1996 Muscat d'Alsace, Charles Boch, Heiligenstein. 26FF. Light nose with some pears. Soft acidity, fair fruit and a bit of spice, but not the heavy dose that Pam and I love in good Alsatian muscat. Fair wine. (1 Aug, 97)
1996 Klevener de Heiligenstein, Charles Boch, Heiligenstein. 33FF. Supposedly this brand of Klevener is only grown in Heiligenstein. I know there's several other similar-sounding grapes which are variants of sylvaner, muller-thurgau, etc. Boch's vines are 30 years old for this one. I'm not sure where this particular variant falls in. Soft, slightly musky nose. Round in the mouth with light acidity. Good fruit and a nice finish. We bought a couple just because. (1 Aug, 97)
1996 Tokay Pinot Gris, Charles Boch, Heiligenstein. 29FF Light nose, still young and green. Light, fair fruit, slight alcoholic heat. Fair wine. (1 Aug, 97)
1996 Gewurztraminer, Charles Boch, Heiligenstein. 36FF. Good to fair fruit, slightly short finish and only moderate fruit. Fair wine, pretty good value. (1 Aug, 97)
1996 Muscat d'Alsace, Cuvee Particulare, Gustav Lorentz. 50FF Slightly light nose with an OK dash of muscat spice. Light acidity, a little coarse. Fair but coarse finish. Too light for me. Fair to OK wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1995 Muscat d'Alsace, Cuvee Trois Epis, Gustav Lorentz. 59FF. Slightly dieselish nose. Fair fruit, more diesel in the mouth. Odd flavors. Light, short finish, little or no spice. Poor to fair. (2 Aug, 97)
1995 Muscat d'Alsace, Grand Cru Altenburg, Gustav Lorentz. 61FF Light nose, fair spice. Fair fruit in the mouth, soft acidity. Nice finish with some honey and minerals. Fair wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1995 Tokay Pinot Gris, Riserve, Gustav Lorentz. 43FF. Green and young, but didn't seem to have the stuffing to get any better. Poor to fair wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1994 Tokay Pinot Gris, Cuvee Particulare, Gustav Lorentz. 50FF. Diesel, musky nose. Off, odd flavors. Ick. (2 Aug, 97)
1994 Tokay Pinot Gris, Cuvee Trois Epis, Gustav Lorentz. 59FF. Fair nose with some nice fruit. Better fruit and slightly higher acidity. Moderately long finish. Fair wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Tokay Pinot Gris, Grand Cru Schofweg, Gustav Lorentz. 60FF. Odd nose of wet wool. Is this slightly oxidized or is it just wierd fruit? Doesn't matter, this gets a frowning "Mr. Ick" face from me. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Tokay Pinot Gris, Grand Cru Altenburg, Gustav Lorentz. 71FF Quiet nose, better fruit with moderate acidity but some diesel tones. Poor to fair. (2 Aug, 97)
1992 Tokay Pinot Gris, Grand Cru Altenburg, Gustav Lorentz. 100FF. At last, better wine! Nice nose with spice, good fruit and minerals. Good, almost even big fruit in the mouth, but I'm not sure if I was still suffering from the poor earlier wines and thought more of this one in comparison... IAC, there's some stuffing to this wine and it has a nice finish. Good wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Gewurztraminer, Grand Cru Altenburg, Gustav Lorentz. 71FF Floral nose, soft acidity and floral flavors. Simple. Finish starts nice, but falls apart. Poor to fair wine. (2 Aug, 97)
1990 Gewurztraminer, Grand Cru Altenburg, Gustav Lorentz. 114FF. Nice nose with some good musk from older gewurzes. Good fruit, moderately long finish with fair spice. Good wine, fair value. (2 Aug, 97)
1992 Gewurztraminer Vendage Tardives, Gustav Lorentz. 136FF. Odd, closed nose without much fruit. Fair sugar but disappointing in the mouth -- "Blah" is what I wrote. Poor. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Riesling Schonenbourg, Deiss. 145FF. Riesling seems to be a specialty of Deiss, so we thought we'd try one. We don't really care for Alsace rieslings, but found this one nice. The attendant said that Deiss' rieslings need around 10 years to show their best. Very minerally nose with some sharp citric tones. Moderate acidity. Leans to austere, minerally style with some citric backbone. Nice finish, extremely minerally. Appreciated it, but it didn't change our opinion on Alsace riesling. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Tokay Pinot Gris, Berg, Deiss. 80FF. Light nose, but nice. Good up front fruit, falls apart a bit. Short finish. Still young, but a nice wine in a couple more years I think. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Gewurztraminer, Berg, Deiss. 70FF. Lightly floral nose with a lot of citrus there. Soft acidity, good fruit and floral tones. Somewhat short. Good to fair. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Gewurztraminer, St. Hippolyte, Deiss. 77FF. Slightly closed nose. Good fruit, much bigger than the Berg. Mid to long finish with some nice honey and good spice. Good wine and a very good value. This knocked the h3ll out of the Lorenz in the same price range. (2 Aug, 97)
