winereactionsarethenewtrend - 49er super bowl run edition

sated and given the plethora of french wines, duly soporifique!
all wines track within the usual 91-96 cellartracker range unless otherwise marked.

25 November : 2002 Lafarge Clos des Chênes
delightful mix of mature but still vibrant big fruited and rural Lafarge complex power. balanced but could still lay away for further softening of the tannins and resolve some of the sweetness. one of the best 2002 Burgundies I have had, a vintage that we often remark upon as simple and too rich for their own good, but recall that we are Lafarge fanboysandgirls.

23 November : 2002 Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg
yes, oxidized to the hilt today, 3 days after a glorious experience on the denoted day of initial consumption. Even Wife remarked how perfect it was upon initial sampling. incredible balance. truly seamless. striking orange color with mild honey and appley / peary / citrusy fruit (although i am not good with fruit flavors). sweetness present but again no component speaking out of turn. marvelous wine even despite being prematurely oxidized by the 26th but no oxidation hints on the 23rd. mayhap the best demi-sec ever.

20 November : 1991 Gentaz-Dervieux Cuvée Réservée Côte Brune
downed with alacrity along with our 3 month ripened duck leg confit. really really good. silky smooth and urbane but powerful fruit asserting itself as if to say i might be a bit long in the tooth but i still pack a punch. the 1988 is my Broadbent 6 star wine, but this is easily 4 star and probably really 5 star as one has so much expectation when opening your last Gentaz with friends (sorry Brad).
a wonderful counterpoint to the feral signature of the 1998 Verset documented below. a hold was put on for a 1991 Lemenciere that Douglas brought, which of course led to reminiscing and dropping names like the time I met Mssr. Verset outside his house and how we bought so many of these Cornas pantheon wines from David Schildknecht back in the day. and then naturally seguing to the time I was the Oakland Athletics’ team doctor for a few games and hung out with Joe Morgan in the locker room and chatted and chewed over the lunch spread and became best friends forever which i think was truly true even though he never called me back after my leaving messages daily for 3 months but he is a busy man!

20 November : 1998 Noël Verset Cornas
a bit more brambly black fruit forward style for this prototypical meaty / floral Verset wine (and throw in the olives and pepper while you’re at it), but does not diminish another exceptional offering from him. One blinded taster guessed a warm year prior to data entry and thought it had a bit of California going for it (heaven and Verset forfend!). stylistically quite a different expression of syrah compared to Gentaz, but just as dang good.

20 November : 1996 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese
Salil on cellartracker writes : “high wire act of intense sweetness and amazing acidity. There’s amazing depth, complexity and persistence to the flavours here, and it’s a really captivating, thrilling wine.” can’t improve on his take.
perfect fit with the Cardamom Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake per Mary and she never misses a beat.

20 November : 2018 Eric Bordelet Poiré Granit
not as purely delineated pear fruit as before, but still did the trick of welcoming folks to the luncheon. very good but i liked previous renditions more, but then again i was expecting the purity …

18 November : 2010 Pépière Clos de Morines Ch“teau Thébaud
another winner. not my favorite Pépière as it seemed a bit foursquare but good apples and acid. but this is being picky, as it was a fine wine bringing happy to our table.

13 November : 1989 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Collina Rionda
mature and for my preference a bit too much fruit has left it. fruit is cherry with balsamico like sweetness and poster child for what you expect from a grand Barolo cloaked in the royal robes. tannins resolved and very similar to the Gentaz in mouth feel. deeply concentrated, languishing on the palate. super duper good but not my fave Giacosa. but liked it well enough to save the empty bottle for my red wine vinegar.

11 November : 2014 François Pinon Vouvray Les Déronnières
not only is this one of the best ever Pinon wines, it is one of the best chenin blancs we have ever had(period) not reaching demi-sec sweetness but not dry. amazing balance of fruit and acidity, tippy toeing over the palate. the proverbial float like a butterfly… like the Huet above, a wine that knows it is good and gives you a little smile back and a demure nod of the head when you offer your wildly over the top compliments. a wine content in its’ shoes and asking nothing more of you than to simply enjoy without a blaring of trumpets announcing its’ arrival.

10 November : 2014 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Les Monts Damnés
did anyone make a white Loire Valley wine short of great in 2014?. a touch of the grassiness that i dislike in sauvignon blanc but easily subsumed under the mineral and fruit filled wine. excellent acidity lends to a fresh and delineated wine. again, a finely balanced wine.

oh my gosh. this has been a good month. go niners.
thank you for reading!

Great notes, particularly on the Gentaz and Verset. I do wonder, however, what your friend meant by the Verset ‘had a bit of California in it’? I’d love to have a CA Syrah in the style of Verset!

Shocked also to see the '89 Giacosa Collina Rionda already faded - would assume another 20 years of life in that, minimum!

thank you Todd.
The blinded wine had a riper fruit contribution than one might expect for Verset, hence Taster’s thought about California wine. Taster knew it was French even though blinded as Taster knows what to expect when invited to our house for duck confit and roasted garlic mashed potatoes (see recipe in Dean Fearing’s The Mansion on Turtle Creek, p. 110). I rarely blind people on wine as it can be a silly game that detracts from just enjoying the wine. But all the guests knew the other decanter housed the Gentaz, and my little joke was that the blinded wine was from a friend of mine (well, I did meet him once!). Taster, who was also responsible for the flourless chocolate cake, which was as one might expect tasty, identified the wine as an older wine but from a warm vintage. Taster was not casting aspersions on California wine, as that might drive winemaker husband to backtrack on the wedding aisle as well as severely diminish her reputation and cred as sales person for said winery, rather merely noting the more upfront fruit.
so yes, we can agree that a California wine in the spirit of a Verset would not be a bad thing.
The nebbiolo was not gone faded. i was trying to parse words by saying it is not my preference to see the fruit having lost this much. I surmise that Barolo Boys like Todd and J Dub, if lunching with us that day, would still give this wine > 98.6 points. and i would understand and not dispute. I just like a bit more life, more like favoring being 55 years old than being 70 years old. and even less interested in the wine when it reaches 80 years old, although it can easily get there and still be appreciated with fanfare and acclaim.
if a personal score is demanded on these 2 wines, each would be a 3 on my 4 point scale (0-3), although Broadbent exceptions are made for wines like the 1988 Gentaz which is in the heavens and beyond being just a wine and thus a 4. the “4” category is appropriately limited to 4 bottles, and it will come as no surprise to you that this list is now comprised of 5 wines.

That’s quite a run of fantastic wines. Verset and Muller-Catoir (through 2001) are in my pantheon of heroes, and any evening with one of their wines can be magical. (Gentaz I suppose would be, too, but I’ve only ever tasted it once.)

yes, quite an interesting run. not always like this. inspired by niners super bowl run?