9/27/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

Oh, to be young and dumb and in love with Chambers Street Wines! Cyril Fahl’s wines were just sitting on the shelves waiting for someone to drink ‘em or in rare cases cellar them. I did both; I’m indiscriminate in love, it seems. The whites were textured, violet and honey-scented, and just a bit flamboyant—as Southern whites should be. The reds were exuberant and concentrated, if a bit inscrutable. The was structure beneath all the zazzy fruit and and Cistercian reserve lurking within the dry extract. And lo all these years later, there is a finely knit, if still wild character to the 2013 Clos du Rouge Gorge 2013 Jeunes Vignes. Bosky wild berry fruit, a woop woop (Insane Catalanes Posse?) of spicy plum skin, and vine smoke frame the nose with a hint of game and stank lurking in the background. This is ripe, but not extravagantly so. The midweight palate reiterates these sensory notes with more emphasis on the earth character—is it granite or is it schist? And things shade toward the mineral and herbaceous rather than overt fruit here. But there’s admirable length and not a little breadth and one wondered if the structure will outlast the fruit over time. As it stands, this is a punchy glass of of Côtes Catalans and pairs well with polenta and lamb neck ragu, though I imagine a bit of smoked brisket and BBQ beans from the ol’ Salt Lick in Dripping Springs might just shine here, as well. Re-buy? Well, not at the current tariff for this vintage. I still have some 2013 Ubac to get thru. Still, a treat to drink. Good job, 2014 me! Thanks for buying a couple bottles.

7/7/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

I’ve made the observation that I’ve never had a bottle of Lafarge that’s “ready to drink” on many occasions in my wine career. And for the most part this has been true (same for Barthod if I’m being honest). For Kevin Smith fans I’ve compared it to the fat guy in “Mallrats” who can’t see what’s in the 3-D poster. And much like him (figuratively) I’ve brought my lunch and a soda and I’m still staring. Which brings me to this 2008 Beaune Grèves. On opening there is a fine strawberry lushness with and undercurrent of finely wrought stone and a touch of sous-bois fine aromas of roses too. Great energy and a lifted finish. Then 20 minutes it’s as if a steel gate shut. Roses are rose-hips, all that strawberry fruit beat it out of Dodge and everything is showing all pinched and inscrutable. And once again, I’m standing with my lunch staring in vain at a 3-D poster, not quite knowing what I’m looking at. First half hour was magnificent, tho.

TL/DR: Hold

6/5/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

Jadot often gets a bad rap for making workmanlike, foursquare wines relative to any number of domaines and a couple of their négociant peers. In my experience, this a only partially true: you drink em young and they will express their Jadotness over site more often that not. That said, they are perfectly satisfying if not quite “transparent.” However, if you show some (okay a lot of) patience they transcend Jadot and articulate terroir and vintage quite fluently. This is the case in this bottle of Jadot 1998 Les Boudots 1er. From the Vosne side of the village downslope from Damodes and adjacent to Malconsorts, this shows more spice and red fruit nuance than rough hewn Nuits St. Georges burliness. There is some of the tannic and acidic ‘98 edge here, but red fruit of the pomegranate, wild raspberry, and cranberry character dominate the nose and palate. Some game and a fine dusting over Asian spices add nuance. And astride a finely etched mineral core (for Nuits St Georges) are some blood orange peel and sous-bois flavors. I don’t get the sense that the fruit has been overtaken by the structure and there’s plenty of expressiveness left depending on just how resolved you prefer your Burgundy. This is showing admirably with a ragu of leftover short rib over polenta—okay grits. And given the chance, I’d purchase more well-stored bottles. This is really tasty in its way and very satisfying on a rather raw midcoast Maine evening. Re-buy? Wish I had. Last bottle a few years ago was marked by producer, this bottle is very much of a place (and vintage) and shines because of it.

4/9/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

As a Condrieu aficionado/pervert, those apt moments to open a bottle and espouse on the virtues of the appellation are sparse. Sure, you can cook some asparagus and brag on the wine, but all those non-sensualists are just going to hate. And that—through gritted teeth—is fine; some people don’t need joy. But for those of us who are keyed in to pleasure, maybe cook up some asparagus. And pour some Condrieu. And even if no one listens, just know that things are alright.

