Category Archives: France

Roger et Didier Raimbault Vielles Vignes Sancerre 2005

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For all the explosiveness and fashion of New World Sauvignon Blanc, it’s tempting to expect all wines made from this grape to be high octane styles. It’s one small step to view impact as the key indicator of quality for these wines. If you’re of this mindset, here’s a wine that may change your perspective.

Fine, balanced aromas of crushed sea shells, honey and ripe, pale tropical fruit. Despite the light, high toned aroma profile, there’s a sense of depth and complexity that draws one back. The entry continues this theme, with more crushed shell creating a dry, slightly austere impression. Fruit fills out a little on the mid-palate, but does not overtake the flinty dryness, so the wine remains a chiselled experience. Intensity isn’t especially remarkable, but it’s the excellent balance, as well as a dry, slightly chalky mouthfeel, that generate satisfaction here. A nice lift through the after palate, before the wine finishes with adequate length.

I can imagine this wine disappearing in a line up of more extroverted styles, but I like it for its poise and sophistication. I’m about to tuck into a Chicko roll and I’ll bet it’s a good combo.

Roger et Dider Raimbault
Price: $A35
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: May 2008

Joseph Drouhin Vero Pinot Noir 2005

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Medium red in color, almost cloudy, and smelling like strawberries in potting soil, this wine comes across more Oregon than Burgundy… but giving it some air brings out a distinct sour cherry candy note that really does seem more Old World than New.Body-wise, this is fairly big for a Pinot with moderate acidity (nothing too scary), some nice grippy tannins on the finish, and a fairly decent oaky flavor that matches nicely with the rich red fruits. All in all, this seems like it’s designed to blend potentially otherwise not saleable lots of pedestrian red Burgundy into what turns out to be a pretty decent bottle of wine at the price. I don’t really get a sense of place here, but what I do get is a lovely red wine that’s aching to be drunk with salmon or Serrano ham. Delicious.DrouhinPrice: US $19.99Closure: Cork [crumbly, low quality cork]Date tasted: April 2008

Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Morey-Saint-Denis 2005

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On a bit of a Pinot run of late, mostly Australasian. Here’s a change of pace, then; a Village-level wine from the Morey-Saint-Denis appellation of Burgundy, vintage 2005. Some good complexity on the nose: there are notes of cherry, candied citrus peel, musk and something a little more herbal and funky. The wine’s entry is remarkable — texturally bright and acidic, it’s only until the wine is almost at mid-palate that you realise your tongue has started to sing with flavour from the tip onwards, a sort of delayed reaction. Light to medium bodied, there’s significant structure here, mostly acid driven, but with loose-knit and slightly grainy tannins too. There’s also good intensity of flavour, which mirrors that on the nose but jumps up a register in brightness thanks to the acid. The wine’s line becomes broader as it moves through the after palate. Decent length.This wine is pretty edgy at the moment, but the fruit’s intensity shines through and promises better balance in time. I suspect the lower registers will fill out. Quite a distinctive flavour profile, and right now one for lovers of higher toned Pinot Noir.Domaine Pierre Amiot et FilsPrice: $A42Closure: CorkDate tasted: April 2008

Domaine Gautheron Chablis 2005

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I enjoy Chablis but don’t tend to drink it very much. Strange, as it’s both a very flexible style and generally excellent value. Well, there’s no time like the present to remedy such situations, so here we have a Chablis from the 2005 vintage, a year perhaps better known for reds than whites in this part of the world. Aromas of talc and flint, with hints of austere nectarine. Utter typicité, and quite lovely if you enjoy this style. The wine’s entry shows sophisticated texture, as it is both finely acidic and mouth filling. A cool, fresh mouthfeel, very focussed. Flavour becomes the primary element within the mid-palate, and it is very much in line with the nose: flint and tight stone fruit. Complexity and intensity are not especially remarkable, but the wine’s line is hard to fault. The after palate emphasises minerality and pushes strongly into a finish of powdery phenolics and quite good length.A pure, if somewhat simple, wine that delivers a good dose of Chablis character. It’s a good food wine (try it with chicken salad) and also works as an aperitif. Very good value.Domaine GautheronPrice: $A28Closure: CorkDate tasted: April 2008

