Liked, but didn't love this, as there was just a hint of a natty/volatile element on the nose and palate here. Otherwise, though, this does have very nice Egly weight, as well as a nice amount of white fruit. Light-footed on the palate, but with a somewhat sappy, vinous quality on the finish.
Disgorged June 2024, 6 g/L dosage. Always a workhorse that delivers. Pleasant white fruit and plenty of chalkiness. Nicely balanced acidity and fruit. Despite the run-up in price, this still remains one of the best quality entry-level Champagnes I can think of.
Very Roulot and very much to the vintage and appellation. Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to think of a wine that tastes exactly like what I expect from reading the label. High acidity, crisp, steely reduction.
I quite liked this, not having liked earlier Schäfer-Fröhlich very much. The intense sponti that the estate had in the earlier wines (say, early 2010s) isn't prominent now, and the fleshy, ripe vintage gives this GG a very nice boost of plump fruit. Almost a hint of sweetness. Very, very nice.
Still not a fan of this edition of this wine. It shows an odd lychee quality and plenty of spice, but there's also some browning fruit that feels out of place in a GG. Quite dry, despite that oily, rounded texture. A stark difference with the 2018 Felseneck alongside.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Loved this -- it's certainly opulent, thick, and oaky, but it holds that weight so well thanks to the acidity of the vintage. Really broad and expressive with a nice mix of white and yellow fruit and stony minerality on the palate. One of the better bottles of Lucien le Moine I've had. I think the vintage helps with the style.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet
I liked this a fair bit, but it paled in comparison to the le Moine Caillerets alongside. Here, there's more leanness, and lemon-driven laser-like white-fruited focus. On the palate, this is missing the intensity and depth that I'd like to see, though it plays reasonably well at the villages level.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A pretty disgusting bottle -- there was wine trapped between the top of the cork and the capsule which had clearly not just oxidized but become moldy and gross. Not to mention that the top of the bottle reeked of TCA. But the juice within was great. It's very ripe and opulent for a CdP of that age, with fruit that is quite black. Quite Burgundian in stature, as Vieux Telegraphe is wont to be.
#12-08. A good, but not particularly compelling version of this wine. The vintage is what does it in -- the fruit a bit too opulent and ripe, with a lot of the structure set far back behind it. Drinks almost more like an Auslese, but for my palate the biggest thing missing is that intense minerality that Schaefer's Domprobst so often has.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
I really liked this -- as I have with the other Ardhuy Cortons I've had. The fruit is clean and bright, and very far on the red side of the spectrum. Acidity is tart, but balanced by the weight of the fruit. Grainy tannins that could use a decade to soften up, but very much enjoyable now already.
Way too reduced, as usual. Hard to find anything else here, except for the reduction. Some melon and other ripe fruits, but mostly everything is dominated by the reduction. Interesting enough to try, but at this point you should just figure out how to make the most reductive wine possible and you'd get to the same point...
Very nice stuff; clean and bright with good acidity and very typical modern Krug texture. Plenty of white fruit, and with air, a little of the modern Krug white grape note comes out. From experience, this dissipates with time in the bottle. All in all, an average iteration of this wine, which is still far better than most other Champagne out there.
First time caller to this estate. Impressive stuff, to be sure. Next to a 2014 Roulot Bourgogne, this more than held its own. The nose isn't as steely, but the palate is riper and has more depth. At the same time, there's plenty of riper fruit and lots of structure for this to age. I'm now interested to try the single-vineyard bottlings. Stylistically, this is far more up my wheelhouse than that other Oregon chardonnay darling Walter Scott.
NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Les Prémices 90 Points
France, Champagne
Liked, but didn't love this, as there was just a hint of a natty/volatile element on the nose and palate here. Otherwise, though, this does have very nice Egly weight, as well as a nice amount of white fruit. Light-footed on the palate, but with a somewhat sappy, vinous quality on the finish.
