Jean-Paul Brun (Terres Dorées) Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2007

Jean-Paul Brun (Terres Dorées) Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2007

A lovely, light colour. The scent is pure, beetroot-like Pinosity, and this gets carried onto the palate which is bright and pure and has a lovely, refreshing tart quality to the ripe fruit. The tannins are attractively prominent. It is fairly light but also intense and racy. Awesome and pure wine!

Stylistically this reminds me a bit of the (far too few) Faiveleys or Montilles (or perhaps Gouges, but my experience is even smaller here...) that I have had. Perhaps the tart aspects won't endear themselves to many, but I know some of us will appreciate them!

Charles Mignon and Bois-Martin

Charles Mignon Champagne Brut 1er Cru

16,64€ / 0,375; 12% abv; 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. A charming bottle of fizz, with a very open and quite sweet scent of red apples and strawberry - obviously Pinot dominant. Quite round and fleshy but with perfectly decent structure. Quite long and pleasantly mineral finish. An enjoyable, rich fizz with much Pinosity.

Château Bois-Martin 2005 Péssac-Léognan

An attractive red with true Graves character. It smells of damp earth and ripe dark fruit but it also has a refreshing lift to the scent - I hesitate to call it a green touch in such a ripe wine, because that word seems to carry unwarranted negative connotations. Medium bodied but compact and even a little chewy but wonderfully refreshing, too, as I think Claret should ideally be. So perhaps it isn't an earth-shattering experience, but it is a very decent wine.

Pelissero Le Nature Langhe Favorita 2006

Pelissero Langhe Favorita "Le Nature" 2006 12,5%

This is a rare wine: it is apparently only sold in a few restaurants in Piemonte and Finland. Lightish gold. It smells and tastes nutty and slightly oaky even though I thought it wasn't supposed to see barrique (or is Giorgio Pelissero so enamored with oak that even an early drinking wine sees some?). Am I hallucinating? There is also a slight hint of banana like I get with those horrid Beaujolais that use that particular strain of Lalvin yeast (72 was it?). It also tastes a bit lifeless and flat. It tastes spoofulated. I didn't enjoy it, so bad QPR at c.10€.

I haven't knowingly tasted Favorita before, but I hope this isn't how it is supposed to be.

Natural Wines From (this?) Universe

An invitation came into my mail for a fully blind tasting of natural wines from "outside of this universe". Having just been reading Lee Smolin's delightful criticism of string theory, I might not be entirely sure I agree with the physicists who claim that this universe is just one of many, hence I chose a different title - especially as these were practically main-stream wines!

Blind fizz

Our first wine was Jean-Marc Burgaud's Bull'GO ( label ) which is a fizz made from Gamay. IIRC, this was the first and only time it was made (vintage 2007?). I thought it was lovely. It smelled of bread crust and crisp but red toned fruit - an almost Champagne-lookalike. Lovely structure, elegant mousse. This was much fun and I hope J-M Burgaud continues to make it.

Our next fizz was the ever-lovable Jean-Paul Brun FRV 100 ( label ) which is a Gamay of a deep, pink colour. It is only 7,5% abv and naturally sweetish, but the acidity is such that it is wonderfully refreshing. It is more complex and serious in its typical Gamay aromas of earthy, bright red fruit than Brachetto but just as much fun. I could drink bottle after bottle of this stuff!

Blind Whites

The first white was not at all to my taste. The Domaine des Deux Roches (Collovray & Terrier) St.-Veran Vieilles Vignes 2007 ( label ) smelled more of new oak than anything else - but it did have very nice acidity. With so many other wonderful wines on show, I didn't bother to spend much time with this. Not to my taste; everyone else loved it.

The second white, Quinta de Covela Colheita Seleccionada Branco 2006 ( label ) was more to my taste. A blend of Avesso and Chardonnay from Minho, Portugal, it was a hefty 14,5% abv, but that didn't show. It was marked by some oak, but in such well managed amounts that even I enjoyed this wine. Rich, sweet fruit, perfectly adequate acidity, but with such weight and even oiliness on the palate that I was guessing a good Rhône white! Nice wine.

But things went even more to my taste with the unoaked Quinta de Covela Escolha Branco 2007 ( label ) which was a rather unconventional blend of Avesso, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. The scent was so grapey that my first reaction was a dry Muscat. Apparently there isn't much Gewurz in the blend, but it is amazing how it can dominate the scent. The palate was delightfully crisp and clean - much more so than any Gewurz I have ever tasted. Nice, uncomplicated, cheerful stuff. I like it.

Sadly, I am not at all certain that our bottle of Jean-Paul Brun's (Terres Dorées) Beaujolais Blanc 2007 ( label ) was in good condition. During transport to the tasting, it was accidentally placed just by the heating in the tram and was apparently very, very hot to the touch. I wouldn't have expected such a short trip to destroy a wine, but this sure was weird! It smelled of strawberry yoghurt and something strangely like toffee (but not as in oaky). Fat, disjointed citrussy acidity. It wasn't undrinkable - in fact it was more pleasant than what my words make it seem. Perhaps off?

