Surf and turf isn't my favorite way to go, but Betsy likes on occasion, and it gives me an excuse to open 2 wines. So Friday I was in charge, I thawed some spiny lobster tails from my brother, and picked up one prime strip steak (local supermarket recently started carrying prime), sauteed some broccoli as well as some squash. Opened (initially) a half bottle of red and a white:

2004 Giovanni Rosso "Serralunga" Barolo (375 ml)
Midbodied, some tannin, black raspberry fruit, just a hint of smoke. Drinks well with a little air, no need to wait in small format. B+/B

2006 Matrot "Perrieres" Meursault 1er
I thought I had drunk these, found recently moving some bottles, knew there was risk (Matrot is a fave producer, but high Pox-rate). For a second after pouring I thought I might have hit lottery, but no- poxed it is. Heavily oxidized, really a shame. C-

2005 Kuen Hof Sylvaner
Viscous, full, good acids, yellow pit fruits and herbs. With time some tropical fruit notes, some chalk. Really fun and delicious wine, drinking very very well. A-

Saturday stirfried Korean-marinated chicken, long beans with pepper, steamed tofu with ginger and scallions, and brown rice with furikake

2009 Billards "reserve Caveau" St Amour
Dark and dense for Beaujolais, this was pretty shut down at first. But when it opens really quite exceptional- structured, ripe, more like a Cote d'Or Burg than Beaujolais. Black cherry, floral and spice notes, sappy, balanced, full and long. Could use a bit more time. A-

Last night duck with pepper and lemon, kale soup with egg, and seaweed salad. Wine was the 2005 Drouhin "Vero" Bourgogne rouge. This is a ripe and pleasant Pinot Noir, red cherry fruit with good acids, but I really don't see any complexity added from cellar time. B

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.

On Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:02:13 -0700, DaleW wrote:

> 2009 Billards "reserve Caveau" St Amour Dark and dense for Beaujolais,
> this was pretty shut down at first. But when it opens really quite
> exceptional- structured, ripe, more like a Cote d'Or Burg than
> Beaujolais. Black cherry, floral and spice notes, sappy, balanced, full
> and long. Could use a bit more time. A-

Sounds fab, one of the gamays that hardly seem like gamay. Although it
probably won't have much to do with the 2009, I see the Nicolas chain, of
which there are several [!] in the neighborhood, carries Billard, so I'll
definitely give it a shout. The 2012 shows up on their web site, have
you tried any other bottles from the domaine?

cheers,

DaleW > wrote in
:
>
> 2009 Billards "reserve Caveau" St Amour
> Dark and dense for Beaujolais, this was pretty shut down at first. But
> when it opens really quite exceptional- structured, ripe, more like a
> Cote d'Or Burg than Beaujolais. Black cherry, floral and spice notes,
> sappy, balanced, full and long. Could use a bit more time. A-

Dale,

while trying to track this one down, could it be that this is a Jean Loron
et Fils St Amour "Clos des Billards" 2009 from the Réserve du Caveau" line
of this producer?

John Gilman speaks well of the producer but 2009 seems not to be available.

I wonder if what you tasted is due to the producer, the vineyard, or a
exceptional if not typical vintage in Cru Beaujolais as 2009 (which I must
recognize is one of my favorite ever).

s.

On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 7:26:37 PM UTC-4, santiago wrote:
> DaleW > wrote in
>
> while trying to track this one down, could it be that this is a Jean Loron
> et Fils St Amour "Clos des Billards" 2009 from the Réserve du Caveau" line
> of this producer?
>
> John Gilman speaks well of the producer but 2009 seems not to be available.
>
> I wonder if what you tasted is due to the producer, the vineyard, or a
> exceptional if not typical vintage in Cru Beaujolais as 2009 (which I must
> recognize is one of my favorite ever).
>
> s.
Santiago,
Same wine (I'm lazy typer!) though I didn't see Loron on label- Barbet is the family name I saw (in my laziness I usually type things like Brun/Terres Dorees, Barbet/Billards, Chermette/Vissoux, Coudert/Roilette and didn't even do that in this case).
This says Clos des Billards, regular says Domaine des Billards.

It is the wine that John liked, I'll check with him re family name.

I think the ripeness of vintage combined with (what according to John is selection for most structure) combine to give it this weight.

Emery,
I've had the 2005 and 2011 regular Domaine des Billards St Amour and quite enjoyed.

A quick look at the Bowler site finds this for the Domaine des Billards:
http://www.bowlerwine.com/site/wines/3214.html

My French is poor, but it looks to me that Loron is the name of the negociant house, and the Barbet family owns Loron
http://www.vignobletiquette.com/comq/vin.php?prod=4370

On Wed, 11 Mar 2015 07:38:36 -0700, DaleW wrote:

> A quick look at the Bowler site finds this for the Domaine des Billards:
> http://www.bowlerwine.com/site/wines/3214.html
>
> My French is poor, but it looks to me that Loron is the name of the
> negociant house, and the Barbet family owns Loron
> http://www.vignobletiquette.com/comq/vin.php?prod=4370

Came up with a bottle of 2013. It's marked "héritiers Loron,
propriétaires Ã* Saint Amour" which would mean "heirs of the Loron family,
owners in St Amour." So normally not a negoc wine, though the family
clearly does some negoc they are actually owner/winemakers at this
domaine.

The 2013 is sappy, typical, fresh and frank, agreeable young raspberry
fruit but without structure beyond what I might expect from the vintage
in a villages wine. Nice, but nothing special at 12.50 EU (mind, Nicolas
is an expensive place to buy wine here).

