Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut

NV Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut - Champagne, c.50/50 Pinot Noir & Chardonnay; c.60€
After a discussion about this wine on the UK wine forum, I'm almost afraid to mention that I tried the LP Ultra Brut and liked it. But then my shyness evaporates because everyone already knows that I have bad taste in wines and like pure acidity.

I shared a bottle of this after work today. We had some Italian cured meats with it and I'm sure the fat did wonders to the acidity of the wine.

It was very mineral, quite bready and has much red apple aromas. Crisp and dry but not IMO painfully so; long and (dare I say it? yes I do!) elegant and pure (dons helmet to shield off the blows I'll receive). In fact from what I read in the thread, this seemed pretty tame and less electric than I expected - apparently only grapes from super-ripe vintages were used. I thought this was nice. Not 60€ nice, however, so I'll continue to buy the Pierre Péters at 10€ less. But if an almost universally ridiculed non-dosé is to my taste, it strengthens my resolve that I should try more of these. My limited sampling suggests that they really are to my taste. (Not only helmet, but full body armour now on, so let the beating begin!)

A polished new Camille Giroud

Camille Giroud Marsannay "Les Longeroies" 2009
These newer Girouds all seem so polished compared to the rustic delights that surfaced from the cellars after decades of ageing. Despite the warm year, this one is a brighter, more focused, less burly wine than the Bouvier Marsannay also available here now and better for it. I do get some oak in my nostrils which isn't too pleasant, but perhaps that can be forgiven in such a young wine that still exhibits obvious Pinosity of considerable (but very polished) charm? Quite soft, but not over-fruited and pleasantly light, so it doesn't really require any more structure than it has. Easygoing rather than intense, but still long aftertaste.

If it weren't 30€ I would get another bottle to age a few years. In fact, we see so little good Burgundy here, that I still might though I do find the price a bit on the absurd side for a nice little wine.

Tritium Graciano El Largo 2009

Bodegas Tritium Graciano "El Largo" 2009 - Spain, Rioja
40€; 100% Graciano; 15% abv; 12 months in new French oak. A bottle of immense size and weight: a magnum housing only 750ml and with a punt so big my fist fits in it. Black. It smells of blueberry jam and milk spiked with vodka. The palate is weird: it is oddly tasteless and insubstantial for a wine of such size. It is as if it were pure glycerin: viscous and sweet but otherwise nothing registers on my tongue. Alcoholic finish. If I were pointy I would have to give this 20 or so out of 100 - it isn't very vinous at all, so it can't even get the 50 that any wine automatically receives just for showing up.

Reliable, boring wine

Here's a classic from South Australia - always a reliable wine, I am told, one where you always know what you will get. So a colossally boring wine, in other words!

Penfold Bin 28 Shiraz "Kalimna" 2009
Big, dark fruit, slightly dried in character. Smooth and rich, slightly tarry, rather too soft. A bit hot on the finish even when cellar temperature. Better than I remember the last couple vintages to have been (those seemed to me very disjointed; this is more harmonious in the sense that there is lots of everything), but still not a wine to my taste.

Hoffmann-Simon Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese 2009

Hoffmann-Simon Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese 2009
7,5% abv; screw-capped. A nice aroma: much ripe and tropical fruit and slight quinine so obviously a warm year of Riesling, but still has a very obvious Moselness to it. It is perhaps a bit reductive. The warm year style continues on the palate. It does have acidity and liveliness, but it is also thick, rich and honey-sweet. A nice wine; more age will only do this good. I do prefer a MSR with more acidity, but this was nice, too.

Bucelas and Wellington

Bucelas used to be very popular in England during the Victorian age after Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington "discovered" it and started importing vast quantities to England. It was called "Portuguese Hock" (and Hock comes from Hochheim in Rheingau and was used as a generic term for German white wine), presumably because of its similarities to Riesling. Then, like so many good things from Portugal, it was pretty much forgotten and remains so today. And as if being lost from general vinous consciousness weren't enough, Bucelas is situated just north of Lisbon and so is threatened by urban sprawl. I always like trying these forgotten areas and grapes (Bucelas allows the white grapes Arinto and Esgana cão); and sometimes, like with this wine, curiosity brings a small treat. This is by no means a grand wine, but it was very pleasurable with a chunk of Coregonus lavaretus -white fish with some new potatoes and fresh herbs.



