strike rate down

ricasoli chianti classico castello di brolio 2001

minor brett attack ... infection did not obliterate everything but was enough to kill off the fun for me.

2 cr*ppy sangiovese in a row ...

the strike rate worsens

more free food at my friends' on saturday
mushroom and pesto bruschetta, alio olio spaghetti with black truffle shavings and apricot, feta and chives wrapped in procuitto.

1)serge dagueneau pouilly fume 2006
straw/gold; nectarine, gooseberry, straw, lemon?; follows onto palate, red delicious, stony, chalky; initially overchilled but opened up as it warmed up a bit; very nice almost rich mouthfeel; a little tart but guess that's par for the course; longish finish with them apples at the very end;12.5%;BANG! nice.

2)fontanafredda barbaresco costa rubin 2001
dark ruby with slight bricking; whiff of dried strawberries upon uncorking (cork in good condition), decanted ... then my old friend brett gatecrashed and stayed ... woe. band aid and musk, otherwise tasteless. was so looking forward to this. FIZZLE!

brett central

have absolutely NO luck with burgs

domaine harmand-geoffroy gevrey-chambertin la bossiere 1er cru 2002 (a 0.45 ha monopole!)

what? you mean that there was supposed to be some fruit in there? and the persistent whiff of bandaid and taste of plastic was not attributable to the unique terrior?... :-0 FIZZLE!

just enough brett to f*ck things up but not enough (sh*t! when is it never enough) to get the bottle changed ... sigh. are hygiene standards so low in burgundy that so many bottles are tainted? is this a retorical question?

i need an untainted bottle!!! please. half bottle of lucien barrot's cdp 2005 to the rescue ... BANG!

a miss

ceretto barolo zonchera 2001

the usual place had a coupla bottles of this stuff. thought it might be nice to see it now as the last time was about a year ago. nowadays, it's the 03s and 04s on the shelves.

as bad luck would have it, the sample uncorked had basically gone south. think our friend brett, had a hand. whiff of bandaid ... whoa boy ... then absolutely nothing ... flat ... no flavours whatsoever, nada. was just a slightly acidic rose coloured liquid. FIZZLE!

rejected it and waited for the management to concur ... they did. would not have continued with it even if they had not. decided not to chance it and try the other bottle ... same shipment, same ullage.

had to go with the old standby:

pio cesare barolo 2003

thankfully, it was as expected. BANG!
barbequed ribs and other porky stuff ... uurgh ... really got to start eating something else.

sunday dropout

at friends' for dinner...

chateau la vielle cure 2000 (fronsac) [approx. 75% merlot + 22% cab franc + 3% cab sav]

allegedly a good one from a great vintage in bordeaux; alas, there was a minor brett attack but still enough to mess up my day; decanted and soldiered on...

purple/blood; thrown a crust; musk, bandaid, thank god there was no fur, cherry, prune; could not get much fruit on the palate at all (plum maybe?), the bretty stuff...urgh; firm but fine and ripe tannins (nice actually), balanced acidity; medium bodied; not very long; 13.5%; pity, believe that it could/should have been lovely...FIZZLE!

the others did not find too many problems with this bottle, most just did not think very much of it, eg.,
a) plum,wet t-shirt!, whiff of fabric softener!; prune; very firm tannins initially but softened nicely about 30 mins. in the glass; bit one dimentional;
b)sleek; very balanced, fruit, tannins and acid in harmony; delicious;
c)uurgh...sour...who brought this bottle? er,i did............well, pass the koonunga hill then ... [and who said brutal honesty was dead?].

flashback: if my memory pills serve me correctly, remember having the...er...1999 with the suspects late last year ... lean but as brett did not come calling, was an altogether more enjoyable experience...i think...

only one

were s'posed to meet at the usual place saturday afternoon. all suspects confirmed. however, one missed roll call. in fact, have not heard from him since the last message received, that his ride (a marvelous piece of british precision engineering ... there must be an oxymoron or three in there somewhere) went south... anyway he did not miss much, imo.

chandon de briailles savigny les beaune 1er cru 'les lavieres' 2005

ruby; cherry, raspberry, intermittent strawberry, a little later you get some ... oh,oh ...wet leather, fur?, musk ... thankfully not enough to put me off, cedar, spice (asian), turkish delight on the nose; sour cherry and plum, some green stalkyness, chalk/stoniness on palate; quite a lot of tannin, firm but fine; lots of acid; bit chalky/stoney; lean and so young; light/medium bodied; medium length; 12.5%; hoped it would open up over the 2 hours or so, it didn't oblige; does nothing for me now. maybe in 5. POP!