1993 Pinot Noir, Burlenburg, Deiss. We usually avoid Alsace pinot noir, finding it much too light and bubble gummy for our tastes. We saw another group trying this one and it was the first DARK Alsace pinot noir we'd seen, so we asked for some water to cleanse our palates and gave it a shot. Slight earthy nose, fair berry fruit and a light "bubble gum" whiff. ITM, good fruit and a fair-to-nice finish. Fair wine, but still not for us. (2 Aug, 97)
1990 Tokay Pinot Gris, Bergheim, Vendage Tardives, Deiss. 154FF/750. Oily, thick, beautiful nose. "Dog biscuit!" is how I started my tasting notes. (If you don't remember the old cartoon with the mutt, forget that reference.) Spicy, honeyed, floral with good fruit. Finish somewhat short, but with nice fruit. Good juice! (2 Aug, 97)
1989 Gewurztraminer, Bergheim, Vendage Tardives, Deiss. 150FF/750. Huge nose. Very floral in the mouth, soft acidity, good sugar. Long honeyed finish with a load of spice and a lot of flowers. Good stuff, but definitely leans to the floral side. Could use some more fruit to make it more interesting. (2 Aug, 97)
1990 Gewurztraminer, Grand Cru Altenberg, Vendage Tardives, Deiss. 170FF/750. Lighter flowers on this nose and a good chunk of fruit with honey. Good fruit, loads of sugar, somewhat low acidity? Honeyed, long finish. Much more complex than the 89 and a lot better wine for our tastebuds. Great juice. (2 Aug, 97)
1989 Gewurztraminer, Grand Cru Altenberg, Selections du Grains Nobles. ~280FF/750. INTENSE nose of honey and apricot. Lots of fruit, loads of sugar. Liquid honey. Great finish with fruit, spice, honey, caramel. This was wonderful juice and we're happy owners of a couple. (2 Aug, 97)
1995 Cave Eguisheim Riesling, Alsace. Light color, soft floral nose. Pam found some minerals too. Moderate acidity with a slight diesel tone and lots of minerals -- kind of light on fruit, I thought. Fair finish, somewhat sweetish. (14 December, 1996)
1995 Lucien Albrecht Riesling Reserve, Alsace. Nice fruit on the nose, very minerally and steely in the mouth with moderate acidity. Nice finish, but mostly minerallish. I actually guessed this one as being Alsatian. (14 December, 1996)
1994 Joseph Cattin Riesling Alsace (Voegtlinshoffen). Weendy nose, acidic and weedy in the mouth although it picks up nice fruit. Smooth, nice finish. (14 December, 1996)
1992 Bernard Staehle Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Hengst. ~$9. Nice flowery nose that follows into the mouth. Good acidity, could be a bit more round bit still a lot of very nice fruit and spice. Smooth finish. Nice wine! (February, 1996)
1990 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile. Steely, petrolish nose with good fruit behind. Very dry, crisp acidity. Great fruit in the mouth: apples, pears and some tropical?? Minerally tones plus some diesel. Incredibly long finish. This is the first wine where the term "austere" made sense to me. In my thoughts, austere isn't plain or weak. This wine seemed austere like a bleak mountain. It's huge, it's strong and it's beautiful if you take just a moment to examine it. Incredible wine. M. Trimbach thought this was one of the best Frederic Emiles ever produced. (Tasted during a visit to Trimbach winery, May 1995)
92 Trimbach Tokay Pinot Gris Reserve Personelle 13% alch, .8 RS Big flowery nose, great fruit in the mouth with lots of body and acidity. Just a slight hint of residual sugar, due to being harvested at 14.5% potential alcohol. Lots of apples and melons. Thick, long finish. Wonderful wine, not hot in the least, even at 13%. (Tasted during a visit to Trimbach winery, May 1995)
90 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre 13%alch ~.8RS Thick, flowery nose with a bit of minerally tones. Round in mouth with nice acidity. Flowers, minerals, melons, pears, apples -- the fruit goes on and on. Long, honeyed finish with just a _very_ slight alcoholic bite. Incredible juice! (Tasted during a visit to Trimbach winery, May 1995)
92 Turkheim co-op Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Sporen 59FF 13% alc Nice floral, slightly minerally nose. Moderate acidity, very good fruit. Long, very spicy smooth finish. Darn good wine! (Tasted during at the co-op, May 1995)
92 Turkheim co-op Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Hengst 57FF 13%alc. Lemony nose with slight hints of grass. Melons and honey in the moth with flowers at the front. Nice finish lessened by a slight bit of alcoholic heat. Nice - good wine. (Tasted during at the co-op, May 1995)
88 Riesling Jubilee Hugel et Fils Strong dieselish nose with lots of flowers, minerals and apples behind. Very crisp with lots of apples, citrus and a hint of oil. Very dry wine. Nice finish, long and smooth. Wonderful stuff. (Tasted at the winery, May 1995)
