1997 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Cross-posted from 2 Days per Bottle, based on an 89-point review from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, January/February 2000, Issue #88.

Type Red
Producer Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel)
Variety Red Rhone Blend
Designation n/a
Vineyard n/a
Country France
Region Rhône
SubRegion Southern Rhône
Appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape



This wine has the Big Wooden Guy scratching his head a bit.

Night One

The color clearly says this is an older wine. It is translucent and brick-red with orange edges. The nose is interesting, tarragon, thyme, cherry, and a little crushed limestone. The palate is complex. It starts with dried cherries then loads tarragon, thyme, sage and leather on top. On the mid-palate the cherries go from dried to tart and add some strawberries, while carrying the spices along from the attack. Lavender also shows up on the mid-palate. The finish is long.

Night Two

Most of the fruit is gone from the nose on Night Two. Instead, it is redolent with leafy spices and dried flowers. There are still a few cherries on the palate but they are resting on a deep bed of violets, lavender, tarragon, thyme and sage.

Conclusion

This is an interesting, even curious, wine. It is not fantastic, or particularly special, but it very pleasantly shows what happens when good wine spends some time in the cellar, long enough to let the fruit fade and the spices and flowers come forward.






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Helfrich Vin d'Alsace Riesling 2007

Category: White Wine
Varietal: Riesling
Producer: Helfrich
Vintage: 2007
Country: France
Region: Alsace
Appellation: Alsace
Alcohol Content: 12.5%
Price Range: $10-15

Color & Clarity
The Helfrich 2007 Reisling is a clear, pale yellow wine with green tinges around the edges.

Nose
The positive, moderate aromas of the Helfrich 2007 Reisling are a combination of citrus and herbaceous elements. None are quite strong enough to identify clearly, but the blend is quite pleasant.

Palate
The Helfrich 2007 Reisling starts out with positive citrus flavors then moves to a crisp, dry, mineral finish of moderate length. In fact, the finish is a bit drier than the initial impression would suggest and the acidity of this wine develops over time.

Overall it's medium dry, light bodied, and reasonably well balanced. My wife, who has generally liked sweeter Rieslings, was very happy with this and now has more interest in trying and experimenting with drier Rieslings. It's a moderately complex wine that will probably continue to be worth drinking over the next couple of years, so if you can find it at a good price it should prove to be a decent value.

Although this Helfrich Riesling only received a score of 89 from Wine Spectator, I was really impressed by its flavors and how well it paired with fish. In comparison, the 2005 Hugel et Fils Riesling is widely considered an especially good vintage, but I didn't like it nearly as much. I'll get this Helfrich Riesling again and I'll recommend it highly to others, even those unsure about dry Rieslings, but I won't go out of my way to get the Hugel Riesling again.

Food Pairing
The acidity of the Helfrich 2007 Reisling makes it a bit too tart for my taste if I were just sitting and sipping it, but this wine really shines when paired with the right food. I had this Riesling with some salmon which really brought out the wine's citrus flavors and increased the aromas the developed in the back of my throat.

It was even better when a creamy dill sauce was added to the salmon, making the Riesling much smoother and sweeter. This also brought out an increased tingling just on the tip of my tongue. The Helfrich 2007 Reisling also went fairly well with asparagus and hollandaise sauce, which also made the wine a bit smoother and sweeter. You would be safe pairing this with just about any dish based on fatty fish and/or with creamy sauces.


Cross-Posted from A Taste of Wine

This is a cross post from my blog, Wannabe Wino. This wine earned an 89 from the Wine Advocate. Since we're still talking about it days later, at $13, it's a fantastic value...and scoop it up for the QPR! Thanks for the 89 Wine Advocate, it's probably keeping the price lower!

Red wine is multiplying and having babies in my basement. We used to have just slightly more red wine than white wine down there....the red lived in 9 wine racks and the white lived in one old wine rack and 7 styrafoam shipper halves. Now, the red wine takes up the original 9 racks, plus the old rack, and more than 4 of the styrafoam shippers. I'm not really sure how that happened, but I think I need to start collecting some more white wine. My selection is dismal at the moment. So that would explain why I'm quickly drinking the few whites I got in my Domaine547 shipment last week!

On our ski trip, we decided that fondue would make a great meal after a day on the mountain. However, when I packed to go, I realized I had absolutely no bone dry Riesling in the basement to take with us. (My usual choice with fondue.) So instead I grabbed the 2007 Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Blanc that I bought from Domaine547 for $13. It clocked in at 12.5% alcohol by volume, had a plastic cork, and hails from France.

On the nose I found grassy aromas, citrus, hay, lemon, herbs, tropical notes, and star fruit. I also thought I detected a hint of wet stone. In the mouth I got flavors of lemon, fresh cut grass, herbs, pineapple, stones, minerals, and other tropical fruit. Overall, I found the wine to be light and refreshing, and it went fabulously well both in the fondue and with it. At $13, this is a great bargain...Matt is still talking about it days later!

