2007 Kistler Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Occidental Station Vineyard Cuvée Catherine. Lushly opaque purple core, heavyset brick rims. Caramel laden nose, highly floral, plum puree and prune, blueberry syrup, cinnamon powder, extremely perfumed in a musky way with staying power. Full-bodied, not a great deal of acidity. Sweet blueberry, raspberry syrup, violets and maple candy. Mildly clumpy tannin shortens the finish. Round yet not as fleshy as it probably was in its youth. Total fruit bomb, pretty in its own way, can’t discern any sense of place but really was that the point.
1999 Easton Zinfandel Shenandoah Valley. Worn purple core, wide burnt sunset red rims, outermost hint of orange. Fills the nostrils completely with spice cake, prune, golden raisin, plum and menthol, quintessential aged Zinfandel. Medium-bodied, feels like it has lost weight. Good inner mouth perfume of menthol, cedar, cola bean, pine sap and spiced orange. Tingly texture, residual tannin slows down the finish. The plum/prune, blackberry to cherry fruit faded some, a kind of autumnal character. Right where it should be.
2018 Domaine Quentin Harel Beaujolais-Villages Les Grandes Terres. First wine tried from this producer. Shiny ruby-violet hue, dances in the glass. Needs a good bit of air time after opening to shed the rotten eggs, apparent excess of hydrogen sulfide. But beneath that is a pleasing enough array of snappy red berry fruit, pulverized stone dust and matted straw, offers a good deal of tension. Light-bodied, the tannin gives it a critical beatdown and the acidity happy to pile on. As a result, there’s not much time to soak in that energetic red berry fruit. Even stonier here with a stronger grassy nip as well. You can make an argument it’s intentionally “transparent” in style but by the same token easy to wish there was more give and flesh on the bones. (Synthetic Cork: Nomacorc Select Green 100)
2014 Olivier Horiot Pinot Noir Coteaux Champenois En Barmont. Bright, shiny cranberry red, vivacious. Stony and lean nose of poor earth, dried meadow grass, dried lemon pith and red fruits. Medium-bodied, acidic and tannic both, plays in the area of raspberry to strawberry fruit. More lemon, stone, grasses, about identical to the nose. Keeps pulsating long after the flavors are gone. Gets your attention, not sure if for all the right reasons.
2001 Château Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre Margaux. Dark crimson red hue. Huge amount of bell pepper to the nose, leathery, earthy with sappy black fruits, smells older but in no way tired. In the mouth it’s very sour, if not volatile, layers of plum, currant fruit which verge on dried fruit character. Dry and tannic, tree bark, twigs, tar and asphalt prevalent. Acidity holds the finish together and despite the tannin allows it soak deeply into the palate. Not all that pleasurable, maybe in an awkward place developmentally. 30% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot.
1997 Rayas Côtes-du-Rhône La Pialade. Washed out rose petal red to orange, fine clarity. Herbal nose, bell pepper, dried out back road dirt, roasted cherry, raspberry fruit, starting to fade. The palate is on the lighter side, pulverized tannin which impairs flow, no acidity. Leathery like lizard skin. Rounder cherry, raspberry fruit but short. More intellectual curiosity than anything else. Unspecified percentages of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, etc.
2009 Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Morgon. Cranberry red to violet in hue, bright and shiny. There’s a little bit of funk to the nose, with air it smoothes and fleshes out, slowing down so you can enjoy the black fruits and w waft of floral dew at the end. Medium-bodied on the way to light, remains pretty tannic yet. Sweetens appreciably through the mid-palate with attractive blueberry, raspberry fruit. Blends in accents of leather and muddy earth. Not clunky but not a lot of movement or pacing either.
2014 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cuvée Pif. Glowing ruby-violet color, fine clarity. Sparkly nose that almost makes you sneeze, bell pepper, black peppercorns, earthy like back road dirt, any black fruit scents an embellishment at best. In the mouth it’s fluid and nicely fleshy. More direct sour cherry, currant fruit with a nod towards berry. Peppery than grassy in a good way, leather, tar. It’s all treble and no bass. Keeps your eyes open for sure. Roughly two-thirds Cabernet Franc, one-third Côt.
