Good, but not quite at the level that the price of this commands. It's certainly very pinot dominant on the palate and nose -- quite rich with a pronounced mushroomy quality. Richer textured, but somehow the dosage feels a little less than necessary to really fill out the bones of this wine.
Base vintage 2013. Disgorged July 2021, 3 g/L dosage. Despite the relatively low dosage, this certainly has a palate presence that I really enjoy. Rounded and richer, but at the same time, bright laser-focussed white fruit here. Made in a bigger style the way Egly does, and very enjoyable for it.
Really didn't like this at all. It felt very incomplete and disjointed -- high acid like a brut zero, but also with sweetness from dosage that felt wholly unintegrated with the other part of the wine. Kind of thin and acidic, and sugary sweet at different times, like drinking two wines at the same time. Head-scratcher.
French bottle, but capsule top. One of the best showings of this that I've had. Clean, bright, full, with plenty of Chablis salinity. Savoury with just the right squeeze of citrus here. Electric and exciting to drink. It's really hard for me to grok Dauvissat because some bottles can be so good, but some bottles can be so mediocre.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Excellent stuff. Doesn't show the ripeness of the vintage. Some reduction here, but this comes across as relatively sedate. It's not screechy with the acidity nor reduction. This has a lovely light touch on the palate, and has good Chassagne richness (the vintage certainly helps). A touch waxy, but never overbearing or heavy.
Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Valle de la Orotava
Something a little too natty with this, so it tasted a little off for my taste. Nowhere as good as the Táganan. This has some modest salinity but also some off notes that really detract from the overall quality of the wine for me. High acidity.
Wow, absolutely outstanding for such peripheral terroir. Rich and balanced, with gorgeous white fruit and intensity here. No reduction, just a good, honest bottle of rich, old-school chardonnay. A seriously grand value of a bottle of Burgundy in a night where we all were complaining about the value proposition in a Four Yorkshiremen sort of way.
Seriously good chardonnay. Comes across richer than the French style, with more fruit on the nose and palate, but it's not for want of acidity nor balance. Clearly identifiable as New World with that fruit profile, but counterweighted by the typical Ceritas minerality and acidity. Great stuff.
Clearly in the richer style of the Keller of old, and I think the vintage played a part of this as well. Still, this is minerally and bright, but a bit big-boned for a feinherb. It's not as crisp and elegant as more recent vintages. That said, this is still pretty impressive in its stature, though I do prefer the modern iterations more.
Kind of a weird wine. Doesn't come off particularly riesling-like but it's also not like any other grape either. Good minerality here, but it's just a bit of a baffling wine to be honest. Not really sure what to make of it. That said, it was actually pretty good.
chardonnay - 30 to 60 year old vines - vineyard blend - La Pellerine, Le Crêt, Arteau - terroir - blue Lias clay on Bathonien limestone - 17 months in old oak barrels - pH 3.11 - free sulfites <6mg/L - total 12 mg/L. Classic Labet, with just that classic reductive winemaking style and a fair bit of white wine volatility. That said, this still tastes might clean and bright for my palate, and is unmistakably Labet with a slight hint of sotolon, plenty of acidity, and still a good amount for white fruit.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Very much what Montrachet should be -- inordinately thick and rich, oily, and opulent. A very dense texture on the palate, with an intensity that comes off almost bitter because there's so much of it. Relatively low in acid, but it's made up for in the form of the sheer amount of extract. Huge fan of white Burgundy made before chardonnay these days. It's way more opulent and rustic.
#05-21, 9.5% abv. Clean and crisp, with that light-bodied raciness that you should expect from Kabinett. Not particularly complex though -- a good drinking wine and not much more. But it's fairly priced and certainly shows a high pedigree.
Very nice nose here -- perfumed, strawberry-adjacent, and almost like a good, weighty summer rosé. The palate's a bit thin, and there's definitely a slight underripeness here that leaves this feeling a bit empty. One of those wines where the nose is much better than the palate. Quite pleasant -- better as a chilled summer red.
France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Mercurey 1er Cru
Quite light, though in contrast with the WongAmat, this was a bruiser. Very pretty, raspberry-accented red fruit, with plenty of acidity. Light and perfumed, and very drinkable now.
2016 Bérêche et Fils Champagne Premier Cru Rilly-la-Montagne 90 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
Good, but not quite at the level that the price of this commands. It's certainly very pinot dominant on the palate and nose -- quite rich with a pronounced mushroomy quality. Richer textured, but somehow the dosage feels a little less than necessary to really fill out the bones of this wine.
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1990 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Rosé Flawed
France, Champagne
Dirty and funky. Way too mushroomy too.
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NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru VP 93 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Base vintage 2013. Disgorged July 2021, 3 g/L dosage. Despite the relatively low dosage, this certainly has a palate presence that I really enjoy. Rounded and richer, but at the same time, bright laser-focussed white fruit here. Made in a bigger style the way Egly does, and very enjoyable for it.
