TNs: Poker wines, including '99 Monbousquet

[Michael Malinoski]

One of our recent regular poker games took place at Zach’s house, with the wines supplied by Kyle. Only the opening wine was served non-blind, with the rest served in organized flights of two.

2009 Château d'Oupia Minervois Rosé. This is kind of light and tight on the nose, with gentle aromas of strawberry, pink grapefruit, chalk and mineral. The palate is a mirror of the nose, with gentle strawberry, dark grapefruit, raspberry and flint flavors that are light to medium in weight. I would like a bit more lift and energy on the finish, but otherwise this is pleasant sipping.

Flight 1:

2009 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches. This is quite youthful and raw-smelling to me, with brambly wild berry scents leading the way and accented by brown spice, toasted stem and dark chocolate notes. It’s pretty unevolved on the palate, as well—with grippy flavors of dark blueberry fruit, oak shavings and tar opening up just a little toward the end but never really unleashing much. Give this time.

2009 Domaine du Vissoux Pierre-Marie Chermette Brouilly Pierreux. This is maybe just a bit bigger and broader on the nose, but otherwise still straightforward with aromas of smoky wild mountain berries, mushrooms and toasted stems. In the mouth, it’s pithy and gently sweet, with blueberries, huckleberries and soft toasty barrel spice flavors that are a bit more open and giving and also more interestingly woven together at this stage. The sticky dark finish isn’t particularly tannic, but the wine still feels quite young.

Flight 2:

2001 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey St Denis 1er Cru Les Faconnières. This is much fresher and livelier on the nose--with overt aromas of lavender soap, soft leather, zesty sour cranberry and something pervasive underneath like cilantro that reinforces that soapy lavender scent for me. In the mouth, it’s tangy and juicy-fruited with unadulterated cranberry and black cherry fruit flavors coming right forward. It has good life and lift and is made in a bursting and refreshing style, with an increasingly savory finish that’s quite pleasant.

2005 Nicolas Potel Savigny-lès-Beaune Vieilles Vignes. This wine presents a darker, denser nose of fudgy dark berries, dark chocolate, black leather and alpine flowers that is pretty darned enjoyable and inviting. In the mouth, it’s round, fleshy and generous in texture and body, delivering plenty of plump blueberry and blackberry fruit flavors to go along with bits of toasted herbs and green notes. The alcohol is a bit elevated now and again but that seems to integrate more with time. Indeed, the wine in general gets better the longer you stay with it. It could maybe use a bit more freshening acidity, but give it a little more time to see where it goes.

Flight 3:

2001 Domaine Tempier Bandol. This wine presents a fairly big and blocky bouquet of black currants, dark berries, toasted herbs, chocolate, dark earth and jalapeno pepper aromas. In the mouth, it’s a lot more giving-- loaded with carob nut, blackberry, chocolate, and black Necco wafer sorts of flavors on a fairly large-framed structure. It’s a bit chewy in texture, but delivers a rather lasting finish. It has some nice highlights, to be sure, but is a little inconsistent at this stage of the game.

2001 Domaine Tempier Bandol Cuvée Spéciale La Tourtine. On the other hand, this is a really nice wine all around and one that’s drinking quite well. It’s delightful on the nose, showing off lovely and caressing old-world aromas of spiced leather, green tobacco leaf, dirt mound and creamy black and blue fruit. You can tell that it’s cut from the same cloth as the previous wine when it comes to the palate, but it just delivers more of everything (and in all the best ways). It’s lush and plush, oozing with tasty blue-black fruit, faint wood and earth tones. It’s wonderfully ripe but also layered, finely-wrought, and quite long. There are some gentle tannins still kicking around, but this is an extremely tasty wine definitely worth opening now. It was one of my top 2-3 wines of the day.

Flight 4:

2001 Enrico Santini Bolgheri Montepergoli. This is a fun wine to sniff, as it effortlessly wafts out of the glass with scents of eucalyptus, peppermint dust, cedar shingles, vanilla paste and sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit. Yeah, it’s obviously oaked but I like how it pulls you right in without really overdoing it. In the mouth, it’s quite seamless and creamy in texture, but has plenty of brightness and lift at the same time. It flows along with utter ease as the sweet black currant, blueberry and soft spice flavors draw you in. It’s not all that complicated, but it’s pure and giving and tasty. I enjoyed it.

