2000 Pascal Cotat "Les Monts Damnes" Sancerre, Chavignol, Loire, France

Well established facts on winecommando:

1. We love Sauvignon Blanc, especially when the weather turns warmer
2. Sancerre's are among our favorites
3. We are drinking more Sancerre = weather has been a lot nicer around here
   

I mentioned in an earlier post that we are beginning to pull more white wines up to be chilled and ready for action. We are also out and about looking for what might be interesting, a good value, and not yet tried by us. We came across this wine a couple weeks ago and grabbed it... the label, the price AND it is a Sancerre. I also remembered reading a great review on Vinography of the 2005 vintage of this wine. Sounds like a winning lineup for us.

It was.

Alder at Vinography did a terrific job setting the story for this wine, so I'll refer you to his review to get the background. "Les Monts Damnes" is French for "Those Damned Mountains".

Now, let's taste this bottle. The first thing we noticed was how light and pale the color in the glass was, with almost a yellowish-greenish tint to it. We loved the nose and found it to have tropical fruit, sort of uncommon for a Sancerre... at least in our experience, balanced by a crispness and strong mineral scent that kept the nose clean, clean, clean. It continued to open in the glass and the fruit became rounder and softer, and more subtle with more lemony citrus becoming prominent. The palate was a bit of a surprise, like the nose, and was richer and more dense with more complexity than we have tasted in this style of wine. This was still DEFINITELY a Sauvignon Blanc, but the palate actually had a sweetness to the fruit which approached being "buttery". That sounds absolutely crazy, like insane talk... but it is true. There is still that great and classic Loire acidity and minerally quality but with fruit more like ripe peaches than grapefruit, though there is definitely lemon citrus and it is very evident in the finish. We really dug this wine and it forced us to totally change up our expectations for Sancerre. I would go so far as to say that this is the most unique Sancerre I have ever tired, and definitely the most memorable. Sometimes you begin to ride your preconceived notions of a wine or wine region and may even begin assuming an experience. It is good to have those notions shaken or shattered, as long as the wine still tastes good and you felt like it was a good value. Right?

cost - $33.99 on sale from $36.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9.25

we were not able to find this wine available online in the 2000 vintage, but the 2004 is available at WineAccess

1997 Verget Meursault, Burgundy, France

Drinking good wine requires patience. It's easy to grab a bottle of this or that at the local wine shop, and that's what most of us end up doing... convenience and all of that. To purchase an amount of wine with the goal of essentially hiding it somewhere dark and closet-like for some amount of time (usually measured in years) requires more of the mindset of a planner, of a schemer. This is something that I used to be way, way better at than I am now. I had a lot more time to research my purchases and carefully plan what I might like to be drinking ten years into the future. Now is when I begin to reap the benefits of the work of my past self. Ten years was like ten lifetimes ago.

And yet, here we are with a wine that has been waiting patiently, waiting quietly for its chance to impress me. A wine that was a bit of a gamble to wait on... 1997 Burgundian Chardonnay could have gone either way. So, this being the last of this wine... the remaining orphan, we brought it up and cooled it down, preparing it for its time.

In the glass this wine was a really unique straw yellow color, almost disconcertingly so. These days we're not used to drinking well aged white wine (though we certainly try...), and age tends to alter white wines in distinctly interesting ways. So the color was this straw yellow, pale and just slightly tinged with brown. The nose was amazing. It was full of lime and grapefruit at the beginning, and balanced by fragrant floral and a little vanilla towards the end. The palate was equally interesting, with more citrus and a great limestone base with richer honey and something we can only describe as freshly cut grass. This wine tasted like what freshly cut grass smells like in the summer. It was really good. Nice, lingering finish, but not cloying in any way. This is one of the first whites that we brought out and chilled in preparation for the advent of warmer days, which are quickly making inroads here now, and it is immensely rewarding to have a wine around for so long and be able to really enjoy it.

I have to say that in all reality, though, that 1997 just does not seem that long ago. That worries me somewhat.

cost - $29.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9

2000 Chateau Rayas La Pialade Cotes-du-Rhone, Vaucluse, France

Back in 1880 Albert Reynaud, at the age of 45, suddenly went deaf. He was a notary in the city of Avignon in the Rhone valley. This was of course very sad, and it forced him to change professions. This turned out to be good fortune for the rest of us over 100 years later, as he purchased Chateau Rayas and set in motion the events that would make it a powerhouse of Rhone wine. This would take many years, and four generations to fully realize, and the wine reviewed here is from the direction of his great great nephew, Emmanuel Reynaud.

This bottle was a pleasant surprise. We had opened one a few weeks ago and really, really enjoyed it. We opened this one last week and it maintained that theme. This is a direct wine, strong in its style. Made from Grenache, it puts out front in the nose deep, dark fruit of plums and raisins filled out with tobacco and green peppers. There is a strong vegetal quality behind all of the fruit that creates a depth we definitely appreciated. The palate was full of plum and a little strawberry, more raisin and ripe olives. Very balanced and smooth, there is a strong earthy quality to tie together the other flavors, as well as a subtle cedar taste towards the finish. This wine is not so much elegant as it is just bold, but not in a heavy bodied sort of way as this wine is definitely light to medium bodied. It just has strong qualities to it. The raisin/green peppers/ripe olives set it apart from the balance of Cotes-du-Rhones that we have tried. These qualities also lend this one to be an excellent complement to hearty foods. For the quality and character that this wine presents we consider it an exceptional value and a great contrast to the more traditional style Grenache wines, a few of which we have reviewed here on winecommando.

cost - $22.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.75

Affordable Burgundy Death Match

Not really a "death match" so to speak, that is mostly for dramatic value. This is a group tasting of four entry level Burgundy Pinot Noirs ($14-$20/bottle) that we have opened over the last few weeks. The goal here is to find really good value wines to fill out the lower end, every-day-drinking, table wine part of our cellar. We have mentioned this previously with various wines tasted here on winecommando, but we thought it would be fun to do a group comparison looking for bottles of wine that deliver value beyond their price and that provide a buffer against grabbing the really good wines too often (though we taste those too, just to see how they're coming along...). Let's get started.

