Another blind tasting and I guess it showed.
Francois Jobard, Mersault, "En La Barre", 2002
At first, the nose showed signs of oak, albeit tucked in behind elegant mineral notes but the palate was attenuated and the fruit hidden a veil of oak, with a short, bitter finish. A voice in my head was saying, "you opened this way too early". But the voice wasn't just in my head, it was also the voice of my friends 'round the table. After an agonizing hour, however, the "En La Barre"'s nose blossomed into an amazing, pure essance of flinty minerals, and the palate fleshed out nicely and spaked up all the oak. So I gather it will never be a particularly fruity wine but rather a very dry, elegant, minerally wine in about three years. God knows when my bottle of Genevrieres 2002 will be ready.
Dauvissat, Chablis, 2005
A brain teaser. No one guessed Burgundy in the first round, a sole voice said Chardonnay and I wish it was mine. At no point did anyone even mention Chablis. There were plenty of apples, some flowers, some oak murmuring in the background, but hardly any minerals, though they did come later on when we retasted the wine at the end of the evening. Another young white, with a tight palate right now, my guess is it will need two more years to transform into a Chablis and then it will rest on its laurels for a few years more.
Chateau Ormes De Pez, St. Estephe, 2003
I'm such a Bordeaux newbie sometimes I feel that the only thing I know about Bordeaux is that I like it. So when everyone said the wine was from a cool vintage, I thought it came from a ripe, though not an extremely hot, one - yet kept my mouth shut. Whatever, I did like it more when I tasted it at the Bordeaux 2003 tasting at WineRoute six months ago. It was rounder and more elegant now, but more interesting last time. And like last time, not a wine you'd pick to be a 2003.
Domaine de Colombier, Hermitage, 1996
A big, meaty, peppery wine, yet quite elegant for all that. Lovely, refreshing acidity and a long finish that does a figure-eight on your palate. If WineRoute had a suggestion box, I'd slip a note with the name "Colombier" on it.
Dauvissat and Jobard are imported to Israel by Tomer Gal, Les Ormes-De-Pez by WineRoute.
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