Beach week

Awesome time in Cape May with friends, family, lots of seafood, and lots of delicious wines.

• 2015 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Clisson 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine

  (7/20/2018)

  Rich yellow color. Super salty and bright with lots of chalk dust, saline, seaweed, along with green melons, lemons, honeysuckle – wow, this is classic but also so deep, rich, intriguing. Crisp and brisk on the palate on a light-bodied frame but also some waxy textural elements. Lemon, limes, green melon, some pineapple, laced with saline, crushed chalk, limestone, minerals. Yum. This will age nicely. Rich, rounder than some other vintages but still awesome.

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• NV Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley 90 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  (7/23/2018)

  Never get tired of this wine for the price. Lovely freshness, buttered biscuits, apples, lemons, chalk, honey. Delish and crowd-pleasing. Great bottle to destroy with family after a day of surfing and sun

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• 2016 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Blanc 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

  (7/23/2018)

  Always delivers. Love this wine and it's complexity and depth. Huge hit at dinner after the beach.

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• 2016 Hawk Haven Chardonnay 87 Points

  USA, New Jersey, Outer Coastal Plain

  (7/25/2018)

  Impressive! Nose of pears, peaches, guava, honey, butter. Tasty and fresh on the palate with medium acid and creaminess. Flavors of baked pead, apricot, pineapple, with honey, sea salt, fresh yellow flowers. Balanced and fun and tasty, a surprisingly good NJ Chardonnay.

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• 2016 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rosé 91 Points

  France, Provence, Bandol

  (7/25/2018)

  Killer rose - this magnum was a blast. Nose of peaches, strawberries, dandelion, nettle, white pepper. Lovely textural richness but fresh acidity, velvety feel with juicy peach, nectarine, orange, watermelon. Complex notes of hay, honey, wax, white pepper, basil, chalk, roses. Vibrant but juicy, fascinating but delicious. Love this wine always, but this was special.

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• 2017 Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 89 Points

  South Africa, Cape South Coast, Walker Bay

  (7/26/2018)

  Aromas of lemons, kiwi, cut jalapenos, white pepper, sea salt. Crisp and vibrant but a lovely richness to the texture, with nice balance between fruit (apricot, lemon curd, white peach, kiwi) and non-fruit flavors (white pepper, honeysuckle, jalapeno, chalk dust, crashing waves and sea salt). After sipping these at the winery in South Africa, they’ll always have a place in my heart, but it was really nice to come across this wine at a beach resort wine shop in Jersey. Lovely stuff with crab claws after a day on the beach.

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• 2016 Heitz Cellar Grignolino Rosé 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  (7/26/2018)

  Same notes as last bottle. I love this pink - so much fun. Excellent post-surf wine on a hot summer day, paired with Italian subs and random snacks. Perfect.

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• 2007 Nicolas Maillart Champagne Premier Cru Millésimé Brut 91 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

  (7/26/2018)

  So good. Rich and toasty aromas but also salty, brisk, elegant - a nice mix of apricot and apples with toasted bread and seashells. Texture is rich on the palate but so salty and fresh and bright, too. Flavors of baked apple, ginger, clove, sea salt, floral perfume. So good for the money. I need to get more and bury it for five years, if I could hold off for that long.

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• 2008 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Premier Cru Extra Brut Oenophile 92 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

  (7/26/2018)

  Very pretty stuff. Brisk and bright on the nose with chalk, limes, sea brine along with lemon curd and biscuits. Dry and bracing, salty and oceanic, but lots of depth and complexity as well. Tart lemon bars, lime juice, doused in sea shells and chalk. Vibrant, crisp and fresh. Delicious stuff that will age nicely.

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• 2002 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 97 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  (7/26/2018)

  I was skeptical – worried this might be well past its prime. This bottle was shockingly awesome – pristine in every way. Rich yellow/light gold color. Oh god, the aromas! Mango, pineapple, lemon curd, topped with ginger, graham cracker, yellow flowers, and a host of complex sea salt, mineral, flinty-stony, dusty-earthy, white peppery awesomeness. On the palate, plush texture meets racy acidity and the balance is gorgeous. Juicy pineapple and white peach with lemon pie and mango, along with rich notes of almond cake and ginger snap. A salty, mineral, floral presence that keeps this wine so lively and brisk. This was an absolute delight to taste with Pichler-loving good friends over the course of two days.

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• 2017 Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 89 Points

  South Africa, Cape South Coast, Walker Bay

  (7/27/2018)

  Same notes as prior bottle. Delicious with some roasted tilefish.

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• 2012 Red Newt Cellars Riesling Dry Reserve 90 Points

  USA, New York, Finger Lakes, Seneca Lake

  (7/27/2018)

  Mosel-esque goodness! Fresh and fun with lime, oil, flowers, tennis balls. Zippy and fresh with chalky minerals, honeysuckle, green melon, limes and orange peel. Mineral and floral complexity. Actually worked really well with Cape May salts oysters.

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• NV Franck Pascal Champagne Fluence 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  (7/27/2018)

  Wow this is so good. Complex aromas of almond, biscuits, ginger, baked apple, quince, with salted lime and chalk. Pristine on the palate, so zesty but rich and round as well. Toasted biscuits, almond, bruised apple and quince, with complex elements of chalk, saline, limestone, ocean spray. Depth, focus, freshness and concentration is really impressive.

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• 2017 Pascal & Nicolas Reverdy Sancerre Rosé Terre de Maimbray 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  (7/27/2018)

  Gorgeous, fresh, strawberry, mint, minerals, chalky, dusty, spicy, herbal, wow.

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• 2005 Domaine Roblet-Monnot Volnay 1er Cru Santenots 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  (7/27/2018)

  Nose: Oh man, lots of stinky, funky, earthy tones, black pepper, soy sauce, mushroom broth, trying to find some fruit in here (stewed cherries maybe?). Tannins are smoothed out, acidity frames it nicely. Smoky cherries and strawberries, laced with that classic Roblet Monnot note of brothy-beefy goodness. Smoky, menthol, muhroom, mossy rocks, black pepper sauce and soy, really complex flavors. Glad I popped this when I did, because this isn’t a super-long-ager, but it’s really complex and a lot of fun right now.

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• 1983 Franz Hahn Siebeldinger Im Sonnenschein Kerner Eiswein 93 Points

  Germany, Pfalz

  (7/26/2018)

  Wow this was a treat! I had no idea it would be this alive and balanced. Sweet aromas of crème brulee, toasted almonds, honey, floral potpourri, clove, etc. Palate is unctuous and honeyed but the acidity keeps it from feeling heavy at all. Apricot marmalade and candied orange peel, with tons of crème brulee, candied nuts, honey, graham cracker. Gorgeous texture and flavors and it tasted so clean and lively. Maybe I was expecting a tired and musty sticky, but this really surprised me. Great way to finish off an awesome evening.

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