2003 Domaine Vincent Sauvestre "Les Belles Roses" Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire (Meursault)
We decanted this wine for one hour before tasting and found the nose full of plum and strawberry with a little bit of a wet rock, minerally scent. The nose was surprisingly deep and rich, and the color in the glass equally so. It was dark garnet with the rusty reds around the ring of the glass. It looked beautiful. On the palate there was deep dark strawberry in an almost jammy fruit kind of way. There was cranberry in the finish, the way it reacts with the back of your tongue. Along the way we tasted earthy, autumnal flavors but they were incredibly subtle. Very balanced, light to medium bodied and wonderfully finished. This wine is significantly more sophisticated than the price. Seek out and drink more.
cost - $14.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.5

2004 Nicolas Potel "Cuvee Gerard Potel" Bourgogne (Nuits-Saint-Georges)
This wine was opened and decanted for an hour before we tasted. When we tried it we found the wine to be thin and restrained. We let it sit for another hour and found it to have opened up a bit more. The nose was very distinctly full of dark cherry with a little bit of cedar and spiced fruit, like savory fruit preserves. The palate was very light, and remained thin. Flavors were cherry and raspberry, the sharper sides of those, and some smoky notes. Not a lot of depth, but still an elegant wine with good balance. This wine is definitely on the lighter side of Pinot Noir and the finish was short and very dry.
cost - $17.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 7.25

2004 Jean Garaudet Hautes-Cotes de Beaune Bourgogne (Pommard)
This wine was particularly interesting. We decanted for an hour and a half and when we smelled and tasted it made us smile. Really interesting, deep and complex nose. There was vanilla and that baking cookies smell that some Pinot Noirs have in a really good way. The fruit was more cassis, with edges of plum and a little sweet grape juice. It smelled really good, very aromatic, but definitely not traditionally Burgundian. That's cool. In the glass it was a deep, dark, rich purple color and very dense. Also atypical for Burgundian Pinot Noir, especially at this level and price point. The palate was surprisingly Californian, and definitely pushed the fruit right out front. A lot of strawberry, rich and lush, balanced by good structure and a minerally quality. Definitely earthy, but the richness of the fruit makes for a great balance. Medium bodied, it is not overly sophisticated... more like a POW! in the face as it walks out of the room. We liked it because of this and because it was so different, so unexpected. Another really good value and a fun wine to contrast with more typical French Pinot Noirs.
cost - $16.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.25

2005 Rene Lequin-Colin Bourgogne (Santenay)
I was excited to try this wine as it is the first I had seen at this level from what is really a very small, family driven and historically rooted Burgundian winemaker. This is another wine story that started with a merger by marriage, and the Lequin-Colin family can trace their vineyard holdings back to the mid-1600's. It is still a small operation with the focus steadfastly on quality, not quantity, with vineyards maintained for low, concentrated yields of excellent quality fruit and a belief in the historical traditions of winemaking... basically being "intimate" with their vineyards and doing as much by hand as possible.

We decanted for an hour or so and when smelled found the nose rich, round and opulent. This was a little bit surprising, given that this wine is a 2005 and was only released last year. It is a table wine, though, and was clearly vinted to begin drinking. The nose was a little floral and fragrant, and offered black cherry, spiced plum and a little black pepper. The palate was velvety smooth, very balanced and had the same dark cherry fruit, a nice spicy quality, some earthy richness, and a smooth, quite finish. Really, a very nice wine for the money and given that the grapes are sourced from the families holdings in Santenay (a solidly prestigious area of Burgundy) and while they may not have been good enough to make it into the families Santenay, my guess is they were excellent by most standards and result in a really terrific value wine for us. We will be having more of this wine on hand.
cost - $18.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.0

2005 Charles Joguet "Cuvee Terroir" Chinon, Loire Valley, France

Chinon is located in the center of the Loire Valley. The main grape varietal grown there is Cabernet Franc, which is also called Breton. Some Cabernet Sauvignon is also grown, but it is minimal and the focus is clearly on Cab Franc. I was inspired to try this wine by brooklynguy and his reviews of Loire Valley reds. I have to admit, I have very limited experience with Loire reds and his writings made me want to learn more. We've reviewed here several of the Loire Sauvignon Blancs and will be reviewing a Muscadet soon, wines that typically appeal to us very, very much. It is now time to step away from the Burgundian Pinot Noir and put away the New World Syrah. This is a good thing, too, as the Loire reds tend to be undervalued. You can find some exceptional wines for half or one third of what you would pay for a mid-level Burgundy... it is always good to have options.