89 Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive Hugel et Fils Honeyed, citrusy nose. Immense body and flavors: fat tropical fruit, melons, citrus. Acidity on the lighter side?. Huge, long finish. Tremendous wine. (Tasted at the winery, May 1995)
88 Gewurztraminer Selections de Grains Nobles Hugel et Fils My precise notes read "Intense! WOW!" Filling in the blanks later that evening: Incredible fat nose with honey, tropical fruit, apples and wonderful spice that seems to show up only in the best late harvest gewurztraminers. Rich, thick, syrupy and intense, complex layers of all the fruit above and more. Finish that lasted until Monday's breakfast. Incredible juice. (Tasted at the winery, May 1995)
89 Gewurztraminer Selections de Grains Nobles Hugel et Fils My notes again "Even more intense. Damn close to d'Yquem!" The only d'Yquem I've ever had was at Elliot Apter's party in February (Thanks again, Elliot!!) and this stuff was right up there with the wines at the ApterBash. Take the above notes for the `88 and multiply by 2.89645 and you have close to what I had in that glass. Words failed me and I stood there with a silly look on my face. (The algebraic formula for my comments was 2.89645 * Whooooohaaaaahhhhhwoooooowwwhhheeeee) At a rough price of 450FF/750, this wine is AN INCREDIBLE BUY! (Tasted at the winery, May 1995)
It was amazing how different the two decades were. The 80's held great concentration and balance. The 90's were the same, but brought to an even greater level of intensity. ("Kicked up a notch", as TV chef Emeril Legasse might say.) This was an incredible display: the 'worst' wines were good, the rest great or outstanding. All of the wines had terrific balance and power. Folks have said it here before and I'll repeat it: Baumard doesn't make bad wines, regardless of the vintage. He makes good wines in weaker vintages and knockouts in better vintages.
A note of sad discussion were the recent explosive price hikes. The importer has nearly trebled the price of these great wines, while the fellow who really does the work, M. Baumard, hasn't increased his prices much at all. I wish I could come up with appropriate words to describe my ire at the importer's actions. The prices are now far too high for anyone present last night to continue collecting these wines. What a pity!
On a side note, I've barely tasted any wine in the seven months since Pam got a little pregnant. I found that my ability to describe and pick apart the wines has really slipped. (As if I ever had much ability anyway) My ability to enjoy the wines certainly hasn't fallen off, and that's the important part!
Without further ado, the tasting notes:
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Flight 1
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1982 Mid-gold color. Honeyed, lush nose with a whiff of vanilla
to it. Good fruit in the mouth with a terrific dose of acidity and
sugar. Long, incredibly complex finish. I came back to this
wine several times over the rest of the evening and found the winderful
acidity and fruit had come out even more. It's acidity wasn't out
of balance by any means, just even more refreshing. Great wine.
1983 Lighter, mid-gold color. Nose shows less honey than the '82, but more minerals. Lighter fruit, a light floral component to the mouth. Perhaps a bit 'chunkier' than the '82? Mid-length finish, not overly complex. Good wine.
1986 Middle to light gold. Honeyed nose with a whaft of musk. Lovely fruit in the mouth. This wine's very round and shows a lovely dose of sugar. Finish is moderately long, not as big or long as the '82. Great wine.
1987 Again, middle to light gold. Very light nose in comparison, shows some chalky aromas. Very good fruit in the mouth with a lovely dose of balanced sugar and acidity. Another very round wine. Finish is of fair length, but not overly complex or layered. Potentially great, but lowered down to 'good' because of the light nose and finish.
1988 Darker mid-gold color. Wonderful nose of honey, fruit and some botrytis. Great body (underlined in my notes) with good sugar/acidity balance. Strong botrytis in the mouth with some caramel notes to the flavors. Lovely, long finish with more caramel tones to it. Outstanding.
The '88 was a much-discussed wine. The Buddy found it smokey with some asparagus tones in the nose. Pam agreed with the asparagus nose and I found the smokiness when coming back to the wine later. Bob Spector didn't care for the '88 at all. That's OK, Bob. Just give me your glass.
1989 Mid-light gold. More fruit on the nose, lighter aromas of botrytis. Loads of fruit in the mouth with great sugar and great acidity. Infinitely long finish. Coming back to the wine later I found it was still a huge bruiser of a wine. Immensely round with impecable balance, holding its fruit throughout the evening, even gaining a bit of lovely petrol in the nose and palate. Bob Spector said this might be his favorite Baumard. Outstanding, incredible wine.
