2022 Six Cloves Zin
2021 Liminal High Canyon Syrah
Both paired with leg of lamb. Both delicious
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Chidaine’s wines were ubiquitous 10 years or so ago. I once bought a bottle of Les Tuffeaux at a gas station. And then they suddenly disappeared. The Touraine bottlings could be found, and on occasion, Les Argiles - the least interesting offering from the core range - while the rest of the lineup disappeared into the ether. It’s been a number of years since I have had any of his wines; this bottling must have come after I stopped buying. Needless to say, I was excited to taste this.
Huge disappointment on opening. It surprised me with new oak - something I don’t recollect tasting in Chidaine’s wines previously. The oak ultimately pulled a Houdini and I forgot all about it. What was left after the oak disappeared was a very concentrated wine full of Chenin character. It had a real sense of opulence - honeyed baked apple/pear desserts and spices - but was equally ethereal. The wine is creamy and textural, mineral/flinty, and long. This is a high acid wine, which drives the length, but it is so well integrated it just comes across as round. It has a powerful and intriguing mint flavor which very much agonized the Transient Receptor Potential receptors in my mouth. (That’s a really odious way of saying it leaves a cool sensation in the mouth, but there are just not many opportunities to organically use Transient Receptor Potential in a sentence. You have to take advantage of the opportunities when they arise). I am very excited to revisit the rest of the lineup.
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Sociando-Mallet 2009
This has evolved well since the last one tried in November 2022. The nose seems deeper, very Pauillac in style, with forest fruits and blackcurrant, plus cigar box and tobacco. In the mouth, at first the fruit was still rather jammy and voluptuous, but a few hours later it had settled down, leaving a fresh attack of blackcurrant and plum, powering into a very long and deep blackberry finish, quite rich but balanced by fresh blackcurrant on the tongue.
This would be a good wine to serve someone who doesn’t like Sociando-Mallet - no green at all! If I had been told I was drinking a Pichon Baron, I would have believed it - in fact, there’s a slight spiciness to the finish that reminded me of a Saint Estèphe like Montrose.
It’s not quite ready yet and will probably need another two years or so to reach peak, but this is a very impressive SM, like I had expected the 2000 to be a few years back. Jean Gautreau’s aim was to challenge the CCs - he did more than that: wines like this one would beat at least half of them in a comparative tasting.
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Awesome note, and like a dumb dumb, I do not have the 2009 SM. But I do have the JG Cuvee. That one needs more time.
Cheers Robert!
I’m sure you can still find some! That’s one of SM’s advantages - not too expensive and produced in such large quantities that it isn’t hard to find.
It’s richer than the average SM, so don’t expect another 01 - actually the style made me think of Cuvée JG (I haven’t tried the 09 yet), so a little plush, but nothing excessive and I really enjoyed the greater depth than usual.
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Family visiting yesterday who are not big wine drinkers so opened a '13 Bedrock Lorenzo’s Heritage to serve with Flannery lamb. This drank very well as a PnP, and while it did have it’s fair share of dark of fruits, there is some really nice acidity and smooth tannins that made it feel lighter and refreshing.
I had the '16 on Friday with red-sauce pasta. This is a different beast than the '15. This has higher acid and more spice, less fruit forward.
Seems like the wine needs more time, which is my impression of the vintage as a whole (vs 2015). It’s also quite a coincidence that you could say the same about 2016 vs 2015 in multiple other regions (Burgundy, Bordeaux).
I struggle to think of a Jura producer whose reds I prefer to the white. Michel Gahier is maybe closest.
The same is true of Overnoy, where the difference is maybe greater given how sublime the whites can be. But for a fair price I couldn’t resist.
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I think the opulence of '15, when not overdone, makes it more friendly to drink today.
Thanks for posting on the thread @james.andrews5!
I paired my Zinfandel with my neighborhood Georgian restaurant’s lamb stew and it was wonderful. It’s great to hear that you did the same with Six Cloves’ Zin! Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an Italian wine tasting event in San Francisco. I was amazed to find that one producer’s Etna Rosso had exactly the same tasting profile as my Zinfandel. I also found that many Pinot Ross were very similar to my 2021 Pinot Noir. Now, I’m determined to pair my Zin and Pinot with more Italian cuisine.
Cheers!
Based on the other thread, you’re using the three in for every one out approach?
Gentlemen don’t bother with math. That’s for the help.
1990 Chenu-Lefebvre Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières. Unknown producer, but I took a flyer on two bottles, and I’m glad I did. Coravined a glass to serve with an perfect Flannery ribeye steak.
Very much alive, with great balance of elegance and rusticity, savory fruit and earth.
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Are we meant to put restaurant stuff in here?
Anyway Horees PV 1er Les Fichots is wonderful.
Rounded out a great evening that started tasting the full range from Maison Harbour.
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2020 Orin Swift Mannequin
We are starting to see more US wines in last twelve months. This is a bit flabby, with bruised apple notes and an oily texture. Underwhelming. $160 on the list. Murray Cod and octopus very good though.
Still rolling around Charleston and headed to 167 RAW on East Bay. Brought a 2007 SQN Body and Soul, mostly Roussanne with a bit of Viognier. What a delicious bottle of wine…melon, honeydew, pineapple, lemon, and spice, great acidity. Color had me a tad worried, but fully alive and well with years to go. @B_Buzzini
The duck fried rice at 167 may have been the best dish I had over the course of 5 days in Charleston. Unreal textures and flavors. Not a huge fan of sushi, fish was great, but everything had Shiso and I have a cilantro-esque reaction to Shiso where it tastes like bug spray, so I had to deconstruct many rolls to remove the offending leaf.
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