TN: A Graves and a Loire

TN: A Graves and a Jasnières.

A quiet Easter dinner with Korean-style braised beef short ribs and some cool wines.

2018 Pascal Janvier Cuvée du Silex Jasnières, Val du Loir
Distinctive flint within captivating aromatics with gentle tea notes. Bone dry, crisp minerality and acidity from meyer lemon and hints of manuka honey at every layer. Long, lip-smacking finish. B+

1985 Ch. Haut Bailly, Pessac-Leognan
Bottle stood up for 5 days and splash-decanted to pour out the settled gunk. Slightest hue of magenta-brick amidst dark ruby-red robe.
Herb, leather, menthol and all the classic mature-claret bouquet. Tasty layers of cherries, blackberries and meaty broth.
Complexity that sometimes hinted of aged fine Rioja or elegant Burgundy. Another of many Bdx85 that aged well and pleased. A-

I love the 1985 Haut Bailly. That was such an underrated era for that Château. Cheers!

I thought the next line was going to be “. . . walk into a bar.”

Good notes, Happy Easter.

Ramon, these will age nicely, too. The 2010 version is delicious, but still a touch young, for my taste.

Marshall: I’ve discovered and have been drinking these Jasnieres since the 2012 vintage, usually within a year of release, and have not had anything aged. Given the make-up and intensity of the wines, I won’t disagree with you that these can age nicely. I’ll be on the lookout for aged samples.

Thanks, Chris and William, for the positive encouragement with the TN.

As for Haut-Bailly, as far as I can recall the 2002 Haut-Bailly is the most recent vintage that I’ve drank. Without going back far into much older vintages, I’ve enjoyed the 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. Always kept me interested with the coolness of the fruit, some of the Graves herb notes, elegance with just the appropriate richness, and the always-restrained-but-sufficient fruit ripeness that I find in the wines.

I was outbid on a bottle of 1985 Haut Bailly on winebid about 2 weeks ago.

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen…”

Great note Ramon. I’ve got to find an 85 HB, have never had that vintage. Opened an 82 a few years back which was prefectly fine but outshone by some distinctly different company.

Hope you are doing well

It sounds like a great pairing. Loire Power! I was born in Muscadet from a winemaker family. I am always happy to see people drinking the Loire wines. Chenin is also one of my favorite white varietals - if you are into it as well, and if you have are not explored other Chenin from the Loire yet, I would suggest trying a Savennières. Of course, it is the home of Nicolas Joly, one of the pioneers in the development of Biodynamic technics applied to viticulture, but mainly, Savennieres is a wonderful terroir for Chenin Blanc, with 3 hills of schist and moderate climate still a bit influenced by the Atlantic ocean. The wines are delicate, fresh and mineral.

Janvier has been one of my hidden treasures for about fifteen years now. Love those wines.

I’m sorry to learn. I hope you get another opportunity. Fwiw, I have a 1970 H-B and can hold until we replicate the nice little Haut-Bailly vertical a couple of years back.

Doing well here, Faryan. I trust you’re well, as well.

As I responded to Jay, if we ever do another H-B vertical (I have 1970 and recent vintages) will loop you in.

Ramon

Thanks for the Savennières info and insight. I’ve had less than smattering of Savennières, mostly from Domaine du Closel and a couple of bottle experiences from Joly. Always on the lookout for opportunity to try more.

Nice. a little more upstream the river, Saumur white also does great Chenin Blanc. Chateau de Parnay is a great producer with a very interesting Cuvee, Clos d’entre les Murs. A clos with 11 walls built inside going east to west. The walls are perforated so that the foot of vine is north and branches and fruit grow south.

Nice pictures! We had a most unphotogenic ham casserole for Easter.

I would be up for a repeat. When this is all over. Maybe Keith Levenberg would come up. He has a thing for HB IIRC.

I remember the 1979 Haut-Bailly back then that was awesome.

This was then.

Hi Ramon -

I would be interested in a Haut Bailly vertical as well should this come to fruition but just be forewarned, all of my holdings are recent; 05, 06, 08, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 16. And I also wouldn’t be opposed to sourcing a btl with some age on it through Ben @ Cellaraiders or Mark @ Blacksmith should the need arise. And I can still taste that ‘79 from the same batch that Jay brought to that Graves dinner @ Sutton Inn back in Dec 2018 when Patrick was in town.

A fun night (though Jay’s CSH was my WOTN)
If we did redo I should be able to bring '66 or '00, or repeat the '88

I lost out on that one too.

I have a 79 HB with a good fill that I’d be happy to bring, if the timing could be made to work. I’ll be in nyc in the Fall, assuming travel is all back to normal by then.