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Intermezzo
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1967 Lighter, more subtle nose than the youngsters showing a bit of
a floral, minerally side to it. Lovely, subtle fruit with a wonderful
balance of sugar and acidity -- and the acidity's incredibly strong for
a 33 year old wine!! Sugar is drying out a bit, but there's still
plenty of it there. My notes say "long, long, LONG finish".
Coming back to the wine several times over a couple hours, I found that
it had lost some of its power in the middle, but retained its wonderful
finish. Can this really be three decades old? Great wine!
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Flight 2
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1990 Mid-light gold. Lush, tropical nose. Completely different from the '89. Huge body (underlined twice in my notes) with an incredible round viscousness. Great acidity, incredible sugar. Did I say this was incredibly viscous? I'll say it again: this is an incredibly viscous wine. Complex, very lengthy finish. I said this was like pancake syrup and got laughed at. Tough. Pancakes would weep with joy to have this stuff poured over them. This wine was also a surprisingly wonderful match with VMS's intense, wonderful flan. Outstanding, incredible wine.
1992 Slightly lighter gold color. Lighter nose without the intense tropical side of the '90. Great fruit, honeysuckle and custard in the mouth. Big and round with less intensity than the '90 but still wonderful sugar and acidity. This is a lighter, more subtle wine than the '90, but quite elegant showing incredible balance and complexity. Moderately long finish. This wine was my sweetheart favorite of the night. This was the wine I poured myself more of after the tasting was over and the group was done with dessert and coffee. This wine reminded me of a quiet, elegant and refined woman in a room full of loud, flashy young ladies who are falling out of their mini-skirts: You're knocked over by the minis at first, but you're wonderfully rewarded by time with the quiet beauty in the corner. Outstanding.
1993 Lovely nose, much more flowery than the others. Nose was somewhat short. Lots of orange citrus acid in this wine -- the most acidic of any of the 13 wines. That said, this wasn't even near out of balance. Moderately long finish. Great wine.
[Side note as I'm writing: The '93 has a 'moderately long finish' only in comparison to the other fantastic wines. Were this wine served by itself I'd probably have written 'very long finish'. A great wine in a crowd of champions!]
1994 The most citric nose of all 13. Huge sugar, acidity nearly as strong as the '93. Quite similar in flavors to the '93 as well with the same 'moderately' long finish. Great wine.
1995 Flowery nose with gobs of tropical fruit. Incredibly round and luscious in the mouth. Great fruit, incredible sugar and acidity. My notes say "Finish? It didn't stop." This wine was the salsa dancer of the evening, a Ricky Martin video beauty spilling out of a tiny dress. Outstanding wine.
1996 Nose? My notes say "Way huge, great strength", followed by "WOW!" for the taste. Incredible body, amazing flavors of more tropical fruit and even some caramel. Fantastic power with incredible balance. The finish goes on forever. As intense and amazing as the '95 was, this is even a notch higher in concentration and outright power. Absolutely outstanding.
Non-Vintage Gratien & Meyer Saumur Brut, Cuvée Flamme. This wine is produced near Saumur in the Loire valley. It's made from 70% chenin blanc, 20% chardonnay and 10% cabernet franc. Nice nose with some crisp apples and just a hint of toasty aromas. Very firm acidity in the mouth with good fruit and a lovely balance of toasty/yeasty flavors. For us, "lovely balance of toasty/yeasty flavors" means a light touch. We don't care for the heavily toasty/yeasty sparkling wines. (17 November, 1996)
The following notes are from our trip to the Loire valley in June, 1996. If you're interested, check out my travelogue "Biking through Quarts de Chaume" for a report on a terrific vineyard, complete with some photos of our bike trip.
1995 Domaine des Baumard la Cateche Anjou Blanc. "Lowest" quality wine from the Domaine. Somewhat light nose. Extremely dry in the mouth with fairly high acids. Great apples and pears with a nice finish. Good wine.
1993 Domaine des Baumard Savennieres. Very minerally nose, carrying over to the flavor. Alongside the minerals, lots of citrus, nice pears and apples, high acids and a moderately long finish. Good wine.
1995 Domaine des Baumard Savennieres. Softer, fruitier nose. Somewhat less fruit in the mouth and also a bit more alcoholic heat. Good wine.
1991 Domaine des Baumard Savennieres, Clos du Papillon. Made from a select vineyard in the southeast quadrant of Savennieres. Even more intense minerally tones throughout the wine. Great acidity, nice fruit and also somewhat buttery -- a surprise since the wines spend no time in oak and undergo no malolactic fermentation. Good wine.
1994 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon. Lemony, minerally nose with wonderful fruit in the palate. Great sugar, high, balanced acids and a moderate finish. Nice juice!
