What have you been drinking lately?

[Just some late night ramblings...]

I've been drinking some really great, and mostly inexpensive, wine lately.

I opened my first bottle of Andre Brunel Cotes-du-Rhone 2005 last week, maybe the best CdR I've ever had. I took Ron Dreshman's advice and bought some having never tried it and now only wish I had bought more than 3 bottles (and it's now sold out).

Pam Bernd at the LCB responded to my e-mail (read more here) about the lack of Rose and offered several selections. I tried Cave de Rasteau Cote du Rhone Rose Les Viguiers 2007 (code 21252) at $9.99 and went back for more. They seem to have since stocked it pretty widely. If you like Rose you'll love it.

A week ago I opened a bottle of Landmark Pinot Noir Kastania 2002 (not cheap, around $40) and it was just about perfect. Was sad to see that they've since replaced that bottling in their lineup. (I have a great Landmark story involving Chardonnay and corn on the cob, remind me if you ever see me in person...)

Finally got off my butt and picked up some Parson's Flat before it's all gone, will probably save it for a little while. Without all the great ratings on PAWineTalk I probably never would have tried it, so thanks everyone!

Saw today that Dom. de la Chaize Brouilly 2005 (code 8695) is on sale for $9.99, a real blowout from the original $14.99. I generally enjoy Beaujolais, it's a great year and IWC gave it 87...probably need to drink it soon. And what's with the Louis Latour Morgon 2003 (code 19576) being offered as a Chairman's Selection??? (I say that in a good way.) Hopefully we'll get some out west...2003 was another great year but probably a little past its peak so don't delay, drink up!

One last thing on a completely different topic... if you've ever visited www.wine-searcher.com, you might notice that they now track listings on www.pawineandspirits.com. So it's conceivable that people in other states could begin buying from the LCB (as long as they can pick it up from a Wine & Spirits store!). Whod've thunk it.

Mark

Just stumbled on one last bottle of Andre Brunel Cotes-du-Rhone 2005 at the McIntyre Square store (#277) and I grabbed it, code 20425 $12.99. Just checked and this number isn't listed as a valid code on the LCB product search web page so I don't know what's going on...but bottom line is there may be a bottle or two lying around and if you see one grab it. FWIW they also had one bottle of '06 for $14.99 which also is not in the system but I left it there.

Also, the Brouilly is normally $11.99 so it's only $2 off, a handwritten sign in the store where I first saw it said original price was $14.99 so probably a clerical error. Still worth a try.

Current obsessions: Southern France (Bandol, Chateauneuf du Pape, Languedoc), Chinon, Spain (Priorat, Albarino) and Washington. The Chairman's program is supplying half of these in fair quantity, so that makes it easier. The others I buy off-Chairmans (*GASP*) or while traveling.

Today I ransacked one of my local stores in Phila for Andrew Will "Two Blondes" 04, it was inexplicably marked down to $34 from $43 (can go for over $50 online), also cleaned them out Les Verrières de Montagnac Clos des Soutyères Languedoc 04 (vanishing Chairman's) - I love that one

I also love Beaujolais, but strangely, only bought a few 05s (DeBoeuf's Morgon) and they're gone. I got burned in 03 when I bought two cases - one of assorted Crus and the other of standard. I didn't finish them in time! I still have some and it's putrid, amazing to see the transformation from bright and refreshing to slushy and flat. I guess we're on 06 for just another month? I wish we could get more variety besides DuBoeuf (would love to see Dom. Matray!) but it seems Beaujolais consumption is on the decline - last W.S. said Burgundy is buying up the land with hopes of planting pinot & chard & calling it "Coteaux de Bourgogne" or something like that.

Here is one I would never had bought had my wife not been with me. Bon Bon Shiraz Rose 2008 (#10380). She picked this out based on the flowers on the bottle. I thought it would be fruity and a waste of 10 bucks, but I was really wrong. Very pleasant to drink. I was surprised, this was pretty darn good. Bright strawberry flavors without being sweet or fake tasting. Dry on the palate and finish. Throw those preconceived notions out the window. Upon further investigation it is made by R Wines, which to me make some great wines.

-Eric

If you can find some of the Skouras Viognier '03 its reduced to $14.99 and what a steal at that price.

Best,

Mike

Found Concha Y Toro Trio while browsing my local store. They have a Cab and a Merlot blend. While being cab biased, I found the Merlot–Carmenère–Cabernet Sauvignon blend the better product. At $11.99 a bottle, it was interesting drinking.

