Eats at Joe's- Joly, Verset, Drouhin, Tempier, Pinon.

Joe Dougherty called an impromptu dinner at his place on Saturday night and, as many know, when Joe’s cooking, come hell or high water, you do your best to get there for your taste buds are in for a wonderful time.

It was a small gathering, just Joe, Manuel Camblor, his better half, Josie and myself, though that was more than enough for a good time.

• 1989 Weingut Knoll Riesling Kabinett Ried Pfaffenberg Steiner

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

  A deep yellow color with an aged Riesling nose of mineral, petrol and lemon overtones. Quite lean on the palate with a bit too much pucker for my tastes. Mineral-driven and devoid of fruit. There’s a bit of petrol and the wine has a clearly aged feel, though my friends disagree with my sentiments that the wine is showing its age, calling the wine young. Sorry, but I prefer life to death in my wines. B-.

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• 2001 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Pinot Rosé

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  Sports a lovely farm raised Atlantic salmon orangey color and shows more on the nose than it does on the palate. Chalky mineral flavors with hints of red berries, though the wine lacks a middle and an end and is even leaner than the Knoll. C+.

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• 1996 Domaine aux Moines Savennières Roche aux Moines

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières Roche aux Moines

  A deeper yellow than the Knoll and perhaps darker than it should be. It’s fairly muted on the nose, showing not much more than faint nuttiness. Lean on the palate, but not as lean as the previous two wines. The wine has that intensely earthy minerality one expects from Savennières, but is a little too nutty for my tastes and overall a bit ungenerous. Manuel sees more going on in this wine than the following one, but I strongly disagree. It certainly has a more earthy component, but I find it a bit one-dimensional with no real excitement on the palate. B.

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• 1996 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières-Coulée de Serrant

  As most know, I’m really not a fan of what Joly has been doing, but the ’96 has always been by far my favorite wine of his. It’s clearly a wine where despite his best intentions, the greatness of vintage won out. The bottle tonight was the best bottle of the wine I’ve had since release. Everything was humming. Much more generous, complex and friendly on the palate than the Roche-Aux-Moins, with great depth and a creamy mouthfeel. There’s mature, though still fresh quince and mineral flavors with a touch of nuttiness. Now, all that said, though the wine is completely integrated and clicking on all cylinders, there’s no way the wine should be at this stage in its life. The wine should be pretty closed up, as the Closel and Baumard are. Thus, while enjoyable, chalk this up as another example of the wine clearly showing signs of premature aging. A/A-.

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• 1988 Joseph Drouhin Clos Vougeot

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  Shows aromas of sweet red fruit, spicy cedar with a touch of woodsiness, though it’s the perfumed fruit that dominates. Similar flavors as aromas, though the nose would lead one to believe that there would be more fruit on the palate than there actually was. What’s lacking to my tastes, which is why I can’t imagine myself ever being a Burg head, is the texture. It’s too delicate and light/medium bodied for my tastes. I prefer a little more oomph, let alone fruit, which is why the Rhone, Languedoc and Bordeaux is largely where my red wine dollars go. A little lean in the mid-palate, but the wine did go nicely with the duck. B/B+.

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• 1991 Noël Verset Cornas

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

  Now this is what I’m talking about. Surprisingly youthful in color, but elegant and soft on the palate with tamed tannins. There’s beautiful spicy black fruit and licorice on the nose and palate with a hint of pork fat, though the purity of the black fruit dominates. Really shows the ’91 vintage in the Northern Rhone well with its weightlessness and elegance. Needless to say, I liked this better than the Drouhin with the duck. Solid A-.

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• 1990 Domaine Tempier Bandol

  France, Provence, Bandol

  I really thought I’d like this wine more than I did as I’m a fan of Tempier and it’s from a ripe vintage. To be honest, I think the cheese was playing tricks on my tongue as the wine came off differently after I had done some rinsing with Pellegrino. The wine is surprisingly clean, with no real funky animal aromas, which I consider part of the charm of Bandol, with red fruit, herb, spice and a strong beef blood component. Not as thick as I would’ve expected from the vintage. Fairly integrated with a slightly disconcerting worn wood taste on the finish with the cheese. Not new wood, mind you, but I definitely got the sensation of an old barrel. B.

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• 1997 François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Botrytis Limited Release

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  One of my favorite sweeties from the Loire in ’97, this wine is aging just fine. Thick and rich and full of botrytis, apricot and pineapple flavors and aromas. There’s great intensity to the wine and it is incredibly sweet, though there’s just enough acidity to keep it from being cloying, though maybe not enough for those that prefer their wines lean. I love the stuff, though. A/A-.

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