A nice mystery wine; lots of misses with 09 Beaujolais

1993 Mystery Wine Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Carneros (1/14/2012)
A cabernet sauvignon I like and the origins of the wine are largely secret. If you check my CellarTracker! notes you can see I’ve tasted some highly regarded cabernet sauvignon and gone “Meh.” It’s just not my grape. And then someone brought this to a wine tasting and it knocked my socks off. The story is that this is one of the bottles winemakers make with leftover grapes and they either drink them themselves or trade them to other winemakers. All I was told was that the fruit was from Carneros.
The wine laid down well and is quite elegant at this point. I’m guessing the high percentage of petit verdot is why I like this wine. There was a slight berry flavor to this wine I don’t normally get with cabernet sauvignon. There were also some nice herbs, like maybe sage. Definitely not your standard cabernet sauvignon. The nose was quite nice too with flavors of blackberries and currants. This is a cabernet sauvignon I’d buy.

2001 WesMar Pinot Noir Piner Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (1/14/2012)
This is showing great. Another person who drank this wine told me a couple of years ago to drink my two because he felt they were going into decline. I couldn’t find them so I didn’t drink them. I was digging through my wine locker trying to find a Beaujolais blanc to take a Beaujolais tasting and I ran across my WesMars. I couldn’t find the white so I decided to bring this to compare to the gamay. I didn’t expect much and in fact it was oddly funky when I pulled the cork. Then it came around with air and it was tremendous.
First bonus: None of that cherry cola I hate in Russian River pinot. This aged to where I would say it was California pinot – in a good way – but I couldn’t peg it to any region. At 13.7 percent alcohol it’s restrained.
On the nose, lots of nice earth and mushrooms. Some darker red fruit. A pleasure to drink with the tannins smoothed out and a nice structure. Really nice finish. I thought this was in decline. So it’s good news it’s in good shape. I’ve also got one left.a

2005 Domaine Diochon Moulin-à-Vent Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent (1/14/2012)
We become wine geeks for this kind of wine. This is showing well now but I’m sure it’s still improving. First off, gamay is supposed to be more rustic than pinot noir but this is quite elegant. Darker fruits on the nose. Wonderful attack, nice mid palate and great finish. This wine has a nice core of acidity, so it’s obviously got the stuffing to age. That gives the flavor a nice tartness. Mostly red cherry, but some iodine. This was a bargain for how well it is showing now and I wish I had bought more. I’ve got one bottle left and hope to save it for a couple of years. A Kermit Lynch import.

2004 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon (1/14/2012)
This is showing well now and I’m guessing will hold for several more years. I couldn’t detect any of the 2004 green meanies in this wine. It has aged into a nicely balanced, elegant wine. I got more dark cherry and black fruit flavors. My biggest rap on this wine would be that it has an ordinary nose. A Kermit Lynch import.

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Morgon Domaine de la Chaponne - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon (1/14/2012)
The darkest wine of the night. This was my second place wine. It had some of the best flavors of the organized tasting. Dark fruit flavors like fig and maybe pomegranate. The nose was simple and there was a flair of alcohol on the finish. A little bit of tannin. It maybe seemed like the best one to lay down for a few more years. Saranty Imports

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Fleurie Clos des Quatre Vents - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (1/14/2012)
This was wine of the night for me among the seven in the organized tasting. Mainly, I liked the nose. It was by far the most complex nose of those in the organized tasting. I got tea and some meatiness, which I seldom get in Beaujolais. Some nice darker fruits. Balanced and a good finish. I would buy this. Saranty Imorts.

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Fleurie La Madone - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (1/14/2012)
This had some interest. Tart, dark fruit flavors. It had an okay finish. Saranty Imports

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Moulin-à-Vent Domaine Des Michelons - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent (1/14/2012)
This was the first wine of the night that showed anything interesting. Dark fruits. Also, some other sweetness. A little bit of tannin that helped the structure of the wine.Saranty Imports.

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Côte de Brouilly Domaine du Riaz - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly (1/14/2012)
Tasted industrial. I got just muddy flavors and nothing on the nose. Saranty Imports.

2009 Les Vins Jean Claude Debeaune Brouilly Château de La Perriere - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Brouilly (1/14/2012)
The nose didn’t yield much. The palate had darker fruits. Short finish. Inoffensive but not interesting. Saranty imports.

2009 Domaine Pignard Beaujolais - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais (1/14/2012)
Simple and not very interesting. A sensation of a lot of fruit, mostly sweet red cherry. A blast of flavor on the attack but no finish or mid palate. Saranty Imports.

This.

You can never have enough PV.

The mystery wine could be part Truchard. The Cab Sauv and the Cab Franc. We didn’t plant Petit Verdot on our property until 1999 and 2002 was the first vintage that we harvested. I don’t know who else is growing PV down here in Carneros. We are one of the few vineyards in Carneros growing Cab Sauv, PV, and Cab Franc. We can get them ripe here as we have more hillside vineyards and are farther from the bay then most of Carneros vineyards. I am glad you associated Truchard with a wine that you liked.

Isn’t it really “lots of misses with 09 Beaujolais from a single crappy producer” ?

Have a bottle of that 05 Diochon rattling around somewhere that was going to get pulled this last Thanksgiving. 05 Beauj and 05 Sancerre are in REALLY nice places right now.

My first guess would have been some Truchard fruit in that mystery wines, if not Havens. Nice to see you on the board, Anthony. I met you on your trip to Virginia with Wes.

Nathan:
The guy who brought the mystery bottle to the tasting gave me a second bottle he brought and did not open

True. BUt not as intriguing.

Hmm, then this does throw a whole monkey wrench into my theory. Because there’s the whole Reno connection through Truchard. I was wondering if the winemaker might somehow be Greg Nitz or Kosta Arger as they cut their teeth, so to speak. I’ve corrected my notes to take out the Truchard reference.

+1

Matthew - great to hear from you. Yes, I remember crossing paths in your store which was chock-ful of hidden gems. My best guess with the Reno connection would be Kosta Arger. He is and was quite fond of Bordeaux style blends even going back to the eighties. Greg and Marilyn Nitz - although involved in wines through the nineties and were quite helpful at Truchard - did not start making their own wines until the 2000’s. If it is from Kosta, chances are a big percentage is from our vineyards, with the exception of the Petit Verdot. Still not sure the source of that fruit.