Caves Velhas Bucellas 2011 - Portugal, Estremadura, Bucelas
9,78€; 12,5% abv; 100% Arinto. A nice little wine. It smells strongly mineral on opening, but sadly that slight and pleasing reductive character blows off pretty quickly. Instead slight hints of a cold fermentation appear in the form of a slight pear drop aroma. But it's a nice wine despite this with ripe, yellow stone fruit aromas, good bite, high acidity and a general character of bracing crispness coupled to ripe fruit. Fun. At this price it's certainly a wine to buy again.

Outrageous, unbelievable, silly law in the making

Our government is planning to ban image advertising of alcohol. This might sound like a sensible thing to do. But there are IMO great problems with the proposed law. There is a paragraph that specifically states that even when no remuneration is given for a review e.g. in a blog or a newspaper article, Valvira, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, can still declare it to be image advertising and fine you. Only organoleptic reviews will be allowed, so we will be forced to write notes like: "gold colour, smells of peas and tastes of citrus." But saying things like "this wine will be fun when you're at a party" will be seen as image advertising and will be punishable with a fine. Valvira will be able to fine any article that isn't "true journalistic material". What does this mean? It means that Valvira, without defining what it means by any of these words, can arbitrarily fine anyone it wants to fine - even blogs where no money or goods exchange hands. Do I dare keep a blog anymore? One thing is for sure: if this blong will end, it will end with a bang not a whimper!


Edit: Viinipiru has more links about this in Finnish. Finnish readers, click here! 

Edit + 1: Ja Jokkerikin on nyt blogannut aiheesta, täällä!


Toivottavasti muutkin kotimaiset bloggaajat innostuvat aiheesta. Tästä kannattaa pitää ääntä.

De Cam Oude Lambiek (bottled 2000)

De Cam Oude Lambiek (5yo unblended lambic, bottled 10/2000)
This is one of the most satisfying and exciting beers I have had. As expected from this style, this has no bubbles. Hazy colour, but otherwise this could be mistaken for a grand old white Musar: lemon, funk, brett, earthy. Unlike white Musar, this is bracing, brisk, supremely citric and acidic, almost painfully intense on its own but blossoms with some fatty food. The bottle's best before date was back in 2010, but I would be surprised if this weren't in perfect condition a decade from now.

Rose of Treloar

Domaine Treloar "Rose of Treloar" 2009
100% Syrah; 11,7% abv; 6 g/l RS
A very dark colour, looks like a red wine actually. This is a lovely off-dry rosé: it smells actually rather like the Gamay rosés I have enjoyed with its purity and strawberry aromas. Actually, despite its lower sugar, this smells and tastes very like Brun's FRV100 but without bubbles. It is very slightly sweet, but is pure and refreshing (though come to think of it, this refreshing character should be a surprise because neither the acidity nor the tannins seem to be all that high; but somehow it is grippy and palate-cleansing). It is fun, refreshing and moreish and has quite a bit more character than most rosés I get to drink. So no need to be afraid of the slight sugar! Not all off-dry rosés are crap. This one was lovely. (Some have felt this was over-extracted smelled of cough syrup - my experience was quite opposite of such views!)

Recent un-funky wines from Funky Wines

Funky does it again, though these wines are from the un-funky end of the natural wine spectrum. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to drink anything imported by someone else than Funky Wines.


2010 Domaine de la Sénéchalière (Marc Pesnot) Miss Terre - France, Loire Valley
Ce vin est sec, mais pas acide - it says on the label. I guess this refers to this wine going through malo which is rare for Muscadet. But it is nonetheless a lovely wine. A fruit forward rather than a lees dominated nose: it is a wine of gentle but pure apple and citrus aromas and close enough to leesy Muscadet that I wonder why this must be labeled Vin de France instead of Muscadet? Though a bit richer than your typical non-malo Muscadet, this is well structured, refreshing and moreish. This bottle is atypical but not at all as much as I have suggested in previous notes; this one was obviously Muscadet. But more importantly, this one was - as were my less typical bottles - absolutely delicious.

