What I'm Drinking now, Vol. 8, no. 87

Looks like a re-fill is in order

2008 Domaine Bart Marsannay Rosé

Delicious pinot noir rosé from a terrific producer, and one of my favorite areas of Burgundy, way up north in the Cotes de Nuits: Marsannay. Gouleyant (I recently learned that's French for 'gulpable'), fresh, precise, and surprisingly, not bad with spicy nacho Doritos.

I am quite ready for some Mandelay Burmese take-out....

'88's and no heartbreaks; far from slumming it in Oakland

This past Sunday in the burgeoning Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, a few of us kicked it Oakland style: basking in the east bay sun, drinkin' outdoors and, of course, barbecuing. Thanks to chemist/ Burgundy lover Arjun Mendiratta, data cluster protector/ bon vivant Slaton Lipscomb and software dude/winemaker Eric Lundblad for hanging out and sharing some terrific bottles of wine.

In order of consumption we drank:

1988 Veuve Cliquot RD

Delicious. Nutty , succulent, and really deep, bright, palate filling flavors with gutsy, real deal acidity. Loved it.

1988 Michel Esmonin Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques
Woodsy, deep sous bois nose lead to a very savory, dark cherry and hoisin inflected palate, with some meaty and decaying notes. Though I enjoyed this for its maturity, I must admit that initially I preferred the Chevillon NSG below, only to reconsider my position after taking the last sip of this very good wine.

1988 Robert Chevillon Nuit St George Les Perrieres
Good wine. Very fresh, primary, red cherry aromas. Deep, intense, fresh and vibrant red fruit flavors with a hint of orange peel. Is this 20+ year old burgundy I'm tasting?? Very impressive for its vivacity and youthfulness. Q-tip might refer to it as a viverant, vivrant.

In addition to the '88s we drank a very decent bottle of '00 Fevre Chablis Bougros that was in a good, chalky mineral yet open-knit spot. There was an 01 Eric Texier Cote Rotie (didn't even know he dabbled in Cote Rotie) which was pretty, relatively lighter weight and actually reminded me of a richer Pineau d'Aunis a la Domaine de la Belleviere. '99 Drouhin Beaune Clos de Mouches was toasty, fat, a bit sweet and not really enjoyable without food - don't know if even the right food would have redeemed it's ripe, oaky qualities. '96 Fleury was fine, softer, not as wound up and less intellectual than my last few experiences with the wine.

Good drinking and hangout session, gentlemen. Special thanks to Arjun for hosting, providing the red burg and cooking delicious salmon.

Re-visting an '05 Bourgogne Rouge

2005 Confuron Coteconfused?

So last night I re-visited a humble bourgone rouge from the much praised '05 vintage. It was a 2005 Confuron Cotetidot (a tiny domaine based in Vosne-Romanee), and all I can remember is being somewhat impressed when I first tasted the wine a year and a half or so ago. I bought a few bottles. Though for me to buy anything from Burgundy that's not older is a bit of a rare occasion (much prefer most anything else to young Burgundy). So I looked forward to seeing how these wines would age. Upon cracking the bottle open, the wine was all over the place. Initially very clumsy smelling and tasting. Ripe, four square, coarse. While it opened over the next 20 minutes in the glass, showing a bit more tonal variety, some subtle mineral and floral notes lurking underneath the murky plummy fruit, the wine would unfortunately not improve further. It was slowly degrading further when re-visited tonight, not opening up.

Perhaps of most concern, however, was the lack of acidity from this bottle's start to finish. For those of you who drink more red burgundy than I do, does this lack of acid in the '05's concern you? Balanced (leaning towards higher) acidity isn't always needed to see a wine through mid to long term ageing, but 99% of the time it doesn't hurt. Does acidity go through a latent period during the course of a wine's evolution in bottle? I seem to remember this being a much livelier, higher acid wine. I should mention that the bottle was in no way compromised, corked or cooked.

