What are we drinking in the Omicron ominous?

Claret · Post by **Claret** » Thu May 21, 2020 10:32 pm

2008 Le Cadeau Cote Est Pinot Noir. Pretty OR PN with maturity.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Thu May 21, 2020 10:39 pm

TN:

Jamet Cote Rotie 2007

A multi-faceted wine that keeps on transforming itself, chameleon-like. An initial enthralling throwback whiff of stale 1970s ashtray, hints of cigar box and piped tobacco at different times; olives, tapenade, Mediterranean scents; iron and minerals; bacon fat, celery, and savoury mid palate aromas; game and hung meat; youthful and wild still with fine, bracing acidic line; lithe, deft and an exquisite finish. So vigorous, vibrant and juicy with lively acidity it will mellow with age but I suspect this is the perfect time to drink this.

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu May 21, 2020 11:50 pm

Love Jamet. Nicely done Ian.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Fri May 22, 2020 12:02 am

2006 Felsina Chianti Riserva
Very nice bouquet of red berries, mint and florals and whiff of old wood, if not super evocative of sangiovese. Okay palate, on the lean end of things, but good brightness that goes well with pasta. Resolved and smooth, this won’t get any better. Overall, correct but boring and borderline washed out. 86 pts

I’ve had good Felsina, quite a few through the years, but overall I find other estates in Tuscany much more interesting (Selvapiana, Monsanto, Fontodi, etc).

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Fri May 22, 2020 2:10 am

Tonight, 2010 La Velona Brunello with fettuccine Bolognese, popped and poured. This was fine for drinking with the pasta dish and zooming with stefanJr, Shea, and Irena. It is a good mid week Dego red. Lucie is abstaining and I drank only half the bottle. I'll be happy to drink the remainder in a day or three.

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Fri May 22, 2020 2:41 am

Me too i like Jamet (and Côte Rôtie in general). The 2009 Jamet i brought to 2020 BWE convention was an excellent still young Jamet. But the comex nose was already there, the mouth needs to wait.

I had a 2016 Gerald Dubreuil Roussette du Bugey that was quite simply oriented on honey and white flowers on the nose, but with thick golden apples flavors in mouth, with more flowers and a decent 12 % alcohol. Unusual but very good.

Nic

jal · Post by **jal** » Fri May 22, 2020 2:44 am

A stunning 2004 Felsina Berardenga Rancia from magnum. In a great place and drinking beautifully. It did need ten minutes or so to open up but after that, layers of dark fruit, great balance and good acidity to accompany some pork chops, smooth resolved tannins and a long finish. Probably good enough to stay at this level another 5 years or so but really good now. 94

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Fri May 22, 2020 3:25 am

Glad that it delivered for you, Jacques. I think I now have only three of the 750s, and wish I had a whole case for the next few years.

Dandersson · Post by **Dandersson** » Fri May 22, 2020 9:25 pm

San Gregorio Loma Gorda Garnacha, 2018, A good wine, this has dark berries with decent concentration. Not over extracted, not over ripe, some licorice notes. It has good balance between acidity and tannic structure. Lively and young. It is a bit hot but not disturbing me. This is a very nice wine, I generally rate it 86-88p. It beat Rhone wines twice the price, twice in blind tasting. Enjoy your Friday!

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Fri May 22, 2020 10:55 pm

Margaritas, made with Hornitos and Grand Marnier.
Accompanied by guacamole and chips.

Ianjaig · Post by **Ianjaig** » Sat May 23, 2020 5:17 am

2012 Les Hauts du Tertre.

This is an exceptional QPR. Pronounced leather on the nose, vanilla and strawberries. Lovely.

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Sat May 23, 2020 6:14 am

Remoissenet Pere 2014 St Romain
I liked it better than Wendy. She says it is too light for her. Yes it is fine boned, though with nice flavours of grapefruit, lemon, honey and butter, with no obvious oak and more chablis-like acid and minerality than any actual Chablis I have had for years. The lemon and acid/mineral characters went very well with Chinese food and I am glad I still have 11 more in the wine fridge.

