Single Vineyard Rieslings of Germany and Alsace, by S.A. Prum and Dopff et Irion

My visit to Montreal's Salon des Vins in March was a whirlwind of tasting activity, but two whites stood out at that event - tonight's Alsatian "Grand Cru" Riesling and a Mosel Riesling from the famed "Wehlener Sonnenuhr" vineyard. Now I love Alsace whites, and I love German Riesling, but I never thought to taste them head to head - tonight we paired these two gems with a spiral ham...

The 2004 Dopff et Irion Grand Cru Schoenenbourg Riesling (Alsace) was quite earthy on the nose, with lemons, peaches and sweet honeysuckle over a hard, flinty core, noticeably greener than the Prum below. A juicy, flavourful palate, delicately held together by steely acid and sturdy minerality. Drier, sharper and crisper, this very polished white would have paired better with whitefish than tonight's sweet ham.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: ~C$30

The 2005 S.A. Prum Wehlener Sonnenhur Riesling Kabinett (Mosel) showed honeyed petrol notes and was a bit spicier, earthy and flinty as well. Effervescent and slightly less dry than the Schoenenbourg with a lingering minerality, it was indescribably fuller and lighter at the same time. A touch simpler in my notes, yet this was the wine that everyone kept reaching for - and a much better pairing for this meal.
cork. 9.0% alcohol
Score: 17/20
Price: ~C$24 (SAQ)

Big Fun - Magnums of Sassoalloro & Vieux Lazaret

What is the purpose of an oversized wine bottle? Your first thought might be that if you buy an over-sized bottle you would get a discount, but that is not the case for fine wines. So it's an ego thing, right? Possibly - opening a gigantic bottle of wine for a big event is impressive, and they look so darn good in the cellar. But there is a practical side to this largesse - larger wine bottles are more "age-worthy". So I've collected a few of these for future special occasions (i.e. one for each of my kids' "vintages"), but sometimes I just cannot wait...


Lloyd suggested I pick up a bottle of this 2004 Jacopo Biondi Santi Sassoalloro, a modestly priced "super-Tuscan" in a party friendly magnum. Deep, dark cherry red with big leathery and tobacco notes - rose petals, black currants, rosemary, ink, and cooked meat on the nose as well. Crisp, juicy fruit and big, earthy tannins with a long, luxurious, velvety finish. The only tragedy was opening this too early. A fantastic price for an age-worthy magnum - other super-Tuscan makers should be nervous.
cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: C$57.60 (SAQ)


This wine won a CDP tasting in 2005 so I picked up a pair when the SAQ released it in a magnum format. The 2000 Domaine du Vieux Lazaret Cuvée Exceptionnelle (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) sported a wonderful nose of "beef au jus" and cooked fruit, berries and white flowers, nuts, leather, white pepper, and damp forest undergrowth. On the palate were meaty tannins and slatey blackberries all held together by crisp acidity. Polished, with a silky smooth texture, it started simple but gained complexity over the evening - very smooth, very well done. May go a few more years, but nice today after a good decant.
cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$81 (SAQ)

2005 Elderton "Friends" Shiraz

As the price for Elderton's "Estate" Shiraz has moved up in price, Elderton's "Friends" bottling (using grapes from independent Barossa growers) has filled in as their entry-level wine. Yes, I'm a big fan of Elderton's wines, and this was another winner. The 2005 Elderton Friends Shiraz was a classic Barossa Shiraz: an expressive nose of violets, black earth and ripe berries at first, later adding musk, leather, pepper and flinty notes. A rich palate of ripe, dark fruit, while firm tannins and wet stones add structure and a lingering finish. Well done! 
screw top. 14.5% alcohol
Score: 16.5/20
Price: C$19.95 (SAQ)

1999 Elderton CSM

It is a great feeling when you grab something from the cellar that has been sitting for a few years - the perfect day has arrived! Purchased in 2004, this lonely bottle of 1999 Elderton CSM (Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot) was opened to celebrate...well, nothing actually, I just wanted to impress my in-laws. Big, black pepper and blueberry aromas, tarry flinty notes, a late greenness, cedar and a hint of violet. Crisp acid danced on the tongue and silky, woodsy tannins coat the palate and remain for minutes. Flavourful, reserved, and a judicious use of oak for a Barossa - a tragedy I didn't buy more of this.
cork. 14% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: C$39.95 (LCBO)

PS - Elderton has changed the name of this offering to "Ode to Lorraine" in 2002.