I look forward to making one of my few young red burg purchases for the year shortly - gonna get some '06 Dom Gabriel Billard Bourgogne Rouge. And I look forward to repeating this experiment 12-18 months down the line with what well might be wine from a vintage that is more my cup of tea (or glass of Burgundy, as it were).

Older wines drunk in the past week, with an emphasis on '79

Alright, enough with the birthday and New Year stuff, it's time to catch up on some good old-fashioned tasting notes. Some wines I drank over the past week:

2000 Tarlant La Vigne d'Antan Chardonnay non-graffe

As you might surmise from the title, this comes from a single vineyard of ungrafted chardonnay. There is the trademark Tarlant austere chalkiness, with the extra intensity and focus of a blanc des blancs. I have a sneaking suspicion that this bottle was slightly corked. Not enough for me to detect on the nose, but the wine was not nearly as expressive as I had anticipated. The finish also seemed a bit clipped. Something of a let-down, but I am all the more curious to try another bottle. Does blanc de blancs from ungrafted chardonnay really show an entirely different set of flavors then just a good quality, grower blanc de blancs?

1988 Domaine Mussy Beaune 'Montremenots' 1er Cru

Due to the provenance of this bottle, which from what I had heard was particularly pristine, as well as the fact that the back label said the wine was selected by American Burgundy legend Becky Wasserman, I figured that this would be a well calculated Burgundy risk. Well, unfortunately, the wine only struck one note, a flat middle C on an untuned, neglected upright piano. The development was very poor: minimal bouquet, no interesting secondary/tertiary flavors, just some slightly warm red fruit. Not maderized, but possibly heat damaged? Who knows, I have no experience with the producer, nor wines from the Cotes de Beaune in the '88 vintage. I find it fitting that this and the Tarlant were drunk on New Year's Eve, a holiday known to disappoint those who do not set their expectations a bit lower.

1979 Mount Eden Vineyards Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains

Could it be...another disappointment? '79 was a warm vintage in California, and you really note it here. The acidity is lower than usual for SCM pinot noir. Very woody nose and palate. Redwood (redwood barrels were commonplace in California winemaking until they eventually fell out of favor) type woody. The foresty dark fruit was hanging on for dear life, really drying out. Though the wine did improve slightly in the glass, it was not enough to entice me to try a second bottle should I come across one. Drunk with a similarly lackluster meal at one of my neighborhood's more popular eateries, The Liberty Cafe.

1979 Charles Krug Hearty Burgundy Napa Valley

Peter Mondavi's (the feuding brother you hear about when you tour the Robert Mondavi Winery) Charles Krug label actually made some decent wine in the '70s. And I had a sneaking suspicion that this would be holding up fairly well. After all, the wine is hearty! I have no idea of the varietal breakdown here, but I would guess cab, zin, gamay, merlot, and others. My hopes were confirmed, this wine tasted terrific. We enjoyed it last night with some split pea soup, salad, bread and garrotxa cheese. It tastes incredibly fresh, with very pure, darker berry and black cherry fruits. Excellent balance of fruit and acidity, with tannins that are completely resolved. It reminded me of a simpler, slightly plumper good quality cru beaujolais. Not bad for $5 in the closeout bin.

1979 Niepoort Colheita

I'm not a big port person. It's got to be really special to grab my attention, and unfortunately this was not a really special bottle. I do like a good colheita, especially a white colheita (rare, but you might occasionally see one from Krohn). Colheita ports, or port from lesser vintages which are aged in barrel as opposed to bottle (as are vintage ports), can be a rare treat, combining the bright fruit of vintage ports and the oxidative, dried fruit and nut notes of tawny ports. This Niepoort showed more of the former, but in a fairly simple, straightforward manner. Another advantage of colheitas, though, is that they can be opened and enjoyed over a period of several months, so I have plenty of time to see if this wine eventually wins me over.

My man Jo Landron is in effect mode. Domaine Bart too!

