Catch-up on a few good wines

2005 Vieux Telegraphe:  We had Julia and Tony over for dinner last night and it seemed about time to crack one of these open.  I'm slowly working through a case that I bought a few years ago, opening about one per year or so.  Its drinking well right now.  Everything seems to be coming into alignment.  There's still a bit of Rhone fire, but I wouldn't want that to completely mellow away.  '05 was supposedly a good year if you track that sort of thing and this one is still going very strong and I suspect it will be good for many years to come.

2005 Jouget Cuvee Terroir:  This is another of my large stock of '05 Loires.  Its drinking well right now.  The bright violet has given way to a bit of an aged garnet and the leather and spice that I love in Loire cab franc is really coming through.  As a bonus, I nursed this one throughout the week and it really held up even a few days after opening.  That leads me to think that it would do well with a decanting for a few hours, but I haven't done that yet.

2008 Pierrette et Marc Guillemot-Michel Macon-Villages from Quintaine:  I love white Burgundy and I find Maconnais wines to be a good route into Burgundian lands without having to blow the entire month's wine budget.  This wine was around $25 and worth every penny.  They farm 7 hectares of land and adhere to strict biodynamic practices.  The wine is 100% Chardonnay and allowed to go through 100% malolactic fermentation.  It never touches oak.  What's most amazing is the mouthfeel and lusciousness of this wine.  There aren't any oak flavors, but if you didn't have tastebuds and only the ability to sense mouthfeel, you'd think this wine was heavily oaked because of its unctuousness.  There's so much going on with this wine and it is really just a fun one to sip and think about.  Apricot, honey, and peaches all come to mind.  Delicious!

On a side-note, its been a busy few weeks with some professional and personal matters cropping up.  So, I haven't been able to keep up with the wines I've been drinking.  I've left out a few.  Most notably a really nice new Bordeaux that I kept on the counter for about a week intending to write about and never got around to it.  It was good, whatever it was.  Anyways, here's to staying up to date on the wine consumption.  Cheers!

2005 Domaine De La Chanteleuserie Bourgueil Red Loire

     So, back in 2006 and 2007, I had the pleasure of spending 15 months or so in the lovely country of Iraq.  What to do. . . what to do?  Well, thanks to Kermit Lynch's monthly newsletters, I read about the great 2005 vintage for cabernet franc in the Loire.  Alas, with tax free income, free time, and near-beer, I bought some wine and had it shipped to Olivia in Louisville for future consumption.  Having fallen in love with Loire reds, I decided that six or seven cases would do the trick.
     Fast forward to 2011.  I am down to about four cases of this Loire red from 2005.  Its a mix of Catherine Breton, Charles Jouguet, and this lovely Bourgueil.  However, I don't know how long this stuff will last.  I have had some problems with the Breton.  All three of these wines are unfiltered and extremely natural.  That means sediment!  I love sediment.  To me, finding purple gunk in the bottom of my glass is a good sign that nobody's monkeyed with it too much.
     So, as I work through my Loires, I can't promise a review of every one.  However, it seemed appropriate since I haven't reviewed it yet.  This one is drinking quite well.  It has nice minerality, some beefiness, and a nice long finish.  The summation of these qualities is a lovely wine that seems perfect as the temps are starting to cool.  I'm not sure how Loire reds would taste in the summer.  Probably just fine, but right now they're hitting the spot and I've got plenty of them.  So, bottoms up!

Battle of the $9 Granacha(e)s

     I didn't get around to this post until today, but I've had both of these wines with dinner over the past week.  Nothing says reality like going from a weekend of high-end, well-aged Bordeaux to $9 bottles from 2008 and 2009.  Alas, I am a man of the people and I drink as the people drink.  Give me jugs of fresh table wine and peasant bread.  Wait. . . I don't eat bread.  But I'll take the wine.  That reminds me of last summer in Provence.  There was something magical about drinking cool rose from a jug.  This was table wine, served on a terrace and I couldn't have been any more content.  So, back to my granacha(e)s.