The vineyards of Chinon are the same soil types as the other areas of the Loire Valley. In the flatter lowlands they are gravelly and rocky and along the gentle hillsides they are more limestoney and with a higher clay content. This wine comes from grapes grown in a vineyard that is along one of these hillsides. This is important to point out because, as we have explained before, it is a traditional French winemaking style to bring out the qualities of the earth in which the grapes for the wine were grown. This is a big reason we love French wine, and wine made in a French style, so much. We love tasting the terroir of the wine. This Chinon definitely came through on this count, and it is named "Cuvee Terroir" so we can't be too surprised. The nose, which is bright and sharp at first, offers up with intense raspberry and cranberry with hints of wet clay, just like the vineyards the wine came from. The clay smell is a distinct scent, and it really adds to the complexity of the nose. There was also some hints of pepper and coffee, but the earthy clay quality was the standout. The palate was incredibly smooth and velvety. The wine actually looks velvety in the glass as it is intensely dark and deep purple looking. As you swirl it it seemed to hug the sides of the glass a little bit longer than it should. It looks very concentrated. It tastes very concentrated. The flavors in the mouth are dark berry, strawberry and almost a chicory coffee type taste... like a smoky coffee flavor. The wine tastes amazing. The structure is great, with soft tannins rounding out a medium bodied wine. The finish is longish and not unpleasant. Really, a terrific value wine and definitely worth more than I paid for it. I highly recommend experimenting and trying the Cabernet Franc wines of Chinon.

cost - $14.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.5

2004 Domaine Lamy Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet, Cote D'Or, Burgundy, France

Back to Burgundy, but this time a Chardonnay... and one with a long pedigree. Chassagne-Montrachet is known for great Chardonnay, but this was not always the case. Historically, mostly Pinot Noir was grown here but it had difficulty living up to the quality produced in neighboring Volany or Corton. Now more than half the vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet are producing Chardonnay, and of the five appellation designations for this area three are grands crus, or the best of the best. The appellation Montrachet is considered to be the "king of white wines." This bottle is not appellation Montrachet, but is the appellation Chassagne-Montrachet controlee. I will explain the French concept of appellation designation another time, but suffice it to say that this wine would be considered, though excellent, the entry level for the Chardonnay of Chassagne-Montrachet.

This wine is made by Lamy Pillot, the result of a familial merger. The Lamy family have been winemakers in Burgundy since 1640. The Pillot family began making wine in Chassagne-Montrachet around 1595. Like Shakespeare, these two families were joined by marriage, but this time with a happy result. The marriage had the result of also joining their vineyards, most notably in the best areas of of Chassagne-Montrachet, Santenay and Beaune. Three hundred years later they remain a family driven winery and Lamy Pillot produces consistently excellent, prestigious wines from their diverse vineyard holdings.

I would not classify Cat and I as Chardonnay lovers. We do really like the Burgundian style of Chardonnay, though, and this wine is solidly in that category (itself actually BEING a Burgundian Chardonnay... that's not obvious or anything). The biggest difference between the broad styles of Chardonnay, to my mind Californian and Burgundian, is the way in which oak barrels are used in the vinification and maturation process. Californian style Chardonnay producers, and this is a bit of a generalization, gravitate to a heavier, more oaked style with oak flavors very present in their wines. The Burgundian style Chardonnay producers tend to want the oak to be incredibly subtle, and to have the natural flavors of the wine and the terroir be the focal point. Some use no oak at all. We like that approach and if you have read some of our other reviews here on winecommando, that is now patently obvious.

We poured this wine and let it open for a bit before tasting. We found the nose to be rich and full. It smells of honeysuckle, apple and honeydew melon. Very distinct and round fruit to the nose, but not in a heavy or cloying way. There is also the subtlest limestone scent, as well as a nutty quality. The nose is wonderfully complex. So is the palate, which is big and mouth filling with melon, more apple and a little citrus. There is an earthy component, the limestone again, and a little almondine and vanilla. All of this is incredibly well balanced, and while I would say this approached being a heavy bodied Chardonnay, it is very soft and evenly structured. This wine is terrific to enjoy on its own, but would also pair really well with food and could match fish and poutry dishes. I would even consider pairing this with pork tenderloin.

cost - $37.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.75

Pommery POP, Reims, Champagne, France

Cat brought this bottle home a couple of weeks ago, but we only got around to trying it last evening. Normally, champagne would not last five seconds in our house... but this one made me hold off. Yeah, the bottle is cobalt blue and it says POP in huge letters right on the label. Yeah, this is the Champagne that is taking the night clubs of New York by storm and was "designed" to be sipped through a straw from petite little bottles. Uh, right. We didn't have any straws.

So the snob in me kept putting this bottle off. I figured it would be a sweet, over produced, mass consumption designed waste of our time. I figured this was another example of a storied French wine house marketing to the undeveloped tastes of moneyed twenty-somethings around the globe. I had it all figured out.

I was wrong. It was pretty damn good. Actually, it was great. The nose was yeasty and full of citrus. That is a good sign. There was some vanilla and apple in there too. It smelled terrific. The palate was crisp and dry with good structure. Definitely a Champagne to hold up to food (it's a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier... traditional Champagne varietals), it tasted of lemon and orange, a little cream soda... but only in the driest not-quite-sweet sort of way. The finish was long and yeasty. Both of us were really surprised. We love Champagne (who doesn't) and in the last year have tried a variety of those from known and unknown Champagne houses. We've loved Bollinger and Tattinger. We have a predisposition for Veuve Clicquot. There was a Salmon-Billecart that we really enjoyed, as well as a Laurent Perrier. All big names in Champagne. Pommery is no slouch, either, and POP lived up to the tradition of this house... which is to make really terrific and uniquely styled Champagne.

