The Official Wine Thread

[venividivicibj]

^ I haven't tried any of the FP&Friends or Block label labels yet.

 

[Piobaire]

Decided we needed a second bottle with dinner last night so I cracked the first bottle in the case of 2010 Beresan I landed from Full Pull. What was the FP price? $18 I think? Great bottle for the money. Has some tannins for a red meat meal, Bing cherries, a little cola, some cassis. Could also sip without food if you were in the mood.

 

[venividivicibj]

I tried to reorder a month or so ago- sold out now

 

[venividivicibj]

Keller limestone today. Acid and peaches, acid and peaches. Gains some viscosity a few minutes after opening

edit- my teeth are still tingling.

 

[Piobaire]

This is a really a good QPR. 70% Monastrell (Mourvedre) and 30% Cab. Super dark, dense purple. Just coats the glass. Blueberry, blackberry...thick, rich, savory with vanilla, black pepper, and a long mineral finish.

 

[erictheobscure]

good QPR? isn't that **** like $50?

/pleb

 

[Piobaire]

According to Cellar Tracker I paid $39 when I bought it a few years ago and it seriously drinks like something you'd expect to pay a couple c-notes for from Napa.

 

[erictheobscure]

$39 for Clio is a great price

I've never tried the El Nido

 

[Piobaire]

I feel like they're the Criss Cross of the wine world. 70 M/30 Cab, 70 Cab/30 M.

Both are seriously great wines and I'm sure Spain as a value play has its days numbered.

 

[jcusey]

A few recent wines. All images pilfered.

Domaine de la Voûte des Crozes is in Kermit Lynch's stable of Beaujolais. I saw the 2005 on the shelf last year and was told that it was a library release as opposed to stock that had been unsold for 9 years. It was fine, with a bit of that musty forest floor thing that I associate with Burgundy. The problem is that all of the exuberant fruit that I like with Beaujolais was gone. Interesting as an experiment, but maybe I should stick with the young stuff from now on.

Lioco is definitely in the AFWE side of the aisle in California, but it's not as well-known as the real standard bearers. Indica is 100% Carignan, and it's pretty delicious. Decent acid, decent structure, lots of fruit, lots of herbs, extremely drinkable. Lioco makes another Carignan bottling called Sativia from select lots in one of the two vineyards used for Indica that's even better (and $10 a bottle more expensive), but this is plenty good and a very good value (around $20 around here). I think it's interesting that twenty years ago, all the Top Minds in wine were positive that Carignan was a trash grape that should be eradicated wherever it was found, while now more and more people realize that if it's farmed carefully and made carefully, it can make good wine. I wonder what other grapes currently in the "crappy" category will be found to be decent with the proper care in another twenty years.

Marie Courtin Champagne is produced by a woman named Dominique Moreau in Polisot in the Aube. Resonance is her stainless steel-fermented, stainless steel-aged Blanc de Noirs (actually all Pinot Noir) offering. It's really good. It's got everything I'm looking for in Champagne -- lots of acitity, lots of autolytic character, lots of minerality, lots of dried fruit. Despite being 100% Pinot Noir from one of the warmer areas of Champagne, it's still very, very lean, probably because there is no dosage. I think that what I had was the 2013 version, but I don't have the bottle and am consequently not sure. In any event, this is excellent Champagne, especially for the price (retail in the low $60s around here). Marie Courtin is certified biodynamic -- a lot of the aspects of biodynamics seem like complete and utter bullshit to me; but whatever: this is really good juice.

 

[Piobaire]

I've had several different 100% Carignan from Paso, the bane of the AFWE. Got a chance to try Denner's Sacred Burro with the wine maker prior to its inaugural release. Villa Creek had an offering, can't think of it's name, and I know a couple of others. Think it got a bad rap in CA as it's apparently hugely prolific, huge yields, and was for jug wine for decades. Now it seems some places are producing it under better viticulture and I'd highly recommend the Sacred Burro.

 

[indesertum]

That was a fantastic write up. Need more reviews like those. Biodynamics seems like mostly hocus pocus but never had a bad biodynamics wine except for the occasional ones with a whiff of sulfur

 

[Piobaire]



A few recent wines. All images pilfered.
I think it's interesting that twenty years ago, all the Top Minds in wine were positive that Carignan was a trash grape that should be eradicated wherever it was found, while now more and more people realize that if it's farmed carefully and made carefully, it can make good wine. I wonder what other grapes currently in the "crappy" category will be found to be decent with the proper care in another twenty years.

Another grape in the Paso area that I think is a comer is Tannat. I know it's rep in the old world but I've had three 100% Tannat wines from Paso now and they're all fleshy, juicy, and really drinkable. It seems Paso is to Tannat what Mendoza is to Malbec. The best was this single barrel of Tannat we tasted in Linne Calodo's barrel room with the owner/wine maker. He was just experimenting with it and no release. Available to buy right now is Ledge Vineyard's 100% Tannat. $45 a bottle and really worth a try. Lastly is Tobin-James, that I put into the "fun" or "delicious" wine category as a brand, and their 100% Tannat is a great drinking wine.

 

[jadam31]

What is everyone's favorite cab under $50?

 

[jcusey]



I've had several different 100% Carignan from Paso, the bane of the AFWE. Got a chance to try Denner's Sacred Burro with the wine maker prior to its inaugural release. Villa Creek had an offering, can't think of it's name, and I know a couple of others. Think it got a bad rap in CA as it's apparently hugely prolific, huge yields, and was for jug wine for decades. Now it seems some places are producing it under better viticulture and I'd highly recommend the Sacred Burro.

I think it got a bad rap everywhere -- I think in a lot of appellations in southern France, it's legal in ever-decreasing proportions. They want more of the "improving" varietals like Mourvedre. It always sort of struck me like the "whitening" policy in Brazil in the early 20th Century.

Carignan has always been an important constituent of most of the Ridge field blends like Geyserville and Lytton Springs, and I've been seeing more of it recently. My favorite, I think, has been Sh'bubbles, which is one of the offerings from Morgan Twain-Peterson's low-priced Sherman & Hooker project -- it's a sparkling rose Carignan, and if there's a better-value bubbly, I don't know about it.

I'll check out the Paso Carignans if I see them, although very little Paso wine crosses my path.

Another grape in the Paso area that I think is a comer is Tannat. I know it's rep in the old world but I've had three 100% Tannat wines from Paso now and they're all fleshy, juicy, and really drinkable. It seems Paso is to Tannat what Mendoza is to Malbec. The best was this single barrel of Tannat we tasted in Linne Calodo's barrel room with the owner/wine maker. He was just experimenting with it and no release. Available to buy right now is Ledge Vineyard's 100% Tannat. $45 a bottle and really worth a try. Lastly is Tobin-James, that I put into the "fun" or "delicious" wine category as a brand, and their 100% Tannat is a great drinking wine.

I knew that Tannat was the major red grape in Uruguay, of all places, but I wasn't aware that it was much planted in the US. I wonder what Tobin-James does to make it "fun", since it's famously tannic -- maybe micro-oxigenation or carbonic maceration?