Recent wines and Vatan

WINE TALK
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2008 Masi, Modello:
This is all or mostly refosco and is a lip smacking, thoroughly quaffable red for about $9. Perfect for lasagna, pizza or other red sauced food. Drink now.

2007 Drouhin, Chablis:
Tight when first opened but it got going after about a half an hour; crisp, stony, of its place and mouth-watering. Very nice wine for less than $25.

2007 Saintsbury, Pinot Noir Garnet:
This is up to $22 and, for my taste, is generic and barely worth the effort. Not something I’d buy again.

2007 Guy Saget, Muscadet:
About $11 and pretty non-descript – when there are so many good Muscadet around, this is a waste.

2007 Matrot, Meursault (375 ml):
Screw-capped, $10 and so much better than the price suggests. Lots of stuffing, good complexity, flint and nuts amidst taut chardonnay fruit. Excellent and what a deal!

2007 Drouhin, Saint Veran:
Around $18 (I’m trying to convert euro to dollars in my head – bad craziness) and shockingly delicious. Clean, pure scents and flavors, moderate complexity and an after-taste that makes me want more. Just plain yummy.

2007 Gonon, St. Joseph:
Under $25 (same conversion thingy) and really good; complex, round, tactile in the mouth and quite a finish. Excellent.

2002 Anne Gros, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits:
Elegant, feminine, intense wine with a real sense of place, good complexity and sustain. A joy to drink. About $25.

2006 Anne Gros, Bourgogne:
Adequate pinot noir from Burgundy without artifice or nuance; nothing more. About $28.

2007 Edmund Vatan, Sancerre Clos la Néore:
Decanted about an hour; I feel a little helpless in describing truly great wine – its as though this rises above its sauvignon blanc variety, and it rises above its Sancerre appellation, to become Vatan – the unique and dazzling expression of the mix of variety, site and a lifetime of work and excellence. It’s tight and gives every evidence of being a several decade wine and yet, the scent, structure and flavor are precise, fresh, complex and balanced to such a degree that I stop eating just to concentrate on the taste. And I find myself waiting longer than I would have expected to pick up my fork again – this doesn’t just finish, it resonates for a time after swallowing. Nothing flamboyant here; no big, plush texture or blockbuster impression – it is controlled yet expansive; soulful, in a way that transcends the written word. And, as luck would have it, I found it at $35/bottle when it is often near twice that.
Oh my!

Best, Jim

2

Yeah, “tight” would describe the only bottle of Neore that I ever had [I think maybe it was the 2006? - which Jay Murrie must have ordered when he was still at A Southern Season].

BTW, I just discovered the other night - completely out of the blue - that Jake and Eric have about a case of the Neore at their new shop.

I think I saw 2008s on the rack, although their web server seems to think that they might also have some 2007s.

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I haven’t tasted the '07 yet - good to hear you liked it, Jim. Gonon is becoming my favorite St. Joseph. And that’s a great price you got - it’s about $35 around these parts.

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Nathan,
I started buying the Edmund Vatan, Sancerre back in the early 2000’s; had I known what it was before that, I would have bought cases of everything previous. I would put it in that handful of wines that can said to be ‘state of the art’ for any particular place or variety - or if you prefer, the standard by which all others of that ilk are judged.
Further, it has the ability to cellar for decades and develop (not just last) the entire time it is being held.
I put it among the 10 greatest wines being made on the planet.
Best, Jim

5

BTW, I just noticed that we still have the Neore bottle lying around - it was the 2005 that I had.

Also, I thought the 2003 Pinot was a very interesting wine [at least the good bottles - we had one bottle that was horribly corked or spoiled or something].

Keith Levenberg nailed its iron and iodine [almost hemoglobin-like] notes at Cellar Tracker [not that I’ve ever tasted anyone’s blood other than my own…].

6

Also - not to try to pretend to be a professional winemaker or anything - but it seems as though a very likely explanation for the bad bottles of the 2003 Pinot [given the metallic notes in the good bottles] would be some sort of blooming of brettanomyces.

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Thanks for the notes. I had my first Vatan last year and it blew my mind. They are beautiful from bottle, label, closure, to the glass and in my belly.

Jason

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Oh man would I love to have the chance to drink more Vatan red. I don’t think I’ve ever had one of the whites perform to its potential/reputation, but the 2003 Sancerre rouge still haunts me.

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Possible but the 3 negative notes on CT all seem to be from the same bad bottle, so it’s not a trend.
I’ve had a few bad bottles of the white, though, including one that had turned into a bubbly… so a bit of risk with the red would not surprise me.

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The bad bottle of the 2003 Pinot that we had was really, really bad - like the bastard child of TCA and fruit rot bad.

11

FWIW Vatan is also a very good Gujarati restaurant in Manhattan.

It’s almost a relief to realize you weren’t drinking wine with all that spicy food!

Still Vatan is very much worth a visit when in NYC

12

Love the 2007 Drouhin, Saint Veran. Rediculous value at the $15-18 mark.

Thanks for the notes Jim.

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I’ve brought ausleses there many times and it works great!

14

Paid $9.99 per bottle for my last case in Florida.

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