I had to learn more, and digging into the history of Pommery I found it to have a great story. Earlier we posted a review of Veuve Clicquot not so much to review the Champagne as to impart the story behind one of the most recognized and respected luxury Champagne brands. Actually, the first real Champagne "brand." All of that was due to the leadership of Madame Clicquot, the first female to direct a wine house of such prestige. Hot on her heals, though, was Jeanne Alexandrine Louis Pommery, the widow of Louis Alexandre Pommery who died only two years after taking possession of the winery. This was in 1858, and Madame Pommery took the helm of the winery with a vision. She moved the house away from still wine and focused on sparkling with the goal of creating a grande marque Champagne house. She did. She also acquired over 12 miles of underground chalk and limestone tunnels originally built by the Romans and connected them, creating an awesome network of underground cellars. Cool stuff.

So, this was a really pleasant surprise. That, and then there is the price. Non vintage Champagnes generally run in the $40-$60/bottle range. Veuve Clicquot is typically somewhere around $45. Not expensive, really, but definitely out of the range of frequent Champagne consumption... at least on our budget. POP can be found for around $30. That is a fantastic deal and an excellent value, at least in our now corrected opinion.

cost - $30.00

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9

2003 Domaine Merieau Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine, Loire Valley, France

We have reviewed the more prominent Sauvignon Blancs of the Loire before, the wines of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume here on winecommando. Together these represent a spectrum of Sauvignon Blanc wine making style in this region. There are others, though, that offer both the quality and characteristics of these wines, but at a better value. We picked up this Loire Valley wine for $14.00, which is an excellent value. What makes this wine distinct is that it is aged on the lees, meaning that it is left to age for a time with the materials that collect at the bottom of the vat. These materials are the dead yeasts and residual yeasts that occur during the wine making process, and this process, called sur lies in French, adds a quality to wine that can be pretty incredible. In the case of this Sauvignon Blanc, it softens greatly the sharpness of the citrus and grapefruit flavors and adds a creamy, yeasty component. This is the difference between a Sauvignon Blanc that is an excellent apertif wine, and one that is a great food wine. This Domaine Merieau is great with food, having more depth, complexity and structure than is typical. The nose is full of fragrant lavender, honey and hints of grapefruit. The palate is round with pear and sharp green apple, balanced by the softness of honeydew melon. The finish is rich and lush, which we find fairly unique as compared to the majority of French Sauvignon Blanc. The minerally qualities are still there, as is the tradition of the soil of the Loire, but they are part of a bigger picture in this wine. This bottle was a very pleasant surprise and more of it will find its way into our cellar for the summer.

cost - $14.00

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9

2003 Domaine Lafage Cote Grenache Noir, Roussillon, France

I think that a lot of you will agree that there is something especially exciting about finding a great wine that is also a great deal. Cat and I try wines across a fairly tight price range, typically in the $10-$40/bottle, as this fits our budget best. That, and this range is full of tremendous wine of all varietals and styles. It is when we get close to that $10 mark and find a wine that compares with those that are much more expensive that we feel we have discovered something.

Sometimes you are just in the mood to try something different. I was walking around a local wine shop known for its excellently diverse selection, and happened upon this one. We love Grenache, the wines of Gigondas being among my favorites. On the back label Eric Solomon is listed as the importer. What I know of Eric Solomon is that he is incredibly picky about what wines he will import, and having his name on the back is an enormous stamp of approval. Then there is the price... $12.99. I bought it.

By way of background, the Grenache grape is a major contributor to the blends of southern Rhone wines. I mentioned Gigondas, and we reviewed the E. Guigal earlier, and in the Kaesler Avignon review we discussed the beauty of GSM's, like Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Grenache not only adds a velvetty and dark fruit quality to blends like these, it makes a terrific stand-alone varietal for winemaking. The Domain Lafage is made by the husband and wife team led by Jean-Marc Lafage. They also make wines for wineries in Spain and South America, working with the importer mentioned above, Eric Solomon. Their homebase is in Cotes de Roussillon in the south of France. The Lafage style is to sometimes disregard convention, and in the case of this wine they chose to vint it without oak and to bottle it unfiltered. The results are a smooth, approachable medium bodied wine. There is plum and dark cherry in the nose, with a little bit of pepper and spice. On the palate the wine has great structure and is incredibly versatile, able to pair with a variety of foods. The flavors in the mouth are more plum, cranberry and a little earthy truffle-like quality. Very balanced with soft tannins and a longish finish. We found this wine to be a pleasant surprise and quite delicious. This is another example of a very well priced house wine, something that you could drink often with dinner without breaking the bank.

cost - $12.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.75

2003 Comtesse Thibier Graves Blanc, Bordeaux, France

As I stood there looking at this bottle at the local wine shop my instincts were telling me not to buy it. There's the grandma's upholstery look to the label, there's the back label... and I quote:

"At the turn of the century, I began riding my bicycle through the Bordeaux countryside getting to know the grapes that makes premium wines. Today my family continues the tradition of carefully selecting the best grapes. Our aim is perfection."

