Dinner in Alsace, Trimbach, Coche, Charvin, Barroche

WINE TALK
1

6 Friends came together yesterday evening for a Dinner at Relais de la Poste in la Wantzenau. Food was brillant. The place has a Michelin star but most dishes we had were more of 2 stars quality and the price for the 4 course menu was very fair. A Restaurant I really can recommend.

We started with a standard Gosset NV Champagne. This was pretty dry, had a fine mousse, a slight oxidation aspect and an apple and citrus aroma. Ok but nothing special. 88 Pts.

First white of the evening was Trimbach Frederic Emile 2007. Classic bone dry Riesling from Trimbach with a bright golden color, wet stone, citrus and orange rind, a hint of petrol and a satisfying length. While not the best FE I ever had it was very good and classic bone dry Riesling from Alsace. It paired well with the Coquille St. Jacques. 92 Pts.

Second was Coche Dury Bourgogne 2009. I had lot´s of “simple” Bourgogne’s from different vintages and producers recently (Boillot, Fichet, Dujac, Leflaive …, vintages 05, 06, 07, 08, …). This Coche Dury 09 was again the example why this producer is almost in a class of it´s own when it comes to white Burgundy. It bet this entry level wine is as good as the village level Mersault or Puligny from almost any other producer. There was a superior freshness in this wine and an appealing aspect of various ripe citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, mandarine, grapefruits combined with a chalky minerals. This wine was still young but fully developed and very delicious. A wow for this category. 92 Pts.

To the reds. As usual the Bordeaux wines on the list were either too young or outrageous expensive. Even the few Crus Bourgeoise were way overpriced (older Poujeaux 130 or 180 bucks). Silly. Since two of my friends are not happy with red Burgundy we turned to the CdP section.

2009 Charvin. This is so typical for this producer. This is almost a Burgundy but produced some 100 miles south. An elegant expression of Grenache. Fine strawberry fruit in the nose added with some kirsch and chocolate. Silky tannins made this wine very accessible even at this young age. It paired very well with the main course (calf in truffle reduction). I liked it even if I am not the biggest CdP lover. 93 Pts.

Last wine of the evening was 2007 Barroche CdP. This was a way bigger version compared to the Charvin. It had a darker color and was wilder in the nose. Here you find the garrigue aspect so typical for the area. This is a powerful, full bodied, big wine but with good freshness but a hint of alcohol and heat in the nose and on the palate. Very well made wine but I guess it is near or even above 16%. 92 Pts.

Overall it was a nice evening with good friends, a lot of laugh and superb food and wine.

2

Sounds like a nice night with eclectic wines.

3

Thanks for the notes, if you don’t mind asking, what was the price on menu for the Coche 09? I had one in a wine bar next to ma cusine in Beaune, it was 89 euros, far diff from the price in the US, wondering how it was priced in Alsace.

4

75 Euros.

5

wow! Even better! Thanks for the info.

6

Le,

it´s from memory, could also be 80 but not more than that. BTW: I talked to the Sommelier and they don´t have huge stock of these wines. In example the Frederic Emile was the last bottle he had in the cellar. There are still some Restaurants in Europe with quite reasonable prices. But the number gets smaller year after year. 10 years ago it was normal to order High End wines with a fine meal. Today I often drink rather ordinary wines at Restaurants because the wines are expensive anyway but with a mark up of 300% prices get absurd. If you are 4 people and you drink 4 very good bottles the food costs more or less 100 Euro per person and the wines 600+ (4 bottles) And then you did´t drink Grnds Crus Burgundy or something like that but Village Level Burgundy from the big names and Premiers Crus from not so well known Domains. That does´t make much sense for more mortals IMO.

7

its very unfortunate situation in restaurants lately, food ingredients / rents / personnel costs are going higher, while they can’t keep up with the prices increase in food menu only, lot of them have increased their wine prices, especially at the middle range bracket. that same Coche 09 would be about 300-400 in the US. The trend of price increase in going out to eat and drink will only get more severe as time goes on.

8

Le,

as good as the Coche 09 Bourgogne is – I would never pay 400 bucks for it. Please keep in mind that this wine is something like 25-30 Euros ex Domaine.

I find a lot of pleasure in very good Grüner Veltliner. Let them age and it´s not easy to differ them from very good Burgundy in blind tastings. But they can be had for 20 or 30 Euros and in Restaurants for 60 more or less. I don´t know how much these wines are in your country.

9

Agreed. 10 yrs ago there were great deals in Jura, 5 yrs ago maybe chenin and Riesling, those are slowly catching up. Maybe Gruner’s next? I had some good tastings of Savoie producers recently (Dominique Lucas & Belluard), as land prices go up in pricy wine regions, good producer expand to lesser known regions, thats my hope in drinking good value juice in the future.

10

Stupidly marked up retail price for the 09 Coche was around $90.

  • 2009 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Blanc - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc (1/29/2013)
    Very good wine, oily, mineral, white pear, lemon as well as yellow fruits. Chewy mouthfeel. A great Bourgogne but not worth $90 that my friend paid. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

11

i actually picked up a bit of 09 coche that sat at retail for a while. they were kermit bottles and the bourgogne ran me about $50. i think it is a fantastic vintage for that wine and definately worth what i paid.

12

Thanks for the notes. I picked up a 6 pack of the 2007 CFE based on a strong showing from one bottle. I really liked the classic bone dry snap. Glad to see your impressions were similar.

13

Cheapest i saw online was 150ish for the 2009 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Blanc, good buy at $50 for sure.

14

well i suppose it goes without saying, merchants who price coche fairly are certainly not advertising their prices online.