Just to add a bit to what Peter said.
N.V. Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley. I think this is perhaps the fourth time I’ve had this bottling this year and the nose is by now familiar–with scents of smoke and graphite riding atop apple skins and lemon peel. In the mouth, it has a pleasing density but seems less muscled up than the two previous bottles I’ve tasted. Fine flavors of apple and citrus rind are nicely mouth-filling and have decent persistence through to the clean, even finish.
N.V. Henri Goutorbe Champagne Brut Cuvee Prestige. This was disgorged 8/10/08. I find it to be pretty restrained and tightly-controlled on the nose, with some fine aromas of lemon peel, minerals, pear and yeast. It displays a nice frothy entry to the palate, where it feels creamy and giving. In the mid-palate, though, it shows more of its crisp flavor elements like hard minerals and smoke that ride above slightly richer components of pear and apple. It is nice and long, with fine balance and a lively citrus-tinged cut after that initial soft entry. It has a good deal of character and drinks very nicely right now.
2001 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Champeaux Vielle Vigne. There has been a lot of discussion on the wine boards recently about people experiencing problems with pickled flavors in this wine, so Blair opened this bottle for us to test that out for ourselves. To begin, the wine features a nice full bouquet of creamy black cherry, soft earth, fine spices, limestone and a hint of shaved balsa wood. In the mouth, though, that promise is instantly dashed. The wine is massively sour, with a nasty pickled overtone to the whole thing. One can taste the bright and nicely transparent red fruit trying to express itself, but it is impossible to ignore the nasty sour elements that pucker the mouth and dry out the finish. Many seem to be experiencing fine bottles, but a whole lot of people are having this sort of experience. What a shame.
2001 Domaine Meo-Camuzet Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Boudots. The upside (and it is a huge upside) to the ruined Fourrier was that it brought forth this back-up bottle from Blair’s cellar. This wine is dark and a bit serious on the nose, but also has a lot of intriguing complexity. Aromas of blackberries, black cherries, lovely spices, mysterious earth, bacon fat and soft plush oak combine very nicely and continually pull one back in for more. On the second and third glasses, the fruit begins to turn more toward the sour cherry side of the spectrum and some additional leather notes come out, as well. In addition to the fine aromatics, the wine is delightfully expansive in the mouth, fanning out right from the start to fill every crevice of the mouth with lovely flavors of cherry, black raspberry, fine earth, birch beer and a touch of vanilla. It just flows beautifully across the palate and feels totally cohesive, densely-layered and creamy smooth—all of which lead up to a grippy and finely-spiced finish that is perfectly balanced. This was my wine of the day without question.
1999 Domaine Bertagna Vougeot 1er Cru Clos de la Perriere. The nose here shows some varied notes of black raspberry, forest ferns, mossy earth and candy hot balls. In the mouth, it is nicely red-fruited and friendly, with a fine sour cherry acidity. It is giving in some ways, but also feels a bit tightly-coiled at this point. It turns creamier with time in the glass and flows quite nicely through to the well-balanced finish that features fine flavors of sour cherry and dusty earth. This is good and will be more fleshed out aromatically and perhaps more giving on the palate with a few more years in the cellar.
2004 G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba Superiore. This Barbera has a nice savory-styled nose that features aromas of leather, tobacco leaf, bell pepper, rock quarry and fine dirt to go along with glossier elements of blue and black fruits. In the mouth, it is richly-textured but cool and smoothly-flowing. Sappy red and black berry fruit and dark chocolate flavors are carried along by a stony but juicy streak of acidity that cuts through the fine coating of tannins this possesses. It turns a touch sweeter and more cherry-fruited with the next glass, but holds onto that juicy quality, the sappy slippery flow and the good length. I am happy with this wine’s performance and surely feel it can go a while, too.
2000 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. This is the fifth time I’ve had this wine in the last two years, and it has shown great on two occasions and rather tight on another. It was corked once, and then we have this bottle. What can I say? I have a very high tolerance for brett, but now I know just exactly how significant it has to be to make a wine practically undrinkable for me. Here we have a wine that smells overwhelmingly of backed up septic tank, dog crap and rotting stewed fruits right from the get-go. Nicer notes of mace, other exotic spices and rich mocha come in after a while, but the wine never relents on that nasty streak of sewage. On the palate, I really have to concentrate to put the aromatics out of my brain and focus on the flavors and textures, but it is very difficult to do. Blair seems to really like it on the palate, but my mind is already biased against the wine. Still, I can sense the intense concentration I know from experience that it possesses, along with all of the rich ripe black currant fruit and other taste components that are stacked and packed. But it is all wasted on me, sadly, as I just can’t enjoy this bottle.
2006 Carlisle Syrah Sonoma County. The Carlisle has an attractive nose of blueberry pie and boysenberry fruit, with some earthier tones of bark and white pepper underneath. It is rich and fairly sweet-fruited in the mouth, with a chalky youthful edge and lots of earthy white pepper and tomato leaf notes in there for some balance. There is a lot of body and stuffing to this, but it is not blowsy, nor does it show any heat from the alcohol content. A second glass begins to wear a bit thin on me, but for the first glass at least, I enjoyed this.
2000 Dutschke Shiraz St. Jakobi Barossa Valley. This is not one of those big jammy Aussie Shirazes by any stretch, and that is obvious from the first sniff. Aromas of black raspberries, white pepper, wet lumber, brown spices and cold campfire ashes are moderately even-keeled, though from time to time one does sense a bit of warm roasty character to the fruit. I remember this having a lot of peppermint and eucalyptus on the nose upon release, but all of that seems to have integrated at this point (though just a twinge of that left over might have added some welcoming extra complexity). In any event, it is fairly plush-textured on the tongue, with a nice ball of blueberry and blackberry fruit and fine framing spices. However, the wine is much more on the dry side than anything sweet or chewy. There are no fireworks here, but rather just a nice-sipping bit of easy-going Syrah with some interesting spice and leather notes to keep it interesting. I suggest drinking up now.
-Michael
so who ya gonna believe? Stunning purity of fruit set against distinct minerality.
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