Many thanks to those of you who offered advice and suggestions on bringing back some wine, We took full advantage of all the adivce, and brought back some wonderful wine.
Provence - Provence wines were as unremarkable as expected. Actually, worse. While there, was reading in the French press about 148 millions gallons (yes, you read that right) of French wine being dumped as a way to reduce supply and hold up prices. From what I was told, much of that was southern wine - Provence, Languedoc, and elsewere. No complaints from me.
Southern Rhone - Highlight of the southern trip was Gigondas. Beautiful town, with some very interesting wines. Allow me to add my recommendation to those others from this board for the Les Florets restaurant. Brought home some very nice Gigondas villages wines.
Northern Rhone - as a winemaker, with a small vineyard of Marsanne, this was a keystone of the trip. Contrary to what much of the US market seems to feel about this grape, we've been thrilled with it, and wanted to learn more of how it is handled in it's ancestral home. We focused on two producers - Chappoulet and Jaboulet, and on the three major appelations; Hermitage, Crozes Hermitages, and St. Josephs. While some of the Hermitage wines are deserving of their reputations as subtle and elegant wines, we found that they were too oaked for our palate, preferring the Crozes Hermitage - and even the Chappoulet St. Joseph, which revealed more of the fruit. Again, thanks to advice gained here, we brought home some of the preferred wines.
Burgundy - returning to Le Montrachet in Puligny we tried to expand our knowledge of Burgundian Chardonnays (after two trips, I can now assert that it will require many more!). We reinforced our admiration of the Les Caillerets vineyard wines (Chassagne Montrachet), and added a new favortie - the Les Charmes vineyards from Meursault. Memory fails me, but there is a specific named part of the vineyard, further up the hill, that seems to produce more noble wines. All of the wines brought home were Premier Crus.
Special note - again, memory fails me but there is a caveau in Puligny Montrachet owned and operated by a young man named Julien. Julien is remarkable for one so young; he is intimately acwuainted with the wines and vineyards of the Cote de Beaune, and has a remarkable tasting palate himself. He sells wines from many of local producers, including the many small independents. He grew up in the area, his father having been sommelier at Le Montrachet for 18 years - explaining, I guess, how one so young comes to be so knowledgeable of wine. I will post his full name and business info when I dig out his card - but he can ship to the US, and has access to some extraordinary wines not otherwise easily available here. We chose not to ship at this warmer time of year, but will certainly do so in the winter. BTW - the 2004's (vin blancs) are excellent.
Bringing wine home - with good advice from those on this board, we increased our wine brought home; we brought home 18 bottles, 6 packed,
6 each as carry on, and declared all. Customs could not have cared less- no duty payed, no hassles.
A great wine trip, and the satisfaction of being able to purchase and carry home some of the more remarkable wines.