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DaleW DaleW is offline
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Default WTN: Crozes, CdL, and Graves

On May 2, 1:32*pm, DaleW > wrote:
> Betsy made a dish of green beans and tomatoes Thursday, but main
> course was a shepherd's pie she had picked up at bakery (busy day). I
> opened the 2006 L'Esprit de Chevalier (Pessac-Leognan). Black
> plums, a little herb, moderate acidity, some fairly firm tannins,
> just *a touch of vanillin oak. OK finish. *Not a bad glass of red
> wine, but doesn't particularly say Bordeaux to me (much less Graves).
> Still, at $5 am I complaining? Nah. B-/B
>
> There was enough shepherd's pie that I had leftovers Friday, as Betsy
> was playing in city. This time the wine was the 1999 Paul Jaboulet
> "Les Jalets" Crozes-Hermitage.
To me in their larger bottlings (at
> least in 90s) PJA is probably the absolute king of bottle/batch
> variation. The '95 Parallele 45 CdR ranged from the greatest $5 bottle
> I remember to almost undrinkable. The range of the '99 Jalets has also
> been wide, though never the heights of the 95 P45. So it was with a
> little trepidation I opened my last bottle of this. This actually
> showed some variation within the same bottle.
> At first the acidity bordered on the screechy. But with a bit of
> airtime the fruit seemed to expand , and countered the acidity. Redder
> fruit than typical Rhone Syrah, but clean and bright with a little
> earth and very light funky/gamy odors. I quite enjoy, but after about
> a while it started cracking up, and seeming disjointed. Acidity
> reasserted itself, and the fruit started taking on pruney notes. Rest
> to the vinegar crock. *This probably should have drunk up two or three
> years ago, but this bottle was fairly enjoyable for about an hour. At
> it's best, B/B+, but C+ is probably ultimately more realistic, even on
> my totally subjective scale.
>
> I felt like one more glass, and opened the 2005 Baumard "Carte
> d'Or" Coteaux du Layon.
CdL is generally sweet, but in my limited
> experience less so than QdC, somewhere in the netherland between demi-
> sec and full-blown dessert. This came across as pretty solidly sweet
> however, baked apple pie with spices, for my tastes it could use a bit
> more acidity. I found a glass more than I wanted, we'll see what Betsy
> thinks tonight. This really should be more of a dessert wine - I was
> careless opening this.
>
> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
> wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
> drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
> promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.


I actually revisited this Thursday (no wine with dinner at office),
had a glass when I got home. 6 days after opening, fresh and probably
tastier than first night. The miracle of Chenin