Tucson Lunch Bunch Part Three

WINE TALK
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Yesterday it was my turn to host the Tucson Lunch Bunch. When it’s at my place it’s known as the “Trailer Park Tasting”. I had some issues leading up to this. First, Pima County recently condemned my 10’x60’ Fleetwood and made me remove it from the pad here in the park. I was able to get the torch out and cut off the school bus I’d welded to the Fleetwood and converted into a shrine dedicated to Dale Earnhardt before they towed it away, but it fell off the cinder blocks I had it jacked up with so I had no choice but to host this tasting in my Coleman Pop-up camper. I had the family leave for the day and tied up my two German Shepherds outside. It was crowded and Jon was mad since he had to sit on the sink. I’d planned on some Banquet Fried Chicken to accompany our lunch; however Wal-Mart was sold out. Sorry. neener

We began with three 2006 Champagnes, Henriot Millésimé, Gosset Grande Millésimé and Taittinger Comte. The Henriot was lovely with a peachy aroma and a crisp, well balanced feel from beginning to end. I thought the Gosset a bit yeasty for my palate. Certainly a nice glass of bubbles but following the Henriot it suffered IMO. The Comte is flat out wonderful. This was the fourth bottle I’ve opened and it still amazes me with its near perfection. So much more full bodied and complete than the others. A long life ahead and I’m a happy man to have twelve more on deck. Note to self: Stop drinking the Comte, save some because they will age wonderfully. Did I mention the Henriot is delish? Well it is.

I had to come up with something to replace the chicken so I decided to do Raclette. We fired up the little grill on the table and I served boiled potatoes with Speck, Finocchiona, Capacolo, Prosciutto, dry salami, mushrooms sautéed in butter with garlic, red and yellow bell peppers, pickled onion, cornichons, bagette and of course, cheese. Traditional Raclette, Pecorino Tartufo and Prairie Breeze Cheddar. A decent substitute for the Banquet Fried Chicken I guess? So on to the reds.

Six blind Pinot Noir based wines in two flights of three each. My theme was 2006, of course I did not fess up any info because I like to see these guys squirm. First wine was Freddy Mugnier Chambolle Village. A lot of guesses pointing at Oregon here. It was full of cherry cola and I can see the connection. Next up was a favorite of mine, Fourrier Combe aux Moines 1er. Red fruited and showing well this was my fave of the flight. Last up was another Freddy Mugnier, NSG Clos de la Marechale. Firm and structured as one would from NSG, showed its origin and I thought it quite satisfying.

Next flight began with another fave of mine the Jadot Clos Saint Jacques. I was disappointed with this 2006, a bit clunky not showing any of the fireworks I get from this bottling in other vintages (2002 and 2010 for example) The next wine made up for it though, Tortochot Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru. Damn I like this wine. It is old school and structured showing a purity of fruit and a firm lingering finish. Yum. The last red was the Mugneret Gibourg Ruchottes Chambertin. Great fruit, really open and friendly right now. Nice wine, but I’ll take three of the Tortochot CC for the price of one of these any day.
As for the rot problem in 2006? I did not get any sense of this. The Jadot CSJ underperformed and the other five were quite pleasant.

We finished up with some really fine locally made Biscotti and a bottle of Donnafugatta Ben Rye’ Passito di Pantelleria. This is a dessert wine made like Vin Santo from Muscat of Alexandria or Zibibbo as it is known in Sicily. I love this wine! Apricots, apricots and more apricots with a touch of petrol-esque turpentine (in a good way) finishing tart and fresh. Oh yes, another glass please!
Until next time, reporting from the trailer park, DP

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Interesting notes on the Champagnes. The Taittinger is awesome, but good to hear about the Henriot as I was thinking about picking up a couple of them. Sounds very good. As for the Jadot CSJ, I’ve had both the 99 and the 06 over the last year and was not impressed with either.

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Nice gathering at David’s on Tuesday of this week, where we were treated to a selection of high quality Champagnes and some thoughtful choices of Burgundies from the 2006 vintage.

I am not much of a connoisseur of Champagnes, and usually a little goes a long way for me. Nevertheless, David’s selections were uniformly pleasing in different ways, and in keeping with the theme of the Burgundies they were all vintage 2006. Since we were making a comparison my first choice was the Henriot, followed by the Gosset. The Taittinger Comptes still had some edges to round out, but is likely the long runner here. It began with a whiff of yeast in the aroma, but that quickly subsided as the wine opened up in the glass.

The first flight of Burgundies showed well. My favourite of the three wines was Fourrier’s Gevrey-Chambertin Combe aux Moines Vieilles Vignes. It featured a bright cherry nose; black an red cherry fruit on the palate, extending out to a long finish. I liked both the wines from Mugnier also, but both were still needing some time to integrate the oak. I preferred the Chambolle-Musigny over the Nuits Saint Georges. .

The next flight included a couple of Grand Cru’s - the Ruchottes-Chambertin from Domaine Georges Mugneret and the Charmes-Chambertin from Tortichot. Jadot’s Clos St. Jacques was the other entry. My top choice was the Ruchottes-Chambertin. While it had a reticent nose to begin with, it was an elegant and well balanced wine. Initially I felt there were some rough edges in the finish but these dissipated on subsequent sips. A close second for me was the Charmes-Chambertin, which only lacked in the finish. The Clos Des Jacques was attractive enough but did not have the muscle to compete with the other two wines.

The freshness and fruit in the dessert wine was really attractive and was an exceptional partner with the biscotti.

Many thanks to David for a fine lunch and for bringing out these wines from his cellar.

Hank [cheers.gif]

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Great notes Dave - thanks for posting!!! Love the Fourrier for sure + the Taitt :slight_smile:.

I got some severe damage to my car from a deer last night - I’ll bring the carcass over to the trailer park so we can get sum veneeeeeson for all the rednecks :p. I get the trophy for the wall though :slight_smile:!

Food was great Dave - thx for hosting also.

Forgot: P.S. — Taittinger maggies are nice Dave :slight_smile:

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The wines sound really nice, sorry they were ruined by the last minute food substitution. But maybe you can try again once the Comte de Champagne is mature.

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we usually drink bright minerally whites with Raclette and kirschwasser.
Nice tasting.

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Nice lunch fellas.

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Don’t be so defensive, the Coleman pop-up had lots of room, and we didn’t need a spit bucket as the floor sufficed.
For my tastes, it was easy ranking the 06 champagnes: Taittinger CdC, Henriot, Gosset. The 06 Tait is great, and we need to taste it with the 02 and 04. Henriot was good. For me the Gosset was unappealing.
The Fourrier Combe aux Moines was the star of the burgs. Immediately appealed to me on both the nose and palate. Note to self - get more Fourrier into my life. Mugnier’s Marechale is always a good not great wine, and this bottle presented as expected. The Jadot Clos St. Jacques was a disappointment to all of us, particularly after it was revealed. And the bottle of Donnafugatta Ben Rye’ Passito di Pantelleria was really good. Definitely worth checking out if anyone hasn’t tried it. What vintage did we have again?

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The vintage on the Ben Rye’ was 2013, Brad.

Hank

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David- thanks for showing us some great wines. I’ll just say +1 to Hanks comments. And it was educational to have Burgs with raclette, broadened my choices beyond Sancerre and Mosel.
Well Done!

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David- thanks for showing us some great wines. I’ll just say +1 to Hanks comments. And it was educational to have Burgs with raclette, broadened my choices beyond Sancerre and Mosel.
Well Done!
champagne.gif ( the Henriot)