WTN: Crozes, Graves, and Coteaux du Layon

Betsy made a dish of green beans and tomatoes Thursday, but main course was a shepherd's pie she had picked up at bakery (busy day). I opened the 2006 L'Esprit de Chevalier (Pessac-Leognan). Black plums, a little herb, moderate acidity, some fairly firm tannins, just a touch of vanillin oak. OK finish. Not a bad glass of red wine, but doesn't particularly say Bordeaux to me (much less Graves). Still, at $5 am I complaining? Nah. B-/B

There was enough shepherd's pie that I had leftovers Friday, as Betsy was playing in city. This time the wine was the 1999 Paul Jaboulet "Les Jalets" Crozes-Hermitage. To me in their larger bottlings (at least in 90s) PJA is probably the absolute king of bottle/batch variation. The '95 Parallele 45 CdR ranged from the greatest $5 bottle I remember to almost undrinkable. The range of the '99 Jalets has also been wide, though never the heights of the 95 P45. So it was with a little trepidation I opened my last bottle of this. This actually showed some variation within the same bottle.
At first the acidity bordered on the screechy. But with a bit of airtime the fruit seemed to expand , and countered the acidity. Redder fruit than typical Rhone Syrah, but clean and bright with a little earth and very light funky/gamy odors. I quite enjoy, but after about a while it started cracking up, and seeming disjointed. Acidity reasserted itself, and the fruit started taking on pruney notes. Rest to the vinegar crock. This probably should have drunk up two or three years ago, but this bottle was fairly enjoyable for about an hour. At it's best, B/B+, but C+ is probably ultimately more realistic, even on my totally subjective scale.

I felt like one more glass, and opened the 2005 Baumard "Carte d'Or" Coteaux du Layon. CdL is generally sweet, but in my limited experience less so than QdC, somewhere in the netherland between demi-sec and full-blown dessert. This came across as pretty solidly sweet however, baked apple pie with spices, for my tastes it could use a bit more acidity. I found a glass more than I wanted, we'll see what Betsy thinks tonight. This really should be more of a dessert wine - I was careless opening this.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.
 

CdL is generally sweet, but in my limited experience less so than QdC, somewhere in the netherland between demi-sec and full-blown dessert..

I agree that CdL is usually less sweet than QdC (more moelleux than liquoreux) but in some vintages and from some producers, CdL can be pretty thick (e.g. 2003 Pierre Bise). Plus, QdC is just a subset of CdL so not sure how much these differences are a function of the special QdC terroir (thicker fog from the river? hotter temperatures? soil?) or also the expectations of consumers/producers for a product that generally demands a price premium.

I felt like one more glass, and opened the 2005 Baumard "Carte d'Or" Coteaux du Layon. CdL is generally sweet, but in my limited experience less so than QdC, somewhere in the netherland between demi-sec and full-blown dessert. This came across as pretty solidly sweet however, baked apple pie with spices, for my tastes it could use a bit more acidity. I found a glass more than I wanted, we'll see what Betsy thinks tonight. This really should be more of a dessert wine - I was careless opening this.

My experience is that CdL is not necessarily less sweet. Baumard's Cuvee Paon and Clos Ste Catherine are also CdL and are generally more complex but only a little sweeter if at all. All will lose sense of sweetness with age, and your 2005 is still young (and I think the Carte d'Or is intended to be drunk young...though I just bought a 1988 version which I intend to inflict on friends together with a 1996).
Charles

I actually revisited the Baumard Thursday (no wine with dinner at office), had a glass when I got home. 6 days after opening, fresh and probably tastier than first night. The miracle of Chenin

Dale,

You can get 06 Esprit de Chevalier at $ 5 a bottle in New York?!
I find that increcibly cheap - seems like dumping to me.

Surely, you couldn't get it here for half that price.

All the best,
Alex

Alex,
normal price here is $20-30. Every once in a while Zachys (big retailer) has a big blowout. Last month they had a $5/bottle for solid cases of a variety of wines (a lot of things that are Z's private labels, but other stuff too). I split a case of the Esprit and a case of a WA Syrah with friends -got shut out on Barolo(!!!!), Txacoli, and Bierzo.

Dale,

Of course my previous post should have read "double the price" instead of "half" the price.

Why should a store like Zachy's need to sell at a loss?

Furthermore, when I lived in the State of New York, distributors had to post minimum retail prices. Presumably this has gone by the board after all these years.

All the best,
Alex