1995 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon, Cuvee Payon (Peacock). Selected grapes/vineyards only used for this rarely produced Coteaux. Minerally nose with lots of fruit behind. Great sugar, wonderful fruit in the mouth with balanced acids. Wonderful fruit, great wine.
1993 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume. WOW! Great musty, minerally nose with a ton of sugar in the mouth. Loads of fruit, high acids and a long, honeyed finish. Terrific juice!
1995 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume. Even more intense than the '93 with bigger sugar in the mouth. Much rounder, but with very high acids keeping the wine from any sense of cloyness. Plenty of minerally tones and lots of honey. Long, LONG finish. Tremendous juice.
1994 Lehnert-Spaeter Peirsporter Treppchen Riesling Eiswein. Moderate gold color, syrupy texture with great fruit and sugar. Lots of acidity and a lovely finish. Not incredibly intense, but still a very lovely wine. (14 December, 1996)
1995 Weingut Stadt Klingenberg Klingenberger Schlossberg Portugieser QbA. Again, very simple fruit and perhaps just off-dry. Somewhat bubble-gummy flavors, but I've found that in lots of portugiesers. (October, 1996)
1995 Weingut Stadt Klingenberg Klingenberger Schlossberg Portugieser QbA. 11,50DM Light red color, funky nose with some alcohol and meat tones. Ick. Tarry flavors with fruit, but hot and slightly tannic. Thumbs down on this one. (October, 1996)
1991 Weingut Stadt Klingenberg Klingenberger Schlossberg Spätburgunder QbA 12%alch, 14,50DM. Fair fruit on the nose, but some alcoholic heat creeps through. Firm tannins, moderate acidity, fair fruit in the mouth and a medium-finish. Fair wine. (October, 1996)
1993 Weingut Stadt Klingenberg Klingenberger Schlossberg Spätburgunder Kabinett 13% alch, 16,50DM. Meaty, earthy nose with no fruit. Starts meaty and earthy in the mouth, then picks up nice fruit in the middle and finish. Hot from alcohol and mildly tannic. Thumbs down on this one for us. (October, 1996)
1993 Weingut Stadt Klingenberg Klingenberger Schlossberg Spätburgunder
Spätlese 13,5% alch, 18,50DM. Much nicer nose with some fair fruit.
Rounder in the mouth without the heat of the prior wine. Moderate tannins
and acidity and some good fruit. Much nicer than the prior wine, but still
just an OK wine for us. (October, 1996)
Wines from other European Countries
1988 Chateau Messzelato Tokaji Aszu, Hungary. Tokaji is somewhat sherry-like, but can show wonderful differences. This wine is brown-orangish in color and has a lovely aroma of nuts, honey and citrus. High acidity but a large dose of sugar. More nuts in the mouth with a good dose of orange and tea flavors. Long, honeyed finish. The nutty flavor is too much for my wife, but I loved this stuff! (November 14, 1996)
Hopler 1990 Muskat Ottonel Eiswin Burgenland, Austria Alch 13.0 Imported
by Boston WIne Co. $16 Moderately dark gold color. Wonderful nose with
citrus and lots of floral tones and perhaps a slight bit of boytritis apricot
aromas. Great sugar and a nice dose of acidity to balance it off (perhaps
just a little light for aging?). Complex fruit and honey and more apricots.
Finish is long and fairly smooth. Great juice and a HECK of a great value!
(Tasted in Boston, Massachusetts, March 1995)
1986 Calera Selleck Pinot Noir, Mt. Harlan, San Benito, California. Nice color. Very nice nose with cherry and dark berry fruit and a tiny waft of alcohol. Very bright fruit in the mouth, light oak and hardly noticable tannins. Very nice finish of moderate length. Good wine. (Feb., 1996)
1990 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacidos, Central Coast, California. So this is what everyone has been raving about! Wow! Big fruit nose, lots of forward fruit in the mouth. Fairly heavy tannins with moderate oak and a wonderfully long finish. Terrific juice!
1992 Deloach Zinfandel OFS Russian River Vly, CA 15.7% alch!, $19.99 Pam and I stumbled across a couple bottles of this in a Boston store. The young clerk mentioned finding the bottles stuffed away in the back room -- I've a feeling that there are some really peeved stockers in the store! Terrific nose with fat blackberries, black pepper and some oak. Huge fruit on the palate, mildly hot alcholic heat and fairly heavy tannins. Lots of oak and an incredibly long finish full of more blackberries. This is a killer bottle of wine, but the $20 price tag makes it a special occasion vino -- but what a great wine for a special occasion! (Tasted in Boston, Massachusetts, March 1995)
1992 Joseph Phelps Viognier, Napa Valley. 14% alch. Soft buttery nose with nice peach in it. Not as floral as other viogniers I've had, but this is quite older. Some light oak in the mouth, nice flowery character. Very pleasant finish, smooth, buttery with just a touch of alcoholic heat. Nice wine. (February, 1996)
'95 Larmandier Brut, Grand Cru Cramant. $42. From 45 year old vines in the monopole vinyard of Cramant. 100% chardonnay. Light toast on both nose and palate. Good acidity, fair fruit. Moderately long finish which turns slightly hot from alcohol. Fair.
