2007 Terra di Corsica Nielluccio-Syrah

Nielluccio? Ok, I thought I had discovered something new, but this is in fact the Corsican name for Sangiovese. Maybe the wine will be a more exciting discovery?

The 2007 Terra di Corsica Nielluccio-Syrah was another quirky gift from my brother-in-law. Leathery, earthy, dark berry fruit on the nose, some pepper and chalk...pretty good. Rather undistinguished on the palate, with a finish that lasted nanoseconds, but nothing wrong with this - I'd recommend you pick up the Gabbiano instead for a Sangiovese fix (same price).
cork. 12.5% alcohol
Score: 15.5/20
Price: C$14.60 (SAQ) for the 2008

2003 Chateau D'Armailhac

This was another treasure from my 2003 Bordeaux futures order. For a wine of this pedigree, a Fifth Growth from the Rothschild empire, I would normally have waited a few more years, but this particular bottle had a cork pressing against the foil so I was worried about leaving this one for a long period of time. Besides, most of my 2003 tastings have indicated this is a vintage that is now hitting its stride.

The 2003 Chateau D'Armailhac (Pauillac) showed its pedigree with a gorgeous nose - spicy, damp black earth and green ferns, liquorice, hazelnuts and wet coffee grounds, blackberries and very, very violet...subtle, but incredibly complex. Light, fresh, and a touch bitter on the palate with suprisingly green tannins for this vintage. A nice long finish envelops the tongue in a velvety carpet of cherry tannins and nice, subtle fruit. A touch unbalanced at first taste, but opening nicely over evening - should age well, I'll try again in 2-3 years.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$54 (LCBO)

2007 Dashe Zinfandel

This Zin took a long, circuitous, route to get to Montreal, accompanying my in-laws on a cross-North America driving tour (with a stop in Sonoma, of course). The lengths they would go to guilt me into drinking Zin...

The 2007 Dashe Todd Brothers Ranch Old Vine Zinfandel (Alexander Valley) was pretty darn good - leathery blueberries, damp earth, then some white pepper and rose petals. Thick, hot blueberries and (modest) silky tannins coat the palate - this is big jammy fruit. Rather delicious for the style, just shy of the finesse I've found in the best Zins.
cork. 14.7% alcohol
Score: 16.5/20
Price: gift

White Burgundy Blues

One thing that drives me crazy about my wine group is just how difficult it is to get them to sit down and taste white wines. After twisting their arms I finally got them to agree to a white wine evening and it was fabulous. Despite this, it has taken me two years to get the gang to agree to another white tasting and unfortunately this was less successful...

But it SHOULD have been a success - a bunch of winos with reasonable wine budgets were tasked to find some White Burgundies (my idea), but somewhere between idea and execution it flopped.

This was absolutely no fault of the host - Chris put on a tremendous spread of aquatic delicacies, so incredible that we saw very little of him that evening as he was continuously shuttling between the bbq and the table, serving up steamed fish and grilled seafood - truly stunning, over the top decadent, actually.

But the disappointment was the wine, a rarity in my group tastings. There were simply no "wow" moments, as wine after wine went from pretty good to ho-hum...

Interestingly, tonight's flight of wines included two of EXACTLY the same wine, and two of the same wine but different vintages - here are my notes:

The crowd favourite was Ash's 2005 Domaine Cordier Juliette la Grande from Pouilly-Fuise, definitely not the appellation I expected to win. Crisp apples, white flowers, pear and a hint of limes on the nose, flavourful and crisp, minerally and focused on the palate. Score: 17.5/20

Ok, so I threw in a non-Burgundy "surprise", and my 2005 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay ranked a surprising second place in this flight of pricey Burgundies. Woody, citrussy and a some cheesey notes, but absolutely impeccable on the palate, with acid, minerals and fruit in near perfect harmony. Great balance, a tremendous finish, this wine is sooo underpriced. Score: 18/20

Saving our tasters from embarrassment, the third and fourth place wines (brought by Cam and Chris) were in fact the same and scored nearly identically by most tasters. The 2006 Bouchard Pere et Fils Meursault "Le Porusot" was buttery apples, white flowers and a subtle "green-ness" on the nose, soft and creamy on the palate with good acidity, nearly perfect balance. This was the kind of wine I thought we'd see more of tonight. Score: 17/20

