cherry ...

domaine robert chevillon nuit st georges les pruliers 1er cru 2007

nothing nuit about this one ... at least not now anyways

later

nelson rides again

hamilton russel pinot noir 2007 [hemel-en-aarde valley]

ruby (pale); cherry nose, slightly funky ... hint of damp earth and game, bit of oak there; aforesaid cherry ... dark and nicely ripe, a little beet?; fine grippy tannins; juicy acid; medium bodied; long; great mouthfeel ...; quite elegant but with meat on the bones; doesn't sound like much but it's a really really good package, BANG!

decent 10 days work

1)spring vale pinot noir 20052) chateau malescot st-exupéry 1998

3)domaine santa duc gigondas des hautes garrigues 2003

4)brunely vacqueyras 2003

earlier

5)leasingham clare classic shiraz 1996

6)puygeraude 2000

7)mischief and mayhem chablis 2005

8)mischief and mayhem pugliny montrachet 2005

later

red kiwi

ata rangi martinborough pinot noir 2001

later

packaging

label looked like something from oz but ...

mischief and mayhem aloxe-corton 1er cru 2005

ruby, clear edge; shy at first, then floral, violet?, rose? ... fresh,dried and a little woody ... potpourri, leafy green, blueberry, cranberry, sweaty t-shirt ... whiff; very lean initially, opened up in about 1hr, plummy, blueberry, a little stalky ... nice, spice?; fine tannins; acid was a little overt at this stage; light/medium bodied; longish; nice drop this ... great with food now; BANG!

slim pickins

1)clos mogador 2003 priorat [garnacha based]

dark purplish red; ripe cherry, alcohol (kirsch), prune, fruitcake?,spice/cedar, vanilla; almost sweet on entry, ripe cherry and plum, cedar, licorice?; big, rich, plush; heaps of tannin (to be expected given it's age) and acid which attempt to counterbalance the fruit; 14.5%; long ...hint of raisins at the very end; a struggle to drink now or when you're tired as i was ... half bottle still in the fridge. maybe in five or ten or then again, maybe never. POP!(-) big bob fave?

2)drouhin chablis vaudesir g cru 1999

sample was way over the hill ... sigh

3)fairbank shiraz 2004 (99%shiraz 1%voignier) [mount alexander]

garnet, dark; spicy, cherry, berries, floral?; ripe cherry, bit o cinnamon, clean, mineral, a little fruity, quite lush and soft mouthfeel; very nice furry tannins and juicy acid; medium/big bodied; longish; BANG!(-) that mineral bit was nice for an oz drop but it's a little pricey

4)vergelegen stellenbosch chardonnay 2008

straw; cream/vanilla?, apple, oak hint, yeast/toast hint, someone said citrus ... didn't get none; red delicious, dried pear?, mineral ... yay, a little oak ... yay; juicy acid .. yay; light/medium bodied; longish appley and slightly savoury finish. BANG! good one, especially well priced. not yo typical overblown new world supermarket special.
5)michel colin-deleger chassagne montrachet les vergers 1er cru 2000

light gold; citrus, stone fruit, buttery/vanilla hint, subdued nose ... never really opened up; lime/lemon?, peach, butterscotsh hint, red delicious, mineral; just enough acid left to keep things a little lively; light medium bodied; longish with a slighty woody and appley finish; 13.5%; subtle wine ... this pleb thought it would be a little richer; POP!(+) too pricey.6)furano ... non vintage red, hokkaido

friend brought some back. gave it a go ... overripe/oxidised fruit, could not tell what it was ... errr ... subarus are nice cars. notice the word "experiment" on the label. next!

7)st cosme cdr les deux albion 2006

much much nicer than the last sample ... similar notes to an earlier drop

8)cloudy bay sauvignon blanc 2008

did they dumb down the "in yer face" fruit? ... hmmm ... nice

quintet

1)chateau cantemerle 2004 (haut-medoc)
ruby; spice ... cinnamon, cardamom?, vanilla hint; blackcurrent, plum, leafy; fruit, a little chalky/mineral, lean; some structure ... furry tannins and acid; medium bodied and length; with food; POP!(-) ... maybe in a coupla years but i'll pass.

2)chateau vilhars 2005 (fronsac)
ruby; dusty spicy nose, cherry?, plum, oak hint; aforesaid fruits and berries?, mineral, spice, dried orange peel?; nicely balanced by soft tannins and juicy acid; light/medium bodied; medium length; BANG!(-) ... thought it was a nice light rhone in a blind some time ago ;-P ... but what do i know? ...

