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TN: A birthday week's worth of wines
For her birthday, Jean wanted to take a week's vacation in a rented
house on the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan, a three hour trip from our house. Since we cooked all but one night, we took along a few wines from home. What follows is a compendium of notes on those wines: 1997 Storybook Mountain "Eastern Exposures" Zinfandel (14.3% ABV) nose: pencil lead, raspberry palate: restrained, structured, deep raspberry fruit, clean finish What a refreshing Zin! This wine had no shortage of fruit, yet was never heavy or over the top. The alcohol level also reflects that restraint. The 5-10% Viognier isn't at all apparent, but might add something to the nose. Storybook Mtn is one of the 3-4 producers of Zin I think most highly of. It was a great choice to accompany a hastily broiled rack of lamb for our first dinner. 1999 Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros) nose: pure, red fruit, smoke, minerals palate: velvety smooth, plush, solidly fruity, medium body, good acidity Again, a solid winner from a favorite producer. This was classic Pinot Noir in every respect. It had plenty of depth without any danger of being overextracted. I didn't get the alcohol level, but I'd guess that it was 13-14%. Just lovely, and a great match with the mesquite-smoked chicken made on their gas grill. 1999 Ravenswood Barricia Zinfandel nose: tart berry fruit, briery, pepper palate: jammy berry fruit, a bit soft, pepper and tar Although this was classic Zin in its flavors, it was just outclassed by the Storybook Mtn. Still, it was a great paean to the Ravenwood Zins of old, and a decent accompaniment to the hickory-smoked, spice rubbed "Western" ribs, again made experimentally on their gas grill (digression: we have a smoker at home that uses charcoal or wood, so adjusting to a high tech gas grill took some doing -- could I get indirect heat by not igniting the back burner? What temperature setting corresponds to slow smoking? Amazingly, what I did worked fairly well) 2003 "The Crossings" Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough nose: initally, a bit of iodine/seaweed, followed by tropical fruit and gooseberry palate: good acidity, citrus fruit, a hint of oxidation, tropical fruit This wine was from a screwcapped bottle, and purchased recently at our local fine wine exporium as I was curious about its aging, and I recalled Dale's positive reviews on it. As a an experiment, I wanted to see how well it had aged under screwcap, and the answer was "pretty damn well." Even Jean, who really hates oxidative notes in white wine, liked this one and it went very well with the pan-fried walleye (pike perch IIRC for the Euro crowd) we had for dinner. 2006 Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc nose: floral, tropical fruit, minerals, grapefruit palate: pretty close to the nose, more emphasis on the grapefruit Yes, I've written about this before. It's still yummy. It's just got more going on in the nose than 90% of the Marlborough SBs that I taste. Really nice and very good QPR at $12-13. 2006 Drylands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc nose: grapefruit and minerals palate: simple, grapefruit, good acidity After the Babich, this was a bit of a letdown. Perfectly adequate, but unexeciting. It went well enough with the shrimp cocktail that began Jean's birthday dinner. (Second digression: you'd think that since we were staying on the shore of one of the Great Lakes that there'd be a fair supply of fish in the local stores -- wrongo! In an otherwise decent supermarket, all the fish was frozen seafood, most of it breaded and fried. We had to drive 20 miles to get the walleye and the shrimp, purchased locally, were frozen pre-cooked shrimp from Thailand) 1989 Ch. Montrose St. Estephe nose: dark plummy fruit, pencil lead, slightly herbal palate: medium-full body, modest acidity, quite primary, dark fruit, fine grained tannins Jean served this wine blind to me and I was asked to guess year, grape, region. My guess was a California Cabernet from '94-'95. Not too close, but in retrospect not a bad characterization of this wine. It didn't show much that really screamed "Bordeaux" and even after several hours open it was still mostly about fruit with little secondary development. Quite nice, but not what I look for in Bordeaux as a rule. 2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran nose: minerals, pineapple, a hint of oak palate: medium body, crisp, pineapple, good acidity I bought this to see what a good producer like Drouhin could do in a good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from the Beaujolais region, and as such is a cheap and potentially good white Burgundy. In this case, I was quite pleased. It had some of the character I look for in Chablis, without the lemony fruit that I usually find there. It was a bit rounder than Chablis but that might reflect year as much as region. Very nice for $13 and a decent match to my thrown-together linguine with white clam sauce for our final dinner. All in all, a good bunch of wines (4 red, 4 white, 4 from the cellar, 4 from the store) and a fun week. Of the lot, my two favorites were probably the Storybook Mountain Zin and the Drouhin St. Veran, but all the wines were a pleasure to drink. Mark Lipton -- alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com |
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A birthday week's worth of wines
> 2006 Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
> nose: floral, tropical fruit, minerals, grapefruit > palate: pretty close to the nose, more emphasis on the grapefruit What a coincidence, we had it last night with olives and crisps, sitting outside for the first time in ages. Echo your notes Mark, on of my fave SB's John, from a strange world with a yellow bright thing in the sky. |
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TN: A birthday week's worth of wines
Happy Birthday to Jean, seems like a nice way to spend it.