1998 Tempier Bandol Rouge [Cuvée Classique]. Bright plum red to purple color, clean, full to the rims, not showing a lot of age. A little wooly funk to the nose, sweet cherry liqueur scents, incense, camphor, requires time to fill out, smooth and steady nostril presence. Medium-bodied, good supporting tannin. Ripe cassis, cherry fruit with an energizing sourness. Leather, pressed flowers, more of that medicinal camphor type stuff. Not opened too soon, just think it’s going to stay at this stage forever. 75% Mourvèdre, remainder unspecified percentages of Grenache, Cinsault, about 3% Carignan.
2004 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Côt. Bright ruby-violet, spotless, well saturated hue. The nose reveals a healthy portion of leather/animal hide and muddy earth as well as high-toned and angular red berry, cherry scents, slowly fills the nostrils and stays that way. Light-bodied, plus level acidity, earthy but clean and not funky, maybe some mushroom. Sinewy, sour raspberry, red cherry fruit, closer to strawberry than blackberry. Echoes of citrus at best. Chewy finish, honest vin de garde wine, in a good place.
2009 Domaine Julien Labet Pinot Noir Côtes du Jura Les Varrons. Shiny cranberry red color, consistent core to rims. Fruity nose of raspberry, strawberry, green apple, wooly, offers a damp sort of freshness if that makes sense. Medium-bodied, velvety, clings well to the tongue. Clove, cinnamon lifted up by lemon peel notes. The sour raspberry, blueberry fruit has a surfeit of zing. Does an excellent job of building presence through the finish. Drinks quite youthfully.
2000 Domaine Raymond Usseglio Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Imperiale [magnum]. Took it to a dinner party. Was drinking very well, plenty of dark fruits left and just developed enough to intrigue and not weird out anyone. Can’t imagine more upside but it was darn tasty. Unspecified percentages of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre.
2002 Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords. Haven’t had much luck of late with older Pépière wines so popped this at home rather than among the geek crowd. The color is fine, perhaps flat, does not look very advanced. The nose is all caramel and toffee, cookie dough, some residual smokiness, chalkiness at best, hard to find any fruit and it feels flabby. In the mouth the acidity helps it find some footing, a decent enough citrus blast followed by licorice and violets. Then the doughiness basically cloaks it all. Curiously this recedes with air but it’s still not what it should have been.
1994 Zind Humbrecht Gewürztraminer Hengst Vendange Tardive. Dark amber hue, above average shine for the grape. Good lift to the nose, tangerine pulp, brown sugar, mint, persimmon to white pit fruit scents, arguably short presence. Medium-bodied with a flat mouth feel, not that sugary nor sweet. Typical litchee notes, dried apricot, peach fruit. More minerally than smoky. Foursquare, lowers its shoulders to hit you. A bottle two years ago drank better but neither offered the unique flavors and aromas of a fully matured Gewürztraminer.
2005 Domaine de la Borne Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie. Only mildly darkened gold color, high degree of shine and completely fills the glass. The nose has gotten doughier with time but it has also slimmed down, quite minty with anisette and a saline undercurrent, the apricot, apple fruit has fallen off some. Similar theme to the palate, good breadth, acidity holds it together well. More orange citrus and the yeasty notes take a step back. Floral, more of that anise, in no way underfruited with more stately apricot, peach, apple fruit. Might want to argue that the apex was a few years back but this has held up admirably well and continues to give pleasure.
2002 Domaine de La Grange (Pierre Luneau-Papin) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Les Pierres Blanches Vieilles Vignes. Bright, almost day-glo gold, clean and visually engaging. Stony nose verging on smoky, merest whisper of yeastiness, floral water, strong pineapple, apricot fruit presence if lacking edge, offers an attractively open and steady lift, the sensations compensate for any lack of aroma. Medium-bodied, its compactness helps both pacing and length. Pie crust at first then smoky sauna stones, lemon curd, mineral water and lilacs. The vintage’s buoyant acidity shines through. Orange to lemon peel strength out, thankfully it returns to a foundation of wet stone and that mixed, borderline maybe semi-tropical fruit. As versatile and approachable as it was in its youth with the desired nuance of age. Thank goodness it wasn’t oxidized.
2007 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Les Preuses. Washed out straw gold hue, neither flat nor shiny, typique. At first the nose is bubblegum and uncooked pie dough before rose petal dew, lemon curd, has a gregarious demeanor, finally moves into sparkly mineral dust and pear, apricot, peach fruit of plus level vivacity. Smooth and integrated and of medium body. Extremely floral with a lemony bite here too. Some nectarine and comes off as semi-tropical above and beyond the more basic pear, apricot flavors. The acidity more of a puncher than boxer. This bottle showed much better than one opened roughly a year ago. Hard to imagine improvement past today.
