Garagiste Warehouse Tasting: Thomas Calder
Seattle, WA
Tasted May 17, 2008 by last chance with 2,685 views
Introduction
I had been buying wine from Garagiste for a while, and when this tasting came up it seemed like a good opportunity to get to try some wines that were out of the norm for us. The description of the event from Garagiste is below:
Dear Friends,
It‚s been a long time since we held a warehouse tasting - too long in my opinion. Running around the world has its downside and one of those is less time with all of you. So, on Saturday May 17th I‚m opening the warehouse for a peek behind the iron curtain and I‚m going to bring some friends.
We‚re going to fly in Thomas Calder from Paris, probably the most influential wine personality you‚ve never heard of (Thomas is partially responsible for a lot of the wine you drink from many sources all over the country, not just us). Calder has been called the new voice of French wine, the anti-Jorge Ordonez, more concerned with terroir and expression than marketing. He is one of the more passionate palates in the world and having spent a lot of time with him, I believe you will enjoy his company. An afternoon listening to his stories and comments on the world of wine are worth the price of admission alone. nbsp; If we can get him to drink heavily, the stories will become even more revealing. He‚s going to bring a bunch of wine with him as well - I asked him to drive down to Boulay to get pre-release samples of the 2007 Sancerre Clos Beaujeu or even some older vintages of Boulay so all of you can see how beautifully they age. I‚m sure he will come up with a few memorable bottles.
This will be a casual walk-around afternoon with no rhyme or reason as far as the wine theme. In true Garagiste style, it will be a sort of misfits mega tasting with mostly wine you‚ve never heard of and wine without any scores (you can get that elsewhere - 100pt wines are boring anyway, right?). This will be about spending a few hours together, drinking a lot of wine Thomas likes and just having some fun. You may discover some new wine you love - you never know. We'll have some artisanal cheese from France (hopefully smuggled in that morning in his suitcase), bread, etc b ut bring your stamina because I'm planning on opening a lot of wine.
The cost will be $35/person but I‚m sure we will have enough wine and food to justify at least $100 or more/person...
Garagiste Warehouse Tasting: Thomas Calder
Saturday May 17th
3:00pm - 6:00pm
$35/person
The Garagiste Warehouse
707 S. Lander St
Seattle, WA
To RSVP: melisa@garagistewine.com
Please limit RSVP requests to 4/person - we have a limited amount of space per fire/safety code so we are going to take requests in first come first served order until we have to cut it off.
It should be a crazy afternoon - I'll see you there -
- Jon Rimmerman
Flight 1 - Wines we tasted (19 notes)
We didn't make it through even half of what was open, and after my notes got spit on by someone trying to hit the dump bucket on the table in front of me, I quit trying to write anything else down. The Boulay Sancerres were a lot of fun to taste, and the 97 Clos de Beaujeu was my favorite of the tasting. We talked with Thomas Calder for a while while were were at the table with the Boulay Sancerres, and didn't even know it was him until we were moving to the next station. A very nice man.
White - Sparkling
N.V. De Sousa et Fils Champagne Tradition Brut
France, Champagne
Golden straw color. The nose had primarily green apple aromas. The palate was consistent, though as the wine warmed up slightly it seemed more like a Jolly Rancher green apple flavor, but it was still nice. Medium sized bubbles, and very crisp and clean. This was really a fantastic bottle.
Red
2005 Domaine Vincent Paris St. Joseph
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
There was more brett on the nose of this wine than any that I have ever tasted. Usually I am not terribly offended by that aroma, but this time, I just couldn't get past it. This was undrinkable for me.
White
2006 Olivier Morin Bourgogne-Chitry
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Chitry
Tasted this after a couple of NV Champagnes (maybe that was a problem, I don't know). This wine was really bland. The nose was unrevealing, and the palate was flat. Our impressions of this wine were that is was juicy, wet and flat with a slightly creamy texture. Definately an easy quaffer, but nothing to analyze here at all.
White
2006 Agathe Bursin Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepflé
France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
Nice golden color. The nose was very complex with citrus, honey, spices and some faint floral aromas. The palate was rich and sweet while remaining consistent with the nose. This was fairly full bodied and had a medium long finish. Probably a little too sweet, but still very enjoyable.
Red
2005 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 60
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
The nose of this wine just screamed of black pepper. So much so that I was imagining a New York Peppercorn steak before I even tasted this wine. The palate was smoky and also full of black pepper and roasted meat. Medium bodied with a medium length finish. I really enjoyed this wine, and it was one of my favorites of the day.
