WTN: 2001 Cap de Faugeres

[Jenise]

2001 Cap de Faugeres
Cotes du Castillon

Didn't expect such a dense, ripe, generously endowed wine after the lighter and disappointing 2000 we drank a few months ago. Popped and poured, shows well immediately with black fruit, licorice and a bit of earthiness that's not the funky variety. Except for what it might lend in softer edges, the merlot component is not evident at this point. Would call it at peak, though it has the tannins to hold here for awhile. An attractive wine that outperforms it's $15 price (well, that's what I paid). Would never be a favorite, but I can at least now understand why those who buy CdF regularly do so.

Thanx for the note on this.. the 05 is availalbe at about double the price you paid... been thinking I would like to try it...

Not to initiate thread drift, but on Saturday, Jenise, had a 1991 Ridge Santa Cruz Cab and a 1994 Dunn Howell Mountain.. both stunning for their secondary flavors.. lovely stuff....

Back to regularly schedule programming..

Jenise,

Didn't you really like the 2000 at one time? If you say no, I will figure out which cheap one which was similar that you really liked.

[Jenise]

Jenise,

Didn't you really like the 2000 at one time? If you say no, I will figure out which cheap one which was similar that you really liked.

No, the 00 I had was a singleton. The only prior experience I have with Faugeres is an earlier bottle of this 01 after I bought them about three years ago, when it tasted like 100% merlot (hence my remark in this TN that it was completely absent this time).

Not to initiate thread drift, but on Saturday, Jenise, had a 1991 Ridge Santa Cruz Cab and a 1994 Dunn Howell Mountain.. both stunning for their secondary flavors.. lovely stuff....

Jim,

Good to hear that the Dunn HM turned out well. I tried that in its youth and was convinced it would never come around because it was so harshly tannic. Same with the '95.

No, the 00 I had was a singleton.

Nuts, my mind can’t pull up the 00 I am thinking of. I drink so many of the $15 genres that they form a kaleidoscopic backdrop from which the occasion presents itself for an occasional gem to stand out. The one I am thinking about is part of the kaleidoscope and I should just stop tugging on it and let it be. But then by perceiving the unsung heroes in composition, rather than individually, it prolongs an expression and in concert creates a sum much greater than any one individual experience. I sometimes wonder if I were to hit the lottery and be able to consume aged classed growths at will if the fun would be greater, or if I would miss the hungry years.

I think a lot about proportion. Across the lake, a little to the right, and in a cove, so that it is not actually in my view, stands an 11,000 square foot camp, built only about five years ago. The owner has an old Bordeaux collection numbering in the thousands, I believe. We both attended a dinner elsewhere on the lake and he brought a 1989 Mouton. Our camp is tiny in comparison and sometimes I put myself in the man's place and consider the shanty he has to suffer across the lake from him. It is a small lake, only two miles long and one third a mile across at the point between the two houses in present description. If the man had a comparable boat for the lake, it would be the Queen Mary. As it is, he has a long electric one with a canopy top, smaller than an ocean liner, probably his ode to environmental proportion. You can't hear it coming. It whispers by our shore in the evenings, full of dinner guests following feasts that I can only imagine, quietly surveying how the other side lives. Would I trade places with him if I could, with regard to respective abodes? Probably. I would have to because that is human nature.

[Jenise]

I sometimes wonder if I were to hit the lottery and be able to consume aged classed growths at will if the fun would be greater, or if I would miss the hungry years.

You'd probably only miss caring less about the occasional corked bottle.

Our camp is tiny in comparison and sometimes I put myself in the man's place and consider the shanty he has to suffer across the lake from him. It is a small lake, only two miles long and one third a mile across at the point between the two houses in present description. If the man had a comparable boat for the lake, it would be the Queen Mary. As it is, he has a long electric one with a canopy top, smaller than an ocean liner, probably his ode to environmental proportion. You can't hear it coming. It whispers by our shore in the evenings, full of dinner guests following feasts that I can only imagine, quietly surveying how the other side lives. Would I trade places with him if I could, with regard to respective abodes? Probably. I would have to because that is human nature.