Despite that little piece of poetic heaven on the back of the bottle I bought it and brought it home. We've hit a bit of a dry patch with Graves, as of late, and just have not had that classic gravelly, lemony Bordeaux blanc experience. Maybe this one will be different. Maybe this one will live down the floral drapery.

As you can guess, we did not find it to really work out all that well. This wine had a light, almost non-existent nose. There was a little pine, some citrus, but so faint as to make you strain to pick it up. The palate was also light, and weak missing both the traditional mineral qualities and the clean, refreshing fruit indicative of these wines. The finish was non-existent. So... I feel mean here but I am being absolutely honest. This wine did not deliver on the Graves blanc promise.

cost - $9.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 2

2004 Pouilly-Fuisse Clos Reissier, Burgundy, France

White Burgundy means classic French style Chardonnay. At least it means that most of the time. The French style of Chardonnay is so right, in my opinion, and is differentiated by its bastard relatives in Napa and Somoma by favoring crisp, citrus qualities balanced by creaminess and structure. I'm generalizing slightly here, but given the choice I would choose Burgundian Chardonnay over just about any Chardonnay from California... though there are several great California Chardonnays that are vinted in a French style. I have to concede that.

Getting to the point. The area of Pouilly-Fuisse in Burgundy produces wonderfully classic French style chardonnay. Pouilly-Fuisse is an area made up of four villages that collectively make their wine under the Pouilly-Fuisse moniker. The soils of the area are very chalky and has a high clay content. Just from that you can guess what this wine is going to taste like.

This wine sees no oak and is fermented in stainless steel. That can be a good thing as the results are a clean, crisp, bright wine that is a perfect apertif or refresher on a hot day, which we are not currently having around here (-12 degrees F outside at this very moment). The nose of this Chardonnay was full of citrus and green apple, balanced by a flinty scent. On the palate it tasted of pear and lemon with a short but elegant finish. Really, a very straightforward white wine that is totally unpretentious. Very bright, great with lighter food or before dinner, and an excellent palate cleanser - like the lemon sorbet of wine. Very enjoyable for the price.

cost - $15.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8

2000 E. Guigal Gigondas, Cotes-du-Rhone, France

The Cotes du Rhone region in southern France is incredibly diverse when it comes to wine, with much more flexibility in the wines that can be produced throughout the area... as compared to the regions of Bordeaux or Burgundy. The Rhone stretches from south of Lyon, France all the way to the Mediterranean and the wines that come out of the area range from big, full-bodied Chateauneuf du Pape and Cote Rotie in the north to lighter, more fruit forward wines like Crozes Hermitage in the south. Gigondas is located in the south, and the wines from here are a favorite as Gigondas rouge presents many qualities that make it not only great with food, but very flexible with what will work well with it.

To me, Gigondas is a terrific alternative to the much more expensive wines of Chateauneuf du Pape. Both offer complex, bigger style wines, but the wines of Gigondas usually go overlooked next to more famous and recognized Rhone neighbors. Vineyards and wineries in Gigondas date back to Roman times a it was the Romans who saw the potential to grow intense, concentrated grapes that take advantage of the abundant Mediterranean sun and the rich alluvial clays that make up the soil. Great combination. The grapes that thrive in this area and that comprise Gigondas are Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre - all grapes that tend to like the sun and warmer weather. This wine is made up of a blend that is 50% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 25% Mourvedre.

We opened this bottle and decanted for about 45 minutes. When we poured our glasses we both noticed how deeply purple the wine is, but not as dark and inky as some of the 100% Syrah's that we have had recently. The nose was really interesting, with hints of dried apricots, anise and green peppers. There is a distinct vegetal quality to the nose that we really like. Smelling again later, after a couple sips, I picked up a really subtle sweetness to the nose that was behind apricot and green peppers and I can only describe it as the smell of canned fruit right after you open the can. The palate was rich, velvety and full-bodied. We tasted green peppers more intensely than in the nose, balanced by cassis and brighter raspberry flavors. The finish is long with tastes of chocolate and cedar. This wine was good, but it had sharper edges to it that we know will mellow with age. I think that the 2000 is drinking well now, we enjoyed it, but this would be a vintage to investigate again in five to ten years. My guess is those sharp edges will have softened and will be replaced by more richness and depth.

cost - $29.99

winecommado rating (1-10) - 7.5

2005 Chateau Graville-Lacoste Graves, Bordeaux, France

Yes, another white Graves. Yes, we love Sauvignon Blanc. Rarely do wines from Graves disappoint us. This one did. It just did not have the qualities of the wines from this region that we dig so much, and totally expect. Honestly, this wine was flat. It had little discernible fruit, and what was there was citrus at best. It lacked that lovely minerally quality... no wet rocks here. The nose was virtually non-existent. We should have had a bottle of water instead. I shouldn't be mean, but this wine was a let down.

We do like all of the whitespace on the label, though.

In all fairness, we have had Chateau Graville-Lacoste many times before from different vintages and do not ever remember being disappointed. Perhaps this is just the case with the 2005. Be warned.

cost - $16.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 4

1990 Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches, Burgundy (Part Three)

We did it. We opened the Clos des Mouches last evening and had it with dinner. It was a unique experience. We served it with pan seared and roasted beef tenderloin with a shiitake mushroom and parsnip ragout and a pinot noir reduction. The reduction was made from this wine, that's just how we roll. Dinner was great and the wine paired very, very well with the beef.