> > 1999 Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros) Don't remember having the 1999, but long a favorite producer. > > 2003 "The Crossings" Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough > This wine was from a screwcapped bottle, and purchased recently at our > local fine wine exporium as I was curious about its aging, and I > recalled Dale's positive reviews on it. As a an experiment, I wanted to > see how well it had aged under screwcap, and the answer was "pretty damn > well." Even Jean, who really hates oxidative notes in white wine, liked Glad to hear it was good -buying 3+ year SB makes you braver than me! I think I liked the couple bottles of the Crossings I tried, but it was never quite at the level of the better vintages of Babich or Cairnbrae "Stones" > > 1989 Ch. Montrose St. Estephe No brett? > 2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran > good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from > the Beaujolais region, Sounds great. I always thought this was Maconnais, thanks for new info. |
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A birthday week's worth of wines
When did St.Veran start coming from the Beaujolais region?
"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message ... > For her birthday, Jean wanted to take a week's vacation in a rented > house on the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan, a three hour trip from our > house. Since we cooked all but one night, we took along a few wines > from home. What follows is a compendium of notes on those wines: > > 1997 Storybook Mountain "Eastern Exposures" Zinfandel (14.3% ABV) > nose: pencil lead, raspberry > palate: restrained, structured, deep raspberry fruit, clean finish > > What a refreshing Zin! This wine had no shortage of fruit, yet was never > heavy or over the top. The alcohol level also reflects that restraint. > The 5-10% Viognier isn't at all apparent, but might add something to > the nose. Storybook Mtn is one of the 3-4 producers of Zin I think most > highly of. It was a great choice to accompany a hastily broiled rack of > lamb for our first dinner. > > 1999 Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros) > nose: pure, red fruit, smoke, minerals > palate: velvety smooth, plush, solidly fruity, medium body, good acidity > > Again, a solid winner from a favorite producer. This was classic Pinot > Noir in every respect. It had plenty of depth without any danger of > being overextracted. I didn't get the alcohol level, but I'd guess that > it was 13-14%. Just lovely, and a great match with the mesquite-smoked > chicken made on their gas grill. > > 1999 Ravenswood Barricia Zinfandel > nose: tart berry fruit, briery, pepper > palate: jammy berry fruit, a bit soft, pepper and tar > > Although this was classic Zin in its flavors, it was just outclassed by > the Storybook Mtn. Still, it was a great paean to the Ravenwood Zins of > old, and a decent accompaniment to the hickory-smoked, spice rubbed > "Western" ribs, again made experimentally on their gas grill > (digression: we have a smoker at home that uses charcoal or wood, so > adjusting to a high tech gas grill took some doing -- could I get > indirect heat by not igniting the back burner? What temperature setting > corresponds to slow smoking? Amazingly, what I did worked fairly well) > > 2003 "The Crossings" Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough > nose: initally, a bit of iodine/seaweed, followed by tropical fruit and > gooseberry > palate: good acidity, citrus fruit, a hint of oxidation, tropical fruit > > This wine was from a screwcapped bottle, and purchased recently at our > local fine wine exporium as I was curious about its aging, and I > recalled Dale's positive reviews on it. As a an experiment, I wanted to > see how well it had aged under screwcap, and the answer was "pretty damn > well." Even Jean, who really hates oxidative notes in white wine, liked > this one and it went very well with the pan-fried walleye (pike perch > IIRC for the Euro crowd) we had for dinner. > > 2006 Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc > nose: floral, tropical fruit, minerals, grapefruit > palate: pretty close to the nose, more emphasis on the grapefruit > > Yes, I've written about this before. It's still yummy. It's