musings from vermont

vin de pissenlit. it is bottled and has cleared. it does still have a sharp edge but that is softening. some will go for the pig roast but i think there will be several bottles just sitting for about a year. i will put together some "tasting notes" just before its coming out celebration on the fourth of july.

wines of the long weekend. this was a disappointing topic until last night. the restaurant had a substantial list but most of the options were not interesting. i fell back on a favorite they had, and of which we have a couple cases in the cellar- COUDOULET de BEAUCASTEL 2007. first, the mark-up was not outrageous. the wine was dark and had scents of tar, smoke, and red fruit. the taste was red cherries and smoked meat, tannins were soft. the finish was full. this is a very nice wine and i was happy to see it as an option on the wine list. it was not as expensive or as marked-up as the CdP's on the list, and was certainly more reliable than the red burgundies. i strongly recommend this wine (and it comes at a retail price close to the $25 target of this blog).

on another note, one of the prominent wine publications just out had a very nice article on rose wines. not overly sweet white something or others, rose wines fermented dry. they pointed out that in france, rose wines are the only wines increasing in sales. the 2009's from provence should be excellent because the year was so good. unfortunately, in our area of pennsylvania the wine shops have had minimal supplies and severely limited variety. these are summer wines and typically are designed to be drunk young, shouldn't there be some available?

a final comment on rose, one which was not mentioned in the publication is the exact one i am most looking forward to tasting. last fall we had the good opportunity to visit jean marc at domaine rouge bleu shortly after his rose had gone into the tank and we tasted it. the flavors remain in my mind and i am excited to try the finished product this fall. it is a shame we cannot get this wine or wines from this producer in pennsylvania.