Before I tell you how the wine was, I want to drag this out a bit and explain why, perhaps, Clos des Mouches is considered to be so special. Burgundy is a small area, about two miles wide and thirty miles long. Only about 62 acres of Burgundy comprise Beaune Clos des Mouches, and this land is divided among twenty different winemakers. The largest single owner is Maison Joseph Drouhin, and they have the 32 best acres in the lot, land perfectly situated to make great pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. Joseph Drouhin acquired the beginnings of his Clos des Mouches holdings back in 1918 and has steadily added to them when possible and believes these vineyards to be their most precious holding. Maison Joseph Drouhin makes terrific wine, and they consider the wine made from Clos des Mouches to be their best of the best.

So, the vineyard is special. The winemaker is prestigious. But then add in the challenges of making great pinot noir (cue your internal clip of the movie "Sideways"). For those of you who have not seen this movie, I offer a brief explanation here. Pinot noir is challenged during each step of the transition from vine to bottle. The vines and fruit are fragile and susceptible to virtually every malady possible. Though favoring of cooler climates, the vines are easily damaged by spring frost. Every grape destroying pest finds a comfortable home in pinot noir vineyards as their fragility prevents resistance. A lack of particularly leafy vines exposes the grapes to much sunlight and makes them easily damaged by heat. Add in attacks by grape eating birds, and the very thin skin of the grapes and you have to wonder why people bother. They bother because when everything works, which is not often at all, the results can be absolutely staggering. When the weather works and harvest is timed well, pinot noir vineyards can produce incredible fruit. But then you have to make the wine.

Pinot noir is incredibly challenging to ferment, too, as it quite often "boils" out of its container. This is because the grapes have 18 amino acids that are naturally balanced, which can increase the rate of fermentation to the point that it is not controllable and can ruin large lots of the fruit. Making wine from this grape requires constant attention and focus. It is not a set-and-forget affair, and the pinot noir winemakers of the world must always be on their game. Making great pinot noir is something that can take a lifetime to get right.

Back in 1990 everything came together for Joseph Drouhin's heirs, and with his son Robert now running the winery (he took over from his father in 1957) they had a miracle vintage. Some of that wine made its way into my cellar. I've been able to sample bottles of the 1990 Beaune Clos de Mouches, and other great Burgundies from this vintage, over the years and remember many of them being excellent, some of them being tight and sharp, and others just not ready to drink. This bottle, though, has remained intact. Until last evening.

We opened the magnum and decanted about half of it to serve with dinner. We bottle poured a tasting and sampled the wine right after being opened. It was as we expected... tight, sour cherry smelling, thin in color and the nose hot with alcohol. It also had a pronounced wet leather smell to the nose and taste on the palate. This concerned me a little, as that musty and slightly stinky scent can indicate the wine is faulty. Ultimately though, there were no big surprises and we just wanted a baseline for when we tasted it again later. We poured glasses about an hour later after we decanted and tasted before we sat down to eat. It had changed dramatically. The nose was still a bit sharp with the same sour cherry scent, but the hot alcohol quality had dissipated and the wet leather scent had become very subtle. The palate was really beginning to open and was beginning to offer fruit that was much more rich. It was very balanced and had a terrific finish. The color, too, had developed and while the wine came out of the bottle with a very thin color ranging from light reds to reddish browns, it was deepening into more ruby reds. We were beginning to really enjoy it.

The kicker came with dinner though. Having the wine with food totally changed it. We ate over the next hour and the wine continued to unfold. It paired absolutely perfectly with our meal, and the ragout brought out more intense fruit in the wine. This was a good match. The wine had perfect structure to hold up to the beef, which is actually a lot to ask of an old pinot noir. Both Cat and I agreed that across the entire palate there were tremendous flavors, but they were all in balance. There was good rich cherry fruit. There was the leathery, earthy backbone. We even tasted a little asparagus... it had a subtle vegetal quality.

What a relief.

To be fair, this was not a wash-off-the-fireengine-we're-having-a-parade wine. But it was really, really good. I would have been happy with just really good, but the wine delivered a little extra for our efforts. Now, the 1990 vintage is going to be tough to come by, but both the 2002 and 2003's are excellent... and much more accessible price wise. I plan on getting a bottle each of the 2002 and 2003 to fill the hole in my basement where this wine sat so comfortably for so many years.

cost - $90 (in 1993)

served with - pan seared and oven roasted beef tenderloin with shiitake mushroom and parsnip ragout

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9

1990 Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches, Burgundy (Part Two)

I had a scare yesterday. It was one of those moments where you quietly freak-out to yourself. I was doing a little digging into this wine in preparation for writing Part II and came across a review of it. The reviewer was looking at a number of Burgundies from 1990, both red and white. He exclaimed that he did not see what the big deal was surrounding Clos des Mouches. He found it thin, uninviting and not worthy of further investigation. Uh... say what? My first thought was how I would break this to all of you... I mean, I'm trying to build a little tension here.

Then I scrolled down to the bottom of the page and saw the post date. November of 1998. HA! That was 10 years ago. I did a little more research and discovered that this was when this wine was smack dab in the middle of the aforementioned "dumb" period. Dumb periods are like minefields to wine collectors. You have to be checking all of the time to make sure you get maximum enjoyment out of your investment. Or, you could just be like Cat and I and drink the freaking wine when it suits you (but after checking around, natch...).

