TN: Blind Pinots and a Peking Duck Pairing

WINE TALK
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Blind Pinot Impressions and Peking Duck

Friday night at the Christie’s:

2006 Alesia San Mateo Pinot Noir
The wine is fine, good, decent, acceptable, gave it a “B”, etc. Ripe, primarily red fruited with some nicely controlled oak. Cherry sweet tart candy aromas with dusty elements and a faint touch of citrus (grapefruit). Decent strawberry tinged attack, mild acidity, sagging midpalate. Easy finish. Served blind to me, it seemed characteristically RRV and considering the balance and oak control, I guessed Copain.

2008 Loring RRV Pinot Noir
Relatively high toned and somewhat lacquered. Quite ripe and plump with some darker slightly jammy berry flavors. The midpalate sagged more than the Alesia and the finish was “off” with a touch of unexpected acetate-edged bitterness. Pretty sure the price point is “reasonable” but based on this blind taste, not a Pinot I’ll be looking for. Served blind to me, it was innocuous enough to be Australian, NZ, or ripe Cali. Is this a return to a riper lower acid Loring style? Found it disappointing after enjoying a streak of 05 SVDs with far better balance.

2004 Belle Pente Murto Pinot Noir
Initially this hit me as too oaky not unlike my last glimpse in February. Served blind to Scott he described an “avocado” aspect to the oak, which faded with time in the glass to reveal some interesting spice and perhaps the slightest non-detracting touch of celery. Excellent black cherry driven fruit with a mineral edge, good acidity and fine intensity. A bit less earth and sous bois than I typically expect from OR pinots. Long enjoyable finish with soft rubbing tannins. Scott’s blind guess was Littorai…very reasonable considering the oak and fruit profile. This could use another few years.

2002 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Aromas can unlock childhood memories, and this whisked me back to age 12 and YMCA basketball, specifically the post-game locker room aromas of socks and sneakers. Not pungent like the older boys…but unmistakeably sweaty. With aeration, the stink would occasionally fade (especially near the bottom of the glass) and revealed subtle and very elegant slightly spicy and earthy black cherry aromas. Great integration, the attack was lovely with plenty of sous bois and balanced earthy red/dark briar fruit, propelled by great acidity. The midpalate builds in to pleasing feminine finish. WOTN and an outstanding blind guess from Scott who waited out the funk and narrowed it down to a 2002 1er MSD or Chambolle-Musigny.

A long planned shopping trip to NYC on Saturday provided a chance to try a couple of pinots with a Peking Duck lunch on Mott St.

2005 Bize Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Bourgeots
Satisfying black cherry and briary fruit with a mineral edge. Nice acidity. Somewhat simple and fruit driven with plenty of bounce and not at all shy. Rough and tumble stucture. Age for a few years or drink now. Worked nicely with the duck but was outclassed by the next wine.

2004 Robert Chevillon Nuit-St-Georges Les Roncieres, 1er Cru
A touch musty and noticeably bricked compared to the previous SLB, the nose started out muted and the attack was overly acidic…but 20 minutes later, it completely collected itself and started unfolding elegant layers of flavor and aroma complexity. More feminine than I expected for a young NSG 1er. Everything fell in to balance with floral notes, spice, earth, mushrooms great red fruit integration. Maybe I’m immune…but the mean greenies were MIA. Made for duck.

RT

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Thanks for the notes.

Doesnt the sweet hoison sauce kill the wine?

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Great notes, Richard. Always a pleasure to read. I agree with you on the San Mateo. It’s a nice wine, at a good price point – particularly the later offerings at $23 per, delivered. I think that the Rhys team made the right decision to declassify the Family Farm fruit in '06.

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Berry, the subject came up at the wine shop before the meal. The Hoisin was friendlier than I expected and it helped that it was served on the side.

Greg, I was hoping for more with the 06 San Mateo based on the buzz. YMMV as they say.

RT

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Good day all,
Been a while since I’ve posted anything (new job, firewalls on my new terminal, etc.) but I felt the need to chime in on what was a fairly schizophrenic wine evening.

The Alesia was fine. I had deliberately held off from trying it after reading reports of overt oakiness, and indeed if those notes were more prominent upon release they have receded into the background noise of this wine. The nose and fruity attack were quite nice, but as Rich mentioned the mid-palate was disappointing.

The Loring was problematic from opening…had that young grapey thing going on, coupled with the volatility that Rich mentions. Admittedly a bit of a science project to open this so soon after release, but it is supposedly made to consume young. Hard to argue with the price, but for about the same moulah pass the 07 Westrey Oracle this way please.

I was never quite able to fully wrap my head around the Murto, even after sampling the next day. The green aspects would come and go in waves, at times intrusively and others times not. The dark fruit was a nice contrast to the Alesia and the Chambolle, but my Cali guess was rooted in the soft-ish acidic spine of the wine - I’d have expected a bit more brightness and verve for this Oregonian, but then again the 04 vintage may be in play here.

The Chambolle was quite a stunner. Once you wait out the stink, the wine revealed elegant balance, layers of acidity which push the midpalate through forcefully, and a long, deep finish. WOTN by a long shot.

Rich also deserves kudos for some excellent quickie cheffing. Does King salmon with a white wine and mustard reduction go with Pinot? Umm…yes please! [thankyou.gif]

Greg - sorry I will miss you tomorrow! Hopefully next time you’re on the east coast swing I’ll be able to make it.

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Fun stuff. Thanks guys, for the write ups. Glad to hear the Chevillon NSG showed well. I don’t have much but have had decent luck with the 04s.

Jason