Le Vieux Mas de Papes Red 2001

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Yesterday, after a trip to the recyclers’ to rid ourselves of the accumulated shippers and empty cases that built up over the winter, my partner and I headed to downtown San Diego to pick up a dozen or so cases of wine. Having just moved here last July, I’ve been without access to most of my wines until just this month; we finally cleared out enough space in the garage to install a modest refrigerated cabinet, and now it’s time to begin hauling the thirty or so cases in storage back home.There are only twenty cases left in storage at this point: all of the Riesling and most of the Rhône type stuff are now safely home. To celebrate progress, I picked the ugliest bottle I could from the cellar: a generic Châteauneuf-du-Pape that I don’t remember buying (perhaps it was a gift?) with a washed out yellowish label and absolutely nothing interesting on the front of it.I poured a couple of glasses, noticed that the wine looked as washed out as the label, and steeled myself for watery disappointment. Instead, I found myself enjoying one of the best bottles I’ve had in weeks. The nose of the wine eventually reminded me of French sunflower honey, all summer sunlight with notes of hay and dried herbs. Distinctly acidic, the wine offered up smokey gravel, dried Montmorency cherries, dust, dirt, and something like ocean breezes washing across cool ocean meadows and onto hot sand. The smokey note reasserted itself on the finish, with a decidedly sweet (and I mean in the sense of sucrosité, not California super-ripe sweetness) finish trailing off into lazy trails of autumn hay.What an incredible wine, and what a wonderful reminder that restraint often pays incredible dividends. We finished the bottle over a course of several hours, unwilling to put a stop to the experience; at first, the acidity was unsettling, but it settled down with some air. All in all, this was as wonderful as a walk through the redwoods here in California: cool, majestic, quiet.Vignobles BrunierPrice: likely around US $25Closure: CorkDate tasted: March 2008

Sebastien Roux Pommard 2004

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On the nose, this wine presents a solid, medium bodied nose of red fruit gel with a hint of cinnamon or other sweet spice – cloves perhaps? There’s also a hint of cedar of possibly even cigar box; it isn’t feral, really, but more along the line of sweet wood, almost sandalwood.In the mouth, it’s immediately apparent that this is a French wine: there’s quite a bit of drying tannin there, and it’s only after a minute or so that the fruit starts to show itself; after the first swallow, it wasn’t especially pleasant. With time and air, a beautiful cherry note appeared; the wine starts off on almost a sour red candy note, then smooths out into a lovely, supple finish of rich, velvety red fruit and again some tannin.It’s entirely possible that this bottle needs a bit more air to further integrate the tannins; even so, this is a fine drink and good value for money.Sebastien Roux [Domaine Roux Pére et Fils]Price: US $19.99Closure: CorkDate tasted: March 2008

Domaine Ninot Chaponnière Rully 2005

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A village-level wine from Rully in the Côte Chalonnaise. This is another “value” Burgundy from a lesser appellation and, at $A25 a bottle, this wine sits within an increasingly crowded price bracket of local Pinot Noirs. A pretty, bright ruby colour, sparkling and clear. Initially, the nose smelled of spicy, toasty oak and not much else. With time, it settled into a more balanced expression of lifted red fruits, oak and some savouriness. Not terribly complex, and slightly New Worldy to my taste. The palate is marked by a notable astringence that comes across as a sourness of flavour profile. Entry is quite lively, with bright flavours and fresh acidity. Mid-palate is medium bodied and brings the wine’s sourness into full focus, although there are subtle tannins and enough intensity of fruit flavour to prevent the wine from being totally one-dimensional. There’s a slightly animal note in there, but overall no great complexity. A nice lift of flavour through the after palate lightens the flavour profile to a sappier, freshly fruited note, before a decent finish sees the wine off in some style.This isn’t a world-beater by any means, and there are probably (conventionally) better local Pinots for the price. But it’s well made and just different enough to keep things interesting. Again, how to put a price on difference?Domaine NinotPrice: $A25Closure: CorkDate tasted: February 2008