Sticking to the theme, my other wine was a Chablis. But my 2006 Moreau et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir underperformed where I thought it would show. Citrus and flowers with some expected apple notes, incredibly finessed and well structured - firm, minerally, but with nice fruit and a very long finish. More controversial (scores all over the place), but my style of Chablis. Score: 17.5/20

Next was Pramod's 2003 Louis Jadot Meursault Genevrières - it started ok, with pretty caramel apples and green grass, but it was awkward and flat on the palate - tasty on another evening, but surrounded by too many great wines today. Score: 16.5/20

Interestingly, the last place wine was the 2002 Domaine Cordier Juliette la Grande, an older vintage of our first place wine. Very intriguing on the nose - almost Sauternes-like, with caramel and cooked fruit, dried apricots and floral notes. Unfortunately it had faded on the palate and was soft and unfocused - very different from the other wines. A wine that seemed past its prime, but it struck me as a wine that was probably VERY good in its prime. Score: 16/20

Personally, my disappointment was with the concentration of the wines amongst a few vineyards - I just don't feel like we captured the essence of white Burgundy today. But even more disappointing is the knowledge that it could be a VERY long time before I get the gang to agree to another white wine tasting.

Gracefully Aging Gruner: 2006 Hopler

I only recently (past 3 years) set aside a few whites for aging, so these are just starting to come out of my cellar. Some Chablis, white Rioja, German Rieslings, and tonight's Grüner Veltliner - no rhyme or reason, just wherever my (infinite) curiousity took me.

So, does aging improve your Gruner? Too early to tell - the 2006 Höpler Grüner Veltliner welcomed with a nose of freshly cut apples, a hint of white flowers, some minerality and creamy custard later but pretty simple overall. An initial impression of softness on the palate is misleading, hiding its firm acidic structure and mouthfull of juicy apples - ripe and crisp, with a notable minerality. That acid and minerality points to continued improvements with cellar time, but it is too early to see this improvement.
plastic cork. 11.5% alcohol
Score: 16/20
Price: C$22 (Opimian)

2003 in Bordeaux: du Tertre and Lagrange

My last post featured wines from the uncelebrated, but uncontroversial, 1999 vintage. Tonight we go to the left bank to taste some wines from the more controversial 2003 vintage. According to Stephen Brook's excellent "The Complete Bordeaux", 2003 was "...a year of extremes." Extreme heat led to early veraison, early picking, and yields were low. Generally speaking, the red wines of this vintage are supposed to tend towards more fruit, higher alcohol and lower in acidity, leading to significantly divergent takes on the vintage by different critics. From my tastings of '03, this vintage was not dramatically fruity, but I do find the acidity low and the aging potential seems more limited vs. other vintages. On the plus side, the '03s tend to be approachable in their youth - drink these while your 2000s are sleeping away in the cellar.

The 2003 Chateau Lagrange (St-Julien) showed substantially more dark berry fruit (very, very black curranty) on the nose, slate and nuts in support. Smooth, elegant, with soft, ample, tannins and a nice long finish, but a touch of that summer heat coming through.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 17/20
Price: C$55 (LCBO)

For the 2003 Chateau du Tertre (Margaux) a nose of dark, burnt wood, wet stones, pepper and fresh vanilla beans introduced a palate of crisp cherry fruit and bitter green (in a good way) held firm by stoney minerality - better structured, with a lengthy finish, this Margaux needs some cellar time to come together and will probably be the better of the two.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 17/20
Price: C$49 (LCBO)

1999 in Bordeaux: a Pessac Leognan and a St-Emilion

When I first started collecting the wines of Bordeaux I lived for the vintage reports. The problem is that vintage reports are an overall, or "average", view of mother nature's gifts over a broad geography. When you use these reports for a large region like Bordeaux, you are bound to pick up few clunkers in a great vintage and a few gems in an "off" vintage - vintage reports are pretty good guide, but you can never be to sure.

For example, tonight's two wines were excellent, despite coming from a difficult 1999 vintage that was not notable for late season rains and rot that apparently plagued many producers.

