What better way to welcome a new colleague than to invite him and his
family over to our house to enjoy some food and wine with us and a few
dozen of our other colleagues? We used this occasion to cull our cellar
of wines that aren't too precious and invite our friends to bring a
small dish of food to share with others. We made a cheese fondue and a
couple of Spanish tortillas and opened up about ten different wines.

1993 Prince Florent de Merode Corton-Clos du Roi - France, Burgundy,
Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

Quite a bit more impressive than my earlier bottle. A very youthful,
primary bottle of Corton with very assertive dark raspberry fruit, some
sappiness and a bit of pencil lead. Great acidity and plenty of body,
this is certainly a masculine example of red Burgundy.

2007 Vista Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir Marylhurst Estate - USA, Oregon,
Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

This bore evidence of the oakiness of its youth with some spice and
residual vanilliin elements as well as some glossiness on the palate.
Rec cherry fruit accompanies the oak elements. Fairly big but not OTT,
it still is a fairly boring example of the genre.

2002 Ridge Geyserville - USA, California, Sonoma County

Typical aged Geyserville nose of plummy fruit, with some mineral notes
too. On the palate, it had good acidity and medium body. Pretty mature
to my tastes, it might continue to develop some tertiary notes with time.

2005 Ridge Lytton Springs - USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley

An interesting contrast to the '03 Geezer, this wine showed a much
tarrier and peppery nose atop the plummy fruit. Medium bodied with
decent acidity, it was an altogether darker expression of "Zin."

1995 M. Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne - France, Rhône, Northern
Rhône, Hermitage

Our last Chapoutier wine, and it followed with our earlier experiences
with this producer. We acquired this magnum at a charity auction a
decade or so in the past. Initially upon opening, it showed some VA and
a noticeable bit of Brett, but both blew off with time. Typical
blueberry fruit and a bit of smokiness. Good acidity, medium body.
Fairly anonymous Syrah with no sense of place.

1998 Chteau La Nerthe Chteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern
Rhône, Chteauneuf-du-Pape

A fairly clean nose (for CdP) of kirsch and stones is accompanied by a
palate impression of fully resolved tannins, medium body and good
acidity. A fairly textbook example of Chateauneuf.

2010 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Blanc -
France, Burgundy, Beaujolais

Not as zippy as I'm used to from this wine, it came across as a riper
expression of Chardonnay and had quite a dark yellow color to it. There
were some tropical fruits in evidence in the nose and the wine was a bit
rounder and fuller than is the norm.

2000 Domaine Font de Michelle Chteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône,
Southern Rhône, Chteauneuf-du-Pape

A bit more rustic and gamey than the La Nerthe, this had a core of
cherryish fruit beneath the smoked meats. This wine seemed at peak right
now but has the acidity to age further.

2010 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine
Les Gras Moutons - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de
Sèvre-et-Maine

After the Brun Beaujolais Blanc, this wine seemed downright racy,
despite being a bigger and slightly rounder example of Muscadet. Pretty
big and still quite zippy, it has the expected saline and citric notes.
Quite the crowd pleaser, it disappeared rapidly

Mark Lipton

Thanks for notes, from cellar clearance title I expected to see notes on 97 Bourgognes, 02 CdP, 04 NZSB, etc.
Glad the Merode showed well

