[TN] 2009 Causse Marines Marcillac

Mark Lipton 15 years ago

With tonight's dinner of roast chicken, I opened:

2009 Causse Marines Marcillac nose: initially, grapey/carbonic macercation, pepper; later turning smoky with graphite notes palate: fleshy, balanced acidity, medium body, smooth tannins

The previous edition of this wine (the '08) was one of my wines of the year in 2010. This year's version is fleshier and more full-bodied, though still not a ponderous or heavy wine. Also, the more herbaceous qualities of last year's wine were not much in evidence in the '09. In both years I got a resemblance to Cab Franc, but whereas the '08 called to mind the Cab Francs of the Loire, the '09 puts me in mind of St. Emilion with its more torrefactive notes. Still lovely, but I'm keeping my second bottle of this in the cellar to see how it develops with time.

Mark Lipton

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Bi!! 15 years ago

Torrefactive? LOL! I looked it up and I still don't know what it means!! As close as I can determine...smokey?

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Mark Lipton 15 years ago

Yup, smoke/fire/char, that sort of thing. After googling for the term, I'll have to put the blame on David Schildknecht as he seems to be the only other person who uses the term. ;-)

Mark Schildlipton

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Bi!! 15 years ago

I thought it was one of those highly technical molecular physics sort of terms. As google defines torrefaction as: "Torrefaction of biomass can be described as a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically ranging between 200-320 °C. During torrefaction the biomass properties are changed to obtain a much better fuel quality for combustion and gasification applications. Torrefaction combined with densification leads to a very energy dense fuel carrier of 20-25 GJ/ton." BTW, I don't know if you know David Schildknect but he takes wine geekdom to another level.

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DaleW 15 years ago

thanks for notes. I should have fought my way thru crowds at Dressner tasting to get to Causse Marines table.

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Mark Lipton 15 years ago

No crowds at the Causse Marines table in Chicago, but no Virginie, either :( However, Kevin McKenna did an admirable job of pouring and informing us about the wines. Alas, one of the facts he told us was that 2010 will be the last vintage for this wine as the vineyard owners are unwilling to commit to organic viticulture and the Causse Marines folks are unwilling to compromise. What this means is that I'll have to look for the Domaine du Cros Marcillac and try Causse Marines's other wines (Gaillac and Peyrezoulles).

Mark Lipton

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