Tasted here before (1,2), the 1999 Chateau Carbonnieux (Pessac Leognan) served up musty, woodsy, black cherries, later rewarding us with some basil, thyme and pencil shavings. Blinded I was thinking it was the St-Emilion - soft and velvety smooth...its elegance nearly masking an enduring finish of wet, black earth. Deliciously Bordeaux.
cork. 12.5% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: C$65 (SAQ)

On my right was another repeat, the 1999 Moulin St-Georges (St-Emilion). A glassful of toasty new oak, old leather and black cherries to sniff, a chameleon as it shifted and changed over the evening. Spicy, crisp blackberries on the palate over substantial tannins, which presented this offering as a touch more awkward. Greater presence and complexity, but a touch rougher around the edges - in a very good way.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 17/20
Price: C$65 (LCBO)

2006 Placet

Over the past two or three years I started to put a few whites aside in my cellar for aging - mostly German whites and a few Chablis, but I have also set aside some oddities as an experiment.

I wouldn't think to age a white Rioja, but a tasting with Marcus gave me the idea to cellar this 2006 Palacios Remondo Placet. A gorgeous nose of creamy golden butter, white flowers, hints of citrus, banana and papaya, citrus peel, some grassy woodsy notes. The beauty continues on the palate, complex, flavourful and tremendously well balanced, with a soft, luscious finish. While this is not yet "old", it is aging well and I have one more bottle for a future redo
cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$29.95 (SAQ)

White Coulliore

My in-laws went to France two years ago, and since that time they have tried a number of Languedoc reds on me, from Coulliore in particular. Tonight I thought I'd turn the tables and try a WHITE Coulliore on them...

The 2007 Les Clos de Paulilles (Collioure) is 100% Grenache blanc, and it has been some time since I last tasted one of those. An intriguing nose...lemon jelly and butterscotch, vanilla and graham cracker, flint and a hint of white flowers. All soft and fruity on the palate, it tastes of warmth and sunshine - smooth and flavourful with some decent minerality, but flabby and a bit hot - not terribly so, but just enough to be noticed.
cork. 13.5% alcohol.
Score: 16/20
Price: C$21.50 (SAQ)

2003 Quinta dos Roques Touriga Nacional

I just lost my camera - stolen, more accurately - and to add insult to injury I lost a number of bottle shots as well. At least my trusty blackberry was there to save a few for posterity...

The unimpressive image of the 2003 Quinta dos Roques Touriga Nacional above is at odds with the beauty inside this bottle. A bouquet of sour cherries, old oak/damp wood, some vanilla, currant, and subtle floral notes - later some attractive greenness, white pepper and subtle notes of allspice...aromatic and truly gorgeous. Crisp, flavourful, fruit and flowers deliver an impressively long, silky, finish without being overly tannic. Incredibly well balanced, and a catalyst for a few more purchases from this winery.
Cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$30.25 (SAQ)

(PS - new camera purchased, but a few more posts before it appears...)

A Sip of Long Island: Bedell Cellars

Long Island Wine is, for the most part, a local delicacy. With just 3000 acres under vine and an annual production of 500,000 cases you won't find much wine leaving the country, and it would probably be a rare wine shop that carried any sort of selection outside of New York and the neighbouring states.

But a wedding on Shelter Island put me a stone's throw away from Long Island's North Fork wineries. I regret to inform that this was NOT a wine tour - the wife and kids made sure of that - but I did have time for one stop, and local knowledge directed me to Bedell Cellars.

I coughed up 12$ for the "Premium" Flight, and this was how it went:

The 2007 Bedell Chardonnay Reserve was steel and oak aged - oaky, buttery, ripe red apple, with some wet stones, almost caramelly on the nose. Lighter bodied, tart and pleasing, short finish. 13% alcohol, Score: 16/20

The 2007 Bedell Gallery was an interesting blend of Chardonnay (69%), Sauvignon blanc (19%), and Viognier. Fleeting floral notes on the nose, probably from the viognier, but tangy citrussy and apricot aromas dominate, some toast. Terribly well balanced, and more flavourful than the Chardonnay, delicious spicy fruit... 13% alcohol, Score: 16.5/20

Long Island is famous for its Merlot (a grape getting a lot more play at Joe's house these days...), so I wasn't going to miss Bedell's red offerings:

The 2007 "Taste" Red was a blend of Merlot (56%), Cab Sauv (25%) and Syrah. Noticeably green and earthy at first, pretty violets, cedar and a hint of dark syrah berries on the nose. A spicy palate with tasty green tannins and gooseberries, a light- to medium-bodied everyday red. 13% alcohol, Score: 16/20

A whiff of the 2006 Bedell Reseve Merlot revealed smokey, dark earth, new leather, blackberries and vanilla, maybe some charcuterie - nicely done! Gritty, dark fruit, a good balance between fruit and acid, very Bordeaux like. This tastes too young - it has the acid, tannin and fruit to keep, I would age this one. 13% alcohol, Score: 17/20

The winery's signature offering was the 2006 Musée, predominantly Merlot (75%), but with some Cab Sauv (13%) and Petit Verdot blended in. Lovely aromas of green herbs, blackberries and roses, damp earth and crisp cherries, chalky... Soft and fruity on the palate, but with dense, velvety tannins, and a nice long finish. Lush, complex and very well balanced. 13% alcohol, Score 17.5/20

Overall, the offerings were very well done across the board, even those sips I had from my wife's flight of entry-level wines (the 2007 Merlot was particularly notable as a great value).