2011 Domaine de Blanes Vin de Pays d'Oc Le Clot - France, Languedoc Roussillon
13,5% abv; 100% Syrah. Like Le Clot usually on release, this one is reductive and lactic. It does open up somewhat during the evening but remains tight. What is obvious is that this will turn out very nice (the previous vintages have become nice very quickly: usually by the next winter they are open). Dark fruit, plenty of crunch, true Syrah instead of Shiraz aromas once the reduction starts to blow off. Refreshing despite the Syrah from the South of France often being ponderous. If past vintages are anything to go by, this will be a cracking little Syrah from this winter on for many years.

2011 Marcel Lapierre Raisins Gaulois
Very young and fruity, seems like a fairly warm year wine except that there is good structure to this. Sweet and simple and just enormous fun. I know that the Raisins Gaulois doesn't suit the tastes of quite a few who otherwise like Lapierre and other good Beaujolais, but I have always found this to be an incredibly joyful little wine. And the new vintage is no different.

2010 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien Vieilles Vignes
12% abv. Typically of Brun this isn't a sweet, sexy, abundantly fruity style, but a red-fruited, structured, restrained wine. Lovely cool, mineral, raspberry aromas. Well structured, un-plump, absolutely gorgeous and pure and perfect; dangerously moreish. A wine difficult to drink in amounts that hepatologists would approve of.

What, you egg!

 "What, you egg," cries the murderer as he stabs Macduff's son. For some reason this scene always comes to mind when I drink wines from Te Muna...

2010 Craggy Range Pinot Noir Te Muna Road Vineyard - New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
29,50€; 14% abv. I'm not so sure I like NZ Pinot in general. There is always a pretty harsh, piercing aroma that I have trouble getting over - no one else seems to notice this, which makes me hesitant to post about it, but to me it is smells like cranberry juice. But this wine seems pretty normal for NZ PN in my experience: quite dark fruit (apart from that odd, piercing, super-bright, cranberry juice note that no one else notices) and plenty of oak, a bit of alcohol even when cellar temperature. Quite thick initially, then the sharp note hits. This is a bit like drinking Ocean Spray: sweet and sharp and confected. Now, as far as the NZ PNs I've tried, this seems to be at the better end of the spectrum, but I still wasn't really able to enjoy it. But that's understandable because of my handicap with an aroma only I can smell! :-D

On the other boards I frequent, no one seems to understand what I'm talking about with that sharp aroma even though I have sensed it in all NZ PNs I have had. How about here? If so, what might be the cause? And are there any NZ PNs without it?

Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2010

Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2010
7,5% abv, 110 g/l RS; 9,1 g/l acidity. It is quite tropical with plenty of passion fruit aromas, but also much minerality and a quinine crispness. Finishes honeyed. But then the acidity and minerality emerge to create a post-aftertaste. How wonderful! And how odd! I can't remember many wines where after the aftertaste a post-aftertaste would occur. Anyways, this is a heavy and supremely concentrated wine for a Spätlese, yet it also has lovely and high levels of acidity. So this is a good "Auslese".

So persistent and concentrated that I still tasted the wine after brushing my teeth. These 2010s continue to baffle me: they just have so much of everything that I can't decide whether or not I like them. But I think I might like this one so I bought one for the cellar.

Chateau Pierre-Bise Savennières Clos de Coulaine 2009

Château Pierre-Bise Savennières Clos de Coulaine 2009
Gold colour. It smells of ripe red apples (but don't mistake this aroma for the oxidative type of apple!). As promised by the scent, this is very rich and appley, dry and powerful and quite alcoholic (the 14,5% abv is quite obvious). But it also has great grip. So I don't know what to think of it: some parts seem like it's just too much, others seem great. Perhaps buy one more and try again in a few years?

My First Ridge Geyserville

A couple years ago I tasted the only other Ridge wine I have so far had, the '78 Cab Sauv "York Creek", which I thought was amazingly good for a grape I generally dislike (Francly I can get enough of the other Cabernet, however). But Finland received a small shipment of the Geyserville 2009 recently so I bought a few bottles. One was opened tonight for a small group who wanted to try Ridge - it being an American legend that all of us have very little experience with.

