After downing our sixth and final bottle of this lovely little Wyeast tonight we checked with Wine-searcher Pro to see if there were more out there in retail land and, yes, thanks to the wine gods, there are. While that's good news it makes no sense at all as this little jewel ought to have sold out the day it was released three years ago. It's the sort of modest but delicious wine that Joe Dressner might have imported if it he had found it in his hunting ground on the other side of the Atlantic. Winemaker Peter Rosback's label, written in prose of the Rimmerman school, lauds the wine's "laser-like fruit" (fruit like a laser?) and "stunning depth and intensity," a back label that seems like it was written for another wine as there's nothing laser-like, stunning, or especially intense about this one. It's just a remarkably companionable, food friendly Pinot that you love and want to quaff again and again and would serve to your best friend, and our cellar will seem empty until we get some more.
The prelude to the Wyeast tonight was 2004 Brochard-Guindon Granite de Clisson Muscadet Sevre et Maine, which got off to a stinky start with not one but two corked bottles. But for the modest price Garagiste charged for the wine, also three years ago, the three-for-one price is almost justified. This is no oyster Muscadet. The wine's soft mouthfeel and time-tamed acid made it just the right companion for our plin stuffed with chard.