2006 A et P de Villaine "Les Montots"

Aubert de Villaine's wines appear here frequently (1,2,3,4), I just wish it was more of the DRC...alas, I possess the bank account of a mere mortal! Fortunately the SAQ always seems to get the more reasonably priced wines from his own Domaine, but they sell out quickly so I have to keep an eye out for them.

If one word could describe the 2006 A et P de Villaine "Les Montots" it would be "subtle"... subtle earthy and leathery tobacco notes at first, then floral, raspberry and cocoa powder creep up on you - flinty and truffley as well. A crisp, sharp acidity greets the palate but the spicy, slatey, raspberry fruit sliced through a roast chicken. A touch rough around the edges, but like a ghost it sneaks up and envelops you with its complexity. A modest finish, not sure how this will fare in the cellar (I have two more for a future experiment). I rated the 2001 slightly better, perhaps a reflection of the more challenging conditions for red Burgundy in '06.
Cork. 12.5% alcohol
Score: 17/20
Price: C$37.25 (SAQ)

2006 Leon Beyer Riesling Reserve

I would guess that when I first "got into" wine that 80% of my whites came from Alsace. Well, times have changed - it has been a year since I last posted on an Alsace wine as German whites have taken up the slack.

The 2006 Léon Beyer Riesling Réserve had a pretty nose of cherry blossom, pear, lemon meringue and dried apricots, very minerally with a hint of petrol. Steely and crisp on the palate with a light, refreshing greenness. A simple but a very effective riesling at this price.
cork. 12% alcohol
Score: 16/20
Price: C$17.80 (SAQ)

...once again I am cursed with a surplus of wine notes and a deficit of time...

2002 D'Arenberg Dead Arm

I couldn't help thinking about my comments on palate drift as I wrote up my notes on this d'Arenberg Shiraz. After all, d'Arenberg's wines were amongst my first loves and have been consistently recommended here - but with a sizable collection of d'Arenbergs in my cellar have I "drifted" from first love?

The 2002 d'Arenberg "The Dead Arm" Shiraz shows a terrific, complex nose of violets, vanilla and truffles, black cherries and currants, oak, flint, and some smoked sausage. Still quite tannic, with peppery, juicy fruit on the palate - incredibly balanced, not overboard on the fruit. I have not drifted too far from this wine, the five other bottles simply need to rest in the cellar for a few more years...
cork. 14.5% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: C$50 (LCBO)

2006 Moillard Macon-Aze

I've had some success with the inexpensive whites from Burgundy's "Mâcon" appellations - Mâcon-Loché, Mâcon-Lugny, Mâcon-Villages - so it was a no-brainer for me to try a bottle of this wine from Mâcon-Azé. The 2006 Moillard Mâcon-Azé delivered: notes of lemony cream and yeasty ripe apples, some oak, bananas and chalk. Rather stern on the palate, but with a soft underbelly - riper than a Chablis yet better structured than those recent Mâcon whites. I highly recommend this for my Ontario friends.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 16.5/20
Price: C$16.95 (LCBO)

2005 Bella Vineyards Zinfandels from Dry Creek and Alexander Valley

Zin lovers have little reason to visit this site - with notes on over a thousand wines I can only point to a half dozen Zinfandels reviewed here. Not sure if it is the grape, or the style that winemakers use to express the grape these days, but I generally find them fruity, flabby and alcoholic. Despite that intro, a successful tasting of Zins at Bella Vineyards last year led to a few bottles of Zin coming home with me, and since I couldn't go to Sonoma this year I have to settle for revisiting the treasures in my cellar... 

The 2005 Bella Vineyards Big River Ranch (Alexander Valley) was the superior wine, in my opinion. A stunning, complex nose of flinty blackberries, rose petals, black earth, spices (pepper, nutmeg and cloves) and much more. Uncharacteristic depth and a lengthy finish for this varietal, with spicy blackberries and velvety tannins to please the tastebuds, the heavy alcohol barely noticeable. This certainly has potential...I have one more bottle for a future date.
cork. 14.9% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: ~US$35 (winery)

The 2005 Bella Vineyards Lily Hill Estate (Dry Creek Valley) is more of what you expect from a Zin - hot, meaty, blueberry jam on the nose, vanilla and violets as well, with a soft (it started crisp but quickly went soft) generous palate and gripping finish. A "fruity, over-the-top" Zin, but much better than other "fruity, over-the-top" Zins. Luscious and flavourful, simpler than the "Big River" above - ready to drink now.
cork. 15.5% alcohol
Score: 16.5/20
Price: ~US$35 (winery)

Look, the winery is scenic, the wines are great, and you can't get them anywhere else - a must see for anyone planning a Sonoma visit. Cheers!