3)domaine dugat-py gevrey chanbertin les evocelles 2007
ruby, purplish tint; blueberries, hint strawb, floral, damp earth; aforesaid berries, mineral/chalky; tannins firm, acid a little tart; light/medium bodied; ...bit lean ... not really ready? POP! expensive

4)yarra yering dry red no.1 1999

5)st cosme cote du rhone les duex albion 2006
this sample had a very "medicinal" sour nose initially ... someone said paracetamol(?!)... ow ...blew away somewhat after 30 mins, but this sample was still a little too funkeee (see earlier sample)... methinks that the said sour note was an extention of chinese spices and the "cow pat" on the palate ... yes, bull doo doo ... an extreme incarnation of wet clay. not a very pleasent bottle this.

bottom of the barrel

domaine dugat-py bourgonye rouge 2007

better than a lot of other lowest rung stuff but still too expensive for what it is ... drinking the name costs... hmmm POP!(-)

no brett

domaine pavelot pernand vergelesses les vergelesses 1er cru 2007

i'll come clean on this one, lost my notes and i honestly cannot remember anything bout it 8-0 ... they say alcohol destroys brain cells ... hmmm

eve

goin for mass in a while . . . only church in town and it's near the hotel . . . had half a bottle of the only red burg handy . . . the most basic, bouchard 2006 (note the grape variety on the label ...think they just realised that 99% of the world's population won't know what's in the bottle otherwise), ruby; raspberry, strawb; follows onto palate, clean; lowish level of fine tannins; juicy acidity; light/medium bodied and length; BANG! under the circumstances. there goes the bell ...

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.

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.

nuther weekend ... could have been worse

1)tea time
confuron cotetidot gevrey chambertin 2004

cherry; plum, ... fur(?), dried flowers/ herbs; plum, cranberry (?) on palate, bit sweet initially; light bodied, tannins a bit rough, pleasant acidity (some might think it still excessive now); not very long; 12.5%; with the brett thing and the cost over here ...no joy. FIZZLE!

pio cesare barolo 2003 (their basic one)

garnet; plum, black/blueberries, flowers(violets?) on nose; plum,dark cherry, bit of cinnamon?, bit of stalkiness (woody not green) on palate; lots of tannin (but nice and ripe), crisp acid; medium bodied; long; nice drop even at this stage; comfortingly consistent, 13.5%. BANG!2) dinner ... tuna pasta, goat's milk cheese and homemade bread.

kumeu river chardonnay 2004

straw/light gold; peach/nectarine,citrus (lemon rind?), oak, caramel, bread on nose; juicy nectarine/peach (like biting into fresh fruit, impressive), orange/grapefruit and nuts on the palate, rich mouthfeel; lots of tannin, could do with a bit more acid to balance the fruit, wood and overall richness; longish; medium/big bodied; fruit and freshness seem to die off after 20-30 mins in glass, then it becomes somewhat dull and oaky; 13% or 13.5%, cannot remember; drink it very fast ... then its a blast. POP!

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" ......

monday night oasis

got to drink at last.
chandon de briailles pernand vergelesses 1er cru 'ile des vergelesses' 2005 (mouthful init?)
cherry, bright; raspberry, cherry, mushroom, damp earth (whiff), some stalkiness, alcohol on the nose; follows through onto palate; nice mouthfeel, lots of fruit, but not really rich or plump, acid very obvious, loads of fine and ripe tannins; light/medium bodied; long; does open up a bit when left to breathe for about 1 hr.; still a little young; better in a couple of years maybe even longer; better with food now; 12.5%; in all a very agreeable drop. BANG!

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.

saturday arvo

faiveley vosne romanee 2004
ruby; dried flowers, bit of strawberry, plum, [someone detected kiwifruit (?)], hint of smoke on the nose; mildly fruity palate, a little green tasting, some stalkiness, tannins fine, wee bit too acidic (needs food), mid palate not fleshy (ok , ok ... this is after all, a base model burg); light/medium bodied; medium length; 12.5% but the effects suggest it was higher ... POP!

mauro vanucci piaggia carmignano reserva 2001
sangiovese with a big dollop of cab sav and merlot;
opaque/inky black cherry; plum, blackcurrent, vanilla/butterscotch/[burnt caramel/someone mentioned sarsaparilla] on the nose; meager fruit (cherry, plum,raisin) and lots of wood the on palate, fine tannins, could do with a bit more acid, wood and fruit not integrated even at 7; smooth, medium bodied; short [shorter than a soda, that someone said!]; dull and flat overall; wood, wood, wood; a not very super tuscan ... disappointing. FIZZLE!