WTN: Lots of Gamay, but CSH WOTN.

A nice small group gathered at my house for Beaujolais and Alsace. I had rilletes, cheese, pate, Lyonnais sausage, a truffle sauccison, and more on table, others contributed cheese and bread.,

Blind starter- everyone was in Champagne. Very lemony, crisp, bright and elegant.
2022 Goodfellow Whistling Ridge Brut Nature Blanc de Gris B+/A-

2009 Pavillon de Chavannes Cote de Brouilly Les Ambassades
This was tired when poured, and went downhill from there. What I imagine prison Pruno tastes like. Overripe, overwrought, and over. C-

2009 Chermette/Vissoux Brouilly Pierreux
Lovely texture, sweet fruit, complex. A-/B+

2009 Brun/Terres Dorees Cote de Brouilly
Boy I hated this on first pour, dirty and rough, with air it cleaned up to drinkable if need be. With air B-/C+

2009 Brun/Terres Dorees Morgon
Tired but with some interesting red fruit and spice. B-

2009 Chermette/Vissoux Moulin-à-Vent “les Trois Roches”
Rich and powerful, ripe fruit but with structure and complexity. A-

2005 Chermette/Vissoux Poncie Fleurie
Maybe my RWOTN, black cherry with campfire, grilled meats, flowers. Lovely A-

Shrimp with tarragon and avocado

2019Trimbach Clos Ste Hune
(100th anniversary bottling). Young, quite tight to start, but blossoms with air. B+ for now, room to grow

1983 Trimbach Clos Ste Hune
In the zone. Citrus and unripe peach ( in nicest way), long and enticing. Gets better and better. Wow. My WOTY so far. A

2007 Moulin-à-Vent- Domaine des Moriers
Spicy and interesting, new producer to me (it’s the Chandon de Briailles team), I really enjoyed this. B+/A-

2006 Moulin-à-Vent- Domaine des Moriers
A step behind the other Moriers, but nice. B

Beef braised in Mencia, boudin blanc, Toulouse sausage, quail, John’s couscous, leeks vinaigrette, roast zucchini and peppers.

2005 Moulin-à-Vent- Domaine des Moriers
Big but retaining elegance, long. B+/A-

2005 Diochon Moulin-à-Vent “Vieilles Vignes” (mag)
Young young, young, with solid dark berry fruit and coffee, great supporting acids. Liked even more on next night. B+/A-

My blind red: black plum fruit, cedar, a little bell pepper and mint. Ready and lively if not super complex. I think guesses were Bordeaux and CalCab. Fun. 1980 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet/Syrah. B+

1988 Trimbach Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre Gewurztraminer
I don’t often drink Gewurz, but when I do it’s Trimbach. Good acids for Gewurz, polished and smooth. B+/A-

2014 Albert Seltz Sylvaner de Mittelbergheim
New producer to me. It didn’t move me, I think others liked more, a bit tropical, soft.B/B-

2008 Pierre Moncuit Cuvee Nicole Extra Brut Champagne
Refreshing, bright, pear and brioche and a chalky finish. B+

1971 Ch. Coutet
Craig wanted to open as it was a leakerSpicy honied mead aromas, exotic, rich,long. A-

Fun night. I need to look for Moriers and Chermette

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 the only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Thanks for hosting and thanks for posting. My notes are below, which I posted elsewhere, but figured I would let you take the lead on WLDG!

Lots of general agreement, although I guess you were less negative than some of us about the 09 Brun bottles. Interesting that Diochon continued to evolve well the next day. Makes a lot of sense!



A nice crew in Dobbs Ferry for aged Beaujolais under a Morgon ban, with one exception.

But we calibrate our palates with a blind sparkler that has us immediately debating where in the Côte des Blancs this elegant BdB was grown. Turns out we need to shift continents and even grapes for the reveal of 2022 Goodfellow Whistling Ridge Brut Nature Blanc de Gris, which was very elegant and impressive sparking pinot gris, if not the deepest.

Now for the first flight, we have the French government wine that shows everything wrong with the vintage: 2009 Pavillon de Chavannes Côte de Brouilly Cuvée des Ambassades, which is dark, chunky, pruney aged wine. Nobody likes it.