Obligatory ATCQ reference there, sorry I couldn't resist. Anyway, it is a very happy week when a new container of French wines, including such reliable, consistently good values as the Muscadets of Jo Landron and the Marsannays of Martin Bart, arrives at our warehouse. I haven't had the '06 Bart wines yet as I would like to wait several weeks for them to settle in and recover from their journey. However, I did recently drink a large portion of a bottle of Jo Landron's '07 Amphibolite, which is simply delicious. It is his one wine that is not aged sur lies for an extended period, and as such is not quite as mineral, compact, and intensely flavored as wines such as his Fief du Breils, Marc Ollivier's Clos de Briords, Guy Bossard's 'orthogneiss', and other more serious bottlings of Muscadet. It is, however, soft, pure, and incredibly tasty. Loads of gentle peach and melon rind flavor, with good length and an enormously high thirst quenching factor. Not one to forget about for a while, though. My last few bottles of '06, while enjoyable, are noticeably darker in color and, while gaining in weight, losing the pure, delicate fruit flavors that make this wine so attractive.

In these trying, uncertain financial times, I plan on drinking lots of Muscadet, even more than usual. It's good for you, invigorating and refreshing stuff. Having all but sworn off my credit cards after clearing my debt earlier in the year, I will pay for all of this Muscadet with cash or a debit card.

23 YEAR-OLD ROSSIGNOL HAUTE-COTE-DE-NUITS? YEAH I’LL TAKE ONE OF THOSE.

It is something of an insider’s (read: wine industry) secret that a certain long standing San Francisco restaurant, owned by a prominent out-of-town restaurateur with a list formulated by one of North America's 96 master sommeliers, has a burgundy list to die for, with stocks on wines that are virtually impossible to find elsewhere, at prices which reflect what they might have cost over a decade ago. So I ventured to this restaurant with my girlfriend after checking out the SFMOMA Frida Kahlo exhibit as well as some truly bizarre contemporary Chinese art. It was a perfect evening of geeking out: the lady on contemporary art and myself on Burgundy.

Since the idea was to get a bottle of something really unique, which would probably not be inexpensive, we decided to sit at the bar, forego ordering food, and make some dinner late night at home. The choice was difficult. ’95 de Montille Volnay ‘Champans,’ some older Raveneau, various 1er crus from all over. And I could go on – the point is that I have never seen as many varied vintages of burgundy on one list at such reasonable prices. Cost of entry will start at around $90, and goes as high as you want to take it. I went with a botte of '85 Philipe Rossignol Haut Cotes de Nuits and it was a gamble that worked itself out. Counting on the reputation of the producer (whom I mistakenly confused with Nicolas Rossignol, a great producer of Savigny-les-Beaunes), combined with the strength of the 1985 vintage in Burgundy, I figured that my chances were at least 50-50 that the wine would still have life and provide an interesting drinking experience. A beautiful, soft, medium ruby color, I held the glass up to my nose, breathed in the perfume, and knew that all would be well. Very delicate, cherry, floral, dark truffle and cocoa powder notes abounded on the nose. Flavors on the palate were at first mainly of sour cherry with a ton of mineral. While the flavor deepened to include umeboshi paste (made from super tart, salted Japanese plums), I couldn't help but notice the intense minerality and saltiness of this wine. Furthermore, the tannins were fine, but increasingly firm. It appeared as though the fruit were drying out, leaving acidity, tannins and saltiness in their wake. While the wine is clearly on its downward descent, it was amazing just to be able to taste a humble village burgundy with so much bottle age.

Drinking mature wines could become an expensive habit, I'll need to closely monitor my consumption.

Thanks to Luc for the tip about this mystery restaurant's bar and ridiculous burgundy list.