I was pleasantly impressed. I don't know if any of this will sound familiar to Zin drinkers, because we simply don't see much of the grape here so I haven't developed the vocabulary or the experience to talk about it. To me it seems spicy like a CdP as opposed to oak-spice, though there is a bit of oak showing, too. It smells plummy and sweet and has lots of berry flavors - but it also has a savory streak running through all of this so it doesn't seem Porty. I sense more oak on the palate, but it is structured instead of just fruity. The 14,5% is well hidden. This is nice! Despite the high alcohol, it actually seems moreish and not at all as ponderous as I expected. It is light on its feet for a wine of this size. I eagerly await 2020 or so when I suppose the next one should be opened.

Good stuff with the Kornilows

Tonight I was invited to dinner with the Kornilows. A nice couple with fine taste in wine and books, it is always nice to meet up with them. Especially since Mrs. K. cooked a wonderful meal for us.

We started with an ancient bottle of Lanson NV, possibly way back from the 1970s (whether BCE or CE, was debated). If you like oxidation as much as I do, this was pleasurable, but I think for most drinkers this would have been too dead. Think Norwegian Blue. Brownish, just the slightest of bubbles left. Wonderful bread and red fruit and flower aromas in addition to the oxidation. Vibrant, racy palate despite only the slightest prickle of bubbles. This will not be a popular wine anywhere, but I don't care - I can sometimes enjoy the dead and the offbeat.

With the first Finnish asparagus we had some Fred Loimer Grüner Veltliner "Spiegel" 2007 from Kamptal. A rich style, but wonderfully fragrant and pure and mineral. It has wonderful zing and raciness for a rich GV. Moreish for a wine this size. Nice!

For main course we had the whitefish Coregonus lavaretus with new potatoes, and some Texier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2005. The fish was just wonderful and the spuds were sweet and the herbal sauce was just heaven with the CdP. It's a rich wine but unlike most other white CdPs it is also racy and moreish instead of being just simply heavy and sweetly fruity. It shows the lightness of touch I expect in Texier.

To finish we had some Baumard Côteaux du Layon "Le Paon" 2005 which was a lovely sweetie. Lovely aroma of sweet green peas; lovely sweetness countered by a quinine bitterness and acidity that make even a wine this sweet very moreish. Nice! Better balance than my last taste of this. No hurry. Hold. Or drink - because it is fun in a primary way.

 

Champagne and Loire with HP at Carelia

At restaurant Carelia I got to try some Loire wines - rare treats in Finland where this greatest of all wine regions is sorely neglected. What can I say? Huet rocks!

NV Jean Vesselle Champagne Brut Réserve - France, Champagne, Bouzy, Champagne
Floral and red toned aromas, fleshy, nicely bready. Drier and more crisp than the scent promised, racy even. Nice!

NV Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Brut Cuis 1er Cru - France, Champagne
Obvious Blanc de Blancs aromas of white flowers and minerals; quite a fat wine, slightly sweet even for a Brut, but with perfectly enough acidity. I prefer my B de B taut and nervous like Pierre Peters, but I don't mind drinking a glass of this. Good, but not great.

2010 Huët Vouvray Sec Le Mont - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
This was beautiful, but tight and young. Green apples and flowers; racy, taut palate, the finish opens up like a peacock's tail. It has 9g/l RS which is IIRC a bit more than some earlier years of the sec. But as I always loved the demi-sec, and this veers slightly toward that, I won't complain. Lovely.

2008 Domaine Patrick Baudouin Anjou Les Saulaies - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Anjou
Rather oaky. It does have some nice honey aromas underneath, but the oak does dominate. Paradoxically both dry and honeyed. Quite rich. Too much oak that I could really see the Chenin here.

2005 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny
Still young. But it did have nice earthy aromas; it is quite the Bordeaux-clone. This cuvée IIRC sees once used oak, and that has sometimes seemed a bit too much for my oakophobic tastes, but though this still is young, the oak seems to be going to the background. Refreshing, racy but elegantly rich palate. I think this will turn out to be fantastic, but it needs time.

2009 Patrick Baudoin Anjou Coteau d'Ardenay - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Anjou
A blend of Franc and Sauvignon. A bit of oak. But otherwise this is a nice, lighter type of red Loire - not a heavy style, but more an easy drinking, fresh one. The oak doesn't bother me so much on the palate, which is pleasantly light and racy. But overall, the oak scents are a bit too much for me to give this great praise.