jal · Post by **jal** » Sat May 23, 2020 12:06 pm

A quiet subdued 2008 Veuve Cliquot La Grande Dame, I think the bottle wasn't showing as wel as it should. My fault, it was kept in the closet for a month and refrigerated for 3 hours before consuming.
A delicious 2016 Ravenneau Chablis Valmur Grand Cru, excellent, vibrant, elegant, good core of fruits, lot of minerality, can and should improve with one blanquito.
2013 Mugnier NSG Clos de La Marechale is as good as all vintages of Mugnier from this monopole, maybe a tad lighter, but this, my favorite NSG, is the epitome of elegance and structure. Lovely perfume to boot.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sat May 23, 2020 1:46 pm

Last night Faiveley Echezeaux 1990 which was wobbly out of the blocks then straightened up to deliver a wonderful dense core of mature echezeaux - these have taken an age to come round and are still quite tannic

The star last night was a Sorrel Hermitage Blanc Les Recoules 2009 absolutely sublime

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Sat May 23, 2020 2:22 pm

Agrapart & Fils 7 Crus; elegant, balanced and refreshing with a lot of citrus and mineral which paired extremely well with sushi. And this is definitely in the running for my favorite under $50 grower champagne.

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sat May 23, 2020 2:52 pm

2018 Errazuriz Aconcagua Coast sauvignon blanc. Very fresh, mineral, lemony, grassy and green peppery. Went well with salmon tartare.

The vegetal side was dominant, different.

Nic

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat May 23, 2020 5:43 pm

jckba wrote:Agrapart & Fils 7 Crus; elegant, balanced and refreshing with a lot of citrus and mineral which paired extremely well with sushi. And this is definitely in the running for my favorite under $50 grower champagne.

+1. I bought 8-9 of these when PC had them in-stock for $36. Should have bought more!

I drank them all up and they ranged from merely very good to a few bottles which were outstanding.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Sun May 24, 2020 12:13 am

2010 Ch. Senejac, accompanying Ragout made using a mix of ground beef and sweet/hot sausage.
Good combo!

Dandersson · Post by **Dandersson** » Sun May 24, 2020 12:51 am

Ch Peyredoulle Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux 2018. Very dense, a lot of fruit, this is my first 18. Typically blueberry/blackberry from the blaye region. Based on this first encounter with 18 I am impressed. It is a bit hot but 14.5% in a Bordeaux would do that. If you are looking for a classical typical "medoc" this is probably not for you. I like this wine and it feels Bordeaux when I drink it, but it could probably been produced elsewhere also. What I am trying to get through is that enjoyable and Bordeaux, it is just not giving me what I want from a Bordeaux. Score 85-88p I realized that my scoring needs a bit of an update. I have been scoring a lot of wines in the 85-88 range lately maybe right but I am going to pay more attention to this as I go on.

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Sun May 24, 2020 3:12 am

Albino Rocca Barbaresco Vigneto Brich Ronchi 2007
3 hr decant and the aromatics were soaring from the get-go with black raspberry, cherry, herbs, leather and tar that led way to a juicy, full bodied burst of black cherry and menthol flavors that turned to sweet oak and spice on the finish. 93

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Sun May 24, 2020 11:44 am

Chateau Corconnac Haut Medoc CB 2014
Shows the Merlot (60%) more than Cabernet with soft plummy fruit and tobacco. Not a lot of oak is evident maybe a touch of inky, toasty old oak. The wine has firm acidity and a long finish typical of 2014 but without much complexity. Quite a pleasant CB but has no pretensions of greatness. Medium bodied and well structured just a little plain and simple.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun May 24, 2020 9:44 pm

Chateau Talbot 1966 - just as good as the bottle I had in Paris exactly two years ago at Francois Audouze’s event with Tim, probably even marginally better; beautifully poised and resolved red fruited wine with cedar, cigar box and ashtray, perfect seamless texture, it glides over the palate with weightless elegance; a sublime expression of St-Julien. Tonight it was just singing. Just wonderful. Sigh.. An absolute treasure, so demure.

My daughter who is in her early 20s much preferred the Talbot to the PYCM 2011 Meursault Perrieres, which is drinking well, and is fully mature, but without much excitement. I wonder if these need drinking up? I have some 2011 PYCM Corton Charlemagne in storage maybe I need to get to work on those too.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun May 24, 2020 9:45 pm

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Dandersson · Post by **Dandersson** » Sun May 24, 2020 10:09 pm

Sounds great Comte, thank you for sharing!

