WTN: Rahsaan, Sharon, Paris and the Search for Quick Wine

I had a few hours in Paris inbetween the TGV and the Eurostar, so what better way to spend time than meeting Sharon for wine, food, and good cheer. However, we needed to eat early, on Monday, and with interesting wines, which is not an easy thing in Paris. After striking out at Lavinia and Cave Augé (both closed for inventory), and marching up and down all kinds of streets with my bags filled with wine to restock in London, we finally convinced the people in Galeries Lafayette Gourmet to let us open bottles from the shop (thereby avoiding their limited list) while they served us cheese and foie gras platters.

2000 Agrapart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Minéral
Sharon had been telling me about her growing love for Champagne so this seemed a fine way to start the occasion. It was certainly very mineral and lively but I would have preferred less of the brown apple oxidation. But apparently that was intentional and all part of what made Sharon find the wine so enjoyable. Go figure!

2002 Jadot Château des Jacques Moulin-à-Vent Clos du Grand Carquelin
This was my first exposure to Jadot’s single-vineyard Beaujolais and it was very interesting. Deep, smoky, rich, polished and structured, it made me think much more of Burgundy than Beaujolais. It clearly had a lot more development ahead of it but it was still approachable. Unfortunately I had to dash to catch my train, but I’m hoping Sharon took it home and watched it slowly blossom even further?

[David M. Bueker]

There's distinct styles of Champagne. That oxidative style is interesting, though I would not choose it every day.

I'm really becoming a fan of Jadot's Beaujolais Crus. They are usually quite Burgundy-esque, but that does not really surprise me. I wonder how much of the winemaking for the Beaujolais is fully under Lardierre's control.

Too bad, I opened this thinking you were going to describe a tasting with Ariel Sharon (in the ghost) and Paris Hilton (in the flesh)...

That's exactly the beaujolais conundrum, when they try to make them more serious, they start to veer towards burgundy, then you might as well have a burgundy, yadda yadda yadda...

In a pinch like this, maybe the Bon Marché near the Hotel Lutétia is a good (gourmet) refuge.

I'm really becoming a fan of Jadot's Beaujolais Crus. They are usually quite Burgundy-esque, but that does not really surprise me. I wonder how much of the winemaking for the Beaujolais is fully under Lardierre's control.

In the end, I'm not sure what to think of the Grand Carquelin. Although it made me think of Burgundy, it didn't necessarily make me think of grand Burgundy (of course at that price one doesn't expect a grand vin/cru from Burgundy). But it didn't make me think of exciting Burgundy either.

I was mainly intrigued by that expression of gamay/MaV, which was a first for me and therefore very interesting. But while it wasn't closed down and awkward to drink, it wasn't expressing lots of energy or complexity either. Will that come with more age?

the Bon Marché near the Hotel Lutétia is a good (gourmet) refuge.

Good idea. Didn't think of that.

We had a few other ideas, but we had already met at Lavinia hoping to have no-corkage wines in their bar when we discovered it was closed for inventory. So we were temporally bound by the departure time of my train and also already geographically situated to the north/on the way to Gare du Nord.

Ariel Sharon (in the ghost) .

Technically, he's still in a coma and not dead yet.

Ariel Sharon (in the ghost) .

Technically, he's still in a coma and not dead yet.

In that case, it was less of a stretch...

My point exactly