This week is the start of the Autumn trade wine tasting season which means for the next couple of months I will be drinking copious amounts of good juice.
On Tuesday I attended a tasting sponsored by the Union of Cotes de Bordeaux which promotes Bordeaux wines from the lesser known appellations of Blaye, Cadillac, Francs and Castillon. They are also trying to fight the perception that Bordeaux is only about high end trophy wines for the wall street crowd and that they are not accessible to most people or more importantly to younger wine drinkers who get their wine excitement from other wine regions. Since Bordeaux is France’s largest wine region, there is plenty of wine in all price ranges.
The event was a sit down tasting of eleven wines and was held at Hearth restaurant at 403 East 10th street in the East Village along with colorful commentary by the owner of the restaurant on the wines.
The 2009 Chateau Moulin de Clotte (Castillon) was dark red with a purple robe with a nose of smoky plums and black fruits and was dusty amd tight with moderate tannins and finished with some tartness.
The 2010 Chateau Tetre de Belves (Castillon) was black with a dark purple robe and I was getting pixie stix and red licorice on the nose, it was concentrated and silky with a tight finish.
The 2010 Chateau de Lardiley (Cadillac) was dark red with bell pepper and slate on the nose with silky fruit and tannin and wet rocks on the balanced finish.
The 2009 Chateau Suau (Cadillac) was one of my favorites and was dark in color with a big perfume of stinky earth, violets and black cherry and was chewy, juicy and tight on the long finish.
The 2010 Chateau Lamothe de Haux (Cadillac) was black with a nose of stewed fruit and dried herbs and was tight with big acids on the finish, I thought it was unbalance.
The 2010 Chateau La Rame la Charmille (Cadillac) was dark purple with a closed nose and was astringent and unbalanced.
The 2010 Chateau Monoconseil Gazin (Blaye) was dark purple with a toasty nose, chewy and oaky with a firm grip and tight fruit.
The 2009 Chateau Morange (Blaye) was another favorite of mine, it was dark purple with some brown notes on the robe with a nose of black fruits, good fruit with a balanced grip of tannin and acids with notes of slate on the finish.
The 2009 Lalande du Chateau Tifayne (Francs) Another favorite, dark red with a purple robe with a candy nose and some stinkiness at the back-end, silky fruit with a firm and balanced finish.
The 2010 Chateau Puygueraud (Francs) was black to dark red with a nose of sweet cherry and was chunky with mouth puckering tannins and some heat on the finish.
I attended another tasting by alt./pour wine importers held at L’Apicio restaurant in the Bowery. Several importers and distributors were at the event and the restaurant put out some tasty appetizers. I had some good juice including Flavio Roddolo’s wines from Piedmont. He had a couple of nice Dolcetto’s including the 2009 Superiore and the 2011 which did not taste like a typical Dolcetto to me. It was dusty, earthy and rustic but tasty. A couple of nice Barolo were the 2006 Barolo “Ravera” which was dark amber with the classic nose of cigar box with silky fruit with notes of tar and cigar box on the balanced finish. The 2006 Barolo “Bricco Appiani” was excellent. It was dark red with a nose of black cherry and leather and was chewy and silky with tar notes on the finish. Big fruit for a Barolo.
I had some nice juice from the Burgundy producer of Domaine Coudray-Bizot. They poured some older vintages of their wines including the 2001, 2004 and the 2006 of the Puligny-Montrachet “Les Comettes”. The ’06 had a big nose of mushrooms and forest floor with some toasty mouth coating fruit and a long finish. Very tasty. The reds I enjoyed were the 2001 Nuites-St-George “Au bas de Combe” which had some cloudiness to it with hints of earth on the nose and great balance. The 2001 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru “La Croix Rameau” was light red with barnyard on the nose with smoky fruit and a long finish. The 2003 Echezeaux Grand Cru “En Orveaux” was medium red and slightly cloudy with the classic barnyard nose and was silky with notes of forest floor and sour cherry on the long finish.
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