TN: Dauvissat, Ridge, Mondavi

WINE TALK
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  • 2006 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (12/28/2009)
    Very good, verging on excellent. A dead-ringer for a good merlot-heavy left bank Bordeaux, like a Clos du Marquis or a Cantemerle or something like that. Cassis, black cherry, and chocolate (not oaky chocolate, but more of that merlot-y chocolate). A tad pruned, but I’m very sensitive to that. This really shines with the secondary flavors- herbs and a faint but pleasing pepperiness and nicely integrated oak. The tannins are ripe and there’s plenty of acid. Not very giving on the nose right now, but I’ll write that off to age and enjoy the taste. I think this would be much better with a couple of years on it.
    Edit: On day two this developed an uncanny resemblance to a dark-fruited NSG, with the black cherry fruit dominating and almost a floral character. Still delicious, but unusual. (92 pts.)

2006 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley[/url] - USA, California, Napa Valley (12/28/2009)
Very black- blackberry and licorice dominate with a good hit of mocha. This is a little thin in the middle and a little hot, too- the label says 15% ABV, and it tastes every bit of it. But its “accurate”, has good structure from fine tannin and surprising acidity, and all-in-all is as balanced as a 15% Napa Cab can be. For $19, I’d buy again. (88 pts.)

2007 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons[/url] - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (12/21/2009)
Loaded with honey and lemon fruit, both on the nose and in the mouth. This has a very creamy mouthfeel and even a “lush” midpalate, but there’s still a firm hit of acidity at the end and the usual “oyster blood” brininess you associate with Chablis. I think stylistically I prefer Fevre, but this is very very good. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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A baby-killing session, but all nice wines. I’m intrigued by the Dauvissat and hope to try it, as I am familiar (a little) with Fevre and Raveneau…would like to see the stylistic differences between them. I know Jason Hagen won’t drink them with me, as they are decades too young, but it might be fun. No pre-mox if young!

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Nice stuff. I don’t like the pruned comment on the Ridge but it still sounds nice. And the Duavissat sounds like a winner. I am assuming the pemox issues are done so I am looking to buy more 07s.

Hmm… well I would love to line up lets say 4-6 wines (so we don’t loose all the enamel on our teeth) with a few different producers and a proper food match. That is the main thing with me and young Chardonnay. They NEEEED food.

And in my limited experience the Duavissats age beautifully. Last year I opened a 96 “Chablis”, basic bottling (pre cellar-tracker but probably $10) and I thought it was lovely. One of those, “if I had only bought more” moments.

Jason

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I wouldn’t be too turned off by my “pruned” comment. As I mentioned in the note, I’m super-super sensitive to it-- as a basis for calibration, I’ve tried Carlisle 3 times and each time I found it more undrinkably pruney than the last…

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As a calibration I am fairly sensitive to it as well and I don’t like it. With Carlisle I generally stick to the the 2 Acres for that very reason.

Jason

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But cinnamon and fish (in a wine) you are not sensitive to? [wink.gif]

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You know, its funny, but there must be an ester or something that has the smell of “prune” which I’m very sensitive too. It correlates with sugar levels, but not perfectly: I’ve had 2003 Burgs that were loaded with it but had listed ABVs of 13.5% (and true ABVs probably more like 14.5%, but still, nothing too crazy), but I enjoy young Zin from Lodi (I think Turley Dogtown is the bees knees- so sue me), which are often 16%+ but still have “fresh” fruit aromas. I notice pruniness a lot in wines from the Dry Creek Valley-- I strongly prefer Geyserville to Lytton Springs among the Ridge wines, and I think that was the root of my problem with Carlisle.
I just picked up a hint of it in the Ridge SC Mts, which is why I enjoyed it, but anything beyond the level in that wine and it’s like foxiness-- it overwhelms everything else.

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Jumping back to the Dauvissat, did it not just hit you? I adore these wines, and I find this one to be especially good value.

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I also think that '07 Chablis in general is going to be one hell of a vintage as the wine evolve. When they were first released, I was a bit put off by the overtness/prominence/angularity of the acidity in the wine, but a year down the road and I am very pleased at how even some of the villages-level bottlings seem to be coming together. I myself would place Dauvsisat squarely in the #2 slot for chablis quality rankings, but I do like what Fevre is doing, and one thing I always have enjoyed about Chablis is the fact that the wines can be very enjoyable at a young age, so if you want to you can still enjoy a complex wine while taking the pre-mox concerns out of the mix.

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Hmm… I dunno. I guess my answer would be that I like my white wines extraordinarily acidic and tight, and what probably makes Dauvissant great for a “normal” drinker (the way he combines ripe chardonnay flavors with the characteristic brininess of Chablis) doesn’t really do much for me. Then again, I’m a guy who was bitching a few weeks ago about how a JJ Prum Kabinett was “blousy”, so I write off my quasi-ambivalence over the Dauvissat to my personal idiosyncrasies rather than a weakness in the wine.

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Just for fun, I checked Wine-Searcher Pro.


From Zachys, that one is almost [u]82 cents per point[/u].

From Sherry-Lehmann, that one is almost [u]$1.58 per point[/u].


Bottom line: This is not a cheap hobby.

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Hmm…well the 2006 Ridge SC Mts Cab isn’t that much…I think I got my half bottle for $19

And as for the Vaillons, Chambers had it for a song over the summer. I think I paid $40 or $50 for it.

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Well see I am a sophisticated wine drinker and we call that Mexican Terroir.

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Well you did a lot better than Wine-Searcher Pro would have predicted.