Tasting Many Value French Wines: Bdx & CdR + '90 Grand Mayne.

WINE TALK
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The Stockbroker called for the Usual Suspects to taste and evaluate another line-up of value French wines, ones being considered to be sold in his soon-to-be-opened wine bar. This took place yesterday afternoon, 3pm onwards at his wine shop.

3 Whites from the Rhône:

2008 Ferraton Côtes du Rhône Blanc “Samorens” - In the nose, it shows pleasing scents of sweetish fresh lemon, faint honeysuckle, lightly honeyed, peach pit. On the palate, it has a bright lemon acidity bordering on being too tart/sharp (should do well with food though). Lean, well focused, linear citrus over peach pit, not much of a middle, turns floral after some air. Long, floral lemon and orange rind finish. Best amongst the three Rhône blancs for me.

2007 Ferraton St-Joseph Blanc “La Source” - Nose: More honeyed and riper fruit than the Samorens blanc. On the palate, riper, rounder, broader, sweeter more tongue-coating and has a comparatively waxy texture. Soft ripe peach, apricot, orange peel, bit of minerality. Evidently more ripe fruit forward and lower acid than the Samorens blanc - probably more approachable to those new to wine.

2007 Ferraton Crôzes-Hermitage Blanc “La Matinière” - Halfway ripe between the above 2 blancs. Sweetish, tangy, somewhat leesy, white flowers, stone fruit, peach, lightly honeyed apricot. Not much of a middle, similar to the St-Joseph Blanc “La Source”, but less hefty, less lush. Acid also a bit low.

Red Rhônes:

2007 Ferraton Côtes du Rhône Villages Rouge - Nose of sweetly toasty wood, cedar, camphor, jammy/brambly red/dark berries, spicy, minerally, a touch medicinal. On the palate, Jammy red fruit leads, low acid, not much of a crescendo, sweetish, with dark minerals/slightly medicinal.

2007 Ferraton Côtes du Rhône Clos du Mont-Olivet “Font de Blanche” - Spicy, faintly “tinny”/raisiny cherry and raspberry. Finish a bit on the short side.

2006 Ferraton Côtes du Rhône “Samorens” Rouge - A bit of heat on the nose, with cedar, ripe (but not jammy) raspberry, cherry, violets. In the mouth, notably lighter than the Font de Blanche CdR, flavors mirror the aromas with added cassis, slight minerality and torrefaction notes. Pleasant enough, if not very distinctive.

2006 Ferraton St-Joseph Rouge “La Source” - A bit watery black cherry, black currant, not brambly like the CdR Villages Rouge. Smooth and easy to drink. A quaffer.

2006 Ferraton Crôzes-Hermitage Rouge “La Matinière” - Dark cherry, cassis, a bit flat, short. Quaffable, but uninteresting.

From Bordeaux:

2006 Ch. Dauzac - A 5th growth from Margaux, formerly owned by the Vigneron’s family until the late ‘70s if I’m not mistaken; I am pretty familiar with these wines. Clean, familiar, good balance, a bit on the light side of medium-bodied now. Refined violets, cassis, mild toastiness, hint of gravel and licorice underneath, good breadth. Easily my and many others’ favorite red of the entire tasting.

2005 Ch. Marjosse - Good cedary nose, cassis, medium-bodied. Wholly unremarkable.

2005 Ch. Canon St-Michel - In the nose, sweet cedar, camphor, faint dark berry. Not much of a middle and finish just short of medium. Pleasant, straightforward, don’t look for complexity here, but very easy to drink.

2005 Ch. Ripeau - Reticent nose. Faintly toasty oak, black cherry, plum, cassis, violets, toffee, medium bodied. Quite nice over all, but the finish has a bit of drying wood tannins in it. I’d say this would be very approachable and pleasant to many.

2004 Ch. Ducluzeau - Slight truffle and game topnote with cedar, violets, cassis and cherry. Mirrored on the palate, but woodier and more viscous than the Dauzac, fruit riper and with more apparent toasty oak - but not obtrusive.

2004 Ch. Peyreau - Bit of game/funk in the nose with cassis and a bit of ripe tamarind. On the palate, nice sweetish-tartish cherry, raspberry, preserved tamarind. Barely medium-bodied at this point. Very approachable. Nice enough, easy to drink.

2001 Ch. de Cugat - Light funky topnote, cedar, cassis, toast. Decent on the palate, medium-body, medium finish. Nothing very distinctive, but pleasant enough. A quaffer.

2001 Ch. Karolus - Reticent nose. Flavors of sweetish-tartish tamarind, cherry, raspberr. Structure a bit weak Not bad, decent at best.

For a job well done, the Stockbroker rewarded us with some mature St-Emilion:

1990 Ch. Grand Mayne - Drinking very youthfully I and several noted. Shapley, medium bodied wine with nicely ripe, comforting, warm cherry, dark raspberry over a bit of mocha, slight oak (very well integrated), whispers of tobacco, leather, minerals. Nicely reserved. Nice sleek curves. A welcome wine after all the young ones.

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Noel, interesting read, but I feel there’s a part missing re: pricing. Indeed everybody will have their own price points for perceived quality, and maybe adding the prices would not be particularly interesting since I expect the pricing where you live to be quite different from where other people on this board live. Still, maybe a range of $ to $$$ just to get an idea of how these wines relate to each other in terms of price. It’d help provide some context when comparing 2 quaffers, one in the $ price range and the other in the $$$ (whatever these price points are).

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Fair enough comment, Guillaume. As far as I recall, all the Rhônes (blancs et rouges) will be priced in the wine bar at the equivalent of US$40/bottle and below, while the most expensive of the Bdx (I safely assume the Dauzac) will be around US$52/bottle. Knowing the Manila wine market a bit, I believe these are very well priced and will sell as such.

I did not get specific pricing for each and every one as, I am certain, the owners have yet to determine their exact price for each - all I could be given at the time was the general price range. That said, in a restaurant or wine bar, as far as I am concerned, anything around the US$50-US$75 mark, more or less, is fair game for experimentation.

Of course, aside from the wines tasted in my post, there will also be pricier wines on the bar’s list, but, in the Philippines, for those who are familiar with or want to become familiar with higher-end châteaux’s wines, I do not believe price will be much of an issue. The Stockbroker and his partners in this wine bar (I know all of them well) just love wines and want to have their own wine bar. I doubt very much they are in this for the money - so they will not 'gouge" on wine prices - that I am sure of.

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Noel, off-topic, but how has the flooding been?

And the '90 Grand Mayne is/was a nice reward for all your “hard work” [wink.gif]

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Hi, Bob. Flooding from last week’s typhoon was very bad. Some badly hit areas are still flooded, though less than before. This new one certainly will not help things any - but I’m not yet aware of the extent of aggravation as of now. Personally, though, I, my family and friends are not affected, save for occasional interruptions in water supply (which we take remedial action for anyway, so not a big inconvenience) - except my brother whose basement garage flooded last weekend. Fortunately, he foresaw the danger and moved his cars to higher ground.

And the '90 Grand Mayne is/was a nice reward for all your “hard work” > [wink.gif]

Heh heh, yes, always nice to have a bit of mature wine after slogging through all the young ones.

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Noel, thanks for your reply (and good to know that you and your family are ok). I was selfishly thinking of the wine pricing info more for myself than for the patrons of the wine bar :wink: It’s simply that if I read your notes about e.g. two Bordeaux and one is $ and the other $$$, I’ll try the $ one next time I see it, and avoid the $$$ one.

And in case your friends are ready to share this kind of info, I’d be interested in knowing which wines they have selected in the end and why.