Some tastes

WINE TALK
1

Had some wine glasses put in front of me at two locations last night.

The first glass was 2003 Clos de Papes, out of double magnum. Before you all get jealous, don’t. Last time I had this was out of magnum and at that point it only resembled wine and was like a hypothetical blend of Dimetapp and Robitussin. Now it actually resembled wine. Bad wine. But wine. Which is an improvement in my book. Still diffuse, hot and messy, but actually had some finesse to pull this hot mess together. Barely any fruit. Just terrible. Tasted like dirty country wine. WTF happened to this winery I’ll never know. '89, '90, '98 were such pretty wines.

The next glass was a 2**001 Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Auslese ****. Someone told me it was GK, but I did not see the bottle, so could not confirm. Beautiful, elegant wine. Weightlessness but with richness. No hint of botrytis at all, which I found a bit odd. After a bit of swirling the slate aromas started to surface. Had fantastic “chiseled” acidity that made this wine as fresh as some morning buns. Tasting this blind I said 2007. Really tasted like it was just bottled. Zero development. Decades to go. Christoffel '01’s are great. So glad this was not out of my stash as I am not going near them.

Up next was 2003 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Closed. Some of that Jadot dusty, tweedy, earthy thing going on on the nose. Low acidity, as to be expected but not some extracted tannic mess and very well balanced, all things considered. Good but seemed closed. Balanced though. I’d drink this.

The final wine was the 2007 Lucien le Moine Bonnes Mares which tasted like 2007 Bourgogne Rouge. This wine sung one note. Not what I expect from Bonnes Mares. Red fruit, supple, zero power and no finesse. Rustic. Super intense charred oak on the nose. Wonder how much it costs.

2

Amazing how that '03 Clos des Papes is so extremely variable in terms of notes.

3

Aren’t all the Christoffel wines with a gold cap?

4

just looked. Indeed you are right.

The CDP was a double mag out of Park Smith’s cellar, so provenance was impeccable.

5

I’ve had it two or three times and I would say what Lyle says. Its either been over the top hot or almost tolerable.

6

Wow, that’s a pretty big leap to conclude that something terrible happened to the winery based on the fact that they made a bad wine in a terrible vintage characterized by draught, freakish heat and vine-shut-down.

I agree that the wine is horrible and undrinkable…maybe like a hypothetical blend of a 98-point rated 16.8% alcohol California Pinot (70%) with a 96-point-rated California Zinfandel (30%). rolleyes

But the 2001 and 2004 are both gorgeous wines…So I think nothing happened to the winery. Just a very tough year, in which they probably tried to “go long” rather than play it safe (the result of which is an obvious failure).

7

Good stuff Lyle. I had heard that le Moine was less oaky and dull lately and your note worries me.

8

There are many notes on this wine[Clos des Papes 2003] in many forums alleging different results depending on different bottllings.Maybe Lyle just got the bad one.

9

2004 was undrinkable both times I had it.

As VLM told me “Lyle, you’ve grown out of Grenache.” I agree.

10

Then that’s 5 bad ones.

11

If you found the '04 undrinkable then you must have “moved on” from Grenache. I don’t know who VLM is, but I find his “grown out of” comment a bit snide.

12

I don’t see snide. Palates change. If more people would grow out of Grenache, there would be more for me, cheaper.

13

“growing out” connotes “maturing,” as if liking Grenache is immature or infantile. At least, that’s how it can play-out when written; granted, the sentence was originally verbalized, not written, and furthermore I was not there to hear it so I could be completely wrong about the original author’s intent. And I agree, “less for you equals more for me! [highfive.gif]”

14

Disagree that it is snide. I have also grown out of wine coolers, Zima, drinking till I puke, cheap CA table wine, etc. Is that snide?

15

ok … either Lyle is kidding or my initial gut reaction was spot-on.

16

I must be undrinkable as I have grown into grenache…

Brian,
All you need to know is that at one point he was into Zima :slight_smile:

17

hee hee. somebody still drinks grenache. and somebody thinks 2007 in the southern rhone is THE BEST VINTAGE IN ANY VITICULTURAL AREA EVER


that’s snide and snide


i dont know the vlm either, but I wish he would stop spreading lies about Lyle Fass

18

I have had the 2003 Clos des Papes at least 6 times, and it has been great every time. Most recently blind among other CDP 2003(which all performed splendid by the way). All the participants rated it highly, and among the best of the tasting which included some of the top domaines in CDP.

19

That’s great! Because if it sucked, the wine has zilch secondary market value.

20

lyle - were these notes before or after the antibiotics?




…only kidding!