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NV Bérêche et Fils Champagne Brut Réserve 90 Points
France, Champagne
Disgorged June 2024, 6 g/L dosage. Always a workhorse that delivers. Pleasant white fruit and plenty of chalkiness. Nicely balanced acidity and fruit. Despite the run-up in price, this still remains one of the best quality entry-level Champagnes I can think of.
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2014 Domaine Roulot Bourgogne Blanc 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc
Very Roulot and very much to the vintage and appellation. Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to think of a wine that tastes exactly like what I expect from reading the label. High acidity, crisp, steely reduction.
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2018 Schäfer-Fröhlich Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Großes Gewächs 93 Points
Germany, Nahe
I quite liked this, not having liked earlier Schäfer-Fröhlich very much. The intense sponti that the estate had in the earlier wines (say, early 2010s) isn't prominent now, and the fleshy, ripe vintage gives this GG a very nice boost of plump fruit. Almost a hint of sweetness. Very, very nice.
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2010 Schäfer-Fröhlich Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs 88 Points
Germany, Nahe
Still not a fan of this edition of this wine. It shows an odd lychee quality and plenty of spice, but there's also some browning fruit that feels out of place in a GG. Quite dry, despite that oily, rounded texture. A stark difference with the 2018 Felseneck alongside.
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2014 Lucien Le Moine Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Loved this -- it's certainly opulent, thick, and oaky, but it holds that weight so well thanks to the acidity of the vintage. Really broad and expressive with a nice mix of white and yellow fruit and stony minerality on the palate. One of the better bottles of Lucien le Moine I've had. I think the vintage helps with the style.
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2014 Hubert Lamy Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots Vieilles Vignes 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet
I liked this a fair bit, but it paled in comparison to the le Moine Caillerets alongside. Here, there's more leanness, and lemon-driven laser-like white-fruited focus. On the palate, this is missing the intensity and depth that I'd like to see, though it plays reasonably well at the villages level.
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1988 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A pretty disgusting bottle -- there was wine trapped between the top of the cork and the capsule which had clearly not just oxidized but become moldy and gross. Not to mention that the top of the bottle reeked of TCA. But the juice within was great. It's very ripe and opulent for a CdP of that age, with fruit that is quite black. Quite Burgundian in stature, as Vieux Telegraphe is wont to be.
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2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #12 90 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
#12-08. A good, but not particularly compelling version of this wine. The vintage is what does it in -- the fruit a bit too opulent and ripe, with a lot of the structure set far back behind it. Drinks almost more like an Auslese, but for my palate the biggest thing missing is that intense minerality that Schaefer's Domprobst so often has.
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2014 Domaine d'Ardhuy Corton-Renardes 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru
I really liked this -- as I have with the other Ardhuy Cortons I've had. The fruit is clean and bright, and very far on the red side of the spectrum. Acidity is tart, but balanced by the weight of the fruit. Grainy tannins that could use a decade to soften up, but very much enjoyable now already.
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2014 Richard Leroy Chenin Les Noëls de Montbenault 88 Points
France, Vin de France
Way too reduced, as usual. Hard to find anything else here, except for the reduction. Some melon and other ripe fruits, but mostly everything is dominated by the reduction. Interesting enough to try, but at this point you should just figure out how to make the most reductive wine possible and you'd get to the same point...
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 171eme 93 Points
France, Champagne
Very nice stuff; clean and bright with good acidity and very typical modern Krug texture. Plenty of white fruit, and with air, a little of the modern Krug white grape note comes out. From experience, this dissipates with time in the bottle. All in all, an average iteration of this wine, which is still far better than most other Champagne out there.
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2022 Morgen Long Chardonnay Willamette Valley 90 Points
USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
First time caller to this estate. Impressive stuff, to be sure. Next to a 2014 Roulot Bourgogne, this more than held its own. The nose isn't as steely, but the palate is riper and has more depth. At the same time, there's plenty of riper fruit and lots of structure for this to age. I'm now interested to try the single-vineyard bottlings. Stylistically, this is far more up my wheelhouse than that other Oregon chardonnay darling Walter Scott.
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