2006 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin "En Remilly" 3 of 9

This in many respects was the wine of the tasting for me. The price is 1/3 or less the two wines that finished ahead of it, but it was their equal.

Lovely strong pear-lemon nose, full flavor through the entire sip and classic Burgundy mineral flavors. Rich in flavor, with a bit more oak than the first three, but still bone dry and not at all prevalent oak flavor. Very nice wine. Would be great with a nice white fish.

Bottle $39.99, taste $4.

Back in awhile.

leh

2006 Oliver Leflaie Saint-Aubin "En Remilly" 7 of 9

Started with a nose of fruit, again predominantly apple. The first taste was flat. Cleared my palate again, and waited awhile to try it. The second sip was much more open. Also the nose had added some floral elements, which were nice. I would be interested in what this wine would do over an hour or two.

Bottle $39.99, taste $4.

Back in awhile.

leh

2006 Chateau Fuisse - Pouilly Fuisse "Les Brules" 5 of 9

Again a fresh apple nose, sweeter than the Xavier. The wine started slow but ended with a very polished finish of pear flavor and a bit of lemon.

Bottle $49.95, taste $5.


Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Xavier Monnot - Monthelie "Les Duresses" 8 of 9

Nice nose of fresh apple, tasted more of sour apple. Very tight and dry, not very minerally.

Bottle $39.99, taste $4.

Back in awhile.

leh

White Burgundy Tasting Notes -- Next Nine Posts

Went to the Beltramo's White Burgundy Tasting Saturday. These were all well regarded wines and you will see by the price points that they should be good for the price. Beltramo's has a simple set up for tasting. I don't make it all that often, but do make it once in awhile. In my experience the wines are well chosen with a range of price and flavor given the category. For a flight of 8-10 wines, the cost is between $50 and $80, but you can buy individual wines if you do not want to go for the whole flight. Also, since the expensive wines are often $15 to $20 per taste, you can drop the cost of the tasting to $30 by omitting one or two wines.

Format wise, I was not sure whether to put all these wines into a single post or split them up. I am going to start with this approach. They will all be pretty short notes. I will put the order of Finish in each Post Title. Just to be clear, I don't think the random finish in wines in a mixed tasting like this means all the much, but people alwasy want to know, what did you like best? So you will know.

Back in awhile.

leh

2004 Argyle Pinot Noir Nuthouse

This is a silky, black fruit, berry mostly, very long finishing Pinot. Great tasting fruit. It would be great with a lamb, or even a bit of spicy sausage. I have been drinking Oregon Pinot Noirs for awhile now. They are not every day for me as the price points, like this one tend to be over $30. This one was $42 or so at Safeway with the 10% half case discount. The good ones tend to be in the under $50 price point, rather than the under $30 price point that you can find for the California Pinot from Sonoma or Santa Barbara area.

Link to Argyle Winery online. Picture is of the 2005, but 2004 looks the same.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Pozzo Bacio Divino Red Blend

So this is a another fruit basket. I was eating some fresh cherries while drinking this (after a tasty stew) and the wine had almost the same powerful fruit as the cherries. It was, however, much better balanced and structured (than the cherries) with nice sweet tannins, and went really well with the stew. It is mostly sangiovese, with a bit of cabernet and a splash of petite sirah and some other stuff. Maybe that is why it had the power punch flavor I tasted. It would be great with a tasty sausage pasta.

Link to the Bacio Divino website

Back in awhile.

leh

Drink Red Wine -- Live Longer

A piece on the health benefit of red wine ran in The New York Times yesterday. It is pretty scholarly, although the volumes they discuss seem to be well beyond the capability of any wine drinkers I know. Entertaining nonetheless.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Chante Cigale Chateauneuf du Pape

My nose is playing tricks on me. When I take a whiff of this wine it gives a raspberry jam, but when I taste it the flavor is much heavier. It tastes of earth and dark currant and blackberry, not the lighter flavor of raspberry. I had this wine from 2003 and it was a real find. This one is less outstanding, even as it delivers a very workman Chateauneuf. My standard in this space is the Chateau de Beaucastel. It is of course at the top. This sits nicely in the 80% range. I don't think I will buy any more of this, but it was nice for a try.

A new feature will be trying to provide a link to the producers website, Chante Cigale. Plus a special item tonight, the Wikipedia entry on Chateauneuf du Pape which I think is pretty good even as it is brief, they of course include the dashes, Chante Cigale does not.

Tonight Barack Obama won the Democratic Nomination for President. While it had been a foregone conclusion for some time, tonight was the night when even the Clinton's knew that the race was moving on. I don't know that I will vote for him, but I am still proud that my country has been able to make this transition and applaud him for his effort as well.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 LaBoure-Roi Bourgogne Blanc

A very light, not too fancy french Chardonnay. It really is an everyday drinking wine for the reasonable price of $13. However, the folks at K&L are selling it with a bit of White Burgundy blood lines, suggesting it is a class or two above where it is selling. All in all, it taste fine and certainly very drinkable, especially for the price and compared to what else is around for that price point. But, and there is a but, if you mixed it in with any of the more refined and well made (better oak, etc.) it really would not stand up to the competition in my view.

A bit of selling going on around this bottle.


Back in awhile.

leh