Pomerols are supposedly about elegance, but many taste boozy and/or lack freshness. Even when the tannins are whisper fine, those kinds of Pomerols are rarely a joy to drink.
This wine is genuinely joyful.
Being a '19, it's ripe and fresh. I get notes of tart dried cherries and orange peel, and an almost pinot-like sappiness. There are bass notes, too: black cherry preserves and even a little fig. The structure is old-school but charming, and in the tannins I get a pleasing bitterness – something like cacao, pine, and oregano.
Overall, medium+ bodied, brighter than expected, and certainly more restrained than many Pomerols I've had in the last few years.
But it's an unfussy elegance here than really elevates the wine, which is why I think it's not overpriced @ $125, especially compared to other Pomerols I've had. The wine has soul.
For the sake of reference, I should mention that I drank a handful of highly-rated and pricey right-bank wines today. The Clos Saint-Andre was much more enjoyable than the Pavie-Macquin '18, which was actually pretty good, albeit a little chewy.
I also had a few glasses from a stunning (if youthfully primary) bottle of VCC '17 a few hours before ripping a bottle of this. While I feel the VCC is a better wine ('17s can be excellent), the margin was not as big as you might think. The Clos Saint-Andre was not as intensely flavorful or fine, but it felt more alive.
I wish more Pomerols tasted this way.
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The wine is not tired, or faded, or near the end of its journey. Lots of fruit.
In fact, it seems pretty prime, with a moderately complex, harmonious nose of milk chocolate, orange marmalade, cocktail cherries, and black tea. Some VA, but not problematically so.
To be sure, there's too much power here to be mistaken for Burgundy, and it's a little boozy on finish, but the wine is suave and pretty enough to hold (at least some) appeal to old-world drinkers. Flavors remind me of an old-fashioned mixed with a manhattan, but like, wine. If it sounds like the wine is overdone or flamboyant, it's not. This is balanced and definitely not 'in your face'.
The most impressive thing to me is how comfortable the wine is in maturity; it seems like it was supposed to be drunk at this age, and not like it's just hanging on.
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Still going, but long in the tooth. Probably best 6-10 years ago. Yes, there's still some attractive 'Volnay' purple strawberry fruit, and maybe some pleasant tertiary mint/paté aromatics, but the wine feels short, and short of vigor. Sort of brown and savory. That's 2001 at 19 years, more or less, but i did expect more of Lafarge – especially the top wine. Drink, sure, but don't buy.
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2019 Clos Saint-André (Pomerol)
9/26/2022 - Cellarslacker wrote: 94 Points
Pomerols are supposedly about elegance, but many taste boozy and/or lack freshness. Even when the tannins are whisper fine, those kinds of Pomerols are rarely a joy to drink.
This wine is genuinely joyful.
Being a '19, it's ripe and fresh. I get notes of tart dried cherries and orange peel, and an almost pinot-like sappiness. There are bass notes, too: black cherry preserves and even a little fig. The structure is old-school but charming, and in the tannins I get a pleasing bitterness – something like cacao, pine, and oregano.
Overall, medium+ bodied, brighter than expected, and certainly more restrained than many Pomerols I've had in the last few years.
But it's an unfussy elegance here than really elevates the wine, which is why I think it's not overpriced @ $125, especially compared to other Pomerols I've had. The wine has soul.
For the sake of reference, I should mention that I drank a handful of highly-rated and pricey right-bank wines today. The Clos Saint-Andre was much more enjoyable than the Pavie-Macquin '18, which was actually pretty good, albeit a little chewy.
I also had a few glasses from a stunning (if youthfully primary) bottle of VCC '17 a few hours before ripping a bottle of this. While I feel the VCC is a better wine ('17s can be excellent), the margin was not as big as you might think. The Clos Saint-Andre was not as intensely flavorful or fine, but it felt more alive.
I wish more Pomerols tasted this way.
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2007 Calera Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard
7/18/2021 - Cellarslacker Likes this wine: 92 Points
The wine is not tired, or faded, or near the end of its journey. Lots of fruit.
In fact, it seems pretty prime, with a moderately complex, harmonious nose of milk chocolate, orange marmalade, cocktail cherries, and black tea. Some VA, but not problematically so.
To be sure, there's too much power here to be mistaken for Burgundy, and it's a little boozy on finish, but the wine is suave and pretty enough to hold (at least some) appeal to old-world drinkers.
Flavors remind me of an old-fashioned mixed with a manhattan, but like, wine. If it sounds like the wine is overdone or flamboyant, it's not. This is balanced and definitely not 'in your face'.
The most impressive thing to me is how comfortable the wine is in maturity; it seems like it was supposed to be drunk at this age, and not like it's just hanging on.
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2001 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs
4/1/2020 - Cellarslacker wrote: 87 Points
Still going, but long in the tooth. Probably best 6-10 years ago. Yes, there's still some attractive 'Volnay' purple strawberry fruit, and maybe some pleasant tertiary mint/paté aromatics, but the wine feels short, and short of vigor. Sort of brown and savory. That's 2001 at 19 years, more or less, but i did expect more of Lafarge – especially the top wine. Drink, sure, but don't buy.
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