We generate a bit more debate with 2009 Terres Dorées/JP Brun Côte de Brouilly and 2009 Terres Dorées/JP Brun Morgon. The nose on the CdB is volatile and offensive and the palate is not much better. The Morgon smells extremely evolved and autumnal on the nose, but there is some silky fruit underneath, if you close your eyes and squint very hard. John swears that both wines improve with air, but most of us are not sufficiently invested to perceive those micro shifts, and expectations were already low.

We have much better luck redeeming the vintage with 2009 Vissoux/Chermette Brouilly Pierreux. This is probably my favorite Beaujolais of the evening, because it shows the lovely juicy succulent fruit of the vintage, but with the mellowed texture of age. Silky, layered, and a very nice showing. Other palates prefer the 2009/Chermette Vissoux Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches, which has more structure and a distinctive note on the nose that we struggle to define (some say ferns, I say rubber). But there is a lot of solidly good wine in this bottle.

Even more popular is the 2005 Vissoux/Chermette Fleurie Poncié, which is ripe, fleshy, structured and juicy, with a vintage profile that is more appealing than the ponderous 09s. But even without picking the nits, we are all happy with the three bottles of Vissoux.

We become even happier when we transition to Alsace for 2019 and 1983 Trimbach Clos Sainte Hune. Both are glorious, in different ways. The 2019 is obviously very young, and we have a lively discussion about whether we could even detect the pedigree if this were served blind. With air, the layers, length and power all become apparent, and it is clearly impressive. The 1983 on the other hand is greatness. (And not a perfect cork, so presumably the heights get higher). Such glorious aged golden fruits, and we spend a good deal of time debating exactly what fruit would perfectly describe the flavors. Regardless of where you land, you have to agree it is delicious, and the perfect blend of aged harmony in the texture, with freshness that predict a long life ahead.

Back to work, a flight of the first Beaujolais vintages from the Briailles team, with 2005, 2006, and 2007 Domaine des Moriers Moulin-à-Vent. I didn’t love these, but it was cool to taste. They all reek of the spicy whole cluster, which Sasha pinpoints as a “cinnamon” note, once everything has merged with the aged autumnal character. The 2005 went in the decanter and was my favorite in the end, still plenty of structure, chewy depth, but clearly mellowed by age. 2006 was my least favorite, too far down the evolution path for my palate. 2007 was inbetween, still showing some juicy vibrant fruit to balance the evolution, but lighter and without the depth of 2005. Maybe that’s one to drink up now.

A final further testament to 2005 is a magnum of 2005 Domaine Diochon Moulin-à-Vent VV, which still has so much thick sweet fleshy fruit. Eventually starts to show more definition and there are lots of debates about whether this is still slumbering, but I found it enjoyable, perhaps the most enjoyable of the Beaujolais after the 2009 Pierreux. If I remember correctly, this was the first bottle out of a case of magnums opened by John, so he has time to find out…

Now Dale tests us with a blind red, and we quickly determine some cabernet content, before flailing all around the world to identify the specifics, which turns out to be 1980 Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz Bin 389. Not my usual fare, but holding on very well. Minty, silky, and vibrant, if no longer deep.

Some recalibration as we transition to the final stage with 2008 Pierre Moncuit Cuvée Nicole VV Extra Brut, which is deep intense and impressive from the very beginning. Everyone snaps to attention and dives into the flavorful elegance. But we cannot dawdle, because more Alsace awaits.

2014 Albert Seltz Sylvaner de Mittelbergheim and 1988 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre. Both are tasty, but quickly stigmatized. The Sylvaner is still remarkably sweet (not sure what I was expecting) and intense with golden raisins, and fairly simple. So the round of anti-Sylvaner conversation kicks up quickly. The Trimbach is more elegant (as it should be), showing the herbal focus that can be coaxed from the grape. A really nice wine that one could enjoy. But that is quickly dismissed as the exception that proves the rule of Gewurztraminer being something to avoid. And I’ll admit, despite these two examples, I’m more likely to purchase Silvaner.

To end, yet another direction with 1971 Château Coutet. I always struggle with Sauternes descriptors, and the end of the evening does not make that easier. Needless to say, we enjoyed our tastes but left plenty in the bottle for Craig to explore further. All the aged marmalade flavors but in no danger of decline. Have this in your favorite Sauternes fashion, with or without shrimp.

I prefer your notes to mine!
I think on same page on basically all wines, just vary in degree of enthusiasm.

[David M. Bueker]

That’s just so John to only now be getting into a case of 2005 Beaujolais!