The Group gets fancy; A flight of Gruve and '96 Echezeaux horizontal

Jerry outdid himself, or at least any other previous tasting group event I have attended. There was a selection of cheeses, duck that Jerry himself hunted (smoked and then a delicious duck leg confit with polenta and mushrooms), a flight of mostly 2006 gruner veltliner (by nearly all accounts a terrific vintage in Austria), and the piece de resistance, a line-up of 1996 Echezeaux. I'd say it's safe to assume that the majority of our group, myself included, has had precious little tasting experience of grand cru burgundy, let alone aged grand cru burgundy from a great, if controversial, vintage. So it was both a treat and a great tasting lesson. For anyone out there who is not already in a tasting group, but wants to learn about wine, get yourself in one. There is no better or more enjoyable way to learn about wine than to pool together financial and knowledge resources with a group of friends and colleagues.

Flight the first was humbling. The wines were all very generous and full of fruit, with a good dose of minerality in one of the wines, probably two in fact. The others seemed so fruity and simple, that I was thinking that the flight was a riesling around the world type flight. My favorite wine was a trocken riesling from the Rheingau, and the others were surely rieslings from elsewhere. Well, I was wrong. All old world wines, all gruner veltliner. Here are the wines, ranked in reverse order of group preference:

2006 Jager Gruner Veltliner Federspiel, Wachau
This was full of apples and a talcum type of minerality. I have 'good california riesling' in my notes; maybe I was thinking Montelena or Stony Hill or something.

2006 Stadt Krems Gruner Veltliner, Kremstal

Yellow stone fruits. My least favorite wine; it came across as one-dimensional.

2006 Nigl Gruner Veltliner Senftinberger Piri

Here was a wine with more minerality, higher toned acidity, an much precision. "Focused and laser-like" were some other descriptors mentioned (before the wine was revealed). These are words that are often used to describe Martin Nigl's wines.

2005 Salomon Undhoff Gruner Veltliner
There was a very creamy, leesy aspect to this wine, coupled with very high acidity and what I perceived at the time to be a slate type of minerality. What impressed me about this wine was how different it showed from the others. Surely it must have had at least 3-4 more years of bottle age. Interestingly, I have noticed once before that Salomon's gruner veltliners are good short to mid-term agers. They do seem to age fairly quickly though - maybe both instances have been cases of poor storage in the wine shop?

If the white wine flight was humbling, than the red flight was both humbling and baffling. Chalk it up to our collective inexperience with Echezeaux, or Vosne-Romanee from 1996. Only one person guessed that we were tasting Burgundy, here. Such was the intriguing combination of ripe, juicy, supple fruit, high acidity and more than partial integration of tannins. I found two of the wines to be soft and succulent, one wine to be a bid more advanced and less delicious than the others, and another to be simple, superficial and short. Once again, the wines from last to first:

1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux Echezeaux

I thought that this was supposed to be a solid producer. This wine had some mixed red/dark fruits on the nose, with a bit of horseradish and cooked black cherry. There was not the liveliness on the palate experienced in my two favorites of the night. Either the wine is in a dumb phase or it was poorly stored.

1996 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux

Third with the group, but a clear second for me. Cherry liqueur, red fruits and a bit of orange peel on the nose led to a palate full of cherry, brighter than what the nose would suggest. Still very primary in its development.

1996 Domaine de Perdrix Echezeaux

Second with the group, an easy 4th placer for me. This wine was just too slick. Dark and concentrated nose, with some oak spice. But not much else. Soft, juicy and simple blackberry fruits on the palate. Tannins are fully resolved. Short finish. Here is a great example of how a grand cru burgundy, even from a good vintage, ain't a guarantee of quality. Far from it.

1996 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux

This was the clear favorite, and for good reason. While it's still very primary, the fruit is of such an intense, elegant, and long lasting quality. Delicious wine that absolutely provides the tough to describe grand cru burgundy tasting experience. True to reputation, this was by far superior to MM's very solid Echezeaux.

Wine tasting is a funny thing. While experience and context are very important, the wine, as Terry Theise (importer of our two top finishing gruner veltliners) likes to say, 'will have the last word.' Profound, I know.