M&C's birthday wine - 2004 Clos L'Abbay

I think I've had this one in the cellar for at least a couple of years. I had planned to drink it with M&C but their lack of meat eating and the intervention of kids means opportunities are thin on the ground. A better plan was to drink it with Mr G whilst cooking an epic meal.

Mr G raved about it and I would agree it had much to reccomend it. One thing I did feel was noteworthy was the fact that it was noticably dominated by round soft plumy flavours that may indicate that Merlot is calling the shots here. I say 'may' because I've read that right bank wines such as St Emillion and Pommerol tend to have much higher Merlot content than say, Medoc wines so I hesitate to say that this is what we were picking up but it's certainly a possibility. It didn't seem to have much in the way of complexity but was a treat nontheless. Having said that, I believe it comes in at over £25 (a 2005 is £35 with National Wine) so it falls down on the value side.

Certainly, it had a good deal more character than a 2005 Chateau Greysac that we also drained whilst cooking: dry faintly ceadery finish but very little fruit on the attack.

Incidentally, we had a massive dissaopointment with the main course. Namley, a £20 chunk of 'fillet' steak. It was tough, stringy, flavourless and generally a dreadful peice of meat that did it's best to ruin a great afternoon/evening.

Saint Amour

Two St Amour offerings from Nick Dobson that both come in at around £12.

First up is Domaine des Champs Grilles:



A visually stunning bottle that I'm happy to report had the substance to match the style. Plently of pleasing sappy gammay fruit burst and a elegant finish. Overall, a very harmonious wine. Well worth the 12 quid. Can it be differentiated in style from The Brouillys such as Chatuea Thivin? It seems to have less weight, less dry finish and more subtle fruit. I reminds me of the first St. Amour we ever tried - a Debouf offering which famously ended up costing 70p a bottle thanks to a balls-up at the till in Sainsburys - vegetal and violet-ish and very elegant.

Still, given the next example, I'm not sure how typical either are of the cru.


The Dominae Matray couldn't be more different. Much heavier attack with notes of plum/damson. To me it felt much more like a straight pinot noir. I would not have guessed it was a Gammy. Much minerality but it seemed less interesting than the Champs Grilles. It does tell me that pure Gammay can taste very different in different hands.

Interesting to note that Saint Amour is a stones throw from St. Veran where we have had such success with well priced white burgundy. I read that the granite gives way to limestone accross this boundary. I wonder if there is any cross over between Chardonnay and Gammy producers?

cooking wine

Just added a bottle and a half of 'Yellow Creek' to a vat of Spag. Bol. God knows where it came from (free gift, perhaps?) but it's lable contained no information about the grape, or country/year of origin. It looked thin and harsh and the bottle seemed to be made of a very weird type of glass, which could have perhaps been plastic?

Anyway, the point is that the Spag. Bol tasted as good as is always does which confirms my suspicions about the all bar the vaguest 'wine-like' flavour being destroyed by stew-type cooking. Many a recipe I've seen that asks for a bottle of burgundy to go in a beef stew. That would appear to be £15 down the drain.

Morgon

An interesting Beuajolais in Oddbins is a rare thing. A keenly priced one is rarer still. Sadly Domanie Laurent Gauthier's Morgon Grand Cras Villes-Vignes only qulifies for the former. Plenty of pepper on the finish and some pleasant fruit (strawberry?) prior to that but at £12 is must be compared to the Chateau Thivin and it would do well not to stand too close - Thivin wins hands down.

What is it with 'old vines'? I've yet to be impressed by this addition to the label. It smacks of attempts to add mystique to a wine but I'm sure there are many out there that would disagree vehemently. It would be interesting to try a old and new vine bottling where the grape, production process, terroir was identical.

Bourgueil (no idea how to pronounce that)

A cranky Eva was pacified by a ride around in a Majestic wine trolley. It was like flicking a switch! Sadly, that tactic necessitated buying some wines. Specifically, some Loire reds. The first to be tried is Pierre-Jaques Druet's 'les cent boisselees'. At 7 years, it's the oldest pure Cabernet Franc I've tasted (see previous post on this topic). Still has the dryness of the Joguet wine but is much more smooth in it's finish. I think it was about £8 if at lest two purchased but I can't find it on their site. If so I would go back for more of this. At least as interesting as many Cru Beaujolais of a similar price. I see Yapp have the 2007 at £12 which yet again makes me wonder about their mark-ups. They offer an excellent service and by far the most interesting, bullshit-free selection of wines but you do pay a premium.

The Wine Dr tells us that Bourgueil can provide good value in that it's wines are hard to distinguish from those of neighbouring Chinon but because of its anonymity it commands lower prices.