Trade Tasting

I love working part-time at a retail wine store.

Leaving my day job to attend a ‘Tour de France Trade Tasting’

The list includes:

Kermit Lynch Imports
Christian Mouix & Chateau de Campuget (2002 Petrus!)
Maison Joseph Druin
J & R - Southern Rhone (07 Pegau!!!)
Maisons Marques & Domains (02 Cristal!!)

2 other board members spotted at the tasting!!!

A great line-up of wines, and a great tasting!

Sweet lineup. What the heck they doing in Indianapolis and when are they hitting LA?

I was there with Jon Davis, and I knew we would run into Coop!

Awesome tasting…I need to gather my mental notes before I can post anything educated.

I didn’t get a chance to taste everything in the lineup, but there were a few highlights for me. I didn’t write any notes down, so I’m just looking at the list and going from memory:

2008 Chateau Ducasse Graves Blanc: My kind of sauvignon blanc/semillon, especially for the price (less than $20.)
2007 Champalou Vouvray: 100% Chenin Blanc…another sub-$20 beauty, and I’m probably going to back the truck up on this one. What a great “deck wine” for the summer.
2007 Chateau de Trinquevedel Tavel Rose: Meh…I didn’t get much of a taste of this one, but it didn’t leave me wanting more. I will probably spend my rose dollars elsewhere this spring.
2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut: Hellz yeah!
2008 Maison Joseph Drouhin Rully: I’m still searching for that (affordable) white Burg that I like well enough to stock up on. This…is most decidedly NOT it.
2007 Maison Jospeh Drouhin Chassagne-Montrochet: This is more like it, although I don’t know how much I will stock up on at $50 a pop.
2007 Domaine Grand du Tinel CdP: This was the first 07 CdP that I’ve had a chance to taste. A big pass for me.
2007 Domaine du Pegau: Just rocking good! It’s probably representative of why Parker loves the vintage. Really big for a Pegau. I’ll drink this anytime it’s put in front of me, but I’m not sure if I’m buying.
2006 Domaine du Pegau: This was really accessible right now…plenty of fruit, but not so much that you can’t pick up the funkier notes that I thought were missing with the 2007. Awesome finish.
2006 Bois de Bourson CdP (not the Cuvee Felix): Not as muscular as the Pegau, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I think you can do a lot worse than this for $40. I made a mental note to start buying 2006 CdP’s now while everyone loads up on 2007.
1993 Chateau Petrus: I have no idea why they were pouring the 1993 instead of the 2002. Maybe John or John will have something profound to say about this wine, but I didn’t think it was entirely open for business.
2005 Chateau Latour à Pomerol: I loved this…very young, but you can really tell what’s under the covers here.
2006 Chateau Belair: Another winner in my book. If I had the cabbage to load up on wines at that price point right now (which I do not), I would certainly target the Latour and Belair.

Thanks for the report Kent. I quite liked the '93 Petrus when I had it a couple years back, but it needs some time to open. I suspect they poured it because someone still has some stock on hand, it being one of the three lousy years in a row in Bordeaux. Still, it averages over $1000 on WineBid.

My notes are pretty close to Kent’s. I really liked the Ducasse Graves Blanc but I knew that as it is a regular “buy” for me. A steal at its price point. The Vouvray is a buy, maybe a hint of sweetness on the back end but still very focused.

The Cristal was obviously still young but showed some nice yeasty, biscuity notes. It is what it is and it is really freakin’ good Champagne. The Drouhin Rully wasn’t bad, mostly just devoid of character, but I think there’s more bang for your buck out there in that category. Liked the Chasagne-Montrachet but again, just not a lot to get excited about. If you’re pouring I’m drinking but I ain’t buyin’, either.

I actually preferred the 06 Pegau to the 07. It may very well be the the 07 is a bit forward now and it didn’t show a lot of secondary nuance. But it is a baby and I’ll reserve judgment for a few years. The 06 had more earthy, organic notes still showed some fruit. The 07 was riper and more forward though it showed a bacon & brambly note that showed some promise of something developing. I would be very please to have either rest in my cellar for another 5 years and well beyond.

The 93 was a very, very good wine considering the vintage. Given its a 93 though I’m not convinced that this will develop much further. Excellent juice and it does show its class. Maybe even the wine of the day for me. However, the Latour-a-Pomerol was some excellent stuff, too and a hell of a lot cheaper than the Petrus (as to be expected). Big, nice fruit, a nice smokey note and great structure. Its a buy in my book. Good potential.

JD