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NV Valentin Leflaive Champagne CV 17 50 Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 85 Points
France, Champagne
Really didn't like this at all. It felt very incomplete and disjointed -- high acid like a brut zero, but also with sweetness from dosage that felt wholly unintegrated with the other part of the wine. Kind of thin and acidic, and sugary sweet at different times, like drinking two wines at the same time. Head-scratcher.
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2014 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
French bottle, but capsule top. One of the best showings of this that I've had. Clean, bright, full, with plenty of Chablis salinity. Savoury with just the right squeeze of citrus here. Electric and exciting to drink. It's really hard for me to grok Dauvissat because some bottles can be so good, but some bottles can be so mediocre.
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2015 Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Excellent stuff. Doesn't show the ripeness of the vintage. Some reduction here, but this comes across as relatively sedate. It's not screechy with the acidity nor reduction. This has a lovely light touch on the palate, and has good Chassagne richness (the vintage certainly helps). A touch waxy, but never overbearing or heavy.
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2020 Wasenhaus Weissburgunder Möhlin 85 Points
Germany, Baden
Eh? Didn't understand this at all. Kind of comes off as a non-descript white wine. Neutral in all respects.
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2021 Envínate Palo Blanco 85 Points
Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Valle de la Orotava
Something a little too natty with this, so it tasted a little off for my taste. Nowhere as good as the Táganan. This has some modest salinity but also some off notes that really detract from the overall quality of the wine for me. High acidity.
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2015 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Clos Saint Philibert Blanc 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits
Wow, absolutely outstanding for such peripheral terroir. Rich and balanced, with gorgeous white fruit and intensity here. No reduction, just a good, honest bottle of rich, old-school chardonnay. A seriously grand value of a bottle of Burgundy in a night where we all were complaining about the value proposition in a Four Yorkshiremen sort of way.
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2018 Ceritas Chardonnay Trout Gulch 90 Points
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Seriously good chardonnay. Comes across richer than the French style, with more fruit on the nose and palate, but it's not for want of acidity nor balance. Clearly identifiable as New World with that fruit profile, but counterweighted by the typical Ceritas minerality and acidity. Great stuff.
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2011 Weingut Keller Riesling RR 90 Points
Germany, Rheinhessen
Clearly in the richer style of the Keller of old, and I think the vintage played a part of this as well. Still, this is minerally and bright, but a bit big-boned for a feinherb. It's not as crisp and elegant as more recent vintages. That said, this is still pretty impressive in its stature, though I do prefer the modern iterations more.
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2019 Wolfram Stempel Riesling MHT 19 90 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Kind of a weird wine. Doesn't come off particularly riesling-like but it's also not like any other grape either. Good minerality here, but it's just a bit of a baffling wine to be honest. Not really sure what to make of it. That said, it was actually pretty good.
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2016 Domaine Labet Chardonnay Les Juveniles Lias 93 Points
France, Jura, Côtes du Jura
chardonnay - 30 to 60 year old vines - vineyard blend - La Pellerine, Le Crêt, Arteau - terroir - blue Lias clay on Bathonien limestone - 17 months in old oak barrels - pH 3.11 - free sulfites <6mg/L - total 12 mg/L. Classic Labet, with just that classic reductive winemaking style and a fair bit of white wine volatility. That said, this still tastes might clean and bright for my palate, and is unmistakably Labet with a slight hint of sotolon, plenty of acidity, and still a good amount for white fruit.
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1994 Louis Jadot Le Montrachet 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Very much what Montrachet should be -- inordinately thick and rich, oily, and opulent. A very dense texture on the palate, with an intensity that comes off almost bitter because there's so much of it. Relatively low in acid, but it's made up for in the form of the sheer amount of extract. Huge fan of white Burgundy made before chardonnay these days. It's way more opulent and rustic.
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2020 Julian Haart J.J. Riesling Kabinett 88 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
#05-21, 9.5% abv. Clean and crisp, with that light-bodied raciness that you should expect from Kabinett. Not particularly complex though -- a good drinking wine and not much more. But it's fairly priced and certainly shows a high pedigree.
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2021 WongAmat Dalsheimer Bürgel Spätburgunder 90 Points
Germany, Rheinhessen
Very nice nose here -- perfumed, strawberry-adjacent, and almost like a good, weighty summer rosé. The palate's a bit thin, and there's definitely a slight underripeness here that leaves this feeling a bit empty. One of those wines where the nose is much better than the palate. Quite pleasant -- better as a chilled summer red.
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2021 Faiveley Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Myglands 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Mercurey 1er Cru
Quite light, though in contrast with the WongAmat, this was a bruiser. Very pretty, raspberry-accented red fruit, with plenty of acidity. Light and perfumed, and very drinkable now.
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