NV Chartogne-Taillet Brut, Cuvee St. Anne. $36. 50/50 chard & pinot noir with a handful of munier. Light toast on the nose, rich light-mid gold color; one of the darker sparklers I've seen. Rich mousse in the mouth -- quite a lovely foam. Very good fruit (twice underlined in my notes) with a long, long finish. Perfect balance of toast/yeast character to the fruit with a great finish. (Pam and I prefer sparklers with a _light_ toast/yeast character) Great wine.
Thiese, who is quite poetic and can be long-winded, spent quite a bit of time talking about the growth of smaller Champagne estates. He made lots of thought-provoking commentary regarding the mass-market approach in Champagne. Imagine, he said, that M. Guigal held a news conference and said "we're no longer bottling our different wines from all the appellations. Instead, we're bottling one single wine: Red Rhone. It's got some Crozes for intensity, Hermitage for body, Gigondas for longevity and Chateaunuf du Pape for depth. You'll like it much better." Thiese said not too many of us would care for that approach, but it's exactly what we get from the larger producers in all but a very, very few wines. Interesting...
'98 Brundlmayer Riesling Steinmassel, Komptal, Austria. $30. Does Austria harvest their wines later than other places? This was picked on 3 November... Go figure. Lovely floral nose with tart apples too. Moderate acidity, very, very dry. Big minerals, nice legs. (The wine, not the lady sitting next to me.) Chalky finish with very good length. Good to great.
'98 Lingenfelder Freisnheimer Musikantenbuckel (Pfalz) Riesling kabinett halbtrocken. $17. Nice floral side to the nose, plus a big peachy component which I've come to associate with riesling which has been recently bottled. No clue when this particular wine went in the flask. Slightly green in the mouth with moderate acidity and lovely fruit. Light in body, long finish for a kabinett, but turns green. Don't know if that green component will go away with more bottle age. I'd assume so. Fair for a kabinett, not something I'd spend money on.
'97 Lingenfelder Spaetburgunder, Pfalz. $26. Nice cherry nose with some spice and a fair dose of alcoholic heat. At least there's no spoiled bacon/dead meat which I've found in almost all the other Spaetburgunders I've had. Spicy in the mouth, with fair fruit. Spice intensifies on the middle. Moderately heavy oak. Mid-length finish turning hot and not showing much fruit. Fair at best, but then I carry a serious load of anti-Spaetburgunder prejudice. Thiese lost a lot of respect in my eyes when he said "You can't get better pinot noir for the money." He didn't mean better German pinot noir, he meant pinot noir period -- he was in the middle of comparing this to moderately priced Burgs. "Horses#it" was my immediate reaction as I poured this out.
'96 Strub Niersteiner Paterberg (Rheinhessen) riesling kabinett. $13. Lovely, light nose with great fruit. *Great* acidity in the mouth -- not overpowering or too high, just a lovely dose of it. Very good fruit on the attack and middle. Wonderful finish with light body, but subtle and very good length. Very good wine. (Others found this very minerally.)
'98 Leitz Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz (Rheingau) riesling spaetlese. $14. Clunky nose, opened a bit with serious agitation, then closed back down. Moderate acidity. Good fruit and lots of minerals on the middle. Lovely, long finish. Fair -- loses points for the weak nose.
'98 Von Schleinitz Koberner Weisenburg (M-S-R) riesling spaetlese. $15. *Nice* lovely nose. Not explosive, but good fruit and slate. Lovely acidity and sugar. Good fruit, but a slightly green side to it. Finish is short and somewhat watery, completely uninteresting. No clue if something will develop in the finish with more bottle age. Fair to good. (Nose pulled the rating up a bit.)
'98 Merkelbach Kinheimer Rosenberg (M-S-R) riesling spaetlese. $13. Tough, young, clunky nose with a green, herbal component to it. I certainly hope that changes with age! Good sugar and acidity, quite round in the mouth for a spaetlese. Lovely fruit and minerals. Moderately long finish showing lovely acidity throughout. Very good, would be great if the nose does something interesting.
'98 Darting Durkheimer Michelsburg (Pfalz) riesling spaetlese. $14. Nice floral nose with quite a peach component. *Petulant* zip from acidity. Wow -- this is like the great 'spritz' I found in some of Loosen's wonderful Mosels. Great acidity with nice sugar to it. Very round and balanced. Good fruit, strong minerals. Mid-long finish with good fruit and minerals. Very good!
