TN: 05 du Courlat 'Cuvee Jean Baptiste' [Lussac St Emilion]

[AKR]

05 du Courlat 'Cuvee Jean Baptiste' [Lussac St Emilion] popped and poured to go with steamed new potatoes, Swedish meatballs, and cream gravy, after a long day of fast skiing up at Heavenly, and a strangely fast drive home. 14% abv, big and dark. I think this cuvee is all merlot, and absorbs some new oak. It doesn't taste like a minor satellite wine...but I'm not sure they got the balance right here. It seems overly oaky to me, even today. It's also quite viscous, more than the abv would suggest. Long glycerin legs on the glass. Bouquet of fennel, vanilla. Palate is more on the darker end of the fruit spectrum, but still doesn't have a big blast of fruit, at least today. Maybe when younger it showed more. Acidity and tannin are all absorbed, even while the wood pushes to center stage. The owner also has Bonalgue, a solid Pomerol, but I like that substantially more, especially in this vintage. Drink up! maybe its a B or B- depending on how much oak you like. I put half the bottle into a split for tomorrow - perhaps it will show a shade better with a days time.

The SO seemed to like it, and consumed it well enough. She disliked the grippy 2008 Socre Barbaresco we had last night.

[Nicklasss]

Looking forwatd that second try the next day. Personnally not a fan of too much oak.

These Satellite wines of Saint-Émilion can be very good. The 2000 Chateau Langlais I had a few time was always ready and very good, for the acceptable price.

Nic

[AKR]

Minty, menthol notes on day #2

The SO asked for the rest of the split