just got > more going on in the nose than 90% of the Marlborough SBs that I taste. > Really nice and very good QPR at $12-13. > > 2006 Drylands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc > nose: grapefruit and minerals > palate: simple, grapefruit, good acidity > > After the Babich, this was a bit of a letdown. Perfectly adequate, but > unexeciting. It went well enough with the shrimp cocktail that began > Jean's birthday dinner. (Second digression: you'd think that since we > were staying on the shore of one of the Great Lakes that there'd be a > fair supply of fish in the local stores -- wrongo! In an otherwise > decent supermarket, all the fish was frozen seafood, most of it breaded > and fried. We had to drive 20 miles to get the walleye and the shrimp, > purchased locally, were frozen pre-cooked shrimp from Thailand) > > 1989 Ch. Montrose St. Estephe > nose: dark plummy fruit, pencil lead, slightly herbal > palate: medium-full body, modest acidity, quite primary, dark fruit, > fine grained tannins > > Jean served this wine blind to me and I was asked to guess year, grape, > region. My guess was a California Cabernet from '94-'95. Not too > close, but in retrospect not a bad characterization of this wine. It > didn't show much that really screamed "Bordeaux" and even after several > hours open it was still mostly about fruit with little secondary > development. Quite nice, but not what I look for in Bordeaux as a rule. > > 2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran > nose: minerals, pineapple, a hint of oak > palate: medium body, crisp, pineapple, good acidity > > I bought this to see what a good producer like Drouhin could do in a > good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from > the Beaujolais region, and as such is a cheap and potentially good white > Burgundy. In this case, I was quite pleased. It had some of the > character I look for in Chablis, without the lemony fruit that I usually > find there. It was a bit rounder than Chablis but that might reflect > year as much as region. Very nice for $13 and a decent match to my > thrown-together linguine with white clam sauce for our final dinner. > > All in all, a good bunch of wines (4 red, 4 white, 4 from the cellar, 4 > from the store) and a fun week. Of the lot, my two favorites were > probably the Storybook Mountain Zin and the Drouhin St. Veran, but all > the wines were a pleasure to drink. > > Mark Lipton > > -- > alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com |
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TN: A birthday week's worth of wines
DaleW > wrote in news:1185717757.175785.225770
@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com: >> 2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran >> good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from >> the Beaujolais region, > > Sounds great. I always thought this was Maconnais, thanks for new > info. > YOu would be correct, the maconaise is close to Beaujolais but unless you also want to count Pouilly Fuisse as a Bojo . . . The problem stems from the following from Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion "the much larger St-Veran, which scoops in eight villages, including the northern fringe of Beaulolais country, was added in 1971 and now offers extremely good value" (p132 1998 edition) |
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A birthday week's worth of wines
"sibeer" > wrote in
: > When did St.Veran start coming from the Beaujolais region? 1971 in a manner of speaking, see my other comments in this thread > |
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TN: A birthday week's worth of wines
DaleW wrote:
>>1999 Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros) > > > Don't remember having the 1999, but long a favorite producer. Yeah, they're one of my favorite Carneros producers (of still wine). I find that their normal cuvée and their reserve bottling are more to my liking than either their Garnet (too simple) and their Brown Ranch too extracted. > Glad to hear it was good -buying 3+ year SB makes you braver than me! > I think I liked the couple bottles of the Crossings I tried, but it > was never quite at the level of the better vintages of Babich or > Cairnbrae "Stones" I've had the advantage of visiting Wairau River Winery in Marlborough with Ian Hoare and Lord St. H. back in '01. There we were educated about the aging potential of (certain) Marlborough SBs. And then, of course, we have white Bdx as the classic exemplar (though the semillon might have something to do with that, too). > > >>1989 Ch. Montrose St. Estephe > > > No brett? Not a trace. If anything, this wine was squeaky clean. Now, I am notoriously Brett-tolerant, but Jean is not and she agreed with my assessment, so I think that we can safely conclude that this one bottle, at least, was fairly free of taint. > > >>2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran >>good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from >>the Beaujolais region, > > > Sounds great. I always thought this was Maconnais, thanks for new > info. > My apologies to you, sibeer and all readers for a sloppily worded description. As usual, Joseph has it right: St. Véran is a weird AOC that has two distinct and unconnected subunits (north and south) that straddle Pouilly-Fuissé AOC. Additionally, while it is entirely within the Mconnais department (but not the canton), the southern subunit is also located within the boundaries of Beaujolais AOC. This includes the communities of St. Vérand, Leynes, Chnes and Chaintre. Lest you think that I am channeling Claude Kolm or Alan Urschinko, I will note that this information is gleaned from my excellent wine atlases by Hachette and H. Johnson. More to the point, I have no idea where Drouhin's sources lie within St. Véran, so let's call it a Mconnais wine and have done with it. Sorry! Mark Lipton -- alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com |
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TN: A birthday week's worth of wines
I will be a guest of Drouhin in October and will ask them where they source
their St. Veran "Mark Lipton" > wrote in message ... > DaleW wrote: > >>>1999 Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros) >> >> >> Don't remember having the 1999, but long a favorite producer. > > Yeah, they're one of my favorite Carneros producers (of still wine). I > find that their normal cuvée and their reserve bottling are more to my > liking than either their Garnet (too simple) and their Brown Ranch too > extracted. > > >> Glad to hear it was good -buying 3+ year SB makes you braver than me! >> I think I liked the couple bottles of the Crossings I tried, but it >> was never quite at the level of the better vintages of Babich or >> Cairnbrae "Stones" > > I've had the advantage of visiting Wairau River Winery in Marlborough > with Ian Hoare and Lord St. H. back in '01. There we were educated > about the aging potential of (certain) Marlborough SBs. And then, of > course, we have white Bdx as the classic exemplar (though the semillon > might have something to do with that, too). > > >> >> >>>1989 Ch. Montrose St. Estephe >> >> >> No brett? > > Not a trace. If anything, this wine was squeaky clean. Now, I am > notoriously Brett-tolerant, but Jean is not and she agreed with my > assessment, so I think that we can safely conclude that this one bottle, > at least, was fairly free of taint. > > >> >> >>>2005 Joseph Drouhin St. Veran >>>good year like '05 in a region like St. Veran. This is Chardonnay from >>>the Beaujolais region, >> >> >> Sounds great. I always thought this was Maconnais, thanks for new >> info. >> > > My apologies to you, sibeer and all readers for a sloppily worded > description. As usual, Joseph has it right: St. Véran is a weird AOC > that has two distinct and unconnected subunits (north and south) that > straddle Pouilly-Fuissé AOC. Additionally, while it is entirely within > the Mconnais department (but not the canton), the southern subunit is > also located within the boundaries of Beaujolais AOC. This includes the > communities of St. Vérand, Leynes, Chnes and Chaintre. Lest you think > that I am channeling Claude Kolm or Alan Urschinko, I will note that > this information is gleaned from my excellent wine atlases by Hachette > and H. Johnson. > > More to the point, I have no idea where Drouhin's sources lie within St. > Véran, so let's call it a Mconnais wine and have done with it. Sorry! > > Mark Lipton > > > -- > alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com |
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