their pernand vergelesses (below) was much more approachable and enjoyable at this stage.

through the mild red haze, contrarian muttered something about cool vintage and stems ... well, not sure about the cool bit cos the vintage was supposed to have be exceptional but it seems that this house likes to go the "trad" route and does not destem at all [update: read somewhere that this particular one was 10% destemmed] ...... they also do not filter... maybe that's why brett gets to hangs around a bit ...

some roast pork and that was it.

if there's a moral to this story, it's ... get a toyota, man.

my friend brett

recharge

had a lousy week at work, so friday afternoon couldn't come too soon. usual place and company.
1)chapoutier gigondas 2005 (gsm + other bits)

cherry/ ruby; cherry, plum, herb (?) and a bit of smoke on the nose; jammy plum and cherry, spice (hint of star anise?) on the palate with a minerally/stoney kind of finish; grippy tannins and refreshing acidity (made me hungry); not long (fruit disappears before arriving at the back with only the tannins and acid hanging around ... but not unpleasent); medium bodied. POP!

2)alex gambal nuit saint georges 1998

thought a base model with some age might be nice. with my losing streak in burgundies rolling, this was a gambal .... lost again. who let the dogs out ... woof, woof, woof woof ...; decanting and prayer failed; light cherry; get past the fur ... raspberry, cherry: could not get anything on the palate, no fruit only tannins and acid (tart, man); not long (thank god); light bodied; nuff said. FIZZLE!

update: on his site alex says:
1998 nuits st. georges – primarily from old vines on the vosne side of nuits; aux lavières and au bas du combe. a bit more red fruits in nuits in 1998; very ripe raspberries with smooth tannins. 100 cases made,

i wish .....

3) sette ponti oreno 2004 [it was either this or another tuscan... antinori's guado al tasso...chose this, fewer syllables] sangiovese:cab sav:merlot ... 2:1:1;

dark cherry; plum, blackcurrant, hint of coffee and vanilla, woody: loads of fruit, ripe plum, dark berries, wood, acid and very fine tannins to balance; lush, rich and creamy mouthfeel; medium/big bodied; long; its odd that the mountain of oak did not really bug me this time; not very italian (at least unlike most of the stuff normally drunk); 13.5%; normally dislike oaky stuff but hope to see it again. BANG! (update september: now only just ... price just skyrocketed ... bloody profiteers)

bit of roast pork and lamb chops tagged along.

bbbad to the beaune (another brett attack)

domaine henri boillot beaune "les epenottes" 1er cru 2005

tried 2 bottles of the stuff a few months ago. man, it was ugly. due to my usual lapses in memory (... but then again, the mind has a way of blanking out really bad experiences), tried another on saturday. holy wet dog, batman. my fault entirely. FIZZLE!

many use equine terms to describe wines with this problem but the closest i've been to a gee gee is the horsehair stuffing in the seats of a friend's e21 bmw, whereas the canine odour of my dearly departed pets comes to mind...phew.

come to think of it, might break out the old camelhair jacket for a whiff ......"ah, chateau anchovy 2007, excellant bouquet, redolent of violets, blackcurrents, vanilla and dead dromedary" ......

elvis has left the building

jean grivot clos de vougeot 1998
dinner sunday; cold cuts and cheese; last bottle of "real" burg obtained some time ago;

garnet/slight bricking; nasty pong when uncorked, cork looked fine, in hope, left the thing standing in the decanter for about 30 mins., much less unpleasant but still bad ... heart sank although was mentally prepared for it before the corkscrew dived in ... sh*t happens ... and with this kind of drink, it happens a lot; smell of wet fur/cardboard/bark and plastic, [someone said sweaty clothes], cannot really get past it, brett? ... brett. surprisingly some of the others did not mind?!; this was definitely not the expected whiff of barnyard/truffly odour (quite nice actually) which is sometimes present, this was "Funkeee";

if you can get past the bad stuff ..., some cherry, plum, some tobacco/cedar, palate still fruity, wood not obtrusive, tannins fine and not very firm, still a little acidic, some stalkiness, but no mid palate plumpness; medium bodied; longish; would have been quite nice if ...... what a disappointment; 13% i think ... but who cares. FIZZLE!

earlier 96s, 97s and 98s were nice with food ... but details are elusive ... long term memories are not a forte, which is a pity as this punter does not expect to partake of these wines anytime in the near future.