#29260 - Merlot–Carmenère–Cabernet Sauvignon
#29257 - Cabernet Sauvignon - Shiraz - Cabernet Franc

Both $11.99

Beaujolais guys: Some guidance on useful life please. Will '05 be past its prime by this time? Bon Apetit had an interesting article on Beaujolais for Thanksgiving, calling it the perfect complement to the many flavors of the meal (of course they said that about Zin last year), and I wanted to buy a couple. I can't remember ever having a Beaujolais but now I feel I was missing out. Any reason '05 shouldn't be good?

HA! Zinfandel is not a good complement for the flavors of roast Turkey, but one reason to serve it anyway is because it is a varietal grown only in the US making it appropriate for an all-American meal.

There are different classes/crus of Beaujolais. Like other wines, the higher the quality the longer it can theoretically be aged, but it's all relative.

Beaujolais Nouveau is released just before Thanksgiving every year. It is a light and simple wine made from the lowest quality grapes and should be consumed immediately. If it's more than a year old you should probably pitch it.

The standard Beaujolais, simply labeled "Beaujolais" probably won't last more than a couple years past the vintage date. Beaujolais-Villages is a small step up and might buy you a little more time but not a whole lot.

The best Beaujolais are labeled for their respective villages within the region. Moulin-a-Vent is often considered to be the best and most ageworthy but of course that's debatable. Parker says that they can last more than 10 years from the top producers. He goes on to say "The same people who call Moulin-a-Vent King of Beaujolais refer to Fleurie as its Queen." Morgon is also up there but apparently is more variable in quality. BTW has anyone tried the 2003 Louis Latour Morgon Corcelettes that is a current Chairman's Selection?

At this point, personally I would still pick a 2005 over a 2006 provided the bottle hasn't been sitting in the sun, since 2005 overall was a much better year.

A few years ago in Chicago at Sam's Wines my sister and I found a 2003 Moulin-a-Vent with a Parker review posted giving it 90 pts, which is very high for a Beaujolais. It was $20 which is also relatively expensive. We really enjoyed it. Sorry can't remember the name, had never heard of it before.

OK I'll shut up now...

Mark

Thanks Mark. I found an '05 Morgon (don't remember whose) but there was virtually no Beaujolais in McIntyre. BTW there seem to be Sommelier (or Sommelier-like) wines creeping back into the stores w/o going onto the 75% list. In the temp controlled racks in McIntyre saw a half-dozen of the 04 Beaucastel Chateau neuf du Pape at $60, a couple of other Frenchies that retail at $100 going for half off or more. With the economy tanking there might be more of these kinds of buys for those who keep their shirts!

Andre Brunel Cotes-du-Rhone 2005 is back in stock, I just picked up a bunch. It has a new code # 19549 and is priced $2 more than previously at $14.99, but still a great wine for the price. Also there's a little bit of the 2006 Cuvee Sommelongue (# 20424) available for the same price.

Wanted to follow up the earlier posts/advice. DeBoeuf's Morgon '05 was kind of disappointing. Nothing wrong with it in particular but it seemed like it was a easy drinking red and not my interest in wine (for easy drinking I still like beer).

The Brunel CdR was very good, however. My first screw top French wine. There were a lot of '05 Rhones out ahead of the much awaited Bordeaux and I grabbed quite a few (plus some CnP). Hope this is indicative of the vintage.

I've been fortunate enough to travel in France a good bit recently and I'm exposed to some AOCs I don't see much in the states. The theme of this post is Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley: Chinon, Saumur-Champigny and Bourgueil. The basic Chinon and SC are fruity and simple, but versatile table wines to carry through a whole meal. Some Chinon can be well made with additional structure, and Bourgueil in particular has interested me: it can be very tannic with healthy fruit and green pepper.

So something we don't see much: an inexpensive wine intended for aging. At one tasting I tried a 2005 Bourgueil which was astringent and dry, closed but with some hints of potential. I bought this bottle for 7 euro. Then, the same wine from 1996 as it was available from the library - 15 euro. The vintner suggested an hour of decanting prior to drinking, I will report back if it's anything noteworthy.

What I find interesting is that to my knowledge, Cab Franc is not planted over a wide area anywhere else in the world, generally only showing up for "pepper" as a small percentage of blends. Otherwise it shows up in freaky places - high percentages of it in the two top chateaux of St. Emilion, and random Calif. varietal bottlings that seem to be pet projects. What a weird spectrum!

timo

Cab Franc was one of the first reds planted & produced in Finger Lakes & is still the dominant red along with Pinot. Cab Franc was also the lead in the '03 Luna Canto that was so popular with PA Wine Talk last year. Seems to be more & more in the west coast 'Bordeaux' blend offerings, especially outside of Napa/Sonoma, but almost never see it as the label.

