TN: TN: Sénilhac '05; Couly-Dutheil Chinon '01; Stadlmann (Austria) St. Laurent '05
Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 6:45 pm
- 2001 Couly-Dutheil Chinon La Baronnie Madeleine - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (5/16/2009)
12,5%; 13,79€. This vintage has been available here for a strangely long time (about three years already!), and I am very glad, since it has been getting better and better and I think it is pretty much à point just now, though it certainly doesn't seem like it will die soon. Sweetly fruity but smells deliciously of tobacco and damp earth. Juicy, fun, ripely herbaceous and - what is rare - it combines mature, tertiary aromas with healthy, strong tannins. I enjoyed it very much. - 2005 Château Sénilhac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (5/16/2009)
Cru Bourgeois; 13% abv; 13,41€. Quite a dense wine, tannic and extracted, showing a bit of new oak, too, that needs to integrate. From the price, I was expecting an easy and early drinking wine, but it actually only opened up overnight! Refreshingly tannic on day two even though I was initially worried about slight over-extraction. On the second day the purity of fruit came through and the finish was delightfully savoury. I think it was very enjoyable on day two. - 2005 Stadlmann St. Laurent - Austria, Niederösterreich, Thermenregion (5/16/2009)
16,16€; 12,5% abv; 4,8g/l acidity; 8g/l RS; chalky soil with vines planted in 1987; aged 10 months in big, neutral, Slavonian oak casks. The first few minutes open are off-putting because of the strong lactic aromas. But it only takes 10 minutes in the glass for the wine to come together and from then on it is a very enjoyable wine! The scent shows a strong resemblance to Pinot Noir, a family relative of Sankt Laurent: it smells of ripe fruit and root vegetables. Looking at the technical sheet I was a bit alarmed by the combination of low acidity and high RS for a red. I shouldn't have been. The sweetness could be taken for ripeness of fruit, and the acidity seems higher than what it says: it tastes clean, natural and pure and is quite moreish and food friendly. Nice wine, though not profound.
I have often wondered why Austrian reds are mentioned so rarely on wine fora. Despite some excesses with new oak amongst some producers, many others are making fantastic wines at a very attractive price point. Is it simply that the Austrians seem to like them too, so little is exported?