Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Back in the Saddle

Well, Labor Day has passed by and, though some of the sunnier, warmer days are possibly still ahead of us in northern California, summer's come and gone. Here is a quick run-through of a few wines I've drunk over the past week, and then more in-depth stuff tomorrow and later in the week.

2007 Grange Tiphaine Bel Air Sec Touraine Amboise

60-70 year old Chenin Blanc vines produce the grapes that make this delicious, dry white. Great intensity and minerality.

2006 Goisset St. Bris

A solid sauvignon de st bris, this wine slowly opens up to show broad citrus flavors - think kafir lime - with a touch of herbaceous green notes and intense minerality. Rich, complex, and very Pouilly Fume-like. One to cellar for a few years.

2007 Nathalie & Christian Chossard 'You are so Nice' Cot - Gamay

Here is a most naturally made 'natural wine.' Organic farming, working towards biodynamic, natural fermentation, malolactic which begins and ends naturally, and a minimal amount of sulphur added only immediately prior to bottling. Lots of enticing cot aromas on the nose: violets, barnyard and dusty purple fruits. Not showing a whole lot on the palate, this wine really disappointed, my first Dressner imported Loire wine disappointment. Could just be travel sick, will try another one in a month.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You must have found an off bottle of the Chaussard. I write the tasting notes for Terroir and called it a "dark, chewy, berry-licious elixir that shouts its Loire Valley origins." That's been true for each bottle I've sampled.

Joe Manekin said...

Not off, just not as good as I was hoping. I re-visited the same bottle tonight and while the mid-palate shows a bit more length and interest, I guess that I am finding the wine a bit lacking compared to the likes of Puzelat and CRB. High standards, I know. Plus I am still not convinced that this didn't recently make its way west recently - I need to confirm though.

Lyle Fass said...

Not a Chossard guy either.

Joe Manekin said...

Interesting...you would be the third discriminating palate (myself included) I have heard of in the past day who did not really dig this wine.

Anonymous said...

I gotta say, Joe, that yeah, You Are So Nice ain't so nice. I ordered a bottle at Orson a couple weeks ago and the waiter came over to encourage me to order something else, that diners kept sending it back. Even the staff was having a hard time getting behind it. Naturally this made me just want to try it all the more, so eventually they brought some over--and I have to say that whill it smelled interesting (good? Definitely funky), it tasted metallic and fishy. Interesting to hear multiple reactions to that. Pity.

- wolfgang

slaton said...

Interesting to hear about the negative vibes on the Chaussard. I recently had a fantastic bottle of the 2004 CRB Cot and have been desperately looking around for something in the same vein.