a cobbled together post, consisting of a short paragraph with impressions of wines drunk and tasted over the past week. Just so you know what you're in for. Arnot-Roberts Trousseau (08?) from Clear Lake (?!) looked, smelled and tasted pretty much like Trousseau. Not bad. Their Mt Veeder Ribolla was simple and fruity. Gravner grafted, great marketing...2004 and 2002 Montborgeau Savagnin L'Etoile both delicious over the course of the week, more flor qualities to 04, richer fruit in 02. 2009 Clos de Briords is supposed to be the best wine he made or some such but to me it's just another really tasty Briords, why hype this more than needed? 15ish bucks. Everyone knows it's good, buy it; we're not composing email pitches from a home office in Seattle or something here, people...07 Huet Le Haut Lieu Demi-Sec tasting simple, one-dimensional and not right on finish. Grey or RWC, is one worse than the other here? '02 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese really hit the spot, great lithe structure and refreshing acidity, just enough tangy/sweet fruit. '88 Dauvissat Camus Le Clos sounds fancier than it tastes. '88 Preuses had more life in it, more verve. Still, merely a pretty good drink at this point. '95 Noël Verset Cornas smoky, peppery, and tannic. Somewhere there was fruit but smoke, meat, earth and tannin seemed to dominate. Though it was my first Verset and I do appreciate this read from someone who has more experience with these wines than I. '06 Cornelissen Contadino 4 was a pleasant surprise: ripe, expressive red fruits with skins, scruffy herbs, and a real fine grained, non-oak induced tannin structure for such a warm climate, 15% abv specimen. Intriguing.
Shana Tova to all!
