Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - france tag

Domaine Charles Audoin, Marsannay (Pinot Noir), 2002

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:57:50 GMT

Funny and perhaps fitting that after a couple months I start posting again yet with a French wine! And despite all the great Oregon Pinot that I've been drinking recently (see my earlier post), it was apparently this bottle that got me back to blogging wine. And I've also received very nice and encouraging emails from folks wondering what happened to me.

So, this Marsannay (Burgundy) was quite nice. No, not Oregon. Not jammy. And oh boy: such earthy flavors and aromas! It's very nice if you like that. And once I got into that earthiness of the French Pinots, it helped me understand that whole French terroir thing. It's not that I think Oregon wines are inferior -- to the contrary -- but there is something deep and mysterious in a really good French Pinot. That earth can be haunting -- in a good way, if you ask me. Though, it's also easy to spend $30/40 on a bottle that's thin and flabby. French Burgundy is not for the faint-of-heart; it's can definitely be a gamble. So beware!

The nose included: nutmeg, strawberry, dusty/earthy, a little dank, a little vanilla (but this is french). However, later I think that nutmeg might be more like cinnamon. There was white pepper. And perhaps not strawberry, it was more like a salmon berry (the smell).

The body was light -- but then I said it wasn't jammy. The fruit was raspberry and red cherry. And you can actually taste that dank smell. Oh boy: yummy earth! The fruit flavors were very quick, then earth and then dry. It was ever-so-slightly bitter at the end -- like a turnip or maybe an artichoke.

This is not a bottle that I'd recommend regularly. It's a bit different than what many palette's prefer. But for me, this was very, very yummy. I thought it might be peaking, but I think this one is likely to remain good for another year or two (maybe more).

Cost:

Rating: 8.5

Pierre Morey, Bourgogne (Meursault), Pinot Noir, 2005

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:45:05 GMT

This was a bottle brought to a recent dinner we had. Apparently the purchasers of the bottle were talked into the bottle by the wine steward at the now defunct Zupan's that used to be on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. They mentioned that they were unsure of this bottle as many other recommendations from that steward were not to their tastes. Wine can be very subjective of course. Anyway ...

The nose started out with a strong chemical smell, which definitely became more and more subdued over the course of the time we drank it. That's the thing about many Frnech Burgundies: they are usually so much different between when you first open the bottle, and when they finally open up. Sometimes that's over an hour later.

Under and through that chemical smell, there emerged cinnamon and dust. No, there's really little if any fruit in the nose like you'd find in a typical Oregon (or California) Pinot Noir. However, if you smell this one next to, say, a Rhone or a Bordeaux, there is something very, very subtly sweet or fruity — just every-so little.

The taste is a thin strawberry plus something much less sweet, like a currant or loganberry. No, this is not at all sweet. Not even a little bit. It's dry and light if you wee comparing it to a typical Oregon Pinot. It's also very earthy — dusty and slightly dirty (in a good way). And the spice is more subtle — there was some pepper and cinnamon. The finish is pretty quick and has that sort of apple-dryness quality right at the end.

Cost:

Rating: 7.5

La Fleur Bibian, Listrac-Medoc (Bordeaux), 2004

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:11:00 GMT

We picked up this bottle from a local wine distributor that was closing down. You might blame it on the economy, yet this one had, shall we say, internal issues. Anyway, here's all this wine in a warehouse, and it's got to be sold: everything must go! So I have the opportunity to pick up some eclectic bottles for wholesale. This is one of those bottles.

The nose started a bit chemically; that dissipated after about 10 or 15 minutes. Under and through that, was a vegetable matter smell. Rhubarb perhaps? Dust. Manure (earthy). Cinnamon. And kiwi.

The body was medium, and it tasted a bit like spinach: dry and veggie. About mid-taste that turned more toward asparagus. There were no discernable fruit flavors here.

The finish was dry, and slightly tannic.

Elizabeth said it tasted like the Roquefort cheese we got for the dinner. And this was a really gooey and smelly cheese. And it was especially salty. Elizabeth liked that about this cheese. So this wine reminder her of the cheese from earlier. For Denise, this tasted like an unsalted beef broth. So, there you have two different takes: one salty and one not. I'm not sure what that means either. Nothing spectacular, yet everyone liked it well enough.

Cost:

Rating: 7.5

(Merlot 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40%)

Chateau de Cruzeau, Bordeaux, 2003

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:47:51 GMT

We had some friends over -- fellow oenophiles. So we brought out a Lelemson Pinot Noir 2004 that I'd been saving. While the love Pinots they also love French, usually a Rhone of some kind, but Bordeaux's aren't bad in their book (or mine) either. They brought this bottle.

Right after an Oregon Pinot, this tasted especially earthy and dark. And in fact the nose was quite dank: musty and earthy with some rubber and onion. Hey, that's what we smelled! The taste, for some, also had that rubber in it too. Under that, there was plum and subtle blackberry. I say "under", because this wine didn't really taste like fruit (again, especially after a fruity Pinot). It's made from grapes, so there is fruit; but this wine was definitely on the side of earth and things other than fruit. The finish ended with more plum, and maybe some prune as it lost any thing resembling fruit and things that might be sweet. This was a very dry wine. However, it was fairly smooth and the tannins weren't bitter or gritty. Overall, this was an enjoyable bottle to drink.

Cost:

Rating: 8.0

(Cabernet Sauvignon 55%, Merlot 43%, Cabernet Franc 2%)