Digging deep.
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2022 Faiveley Mercurey Vieilles Vignes
Hints of spice and red berries on the nose. Fresh red berries on the palate, decent acidity and length. A fine daily drinker which I would venture even has a little ageing potential.
If I may be so uncouth as to comment on my own wines, last few times I’ve actually thought the Eserra has showed slightly better than the Mariedam, which is not something I would have said just a year ago. I think it might have to do with the age of it (as it was only done in 2021 - age can work on rosé). But @J_Patrick_Lynch did say he preferred the Mariedam and I think that’s the general consensus from most of my customers.
One of the reasons I had the Eserra on BD15, was that I know that older rosées have a strange life on the market when they have a few years on them - few takers. Which is kinda a shame, but that’s how the market is.
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Crianza 2018 Vina Real Rioja from CVNE…drinking well, food friendly, good QPR red,went well with Bison burgers
I had mentioned to you that I thought Eserra really came around from the first few bottles (last summer) to the last time I had it January. Tasting side by side this week, I agree that Eserra was showing better than the most recent Mariedam. Every bottle of Eserra has some benign tartrate crystals, which may put some drinkers off?
That being said, the inaugural vintage of Mariedam remains my favorite.
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Another warm day, and Lenten abstention for weight management goes out the window…
2019 Kongsgaard Chardonnay
Big and muscly rather than big and flabby. Pronounced pithy and mineral flavors mid palate and back. Expressive nose of mild florals and citrus. Frankly it’s just way too young - a surprise for me for a 5 year old CA chard. Would love to revisit to is in about another 3 years.
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Perhaps shutting down? I’ve got a few 2019 Huets and I recall folks mentioning that happens with Huet.
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Quite possible, yes.
Ten years is what I hold these for and then they are fabulous drinking my 14s and 13s now
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Based on this experience that’s excellent advice
The oak is much better integrated than my previous date with this wine; Its presence announced only by the buttery texture and deep smoky notes. It is very concentrated, creamy, and full of mango and apricot richness. The pendulum swings rather dramatically in the other direction after a flirtatious tango in the middle. The wine turns savory and spicy, explodes with tangy acidity, and finishes long with massive salinity. This is better in five years, but it’s a knockout right now. Power, elegance and complexity.
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I agree, that first vintage Mariedam was great. Hoping '23 will hit the same high’s!
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Went to a local wine/“épicerie fine” fair today. I picked up so pretty tasty Parmigiano Reggiano al tartufo and guanciale (carbonara here I come). But we actually went there to taste the 2012 of Domaine de la Jaufrette.
If you don’t know these guys, their négoce operations allow them to hold their wines until the feel they are ready to drink. So, other than the Côte-du-Rhône (2019 or 2021 I think), we were tasting the 2012s.
The buddy I was with really liked the 2011 last year and bought quite a bit for his wine shop (including larger formats). But he had a little bit of bottle variation with some being more tired than others. So he wanted to check in on 2012 before making any kind of purchase decision.
Please bear in mind I’m not big on most Southern Rhône wines.
Domaine de la Jaufrette Côte-du-Rhône 2019 (2021?): Ok. Plenty of ripe fruit and some dried herbs but missing excitement to me. Not a buy for me. Grenache 67%, Mourvèdre 13%, Carignan 11%, Syrah 9%.
Domaine de la Jaufrette Vacqueyras 2012: Absolutely lovely. Ripe fruit but without any overt sweetness nor jammy character, plenty of guarrigue, integrated tannins that still provide chewiness to the palate but without astringency, enough acidity to make this fresh and a long finish adding crushed stones without any alcohol peaking through. This was my wine of the tasting (the only one I would buy for myself). Grenache 65%, Syrah 14%, Mourvèdre 11% , Counoise 4%, Cinsault 4%, Terret 2%.
