You know how some wine nights are just so magical? People bring wonderful bottles and you post on Instagram and Facebook and you get a million likes and everyone is like, oh, you lucky bastard, you live so well, ooh ooh ooh, please invite me next time. Now imagine the exact opposite and you get the night we had. Even the wine glasses conspired against us, the unclean, dusty heathens.
Basically, we are talking about terribly corrupted wines here. Every fucking kind of defect you can imagine. A Gruaud-Larose with so much brett you could use the bottle as compost. Another Bordeaux laced with TCA, but not obvious TCA, but rather ninja TCA, the TCA that ruins the wine in stealth mode and you only notice after intense concentration. These are ordinary faults, however, compared to a bottle of Bruno Giacosa, Barbaresco, Rabaja, 1998 whose decrepitude challenges my language skills, insulting with aromas that bludgeon and harass and flavors as appealing as cold pea soup.
At least we started off with two wines that I guarantee will make you smile.
Quita de S. Jose (Joao Brito e Cunha), Duoro, Flor de S. Jose, 2015
David Bar Ilan brought this from a trip to Portugal. An excellent purchase. I found the winery site. I'm not sure if the name is Joao Brito e Cunha or Quita de S. Jose, and the Cellar Tracker community is also undecided on the subject, so I went with both. The nose is very interesting and appealing, white fruit laced with minerals, indulging in a funky kink. The palate is tasty, less complex than the nose, very moreish due to its fresh acidity. The winery site says it's a blend of Viosinho, Rabigato and Gouveio, and I should remember to use that arcane fact if I run out of small talk topics at the next winery event I attend.
Francois Villard, Côte Rotie, Le Galllet Blanc, 2012
Now that I think about it, this group, we've been drinking together for two or three years, and no one has ever brought a north Rhone wine that failed to please. Not one! So, thanks for the save, Mister Pick! This has languidly ripe fruit with a sharp tannic bite at the finish, generously complementing the fruit with black pepper, violets, the works. Simply palate ravishing, even at its young age.
Hudelot-Noellet, Chambolle-Musigny, 2014
The character, even down to the specific character of the floral veil, is more Gevrey than Chambolle. other than that, this is a good village wine.
Garrigue, by the way, is doing just fine, great in fact, excellent food and atmosphere, and you should all go there on a regular basis.
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