A few wines at a cassoulet cook off.

A few standout wines from a cassoulet cook off last Saturday.

• 1994 Domaine Tempier Bandol

  France, Provence, Bandol

  A gorgeous showing and much better than a bottle I opened three years ago. The wine is in a beautiful place right now. It’s completely integrated, shows wonderful harmony and may be the silkiest bottle of Bandol I’ve ever had. Certainly gamey, with leather and earth notes, but there’s beautiful strawberry and cherry fruit with a wonderfully aged patina to back it up. Do I even need to say it was a perfect match with the cassoulet? Not getting better, so drink up. Solid A-.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 1981 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Bosconia

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

  Another wine showing better than the last bottle I’ve had. This one was really clicking and showing its usual beautiful aromatic and flavor profile of tart red cherries, worn wood, spice, tobacco, lightly bitter orange citrus with a dash of shoe polish. The wine is juicy, but the acidity is less severe in this bottle than it sometimes shows, which is what’s making it so enjoyable. Lopez de Heredia can be maddening with their bottle variation, but when they’re on, they’re special and this one is on. A/A-.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 1998 Château du Mourre du Tendre Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  A very nice, classique, grenachey CDP. Rustic in the right way, chunky in texture with pretty black fruit, licorice, garrigue and game, it’s started to take on some nice secondary development. It went quite nicely with the cassoulet. A-.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 1996 Domaine des Petits Quarts (Godineau) Bonnezeaux 1er Trie Le Malabé

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Bonnezeaux

  I haven’t checked in on this one in four years and it’s nice to see it’s doing just fine, thank you. Perhaps a bit more classic in profile than my last bottle, with more of an apricot, spice, honey and bergamot profile and less tropical fruit showing. It’s quite sweet and richly textured, but, as always, the racy acidity that’s a blessing of the ’96 vintage keeps things in check. There’s a long life left in this one. A/A-.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

A quick word about the cassoulet dinner. It was a cassoulet cook off between Christine Huang and her pork and duck dominated cassoulet and Chris Wilford and his lamb, duck, pork and sausage cassoulet. Both produced terrific cassoulet, but in the end, Christine was declared the winner.