Impressions 7-13-21

Wine impressions 7-13-21

2016 Vincent, Pinot Noir Armstrong Vnyd. - as always, structure, fruit, savory, symmetry and silken textures. No bottle of Vincent Pinot goes unfinished at our house. Very fine.

2017 Vincent, Pinot Noir Armstrong Vnyd. - ditto

2008 Bernard, Savagnin Cotes du Jura Les Chassagnes - dull color, dull aroma, dull flavors. Not a bad wine but not it’s best showing. Thanks Jon.

2010 Cowan Cellars, Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast - the nose is a bit stinky but the texture is gossamer silk and the flavors are delicate and nuanced. I could ask for better aromas but the rest was all I could hope. Hellenthal Vineyard fruit.
A second bottle opened several days later had none of the stink and all of the silk.
And a third bottle was stinky.
‘Looks like a dice roll to me.

1996 Montevertine, le Pergole Torte - secondary development, firm structure, more weight than expected, excellent concentration and good balance. Just entering mid-life with decades to go. It’s not often I care about Sangiovese but this was exceptional. Thanks Jon.

2015 Cruse Wine, Sparkling Valdiguie Pet. Nat. - fun, fresh, showing no signs of age and quaffable but not more. Under crown cap.

2019 Birichino, Cinsault Bechthold Vineyard - lightweight, precise, balanced and a joy to drink. Few wines give so much and require so little; easy street.
Opened a second bottle a week later - there is a savory, lightly gritty texture that is in perfect balance with the fruit and structure. I haven’t had many stand alone Cinsault but there is little doubt this one is a benchmark for the variety. Reminds me of Cru Beaujolais with a little age on it.

2019 Birichino, Chardonnay Peter Martin Ray Vineyard - a dry-farmed, head trained vineyard at elevation (500m) with elevage in one neutral puncheon and one new half barrel, and then placed in tank for several months prior to bottling. While the new oak is evident now, it is not overwhelming nor does it obscure some deeply concentrated but tight fruit. The transfer to tank ‘tightens up” the wine and is something I’ve seen done at Ceritas, et al; building a wine to age.
This deserves and I hope to give it no less than 5 years in the cellar before opening another. We’ll see.
My ventures into CA chard are rare but this vineyard and producer are of interest.
Disjointed with too much oak on day two.

2019 Cos, Frappato - the victim of expectations; having often had Frappato from this producer and his student, Occhipinti, I had a standard in mind. This was less than; not a bad wine but not up to past glories. Even so, good with short ribs. Thanks John.

2004 Dauvissat, Chablis les Preuses - quiet nose of lemon oil and flint; rich, dense and vividly intense with a slight touch of oxidation; length that rides on acid. Still has time to go in the cellar but shows Preuses as well as any producer and the intensity here is hard to match. ‘Hell of a wine. And killer with cheese soufflé. Thanks Jon.

2018 Cowan Cellars, Ribolla Gialla - direct press/without skin contact; effusive nose of white fruit; balanced, clean and fresh. Probably the wine most representative of its AVA (Russian River Valley) and variety I have tasted. Very easy to drink.

Best, jim

Jim - I have one bottle left of your 2010 Pinot from Bennett Valley. Likely in a similar state of development (though hopefully not stinky)?

That wine has not survived well. Intense and fruity early it has come apart over the years.
But . . . you never know.
No great wines, only great bottles.

I drank up both my Bennett Valleys and my Sonomas in the last couple of years. I only had a couple left of each. I found them too fruit forward for my tastes at first. But they aged beautifully by around age nine or ten. I don’t know if I was lucky to miss the stink by finishing them up a year ago or just lucky.

So we’ll stated . . .

One of the most exasperating things I found was that most of my wines require age.
Early on, they’re all fruit or all structure. In time, they seem so much better.
-sigh-
Best, jim

Nothing wrong with wines needing age. It’s just hard to know at the outset. And, now, the knowledge doesn’t have much use except for those of us who have the few wines there are. Maybe, when we know fully how they’ll age, they’ll all become Raymond Trollat unicorns.

Have you thought about making sparklers?

The best dry white I’ve had in forever was a sparkling Ribolla Gialla from a cooperative in Slovenia.

Although the guys I’ve talked to in Virginia, who didn’t have access to automated machinery for rotating the bottles, seemed to think that turning thousands of bottles by hand is a pretty excellent way to get every manner of repetitive motion disorder throughout your upper body.

But I suppose you could cheat and just treat each batch with bottled CO2.

Nathan,
‘Out of the biz.
Best, jim

Oh man, I hadn’t heard about that.

Are you gonna drink your remaining stash yourself, or are you still selling any product?

I do not have a license any more so can not sell.
If you drop by, we can open at will.
And 6 months out of the year I’ll be in the high country of NC.
Best, jim

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Jim,

I hope you continue to post your “Impressions” because I find them invaluable.

Best, alan

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