'98 Strub Niersteiner Paterburg (Rheinhessen) riesling spaetlese. $18. Lovely nose with subtle fruit. Great sugar and acidity. Could this be a downgraded auslese? Great fruit and more good sugar through the middle. Wonderful, long finish. Great juice, killer value. The rest of the folks at the table must have thought I was some serious wine snob when I jumped up and down in my seat saying "Yes! I picked that!" after Thiese announced that this wine was indeed a downgraded auslese. Strub actually had four auslesen in '98, three with botrytis. This didn't have noble rot, so he downgraded it as a gold capsule spaetlese.
'98 Christoffel Urzinger Wuerzgarten (M-S-R) riesling auslese. $28. Somewhat lighter nose, but with good subtle floral tones and fruit -- with some green hints in the background. BIG acidity, good sugar. Nice but not explosive fruit. Moderately long finish showing lovely fruit. Very good.
'98 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten (Pfalz) **rieslaner** auslese. $24. Funky, odd nose. Weedy? (I wrote that before reading this was a rieslaner, not a riesling.) Good acidity (lower than the rieslings), very good sugar. Quite round in the mouth. Flavor profile has good fruit, but reminds me of a semillon with some spice. Lovely, honeyed finish. Good to very good, losing some points for the funky nose.
OVERALL NOTES:
Re-reading my notes the next morning, I realize what good values some
of the spaetlesen are. I think the Merklebach will be a very nice
wine if the nose comes around -- and I'd expect it to. Darting's
spaetlese was absolutely wonderful, especially for the spritzy acidic zip
on the attack. Strub's downgraded auslesen was killer, especially
for $18 IMO.
I also liked very much the NV sparkler from Chartogne-Taillet. I think it had lovely structure and just the right balance of toast/yeast and fruit for me -- which is lighter than many other folks care for.
Brundlmayer's riesling was also quite nice, but as with many Austrian wines it's past the QPR border for me.
1997 Dom. de la Jalousie Ungi Blanc. $6.99. Bit of colombard blended in. Lovely big nose with apples and pears. Good fruit, moderate acidity and a slight herbal tone lead to a nice finish. Good wine.
1997 Dom. Thomas Sancerre Rose, Clos Terres Blanches. $16.99 Made from free run pinot noir juice. Light cherry nose with maybe a leathery side to it. Moderate acidity, more cherry and some leather here too. A bit of mineral/chalk runs around in the background, but there's not all that much fruit to keep it interesting. Leaves me flat.
1996 Dom. des Corbilllieres sauvignon blanc, Tourane. $8.99. Light weendy nose with nice fruit. Acidity is moderate to moderate-high. Very good fruit in the mouth without a lot of the herbaceous, overblown cat pee side of sauv blanc. The wine is pretty round, but somehow it seems a bit light overall. Still, it's a good wine and very good QPR at the $6.99 sale price. ($8.99 normal price is fair QPR)
1996 Dom des Corbillieres cabernet franc. $8.99 Nice floral nose with good raspberry fruit and none of the overly green herbaceous character. Not much pepper, either. Good fruit, but the middle's somewhat coarse. Moderately high tannins follow into the finish, leaving things somewhat dry. Fair wine, left me bored.
1997 Dom. de la Jalousie Cotes de Gascogne sauvignon blanc. $9.99 Moderate light gold color with a pretty good dash of green tossed in. Nice nose with a lot of fruit, some weeds and a splash of cat pee. Very herbal and ripe in the mouth with solid acidity. Finish is very nice with good fruit and a slight minerally tone to it. Not an extreme style, nicely balanced. Good juice!
1996 Ch. Grand Bourdieu Graves blanc. Slight green color. $10.99 Stoney, oaky nose. High acidity, lots of oak and chalk in the mouth. Good fruit and some spice from the oak. Finish gets a bit funky somehow, moving from fruit to oak and losing something in between. Too much oak for Pam, borderline for me, but there ain't enough there to keep me interested. Fair wine.
1995 Ch. Puy Castera, Haut-Medoc. Moderately dark. $15.99. Nice spicy cassis and berry nose. Attack is odd and sharp, but the middle shows good fruit. Tough and young, the acids are somewhat high and there's a sharp metallic tone thoughout the whole wine. The nose is cool, but the flavors don't rock. Fair to poor for me, but several other folks liked it a lot. They can buy it.
1997 Lucien Albrecht muscat d'Alsace. $12.99. Killer, wonderful muscat nose with flowers and a ton of spice. Light acidity for a muscat. Attack is somewhat thin and the middle starts that way too, but then some nice fruit comes out and finishes off honeyed and floral. Nice for the nose, but it needs more up front to be a really great muscat. Fair to good, but then we're pretty picky about muscat d'Alsace.
