A Brunello, a St. Joseph and a Chinon

Passing time in Chelsea Wine Storage on Saturday we had there distinct and beautiful wines, each a perfect jewel in its own right.

2007 Gonon St. Joseph - floral with loads of subtle complexity. Hints of bacon and with air, lavender.

1999 Soldera Brunello Case Basse - still quite young with some prominent tannins but it already displays admirable depth and complexity and the deep cherry fruit just kept unfolding as it breathed.

1996 Olga Raffault Chinon ‘Les Picasses’ - some barnyard on the nose, unashamedly rustic and wonderful. There was some talk from a certain quarter of how this should have been drunk up years ago but this is just entering its apogee.

Kudos on holding-off on the Chinon ‘till now, despite others’ gum-flappin’. [cheers.gif]

Well, this wasn’t mine but it may be time to move my one bottle into a more accessible location.

What we found especially wonderful was how enjoyable and yet how totally distinct and different each of these wines were. Different points in evolution, totally different flavor profiles, about the only thing they had in common was that none of them were fruit bombs :slight_smile:.

was the Gonon the VV?
Nice notes on 3 wines I purchase and enjoy

Nope, it was the regular. Drinking really well.

Jay,
For Thanksgiving, we served the Olga Raffault Chinon ‘Les Picasses’ from 1990 and 2002. No one thought that the '90 was over the hill. Preference depended on one’s tolerance for a little barnyard as part of the maturity/complexity package. The 2002 had delightful, more obvious fruit; I’m out of the Raffault, but looking forward to opening my last bottle of Breton’s 2002 Picasses… in a couple of years.
Regards,
Peter