WTN: Where I'm blown away by a producer I'd never tried

As per my last note, plagarized in part from my cellartracker notes...
2005 Digioia-Royer Bourgogne Passetoutgrains
I'd never heard of this producer, but I'm a passetoutgrain fanatic and this was imported by Becky Wasserman, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I think I'm in love.
A fantastic passetoutgrain. Reddish purple and fairly opaque. Primarily red-fruited, with tart cherry, cranberries, but also an underlying blackberry note. Just amazing fruit for this level of wine. Beyond that, it has earthiness, gaminess, acidity (this would be a great fruit wine), a surprising amount of tannin, and a hint of the metallic back-of-tongue taste I associate with gamay. This is what passetoutgrain is supposed to taste like.
Given the fruitiness and tannin, one could experiment and leave this for a year or two to see what happens, but its dynamite right now.

I see from a quick search that Digioia is no secret to this board, but, WOWIEE was this good. I'd kill to try this guy's Chambolles. My dream burgundy has tons of red fruit, florality, and earth (why does that have to be called the "feminine" style? sigh) and this Passetoutgrain was -exactly- that. I'm imagining that his Chambolles are going to be like Fourrier without the oak, which would more or less be heaven. I've GOT to track some down.
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From a sherry tasting:
Pérez Barquero Montilla-Moriles Gran Barquero PX

One dimensional in every aspect. It smells like raisin juice; pure, unadulterated raisin juice. It tastes like dessert syrup, so sweet, flabby, and cloying it is almost undrinkable. No secondary aromas or flavors as far as I could tell; this is better suited to pouring over pancakes than attempting to drink. (4 views)


Valdespino Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Amontillado Contrabandista

A good balance of floral & brininess with restrained nut and brown sugar notes, and a generous touch of PX to add a little sweetness and smoothness on the end. Very thick body.


Osborne Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Oloroso Bailen

At our tasting, this wine was by far the least favorite of the oxidative sherries. It had a strange skunky armpit aroma that I at first thought was a bottle flaw, but was present in all six bottles we opened. Avoid.


Gonzalez-Byass Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Matusalem Oloroso Dulce Muy Viejo

Very good for oxidative sherry, but I'm not a sherry guy. It's got the usual oxidized sherry notes of nuts, caramel, and brown sugar, of course. Sweet, but not too sweet, and has plenty of acidity to keep it from being cloying. At this price range ($40 for half) I'd favor a Madeira or an Australian sticky, but this is very good and long. (7 views)

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2005 Louis Jadot Santenay Clos de Malte

I've always been a fan of this wine, and I think its one of the better values in burgundy (its often available for less than some other producers' generic Bourgogne. But the 2005 seems like a very pronounced stylistic change in this wine. In past years, it was a red-fruited, lean, floral bottle- sort of like a poor-man's Volnay. The 2005 is a good wine, don't get me wrong; and very open and drinking well. But it's much more on the black-cherry-hoisin-spices side of burgundy, rather than its red-fruited ancestors. The firm acidic backbone remains; this is an excellent food wine.

FWIW, my bottle had a slightly advanced color (slight bricking at the edges) and it was bought in NH, so there may be some storage issues at play.

Very good, but not what I expected, and not my taste in burgundy.

but I'm a passetoutgrain fanatic

I've been reading and posting on wine boards for a long time, and I've never seen that view expressed before!

Thanks for your notes.

but I'm a passetoutgrain fanatic

I've been reading and posting on wine boards for a long time, and I've never seen that view expressed before!

Thanks for your notes.

Well, a lot of good producers make Passetoutgrains: Lafarge, Groffier, Pataille, Chevillon... strangely, one of the best I ever had was a 99 Moillard that I dug up in some awful wine store in New Jersey many years ago. Go figure.

2005 Louis Jadot Santenay Clos de Malte

I've always been a fan of this wine, and I think its one of the better values in burgundy (its often available for less than some other producers' generic Bourgogne. But the 2005 seems like a very pronounced stylistic change in this wine. In past years, it was a red-fruited, lean, floral bottle- sort of like a poor-man's Volnay...FWIW, my bottle had a slightly advanced color (slight bricking at the edges) and it was bought in NH, so there may be some storage issues at play..

I'm no expert but this sounds like something was off. For starters, it's way too early for advanced color and bricking. Second, my bottle had dark fruit and increasingly drying tannins on the finish. I think others here had similar experiences to me although evaluations differed depending on preference for tannin in young Burgundy.

I just have to add another positive note. I was busy this week (with 2 wine tastings, actually) and recorked this wine under inert gas from one of those inert-gas-canister thingies. I finally got to reopen the Passetoutgrains tonight, on the third night since it was first opened. It is -even better-, with a slight lightening toward the edges, a little less tannin but loads of cherry, cranberry (its on the mind, but its also definately in the wine) and spice. This is just so damn good; its better than many many 1er crus I've had from Burgundy, even in decent vintages.