TN: Drouhin Bojo and cassoulet wines

Feb 12, 2007 2 Replies
M

We recently opened a bottle of the 2005 Joseph Drouhin Beaujolais-Villages with dinner:



nose: classic tart red fruits palate: good concentration, bright red fruits, plenty of acid, slight bitterness on the finish



All in all, just what you hope to see from a Beaujolais-Villages from a good year. Drouhin probably gets my nod for the best mass-market B-V in the US, and this bottle just reinforces that conclusion.



Last night, at our annual Fête du Cassoulet (with appropritely frigid weather to accompany it), we opened:



NV Veuve Clicquot Champagne n: moderate toast and some green apple fruit p: somewhat muted, toast, fruit in the background reaction: not my favorite Champagne house, but a decent sparkler



NV Roederer Estate Sparkling Wine n: vibrant fruit, yeasty p: fruity without being sweet, good balance, quite powerful r: overall, a more fun wine than the Veuve Clicquot albeit one that's not likely to be mistaken for Champagne. Still, at


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D

Thanks for notes. A little surprised at idea of HJ recommending Beaujolais and cassoulet. I usually think a bit bigger/tannic: Cahors, Madiran, Rhone, or your Languedoc idea.

Re the Brun aging- is this natural cork? I have a few, somehow was thinking artificial.

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M

Yup. To me, a young, tannic wine makes the most sense to offset the fats in the cassoulet. HJ also recommends a Rioja, but doesn't say whether he means a modern type Crianza (my supposition) or traditional Gran Reserva. Since my Rioja holdings are slim and lean heavily toward the traditional, I didn't go for that option.

Nope. Fake cork. I understand your reticence about aging wine in fake cork, but several people, Jim Cowan among them, have reported aging these L'Anciens under fake cork with great success, so I think it might not be a total loss. Still, to be safe, give it two years instead of five. I've still got an '04 Pepiere in the cellar, too! ;-)

Mark Lipton

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