Domaine Anne et Hervé Sigaut Les Noirots 1er Cru Chambolle-Musigny 2005

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Onwards with the Burgundy 2005 tastings, and here we have a 1er Cru wine from Chambolle-Musigny. A pretty ruby colour, slight haze. This wine’s aromas has proven elusive and changeable through my tasting experience. At first yeasty with strawberries and cream, then morphing to a raspberry liqueur sort of expression, finally (the morning after) ending up firmly in savoury territory, with mineral and sous-bois notes running underneath vanilla spice and delicate fruit. Although it is an expressive nose, it is complex and subtle and almost evasive. The palate has gone through an equally interesting evolution. Entry is striking, with acidity and sappy red fruits registering quickly on the palate. At first, the mid-palate was mouthfilling, light to medium bodied, with intense flavours and bright freshness. Over time, the wine has gained complexity and lost some of its hedonistic edge. Its flavour profile is quite savoury and intense, but delicate too. I love the acid structure of this wine, which provides a clearly delineated flow for each flavour component and which I can almost “visualise.” Good line through the after palate, with a finely drying finish of decent length. Although there’s a lot in this wine, it feels unresolved to me, as if it needs some time to make up its mind what it wants to be. I’ll allow my remaining bottles that luxury. Domaine Anne et Hervé SigautPrice: $A65Closure: CorkDate tasted: February 2008

Domaine Trapet Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin Ostréa 2005

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A village-level wine whose name apparently has something to do with the oyster shells found in and around its source vineyards.Piercing, complex and focused aroma profile comprising elements of cherry/plum, red fruits and a lovely stalky/sappiness. It’s just delightful to smell this wine and, although it has remained relatively static over the last couple of hours, its inherent complexity carries it well, and I’m continuing to enjoy each sniff very much. There’s some underlying oak that plays a well judged supporting role.Straight from the bottle, this wine tasted a little thin and bright on the palate, but it did not take long (thirty minutes at most) for the fruit to fill in. Entry is rich and flavoursome, introducing not only ripe fruit but the two key pleasures of this wine: structure and texture. No doubt there are gorgeous, ripe fruits and what appears to be whole bunch complexity here, but with each sip I keep coming back to the clearly defined acid framework and the powdery phenolics (including fine, ripe tannins) that create significant textural interest on the tongue. For all the fruit ripeness, it’s only a medium bodied wine, yet full of intensity and flavour. The after palate shows good line, but there’s a sudden drop as the finish kicks in, somewhat mitigated by the fact that this slightly subdued finish possesses more than satisfactory length.This is my kind of wine, and is drinking better now than some of the other 2005 Burgundies I’ve tasted recently. Elegant and alluring. I’d like to see it with a couple of years on it, though, primarily to experience the wine’s texture as it softens.Domaine Trapet Père et FilsPrice: $A66Closure: CorkDate tasted: February 2008

Jacques Cacheux & Fils Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas 2005

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Onwards with the Burgundy tastings. Here we have a village level wine from Vosne-Romanée.On pouring, I thought this wine was faulty, so funky were some of the smells emerging from glass. But it wasn’t — it’s just on the wilder side of Pinot, and perhaps all the better for it. Complex aromas of pepper, stalk, sous-bois and bright red strawberry fruit intermingle on the nose, but these descriptors may give false impression of my certainty — it’s a subtle, changeable nose that has evolved a fair bit through the evening. Quite expressive and beautifully perfumed.When I first sipped the wine, I found the acid overwhelmingly assertive. This subsided after an hour or so to reveal a still-bright but more balanced palate. Entry is lively and immediate, with acidity registering, followed quickly by sweet, plummy red fruit. Complexity builds towards the middle palate, where notes of pepper and spice become quite prominent. There are also smoky, meaty edges to the flavour profile, as well as a bit of vanilla oak. I wouldn’t call this a “clean” wine, but it’s funky and interesting in the most positive way. Body is medium, as is intensity. The wine continues well through the after palate, with a slightly confected note emerging towards the back of the mouth, lingering on through a finish of good length. I must say, I do like this wine a lot. It has changed a fair amount through the evening, gaining weight and body whilst not losing its fundamentally bright profile. I enjoy the slightly wild flavours too — squeaky clean fruit bombs can get boring after a while. There’s definitely a few years in this wine yet, but if you must drink now, do decant for a couple of hours, or at least sip slowly.Jacques Cacheux & FilsPrice: $A55Closure: CorkDate tasted: February 2008