Red
2005 Domaine Des Hauts Chassis Crozes-Hermitage Les Chassis
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage
The nose of this wine had red fruits and tobacco aromas with a note of spice. The palate was also slightly spicy, but had tobacco and meaty flavors as well. It was medium bodied with a good mouthfeel and medium length finish. If it had been just a little bit weightier, this would have been an outstanding wine to me. As is, it was very nice and another of the highlights of the day.
White
2006 Domaine Belluard Gringet Vin de Savoie Les Alpes
France, Savoie, Vin de Savoie
The nose had pear, apple, mineral and floral aromas much like I remembered the 05 vintage having. The palate had nice apple, pear and citrus flavors with some great minerality. This is a beautifully complex wine. Medium length finish, and a wine that you could just drink all day during the Summer. Great stuff - too bad it's so hard to find.
Red
2006 Domaine la Réméjeanne Côtes du Rhône Les Chevrefeuilles
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône
The nose of this wine was very mineral laden with plenty of spice as well. The palate was very tannic and also had a lot of minerality and seemingly under-ripe fruit. Another wine that just isn't for me...
White
2005 Gérard Boulay Sancerre Monts Damnés
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Very light greenish tinged yellow color. The nose of this wine was very complex with lemon, grapefruit, grass and minerals. The palate had lime, orange, dried apricot and some grassy flavors. This wine had a very nice mouthfeel and a very long finish. This was a really refreshing wine, and would be extremely food friendly. This was one of my favorites of the day.
White
2006 Gérard Boulay Sancerre Monts Damnés
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Light greenish yellow color. The nose of this wine had lemon, minerals, floral and apple aromas. The palate had lime, apple, apricot and some mineral flavors. This wine was pretty similar to the 05 vintage aside but with less minerality and more floral aromas. Very nice stuff.
White
2005 Gérard Boulay Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Light yellow color. The nose of this wine had lemon and lime aromas with notes of minerals and tropical fruits. The palate had lime, orange, minerals and some grassy flavors. There was a just a little more sweetness and less minerality to this than the 05 Monts Damnes Sancerre.
White
2006 Gérard Boulay Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Light golden yellow color. The nose of this wine had lemon, apple, and some notes of flowers and minerals. The palate was lighter than the other Boulay Sancerres that we tasted today, but still had nice lemon, apple, and dried apricot flavors with only the slightest hint of minerality.
White
1997 Gérard Boulay Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Light golden straw color. The nose had nice lemon, grapefruit, grass and mineral aromas. The palate was nice and crisp with a lot of citrus, and a very distinctive slate minerality to it. While this didn't have quite as much fruit on the palate as the 05 & 06 Boulay Sanceres we tasted today, the minerality was much better. This hardly seemed like an 11 year old white wine. I can see how these would be able to age for 30 years after tasting this example. Great stuff.
White
2005 Jean Rijckaert Saint Véran "En Julie" Vieilles Vignes
France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Saint Véran
Very light yellow color that was almost clear. The nose had apple, pear, with faint aromas of vanilla and minerals. The palate just had faint pear/apple flavors. This was really light on the palate. Almost nothing there. The nose smelled great, but that was the best part of the wine. Maybe on a really hot day this would be slightly better.
Red
2004 Château de Vaudieu Châteauneuf-du-Pape
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Dark ruby color. The nose had aromas of pepper, cherries, plum, earth, and roasted meat. The palate had nice dark cherry and raspberry flavors with a nice meaty note coming in near the finish. This wine had a very smooth mouthfeel, and a medium to long finish. Very nice, and a good value in the low $30s.
White - Fortified
N.V. Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Macvin du Jura Poulsard-Savagnin with marc
France, Jura, Macvin du Jura
This was the most unique wine that I have ever tasted. I had to ask some questions about it to find out it actually had some marc brandy in it as well. I really didn't like this at first, but gave it a second chance, and it started to grow on me. It had a big burnt caramel flavor, and there was some oxidation there as well, but it wasn't as unpleasant as I initially found it after a few sips. Definately an acquired taste, but I can see how you could come to enjoy it. I'm not sure how to assign a score to this, but it sure was interesting.
Closing
We stayed at the event for about 2 hours, and got to try a lot of different wines. This was the strangest tasting that I have been too, but we did have fun and got to see a few people there that we knew. Some people were dressed in tuxedos with tastevins around their necks, and others were wearing tank tops, cutoff jean shorts and flip flops. The space did get crowded after a while, and it wasn't easy to write TNs or even set your glass down, but it was still fun and had quite the ecclectic mix of attendees.
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