Chateau Pierre de Montignac, Medoc 2016, 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, Will only have one glass tonight and drink the rest tomorrow. Switching to beer after this since we are having crabs today.
Typical Medoc flavors, very young with a strong grip from the tannin. This has good structure and it feels fresh. Dark black currant with fair enough concentration. 12 month on oak has given it a nice oak character. I am really enjoying this. Score: 88p potentially 89p.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Sun May 24, 2020 11:13 pm

Love Talbot!

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Mon May 25, 2020 11:53 pm

Great weekend, very sunny with friends and family. We have.now the right to have.visit of limited people, staying at 6 feet away.

2016 Cornas Champelrose Domaine Courbis, very fruity for Cornas, with rasberries and blackberries. Good core of tanins, with a medium body.

2016 Margan Shiraz Hunter Valley, more simple than the Cornas, but quite good.dark red berries, light candy good acidity.

2012 Pol Roger Vintage , very good, but i preferred the two other Champagne we had.

Delamotte brut, the rsgular stuff, but for the price, balanced, fruity and pain grillé, good bubbles, creamy.

Gosset Grande Réserve, very dry, mineral, medium body, lot of spritz. Fresh, lemony, excellent. I will buy more.

2015 Bouchard Beaune 1er Cru Beaune du Chateau, medium to light body, but quite complex and long. Superb elegance in that pinot. Juicy, seductive but good touch of the terroir.

Nic

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Tue May 26, 2020 12:09 am

Enjoying a terrific bottle of the 2003 Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Auslese** with Malaysian seafood laska.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Tue May 26, 2020 12:36 am

2016 St Innocent Zenith with sautéed turkey breast and mushrooms. This seriously acidic wine is chocked full of red raspberries that hold well. I did not think much of the Zenith vineyard ten years ago, but as the vines have aged it has produced better and better fruit. I opened the bottle last night and drank just one large glass. Tonight I resisted finishing the bottle to see how it is after another day of air.

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Tue May 26, 2020 2:34 am

Monsanto Il Poggio Chianti Classico Reserva 1985
Leather tones for days on the nose with a little menthol that led to a silky smooth, black cherry and plum driven tobacco profile that was quite good and much better with sausage pizza. Drank over a Zoom chat with a bunch of friends (Jim, Justin, Maurice and Gabe) and where we each had a bottle from the same case of this library release.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Tue May 26, 2020 4:23 am

jckba wrote:Monsanto Il Poggio Chianti Classico Reserva 1985
Leather tones for days on the nose with a little menthol that led to a silky smooth, black cherry and plum driven tobacco profile that was quite good and much better with sausage pizza. Drank over a Zoom chat with a bunch of friends (Jim, Justin, Maurice and Gabe) and where we each had a bottle from the same case of this library release.

I had a bottle of this about 8-9 years ago, and it was close to sublime out of the chute, but it faded quickly after about 45 mins. Sounds like yours was still sound, I’m sure the ex domaine provenance made all the difference.

The 83 Il Poggio is/was quite wonderful as well.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Tue May 26, 2020 11:29 am

Dandersson wrote:Sounds great Comte, thank you for sharing!

Chateau Pierre de Montignac, Medoc 2016, 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, Will only have one glass tonight and drink the rest tomorrow. Switching to beer after this since we are having crabs today.
Typical Medoc flavors, very young with a strong grip from the tannin. This has good structure and it feels fresh. Dark black currant with fair enough concentration. 12 month on oak has given it a nice oak character. I am really enjoying this. Score: 88p potentially 89p.

I currently have 37 bottles of PdM over 4 vintages - '12,14,15,16. I already finished my 2010s. Its a very good cellar defender.

jal · Post by **jal** » Tue May 26, 2020 11:49 am

With lamb chops, arugula salad and sweet potatoes we drank Guido Porro Langhe Nebbiolo 'Camilu' 2017; light colored, beautiful nose of raspberries and violets, bright acidity, good core of fruit, this was excellent.

Dandersson · Post by **Dandersson** » Tue May 26, 2020 11:56 am

Racer Chris wrote:
Dandersson wrote:Sounds great Comte, thank you for sharing!

Chateau Pierre de Montignac, Medoc 2016, 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, Will only have one glass tonight and drink the rest tomorrow. Switching to beer after this since we are having crabs today.
Typical Medoc flavors, very young with a strong grip from the tannin. This has good structure and it feels fresh. Dark black currant with fair enough concentration. 12 month on oak has given it a nice oak character. I am really enjoying this. Score: 88p potentially 89p.
I currently have 37 bottles of PdM over 4 vintages - '12,14,15,16. I already finished my 2010s. Its a very good cellar defender.

