TNs: Trio at the Tavern

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Michael Malinoski
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TNs: Trio at the Tavern

Post by Michael Malinoski »

It was fun to connect with two of my friends recently for dinner at the Tavern, where we ate some delicious food and shared some really excellent wines on a Thursday night.

1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. This has super-fine bubbles and a thoughtful, contemplative nose of honey, ginger, baked apple, lemon peel, nougat and copper that show fine concentration. In the mouth, it’s elegant and refined, with a lithe and sappy texture to the gently sweet-toned flavors of lemon, apple, ginger, vanilla and light honey. It has a mellow ease I like, but it could use a bit more length and persistence.

2012 Domaine Guerrin Pouilly-Fuissé La Maréchande. The nose here is not shy, showing plenty of overt and driven scents of lime zest, seashells, chalk, salt air, apple and herbs. In the mouth, it has good drive and a nice sense of cut and balance to the flavors of apple, pear, lemon, chalk, mineral and sea foam that are giving and tangy. It’s tasty now, but it didn’t show all that well after a night in the fridge, so I’m tempted to say drink it on the young side.

2011 Jacques Puffeney Trousseau Arbois Les Berangères. This is crisp and crunchy on the nose, gently feral, but always cool and stony with its taut aromas of cranberry, sour cherry, granite, hard leather, rawhide leather and fireplace ash. In the mouth, it’s quite similar. It features clean, crunchy acidity, with great lift and transparency to the pure cranberry, cranapple and mineral flavors. There are definitely some sticky tannins clinging to the inside of the cheeks, but it’s an honest wine that’s totally enjoyable right now and for the foreseeable future.

1999 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses. We ended up decanting this for about 90 minutes, which seemed to really help it open up. Indeed, by the time I pour it, it smells delightfully old-fashioned and savory—giving up wonderful scents of leather jacket, tobacco, sous bois undergrowth, black cherry, sassafras and just a bit of sweaty horse. In the mouth, it’s dry-edged and earthy, with some slightly aggressive tannin surrounding the enjoyable core flavors of cool blackberry, black cherry, sarsaparilla and black tea. There’s hidden depth here and a nice sappy texture, and while I enjoy drinking it now, it should be better in 3 to 5 years.

1997 L'Ecosse Pinot Noir Rochioli Vineyard Russian River Valley. This is a bit dusty and musty off the top, and generally a bit funky throughout with aromas of eucalyptus, plum, blueberry, birch and cedar chest. In the mouth, it’s clearly mature and probably past its best years, but I do like the plum, blueberry and funky earth flavors. Two of us like it pretty decently, but there was one strong detractor.

1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The bouquet here is truly outstanding after about an hour of air, featuring tremendous aromatics of old leather, tobacco leaf, rusty nail, dusty dry earth, multi-vitamin, dark spices, dried cherries, red currants, cassis and just the right amount of that Beaucastel funk. In the mouth, it displays easy balance, effortless weight, tremendous intensity and great length. Cherry, strawberry, earth and spice flavors have a nice tang and lead to a long and lively finish. This is a treat to drink all around.

2000 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Paso Robles. This is dense and smoky on the somewhat rough-hewn nose, with lots of herbal and peppery aromas to go with leather, graphite and cinnamon accents. In the mouth, it’s moderately full-blown, with zesty and outgoing flavors of black cherry, black raspberry, toasted herbs and spices. It’s a little higher-toned in alcohol than I’d ideally like, though, so I didn’t particularly love it.

1971 Rene Schmidt Gewurztraminer Mandelkreuz. Here one encounters super-rich aromas of prune, fig paste, Frangelico, honey, candied apple, praline, burnished nectarine, lavender and botrytis spices that are just really fun to sniff. In the mouth, though, it’s rather advanced, too flat and overly acidic, with tough flavors of almond and not much fruit stuffing. Despite the fun, exotic bouquet, it’s just dead on the palate, sadly.


-Michael
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Michael-P
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Re: TNs: Trio at the Tavern

Post by Michael-P »

Did I count 8 bottles among 3 people? That's stamina!

Nice TNs. I would be a strong detractor of the L'Ecosse. Too bad about the 71, especially with it's aromatic advertisements.

Michael-P
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