Cheap Portugal: 2006 Meia Encosta

Exploring the world's obscure grapes has resulted in some positive surprises, with Portuguese wines amongst the pleasantest surprises. Working with a unique slate of grapes this legendary producer of sticky reds is fashioning some great dry, red wines. From cheapo to mid-priced to high-end I have been very impressed, so a recommendation from the local SAQ was all I needed to take home this $10 wine.

The cherry red 2006 Meia Encosta (Dão) showed a nice nose of smokey bacon fat, pencil shavings, raspberry, and new leather. Simply textured, with crisp, juicy berry fruit, good structure and a short, smokey finish, it won't win any tastings but could be the king of mid-week wines.
Cork. 12% alcohol
Score: 15/20
Cost: C$10.45 (SAQ)

Taking on the Northern Rhone

Our tasting group, the inspiration for this blog, has been meeting for five years now. Over nearly 40 formal tastings we have torn apart and dissected most of the world's key wine regions and grapes in blinded, theme-based tastings, but we have never critiqued the syrah-based reds of the northern Rhône. This glaring omission was corrected tonight, with eight tasters taking on six of the region's greats.

After warming up our palates with some fine Burgundies we turned our attention to these northern Rhône treasures: four Hermitages, one Côte-Rôtie and one Cornas, ranging from 3 to 19 years of age. We even had a Parker 100-point wine at the table...

Some nights our group can be quite consensual, but other times our individual rankings are all over the map - tonight was one of those nights:

The winner of tonight's tasting was the youngster, Ash's 2005 Delas Frères Côte-Rôtie 'Seigneur de Maugiron', a wine ranked amongst the top 3 for most tasters. A youthful nose of spicy fresh berries, white pepper, violets and a flinty earthiness. The palate was a velvety carpet of dark berry fruit - fruitier than most of tonights offerings - but with a pleasing long finish and a nice minerally, acidic backbone. My third choice amongst this impressive flight of wines. I wonder if you threw this into an Aussie tasting, would anyone call it out as French? Score: 18/20

Consistently ranked first or second amongst the men, but last place rankings from the ladies resulted in a second place showing for Pramod's 1999 Ferraton Ermitage 'Le Méal'. It took a while to open up, ultimately revealing pretty floral, nutmeg, and old leather notes, earthy blackberries, flint, vanilla, and much more. Very, very elegant on the palate, perfectly balanced with supple tannins and a fine seam of acidity. Polished, with a never ending finish, very easy to enjoy today after a lengthy decant but I think it could be a decade or longer before we see the full potential. My second place, bravo! Score: 18.5/20

Third place (but my favourite of the evening) was Lloyd's 1989 Paul Jaboulet Hermitage 'La Chapelle'. Cam insisted on the scent of 'vomit' on the nose, but I was thinking cooked plums and dark berry fruit, violets and blackberries, leather, fern, hazelnut and flint. A great nose, but it was near perfection on the palate that separated this one for me - silky smooth tannins and fresh acidity held it all together, and despite nearly twenty years in the bottle it was still fresh. An extremely long finish, this has the stuffing to go at least another decade or two in the cellar. An absolute joy to taste one of Hermitage's legendary bottlings, perfectly aged. Score: 18.5/20

Fourth was an impressive showing for my inexpensive (in this crowd) Cornas, the 2003 Delas Frères 'Chante-Perdrix'. Someone suggested a nose of post-coital sweat, but I preferred fruit candy and flowers (pre-coital?), hay and earthy/mushroomy notes. Fresh, balanced, but simpler than the others with a shorter finish. Score: 17/20

Fifth was Cam's 1999 Ferraton Ermitage 'Les Dionnieres'. Meaty and ashen on the nose, firm gripping tannins but a touch hot on the palate. Rather awkward, could soften up and sort itself out with some cellar time. Score: 17.5/20

The biggest story of the night has to be the last place finish (first place amongst the ladies) for the 2003 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage, a wine Parker rated 100 points. What?! Actually a pretty good nose of ripe (overripe?) blueberries, blackberries, orange, cardamom and tea, liquorice and hazelnut...and LOTS of heat. The palate presented big juicy fruit and firm gripping tannins...and heat. So fruity and awkward, it just didn't show well tonight. I concede that it may simply be 'closed', but I doubt this will ever present a perfect score in my books. All of tonight's wines were 13% alcohol except for this one, which clocked in at a very noticeable 15%. Score: 17/20

Editorial:

For me there were many sides to this evening: a wine that was expected to be compelling (the La Chapelle), a pleasant surprise (the le Meal), an overacheiver (the Chante-Perdrix) and a surpising downside (the Chave).

