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TN: Alsace, Pfalz, Loire, Brazil

Had some friends over for dinner tonight. Supposed to be 2 couples, but one person got sick, so that couple bailed, we ended up with just

4 of us. Which ended up being nice, good friends sharing a lot.

Nancy and Ron brought a couple dozen Bluepoint oysters, we had fun shucking (once I got back into the groove), with traditional sides plus a very cool sauce of dashi with pepper-infused daikon. Wine was the 2005 Pepiere (Marc Olliver) Muscadet. Definite saline/seabreeze notes, good fruit, but the salinity and mineral notes dominate. Excellent length and depth for a under-$10 wine, B+.

Betsy had made coq au Riesling as well as a broccoli rabe/pea saute, we had a couple of Rieslings with it:

2004 Francois Baur "Herrenweg" Riesling Bigger styled Riesling, some petrol, honey notes (though totally dry), citrus fruit with floral overnotes. Good acidity, lots of body, bracing. B+/B

2006 Reichsrat von Buhl "Armand" Riesling Kabinett Sweet, ripe, peaches, Rainier cherries, and citrus. Tasty, but could use a little more depth. B

We also had a red, as Ron is primarily a red guy. I haven't had many Brazilian wines, but enjoyed the 2004 Salton "Desejo" Merlot. Definitely "internationally" styled, but I have no expectations for Brazilian reds, so that's ok by me. A bit of toasty oak, round red berry and plum fruit, ripe but balanced. A nice wine, I'd happily drink again. B/B+

Good night, good wine, good friends.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Reply to
DaleW
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Dale, We have been regulars with Francois Baur for ten years (first time was in

1998), and we have seen them change into biodynamics ... also the changes brought on by the warming ... your description tallies perfectly with how we perceive their wines - mucho fruit and brawn, perhaps less elegance.

Madame Veronique confided in us that she missed the possibility of making a less fruit driven wine, a few years ago. The warm summers give too much sugar, to the point that we for the first time last spring tasted a Muscat that was semi-sweet despite not being VT. The times they are (a-)changing, are they not?

CHeers

Nils

Reply to
Nils Gustaf Lindgren

Indeed, I think the days of light and elegant Alsace wines may be behind us. I did remember you liked Baur, one of the reasons (along with retailer rec) that I bought. My only previous Baur experience was a rather disappointing '98 Brand Riesling.

Reply to
DaleW

Perhaps you are right if the warming trend of recent years continues. However the positive side of this is perhaps there may be more SGN wines in Alsace and more BA and TBA in colder regions of Germany such as the Saar. We will know the end is near when Clos Ste. Hune can no longer produce a dry Riesling and it drinks well early on :-). I also suspect that it would take quite a bit of warming before Austria can no longer produce a good dry Riesling. There have been cycles of cool and warmer years in the past. For example there was a cycle of many cooler and unripe years for Bordeaux in the 1930s. I think it would take observation over several decades to separate such short period cycles from a long term effect such as global warming with much confidence.

Reply to
cwdjrxyz

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