Mike, Trung, Tom and I played a round of golf at gorgeous Red Tail Country Club recently, and afterwards retired to a BYO Italian place in Groton to enjoy some outstanding food and the following group of wines.
N.V. Bollinger Champagne Special Cuvee Brut. This bottle of Bollinger has a flinty, smoky profile that dominates the nose, along with notes of ginger, browning apple, dark lemon peel and bit of sulfur. On the palate, this seems considerably more dynamic and forceful than a bottle tasted earlier in the summer (though this could very well be a younger bottle). It has a dark toasty character in support of spiced apple, stone fruit pit, lemon-lime and flinty smoke flavors. It has controlled power and solid intensity of flavor, along with good length and moderately deep masculine flavors. It finishes rather dry and sustained, and it also holds its line well over a few hours of being open on the table. This was a good performance for this cuvee, I thought.
2005 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos La Neore. This opens up a bit shy on the nose for me, with finesse notes of light herbs and chalk slowly welcoming aromas of orange blossom, pineapple, musk melon and lemon rind to the party. On day 2, it is more open and direct, but veers more toward steely mineral, meadow and light gooseberry aromas. On the palate, it is much more open and giving right from the start. It has a wonderful mouth-filling quality to it, giving a beautiful fullness of flavor despite a certain airiness that is hard to describe. It is surprisingly creamy-textured and has impressive depth of character. A nice bit of spice and a big shot of acidity come in on the finish, which is extremely long, smooth and distinctive. On day 2, the creaminess is not nearly so obvious, and indeed more of a crunchy mica minerality defines the wine, especially on the finish. I preferred the day 1 performance, though.
1996 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Ste. Catherine. This wine features lovely aromas of petrol, slate, intense lemon extract, dried apricot, burnished copper, peach pit and a hint of forest greens. It is rather complex and inviting, especially the longer one stays with it and has a chance to sense how it gains volume and layering. It has an oily viscosity in the mouth, with fine density and body. There are many layers of flavor to be found, including notes of lemon, dark grapefruit, beeswax, honey and minerals. It has an airy set of top notes that do a nice tango with the more limpid and dense bass notes. It finishes balanced and dry, as the juicy acids make themselves more pronounced and invite the taster back for another sip.
2005 Domaine Truchot-Martin Bourgogne. This is nice and earthy on the nose, with aromas of horsehide, saddle leather, grape stalks and sweaty funk marrying well to notes of sappy raspberry and spiced cranberry fruit. Really, there is a lot going on aromatically for such a young Bourgogne. In the mouth, dark black cherry and cranberry flavors meld nicely with rustic earth and fine savory characteristics. It has good volume and a rounded mouthfeel, though some meaty tannins are there to provide structure. This is very well done.
2000 Marcel Juge Cornas Cuvee C. The rawhide leather, sweaty horse, beef stock, white pepper, dying campfire ember and brambly black raspberry fruit aromas on the nose of this wine are earthy, grounded and finely Old World in character. In the mouth, it is not too heavy and shows a more elegant-weighted side of Cornas. This is not to say it isn’t rustic, because it surely has characteristics I would describe that way. It is dry and a bit chalky-textured in an interesting way, with lots of earthy qualities. Flavors of dried black cherry, chalky dark raspberry, earth and leather are engaging without being especially deep or concentrated. There is not a lot of acidity present and the tannins only really seem evident toward the finish. As a result, it is surprisingly easy-drinking already.
2006 Nomadic Wines Pinot Noir Amber Ridge Vineyard Russian River Valley. This is a faded and slightly cloudy ruby color. The nose of cola, brown sugar, rhubarb and birch beer aromas feels cohesive and refined. In the mouth, it is gently creamy, with all kinds of rhubarb, allspice, sassafras, Chinese 5 spice powder, and cinnamon stick flavors that are nicely expressive. It is lighter-bodied and demonstrates a fine inner mouth perfume despite demonstrating a mouth-filling volume. The acids and tannins are finely tamed and the whole package feels pleasantly artisinal and unique in character.
2007 Benovia Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. This Pinot exhibits a rather spicy profile featuring aromas of wild blueberries, rhubarb, barrel spices and dried grape stems. It is overt and outspoken but not too brash. In the mouth, one notices immediately the wood influence, with massive amounts of toasted oak, cocoa powder and creamy vanilla character overlaying heavily extracted flavors of blueberry, plum and raspberry fruit. I do like the sappy mouthfeel and the depth of flavor this wine exhibits, though. It finishes earthier--with tomato leaf, white pepper, wild blueberry and wintergreen finishing accents that have good persistence. Overall, though, I recommend holding this a while and giving the oak more time to find a way to integrate.
-Michael
