Category Archives: France

Pascal Delaunay Rosé d'Anjou 2005

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I bought this wine because it is under screwcap. When it comes to bargain basement French wines, sometimes one needs to look for reasons to purchase. Perhaps I’m being a bit mean — this wine is super cheap, from a good year in the Loire, and its main grape is one you don’t get to taste in local wines: Grolleau (40%, with Gamay and Cabernet Franc both contributing a further 30%). I cracked this little number open to accompany Thai food.

The colour is quite watery, though not unattractive in its way. It’s sort of a faded peach colour. Excellent clarity. Moving on to the nose, there are faint aromas of floral fruitiness, with some spicy edges. That’s about the best way I can characterise it. No intensity here, but it’s clean and at least it smells good. The palate is again clean, but the lack of any real intensity of flavour becomes quite apparent. The wine just slips into your mouth, registers a few simple fruit flavours, and then it’s gone again. Sort of like a depressed singing telegram. Technically a demi-sec style, there’s a smidge of residual sugar to add body but, mercifully, no excess sweetness.

On the plus side, it’s a clean wine, well made, pretty. But terribly dilute. Food overwhelmed it a little. Serve this chilled at a casual summer lunch in lieu of Chateau Cardboard.

Pascal Delaunay
Price: $A8
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: December 2007

Marc Brédif Vouvray 2005

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On the nose, soft, powdery, floral notes along with orange blossom honey and crisp white peaches. There’s almost a hint of pineapple there as well, and a suggestion of peat smoke, almost like Scotch. Finally, there’s something else going on here just behind the scene – almost bread-y, like fresh baked brioche.In the mouth, the wine is soft and rich, mouth-filling, but it’s on the finish where the big surprises are: a very much savory note of fresh apple pie along with a calming, supporting streak of acidity. The flavor hangs around for quite a long time after you swallow; it’s kind of like biscuits with whipped honey butter, with a hint of peach. There’s also a curiously bass note there, which is what I suppose one calls minerality: it’s like a subtle underpinning of all of the higher positioned flavors and returns again and again unexpectedly, drifting in and out of focus.This is a wine of great subtlety and grace; I imagine it would pair well with venison stew, somehow.Marc BrédifPrice: US $12.99Closure: CorkDate tasted: December 2007—Julian is absolutely correct when he describes the attack of this wine as largely textural; the slippery, fat, acidic, oily, ever-changing feel of the wine is one of its great pleasures. Funny thing, though – I can’t remember the last time I read a tasting note that really paid attention to the way a wine feels!

Rene Florancy Champagne NV

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Cooking dinner this evening, I poured myself a glass of this straight out of the fridge and decided to give it time to warm up on its own. The mousse is textbook perfect: tiny bubbles, very consistent upward flow, and it makes a lovely heart-shaped display on top of the wine in the glass.The nose is subtly biscuity, with a hint of fresh pears and green apples, along with a bit o’ honey. In the mouth, the acidity is spot on: it’s all fairly lightweight, but immensely appetizing, with a delightful prickling sensation as well. Mmm good. The dosage seems perhaps a bit high – although this is labeled brut, perhaps it should have been labeled as extra dry?My only complaint is really the price: although this wine sells for about £24 in the UK (making it ridiculous cheap here in the States by comparison), you can get similarly high quality house brand Champagne for $20 (Costco), or even name brand Champagne for $22 (Piper Heidsieck at Vintage Wines here in San Diego). So why does this cost $27?[but really fresh&easy]Price: US $26.99Closure: CorkDate tasted: December 2007

Marc Brédif Vouvray 2005

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The nose is best described as elusive, but tantalisingly so. Flavours of powder, flint, light tropical fruit, herbs and musk seem to emerge from the glass with unexpected intensity and then disappear again just as suddenly; the overall effect is quite beguiling.

The entry is not flavourful so much as textural. It’s slippery and surprisingly viscous and leads to a medium bodied palate that is again surprisingly intense. There are herbal edges to the same light tropical fruits that showed on the nose, plus a whack of acidity that introduces a mineral aspect to the flavour profile. It also counterbalances the residual sugar that emerges on the middle palate. Really nicely judged in this respect. Flavour density builds towards the after palate, and the wine’s finish shows very clean, lingeringly sweet fruit and minerality in equal measure.

I’m actually having this wine as an aperitif, and regret that I don’t have something like a nice liver pate to go with it. This is a lovely wine for those who enjoy a more subtle white wine experience – perhaps those who can appreciate a younger Hunter Semillon might enjoy this wine. To me, there’s a sophistication in this wine’s reticence and elusiveness. Balance and complexity in spades. Very nice indeed.

Marc Brédif
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

La Ferme Julien Rosé 2006

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Don’t laugh, but the first thought that came into my head upon smelling this wine was “Bananas Foster.” Yes, seriously! It’s also got the standard strawberry rosé smell there as well, but with an unusual creaminess and that hint of bananas, vanilla, and burnt sugar as well. There’s even a subtle whiff of attar of roses, as well as a nearly buttery note.

In the mouth, the wine shows a lovely medium weight, not overwhelmed by sweetness, finishing on a dry, tart note. The taste is surprisingly different than the smell, tending towards sweet violet coffee and freshly milled flour, again with that lovely undercurrent of roses. The finish isn’t especially long, but it offers a nice counterpoint to the rest of the wine, ending on a flat note of candied lemon peel. On the whole, though, it’s probably the best rosé you’ll find for under ten bucks.

La Ferme Julien [but really Trader Joe’s]
Price: US $7.99
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

MonRedon Côtes du Rhône 2003

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Generic Côtes du Rhône reds can often make a nice change to the usual mid-week wines. Here’s one from the problematic 2003 vintage, coming in at the $A20 mark.

A transparent garnet, bright, attractive, with some signs of bricking at the rim. The nose is extroverted and fruit driven, if a bit simple. Bright, somewhat confected red fruits and floral notes are the dominant theme, with some  gamey, meaty characters adding complexity.

The entry is a little weak and it’s only on the middle palate that flavours really expand and become generous. The wine is medium to light bodied, again with bright, sweet and slightly confected fruit flavours. Mouthfeel is soft and easy, with enough structure to keep the wine from lapsing into flabbiness, but only just. Alcohol heat pokes out a bit. The after palate thins out fairly quickly, and the wine’s finish is not truncated, but neither is it remarkable.

This wine’s a bit middling in most respects, but it’s also flavourful and very easy to drink. Value for money is always a bit hard when it comes to wine, as it can be difficult to put a price on variety and difference. If you’re bored of local quaffers and would like a change, this certainly fits the bill at a reasonable price. In absolute quality terms, though, there are any number of local wines that beat the pants of this wine at the same price point.

Château Mont-Redon
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007