Chris, I finished the bottle of yesterday and I really enjoyed this wine. I have a lot of drinking to do in the coming years but I do think I will put one or two of these in the cellar just to come back to. What surprised we was how approachable it was, nearly like Senejac, I had Peyrabon 16, half a year or so ago and it was rather closed down and had a massive tannic grip.

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Tue May 26, 2020 12:25 pm

2010 Vincent & Denis Bertault Grvry Chambertin Clos de Chezeaux
Nice dark ruby red, nose filled with dark cherry, redcurrant and French oak. The palate is medium bodied, with firm acid and typical GC dark fruit and tobacco. It is nice but just a bit simple and needs more depth of fruit. The Cazetiers and Combe Aux Moines from the same vintage are excellent, this wine gets a good+ rating.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Tue May 26, 2020 2:42 pm

Dandersson wrote: Chris, I finished the bottle of yesterday and I really enjoyed this wine. I have a lot of drinking to do in the coming years but I do think I will put one or two of these in the cellar just to come back to. What surprised we was how approachable it was, nearly like Senejac, I had Peyrabon 16, half a year or so ago and it was rather closed down and had a massive tannic grip.

My first bottle of the 2015 drank in mid-2018 was too tannic and didn't show much fruit. But after waiting a year I found it much better.
Wines like that I buy a few of at a time instead of whole cases at once, but if I like it I eventually end up with more than a case to drink more than one bottle a year of and follow their development. The Pierre de Montignac is one I assume I'll finish each vintage by the time it's 10 yo.
In order to keep within my monthly budget at Total Wine I would add a couple of grand cru bottles and fill out my cart with PdM, Fourcas Dupre, Monfort-Bellevue and the like, so I could still take advantage of the quantity discount.
I use the drinking window feature on CT constantly to help decide what to drink near term. I enter my own window for each wine and try to avoid pulling bottles that have a number less than negative 1. However I don't have enough in my cellar that I can wait until they reach a positive value in most cases.
I also edit my start and end dates based on experiences with that particular wine. For budget Bordeaux I usually start around 4-6 years past vintage, with end dates in the 10-12 year old range. For classified growths I may use a starting date 10 or 12 years past vintage, although single bottles will have a small negative value, making it hard to ignore them. My strategy for that is to divide my virtual cellar and keep the cellar defenders in a location that I can narrow my search to, thereby not even seeing the more expensive stuff in my drinking window list. Although sometimes I intentionally open a bottle well before the window opens so the value goes very negative right away and goes to the bottom of my list.

Dandersson · Post by **Dandersson** » Tue May 26, 2020 4:26 pm

Racer Chris wrote:
Dandersson wrote: Chris, I finished the bottle of yesterday and I really enjoyed this wine. I have a lot of drinking to do in the coming years but I do think I will put one or two of these in the cellar just to come back to. What surprised we was how approachable it was, nearly like Senejac, I had Peyrabon 16, half a year or so ago and it was rather closed down and had a massive tannic grip.
My first bottle of the 2015 drank in mid-2018 was too tannic and didn't show much fruit. But after waiting a year I found it much better.
Wines like that I buy a few of at a time instead of whole cases at once, but if I like it I eventually end up with more than a case to drink more than one bottle a year of and follow their development. The Pierre de Montignac is one I assume I'll finish each vintage by the time it's 10 yo.
In order to keep within my monthly budget at Total Wine I would add a couple of grand cru bottles and fill out my cart with PdM, Fourcas Dupre, Monfort-Bellevue and the like, so I could still take advantage of the quantity discount.
I use the drinking window feature on CT constantly to help decide what to drink near term. I enter my own window for each wine and try to avoid pulling bottles that have a number less than negative 1. However I don't have enough in my cellar that I can wait until they reach a positive value in most cases.
I also edit my start and end dates based on experiences with that particular wine. For budget Bordeaux I usually start around 4-6 years past vintage, with end dates in the 10-12 year old range. For classified growths I may use a starting date 10 or 12 years past vintage, although single bottles will have a small negative value, making it hard to ignore them. My strategy for that is to divide my virtual cellar and keep the cellar defenders in a location that I can narrow my search to, thereby not even seeing the more expensive stuff in my drinking window list. Although sometimes I intentionally open a bottle well before the window opens so the value goes very negative right away and goes to the bottom of my list.