Well, maybe he's the guy in the NYT article this morning about the plight of the wealthy as they face the downturn in the economy, as told by their hair stylists, art advisors and personal trainers. This one: [i]"One of her clients recently confessed that his net worth had decreased to $8 million from more than $20 million, and he thinks that his wife will leave him. He has hidden their fall in fortune by taking on debt to pay for her extravagant clothes and vacations.” Perhaps next time he trolls past in his Voltswagon there will be only half as many guests, the Material Girl will have left for greener pastures, and he'll be serving Duhart Milon instead of Mouton. From an "off year". Then, you wouldn't trade him at all.

Well, I was deciding what to open with a chicken and sausage dish I was making, and this note reminded me that I have a couple of 2001 Cap de Faugeres. The first one I drank a couple of years ago showed a lightweight and uninteresting wine. Tonight, it was different. Bright fruit and licorice on the nose that carries through to the palate. Not terribly complex, and a wine I would call a nice luncheon claret.
Much better than our dual tasting notes on the 2000 D'Aggasac, Jenise.

[Jenise]

Well, I was deciding what to open with a chicken and sausage dish I was making, and this note reminded me that I have a couple of 2001 Cap de Faugeres. The first one I drank a couple of years ago showed a lightweight and uninteresting wine. Tonight, it was different. Bright fruit and licorice on the nose that carries through to the palate. Not terribly complex, and a wine I would call a nice luncheon claret.
Much better than our dual tasting notes on the 2000 D'Aggasac, Jenise.

Spot on. Not complex enough for the serious category, not a brooder--no sexual attraction --but a good bottle of wine nonetheless.

Spot on. Not complex enough for the serious category, not a brooder--no sexual attraction --but a good bottle of wine nonetheless.

I seem to be doing pretty good living on memories, and anticipation. Rarely touching anything of weight or sensual appeal. Instead drinking my Unsung Heroes, with the consolation that all my good bottles are getting better; and if I wanted to, I could drink them anytime.

On Saturday night I was feeling heady and a little lucky, after having picked Da' Tara for the Belmont. (Anybody doubting that I had money on that longest shot horse needs only to call the Friends Lake Inn in Chestertown, New York and ask the bartender which horse the good looking guy in the pink shirt and white pants had - Lynn and I dressed for the occasion). Retiring to our back deck on that same lake, in the 90 degree heat, we debated what to drink. Settled on the longest shot I had: 2003 Chateau Thebot, which cost me something like $12. We liked it!: earthy and peppery from tons of Merlot. I looked all over the web to try to find out whence it comes. I would normally guess Entre deux Mers, because of the Merlot and price, but it doesn't taste like it. Guess I will buy a case; it should be good with hearty food grilled out.

Covert - congratulations on your lucky bet. It sounds like a strong endorsemont for the Thebot. What would you have drunk had you not won?

Covert - congratulations on your lucky bet. It sounds like a strong endorsemont for the Thebot. What would you have drunk had you not won?

First of all, I know I spun the pick as a pick, for the sake of bragging, which was a bit dishonest. It was a random pick from a hat, a pool; and when I pulled #6, I was complaining vigorously about being unlucky.

The biggest reason for drinking an "Unsung Hero" was that drinking anything subtle on the back deck in the wind and sun would be a waste. It's amazing how much better a "good" wine tastes inside. Some of the more rustic wines stand up to the outdoor elements better, and taste pretty good as a result.

I was thinking of you when I told my little story because of your proximity to Belmont. If you are interested in trying a bottle of the 2003 Thebot, Sherry-Lehmann has them. I would imagine that you drink wines out of doors as well, so it might work for you. It is pretty good, if you like Merlot based wines at all. Again, it was peppery, which is nice with barbecued chicken and such.