2017 Nuits st George by Caves de la Colombe.
I really enjoyed it, definitely open for business. Still on the fruity side, no mushroom or forest floor. On the sweeter side for burgundy but a good wallop of acidity meant this was balanced out. Tannins lurking about, after 30 minutes open is was a lovely silky sipper. Not especially long or complex but a nice wine I’d happily drink again. Clearly could live a long time.
I hesitated somewhat before replying because when I was looking for Canadian chardonnay from the Niagara area the only choice was between Bachelder or…Norman Hardie…and I thought that if I posted about one of Norman Hardie’s wines on the Community page there was a real risk of getting a “straight red card” from the community page watchdogs…
Canadian wine can be very good indeed… I suspect that the good bottles are never seen here because they become VERY expensive - on a par with prem cru Burgundy or higher.
Although you clearly had a duff bottle !
Having said that, TWS do occasionally stock Canadian wines worth buying if seen. Norman Hardie County Ontario Pinot Noir (£23) and Tawse Quarry Road Vineyard Niagara Escarpment Pinot Noir (£21.50). Both were excellent and somehow found a middle place between new and old world in style.
I believe this wine is made by a rather unique couple - Rotem Brakin (an Israeli) and her Lebanese husband Mounir Saouma. Peace in the Middle East right there
Mounir moved to Burgundy via Israel (it’s an interesting story to say the least!), and him and his wife make several wines in Burgundy - I think M&S used to stock their Pommard too.
I’d say cellar-cool. I haven’t had this particular rosé, but for any hefty example (Tavel, Xinomavro) cellar temp (13-15 sort of thing) seems to work well. For my palate, at least
I haven’t been around here long enough to know if/why mention of Norman Hardie would be a red flag subject, and certainly wasn’t objecting to your comments about the Bachelder. Apologies if I gave that impression, I had just enjoyed their Pinot Noir.
A poor wine experience is always a little saddening, even if you known the law of averages makes it inevitable now and again.
As per @Inbar, for my tastes ditto - the two 17s I had last year were perfect at wine-fridge temp and slightly up from that; certainly not one I’d personally have chilled-chilled.
Will be interesting to hear how the 19s are going - a case of these as a “treat wine” was one of my big spends last year but I’ve not touched any of them yet.
However, I shall soon have 3 weeks solo chez nous while wife & sonshine are visiting family in Taiwan, and one of these will be on my menu as part of enjoying calm evenings with no childcare / wifecare responsibilities :~}
Strange… I just opened the 2015 edition of this very wine at the weekend also from M&S sale and also complete with a slight tear in the label!
As you say, very drinkable, fine silky tannin but not especially long or complex.
Just looking on cellartracker this is my last bottle ( I had a Chambolle and a 2014 NSG, all lovely)
Thank you Inbar for the background, the bird of peace emblem on the bottle makes more sense!
I shall report back, 2019 might be a bit young… we shall see. Supper tonight will be something involving kohlrabi & meatballs (minced pork & rumpsteak) - with Dijon mustard cream sauce.
Chardonnay tales continued. A what the hell if not now when moment today with my salmon fish pie late lunch; I have a few more of these, this my all-time favourite chardy since I sat there at their tasting room bar in 2018. Don’t care what the French say. It has everything, salivating acidity, balance of tropical (pineapple mainly) and citrous (grapefruit), plus the unobtrusive background melange of toasty hazelnut, caramac, butter and oven baked croissants. This is desert island heaven on a drizzly mid-week February.
Pataille Marsannay Rose 2019 update after a glass or two. An enigma, I’ve never had a Pinot Noir vinified as a Rose… so nothing to compare against except to say it’s a very fine wine indeed (served garage cold as suggested).
Nose is Champagne, cherry blossom, rose petals. On the palate it switches to classic pinot noir except lighter, sweeter (yet dry), notes of lychee & strawberry, no oak or tannin whatsoever, confusing actually because it clearly is a Burgundy Red … yet isn’t.
In conclusion, this would be the perfect wine with Japanese cuisine. It really is something special & quite unique as a wine - my 2019 bottle is absolutely perfect to drink right now, I have no idea how it might age but the other two in the garage might not see through to 2024.
A slightly fuzzy write up as I’ve managed to pick up a pretty nasty bug somewhere between feeling fine last night and realising I wasn’t just a tad hungover when I got a lot worse around lunchtime, but I went to the “Catch a rising star” tasting at Chelsea Town Hall last night.
It was fun. Nice venue with some really interesting wines on show. I’ll not review all of them because yeah. A few favourites that were new to me (so won’t be squeeing about the Minimalist Wines, the various Xinomavro’s, Marty McFly and a few others that I’ve raved about on here previously anyway).
Wine of the night for me was Cabidos Petit Manseng Sec Cuvee Gaston Phoebus Pyrenees Atlantiques 2019. Typically the one that’s not available to buy yet. Very umami with notes of sesame and soy, rich and slightly sweet this was a lot of wine. Their sweety was also very good.
Cuevas de Arom Tuca Negra Garnacha, Campo de Borja 2017 no surprises from me liking this one. I’ve been a huge fan of the more entry level wines. Intense and smokey Garnacha was a lot, and I loved it. I’m not sure I loved it £50 a bottle, but I definitely loved it.
Juanicó Teru Teru Albariño 2022 is from Uruguay. It does exactly what Albarino should (think Spanish rather than Portuguese) and I really enjoyed it.
Teleda Qvevri Saperavi, Georgia 2020 was a lovely approachable Saperavi. Very clean plum-skin flavour and a really nice fresh acidity. Would make a good BBQ wine (although at £15.50 I can’t help but feel that you’d be better off spending less on a good village level /cru Beaujolais).
This has been hanging around in the cellar for years, bought circa 2012. I’ve never been a chocolate block fan so have waited a good while to open this and see what some age does to them. Quite a porty nose. Definitely smells like 14.5%. Stewed black fruit and sweet spices on the palate. Nice balance and tannins but lacking in complexity from something you have to age 10+ years yourself.
As the name suggests, this has been raised in oak casks (barricas). This wine is not listed on their website, but another vendor says 15 months in French oak, and you can certainly taste the oak, along with plums and dark fruits, medium acidity and drying tannins.
Probably too much oak if I’m honest. Still very nice, even if it wasn’t the best match for a four seasons pizza.
Bought as a 2+2 Ribera four pack, two of these and two Protos Colección Barricas 2019, for €44 in Carrefour. Pretty good value I thought, given their individual bottle prices.
The two Tissot Patchwork 2020’s I purchased in December turned out to be both oxidised, sour and undrinkable (believe me I tried).
Worth cracking open sooner rather than later to at least check one…
Luckily the TWS promise prevailed in super quick time and I’ve already spend the funds on some 2019 Barbaresco!
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