Is it difficult to graft or transplant? If they can grow in NY it must be able to handle short season (although there's not much to the Finger Lakes Cab Franc so maybe not). Maybe the fact that New World is only now getting the hang of blending kept its planting down. Has Cab Franc shown up in South America, South Africa or Australia? Interesting post-curious to see why Cab France is such a step child grape.

Also if it's a job that requires you travel to the 'fertile crescent' of winemaking - that doesn't suck.

Forgot about the Finger Lakes! I've never been, but as you said, prob not the most impressive reds. And totally forgot about the Canto, which I liked quite a lot, would be great to see those Luna show up again. Cab Franc remains a mystery, I like the step child analogy, but I thought of it as a gunslinger, traveling the West without a lot to prove and without setting any real roots. Maybe Cab Franc is a bit more like Bill Bixby, just trying to help out where he can while searching for a place to call home...

My current investigations are Languedoc and Gigondas. More on those soon.

Let's see...is it a step child, a gunslinger, or Bill Bixby??

Why not all 3? Clearly timo has some literary sensibilities & gift for the language. Perhaps the Cab Franc was what Glenn Frey was actually writing about with Desperado back in the 1970's.

Enjoy the Gigondas. Shared a Chateauneuf de Pape tasting where the host suggested I bring a Gigondas since its the same wine one town removed. It ended up as the favorite of the majority of the tasters (edging out a '98 Beaucastel if I recall). I had never heard of prior but it's one of those overlooked little gems. Sort of a red-headed step-gunslinger...

Gigondas TRIUMPH: Gigondas Chateau St. Cosme "Valbelle" 2003. I'd lean in hard to a slap in the face from Sarkozy himself just to smell it again. That's not my final offer either, I might stoop lower if the buying team can somehow find this (or another vintage, np)

It found me through the proprietor of what might be the best Korean restaurant in Paris, Woo Jung (8 blvd Delessert). The owner is a wine adventurer who looks for bold pours that can stand up to the pickle of Korean fare. The C.S.Cosme subdued the spice and...seduced the..rice?

Woo Jung also draws four very slick wines by the glass - a Cobieres, Gigondas and a Pic St. Loup (L'Olivette "Clos Marie") - all fantastic that I tried on my first visit.

Timo, I just received an e-mail from a store in NY and they're offering the 2006 vintage of this same Gigondas for $39.99. They claim WS scored it between 92-95 and that Parker gave it 93.

Served Santa Julia Torrontes at a wine dinner Monday night. Had never tried it, but took my sales reps word that it would be a hit. I had more positive comments on this wine than any other, and it was the low end ($8.99) starter wine with apps!

Being primarily a red wine guy, I was really surprised at the dry and crisp characteristics of this wine. I found it similar to a Pinot Grigio, however their website compares it to Viognier. If you have never tried it, pick up a bottle, it was most enjoyable.

http://www.torrontes.com/ a website with info on Torrontes

Since the highest rated wine on this site of the Chairman's program is the cims de Porerra 2003 I wanted to post a note about its reserve cousin. I picked up a bottle of the Cims de Porerra Solanes Classic 2000 ($49 on sale) while visiting in Lancaster (of course Uncle Ed 's cronies can't seem to distribute it west of the Susquehanna). It was probably still a bit early for a decent Priorat but no disappointment. Out of the bottle it was tight & sharp but it opened up within 20 minutes & was wonderful with lamb. Our dinner companion liked it with spicy mahi mahi. Really nice mouthfeel, long & soft, plums, tannins had melded nicely.

Also, at the same table was a petit syrah, Petite Petit, that was excellent too. Very different from the priorat but had enough structure that you could go between the two without puckering. I don't remember many petit syrahs but this was nice, and available in Pittsburgh PLCB stores

Opened a '99 Hanna cab last night. WOWSA! Boy I miss the Chairman.

Best,

Mike

Was the Hanna Cab a Charimans select? When? I must have missed that one.

The Hanna was one of the first Selections I bought, must have been all the way back in '04 or '05.

Speaking of Memory Lane, last night I had the last of my '96 Campillo Riojas, at an absolutely porkgasmic dinner at Cochon. Amazing wine. It's gotten better and better with each bottle I've opened over the last six years. Wish I'd gotten a whole lot more - and I got a lot to start with.

Also in the lineup were the '02 Latour Corton Grancey, which did not please quite as much as the first bottle I had; and a bottle of '90 Baumard Quarts de Chaume that was amazingly tasty.