WTN: Ch. Chasse-Spleen 2005 & Prieler Johannishöhle '06

A simple dinner of steak (rare) is nice with young tannic reds:



Prieler Blaufränkisch Johannishöhe 2006 Burgenland; 16,94€; 13% abv

Dark red, youthful, almost purple rim. The scent is very expressive with lots of dark fruit and pepper - almost like a Syrah in this respect -, yet with a mineral and cherried and vegetal higher note that reminds me of of a good Cru Beaujolais (though I now read that Blaufränkisch isn't a clone of Gamay as once thought, I can understand from the scent alone how that mistake was made). Medium bodied, but juicy and cherried fruit, high acidity, vegetality and minerality - again quite like Gamay, except for the rather strong tannins. The aftertaste is long, mineral and very refreshing but still continues the charming fruitiness. A very charming wine.

Château Chasse-Spleen 2005 Moulis-en-Médoc; 34,70€ (ouch!); 13,5% (well hidden); conflicting info on the grapes: Alko says 70% Cab S, 20% Merlot & 10% Petit Verdot; the back label says 55% Cab S, 40% Merlot & 5% PV.

I don't have much experience with Californian Cabernets, but Wade Hostler has kindly brought over some old Ridge York Creeks which I thought were absolutely splendid - and they are the current ideal for the genre of that vague idea that is called typicity. They had true Cabernet aromas and even were quite Bordeaux-like to the extent that they were restrained and savoury, earthy and slightly green (this colour is positive for me) except that they had a more upfront fruitiness that shouted California instead. This 2005 seems also like my ideal of Californian Cabernet. And I really do not mean this in a bad way - I loved the old York Creeks and I really, really enjoyed this Chasse-Spleen.

There is a delightful, slightly green and herbal savouriness that counters the sweet and dark fruit aromas. It is stereotypical left-bank with its scents of pencil shavings and cassis and with the slight, savoury greenness; but the dark fruit is so sunny and sweet without being at all pruny or raisiny that it brings to my mind the Ridges. There is some new oak here, but that is just background music. Full bodied, very ripe and sunny, but not cloying at all. Rather, this is refreshing, tannic and has decent enough acidity to be very moreish. I find the tannins extremely lovable in their paradoxical soft strength. This may be a little atypical because of its ripeness; but I think the ripeness is handled well and the result is a very lovable wine. I will certainly buy a couple bottles.

-Otto

[Jenise]

Chasse Spleen is a great old favorite; your note makes me realize that I don't believe I've ever tasted it right out of the chute, though. That is, I was surprised by your report of the green notes and then realized that I have no idea if that's typical young Chasse or not. Thanks for the note.

Chasse Spleen is a great old favorite; your note makes me realize that I don't believe I've ever tasted it right out of the chute, though. That is, I was surprised by your report of the green notes and then realized that I have no idea if that's typical young Chasse or not. Thanks for the note.

Jenise, we are both crazy being on this forum and note at the same time, when others are sleeping on both sides of the continent.

I am crazier, though, and live in a reverie of association, always. Chasse Spleen in my mind can not be extracted from the thoughts and words of Lord Byron, the great melancholy poet, who, whether he really did or not, named this wine: "Remède pour chasser le spleen!" (Chase away the blues) he said of the wine when he tasted at the property in 1821. And his blues came in part from his jaded love affairs, always delicious, but not in the open, where they could be cleansed of melancholy by the sun. One was Lady Caroline Ponsonby Lamb, married to another; another his sister, Augusta Leigh, whom he shouldn't have been loving in that way at all—or so they say. All of this lies in bottle in Chasse Spleen, to me, and why I would never drink it with anything other than lamb and never begrudge it a touch of greenness.

I tried to choke it back when I previously this morning commented to Jenise on Chasse Spleen’s special meaning to me. But the thought won’t leave me until I finish with it—then I am out of here for the weekend. I also know I told this story before on this forum, but there is no rule against repeats.

A bottle of Chasse Spleen held the associative energy for me that I mentioned in my last post when I carried the 1998 vintage to a little shack of a bar and restaurant on Grand Cayman Island, well south of the Capital, George Town. The shack, named The Edge, sat on the edge of the ocean with a sign posted warning of man eating sharks merely yards away. In addition to the history in the bottle, I had the evening before dined at Hemingway’s, in George Town, possibly the best restaurant on the Island, and supposedly named appropriately. There I had drunk a bottle of 1998 Les Ormes-de-Pez. The Edge, however, looked more like the kind of place where you would actually find the writer, and I’ll bet he had drunk there.

With these thoughts I selected a weathered table on the creaky back deck over the surf and took my corkscrew out of my pocket. They might have had one, but I didn’t chance it. It was dusk and breezy, but wonderfully warm. I told the waitress that I would drink half the bottle or so before ordering. In a half hour, I watched a huge cruise ship crest the distant horizon, steaming away toward…I used to know, but now I forgot. I had seen it earlier in George Town. With it went my association with civilization. Sure Grand Cayman is not in the middle of nowhere, anymore, but it seemed like it at that moment.

The waitress came back and now that night was closing in, she became the center of it. She was beautiful, exotic. I don’t know whence she came originally, but her hair was long and jet black and her figure young. Before I ordered, I told her about the wine and Lord Byron. She probably didn’t know what I was talking about, but she seemed to listen, and pause in the moment with me. Her hair blew in the salt breeze and her eyes rested quietly and contentedly on mine. The moment was what Lord Byron’s colleague, William Wordsworth, called a “spot in time.” And such spots are all that I have and all that I need from this earth; and without wine, they could not happen.

Chasse Spleen is a great old favorite; your note makes me realize that I don't believe I've ever tasted it right out of the chute, though. That is, I was surprised by your report of the green notes and then realized that I have no idea if that's typical young Chasse or not. Thanks for the note.

Jenise, I have tasted all too few vintages of Chasse-Spleen also, so I have no idea if the green component is usual - but I sure hope so. As I just explained in Rieslingfan's Burgundy thread, I love a touch of greenness in my wines. I find less of it in Burgundies but actually expect some in the Cabernets. I think an unmanipulated and not overly warm year Cab S and especially Cab F will always a refreshing green/herbaceous aroma.

Covert, thanks for your memories.

[Jenise]

Chasse Spleen is a great old favorite; your note makes me realize that I don't believe I've ever tasted it right out of the chute, though. That is, I was surprised by your report of the green notes and then realized that I have no idea if that's typical young Chasse or not. Thanks for the note.

Jenise, I have tasted all too few vintages of Chasse-Spleen also, so I have no idea if the green component is usual - but I sure hope so. As I just explained in Rieslingfan's Burgundy thread, I love a touch of greenness in my wines. I find less of it in Burgundies but actually expect some in the Cabernets. I think an unmanipulated and not overly warm year Cab S and especially Cab F will always a refreshing green/herbaceous aroma.

Covert, thanks for your memories.

Green isn't something I object to at all, though if it's grassy and the wine's red, no I don't like that. I just may not be as sensitive to it--yesterday I sat next to a gentleman whose palate I respect enormously, and he found a green note (even mentioning the possibility of American oak) in a wine that I didn't. I have no doubt it was there for him, but those notes didn't find me at all.