WTN: Miscellaneous April notes

Henri Bonneau Vin de Table de France Les Rouliers L 11.07-04.03
Officially, of course, VdT is non-vintage. However, the way I read this lot number, it seems to me a blend of 2003 and 2004 that was bottled in November 2007. Which, as with earlier lots, is also what the wine tastes like. Quite glossy medium ruby with some black reflections and a light raspberry hue and minor watery rim. Less garriguey than earlier “vintages” (blends) of Rouliers. Quite delicious medium weight Grenache. Some tannin, not much. Nicely fruity wine, medium sweet and dry, good sap. Some roasted Provençal herbs soft freshly cracked black pepper, faint gun powder. Faint meatiness with airing. Good length, recurring red fruit on the aftertaste. Mouth-cleansing, quite refreshing, uncomplicated. Rating: ~88

Azienda Agricola Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Case Vecie 1999
Some April hail and snowfall made me reach for a sweet, rich, cozy winter bottle. Showed less alcoholic heat than a bottle in February, even so, we are slowly drinking up stock. Rating: 91-/90?

Casa al Vento Vino da Tavola Il Barrico 2000
Thanks to my parents. Lightly purple, opaque ruby-black almost to the rim. Fairly round, warming (with superripe, probably rather late-picked fruit as well as alcohol) black cherry liqueur with a top note of green tobacco leaf. Some metal notes that reminds us that this is basically a Chianti. Still a bit hard, slightly rustic tannin. Unfortunately this modern-styled VdT which was really better young and is only turning alcoholic as it ages, appears to be Haller’s most popular bottling. Rating: 85-/84

Vincent Girardin Pommard Chanlins Vieilles Vignes 1995
Same as always, of course, just how nice and firm this wine’s fruit and acids are, palate-cleansing, so it goes well with food, terroir-typical and expressive so the last glass will arrest one’s attention after dinner, too. My parents bemoaned the fact that wine like this used to be priced in the almost staple/daily consumption category, whereas now, whenever one complains about pricing, any wine merchant’s idea of a “worthy replacement” is to come up with some atrocious, jammy, overoaked modernity from Heaven knows where. Rating: 92-/91

Erwin & Anna-Maria Jamek Bergwein Rheinriesling 2005
Thanks to my parents. 11.5% alcohol. A strange fish, this one. My parents find it quite simply “the most apple-cidery wine” they have ever had. That and some earthy straw. Some CO2 but not really a bubbly. Reminded me of Rimuss Party fermented dry (a fairly awful alcohol-free underage children’s bubbly made from Müller-Thurgau which they are being served on New Year’s Eve so they can toast with the adults). The Frühroter Veltliner from the same vintage was lighter and no less strange, but perhaps a fraction (by no more than a hair really) more “interesting”. Rating: 79-

Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 1998
Half litre bottle thanks to my parents. Remains almost ridiculously youthful, as my parents agreed. Retains a raspberry-purple hue to the full ruby-black, and is barely verging on pink-orange at the rim. Sour cherry and red beet freshness, started out quite closed, needs lots of airing. Tannin remains faintly bitter, but then that may be because this is a 1998 that never seems to have fully absorbed its residual CO2. Nice smoky minerals. The Kirsch liqueur, pepper and roasted Provençal herb notes take a while to make an appearance. Firm finish. Always thought the standard Pégau a solid but unexceptional effort for a 1998, and am still waiting for it to prove me wrong, as some bottles have indeed hinted at more than e.g. this one. Rating: 91+/92(+?)

Taylor's Vintage Port Quinta de Vargellas 1987
Half bottle. Unchanged since last time: still almost opaque ruby-black colour. Sweet macerated and honeyed violet, pretty tannin, soft acidity, a bit creamy and hot, with a touch of viscous cedar, soft but racy plum and cherry finish and aftertaste. We have had fruitier and rounder bottles, but of all the standard (other than special old-vine selection) Vargellas vintages I know, this is really second only to the 1991. Rating: 91-

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks as always for the notes. I'll hold off on opening any of my meager stash of the '98 Pegau for a while longer.

[Jenise]

David, when you say you are drinking up your stocks of the Amarone, is that because you think they need to be drunk soon? I have a bottle, and would rather drink it sooner than let it go too long.

David, when you say you are drinking up your stocks of the Amarone, is that because you think they need to be drunk soon? I have a bottle, and would rather drink it sooner than let it go too long.

We're talking about a well-made, but clearly modern-styled Amarone here. What happens is that although it ages slowly, it looses fruit and becomes a bit more alcoholic every year, with apparently nothing in particular to gain (unlike some hyper-expensive super Amarones, it does not really develop tertiary aromas and flavour, nor gain in overall harmony, in short, this is not a style that necessitates any bottle age beyond burly primariness). Mind you, the 1999 Casa Vecie is "falling apart" at a snail's pace - I guess if I didn't get to drink it so often, I would hardly have noticed. Thus I'd say there is no hurry, but the tendency (the direction it's taking) seems obvious. All that, plus taking into account a basic rule of thumb I used to not always follow in the past - which says one's always better off drinking a wine too early than too late...

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

[Jenise]

All that, plus taking into account a basic rule of thumb I used to not always follow in the past - which says one's always better off drinking a wine too early than too late...

Amen. We ALL learn that the hard way! Thanks for the information.