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TN: Austria and Australia (plus Beaujolais and Cava)

Had some friends who've been away and their pup over for dinner last night, doggie reunion featured marrow bones, the people started with an eggplant and pepper dip with pita chips and cucumber; dinner was porterhouses with a coffee/cumin rub, grilled potato salad with green beans and yellow cherry tomatoes, and a Caprese salad.

NV Castellroig Cava Crisp, clean, I continue to really enjoy this as a value bubbly. B

2007 Prager "Hollerin" Smaragd Riesling Big, beefy, dry, very ripe white nectarine fruit but with some acidic backbone that reminds me you can drizzle lime juice on your pit fruits. Interesting, with a future. B+

2003 Yarra Yering Dry Red #1 This is a nice compromise between my Old World tastes and Ron's more New World preferences. Juicy black currant fruit, pepper/spice, just a hint of oak, enough acidity to keep it lively. Could probably stay undetected as a ringer in either a Bordeaux or CalCab blend tasting. Not jammy, though it could use more length. B/B+

2009 Terres Dorees (JP Brun) Cote de Brouilly This is a little tight at first, but opens nicely, red cherry with cocoa and raspberry, medium weight, good finish, sappy, fresh. B++

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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raspberry, medium weight, good finish, sappy, fresh. B++

Dale, Do you think that this will benefit from more time in the bottle? I've got a few of these and my impressions of '09 are that most of the wines have structure to spare.

Mark Lipton

p.s. An '09 Bone Jolly Rouge tonight with braised pork tenderloin was perhaps the best bottle of this yet. Juicy and very tasty!

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Larry, Cote de Brouilly (in contrast to Brouilly) is one of Beaujolais's bigger Crus and in '09 arguably the Cote de Brouilly excelled beyond others such as Morgon and Regnie.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Staying power in Beaujolais is to a very large extent dependent on whether it was made using maceration carbonique or not. Wines where MC has been used on a large aprt of the grapes will not age gracefully. Wines made using a traditional wine making style from a good producer can be quite long-lived - we once had a Moulin a Vent from 1947 that compared favorably with an Echezeaux from the same vintage - the Echezeaux had a longer after taste, though. I once, by mistake, on an auction, bought two pot lyonnais (46 cl) of Beaujolais-VIllage 1964 and they were both delightful. Among the better Bojo I've tasted. As the Burgundians (Jadot, Henriot ...) are taking over some of the good terroir in the crus, we will no doubt see a return to what is, in fact, a more traditional style of wine making, including wines that will cellar quite well. Nevertheless, they no doubt will drink well on the fruit, just as some of the "real" Burgs do. Cheers Nils

Reply to
NilsGLindgren

I must quibble with you a bit here, Nils. The late Jules Chauvet, the single person most responsible for the resurgence of Beaujolais in the past 10-20 years, was an advocate of CM for Gamay-based wines. Many of his disciples -- Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton, Jean-Paul Thevenet, Jean Foillard and (arguably) Joseph Chamonard -- make some of the most ageworthy wines in the Beaujolais and all of them to my knowledge use partial or complete CM. That being said, several vignerons (Jean-Paul Brun and Michel Tete among them) are toying with Burdundian vinification methods (destemming and cold soak), but that is somewhat controversial right now. For an interesting discussion, see:

Cheers! Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

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