Ha! Here again. The pain of looking at all of these pix of me is more than offset by the balm of helping Laura’s House. Frank’s in for $10, being matched, and that $20 matched by me so each cork is forty bucks.
non-commercial post: I imported this wine, the new owners of my company will probably not continue.
I rarely post in the food section, but did recently on a great wine and food match (halibut and Chateauneuf, bound together with an olive jus sauce).
This was a fantastic match with chicken paprikash!
Surprisingly mid-to-dark ruby color, not what’s expected from a 13 year old village Cote de Beaune. The aromas were almost primary, with red cherries and red dirt. The palate was vivid, more dense than lacy, with some herbs. The fruits headed towards black (mostly cherry, maybe some raspberry). The finish was long. I think this is the last bottle from the pallet I imported, but I hope I’m wrong!
Dan Kravitz
duhhh - neglected to mention what’s hard to see:
2009 Domaine Roy Auxey-Duresses
2018 Sandler Wine Company Pinot Noir Peterson Vineyard - Like all Sandler wines, an absolute pleasure to drink. Bright and smooth with red fruit dominated by cranberry. Great value.
2017 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (11/22/2022)
Tasted after 90 minutes of air. Dark ruby color. Some tea notes on the nose. Round raspberry fruit with some good crunch on the backend. Nicely balanced. Some dusty tannins. Very lively. Savory. Great QPR. (92 points)
Good for you Frank! One of my biggest annual donations is to our local “Laura’s”, called Brigid Collins House.
The charitable aspect and your generosity is the best thing about this thread. Next is the camaraderie. After that, comes putting a face on the names of so many posters and online friends who look different, older, younger than expected. Here’s mine; older and uglier than expected, but drinking a very nice Ceritas Elliot V. Pinot Noir.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Cheers,
Warren
Addendum; forgot the TN. Really dense but bright candied red raspberries, cranberries. Tannins so fine you need to attack tongue to tooth to identify them. Long finish, tart enough to keep it fresh.
Classic Goodfellow pale red. Starts with an apparent oak note that quickly fades. Tart cranberries, baking spices, a bit of citrus zest. Savory and satisfying. Great daily drinker. Easy, undemanding wine on a hard day.
Goubard owns impressive acreage in the Cote Chalonnaise, including some Givry, but his basic Bourgogne is as friendly and reliable as your old dog. Single vineyard, an impressive sweep of south-facing vines. Medium crimson color, plenty of red cherry and sous-bois in the aromas. The palate has already started to soften, nicely secondary at only 4 years (this is a 375ml, so could be younger in a regular bottle). There’s still piquancy in the finish, just a classic, mainstream glass at the end of the evening.
2018 Buena Vista Pinot Noir Chateau Buena Vista - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (11/23/2022)
Day 1: Cranberry, spice, rose petals, iron, damp earth and mild spices. Nice acidity and refreshing wine. My first Buena Vista Pinot and very nice. A very elegant effort. 91 points
Day 2: Really improved over a day. Sour strawberry, violets, minerals, iron, mushrooms, earth and chalk. This is a complex effort that will benefit with some aging. Always liked Buena Vista wines especially the Chardonnay’s and now the Pinot’s. 92+ points (92 points)
Treveri Cellars Pinot Rouge Brut NV Starting out the long process of hosting Turkey Day and cooking with my favorite domestic sparkling, Treveri. The Pinot Rouge Brut is a 200 case cuvee that has a beautiful salmon hue, and a nose of raspberry, wild strawberry, and red cherry. Palate is bright with an appropriate dosage to keep it balanced.
I finally decided to pop this bottle of wine. Been holding it for awhile. I grew up in Arkansas, and went to college in Fayetteville, and I have a buddy from school joining us today for Thanksgiving day dinner. Donald Roller Wilson is… well… he’s a character - he’s an artist - and he lives in Fayetteville. He does super realistic paintings, mostly of animals, in some bizarre scenes. Anyway, I have been a fan of his since college days. I was finally able to afford a numbered print a few years back. That and this bottle is probably it for me.
I’ve been on his email list for some time, and someone he knows had a wine made for charity, and he asked DRW to create a label. I bought two bottles just to get the labels, and it was for charity (Groundboots.org - I think it’s towards an animal rescue). DHall is Deborah Hall, the winemaker, from Gypsy Canyon Winery, and she signed the bottle. Grapes are maybe from Sta. Rita Hills.
2012 Ground Boots, Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County (13.5%)
I decided to Coravin the bottle in order to save the bottle and the label. The cork is slightly dipped in wax that looks like the wax on Tokay bottles from Hungary. On the nose, it’s definitely Pinot. It’s got that forest floor smell, some must, some caramel, and, fortunately for me, some baking spice notes. Color goes from garnet, to light ruby on the edges. Flavor profile lends to the baking spices as well. Not a lot of fruit, but some dried cranberry. Reminds me of a Sonoma Coast Pinot. A little tart and tight, but I have only had one glass, and zero decant.
Opened a 2019 Beaux Freres Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Very flat when first opened, and it improved over the next hour . I don’t know how to write a tasting note not really evaluate wine, other than saying I liked the finish (which is always most important to me regarding wine), and it was balanced . Not a big fan of acidic wine nor fruity nor tannic wine .
My friend Alan is holding the bottle , not me, so maybe this note will result in a $7.50 donation .
2014 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Hillside - USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains (11/24/2022)
13.1% abv. Medium-dark burgundy, very aromatic. On the palate, raspberry, black cherry, sage, Christmas spice and saline minerality on the finish. Impeccable depth, balance, length and focus. Drinking fantastic right now and will probably only improve with several more years of bottle age. Beautiful. (95 points)
The only disappointing thing about my Thanksgiving was the tiny number of people drinking wine. 2015 Equinox Blanc de Blancs Brut headed things off (excellent), followed by a Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc (ditto), then finally
2010 Calathus Pinot Noir, Valley de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina
I imported this on release, brought in this, Chardonnay and Malbec for a few more years, then we parted company.
Medium garnet color, very slight bricking. Nice red cherry accompanied by a clearly new-world whiff of conifer. The palate was pleasant and balanced, lacked a little intensity, but gained intricacy over 2 glasses. Rated 88, might have been a point or two better a few years ago. Drink up.
2019 Domaine Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Le Chapitre - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Marsannay (11/24/2022)
2 hour decant, spice from the oak, dark red fruit, cranberry, cherry. Such a baby but going to be so good.
2019 Aubert UV-UL pinot Noir, balanced red cherry, raspberry, blue fruits nose with palate to match. Clean fruits, cherry, good acidity with some glycerin. Rounded and enjoyable palate of dry flavor and not too high acidity. Well made, and with juiciness yet restrained.
2019 Labet Les Varrons Pinot Noir - started funky, picky vegetables. With some air it turned full mousey.
Clearly if we waited 5 years to drink this, the mouse would’ve magically disappeared, and it would have been La Tache level greatness. Sadly, tonight it was pretty bad…
2009 Marie Noelle Ledru Blanc de Noir Goulte - mix of citrus fruit, red apple, and mineral/chalk. oxidative notes and leaner in style but well balanced. Lovely wine
2010 Hudelot Noellat Chambolle 1er Les Charmes - Good, pleasant, down the middle classic red burg from a strong vintage. Didn’t express as much as it was Pnp. apparently got better on day 2.
2020 Bertheau Chambolle Musigny - Trying out a village for this new vintage. Fairly dense, fuller bodied, but still bright red fruit at the same time. plenty drinkable.