That Chave surprise was not just ours - Larry Meehan over at Gang of Pour expressed shock at this wine, and Parker's link to Neal Martin's view was an 88 - in line with my 17.

So why were the men and women so diametrically opposite the men on the le Meal and Chave? I'm not going to touch that one.

PS - for my Montreal friends, that le Meal is being cleared out by the SAQ, on sale for C$71. Not cheap, but you rarely get a chance to get such a compelling, aged Hermitage for this price - I think the critics missed this one.

Warming Up for Hermitage: Two Burgundies

The format for a meeting of my tasting group is pretty standardized: first we sit down with a glass of 'warm-up' wine to set the mood and get the palate ready while we let the main panel of wines air out in their decanters, then we move to the dining room to dissect a theme-based panel of wines, blinded, using a rank order method to crown a 'winner'. Each taster gets a clean glass for each wine to be tasted, sheets for taking notes, and a spread of complementary food is served to enjoy with the wine.

Usually the warm-up wine is a cheap version of the main event wine, but tonight Lloyd decided to warm up the palate with two not-so-cheap Burgundies, wines worthy of their own write ups.

I started with the white, a 2001 A et P de Villaine "Les Clous" from one of my favourite producers. Ripe green apples and a nutty almond extract on the nose, creamy, yeasty, and mushroom notes as well. While the nose hinted at age the palate was crisp, stern, and minerally, with a green earthiness - surprisingly fresh at 7 years of age, I loved this cuvee once again, but the buttery chardonnay crowd disagreed with me...
Score: 18/20

With the crowd surging towards the Hermitages I nearly forgot to try the red warm-up, a 2003 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne Romanee 'La Colombiere'. After 30+ mins in the decanter it was spicy Dr. Pepper, wet ashes, candied raspberry, damp wood and old leather and old leather on the nose, very well put together. Velvety ripe fruit and very minerally on the palate, a very nice wine.
Score: 17.5/20

Seriously, two great Burgundies before a Northern Rhone extravaganza? Its gonna be a good night...

Friday Night Burgundy: 2005 Chevalier Rognet et al

My good friend Cosme invited me over on a Friday evening "for a glass of wine". A rather innocent invite, but there was more than a single glass of wine on offer and this was no ordinary wine. You see, Cosme's palate has drifted over to (and is now stuck in?) Burgundy, which is good news for me...

Cosme has been a huge buyer of the '05 vintage, and started us with the 2005 Domaine Chevalier Père & Fils Corton "Le Rognet" Grand Cru. An unbelievably gorgeous and powerful nose, so fragrant that I was able to smell the wine while holding the glass at my waist and walking outside on a cool fall evening! Pretty truffles, sweet raspberry, spice (nutmeg or cinnamon) and ashen notes, simply beautiful. Tangy acid, silky tannins and minerally rasperries danced across the palate, lengthy but a bit tightly wound. So young, fresh and drinking so well today, but this wine needs time to unwind in the cellar and should be even more beautiful in a few years. Score: 18.5+/20

After this delicious pour we turned to Lloyd's 1998 Le Macchiole "Paleo", unfortunately a corker - too bad, there was some good stuff hiding in there...So Cosme returned to his cellar and pulled another Burgundy, the 2005 Bouchard Pere et Fils Beaune "Clos de la Mousse" 1er Cru. Sharp on the nose, with spicy oak and smokey new leather, sulphury raspberry notes as well. The earthy palate of velvety tannins was tight, awkward, at first, but it opened up nicely in the decanter. Should also benefit from some cellar time. Score: 17/20

A special thanks to Cosme and Rebecca for the delightful selection of cheeses and terrine that were a perfect match for tonight's Burgundies.

(PS- perceptive readers may have noticed a legendary J.L. Chave Hermitage in the background of my (shitty bberry) picture above, the theme for Saturday's get together of our tasting group. Stay tuned...)

