Yesterday I met up with Chris and Antti to visit a charming little wine bar: Foxy Wine House, right in the center of Helsinki. They have a well thought out list with mostly very interesting stuff.
I started with a small pour of Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2007. Very young - almost like a barrel sample! Glorious nose, elegantly floral with some cherried scents. Vibrant, very much alive, high acidity, classical; long and slightly balsamic aftertaste. Lovely.
José Michel & Fils Champagne Brut Pinot Meunier NV had a full on and fruity nose, very earthy, red toned and appley; broad palate, not very high in acidity but refreshing enough to carry all that fruit, weighty and quite impressive.
G.D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2001 Surprisingly dark coloured for such a "traditional" smelling wine! Red berries, but with some darker tarry notes as counterpoint, and also a lovely floral scent. Very perfumed. Lovely tannins, youthful and upright but juicy; vibrant acidity, refreshingly berried fruit. Palate cleansing. Excellent.
Jean-Marc Burgaud Beaujolais Osez! le Rosé NV A very pale pink. Stunning minerality, cool aromas, bright and pure. Very mineral and brightly acidic palate but with true Gamay-fruitiness, too. Very lovable.
Fattoria Montagliari Vin Santo del Chianti 1971 Brown. A lovely oxidative nose, refreshing, not too sweet, lingering. Very nice!
LVMH has offices close to our's and as they had a tasting of some of their stuff today, I was able to take a small break to go taste the following fizz:
Moët & Chandon Champagne Nectar Imperial NV
This had classic Champagne aromas but in a rather cloying and unrefreshing form. Attractive mousse; but the taste again was quite sweet and unrefreshing, but gladly not as cloying as the scent indicated. I haven't yet managed to find a genuinely enjoyable sweet Champagne.
Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 2000
Started out rather elegantly mineral, but gained weight and sweetness quickly after opening. Sweet and fruit forward, not really as acidic or as crisp as I would hope, some attractive minerality - a nice enough Champagne, but not really anything special.
Krug Champagne Grande Cuvée MV
Complex and quite a fruit-basket nose, but more elegant and citrussy and less oaky than I remember the old label to have been - all of which I find positive. Quite densely fruity but crisp and never heavy. Very nice.
After work, my boss and I continued handling the latest crisis over a few small samples at Restaurant Loft's wine bar:
Serge Mathieu Champagne Cuvée Tradition Blanc de Noirs Brut NV
A rather vinous nose, plenty of Pinosity, lots of earth and flowers. Fine mousse. A broad and meaty palate, voluptious and fruity but refreshing enough to be very moreish - very much fun (and excellent value) even though I usually prefer a more elegant, leaner style.
Mongeard-Mugneret Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Narbantons 2005
Very ripe and sweet, not quite jammy but verging on it, darker fruit tones that I usually hope to see in Burgundy; very dense fruit, sweet and quite tannic. Nice if you don't mind lots of ripeness and sweetness - gladly there is little oak noticable and there is refreshing structure so I can enjoy this.
-Otto
But stylistically, I did prefer the '99 and '04 that we had here recently.