1996 Lucien Albrecht pinot auxerois, Cuvee A. $16.99. The Kacher fellow said this auxerois, klevner and pinot blanc all fall under the pinot blanc heading in Alsace and may all be bottled as pinot blanc. That's the first time I've ever heard that one. Medium-gold color. Robust and round with good acidity. Great oily, rich nose with a lot of fruit. Some smoke and great, round fruit in the mouth that's hard to describe -- apples and pears, sure, but there's also some lovely other stuff which I need Melanie Wong or Dave Sit to tell me what they are. <g> Long, thick finish. Very different and very, very good.
1996 Lucien Albrecht gewurztraminer. $12.99. Light melony nose without the gewurtz spice and snap, nor any floral tones. Quite round, slightly oily in the mouth with a bit of normal Alsatian gewurtz residual sugar. Good to fair fruit which is somewhat booring, but the finish is quite nice: floral, slight honeyed tones, but not much gewurtz spice. Fair to good, probably not bad QPR for the US although we found much better stuff in Alsace for much cheaper. But I ain't gonna be back in Alsace for a while so I'd better stop whining about it.
1997 Dom. Mas de Guiot grenache-syrah. $8.99 Lots of raspberries in the nose. Spicy, but somewhat astringent and metallic in the mouth. Good fruit and a lot of herbs, but the finish goes wongus with more metallic flavors. The fruit's there, but that finish stinks. Maybe this is something which will pull together with more time??? Fair to poor for now.
1997 Ch. Grand Cassagne syrah. $$9.99. No oak in this one, 100% syrah. Meaty nose wtih some nice berry tones. Good fruit, acidity is somewhat light, tannins are solid but not overpowering. Good finish. Big wine, but quite good. Bet it will be really nice when the tannins mellow a bit.
1995 Dom. Montpezat cabernet-syrah. $12.99. 14 months in new oak. Nose is tough to describe; not a lot of fruit, but it's there with other stuff. Peppery, big tannins, but very good fruit hold it together. Oak is not really detectable, just offering a background presence. Finish is quite long with lots of herbs and the oak finally showing up.
1996 Dom. Mikulski aligote (Mersault). $12.99. No oak used. Nice tree fruit and a bit of spice in the nose. Very citric acidity in the mouth with citrus flavors and some chalky tones. Finish is moderately long.
1996 Dom. Coche-Bizouard Bourgogne blanc. $16.99. When tried this at the store two weeks ago, Pam took a whiff and said "Whew! There's a lot of oak there." The store worker pouring seemed to get insulted and said "No, that's just a lot of rich minerals and spice. There's no oak used." Huh? We both found oak in the wine, but the guy insisted no oak was there. Well, last night the Kacher fellow shot the clerk to hell. This spends 14 months in one year-old casks and there's definitely a solid oak backbone. Nose shows a lot of spicy oak with a ton of minerals, citrus and some weedy, herbaceous tones. High acidity, but it's quite round. The oak definitely shows up in the mouth, but it's rich, big and quite minerally. Good wine, although it's borderline too oaky for me and way too oaky for Pam.
1995 Dom. Jayer-Gilles Hautes Cotes de Nuits. $24.99. 75% pinot blanc, 25% chard. 50% new oak, 50% one year-old oak. Man, is this wine different! Weedy, chemically nose with some oak behind. I say "chemically" but it's not in a particularly bad way. Big and round with lots of spice, more weeds and a lot of stones. Lots of intense fruit, but there are a lot of odd flavors floating around. Oak is there, but not overpowering. Long finish turns a bit oaky at the end. Very, very intriguing, but I don't think I like it.
1995 Paul Garudet Monolithie rouge. $21.99. Cherry and tomatoes on the nose. Bright and chewy in the mouth with some spices, warm fruit, tobacco and earth. Still, it's too tight right now. Finish starts nice, but quickly dries out. Fair wine, lousy QPR for my tastes.
1996 Dom. Perraudin viognier. $18.99. Vines are only four years old. Light nose with some citrus, but very little of viognier's explosive floral side. Good fruit and flavors, but it's missing some stuffing. I'll look elsewhere for viognier.
1996 Dom. Deydier Valreas Cote du Rhone Villages. $14.99. Grenache, syrah, mourvedre. Pretty nose with great fruit, flowers and spice. Attack is huge with a lot of spice. Moderate tannins and acidity leads to a lovely layered, long finish with raspberries. Oak is noticable throughout, but just at the right levels. Good to excellent, very good QPR.
1994 Dom. Santa Duc Gigondas. $18.99. My first Gigondas. Grenache and
syrah made in a combination of barrique and fuder. Dark but not inky color.
Plummy, herbal nose with a light touch of oak and spice. Big tannins, quite
round with lots of warm fruit and spices. Oak running around in the background,
but it stays there. Finish is somewhat klunky and coarse, but was much
better with some cheese. Good to excellent.
Copyright 2005, 2000 Jim Holmes