Blind Reds

Natural Bordeaux isn't something that one sees very often, so it was fun to have three wines from a well-regarded estate in the Côtes de Bourg. The Ch. Falfas 2006 ( label ) was quite a delight. It did show pure Bordeaux aromas: a mix of dark fruit and red berries, some earth. Not much oak in this, which was nice, but it could still use some time to integrate. It was vibrant, refreshing, had plenty of grip and also plenty of substance. The Ch. Falfas 2005 was very similar in aromas to the 2006 except the oak had fully integrated, and the acidity wasn't quite so bright (still plenty of it for an '05) but the tannins were palate-cleansing and the whole was extremely pleasing. Very pleasant wines (unlike the "special cuvée" that came later...).

Not all wines can please everyone. The Quinta de Covela Colheita Seleccionada 2003 ( label ) was one such. It smelled so strongly of cranberry jam that I was certain this was Chilean Cabernet (except one that doesn't have the usual lashings of new oak). But no, this was a blend of Touriga Nacional, Cab Sauv and Merlot from Minho. Not much to see here.

On the other hand, their unoaked red, the Quinta de Covela Escolha 2005 ( label ) was a great deal of fun. I could see the family resemblance to the '03, but this was much better balanced. It wasn't jammy or over-the-top though it was very ripe and fruity. A rather unconventional blend of Touriga Nacional, Cab Franc, Merlot and Syrah. It's a nice wine, but why such a wacky blend when I am sure Portuguese grapes would have made a wonderful (perhaps better) wine, too?

From VdP du Val de Montferrand we had a Domaine Mas de Martin Cuvée Roi Patriote 2007 ( label ) which was a very enjoyable blend of almost everything that grows in that general direction: Merlot, Cabs Sauv and Franc, Grenache Noir, Syrah and Tannat. It showed a lovely, Southern, sauvage character but with some cooler, lifted elements typical of Bordeaux. Sweet and ripe fruit, lively. It developed some very strange and strong liquorice aromas with air. Nice stuff, but I preferred it soon after open.

To finish the event, we had the premium cuvée from Falfas, the Ch. Falfas Le Chevalier 2006 ( label ). It was much too young, and it smelled only of barrique. I much preferred the "basic" Falfas.

Cleaning up wines - also blind, naturally

Domaine Loew Pinot Noir Westhoffen 2007 was a lovely Alsace Pinot! Doesn't Loew do anything badly? I like their Rieslings, but I also love their wines like Pinots Gris & Noir that usually don't appreciate in Alsace all that much. This was deliciously vegetal, light yet fruity; bright red fruit, ripe but light. Lovely structure to match with some lighter food.

Poggerino Chianti Classico 2004 ( label ) was quite a beefy and dark wine for Chianti. I didn't see a purity of Sangiovese fruit like I do with Podere le Boncie's Le Trame, but it was perfectly drinkable, nonetheless.

A palate-cleansing fizz was welcome, too. Jacques Selosse V.O. Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut ( label ), disgorged in April '07, this was a lovely Champagne in a very weighty style but one that we guessed had plenty more age on it: I was thinking of 1989. A scent of fruit-baskets and old oak, oxidative/appley. Full bodied, elegant mousse, not very high in acidity, but it was perfectly adequate to carry all of that weighty fruit. Big boned Meursault with bubbles.

A fun evening, indeed.

Two Pinot Gris from Domaine Loew

Domaine Loew Pinot Gris Bruderbach Clos Marienberg 2006

Gold. A vibrant, fleshy, open scent that is a very expressive and pure example of Alsace Pinot Gris: spices and red fruit. Full bodied and spicy, dry but fleshy. Though by no means an acid-forward wine, it does have perfectly adequate grip so it isn't a structureless mass, but rather is very moreish. Long. Wonderful wine.



Domaine Loew Pinot Gris Engelberg Grand Cru 2007

Very light colour, especially for Pinot Gris: watery with a greenish tint. Tasting this side by side with the Loew Bruderbach Clos Marienberg 2006, I was surprised by how elegant and restrained this was. This was a very beautiful wine, but I needed to readjust my ideas of what Pinot Gris should be! This wasn't a fleshy, expressive wine, but rather restrained, elegant, steely and like a tightly coiled spring. It is mineral with lots of grip and wonderful acidity for the grape, medium bodied but with friendly fruit - but it is dry and powerful. The fruit did have the spicy, red tones I expect from Pinot Gris but my initial reaction was still that of a painfully young CFE but with friendlier fruit. I thought this was awesome, though young!

