week 8 2018 – weekend wines

26.2.2018billn

Friday night with some of the Commanderie de Calgary saw 2x 2015 whites and a 2014 red. My short recollections are that we started with a Lamy St.Aubin 1er Clos de la Chatenière which was taut and fine – very lovely wine. The second was Alex Gambal’s St.Aubin 1er Mugers des Dents du Chien which was softer and much more open – tasty but definitely lacking the tension of the Lamy – villages level by comparison. The 2014 red was Tollot-Beaut’s Aloxe-Corton – a wine that was modest in almost all directions yet, again, tasty enough.

Then kicking off with two from Beaujolais:

2014 Lafarge-Vial, Fleurie Clos Vernay
The nose is a little narrow and showing plenty of herb and pyrazine. The palate is, likewise, quite pinched and a little meagre today – this wine has really shrunk in size in the last couple of years – I’d say don’t touch one for at least another three years – now, clearly, isn’t the time. I checked, and the pyrazine is consistent.
Rebuy – No

2011 Julien Sunier, Régnié
More volume and width of aroma – darker fruited, with that slight lactic impression that low sulfur wines exhibit. In the mouth there’s much more volume and complexity of flavour – layered in delivery – with great length too. This is still a young wine but much more open, concentrated and ‘giving’ today. Everyone’s favourite from these two. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Trimbach, Riesling
It seemed a good idea for our Thai red curry!
A narrow but deep and fresh nose. The palate is direct and much more acid-driven than I anticipated in this warm vintage. Fresh, but incisive, not sharp. A great choice for our dish and the whole bottle was finished. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Michele et Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Today this is one of the best addresses in Burgundy, and largely because the use of oak is much more sympathetic today than it once was…
A little vanilla on the nose – even at 10 years old. Very slowly the nose widens with a diffuse but quite appealing red berry-fruit. Plenty of volume in the mouth and the sweet, roundness and complexity of vanilla-tinged fruit. It’s delicious, but whilst I’ll happily eat a whole tub of vanilla ice-cream – without outside assistance(!) – you already know that I’m less of a fan of finding it in my wine – at least when I’m expecting some maturity. Very tasty but… On day two, the last third was virtually vanilla-free – maybe there is still some hope (for me)…
Rebuy – Maybe

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There is one response to “week 8 2018 – weekend wines”

  1. Gilberto26th February 2018 at 5:30 pmPermalinkReply

    Bill, I first tasted Lafarge-Vial Beaujolais in the 2015 vintage and liked them very much. I did not perceive any greenness in any of the wines: is it specific for the 2014 vintage? Only Lafarge or other Beaujolais?

    • billn26th February 2018 at 5:41 pmPermalinkReply

      Hi Gilberto
      I also tasted and reported on the 2015s here and they were uniformly excellent.
      This pyrazine is almost related to something floral – but doesn’t quite cut it for me – those French tasters with less acute sensitivity describe it as gentian flowers! It’s something I find much more often in the wines of Beaujolais – but maybe not more than 1 in 20 wines and from trace to strong (like this one) – though it is generally on a more modest level than in 2004 and 2011 burgundies – but I have found it in all vintages in Beaujolais. With such wildly different fermentation methods across the region it would not just be relatively futile of me to try to suggest a source in these cases, it would lack any empirical observation too.

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