Trumped up TN's from casual dinners at home

[Michael Malinoski]

These are morphed notes from a couple of casual dinners at home with my family over the past month or so.

2005 Domaine Houchart Cotes de Provence Rose. This wine features a nose of citrus-tinged strawberries, kiwi fruit and raspberry Razzle candies allied to stony mica minerality. Flavors of strawberries, tangy lemon slices, watermelon and steel are overt, open and rounded. There is plenty of body and soft acidity to keep it feeling fun and moderately fresh. The finish isn’t as long as I recall from bottles of this consumed earlier in its life, but this is hanging on pretty well, I would say.

2006 Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico. Aromatically, this opens with notes of worn leather, grilled pepper, meat and game before yielding to its sweet core of raspberry jam and weedy cherry fruit. In the mouth, it is too tough and young right now. It starts out tarry and smoky, with some rough-hewn acidity and chocolaty tannins. It does have a nice glossy texture and pleasantly cool fruit flavors in both the black and red spectrums. It just gets drier, darker and chewier with time and air, however, and it really seems to need some time to come out of its shell.

2003 Cimicky Shiraz Trumps Barossa Valley. My wife opened this one the night before and I only took a few sips off of her glass before deciding it was surprisingly compact and ungiving. However, the next night it shows considerably better, with a bouquet that slowly unfolds to reveal aromas of cool plums, blueberries, hard leather, mace and sweet creosote. It is easy-textured and languid in the mouth (and a bit unfocused at times), with an open character that supports plenty of warm and cool fruits both vying for attention. The finish is a bit too abrupt, as a surprising contingent of drying tannins come to the fore. Overall, though, it is a soft fruity style that improves next to a grilled steak, which seems to lend it more structure and all-around balance. For the $12 we paid, I have no regrets.

2006 Cimicky Shiraz Trumps Barossa Valley. This wine has soft, plush aromas of crumbled milk chocolate, mixed berry jam, soft cedar shavings, burnt embers and sweet vanilla. It is a bit simpler in the mouth, but with a nice juiciness to the cherry pie, chocolate powder and wild blueberry flavors. A bit of heat and some slightly bitter tannins on the finish ought to come around with a bit of short-term cellaring. Right now, it is a bit of a summer chugger—with the promise of greater complexity in a few years.

2007 Domaine les Grands Bois Cotes du Rhone Cuvee les Trois Soeurs. This pours very dark purple in color. It features initial aromas of candied apple that slowly morph into a much darker pool of jammy blue and purple fruit accented by cracked black pepper and burning wood embers. In the mouth, this is a luscious chug of wine. It is medium- to full-bodied and a touch gobby at times, with the glycerin really coating the glass. However, it has a nice savory quality to it, with flavors of beef jerky, smoky BBQ to go along with the jammy purple fruit. There’s a hint of warmth here, too, suggesting that this would be better off spending some time in the cellar. However, there is not a whole lot of tannic presence, so I wouldn’t expect very long-term drinking to be in the offing, either.

2006 Château de Segries Lirac Cuvee Reservee. This is a dense, purple color. It has a perfumed nose of strong creosote, dried fruit and nuts, sweet cherry compote and incense. In the mouth, it again shows off a sort of Christmas fruitcake mix of flavors, but with a warmer personality that is a bit chunky and rustic. A good deal of mildly drying tannins rise above the warm fruit the longer one stays with it, but a nice shot of acidity also comes forward to freshen up the finish and help keep it rather persistent. On day 2, the alcohol is starting to poke out and one gets the overall sense that this needs 2 or 3 years in the cellar before trying again.

N.V. Peller Estates Ice Cuvee Classic Andrew Peller Signature Series. This is an interesting sparkling wine where icewine is used for the dosage. The nose is redolent of brioche and spiced apple tart, with a touch of light mineral dust, as well. In the mouth, it is rather creamy-textured with a very nice weight and sense of life on the tongue. Flavors of hazelnut, vanilla wafer cookies, apple tart, brioche and something sort of like pickled ginger are really interesting, with just a hint of nutty sweetness through the mid-palate before the wine seems to turn essentially dry on the balanced, easy finish. The dusty hazelnut and vanilla wafer flavors get a bit ponderous for me on the second glass, but this is still a nice surprise in terms of its overall composition and poise. It is a really fine pairing with strawberry shortcake.

-Michael

[Jon Burdick]

Michael - you have a diverse palate. Thanks for the notes.

I've been interested in trying the '06 Felsina Rancia after enjoying the '04 version early after release (it is in a muted stage now). From your notes, it sounds like '06 Felsinas may take time to come around.

[Michael Malinoski]

Jon, I am always amazed at the longevity of the Felsina Chiantis. I recently had their top Chianti from 1994 (not the most powerful vintage) and felt that even that would be better in 3-5 years' time. Some of the younger ones, as you say, are downright shut tight.

-Michael