Wine Notes
November 10, 2006
1990 Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant
Here are my (short) tasting notes:
Color: Mid->Dark apple juice yellow/brown.
Warmed up beautifully and needed the decant (the man knows what he's doing with those paper inserts that say "serve at X celsius and decant for a long time.")
Lovely sweet herbal aromatics and that classic Joly green-tea on the attack.
Excellent mid-palate of surprising freshness and acidity. While fun up-front, the real treat was the finish. LONG. Rich. Would have with a steak with it even at this age, or just enjoy on a cool November night with a lawn chair. Not for the faint of heart.
Posted by Tom Stephenson at 1:48 AM
April 4, 2006
Cru Wines
Two killer wines at Cru last night: ('99 Grivot Richebourg, '02 Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Combettes")
The Grivot started out tight. Nose of crushed roses, exotic spice, red cherry fruit, some slight smokey oak. The palate was somewhat clenched at first with great purity and some big tannins. But this fleshed out gorgeously over the next two hours and became very sappy and velvety at the same time. Fruit was explosive and it gained some great complexity and had a dazzling finish. Pure, old-school Burgundy and one of the greatets Richebourg's I have ever had. Just the right amount of richness with great site character and a tremendous structure that will ensure many years of great drinking ahead of it.
The Carillon was a delight. Tremendous richness and depth with a deft use of oak. Amazingly accesible now with some interesting minty character and great presentation on the palate. Long ass-kicking finish.
Also had a couple sips of a Raveneau '02 La Foret which was gorgeous. Maybe the most minerally nose on a white burg I have ever smelled. Just chalk and lemon. Palate was finely etched with incredible acidity and some youngish Chablis fruit. Long echoing finish.
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Posted by Bob Schagrin at 12:06 PM
February 27, 2006
Many Recent Wines
'82 Cristal - Wow! This was just jamming on all cylinders. Immediatly out of the glass this was roaring with fresh coffee grounds, black truffles, cinnamon, cumin and some roasted pear. Just an amazing nose. The palate was bliss. Amazingly complex palate that has perfect integration of acidity, truffle flavors, spice and even some tannin. The bubbles are so soft yet you still know they are there. It is one complex cohesive unit. Stunning purity and depth. This just stained your palate for minutes and left nuances of truffles for almost twenty minutes after. Stunningly profund wine. This was just as good as the '55.
'98 Domaine de Chevalier - This was a great surprise. Great nose of scorched earth, weedy tobacco, red currants, dandelions and violets. Very pretty nose. Palate was deep and concentrated with great elegance. Great core of pretty red fruit. Tannins were big but ripe and everything was in beautiful balance. Very pure. The more I drink Pessac's I realize that it is the Chinon-lovers Bordeaux. Excellent wine. Every '98 Pessac I have had recently has been great. Including Pape-Clement, La Tour Haut Brion, Les Carmes Haut Brion & Haut Brion.
'01 Usseglio Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Mon Aieul" - Slightly reductive nose but the granite/galet notes shined through with kirsch cherry and lots of CDP funk. Palate was big but very elegant with tremendous fruit concentration. Touch hot but the more I drink CDP the more I realize that slight heat is in the profile of most of the wines. Great finish along with a tremendous backbone. Remains one of the most original wines in the appelation.
'90 Aldo Conterno Barolo - The Conterno had a tremendous nose upon opening. Tar, leather, roses, spice, clove. After around thirty minutes open the wine did develop a roasted quality that turned me off. The palate was tremendously rich and ripe with some seriously concentrated red fruits. Supple but tannic. Great stuff but a definetly on the riper side of the spectrum. Would love to taste the '89 of this.
'70 Lopez de Heredia "Vina Tondonia" - The Conterno had a tremendous nose upon opening. Tar, leather, roses, spice, clove. After around thirty minutes open the wine did develop a roasted quality that turned me off. The palate was tremendously rich and ripe with some seriously concentrated red fruits. Supple but tannic. Great stuff but a definetly on the riper side of the spectrum. Would love to taste the '89 of this.
'75 Sanctus Jacobus Piesporter Schubertslay Auslese -
Wow. This might have been the most perfect wine all year. One of the few wines I had this year that was perfectly mature and showing everything that it could possibly show. Aromas of pear, petrol, lemon curd, apricot, leather and chamomile. Outrageously complex nose that kept changing. Palate had no hard edges with acidity perfectly intertwined with the lush and focused fruit. The palate was just so good. The finish was long and the quality of the fruit was amazing.The balance was astounding and the purity was top-notch. Truly profound wine and a great treat.
