11/13/09

Chablis, 'Les Forest', Vincent Dauvissat 2005
I worried about this wine.  In the past I've found V. Dauvissat's wines to be pretty easy to understand right at release.  They are usually very representative of their sites and vintages and have good balance.  However,  this wine was a little different in its youth.  It was a complete floozie:  unfocused, fruity, lacking in all mineral content and strangely vanillin.

Now the wine is gorgeous.  Bright, ripe fruit crowns a mountain of acid.  The minerality is strong with a plethora of aromas: wet stone, chalk and spicy flint.  Everything is starting to come together here.  I'm going to refrain from describing the wine any further as a feel I can't do it justice at this point.  It needs more time.  I will say that it was correctly identified as top flight Chablis in a blind tasting with a buddy of mine.  The only thing he got wrong was calling it GC.  I'll forgive him for the error.


Cantina Terlan 'Kreuth' Alto Adige 2003
The Terlan was tasted blind along side and following the 'Les Forest'.

For as mighty of an Italian Chardonnay as Kreuth is, it just paled in comparison to the Dauvissat.  Ok so its not a fair fight,  and we still drank every last drop....

Sweet peas, alcoholic sweetness and herbs are propped up by river stones and lemony acidity.  The nose is complex but jarring.  The wine is a bit awkward at this stage with juxtaposition of overly ripe vintage character  playing against cooler site specific aromas of sour apple and lemons.  In a way it reminds me of New Zealand Pinot Noir in that it seems to be at odds with itself.  Overly ripe and under-ripe at the same time.

I loved this wine when it was younger.  It was cool and refreshing with nearly perfect balance.  I'm willing to blame the poor showing on three factors. 1) It was up against a vastly superior wine 2) The wine is in a bad place right now 3) One of the tasters (me) has been away from the wine profession too long and no longer has the chops to understand it.


Bosquet des Papes, CDP 1998
What CDP is supposed to be.  What 1998 was hyped to be and really isn't.  Possibly the last wine that "Wine Speculator" gave a 95+ point rating and actually deserved it.

No aroma of alcohol. No overconcetration  Not sweet.  Not oaked.  No sumatarite.  No bubble gum.  No brett.  No bastardazation of anykind. 

Gotham like aromas of spicy Maduro cigar wrapper, black licorice, savory herbs and jet black fruits.  Meaty and savage but also quite elegant in its power.   The aromas are heady with some much complexity it's hard to keep the mind from spinning.

The wine evolved in a very linear progression.  The first whiffs were powerful but largely dominated by fruit and garrigue.  As the wine breathed in oxygen it exhaled all the dark spicy nuances one could ever want out of CDP.  Unique and exciting.