2/7/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

Sometimes you taste bottle and it transports and maybe even transforms you. And you read your screed (aloud), hop on that soap box, post until you are blue in the face about it. And if you’re very lucky, your audience comes along for the ride. Sometimes it’s because you are a brilliant writer, a notable wine expert, or maybe that dude selling illicit substances who is such a firm believer in the product they can’t make change… And so did I feel with the Catherine and Claude Maréchal 2014 Chorey-Les-Beaune. On release (or more accurately at the LDM tasting) this was all red fruit, salt lick, 9-volt electric, and Richard Scarry apple car except the juiciest strawberry you ever did have. And when it finally arrived, it had many of those qualities. And oh, did we fight to keep the prices reasonable on that wine… You gotta stake you claim, right? And with the generosity and downright forbearance of LDM and David Bowler this lovely wine became available at a buy-it-by-the-case price. And Burgundy being Burgundy, of course it shut down completely a few months later. Delicacy became bruising, sinewy power. Perfume evolved into, tree bark, over-stewed black tea, and a bit of tire burnout on freshly laid asphalt. Wither the strawberries? What of that chalk bead of minerality? And a few years and a number of surly bottles on, the wild strawberry, salty soil, and limber, savory character is back. The acidity has knit and the tannins have unclenched enough that all that prettiness has re-emerged and now dominates the proceedings. What was foreboding structure has become spice. Sullen notes are now hedge fruit and bosky herbal notes. A fine bottle and on the upswing. Fine, even bonny in character. Re-buy? In a second and I bought a couple of cases. Dang, I love Burgundy!

8/16/2022 - Derek Darth Taster wrote:

Evening session at ESBK. Tasted blind. Drank in Grassl Cru. Pop and poured.
Appearance is clear, very pale intensity, bright ruby colourl. Legs.
Nose is reductive with sulfurous egg kinda smells. Aggressive swirling to blow it off. Underlying aromas of high-toned red florals, red licorice, red cherries. Youthful.
On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium+ alcohol (14%), silky high tannins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of red licorice, red cherries, lovely red plum, inner earthy minerality. Very long finish with tannin showing its grip after the initial silkiness.
Very good quality. Early days yet. We guessed Giulia Negri Barolo - I was thinking 2018 since this showed so young. Turns out to be 2016 Serradenari.

6/30/2022 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

Just entering maturity. Beautiful bottle. Beeswax, wool, good tension. Lovely. Courtesy Nils. Enjoyed at Wu’s.

5/2/2022 - MuddyBoots wrote:

I have to confess upfront I wanted to like this - to validate my having bought ten bottles purely on faith that this terroir ought to be special, given it’s pristine location high on the Fixin slope, aligned with vineyards in Brochon that evidently are very good indeed - such as Gevrey Evocelles and even neighboring Queue de Hareng - and having regard to its historical status. Jeanne-Marie des Champs - who imports the wine into the USA - had told me a few years back to wait on this a while yet. Decanted 30 minutes. Very ruby red. Darkly fruited but restrained nose of some distinction with florals and pleasant savory elements but slightly muddled in composition. Altogether serious and not even aspiring to be pretty. Concentrated ripe cherry fruit on the palate, seemingly a little extracted by todays standards, though this sensation may be amplified by it certainly not yet being relaxed. Seems a little wound up on itself. An inner sweetness. But not (yet) really complex. Lacks a little delicacy and nuance and lift. Well behaved tannin. Long. This wine was made to be a long haul wine and on this showing I remain of the view it is a terroir on which one should take a chance (for the current $95). But it's likely a long wait and don’t expect sparkle or exuberance or pretty aromatics or fireworks. It’s not Griottes-Chambertin. It is a bit sombre and introverted. But it is surely elegant and distinguished and worthy. It got better and better over an hour - some delicacy emerging from behind the curtain. Suggest waiting five more years. Bought on release. Next day - I noticed the level of extraction more. The fruit is dense and a little ponderous. At a tasting in 2022 Joliet conceded he may have extracted a little too much in 2010. But beautiful expression of tannins.

3/12/2022 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

A fascinating, though certainly unexpected Vieille Serine Domaine de Pergaud from Eric Texier. Given the vintage reputation one might expect a bruiser, a brawler, a blunderbuss pointed menacingly at the face—all structure and sublimated charm. But where are the brutal tannins? The stewed fruits? The heat? If you are expecting that brawn and burliness, best to look elsewhere. That said, the 2015 tickles the palate with ripples of wild berry fruit, aromas of crushed violets and pastilles, with fine-grained (and lurking) tannins, and just a whisper of black pepper and game. And while decidedly mid-weight, this dances about the ring more like a bantam weight: finesse married with sneaky power—punching above its weight indeed. And lest one think it’s insubstantial or lacking gravitas, there’s startling persistence and detail belied by its relative generosity. I suspect there’s a more “serious” wine that will emerge from within, but in the meantime, this was delicious with braised duck legs in red wine with mushrooms, though fresher and less structured than expected. But as they say, it’s always the quiet ones.