Wednesday, December 08, 2010

November Wines: a Laundry List

Here are the wines I drank in November that have not, even in passing, appeared recently on this blog. The "excellent" group consists of wines that are truly memorable, wines that inspire me to seek out and buy these and wines like them. The "excellent" and "very good" groups are wines that I would happily buy at the given price. All other wines, even if I liked them, are not wines that I would buy today given my recent experience with them. Doesn't mean that I think they are bad, just that there are other wines I would prefer to buy with that money. Within each group, I will list the wines in the approximate order of enjoyment.

Excellent Wines
2009 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Riesling Senior Faß 6, $24, Mosel Wine Merchant. FANTASTIC. Full disclosure, my friend Dan Melia represents this wine. But forget about Dan, the wine is great.
(2004) David Léclapart Champagne Cuvée l'Apôtre, price and importer unknown. Sick Blanc de Blancs.
2009 Guy Bossard Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Expression de Granite, $18, Kysela Imports. You're crazy if you don't try this wine.
2007 Michel Brégeon Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine, $12, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. Just a few years and this wine goes from aggressive acid and rocks, to beautiful.

Very Good Wines
1998 Domaine de L'Arlot Nuit St Georges Clos de L'Arlot, price unknown, Michael Skurnik Wines.
2006 Domaine de la Tournelle Ploussard de Monteiller, $24, Jenny & François Selections.
NV Gutierrez Colosia Fino Sherry, $23, Bon Vivant Imports.
2006 Gatti Piero Brachetto d'Acqui, $12 (375 ml), importer unknown.
2007 Binner Saveurs Printanières, $17, Jenny & François Selections.
2009 Günther Steinmetz Riesling trocken, $15 (1 liter), Mosel Wine Merchant.

Good Wines
2000 Auguste Clape Cornas, $50, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant.

These, I Had Problems With
2005 Huët Vouvray Pétillant Brut, $26, Robert Chadderdon Selections. Inexpressive.
2009 Château Jean-Pierre Gaussen Bandol Rosé, $19, Moonlight Wines Imports. Pleasant, if not terribly complex wine, and lacking in the acidity that I think this kind of wine needs in order to be successful.
2005 Mark Angeli Anjou Blanc "La Lune," $27, Louis/Dressner Selections. Felt tired and out of balance. I should have drunk this years ago.
2009 Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Clos des Allees, $14.50, Louis/Dressner Selections. This vintage is not the racy and mineral driven wine that I remember and love from years like 07.

9 comments:

TWG said...

The Huet was Chadderdon, not RWC? I had a bottle recently and it didn't show well, but I have a couple more in the cellar.

Matt said...

The Huet Petillant must have been a matter of bad bottle variation. I've had that wine recently, and shared it with others, always with rave reviews. Lack of expressiveness has never even entered my mind for that one...

Did you get it from a store recently or have it in your cellar? Could it be a question of faulty storage?

Cliff said...

2005 Mark Angeli Anjou Blanc "La Lune," $27, Louis/Dressner Selections. Felt tired and out of balance. I should have drunk this years ago.

Or maybe held onto it longer? The 2001 went through some ugly duckling stages, but my most recent version, this past September, was beautiful.

King Krak, I Drink the Wine said...

RE: List of Laundry.

Methinks you need to partake in Italian clothing, laundry and wines. Doing French all the time is boring, boring, boring. Perhaps in January or February you will do the all Italian month and slip into the Dark Side. Forever.

rhit said...

I applaud your use of the word 'sick' to describe the Léclapart. I think it's way underused in the context of wine. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

The Huet, in its own understated way, is sort of polarizing. Many CellarTracker TNs rave about, though BG expresses similar concerns there. I'm happy to have a bunch of it. Although it didn't show especially well by itself leading up to Thanksgiving appetizers, it is clean and sufficiently expressive (to me, at least) that I can see it with lots of different foods, as an inexpensive indulgence.

AJ said...

The Bregeon is certainly one of the best values in wine. I opened a 2007 tonight and also found it excellent. Fortunately, I bought two cases on release.

Anonymous said...

I really like the Bossard, but also am a but fond of the Clos des Allees...

2GrandCru said...

I wasn't overwhelmed by the 200 Clape, either. It was good and delicious, but too round for me. Let's just say that merely a good wine from such a prestigious producer seemed like a let-down.