1999 François Cotat Sancerre Les Monts Damnés. Brilliant surface, still some green flecks in the hay gold base, dulls below. Orange and grapefruit inflected nose, lilac mist, damp bales of hay, succinct apple, pear, apricot fruit scents, mannered. Medium-bodied and has formed up to the basics of what needs to be said. Rose petals, lilacs, mint then persimmon, peach yellow apple fruit. Something akin to orange sherbet. No minerality to speak of, just dappled in chalk and stone dust. Develops an element of sauna smoke through the finish. Here too you could say it’s overly polite.
1997 Willi Schaefer Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese AP #12. Deeply ambered, shiny still. The nose on the whole is emptied out with not much there, rubber, orange rind, residual pineapple, nectarine fruit. More to it in the mouth, full-bodied, very citrusy and bitingly sour. The acidity borderline too strong for the material left. Zesty, perky pineapple, papaya, nectarine fruit. Probably a shadow of its youthful self and not anything to stop you on a dime but satisfactory and not overly sweet.
1997 Selbach-Oster Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese* AP #2. Predictably aged golden color. Yeasty nose of orange rind, vanilla bean, pineapple and peach cobbler, not much spark to it, settled into itself completely. The palate is all vanilla and yeast, very heavy, sluggish and cloying with low perceptible acidity. Pink grapefruit citrus perks it up a little at the end. Still, it’s basically a canned fruit cocktail of apricot, peach and pear fruit. Not much to say in its favor.
2017 Le Piane Piedmont Maggiorina. Crimson to rust red with a soft darkening to purple at the core, pretty. Meadowy sort of nose, good openness, tarry edges around the cherry liqueur core, not particularly lengthy presence. Nice steady spread across the palate, grippy tannin increases friction. Much fruitier than nose suggests, candied cherries and raspberries. Subtler white grapefruit, tea leaf, and sandalwood notes. Clean and devoid of both funk as well as earthiness. Fresh finish without seeming short. Fairly priced, could see it in the everyday drinker rotation. Majority Nebbiolo, remainder Croatina, Vespolina, Uva Rara, other. (Synthetic Cork: Nomacorc Select Green 500)
2014 I Vigneri di Salvo Foti Etna Rosso Vinupetra. Dark ruby to purple, highly saturated. Mixes in rubber, car tire notes in the nose, otherwise basically candied raspberry and blueberry fruit and menthol, admirable fullness like a cotton ball stuffed up your nose. Medium-bodied, spicy with cedar, incense nuance, ginger root, cola bean. The tannin is steady but releases to grant space to the spiced cherry, raspberry fruit. As of yet not showing a clear window into the future, which maybe suggests a 4-6 year out drinking horizon.
2015 Ravines Finger Lakes Maximilien. Trim, gently dilute crimson to purple color, nice surface shine. Smoky wood notes and cedar to the nose, minor leafy snap, leather, mixed black fruits, evokes stream stones and damp minerals. Medium-bodied, the lack of heft yields more spotlight to the oak than desired, in my experience typical of these type of wines from the Finger Lakes. Still, the cherry, currant fruit is ripe and there’s zero greenness to it. Tannin firm enough and nothing sloppy nor unkempt about it. Dry tobacco wrapper, cedar give a more pedigreed feel at the end. It’s actually quite good, enough so that you want to like it perhaps more than you should. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc. (Composite Cork: Diam30)
2014 Linden Petit Verdot Virginia (Fauquier County, no AVA noted). Despite darkness of the purple core, it’s clean and clear, red clay to mud rims. Very focused nose of sour cherry, black currant with an herbal edge close to bell pepper, stony brown dirt, finally releasing into a meadowy breeze. Medium-bodied, sinewy tannin but the acidity strikes you more perceptibly. Any initial creaminess the first oak calling card then spicy. That’s all in proportion to the muscular blueberry, boysenberry fruit, sourly ripe (or maybe ripely sour). Solidly floral, can seem lemony at times. This is one tough nut but it can be cracked. Drink sooner rather than later to take advantage of the high energy level. 88% Petit Verdot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Carménère. Grapes sourced from Hardscrabble, Boisseau, Avenius Vineyards. (Composite Cork: Diam10)