Collovray et Terrier VdP d'Oc

Collovray & Terrier La Closerie des Lys Les Fruitières Blanc 2008 - Vin de Pays d'Oc

9,95€; 13% abv; a third each of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Rolle (Vermentino); under plastic "cork". Some minerality, but mostly a very perfumed and floral scent - the cloying aspects of which remind me of Viognier. Medium bodied, good acidity, crisp and refreshing despite showing sunny fruit. Initially, I might have been to damning of the perfumed character, as it calms down and greener, more refreshing scents appear - it become a more balanced wine with a few hours of air. Not as interesting nor with such personality as the red, but a nice wine anyway.

Collovray & Terrier La Closerie des Lys Les Fruitières Rouge 2008 - Vin de Pays d'Oc

9,95€; 13% abv; 50% Merlot, 30% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon; under plastic "cork". At last a wine that fulfills two important criteria in my house: 1) cheap enough that I can use, without sorrow, huge amounts of it in cooking, 2) yet at the same time good enough that I really enjoy drinking a glass or three of it! It smells like a good Beaujolais with its bright red fruit except that it also smells meaty and bloody. Medium bodied, refreshing tannins, attractively citrussy acidity - refreshing yet fruity. Not very long, but few wines at this price are. It doesn't really show the characteristics of the grapes, but it does have plenty of character for such a cheap wine. No, this is not a great wine, but it is a very pleasant one. Buy again? Definitely.

Virgolino José Torroaes Vinho Brano Especial 1930

Is this white from Salvaterra dos Magos in Ribatejo fortified? Was it originally made in an oxidative style? Does anyone know anything about the producer that has a whole four hits on Google?

Whatever the story behind it, the Virgolino José Torroaes Vinho Branco Especial 1930 was wonderful. When served this blind, I was thinking of Palo Cortado: delightful rancio aromas, nutty, captivating. Dry, with wonderful bite, but perhaps not as much alcohol as PC would have? I can't tell if this is fortified and the label doesn't have any indication of alcohol. What a wonderful surprise. Whatever it is, I thought it was lovely.

Two Blauer Wildbachers

Langmann Blauer Wildbacher Reserve 2003 - Weststeiermark

12,5% abv; c.10€; label; like the rosé, also from the Hochgrail-vineyard, though it doesn't say so on the label. Apparently aged for 30 months in Barriques, but I am surprised about that. The scent isn't primarily oaky, but has an enchanting mix of red and dark forest berries - its pure berry aromas are quite surprising (and captivating) to this first time imbiber of the grape. It is very volatile at first, but calms down after a couple hours open. Air also brings to the scent a lovely touch of earth and vegetation. The palate isn't as wild as I was led to believe from some descriptions of this grape, though it does have pretty strong but palate-cleansing tannins (it reminds me of the 2001 Barolos at the moment) and strong acidity despite the heat-wave year (the juicy acidity that the berry aromas promised were fully realised). I don't know how red Blauer Wildbachers age, but I won't be surprised from this bottle if the answer is very well. I loved this wine.

Langmann Blauer Wildbacher Schilcher Hochgrail 2007 - Weststeiermark

12,5% abv; 8,9g/l acidity; 3,6g/l RS; 10€; label. Deep pink. It smells of minerals, earth and sweet strawberries but it also has a tart berry scent that promises real bite and zip on the palate. And it is, indeed, deliciously acidic, but fruity, too, so it isn't as extreme as I had read this grape should be. Lovely minerality. Lovely wine.

Two Sakes and a Schilcher

Inspired by Vinod Vijayakumar's excellent FAQ on Sake that I recently read, I bought the two Sakes we have available here (we also have a Gekkeikan, brewed under license in the US that is absolutely wretched so I didn't count that). We made a bit of fake-Japanese food from mostly local fishes and drunk the Okunomatsus and one more Schilcher.



Okunomatsu Tokubetsu Junmai 20,80€ / 0,72 liters
What first struck me was its purity. It was like the minerality I so seek in my whites: rain water on rocks. The second thing that struck me was how delicate and elegant it was despite a whopping 15,5% abv. The alcohol didn't taste at all. There was a slight scent of banana mixed with the purity, but it was so slight I didn't mind it though usually I find such estery aromas off-putting.

Okunomatsu Junmai Ginjo 7,16€ / 0,18 liters

Like the Tokubetsu Junmai, this is a wine of great purity, but this was a darker toned Sake with, instead of banana, a scent of something more savoury: liquorice and grass. Slightly more sweet at 20g/l RS and more acidic, but still pure.

I really can't decide whether I prefer the ethereal purity of the Tokubetsu or the more earthy flavours of the Ginjo. Thank you Vinod for your inspiring posts!

I love a good rosé with Sushi, so I also opened up the second of the Schilchers I had. The Weingut Lazarus Schilcher Elegance 2007 ( label ) was again a lovely, earthy scented, deep rosé with bright cherry aromas reminding me of Rodenbach's Grand Cru. Lovely acidity as one can expect from 9g/l, but not as extreme as it sounds as it is tempered by 3,4g/l RS and a general ripeness of fruit. Lovely stuff.