'04 Schafer-Frohlich Bockenauer Felseneck Spatlese - One of my new favorite producers of German wine this wine is truly incredible. Incredible delicacy, laciness and purity. Racy red fruits along with some creamy peach and apricot flavors. Acidity dances on the palate. Elegant yet very opulent. Beautiful stuff.
'02 Matrot Meursault - The Matrot is just an insane QPR. Stunning nose of minerals and complex nutty Meursault aromas. Clean and pure palate with a wallop of fruit and taut acidity. Had this at Jean-Georges three weeks ago and it is consistently spectacular.
'96 Roulout Meursault-Charmes - So my conclusion with '96 white Burgs is this. Either they are completely shot and oxidized or young as young can be with incredible potential. The Roulot falls into category 2. Just an unreal nose of lime rock candy, minerals and chalk. The palate was incredibly deep and rich with acidity the way I like it. High, tense and crunchy. The fruit was pure but still very young and unformed. From the way this tasted last night this wine has at least 25-30 years ahead of it. One of the best '96 white burgs I have had this year and I have actually had alot looking back on it.
'02 Fichet Meursault "Les Tessons" - If Ramonet made Meursault it might taste something like this. Out of the gates nose of spicey oak and ripe pear. Really transformed in the space of a 1/2 hour and picked up some intense minerally notes. Really tight and coiled on the palate with intense acidity. But there was nice sappy fruit. Long finish. Really echoes there. Offers excellent potential. Meursault seems like a real sweetspot for the vintage. Almost every one I have tasted has been spectacular.
Posted by Bob Schagrin at 4:38 PM
February 7, 2006
Divine California Wines from Angel's Share
Napa Valley insider Mark Snyder is bringing the next wave of California hot-ticket wines to New York through his company, Angel's Share Wines. In all my years in this business, I have never tasted such a breadth of incredible wines from California that have a remarkable sense of place, otherwise known as terroir. Marks wines all come from extremely small productions, ranging from 7 to 900 cases. Here are a few notes on some of the standout bottles from this élite collection.
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Posted by email offers at 11:09 AM
January 12, 2006
2004 Germans - Back to Business!
We are back to business in Germany after the highly unusual, very hot and dry 2003 vintage that produced wines akin to those from New Zealand or Alsace. The 2004 vintage is classic German with crisp acids, pure fruit and concentrated minerality.
What makes 2004 exceptional? From the QBAs (entry-level estate bottlings) to the super-ripe Auslesen, the wines are consistently excellent and give you all the balance between sweetness, fruit and acidity you could want from a Riesling. Plus, these wines will stick around. The high-toned acids will ensure the wines long lives. Their clean, ripe flavors will make them a pleasure to enjoy today, in 20 years or any day in between.
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Posted by email offers at 2:56 PM
October 28, 2005
Some great wines from a recent dinner.
Welcome to the tasting note portion of the blog. I taste alot of great wine and I like to share my notes every once and a while. This is some of the wines I had at a wonderful dinner at Montrachet this week.
The '82 Haut-Brion was beautiful with great supple texture and a wonderful femininity. Loads of tar, weedy tobacco and delicate cassis fruit with almost fully resolved tannins and a very long finish. This is an '82 that is rarin'to go. While the '86 Haut Brion lived up to it's reputation of the funk in a glass. Mushrooms and loads of tobacco with tons of cassis and gorgeous minerality. Super intense nose. Really comes out of the glass roaring. This is my favorite Haut-Brion ever because if it's very distinctive personality.
The Montelena's were interesting. The '80 was singing with lots of mint and menthol and sweet blueberry and cassis fruit. Loads of concentration and freshness on the palate with a slight touch of green tannin. The '92 was completely shut for business. Never opened up the whole night.
The Yquem's were great. The '90 was truly thrilling wine with pefectly balance between botrytis and acidity. Wonderful texture and explosive inner mouth aromas. Stunning finish and great delineation. Almost better than the corked '67 I had recently. The '97 was full rich and packed with botrytis. Little less focused than the '90 but great in a different way in the '90.
The '97 Scavino Rocche del Annunziata was dissapointing. Hot, out of balance with low acid and very candied fruit. Open for a minute and closed for the rest of the night.
Posted by Bob Schagrin at 9:28 PM