On Feb 18, 11:42*pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> What better way to welcome a new colleague than to invite him and his
> family over to our house to enjoy some food and wine with us and a few
> dozen of our other colleagues? We used this occasion to cull our cellar
> of wines that aren't too precious and invite our friends to bring a
> small dish of food to share with others. We made a cheese fondue and a
> couple of Spanish tortillas and opened up about ten different wines.
>
> 1993 Prince Florent de Merode Corton-Clos du Roi - France, Burgundy,
> Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
>
> Quite a bit more impressive than my earlier bottle. A very youthful,
> primary bottle of Corton with very assertive dark raspberry fruit, some
> sappiness and a bit of pencil lead. Great acidity and plenty of body,
> this is certainly a masculine example of red Burgundy.
>
> 2007 Vista Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir Marylhurst Estate - USA, Oregon,
> Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
>
> This bore evidence of the oakiness of its youth with some spice and
> residual vanilliin elements as well as some glossiness on the palate.
> Rec cherry fruit accompanies the oak elements. Fairly big but not OTT,
> it still is a fairly boring example of the genre.
>
> 2002 Ridge Geyserville - USA, California, Sonoma County
>
> Typical aged Geyserville nose of plummy fruit, with some mineral notes
> too. On the palate, it had good acidity and medium body. Pretty mature
> to my tastes, it might continue to develop some tertiary notes with time.
>
> 2005 Ridge Lytton Springs - USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
>
> An interesting contrast to the '03 Geezer, this wine showed a much
> tarrier and peppery nose atop the plummy fruit. Medium bodied with
> decent acidity, it was an altogether darker expression of "Zin."
>
> 1995 M. Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne - France, Rhône, Northern
> Rhône, Hermitage
>
> Our last Chapoutier wine, and it followed with our earlier experiences
> with this producer. We acquired this magnum at a charity auction a
> decade or so in the past. Initially upon opening, it showed some VA and
> a noticeable bit of Brett, but both blew off with time. Typical
> blueberry fruit and a bit of smokiness. Good acidity, medium body.
> Fairly anonymous Syrah with no sense of place.
>
> 1998 Chteau La Nerthe Chteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern
> Rhône, Chteauneuf-du-Pape
>
> A fairly clean nose (for CdP) of kirsch and stones is accompanied by a
> palate impression of fully resolved tannins, medium body and good
> acidity. A fairly textbook example of Chateauneuf.
>
> 2010 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Blanc -
> France, Burgundy, Beaujolais
>
> Not as zippy as I'm used to from this wine, it came across as a riper
> expression of Chardonnay and had quite a dark yellow color to it. There
> were some tropical fruits in evidence in the nose and the wine was a bit
> rounder and fuller than is the norm.
>
> 2000 Domaine Font de Michelle Chteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône,
> Southern Rhône, Chteauneuf-du-Pape
>
> A bit more rustic and gamey than the La Nerthe, this had a core of
> cherryish fruit beneath the smoked meats. This wine seemed at peak right
> now but has the acidity to age further.
>
> 2010 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine
> Les Gras Moutons - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de
> Sèvre-et-Maine
>
> After the Brun Beaujolais Blanc, this wine seemed downright racy,
> despite being a bigger and slightly rounder example of Muscadet. Pretty
> big and still quite zippy, it has the expected saline and citric notes.
> Quite the crowd pleaser, it disappeared rapidly
>
> Mark Lipton

Nice notes Mark. I tend to do the same program from time to time
sometimes with surprising results.

Mark Lipton > wrote in
:

> We made (...) a couple of Spanish tortillas
>



s.

On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:42:46 -0500, Mark Lipton wrote:

> 1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern
> Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
>
Hi Mark,

La Nerthe aside, how are you finding the development of the 98s? I guess
for me the vintage hasn't really lived up to the hype. Maybe a little
too ripe, not sure. But I still feel like I'm waiting for these wines to
come around...

-E

On 2/21/13 12:14 PM, Emery Davis wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:42:46 -0500, Mark Lipton wrote:
>
>> 1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern
>> Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
>>
> Hi Mark,
>
> La Nerthe aside, how are you finding the development of the 98s? I guess
> for me the vintage hasn't really lived up to the hype. Maybe a little
> too ripe, not sure. But I still feel like I'm waiting for these wines to
> come around...


Emery,
I've just started dipping into my '98s (having but recently finished
my '94s with a few '89s still lingering) but so far my experience has
been much like yours: perhaps a bit too light in acid and overly ripe,
but still within the constraints of what I'm willing to drink. I'll
probably be drinking mostly '98s, '99s and '00s over the next few years,
hanging on to my '01s and trying some of those still-hard '95s.

Mark Lipton


--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:42:46 -0500, Mark Lipton >
wrote:

>2010 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Blanc -
>France, Burgundy, Beaujolais
>Not as zippy as I'm used to from this wine, it came across as a riper
>expression of Chardonnay and had quite a dark yellow color to it. There
>were some tropical fruits in evidence in the nose and the wine was a bit
>rounder and fuller than is the norm.

Thank goodness I'm not alone in having noted this same thing with
J-P's Beaujolais Blanc. For me, at least, it lacked character and
could have been anyone's white southern Burgundy.

At the time, I was worried that my palate was, perhaps, over the hill
but then a few days later I had some St. Veran from one of the
co-operative just south of Macon and fouind it had the same minerality
and character I'd loved in Brun's white Beaujolais ever since first
encountering it.

I haven't yet tasted the 2011.

Sojourner