WTN; Utterly Bizarre Anjou Gamay and Old Vine Zin

With my friends Joe and Donna.

After apolishing off my last bottle of 2006 Elizabeth Spencer Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc (beautiful as always), we tried the following two wines with dinner:

Olivier Cousin Anjou Gamay 2005. This wine does have a "reputation" for brett so I was a little nervous about pouring this. But...experiments-that's what friends are for. Decanted for a total of two hours or so. Dark berry color-looks like a Cru Beaujolais. Funkiness when initially opened and decanted did blow off. Definitely the dark berry fruit and earth on the palate as well. Quite nice mouth feel. BUT....What is this? One of the strangest finishes I have ever tasted in a wine. Donna tasted minerality, which I normally like. I am not sure how I would describe the finish, which was quite strong and intrusive. Now that I've thought about it overnight, the best description I can come up with is "peanut butter." No Rhone funkyness or horse barn or the like. Peanut Butter. Certainly a distinct nutty flavor that frankly ruins what is otherwise a quite lovely wine. 90 on color, nose, and front and mid palate. 78 total package because of the finish.

Imagery Estate Winery (Benziger Family) 2003 Taylor Vineyard Zinfadel. Century vines from old Sonoma Vineyard. Cross-posted in wine of the month. A lovely balanced, smooth Zinfandel with bright but dark berry fruit still there. No real secondary development yet, but the fruit is so nice it doesn't matter in this case. Just a tiny hint of black pepper. Alcohol is there, but not obtrusive. Medium body-this is not jammy at all. I am not a big Zin drinker, but we all three enjoyed this. Solid 90 points.

Thanks for the note. I don't know that I got penut butter, but I agree about the Cousin in general terms. I have a pretty high threshold for weird and funky, but his wines have been too much for me so far.

Best,
Cliff

He has some of the coolest, or at least cutest labels, in the business, though.

The sad thing is that there is a very nice Cru Beaujo here before the peanut butter nuttiness erupts!

I almost always get a weird smell from Loire gamay,but more herbal/floral than peanut butter (for lack of a better desriptor I say "potted plant"). Thanks for notes.

I almost always get a weird smell from Loire gamay,but more herbal/floral than peanut butter (for lack of a better desriptor I say "potted plant"). Thanks for notes.

I always thought the herbal stuff comes from grapes that tend towards underripe but this guy Cousin makes wines that are just plain infected and suffering from the evils of carbonic maceration gone awry (I'll let the scientists in the room fill in the actual chemical explanations and details ).

I almost always get a weird smell from Loire gamay,but more herbal/floral than peanut butter (for lack of a better desriptor I say "potted plant"). Thanks for notes.

It's worth noting that I associate the herbal-ness with gamay from the Touraine area where I'm guessing the vines do not get ideal exposition. Cousin's gamay is from Anjou where they seem to get much more reliable ripeness and tend towards rough dark overripeness (perhaps you remember those rugged Pierre Bise gamays from Anjou).

Hey, rahsaan...I was wondering if you had experienced this unique wine!

As for the Bise wnes-I think I have some Cab Franc from that producer. "Schiste" on the label. I don't mind a little roughness.

Cousin takes chances that most of us wouldn't dream of.
This is a guy, after all, who's goal is to make wine completely "off the grid", using no utilities whatsoever (except for water from a well, pumped out via a generator that runs on alcohol he's distilled himself).

His wines are never a "safe bet", but always interesting (sometimes even challenging).

As you note: experiments-that's what friends are for.
If ever you have a chance to visit with Olivier and his wife do not pass it by. A quick visit easily turns into an all-day affair, and before the end of the day you'll consider yourself a friend, willing and eager to try his many experiments.

Thanks, Bruce (and welcome). I do want to try some of his other wines. Heck, I would rather experiment on something unique...and the black fruit and earth was quite nice.

Bottle variation is inevitable, I guess, with natural wines. Heck, the Chateau Le Puy I tried Saturday, while not a disaster, was not quite as good as the previous bottles (89 vs. 95!). (and stored impecably)

Heck, I would rather experiment on something unique...and the black fruit and earth was quite nice.

Well, if you like black fruit and earth then you should stock up on all the Anjou reds you can find. The Pierre Bise should be in the same vein, and I was led to believe that it is precisely the schiste that makes them so dark as it retains less water than the limestone further east (Touraine) and leads to quicker ripeness. This is the same reason why Anjou whites (when not overcropped and picked extremely early or from the best Savennieres vineyards) are now pushing 14 and 15% alcohol while that is not usually an issue in Touraine/Vouvray/Montlouis..

Hey, this video is pretty fun. Notre M. utilise les chevals! Loire Wines on display!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IlrbG3omU