N.V. Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Brut

Type: White - Sparkling
Producer: Chartogne-Taillet
Variety: Champagne Blend (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay)
Designation: Brut
Country: France
SubRegion: Champagne
Appellation: Champagne



The Wooden Guys are amazed at all the apples in this wine.

This N.V. wine got two different 89 ratings, one from Steve Tanzer on December 1, 2005, and another from Wine Spectator on October 15, 2003. Funny thing about N.V. wines, though, you get to use the 89 rating, even when it applies to something disgorged at an entirely different time. Looking at those two reviews, it's pretty clear this champagne is not consistent from year to year. Is that good or bad? I can't really say. I know the big houses strive for consistency, but isn't the fact that grower champagnes do a better job of letting the grapes and terroir do the talking one of the charms of these gems?

89 pts. Tanzer on 12/1/2005

Light gold color. Fresh aromas of orange blossom, acacia and honeysuckle, with a suggestion of grilled nuts. Round and supple, with deep, almost sweet flavors of mango, apricot and yellow plum. Frothy and suave, with ripe orchard fruit flavors and notes of pear and apple. The delicate, almost weightless finish is subtle, fine and long.

89 pts. Spectator on 10/15/2003

Starts with a yeasty, baking bread aroma. Fresh, firm and satisfying for its apple, citrus and wheat notes. Nicely balanced and textured. Drink now.

Night One

The color is pale straw, with a very slightly copper-colored tint.

The nose is apples. No, make that APPLES!! Not fresh tart green apples, but more like one of those half-baked without any sugar or spices. Once it cooks, add just a teaspoon of warm caramel, and that is what this wine smells like.

The palate is interesting. Imagine lining up every apple you ever ate, from tartest to sweetest, then back to tart again, and quickly taking a bit out of each one, and you get what happens from attack to mid-palate. It's dry, don't get me wrong, but the impression of apple is there the whole time.

Night Two

Like Night One, the nose is huge with apples, apples, apples, and a little dollop of caramel.

And like Night One, the palate runs through a bite of every apple you ever taste, though now the tart ones are more pronounced. Still, the only possible impression of this wine is APPLE. The mid-palate adds just a bit of baguette, but mostly, it's still apples.

This is also a good time to answer the obvious question- how did I make champagne last two nights? It's called a champagne saver, and a picture of mine is below. It pushes down into the bottle to make a seal, then the wings fold down over the lip of the bottle keeping it tight. The next night it opens with a "pop!" and you can't tell it had been opened the night before.

89 rated wines around the blogosphere

As hard as it is to believe, there are still a few wine bloggers that have yet to join The 89 Project. I will try to bring you their reviews of 89-rated wines when I find them, to link to them and to encourage them to join the project, as well as to increase the visibility of these wines.

The first one today comes from Confessions of a Wino, and its review of Château Durfort-Vivens 2003. I won't steal the whole reveiw, but in summary:

Very impressive wine, though, and I would always choose a Margaux if I had more than two sous to rub together.

Go on over, give the review a look, and don't forget to leave comments encouraging him to join The 89 Project.

Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne Véro 2005

[Cross-posted from 2 Days per Bottle.]

Wine Advocate (89) David Schildknecht said it had refreshing brightness & called it a victory for consumers.

The little wooden guy, on the other hand, is not pleased with this wine. Read on to find out why.



France
Burgundy
Bourgogne
$19.99
12.5% alcohol

The color is very light clear red. The nose opens tart and fruity, sour cherry and strawberries. The fruit sweetens after the initial tartness, smelling candied with brown sugar or maple. There is also just enough of a whiff of earth to tell you it is likely French.

The palate opens all sour fruit, sour cherries and sour strawberries. That sweetens a little on the finish, adding a sense of red licorice. Tannins were slightly drying but smooth.

Will this close down on night two, or will it soften and open up, revealing something other than red fruit? Let us find out together.

NIGHT TWO

Sour cherries and strawberries still lead the nose, but there is also some caramel and some sage. It actually seems, on the nose, to have closed a bit from night one. The palate is still sour cherries, but deeper, a bit richer, with blackberries throw in instead of the sweeter strawberries of the night before. A little Dr. Pepper followed, then a hint of spice. Overwhelmingly, though the sour cherries and blackberries dominated from start to finish, without significant transition to midpalate or finish.

This is a disappointingly one-dimensional wine. Yes, I know, at $19.99 it is practically free by the standards of 2005 Burgundy, but why bother? There are far more interesting wines from other regions for the same amount of scratch.

This strikes me as a pure QPR 89, a rating based upon its price in relation to the astronomical '05 Burgundy market. I would be willing to bet David Schildknecht would not be able to pick this out of a random case of pinot plonk one time out of ten in a blind tasting.