Re-entering Wine Society

It was a great night, although not necessarily a wine of great wines.

The Good Grower Champagne

Marguet, Montagne de Reims, Grand Cru, Les Crayeres, 2014

This is a small, bio-dynamic grower. According to Peter Liem's great book on Champagne, this wine is one of a selection of single-vineyard wines. The book describes is as 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, but according to the back label, it's now 100% Pinot Noir. It's fine, but still austere and mute at first, the fruit leaving the stage to the chalk and mushrooms that are the mousetrap for all Champagne lovers. I would love to explore more bottles or even a single one with one good friend.

The Trendy Disappointments

Thierry Germain, Saumur, l’Insolite, 2019

A new import by Bourgogne Crown, it's ripe without being sweet and, while there's plenty of minerals, there's little in the way of complexity or charm. Time might tell.

Domaine de la Grange des Peres, Vin de Pays de l’Hérault, 2016

The fruit is fresh and vital but it seems to place all its bets on reduction, While a touch of reduction can be a great thing if there's enough stuffing and complexity to back it up, it seems to be all there is to it, in the case of this wine. The Kermit Lynch site says "the skeptics [...] are currently eating their words", I just hope they're not accompanying that meal with this overrated, overpriced, overhyped bottle of 20 euro bistro fare.

The Israelis

We had a bottle of a small boutique that I've never really fancied, Savion, 2009, with a sweet, extracted nose and a palate that manages to be sweet and bitter at the same time, without any hint of charm. On the other hand, the Segal, Dishon, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2000 manages to defeat time and any bias against Israeli Cabs. It was never priced high enough to become a cult icon, nor was it ever really flashy enough to gain that kind of status through bombast. I remember it from back in the day, just a tasty wine with a sort of herbal complexity that turned into a mintiness over the years. I never figured it had two decades of life to it, but it drinks so balanced and lively that I wouldn't bank against its future. A huge surprise.

The Bordeaux

Chateau l’Eglise-Clinet, Pomerol, 2004 is the kind of wine that makes you wish Robert Parker had retired a decade earlier. One-dimensional richness of fruit without aim or purpose. The Chateau Leoville-Barton, Saint-Julien, 2me Cru, 2005, suffers from youth and nothing more. And arguably from being a product of warm, too generous vintage. A couple of hours is required to start denting any youthful excesses to show a glimpse of Left Bank character and the house's breed and elegance.

Modern Barolo

Sandrone, Barolo, le Vigne, 2004

If you love classic, old school Barolos, you might as well drink this up now. Time won't improve it for you, anyway (but the sooner you drink it, the sooner you can start forgetting it). The thing about classic Piemonte Nebbiolo-based wines, is you want to work with the tannins, as opposed to smoothing them out, because so much of the charm of these wines lies in the texture of the tannins and the rust/spices they provide.