Thanks for sharing, very useful information for me. Best, Dan

sdr · Post by **sdr** » Tue May 26, 2020 5:18 pm

Chris, what is a negative drinking window?

Stu

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Tue May 26, 2020 5:56 pm

sdr wrote:Chris, what is a negative drinking window?

Stu

Do you use Cellartracker Stu?
One of the cellar display functions is "Wine Ready to Drink". CT assigns a numerical value called "available" to each wine in your cellar. The number uses an algorithm which is based on your drinking window (or the community average window if you haven't set your own) for each wine, how many bottles you have, and how many you already consumed. The algorithm can be changed between Linear, Bell Curve, and several other consumption patterns.
When you have no bottles that are "ready to drink" the displayed number is negative. Since the number of bottles in your cellar of that wine is part of the calculation it's possible to have a negative number greater than one.
For example, I bought 9 bottles of 2014 Calon Segur and drank three of them in 2018. The drinking window I set up is 2022-2034. Today, Cellartracker is displaying a (4.11) (parens denote negative) in the "available" column. It's close to the bottom of my Ready to Drink list right now. Even when the wine enters my drinking window in 2022 the value will be greater than negative one, making it less noticeable to me when I go looking for wine to drink in my database.

I only have a small number of wines with positive drinkability scores. There are the few aged bottles I have like the mag of 1983 Pichon Comtesse. Since it's a magnum and is deep into the drinking window, it has a number greater than one. It would also be greater than one if I had two regular bottles.
I have a small number of 2009 and 2010 classified growth wines which have entered their drinking window now so they have positive values too. The number is small, close to 0.10 because I only have one or two bottles of each wine, early in the window of drinkability. It becomes tempting to open them based on viewing this list, but I really want to hang on until they reach a level of maturity.
Anything remaining in the cellar past the drinking window will have a number greater than 100. I don't have anything in that category, but only because I can change my end dates at will.

Its all just a game, but it keeps me occupied while I wait.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Tue May 26, 2020 6:12 pm

Racer Chris wrote:
sdr wrote:Chris, what is a negative drinking window?

Stu
Do you use Cellartracker Stu?
One of the cellar display functions is "Wine Ready to Drink". CT assigns a numerical value called "available" to each wine in your cellar. The number uses an algorithm which is based on your drinking window (or the community average window if you haven't set your own) for each wine, how many bottles you have, and how many you already consumed. The algorithm can be changed between Linear, Bell Curve, and several other consumption patterns.
When you have no bottles that are "ready to drink" the displayed number is negative. Since the number of bottles in your cellar of that wine is part of the calculation it's possible to have a negative number greater than one.
For example, I bought 9 bottles of 2014 Calon Segur and drank three of them in 2018. The drinking window I set up is 2022-2034. Today, Cellartracker is displaying a (4.11) (parens denote negative) in the "available" column. It's close to the bottom of my Ready to Drink list right now. Even when the wine enters my drinking window in 2022 the value will be greater than negative one, making it less noticeable to me when I go looking for wine to drink in my database.

I only have a small number of wines with positive drinkability scores. There are the few aged bottles I have like the mag of 1983 Pichon Comtesse. Since it's a magnum and is deep into the drinking window, it has a number greater than one. It would also be greater than one if I had two regular bottles.
I have a small number of 2009 and 2010 classified growth wines which have entered their drinking window now so they have positive values too. The number is small, close to 0.10 because I only have one or two bottles of each wine, early in the window of drinkability. It becomes tempting to open them based on viewing this list, but I really want to hang on until they reach a level of maturity.
Anything remaining in the cellar past the drinking window will have a number greater than 100. I don't have anything in that category, but only because I can change my end dates at will.

Its all just a game, but it keeps me occupied while I wait.

Interesting way to use that function. To keep you occupied while you wait. So you're saying that this may help keep me from just buying more wine while I wait?

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Tue May 26, 2020 6:29 pm

JoelD wrote: Interesting way to use that function. To keep you occupied while you wait. So you're saying that this may help keep me from just buying more wine while I wait?

That really depends on what you're looking at. For instance if you keep reading tasting notes written by others it may have the opposite effect. Or if you get depressed at all the negative values you may buy more to get above (0.01) sooner.