I would not dare make any generalizations about Long Island wine based on a 2 hour stop at a single winery, but I think I can say this - nearly every wine I tasted or saw in local shops was 1% to 1.5% lower in alcohol than their California bretheren. Perhaps it is climate, or a conscious effort to be "different" from their West Coast winemaking peers, but this observation and the wines that I tasted tell me that something different is going on in Long Island - and this "different" is more in line with the kind of wine I am seeking out these days...

PS - Congrats Rob (my Napa and Sonoma partner in crime) and Ellyn!

2005 Tabernero Gran Tinto Reserve

My bro-in-law has a philosophy that if there is a wine on the shelf at the SAQ that doesn't make sense, it is probably good. Case in point - who in Montreal goes trolling around the Peruvian wine section looking for $15 Malbec/Merlot? After all, the SAQ is one of the world's largest wine buyers - it must have been good to make it onto their shelf, especially since the product profile is not an obvious sell, right?

The logic seems to fly tonight, as the 2005 Tabernero Gran Tinto Reserve (50:50 Malbec Merlot) was a pretty darn good wine, especially at this price. It started with a powerfully funky, nose - we couldn't agree on barnyardy or sour milk, but that odour blew off before we were finished the debate, and the wine opened up to reveal dark berries, black pepper, old oak and hints of vanilla. Dry, with dense berry fruit and a decent finish, it was maybe lacking acidity and almost a bit too spicy. More Malbec than Merlot, a tasty wine for my first ever Peruvian.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 15.5/20
Price: C$14.60 (SAQ)

2003 Vray Croix de Gay

It is a rare evening when I pull two 18+ point wines from my cellar (also enjoyed this evening), but with two members of my wine group coming by for a drink I had to dig deep, and Pomerol is deep ($$$, that is). The pricing for Pomerol offerings is such that I have very few, so I was actually surprised to find this resting at the bottom of one of my Bordeaux bins.

The 2003 Chateau Vray Croix de Gay demonstrated exactly why Pomerols are so pricey, and further added to a suspicion that merlot is my new love...An absolutely gorgeous nose, brimming with rose petals and sandalwood, wild stawberries and damp forest, dark cocoa powder and leather, nuts (almonds) and plums...I could open another bottle just to smell this again. Fresh and well balanced on the palate, with a long, silky finish. A joy to drink, and a greater joy knowing I have two more bottles in my cellar.
cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$85 (LCBO futures)

2004 Descendientes de J. Palacios "Villa de Corullon"

I find one of the greatest challenges is to open something for a visiting oenophile - can I find something impressive that they have not yet tasted?

I went out on a bit of a limb with this 2004 Descendientes de J. Palacios Villa de Corullón from Spain's very intriguing Bierzo region. (Well, not entirely on a limb, as I have enjoyed the wines of this maker before) Crafted from the Mencia grape, the Villa begins wild and meaty, later showing some cassis, black ink and an exotic spiciness on the nose as well...joyous! Smartly enveloping the palate...earthy, minerally, with sublime, delicate tannins and impeccable balance, this beautiful wine was still evolving, improving, as Cosme and I emptied the decanter.
cork. 14% alcohol
Score: 18+/20
Price: C$55 (SAQ)

2007 Irurtia Gewurztraminer

My brother-in-law loves to surprise me with the quirky and unexpected, so it's back to South America for an...Uruguayan Gewürz?

Pale white gold in the glass, the 2007 Irurtia Gewürztraminer shouted classic Gewürz notes of soapy flowers, followed by hints of lime rind. Clean and fresh, little acidity but some minerality to hold it together. A classic gewurtz, tasty and flavourful - I quite liked it (especially at this price), but I can't say that Gewürz has resonated with me of late.
cork. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 14.5/20
Price: C$13.00 (SAQ)