A challenge of expression :the Empyreumatic flavours in the wine.
Marseille, France
Tasted October 15, 2013 by dead puddle with 4,737 views
Introduction
The adjectiv "empyreumatic" describes the flavors witch comes from the fire, like smoke.
Usually it is a secondary flavor, coming from the level of roast of the barrel. So empyreumatic includes, caramel (at many levels of cooking, from the soft sweat to the dark on on the side of a casserole), roasted brioche, grilled fresh bread, for the whites. And also caramel, chocolate, coffee, and ash for the reds.
But also in rare cases, the smoke notes comes from some particulary soil. This primary flavors are subtil, and even in a single cuvée they don't appear in each vintage. For example, in Pouilly fumé. Or also in Rangen de thann in Alsace.
This tasting has been organise to explore this subject.
Flight 1 (7 notes)
Pouilly fuisse " autour de fuissé" J A Ferret 2010
Blind tasted. Just opened. Nose of honey, lemon blossom, quite discret. Mouth simple elegant, on yellow lemon peal, ending gently withut definition. Lacking a bit of character, but pleasant. A day later some toasted notes comes. Note really in the theme of the event. A good wine 87.
Zind, riesling, rangen de thann 2009
Decanted one hour. Nose of gazoline, clementine juice. Very nice mouth rich, thick on orange juice. Suberp ending on elegant kumkat bitterness. A very good wine. I would not recommend to keep it because of this hot vintage: just enough acidity to have a nice balance. Bettane & desseauve were wrong on this wine because they are not blind tasters. Not good Q/P. 90 Not a hint of smoke, (caracteristic of Rangen).
Gauby coume gineste 2009
Blind tasted. Served just after a bike transport without decanting. Trouble pale hue, bizarre. Should be another natural wine from a clumsy wine maker. Nose of feezy white beer, yeast, sligtly roasted cereals. Strange. Mouth lively and reassuring with deep minerality, nice acidity, perhaps pearly bubbles ?
Ending nicely on hay, oxydiesed pears, and a touch of lemon juice. A bit like keffir. What a surprise to discover the label, and specially the vintage. A very well done craft, but with some imprecisions.
Clos du Cailloux reserve 2006
Blind tasting. Nose of coffee, smoke, black peper. Strong rustic mouth with bitterness and burning alcohol. Unbalanced. Low potential according to the excess of alcohol perception.
Not to bad, acceptable. 84. But a good expression of the event theme.
Boyd-cantenac 2006
Nice nose with lactic notes, light sap, jammy black fruits, some coffee. Interesting gap between nose and mouth. Mouth fine, elegant and noble. No traces of new oak; Blackcurrent jam, coffee, burned caramel, with good acidity and characterial tannins. The best expression of those empyreumatic flavors.89
Gauby vieilles vignes 2006
Nose of leather, sweat grenache style. Mouth crunchy balance, fresh. A very nice southern red. Lacking interest for me, even if the structure is nearly perfect. Excellent for other tasters.
Gauby la roque 2009.
Superb nose of brown sugar, cherry, blond tobacco, obvious grenache. Powerfull and expressiv.Mouth young, full bodied, dominated by the structure mostly the alcohol. still the burned notes are present. Difficult to rate, but less fine than the vieilles vignes 2006 from the same producer.
Ending nicely on hay, oxydiesed pears, and a touch of lemon juice. A bit like keffir. What a surprise to discover the label, and specially the vintage. A very well done craft, but with some imprecisions.
Not to bad, acceptable. 84. But a good expression of the event theme.