Domaine de la Jaufrette Gigondas 2012: The fruit is riper than the Vacqueyras and this shows less herbal undertones as well. Tannins are still quite present, a little coarse and mouth-drying on the finish. However, the wine already exhibits a mature profile (stewed plums, prunes, truffle, earth and a little gamey). This might keep the tannins forever so for lovers of this style. We were told this was on sandy soils and showed elegant with silky tannins (!?!) yet it was served after the Vacqueyras and the tannins I got were nothing like silky. Go figure. Grenache 85%, Mourvèdre 8%, Syrah 7%.
Domaine de la Jaufrette Châteauneuf-du-Pape: I have a hard time with most Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s just not my style of preference. I had the Domaine Tourbillon 1947 yesterday and liked it more. The Jaufrette
is on stewed red and black berries, lots of spices (clove, pepper) with still a powerful frame. This is also showing mature and I wouldn’t keep this much longer. Grenache 90%, Mourvèdre 4%, Syrah 4%, Counoise 2%.
My buddy and I both agreed the “buy” was the Vacqueyras in 2012.
We continued at the fair going towards the food section to enjoy a chou farci, aligot and tarte tatin but we stopped by 2 other booths.
Champagne P. Guerre et fils: we tried the Brut, Brut Réserve, BdB, BdB Millésimé (12 and 15), BdN 15 and Héritage BdB. Meh.
Domaine de Saumarez: Cool little domaine with a backstory. This is located near Montpellier. This was created about 20 years ago by a British banker and his wife, accountant from New-Zealand (Robin and Liz Williamson). Pure passion project, they make tiny quantities and are still experimenting with a lot of stuff. They have received some acclaim (RVF wrote something on them and some 3-starred Mich carry their wines) and it’s the cépages they are using that got us moving towards their tasting table. Robin seems like a great guy and I think it’s worth following up over the coming years as some of what we tasted was really good.
I didn’t take any pictures (other than the Peit Verdot we had for lunch) nor wrote down the name of the cuvées so apologies for the incomplete notes.
The first one was Grenache Blanc dominant with some Marsanne and a sprinkling of Roussane. I’m not big on Rhône whites either but this was lovely. Plenty of fruit, enough acidity for me to like this and managed bitterness for an interesting and long finish. For the price, very nice.
The Chardonnay fell a little short for me. I didn’t find anything standing out and at that price, I can get some Chard from the Mâconnais I will enjoy more.
The first red we tried was, I think, Grenache dominant. I have little recollection other than I got some banana flatness from it which I get sometimes on other wines (still trying to pinpoint if it comes from the chosen yeast or something else) and that put me off.
The second was 100% Syrah and was a nice clean rendition of it. Bright fruit and a decent finish. The price point is a little high but they produce something like 800 bottles of it.
The next one was the star! 100% Sangiovese (“surgreffage” on grenache vines). They decided to go with Sangiovese since their love of wines came from a trip they both made to Tuscany quite a while ago. Super good. Bright, fresh with beautiful florals and manageable tannins. This feels fresh yet exhibits quite a bit of complexity on the palate. I really liked this! They also produce less than a 1000 bottles of this one.
They also had a 100% Malbec and a 100% Petit Verdot but considering that they only produce around 300 bottles of each, they weren’t opening them for the tasting. Intrigued, we purchased a bottle of Petit Verdot to drink with the stuffed cabbage.
Interesting but I didn’t love this. Rather one dimensional, a little flat on the palate with a somewhat short finish. Is Petit Verdot really meant to stand on its own? I’ve only tried two 100% Petit Verdot so I am not the person to answer this question!
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Tried this for the first time. Ordered off the menu at Corima. Baked Apple, Lemon pie. Rich but clean palette. Really good friendly wine.
Found the magnum of Dujac CSD at almost half the retail price at Tolo. Given the amount of wine we had already had, it was hard to judge. Felt a bit closed. By hour two the wine had started opening up and the nose was lovely. Lighter style grand cru with some dark spices.
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'03 Robert Foley Claret
PVG is mostly known for his whites, but the reds definitely shouldn’t be slept on. They started off as really good values, though the prices have crept up a bit. Still think they’re pretty good values, but maybe not for long.