Recent French wines (Rhône, Languedoc, Loire, Burgundy, Provence, South-West)

WINE TALK
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  • N.V. Les Champs Libres (René-Jean Dard & Hervé Souhaut) St. Péray - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Péray (11/22/2009)
    100% Marsanne. Terrific wine. Yeasty nose, dried fruit on the bone-dry palate. One of the most exciting sparkling wines I’ve tried in a long time.
  • N.V. Mouressipe (Alain Allier) Cuvée Galapia - France, Languedoc Roussillon (11/15/2009)
    Wow - my new favorite wine? Favorite new wine, at least. 60% Alicante, 40% Cinsault “vin naturel” from the Languedoc. Not sure if it’s non-vintage or a 2007 (teh interwebs can’t agree). A Savio Soares import. Incredibly electric and pure red-fruited nose, like a super cru Beaujolais, but there’s more and more going on as the wine warms and opens up. Just an unbelievable nose, I can’t get over it. Palate follows, with brisk acids and awesome lift, intensely flavorful and awesomely intense , some gamey goodness. I’m gaga.
  • 2006 Hubert Lignier Bourgogne Passetoutgrains - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Passetoutgrains (11/13/2009)
    This is a more stern, serious, structured passetoutgrains. The Gamay portion is fairly silent. Started off closed and took its time to open up; what there showed was tart cranberry primarily, dried fruits, some nice red-fruit sappiness, with a touch of oak (I think?) and some drying tannins on the finish. There’s real quality here waiting to unfold. Probably superb in 2-3 years, or longer.
  • 1996 Domaine des Petits Quarts Bonnezeaux 1er Trie Le Malabé - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Bonnezeaux (11/7/2009)
    Outrageously sweet and delicious. Massively raisined but still fresh, with some nice aged notes and delectable Chenin complexity. The wine is so sweet that you’d swear the texture is sugar-grained. Could probably be aged further for a generation or two.
  • 2004 Domaine Labranche-Laffont Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec - France, Southwest France, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec (11/6/2009)
    Interesting twist on the Mansengs. There’s a whiff of fennel to go with the Meursault-like nose, and piney, resinous oak, searing acids and a gentle body and a nice waxiness that lengthens out the tart, melony finish. I think I prefer the leaner, un-oaked approach as seen in most Jurançons Secs and in every Irouléguy blanc (though this is still pretty lean), but this is a pretty nice wine even so.
  • 2007 Château du Cèdre Cahors Cèdre Heritage - France, Southwest France, Cahors (10/30/2009)
    If only all wines from Cèdre were like this. No oak, no spoof, just a well-made Cahors without pretension. Too bad it has a fucking fake cork, or I’d lay a few down.
  • 1982 Château du Cèdre Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (10/14/2009)
    Amazingly young and fresh for a 27-year-old wine. Modestly fruity and spicy and great with food. Graceful. There’s no hurry, but no real reason to wait, either.
  • 1999 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve Cahors Les Laquets - France, Southwest France, Cahors (10/10/2009)
    Really good, and still rather young. No spoof, just an honest and earnest Cahors. I’ve had wines from Cosse-Maisonneuve before and really liked them, but never one this old. The tannins seem mostly to have melted away, but there is still some proper astringency backing the black-currant-like fruit. Would probably be even better in 5-10 years.
  • 1989 Château La Coste Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence - France, Provence, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence (10/9/2009)
    Picked this up on a lark from winebid. The château in more recent times has replanted with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the like, but I believe at this juncture it was mostly Carignan and Cinsault. Medium-bodied and chewy, gamy affect on the nose and palate, bit of truffle, dirt, rustic spiciness, and nice aged sweetness. A very enjoyable drink, indeed.
  • 1990 Poniatowski Vouvray Aigle Blanc - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (10/5/2009)
    Phenomenal, pristine bottle. Cork was a mess as usual, but this bottle was ultra-fresh and as powerful as a laser. Despite the great variation these wines show bottle-to-bottle, at the tariff it’s so worth it since every once in a while they are this good.
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Where did you find the sparkling Marsanne? Sounds interesting…

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I got it at my local wine store in Brooklyn (Thirst Wine Merchants). The wine is a Louis/Dressner import. I really enjoyed it, and the price was right at only about $20.

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Had this last night, may as well include it here:

  • 2005 Domaine du Pech Buzet Le Pech Abusé - France, Southwest France, Gascony, Buzet (11/22/2009)
    40% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, from a beleaguered Buzet producer who, in previous vintages, was denied AOC status because their wines were not “typique,” hence “Pech Abusé”. This is a “vin naturel,” biodynamic, hand harvested, with an absolute minimum of sulfur used, 30 months of aging in older wooden casks and demi-muids, etc. It’s gorgeous. It’s both soft and sultry but has serious grip. Very ripe and dark with a loamy/earthy aspect, excellent acidity and some mouthfilling but soft tannins, this wine could if dressed up in 1,000,000% new oak be sold as a Napa cab or hotshot Bordeaux in the $100 range. Instead it’s a boutique Buzet that costs $25. Totally kickass. 500 cases produced.
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Thanks for the notes on less ballyhooed regions. Those Poniatowski’s seem to be one of the great bargains from last year.

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Nice note. I’m glad a still have a few bottles stashed away. Wish Dressner was still bringing this in, but he hasn’t for a number of years now.

I know there was a bunch of this and the '89 dumped on the market over the past couple of years, but this has never really done it for me. At $20, sure, it gives a pleasant enough example of what a Chenin with some age on it can be like, but I find the wines generally unclean and generic. Chidaine is doing great things with the property these days, though.

Cheers,

Brad

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Thanks Brad. I defer to you, the Chenin Master. I’ve had other, not nearly as pristine bottles of both the Aigle blanc and Clos Baudoin that didn’t ring my bell the way this one did.

When did Dressner stop with the Petits Quarts? I understand the 1997 “grain par grain” is in a league of its own.

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Nice notes! The Mouressipe grabs my eye, Zac. Do you know who imports it?

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Savio Soares. Outstanding importer. The wine is carried at Heights Chateau in Brooklyn.

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The grain par grain is pretty intense stuff. A little too over-the-top for some and diabetics shouldn’t even smell the stuff.

The last vintage I saw around was the '97, but I think the last vintage he brought in was the '01.

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Spot on with the Poniatowski wines, many are a touch dirty and diffuse in terms of flavour and definition, they have the advantage of maturity but there are certainly better wines in the appellation.

With regard to Petits Quarts, I have only had a couple of tastes from this domaine over the years, but in recent vintages (1998 onwards) I haven’t been impressed. As I said though, not a great deal of experience here.