This may be NZ’s top Pinot Noir for my taste. Tiny production from an steep hillside inside an abandoned limestone quarry. Every thing by hand and meticulous care taken. Low yields and minimal intervention.
This is 12.0% alcohol and shows a beautiful bright elegant red fruited character. This has good acidity and will age on the acidity more than the tannins I suspect. Very silky and fine boned and delicious.
Wonderful to drink now but will age.
Pricing has gotten too aggressive for me and have dropped off the mailing list. Very hard to find at retail on NZ, mostly mailing list.
It was good, but I preferred the 2021 SLB bottling I drank a couple months earlier. The 2020 showed the ripeness of the year while the 2021 was more elegant IMHO.
Felt like fall last night, a cool breeze for the first time since May. So I went all-in for fall. If you served me this blind and told me you got if off the shelf at Publix for $20, I’d say thanks, and never think about the wine again. Wholly unremarkable.
Gorgeous. An intensely red fruited, highly perfumed and open knit beauty without weight. It constantly evolved in the glass as I nursed the bottle over four hours and gained complexity and gravitas the longer it was open, showing herbs, menthol, coffee, orange rind, and a surprising amount of earth and mushroom. The black tea flavored finish lasts forever. I was torn between my urge to gulp it down for its refreshing qualities or savor it for it’s complexity. This is exactly what I want from a Pinot. If anyone reading has recommendations for similarly styled WV wines, I would love to hear them.
With an old friend last night. Many years ago we went to the French Laundry together and opened a bottle of 1982 Ch. Margaux that her husband had given us and a wedding gift. Her husband has since passed away too young. This 1990 (our anniversary year) was a bottle I bought on release and it showed beautifully, one of the best Bordeaux experiences I’ve had. The sommelier (this was at Plumed Horse in Saratoga) brought us the end of his 1932 Verdelho to thank us for sharing the Margaux.
2022 William Fevre Domaine Chablis
Young obviously, but totally satisfying to me. Slightly green tinged yellow in color, leading to a sniff of lemon and maybe flowers, followed by a stony, mineral, and citrus mouthful. Mix of energy and good balance. Very enjoyable. I will buy more of this.
Rather oxidative in style with bruised green apple, lemon, pear, lemon balm, and sea salt. Extremely racy, and quite full on the palate, and the acid drives home a long finish. The last bottle I drank was more about minerals than fruit and had a thunderous resonance on the finish this lacked. I’ll wait two years before opening another.
Opened for a friend who’d never tried Comte Liger Belair. Upon opening this was very fragrant and showed a surprising amount of NSG muscle and 17 raspberry acidity—surprising because these usually have such a strong producer signature. With an hour or two of air, this fanned out and became quite open and deep. Highly enjoyable, though as always with these I’m rarely if ever a buyer at secondary market prices.
2019 Bouchard Père et Fils Monthélie Domaine
Pretty polished and modern. Red and black berries with medium acidity and smooth tannins that are overtaken by the ripe fruit. Too much vanilla from the oak to my taste. This would probably benefit from a few years of rest to show some tertiary development and let the oak integrate into the whole.
NV De Sousa et Fils Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée 3A Extra Brut
We sell this. Avize, Aÿ and Ambonnay to the tune of 50% (Chardonnay), 25% (PN) and 25% (PN). Old vines, 50% stainless and 50% oak, 5 g/l, 20% reserve wines. Rich nose with citrus and red berries intermingling. There is also some spices showing up on the nose maybe from the oak. Lots of verve on the palate but the mid-palate also brings in some creaminess and depth. Decent finish on fruits and crème fraîche.
1996 Château Latour-Martillac
Mature and evolved in a good way. This is pretty much all savouriness: cigar tobacco, bell pepper, cedar, old leather and the cassis and plums peeking through. This was a joy to drink alongside braised beef shanks burgers with Comté cheese, fried pancetta and dijonnaise. Don’t dilly-dally on this one though it could lose the fruit it’s got left soon.