But then I started this blog and now have to DELIVER. What if the wine blows? What if the whole thing was just one big waste of our collective time? Well, we'll just have to wait and see as I'm not cracking the magnum until tomorrow.

I did get confirmation that the wine is killer and that now is a good time to drink it. Maybe not the "best" time, but "best" is theoretical and we are all about practical action over here. Also, as a result of the confirmation I wanted to do a financial break down of this wine for you:

Purchased in 1993 for $90.00
Lot sold at auction in 1995 for average of $56/bottle or $120 for a magnum
Retail price in 2000 averaged about $60/bottle or $140 for a magnum
Last price review in 2006 had bottles around $150 and a magnum holding at $325 (updated!)
Restaurants are listing 1990 Clos des Mouches for between $300 and $500/bottle and around $700-$1000 for a magnum (updated... did more research and found a chart on proper valuation validated by Robert Parker)

Magnums tend to command a premium. I'm not exactly sure why, but my guess is that it is because they are more limited in availability and tend to age better due to the additional volume. I'll check this out and tell you what I learn.

Anyway, $90 to $1000 (updated!) - not bad for just sitting around and yes, I understand that $1000 is a restaurant price... just be patient. Auctions and restaurants are the only places to now buy this wine. My associate said that it will probably begin to appreciate quickly over the next two years as more reviewers are beginning to assign it a "drink now" designation.

Here's the deal, though. We don't collect wine. We drink it. We have great wine around so we can share it with friends and family and the investment quality is purely academic to us. And yet, it is still fun to see how wine appreciates in value.

Will tomorrow's tasting be worth $1000 for the experience? Probably not. Will each glass taste like $100? I sure hope so. I once had a $100 glass of 1900 Madeira (on New Year's in 1999!) and I have to say, it was pretty damned good. I'll let you know how we make out here tomorrow, once the deed is done.

1990 Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches, Burgundy (Part One)

This weekend we will be drinking this very, very special wine. It is a really big deal to me as not only is this an absolutely incredible bottle from a fantastic wine maker (Joseph Drouhin) it is also from one of the best Burgundy vintages in the last 150 years. 1990 is held by Burgundy lovers with a special reverence as it was one of those vintages when all of the challenging variables of making awesome pinot noir came together just right. This is also a special bottle as it is actually two bottles. It is a magnum (1.5 L as opposed to 750 ml). Double the fun. All of that, and this bottle has been in my "cellar" since around 1993 or so. That's nearly 15 years. This wine has seen me through many experiences and I have had it with me longer than I have had my dog. This bottle was in the basement when I got married. It was there when I had my daughter. It has seemingly always been down there, resting comfortably. Now it's time to share it.

As much as I love wine, it is the stories behind the wines that get me all excited. Every wine has a story... or at least it SHOULD have a story, as that makes the whole thing so much more interesting. As much as I seek out great wines, I seek out great stories. I may forget what a wine tasted like, but I always remember the interesting facts and legends around it. This bottle has many stories with it and, in anticipation of actually drinking it, I am going to savor the next couple days by telling them.

So, 1990 is a super-vintage (rated "Exceptional"). Joseph Drouhin is a top Burgundian wine house. That alone is a killer combination. But this bottle is from the vineyard Beaune Clos de Mouches, which is considered to be one of the best, if not THE best Premier Cru vineyard in all of Burgundy. The vineyard is located on a hill with direct southern exposure and is made up of stony soil with a very high chalk content. The vines love it, and when the weather works just right they produce incredibly intense fruit. The weather rarely works just right. The name Clos des Mouches is interesting. Mouches in French actually means flies - like the nuisance insect. But in this area of Burgundy mouches means honey bees. Dating back to the 1500's this vineyard was once the location of many bee-hives as its orientation made it ideal property to help keep bees. Hence, Clos des Mouches means "Enclosure of the Honey Bees." That explains the little bees on the wine's label (you'll see that in Part Two).

That's enough for the moment. Look for Part Two in the next day or so. I do have a call into an old associate who is this wine's original importer (this actual bottle, I bought it from him back in 1993). I need to speak with him before I open it. I have to know that I am doing the right thing as great Burgundies are notorious for going in and out of "dumb" periods. That, and I want an estimate on this bottle's value. It's got to be way up there.

Champagne Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Non-Vintage Brut, Reims, France

Who doesn't love Champagne? That is a rhetorical question, so if you just answered out loud you may feel a bit foolish. Cat and I have always believed that people drink Champagne all too infrequently, and typically only on special occasions. We do what we can to change this and try to enjoy a half-bottle of champagne whenever the urge strikes us, which not-surprisingly is quite often. We're impulsive like that.

The Champagne house of Veuve Clicquot would be our favorite of the wines that we have been fortunate enough to sample from the Champagne region. It was my introduction to Champagne more than 16 years ago when I was in the restaurant business and it is the one that Cat and I enjoyed when we first met. Though we have tried several others it is the one we always go back to. We have enjoyed a couple vintage bottles from Veuve, as well as their brut rose and demi-sec. All are absolutely excellent. Our budget demands compromise, though, and for a more frequent Champagne we love the non-vintage brut pictured above and immediately recognizable by it's special Clicquot yellow label. The grapes used in champagne are chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. This non-vintage brut is distinct by the majority of it being pinot noir. About a third is chardonnay with a small percentage of pinot meunier. The dominance of pinot noir in this blend is what creates the very distinct structure of this wine.

