Some Nice Wines In San Diego

WINE TALK
#1

We were in SoCal and the North San Diego County hinterlands neener enjoying some time with good friends. We shared/enjoyed some nice wine while we were there! Terranea in Rancho Palos Verde is a beautiful place to have a meal - along with Rancho Valencia in Rancho Santa Fe. Both have our own Andrew Nielsen’s Le Grappin Rose on tap now… Super fresh and definitely thirst quenching! A great “Pig and Pinot” dinner this past Saturday night was thrown with wines tossed around Paulee style. I don’t have notes for every wine over the weekend but many of the ones I liked the most are below - mostly in chronological order. I must say though - one of the most pleasurable tasting experiences of the weekend was a hand carried cylinder of Rosted Chicken and Herbs Pringles brought all the way back from the Supermarche a stones throw from Cave Madeleine there in Beaune. YUMMY and a tragedy that we can’t get such delicacies here in the U.S. [swearing.gif]!
Roasted Chicken + Herbs Pringles.jpg
2010 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte: This is a winner of a 1er from Ramonet in most years - in '10 it’s even more of a winner. Steely minerality and other savory cold white peaches and pears. This one has that extra dimension of savory flavors and extended minerality that brings it up a few points. Lovely stuff!

2010 Remoissenet Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet: I tasted this at the winery before bottling a couple+ years ago and was happy to get some of this to put away. This has well integrated touches of classy oak to start which isn’t all that unexpected in a young Chevalier. There’s a nice underpinning of minerality and perfumed tangerine here with plenty of other fun stuff going on. This is top notch - taste it to believe it!

2012 Sebastien Dampt Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons: This was full of scents of cold seashore aromas and cool pear compote. Really nice touches of citrus cream and other “citric” flavors. Yum.

1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Savigny-lès-Beaune: This was nice enough to try but seemed to be over-the-hill and off a bit.

1993 Maison Bertrand Ambroise Corton-Rognet: A lovely showing for this one - I think I have one more. This had a fair amount of lovely secondary’ish earth aromas - flashes of tart black cherry - and mushrooms/undergrowth. The palate was soft and elegant which pulls this wine together just fine.

FYI - a good friend brings the next three wines into the US. We had them together with friends this past weekend + many more!
2010 Domaine Michel Mallard & Fils Corton-Charlemagne: Served at the right temp - very refreshing. Touches of classy and well integrated oak here with an airy freshness that seems to serve this wine well. Lovely medium+ viscosity and extending flavors - a top notch CC.

2012 Mark Haisma Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots: Another wine I tried on a recent visit to Burgundy that is just as good or better in bottle. This has a weight and presence that bodes well for the future I think - lots of earthy MSD stuff going on with a savory character + nice acid structure that is sexy.

2010 Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Clos de la Roche: This has added some weight in bottle since the last time I sampled one of these. Elegant and not very flashy to start but full of spiced earthy and sweet sweaty leather. Another nice finish that bodes well.

1989 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil: Lovely broad aromas of fresh dough and cold almonds. Slight natural oxidation here where there’s still plenty of fresh minerality and savory bubbles to pull it together. Drink up if you have any - it’s drinking great now and may expend any freshness in the near term.

2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles: This was spot on delish! Touches of smoke and flint to start that blew off - there’s a wonderful depth here that shines through. Light golden color with sparkles throughout - vibrant color and flavors here… Balanced richness is all I can say - love this mini-monty.

2004 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet: A slight shade darker than the Pucelles but no where near being to dark. This had more flavors of oak and savory tropical stuff going on. A balanced wine with lots going on but I preferred the vibrancy and charm of the Pucelles this night!

1998 Domaine Leroy Richebourg: Lovely showing for this - touches of Christmas spice cake and cold ginger. Put together really well with the appropriate level of viscosity and flavor range on the palate. Balanced and sexy - really liked it! Can’t wait for the Leroy fest on tap this coming Friday night during the Paulee de Favre 3.0 weekend :slight_smile:.

1990 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg: There’s a Jean Gros '90 Richebourg on tap for this coming weekend so it was nice to sample this Gros Frere bottling a couple nights ago. This had darker aromas and flavors when compared to the Leroy - more earth spices and underbrush. This is a '90 with a lovely tannin/acid profile that brings everything together nicely - many '90s for me have shown this way. Fun stuff!

1989 Domaine Lejeune Pommard 1er Cru Les Argillieres: I’m really liking some of these older Lejeune wines - they are turning out some really nice mid-term cote de beaune reds that really satisfy. Pommard earthiness for sure here with lots of other nice cherry/leather/truffle flavors. Many liked this.

1989 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Les Angles: This one was maybe a bit further along in the secondary flavor spectrum - still full of nice cherry spice and leather/black tea. A nice showing but several liked the Pommard better.

1979 Georges Noellat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts from magnum: This was a winner that everyone seemed to appreciate. Any milky tannins were properly decanted away leaving a wine with lovely ruby jewel sparkles - only slightly brown at the edges. Touches of baking spices, cranberry, flashes of spiced cherry. Resolved tannins for sure that are maybe only slight drying but this pulled it together nicely.

1988 Bitouzet-Prieur Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes from magnum: This was great and a lovely example of Clos des Chenes with age. Smoke, lovely cherry, nutmeg, black tea, some dried floral stuff going on. I really liked this one a lot - it really spoke to me for whatever reason.

There were SEVERAL more bottles that were shared and sampled over the weekend - I’ll save some time and not bore you :slight_smile:.

#2

1.gives in the supermarket-Business,not really betters than a good french supermarket.
2. and also i think the “cheap” Ambroise Corton Rognets is absolutely underrated.2010 is for me a burner.
3.thanks for the notes

#3

Wow, some nice wines indeed!

#4

Glad to hear some 04 leflaives seen reduced still. Picked up some chev.

Btw you have the liver of an 18 yr old. :wink:

#5

Missed you at lunch Friday! See ya in a few days :slight_smile:.

#6

05 Pucelles was off the charts good last week.

#7

Yum! Hey - where are all the jokes about my Pringles+red burgundy combo here :slight_smile:?

#8

no one cares when it isn’t DRC, Leroy, Rousseau [snort.gif]

#9

Is fancy expensive beer+Roasted Chicken Pringles off limits also [wow.gif]?

#10

you would be laughed at if you don’t drink fancy beer with pringles

#11

Hey…now if those Pringles were ZUNI Chicken Pringles… [worship.gif] [worship.gif] [worship.gif]

#12

you gonna drive up for zuni?? :smiley:

#13

If I quite my job…I’d drive over…for Zuni! Then after that…the unemployment office! [blink.gif]