Palate Drift...

Palate drift is a fancy way of saying that some of the wines that you used to love are less enjoyable than they used to be. Maybe your first love was a fruity Zin, a buttery Chardonnay, or a jammy Shiraz, or even the big, brooding wines of Barolo - where your first love came from doesn't really matter, but at some point you decided to see the world and leave your high school sweetie behind.

You see, drinking wine is very different from tasting wine. When you drink you pour, you taste, you say "mmmm, I like", and then you move one. Tasters are different - sometimes you sniff a glass for a half an hour or more pondering it: What is that aroma? Where have I smelled that before? A hot or cold vintage? Judicious use of oak? Flowers, which ones? And then the tasting...swirling, analyzing, critiquing...tearing apart in your mind a liquid that is part art, part natural chemistry.

There is nothing wrong with 'drinking' wine, but once you move from drinking to tasting you have cut yourself from your moorings and set your palate adrift. The symptoms are noticeable - signing up for a mixed case from your wine club, forcing dinner guests to drink from two glasses to compare wines they've never heard of, or an attempt at the Wine Century Club - these and other wine 'deviances' are signs that you have found some new love interests in your freshman years of wine.

Adrift, the great fear for a wine aficionado is that your cellar could hold dozens, hundreds, or maybe even thousands of bottles that are no longer 'your style'. Every time you reach into the cellar, you guiltily walk past 'that section' and say "maybe tomorrow", or even worse you say "I wonder how much I could get on auction for that". The relationship is not only over in your mind, you need to formalize the breakup.

So is Joe's style drifting? Absolutely, but it may not be instantly obvious if you look at my scores. I am clearly losing my taste for modern-styled fruity wines - not wholesale abandonment, but a definite reduction in both the frequency of purchase and the frequency of uncorking. In my scoring of wine I try to be style agnostic and focus on quality, i.e. is this a good representative of the style and region. So a fruity wine may be complex and balanced so I score it well, but only by reading my notes you realize that something is amiss. And this is not just happening here - nearly all of my wine friends and fellow bloggers have commented on wines they no longer drink.

In the end we me may drift back to where we began, taking the knowledge that we have gathered on our journey, tearing apart the wines we used to love and finding a new appreciation for them. But undoubtedly many of us will never return.

What prompted this reflective moment? Eminent blogger Barry picked up on my limited enthusiasm for last Friday's The Bull and the Bear - I am adrift, Barry, and enjoying the journey right now.

Cheers!

One Hundred! 2004 Donnafugata Tancredi

Sometimes your first experience with a new grape or wine region is plain awful. That's natural - it's new, and maybe it wasn't to your liking. But there are so many producers out there, how do you know whether you hate the grape or hate the maker? Well, you'll never know until you taste more of that grape/region, but I find too many wine enthusiasts just plain give up right away. 

Me? I never give up on a grape or region. The eternal optimist, supporter of the underdog, I am always hoping to find that one good wine that proves myself and everyone else wrong. But when I have a disappointing experience with a grape/wine region I do the counterintuitive thing, I buy the most expensive bottle I can find - after all, if they can't make a good wine from that grape at $30+, maybe they should just give up, right?  With that in mind, and despite all of my trashing of Nero d'Avola, I thought I'd give this 'misunderstood' grape a chance to shine in the climactic finish to my quest to taste one hundred grape varieties. 

The most expensive Nero I could find for this day was the 2004 Donnafugata Tancredi (Contessa Entellina), a blend of Nero d'Avola (70%) and Cabernet Sauvignon. My previous experiences with Nero (and Sicilian reds in general) have been less than stellar, with most presenting leathery wall of dense, jammy fruit and little structure. But tonight's high stakes bet paid off - a first pour into the decanter and my nose was greeted by a wall of meaty black cherries (confirming my fears, I thought), but in the glass it provided an unexpected "green-ness" - green beans, peppers, and pine lumber, later some flintiness and tarriness - earthy volcanic ash as the night progressed. Incredibly crisp and focused, so unexpectedly stern and unjammy, flavourful but light at the same time. Blinded I might have thought a Loire red. My expectations were low, and this wine blew them away -  a pleasure to pair with meals and nice over the next three evenings, and would probably age well over the next few years.
cork. 14% alcohol
Score: 17.5+/20
Price: C$33.75 (SAQ)