     Why the parentheses?  In Spain the spelling is granacha and in France its granache.  Same grape though.  For those that don't know, granache is the key grape in the Southern Rhone and I am obsessive about the Rhone in general.  Lest we forget my first case of wine: Cote Rotie (the burnt hill).  Anyways, one of these bottles was from the well respected Southern Rhone producer Andre Brunel.  I've had some of Andre's higher end wines and I'll be frank.  This one lacked anything remarkable.  For $9, it wasn't a bad deal, but it just didn't have much of anything going on.  It was flat with no rusticity.  I wouldn't say I'm disappointed because it was definitely drinkable, but as compared with the Spanish granacha from Castillo de Monjardin, it was pathetic.  The Castillo had a nice level of spice and leather and a good bit of that granacha rusticity that I so love.  This wine could easily sell in the $13 or $14 price point and still be a good value.  However, at $9 it was great!  So, if you must choose between these two, I'd go with the Spaniard.  However, don't let this dissuade you from Andre Brunel because I've had great bottles from his other selections.

2003 Undurraga Founder's Collection:
     We had this Cabernet Sauvignon on Friday evening with dinner.  I have found a lot of top notch Chilean Cabs to be too fruit forward in the California mold, but this one had mellowed quite a bit since '03 and was really drinking well.  It was juicy, but had the right amount of balance and complexity to not blow you away out of the starting blocks.  Penny said she brought this one back from Chile, so I'm not sure you'll have any luck finding it in the States.  Yet another reason why we need more Chilean wines to make it over here.  We are missing out on good stuff like this!

2005 Travaglini Gattinara:
     This was one of our warm-up wines to the Bordeaux.  Not a bad warm-up wine!  It was my first foray into the Gattinara DOCG located way up north on the Italian boot.  It was 100% Nebbiolo and I found it to be delectable.  This is a super-dry red, but it has a lot of finesse and finish.  It wasn't forward, which I was worried about, but it had enough early punch to let you know it had some muscles underneath the funny shaped bottle.  My probably know the least about Italian wine, so this was a good motivation to get to know more.  It was delicious!

2008 Pascual Toso Reserva:
     Another of our warm-up fleet, this was a delicious Malbec from the Barrancas region of Mendoza, Argentina.  This was a great display of the versatility of Malbec from everyday drinker to serious Sunday night dinner wine.  This one could have held up to dinner just fine (along with the Gattinara).  Robert Parker gave it 89 points for all of you ratings snobs.  Its hard for me to reflect on this one after being blown away by the Bordeaux, but I remember it being good.

1996 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste:
This was our dinner wine which Penny's boyfriend Paul brought over.  I already liked him, but this sealed the deal.  We paired it with several salads, grilled beef tenderloin with black truffle butter, Sally's famous meatballs, and some other sides.  I am certain that this was one of the top 5 wines I've ever tasted.  I'm not sure what it was like a year ago or what it will be like a year from now, but right now, this wine is a perfect symphony.  I haven't the patience or money to buy Bordeaux futures and put them aside for 15 years, but now it is evident why others do.  The completeness of this wine is what really made it sing.  Tannins, acidity, balance, finish, and any other thing you could want were all in perfect harmony.  I fear I may have caught the Bordeaux bug with this one!

Bernard Baudry 2009 Chinon "Les Grezeaux"

 
     Ah, Cabernet Franc!  I became a fan of Loire reds back in 2004 or so while I was home from West Point for Christmas or Thanksgiving.  My friend Beth's father introduced me to Loire reds, Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch, and a love for fine, natural vino.  Its strange how chance encounters with people throughout your life lead you to important personal discoveries.  I am sure that I would have found wine eventually, but Mr. Fadeley piqued an interest for me that will probably continue until I die.
     Back to the matter at hand.  I recently picked up a mixed case from Addy Bassin's Macarthur's Beverage over in Georgetown.  I'm not sure who this Addy fellow is, but he runs a mighty fine wine shop that I plan on patronizing as long as I'm here.  One of the folks recommended this one in honor of Joe Dressner, a fine importer, who died recently.  I'm working through several cases of 2005 Loire red from various Kermit Lynch folks, so I didn't really plan on a $27 Chinon, but I'm glad I did.  This wine represents what a great Cab Franc from Loire can do.  It has nuance and complexity and a little bit of leathery beefiness in the background just to let you know that its from good stock.  For me, Loire reds are quintessential autumn wines and this one is no exception.  I highly recommend it!