WTN: Loires, Burgs, Rhone, Bdx, Provence

No wine Thursday with bucatini all'amatriciana, Friday I shucked some oysters and grilled some squash while Betsy sauteed scallops and made an edamame pesto to top them with; we also had rice and leftover corn soup. Wine was the 2015 Pepiere “Clos des Briords” Muscadet.
Lemon, lemon zest,and lemonade overlaid with seashell. Did I mention lemon? Good stuff. B+/A-

Saturday I went to farmers market and butcher, we invited some friends and a cockapoo for dinner. While we were getting ready, Betsy said “do we have to wait for them to get here to have wine?” Why no. The 2016 Jacourette “l'Ange et Luce” Cotes de Provence rose is a bit of a disappointment (but not much of one, under $10). Pale, light, a bit dilute. Strawberry, grass. B-/C+

While the dogs enjoyed bones we had more oysters (on sale and I was in shucking mode) and some wonderful head cheese

2002 Huet Vouvray Brut
OK, lots of reports of premoxed ‘02 Petillant, but I’ve been mostly lucky, and streak continues. Biscuits, apples, and lime zest. There’s a little honey and nuts, but no oxidation. Pretty sure this was from first release. B+

A little amuse of corn soup (leftover,but we didn’t tell) with curried shrimp

2002 Prieur-Brunet “Chevalieres” Meursault.
Not premoxed, quite young, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Anonymous, white fruited, thin, short. If you blinded me and told me it was 5 yr old US Pinot Blanc I would have nodded knowingly.B-/C+

I grilled 2 types of steak- pave and dry-aged ribeye - to go with Betsy’s potato-bean salad (kind of nicoise without the tuna) and John’s fennel salad.

1995 Ch. La Croix du Casse (Pomerol)
Round lush, black plum with a Graves-like tobacco note and some cedar. Easy drinking and ready to go. B/B+

2000 Graillot Crozes-Hermitage
Red fruited, a bit overtart, herbs and anise. A little bit of decay on finish, 17 is pushing it for non-Thalabert Crozes, but interesting and with some enjoyment. B/B-

Sunday we continued our bivalve streak and extended to other mollusks with a mussel, squid, and zucchini pasta, served with caprese and a half bottle of the 2014 Barat “Vaillons” Chablis 1er. Pretty textbook Chablis - lemon and green apple, limestone and seashell. Nicely balanced. B++

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.

[David M. Bueker]

Is there a more consistent performer than Clos des Briords?

Is there a more consistent performer than Clos des Briords?

Maybe the regular bottling? Less complex but ever-so-slightly less temperamental.

Mainly joking here. Either way, the wines are one of the classic (undervalued) no-brainers.

I had the Graillot CH 2000 about three years ago and it had definitely aged well at that point. In fact, it seems seemed fresh and young.

Chaim,
this wasn't over the hill, definitely still had fruit, just was beginning to get a touch of decay (or ashtray) that signalled time to go to me. This came from my overflow passive storage - not bad, but less consistent than my home cellar (passive, but deeper and really insulated) or my offsite. Another bottle might show younger. That said, I think my sweet spot for Graillot (both regular and Guiraude) is about 6-10 years after bottling.

About 10 years ago I attended a vertical of Graillot wines where all of us except the presenter were astonished by how well his early efforts from the mid-80s were still showing with 89s and 90s then superb. We put this down to his well balanced quasi-Burgundian style.

I drank my last bottle of the basic cuvée 2001 in June and thought it still good (note "still"). Bottles of Guiraude '99 and '01 drunk in the last couple of years were several notches better than that. CT tells me that I still have left one bottle of the former and two bottles of the latter.

Of course one's choice of the "sweet spot" is to some extent a matter of palate preference.