TNs: Dinner party, with some Henri Bonneau CdP's

[Michael Malinoski]

My wife and I invited another couple over for dinner recently, and as is typical we managed to plow through a bunch of good wines with them by the end of the evening.

Sparkling and white wines:

1996 Fleury Pere & Fils Champagne Brut. We started off with this Champagne, which is showing lovely maturing aromas of honey, chopped nuts, apple cider, yeast and interesting waxy bits. It’s leesy, full and luxuriant on the palate, really expanding out to coat the entire inside of the mouth with fun and luscious flavors. I can’t say it’s a wine for those seeking pinpoint control or cutting acidity, but rather for those who wish to revel in yeasty apple, cherry, caramel and sweet cidery deliciousness. I really enjoy this, and for me, it tastes perfectly mature and ready to go.

2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes. This dark gold-colored wine features a bouquet that shows salted nut and sea brine salinity up front before folding in layers of steely mineral, wet river rock, apricot jam, honeydew melon, lime peel and crème brulee aromas that are fascinating and complex if a bit oxidative in nature at times. In the mouth, it’s a tough wine to get a handle on. It feels thick-boned and intensely-concentrated, but not all that fleshy. It sort of slides across the palate with a vinyl squeaky-clean texture that sometimes outpaces the flavors of cooked peaches, baked tree fruit, citrus, nuts and honey a bit too much. The body is certainly there, there’s just enough lift to keep it toned, and overall it’s just a thought-provoking and geeky wine to sit and contemplate, though I wouldn’t like to try and predict its future.

2005 Kistler Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard Sonoma Valley. This wine is effusive, vibrant and sexy-smelling right from the get-go, delivering silky but plush aromas of vanilla, sweet oak, toasted spice and rich yellow fruit but also lots of seashell, chalk, pea tendril and mossy scents that lend it a sense of layered complexity and subtle earthiness beneath the exuberant fruit and wood tones. In the mouth, it has great push and presence, with excellent length to the plush flavors of pear, apple, vanilla, chalk and toasted spices. Yes, it’s showing some oak influences but it never feels over the top or ponderous to any of us—in fact, it feels very nicely contained and finely-sculpted from start to finish.

Red wines:

1995 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier. Consistent with the other two times I’ve drunk this wine, the nose is utterly beguiling to sit and sniff—featuring enticing aromas of buffed saddle leather, toasted orange peel, lavender, herbs de Provence, dried cherries, sweet raspberries and kirsch riding atop subtle toasted bread notes. I can’t say enough about how much I love a bouquet like this! It’s maybe getting a little far along on the palate, but I’d have to say this is showing the best of the three bottles I’ve had—with mid-weighted, svelte and tangy flavors of cherries, strawberries and garrigue delivering a lovely Burgundian-styled drinking experience. It provides delightful drinking for sure, but I’d pull the cork on this sooner rather than later.

2001 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Although not quite as captivating as the 1995 Marie Beurrier, the 2001 basic cuvee is also sensational on the nose—delivering lovely aromas of kirsch, cherry paste, autumn leaves, dried lavender, tobacco and grilled herbs showing a lot of life and energy. On the palate, it really shines--exhibiting more weight and density, with a beautifully creamy texture and fine smooth edgings throughout the entire palate journey. It features pretty red fruit flavors of creamed cherries, kirsch and dried herbs to go along with clean earthy tones in a perfectly-balanced and fine-flowing package. Overall, it just feels pure, giving, juicy and delicious all around—drinking wonderfully now and for years to come, I’m sure.

2008 Tom Eddy Malbec Spanos Berberian (Pritchard Hill) Napa Valley. This was offered up blind by our guests. It’s an opaque dark purple color, and features intensely concentrated aromas of black olive, tire rubber, blackberry, smoked herb, birch and fudge brownie batter maybe showing a touch of reduction to my way of thinking. After the Bonneau wines, it just feels a bit blunt and obvious. And that profile continues onto the palate, where it delivers sweet, dense, rich flavors of blackberry, black currant, dark chocolate and fudge in a hard-packed, rigid profile that I just can’t warm up to on this night, I’m afraid.

Sweet wine:

2003 Studert-Prüm Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese ** Mosel Saar Ruwer. This was from a 375 ml bottle. Given the vintage and the pradikat, this wine is rather light and lilting on the nose, featuring airy aromas of white peaches, nectarine, candied pineapple, grapefruit, kiwi, orange blossoms, diesel fuel and blue slate that are fun and inviting. In the mouth, it’s lightly syrupy, with gentle sweetness and a rather open-knit texture delivering mellow but very tasty flavors of white peach, nectarine and white currant that also hint at some tropical undertones. It’s easy-going, gentle and languid, with some bright sparkles here and there. It’s not profound or anything, but it’s easy to like.


-Michael

[Nicklasss]

Thanks for that report Michael.

I brought exactly the same vintage of the Marie Beurrier, at a dinner in 2008 in Miami, with SdR and Kathy, and also 2 of their friends that are Chateauneuf lovers. Like you, I thought that 1995 Henri Bonneau Marie Beurrier was just utterly awesome, especially on the incredible nose. Happy to read that my nose calibrate really well with your on that wine!

I still have one bottle of the Marie Beurrier, but it is a 2004.

Nic