TN: Rene Geoffroy, Huet, Bosquet du Pape Chante Merle, Girard, Saxum

WINE TALK
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RENE GEOFFROY, HUET, BOSQUET DU PAPE CHANTE MERLE, GIRARD, SAXUM - Our Home (11/20/2009)

Last night, my wife and I entertained friends at our home. They liked wine, but were not wine geeks. It was an enjoyable night of good food, wine and conversation.
With spiced almonds, deviled eggs, and garlic stuffed olives:

  • N.V. René Geoffroy Champagne Brut 1er Cru - France, Champagne
    I have seen all sorts of notes for this wine. This bottle was purchased a few years ago. It really showed well. Golden color, lots of tiny bubbles. Creamy with a bit of earthiness. Slightly toasty with lemons. Nice acidity. Very nice. (90 pts.)

With Butternut Squash, Pear and Ginger Soup:

  • 2004 Huët Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
    Light golden on color. A nose of honey, oranges, a bit of caramel. Great acidity. Leaner than most recent vintages, but not in a bad way. Great complexity. Went great with the soup. (90 pts.)

With Levantine Pilaf and Cranberry compote:

  • 2000 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chante Le Merle Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
    This bottle was absolutely peaking. Popped and poured. Ruby color with a fair amount of sediment. The nose is slightly earthy with prunes, a hint of smoke, black raspberries and some cherries. Layered on the palate. Complex and well balanced. Just a bit of spiceness. No hurry but no reason to wait. (92 pts.)

With assorted cheese course:

  • 1999 Girard Red Wine - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Decanted for a couple of hours. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is very nice; earthy, cassis, slight tobacco notes. Layered on the palate. Not a blockbuster and no hurry, but drinking quite well. (90 pts.)

With Chocolate Souffle

  • 2006 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
    Purple in color. This came out of the bottle a bit pruney. With about 20 minutes of air, it improved showing black raspberries, grilled meats and pepper. On the palate, this is nice, but as Saxum’s go, a bit weaker than all of my most recent experiences. Not bad, just seemed tight and not as giving. I would hold these at this point or decant. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for the report, Loren. Good to hear about a positive experience with Geoffroy’s NV cuvee after a couple of years. It sounds lovely. And I’m fascinated that you served a dry red with the dessert course. I’ve never tasted a Saxum, so I don’t have a good sense of what the style is like, but I can imagine a really full throttle, fruit-packed red working well if the souffle wasn’t too sweet.

And would you describe what exactly a Levantine Pilaf is? The cranberry compote intrigues me, and I’m always looking for new vegetarian dishes to try out. Thanks in advance!

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More and more, I am using Saxum’s at the end (or near the end) of a meal. It has such ripe fruit, that despite being dry, it has a perception of sweetness. At 16.3% Alc., it also worked well here.

The Levantine Pilaf is from the silk road cookbook. It has lots of Persian spices, dried fruits, rice, pasta in a puff pastry. The Cranberry compote also had ginger and spices. They both worked quite well with the CdP.

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Silk Road cookbook, hmm, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip.