Trinquevedel 2013

Having tasted a lot of rose the last 18 months between travel and the FWS Provence Masters Course, I go back to my rose roots and say Guillaume has hit a home run with 2013. The nose, the fruit, the spice, the acidity, and the alcohol are perfectly balanced. This is a "rose de maceration," not saignee, nor a rose de nuit. Perfectly dry.

Great wine. Only about 2200 cases imported by Kermit Lynch.

Domaine Bart

Fabulously typical. Medium ruby. Red fruits, smoke, pepper, and a bit of mushroom. Velvet tannin. Just great. 

Bad wine

Had two bad bottles from Wine Access tonight. One was a Morgon and the precious bottles wer fine. It seemed to have substantial TCA. The second was this cult bottle Sunce. The benevolent tasting note is: cloudy, dull ruby. Very forward aromas of acetone and some weirdly spicy thill. Acid is entirely out of balance relative to the limited, tart, immature red fruit. Finish produces an overwhelming desire to regurgitate, and unfortunately is long. 

I'll try another bottle in a day or two to confirm that this is not just poorly made. But, for the moment, I just write this off to bad wine. 

Pinot- Old World vs New World

Chateauneuf du Pape video clip on YouTube.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=f6yPH_mytcY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Df6yPH_mytcY%26feature%3Dshare

This is a very nice 4 minute summary of the grapes and the terroir. Well worth watching if one wishes to understand a bit about this AOC.

Valentine's Day Wine

So this was a celebration evening at our favorite American French bistro. Decided to start with a Champagne Louis de Sacy Rose NV which went with the amuse and the first couple courses. Followed that with the "special wine." Although it is 11 years old there was minimal color separation and the wine was a nice, brilliant medium ruby. The initial aromas were spicy red fruit and a hint of toasty oak. With time the tertiary aromas of mushroom and forest floor evolved. Nice polished tannin background. Tasted again this morning and there was further development of the tertiary aromas. Province is that this came directly from the Latour cellars last year. 

I probably should have had them decant this last night to get its full impact at dinner. 

Kudos to a la Maison on a great special meal. Great food, perfect presentation. Menu is still up on their web site. 

www.alamaisonbistro.com

Try this.

Le Millésime

1 Rue Traversière, Chambolle-Musigny

+33 3 80 62 80 37