2009 was a really good year... (and 2013 perhaps a difficult one)

-E

Emery Davis > wrote in
:

>
> Came up with a bottle of 2013. It's marked "héritiers Loron,
> propriétaires Ã* Saint Amour" which would mean "heirs of the Loron
> family, owners in St Amour." So normally not a negoc wine, though the
> family clearly does some negoc they are actually owner/winemakers at
> this domaine.
>
> The 2013 is sappy, typical, fresh and frank, agreeable young raspberry
> fruit but without structure beyond what I might expect from the
> vintage in a villages wine. Nice, but nothing special at 12.50 EU
> (mind, Nicolas is an expensive place to buy wine here).
>
> 2009 was a really good year... (and 2013 perhaps a difficult one)
>
> -E

I have also been in the mood for Cru Beaujolais. Couple of days ago we
opened a bottle of Dominique Piron's Morgon Cote du Py 2011 which was
really nice after the disastrous 2010 (of which I got a case, much to my
dismail). Actually, the 2011 was delicious. Built on the cherries, with a
bit of spice, some fine minerality. A great drink.

We finished the bottle today and we went on with Morgon, this time with the
Morgon Vielles Vignes 2011 from Descombes. Meatier, a bit of funk and
clearly more structured. I think I will stay with Piron for 2011. 2010 is
another story, and both Foillard, Descombes and Desvignes made great wine.

2009 is a great vintage for Cru Beaujolais (and I have quite some stash of
it, like 48 bottles or so, which is quite a lot for the size of my cellar),
but if you ask the locals, they do not consider it a stellar vintage for
the area. I guess they are used to not-so-bold vintages.

A Chateau des Jacques Morgon Roche Noire 2009 was very good one month ago.
And I have not even touched my bottles of Burgaud.

s.

On 3/12/15 6:32 PM, santiago wrote:

> I have also been in the mood for Cru Beaujolais. Couple of days ago we
> opened a bottle of Dominique Piron's Morgon Cote du Py 2011 which was
> really nice after the disastrous 2010 (of which I got a case, much to my
> dismail). Actually, the 2011 was delicious. Built on the cherries, with a
> bit of spice, some fine minerality. A great drink.

In what way was the 2010 disastrous, Santiago? In general (as you say
below) it was a fairly successful year in the Beaujolais.

>
> We finished the bottle today and we went on with Morgon, this time with the
> Morgon Vielles Vignes 2011 from Descombes. Meatier, a bit of funk and
> clearly more structured. I think I will stay with Piron for 2011. 2010 is
> another story, and both Foillard, Descombes and Desvignes made great wine.

I tend to hold on to my Morgons quite a bit longer, as Jean doesn't care
for the darker-fruited expressions of Gamay. So, 2011 Descombes
Brouilly last year was quite fine, but my Morgons are still sitting in
the cellar.

>
> 2009 is a great vintage for Cru Beaujolais (and I have quite some stash of
> it, like 48 bottles or so, which is quite a lot for the size of my cellar),
> but if you ask the locals, they do not consider it a stellar vintage for
> the area. I guess they are used to not-so-bold vintages.

Yes, I haven't broached my '09s either. I bought quite a few Cote de
Brouillys in that vintage, as well as Coudert's Fleuries.

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

Mark Lipton > wrote in
:
>
> In what way was the 2010 disastrous, Santiago? In general (as you say
> below) it was a fairly successful year in the Beaujolais.

For Piron it was a totally flat wine in 2010. No expression at all. Maybe a
bad batch of corks that slightly tainted the wine, or maybe they did not
read the vintage. I don't know. Other producers I have tasted made good
wines as you say, if in a different style to 2009.
>
>>
>> We finished the bottle today and we went on with Morgon, this time
>> with the Morgon Vielles Vignes 2011 from Descombes. Meatier, a bit of
>> funk and clearly more structured. I think I will stay with Piron for
>> 2011. 2010 is another story, and both Foillard, Descombes and
>> Desvignes made great wine.
>
> I tend to hold on to my Morgons quite a bit longer, as Jean doesn't
> care for the darker-fruited expressions of Gamay. So, 2011 Descombes
> Brouilly last year was quite fine, but my Morgons are still sitting in
> the cellar.

I also like to leave them a little longer, but we had made the comparison
of the 2010s in the past and Descombes came on top, so when we finished
Piron's 2011 I remembered that I had a couple of bottles of Descombes' and
went for one. I liked Piron's 2011 better in this case.

BTW, I have just received an order from 1jour1vin.com with some Roilette.
>
>>
>> 2009 is a great vintage for Cru Beaujolais (and I have quite some
>> stash of it, like 48 bottles or so, which is quite a lot for the size
>> of my cellar), but if you ask the locals, they do not consider it a
>> stellar vintage for the area. I guess they are used to not-so-bold
>> vintages.
>
> Yes, I haven't broached my '09s either. I bought quite a few Cote de
> Brouillys in that vintage, as well as Coudert's Fleuries.

I got Jean-Marc Burgaud which is supposed to last for a couple of decades,
some Piron Morgon Cote du Py which is great, Foillard which is also so good
regularly, Chateau des Jaques which is very nice and some Lapierre which I
have already tasted and I do not like. Seems like I am the only one that
does not like Lapierre (and I have bottles and magnums of his Morgon in
2009).


Bouland is another producer I have tasted but his wines may need time.
Desvignes is good too. Chignard Fleurie... good. Damien Coquelet... good
but not great from a couple of bottles experience. Thillardon I have tasted
and I do not like at all. I would love to try some from Jules Desjourneys,
the new enfant terrible du Beaujolais.