There are two reasons, really, why we love this one. The first has to do with it's style. Veuve is traditionally a very dry and restrained style of champagne, with a yeasty quality to the nose and palate and strong, notable structure. These qualities make it an excellent apertif, but also a champagne that holds up well with lighter food (especially seafood). The flavors on the palate range from a little bit of spiced orange to subtle vanilla. Nothing lingers, though, and this wine finishes dry and clean. It always makes us happy and is a great way to introduce a little bit of luxury into the day.

The second reason we love this champagne is it's history. Though Veuve Clicquot was started by Phillipe Clicquot-Muiron in 1772, it was his son Francois who began to revolutionize the Champagne business and be among the first to export Champagne outside the confines of France. He died, though, leaving his work unfinished and his wife, the famed Madame Clicquot pictured above on top of the champagne cork, took over the business. She was the first woman to run a winery in France, and especially one of the significance and stature of Veuve Cliquot. This turned out to be a very good thing for the winery. Madame Cliquot took her champagne to new heights by building a strong brand around it - really the first French winery to do so with such notable success. Many of her marketing efforts on behalf of her wines are still best practices with luxury brands today. Among them was establishing Veuve Clicquot as THE champagne of the various royal houses of Europe. When Madame Clicquot passed away she left behind her a champagne powerhouse devoted to unique quality and to meeting the market needs beyond the frontiers of France. She did great work for growing the world's passion for great champagne. After her death, and in honor of her prestige, the image of Madame Clicquot herself came to represent the significance of the Veuve Clicquot brand, and her personal seal a symbol of its devotion to quality.


Veuve Clicquot on Wikipedia

cost - $26.99 (half bottle)

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8

2004 Joseph Faiveley Bourgogne, Burgundy

Really a Burgundian table wine, this pinot noir is a great value. Truly classic in style and from a very well respected family house, the Bourgogne is a great entry-level Faiveley wine. The flavors are dark cherry, very rich and intense on the palate. The nose is restrained, mostly because the wine is still young, but it is ready to drink now... like most table wines. This would be a great staple wine for your cellar as it offers excellent value. I was always a fan of the wines of Joseph Drouhin and really did not have a lot of experience with those from Faiveley. When Cat and I moved a while back our local wine store focused heavily on the catalog of wines from Faiveley, so we checked them out. A lot of them. Often. We have been very happy with almost all of them.

cost - $12.39 on sale from $14.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 7.5

2004 Chateau Magence, Graves, Bordeaux Blanc

Delicious, clean and crisp. That about sums this wine up. Then you figure in the price and, assuming you are a fan of white wine from Appellation Graves in Bordeaux, there is everything right with this picture. I revealed my penchant for sauvignon blanc, especially those from Sancerre, in a previous post. The white wines of Bordeaux are often Sauvignon Blanc, sometimes Semillon, and sometimes a blend of the two, but right up there with those from Sancerre. Whites from Graves are a blend, with the balance being Sauvignon Blanc.

We like them a lot.

This is because of the vineyards in Graves (pronounced "grahvs"). The name Graves comes from the soil that makes up the vineyards. You could have probably guessed this, but I am going to tell you anyway because this is my blog, the soil is quite gravelly. Some vineyards are actually made up entirely of small rocks from alluvial deposits cast off by a river that once ran through the area. These deposits are mostly rocks, gravel and sand. There is no dirt here, really. This imparts a really special quality to the wine, which in all honesty smells and tastes like rocks, gravel and sand... in a good way. I am not messing around, that's literally what the soil has created in the wines of this area (remember "terroir"?). The white wines of Graves are among the best whites coming out of Bordeaux, but often go over looked. This bottle is of especially good quality, being very crisp and with that gravelly character. It also has great citrus fruit to the palette and a cut grass smell to the nose. For a clean white wine, it is actually quite complex, and very elegant. Cat had a glass waiting for me when I got home from work later than usual this evening, and it was the perfect way to relax after a long day.

cost - $11.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9 (an excellent example of a Graves blanc!)

2002 Domain Thomas + Fils "La Crele" Sancerre, Loire

French sauvignon blanc gets me as geeked up as pinot noir. There's just something about really, really good ones that stop me in my tracks. Cat feels the same way. This wine was not one of those, but it was still quite good. There are really two main sauvignon blancs coming out of the Loire Valley in France, and they are very different in style. Sancerre being the more delicate of the two, the other is Pouilly Fume, which is made in the next village over from Sancerre. In Sancerre there are two types of vineyards... one is made up of more earth and the other of quite a bit of limestone. This one comes from the limestone vineyards, and you can taste it.

The nose is terrific. It smells like summer, which is probably why I love Sancerre so much. On the tongue there are green apple and lime-like flavors. The limestone quality is prevalent throughout. You can smell it and you can taste it. I really like this, but some do not. I enjoy being able to taste and smell the ground in which the vines are growing. Sounds crazy, but the French call this "terroir" and this approach of bringing out the soil qualities in wine is catching on big time in California. Most of the higher end wines from Napa and Sonoma are now embracing the unique qualities of their soil and touting these as desired flavors in their wines. I say rock on. This wine was crisp and refreshing, and would be a terrific apertif or afternoon cocktail wine with light appetizers or good lightly flavored cheese.

cost - $19.99 on sale from $24.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 6.5