2001 Terrabianca Campaccio Selezione Riserva Toscana IGT. This is big, bold and powerful on the nose, with aromas of scorched earth, fudge, licorice, pomegranate and an odd sort of brown bread note that’s unusual but distinctive. In the mouth, it again has that pomegranate and citrus juiciness but also loads of big, luscious black fruit and some major tannins. At the end of the day, it’s maybe just a bit much for my palate to take, and I think I’d rather try it again in another few years.

Flight 5:

1999 Vérité La Muse Sonoma County. According to our host, this and the next wine had been decanted about 8 hours earlier. I like the nose of this first wine a whole lot, as it’s a very nice combination of earthy scents like leather, dirt pile, white pepper, tomato plant, menthol and jalapeno pepper together with much fruitier notes of gently candied kirsch, currant and cranberry fruit. It really works. In the mouth, it’s more obviously modern or international in style, but totally creamy delicious. The flavors of red currants, raspberries and sweet cherry are lush and plush, totally polished and easy-flowing. Every once in a while I sense a fun accent like a bit of sassafras or brown spice to go along with a surprisingly bright slash of acidity. It’s packed with luscious flavor, and it has great life, energy and sheen to it. I drank a fair bit of this and enjoyed every sip.

1999 Château Monbousquet St. Émilion. Here we find a very slick, sleek torpedo of blackness on the nose, with slinky and tightly spherical aromas of blackberry, black currant, black leather, asphalt, ash, gunmetal and cedar. In the mouth, it’s super-pasty, texturally thick and sticky, but with tons of energy, drive and presence. It features black fruit, dark toast and earth tones that are taut and manly and sinewed. It’s definitely on the young side and built for those who like a cool dark profile. I liked this a good deal, but suggest giving it a few more years.

After hours:

2005 Domaine des Croix Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. This is rather boisterous and berry-laden on the nose, with a ton of oak, sweet cherry, wild red berry, brown stem and dried sweat aromas really popping out of the glass. It’s tart and puckering on the palate, with cranberry and mixed raspberry fruit framed by a big swath of oak and vanilla. It’s got a lot of fruit, a lot of acidity and a lot of wood. Stash it in the cellar for a while.

2005 Bodegas y Viñedos de Murcia Jumilla Pico Madama. I can’t say I have a lot of positives to say about this particular wine. It is thick and pushy and a bit goopy and alcoholic on the nose. It’s all oak and toast and straightforward big red fruit. In the mouth, it features a ton of glycerin character and lots of mocha and chocolate powder flavors riding atop sweet cherry fruit. It’s round and easy but simple and overly alcoholic. I just can’t make any connection with it, as it seems completely anonymous and obvious to me.


-Michael

[Nicklasss]

Nice selection, like always. I personnally like a lot Domaine du Vissoux wines, especially the 2009, but agree that they can take many minutes in the décanter or years in the cellar. Even the Fleurie needs 7-10 years...

So, Vérité is a real producer of real great wines?

Nic

[Michael Malinoski]

Nic, I don't know much at all about Verite, other than that I have now had this 1999 La Muse twice (last time in early 2009) and have liked it a lot both times. I can't speak for their other wines or vintages, sorry!

-Michael

[AlexR]

I tasted Vérité with Pierre Seillan at Château Lassègue in Saint-Emilion (also owned by the Jess Jackson family) in 2011 and was very impessed.
Not some whopping big, opaque, top-heavy wine at all.
Grace, power, and elegance.

Alex R.

[dstgolf]

Verite holds a special place in our hearts. We were in Palm Springs and this was the early peak of our wine enthusiasm. Costco was still carrying high end wines at great prices and one of our first stops on the way to our timeshare was Costco. Initially in the hunt for great Bordeaux but 99 la Muse and la Joie were there on sale for$29 a bottle!! The writeup was fabulous and at 97pts each we took two of each to have during the week. Wow, wow, wow! They were both phenomenal and we couldn't believe the price. Ended up smuggling 6 of each in my golf bag and suitcase on the way home. What a steal. At the time Verite never had any of their own grapes and were just buyers,blending and making this stuff. My understanding they now have their own vineyards and prices have risen accordingly with their success. Ridiculously expensive here at $329/bottle for recent releases. Haven't had any in years but that 99 was sure sexy....every last drop. Too bad we drank this as house wine as it was drinking so well and we never thought of laying it down. Glad to hear that it's still bringing joy to the palate.

[JimHow]

The 1999 Monbousquet inspired my (in)famous Kathleen-Turner-In-Body-Heat note.
Sounds like that hot, high alcohol fruit bomb has settled down.
And it sounds like the wine is doing well too...

[Michael Malinoski]

Was Kathleen a cross-dresser in that film??