Category Archives: France

2010 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin

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pinot noir

Jadot wines are great bargains at Wegman’s due to their contract together. I often find wines that are only available at Wegman’s or at significantly reduced prices. I picked up this 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin a few months ago for $45. The cru wines will cost more but this village wine is honestly just as good is most cases. Last week we decided to get fancy with some lobster mac and cheese and this was the ideal pairing. The pinot noir blended nicely with the rich yet mild flavors of the meal. Lobster was on sale so I went big:

giant claw

colonelgrape: 94. A classic Gevrey-Chambertin. I really enjoy all the wines I’ve sampled to date from this village. A great red berry bouquet on the nose backed by a solid structure with just the right amount of tannis. This bottle could probably do with a few more years in the bottle but it was plenty approachable already. I think balanced pinots go best with mild-medium flavored dishes. They are drinkable with just about anything but I think they can be overpowered with something too spicy or bold. It cut through the rich yet delicate mac and cheese perfectly to make for a really nice meal. This is a very sophisticated French pinot.

MobyGrape: 92.  I don’t know if it was the delicious cheeses we were eating, the fact that I was done working the weekend, or that the heat broke and it no longer felt like you were walking into an armpit when you stepped outside but this wine perfectly hit the spot this evening.  Even though the cheese was mild I have a feeling it made the wine taste a bit different.  That said, I didn’t stop eating it not even for one second to cleanse my palate and try to actually taste the wine properly.  Either way it paired perfectly with what we were having (2 points to the Colonel) and it was awesome, so who cares!  It was clean, just a bit tart, and not annoying like other pinots I’ve had.  Excellent on a summer day when you don’t want a chilled white or a beer instead

2007 Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone

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Moby and I grilled up some steak tips the other night and felt like having something special so pulled out this bottle of 2007 Perrin Reserve I’ve been saving for a few years. I can’t stress enough how fantastic a bottle this is for the price…absolutely outstanding. It’s not going to compete with a $100 bottle of Chateau de Beaucastel but for $10 you get a lot of the same qualities of a good bottle at a fraction of the price. This bottle showcased the 2007 vintage showing off the bold and upfront ripe fruit flavors. This is the perfect bottle to bring to a party and wow the guests. There probably aren’t too many bottles of 2007 kicking around but I’d lock up some 2010’s and save them for a rainy day as those are great buys as well.

2008 Marc Hebrart “Special Club” Brut

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Not much to recap in June as we stuck with some old favorites. However we recently filmed another episode of Champagne Meets Sushi and our guest star was “Special Club” bottle of 2008 Marc Hebrart. We tried a new Japanese restaurant in Sudbury called Fugakyu and were impressed with the sushi quality and prices.

The Club Tresors de Champagne is a group of Champagne growers that orgainzed in 1971 in order to present their best offerings in a unique way. All the producers grow their own grapes and the wines are all put into the same bottle with each wine maker putting their own label on the bottle. These wines are generally fantastic with subtle differences due to the terrior, village location, and grape blends. More information can be found at their website:

http://www.clubtresorsdechampagne.com/

colonelgrape: 95. I thought this was an outstanding bottle of Champagne. It was bursting with flavor and you could really taste the Pinot Noir. On the nose it almost had a little brett smell to it but that didn’t translate to the palate. It had some interesting fruit notes, apple being the most prominent, but also hints of red fruit. These Special Club wines are all about terrior and you could really taste it in this bottle. The minerality was perfect, almost like a nice Loire Valley white.  I really like Champagnes that have a good percentage of Pinot Noir, it gives them better body and longer finishes than 100% Chardonnay examples. The fruit and acidity from the Chardonnay balances out the wine. I prefer wines in the 50-80% Pinot Noir range.

MobyGrape: 93:  I thought this tasted like apple juice.  It wasn’t juicy sweet at all, but it definitely had an apple flavor to it.  And it wasn’t bad, like when people substitute applesauce for oil in brownies and whatnot.  I don’t care what your granola friends say, it does not taste the same, you most definitely can tell the difference, and it sucks.  Stop ruining junk food.  I don’t know if a few grapes were swapped out with Granny Smiths but whatever happened in this champagne was a good thing.  Not what I expected, but a most pleasant surprise

flag eagle

Happy 4th of July!

2004 M. Chapoutier La Sizzerane Hermitage

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2004 M Chapoutier La Sizeranne Hermitage

Last week we made our biannual piligrimage to Capital Grille. Their wine list is expansive however you really need to pay attention to avoid over paying. Many of the wines are from good producers however often times they are young (Cabs from 07 or yonger) and marked up 2-3x per bottle. When going to a restaurant with similar wine lists it’s a good idea to take a look online and make smart choices. Capital Grille’s wine list isn’t available on their website but it’s findable with a little effort. With that being said we got a good deal on this 2004 Chapoutier Hermitage. This bottle retails for around $75 per bottle and we got it for $120 at the restaurant which is only a 60% mark up. We took a risk as 2004 Hermitage was not a perfect vintage and has already been declared to be past it’s prime depending on the producer.

cap grille food

We started out with Bluepoint Oysters (my favorite along with Naked Cowboys) and Wagyu Beef Carpacio and a Stoli Doli (pineapple infused vodka). Our main courses were bone in ribeyes medium rare with lobster mac and cheese and sauteed spinach. The oysters were the perfect combination of meat and brine while the Wagyu had fantastic earth flavors. The mac and cheese was uncharacteristcally dry which was a disappointment however the spinach was good with strong garlic flavor and good texture. The steak stole the show as usual with excellent marbling, seasoning, and the flavor concentration you only get with proper dry aging…worth every penny. For desert we had chocolate cake and my favorite: creme brulee which was torched perfectly.

colonelgrape: 83. One of my favorite movies of all time is City Slickers and I’d compare this wine to Curly….a great cowboy out for one last ride. Our gamble paid off and this was a tasty bottle at a decent restaurant price. Tough to tell color with the lighting but it had the nice aged purple/brick red hues. The nose was of extremely ripe black fruit, leather, earth, and definitely a little brett. On the palate is where the bottle fell a little flat for me. It was a little over ripe and had a port/raisin taste and the fruit was definitely past it’s prime but it all still worked. The tannins were gone and the finish was short. If given this bottle blind I would have said old Syrah but it was not as deep or bold as I’d expect from a Hermitage. I would have loved to try it in it’s prime but in the end it was a respectable final showing from the wily cowboy and now it’s time to move on.

MobyGrape: 89. This wine was ready to be put to pasture but it had one last wild ride left in it. It was a great purple color and just looked deliciously thick, probably due to the 8 years it had to build up sediment. It was earthy and had a port-y raisin flavor to it. Had a little tart kick left in it too.  I wouldn’t have wanted to drink this any later than we did, but it was an excellent surprise addition to an excellent meal! Paired wonderfully with steak and chocolate cake, but then again what doesn’t?

2010 Domaine Schoffit Sommerberg Riesling

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2010 Domaine Schoffit Sommerberg Reisling

A very nice bottle of Riesling from Alsace. This is a top notch bottle and will usually run you around $50. I picked it up last year at Wine Library for $40 and we brought it up the other night to have with some Thai food. While spicy Thai goes exceptionally well with Gewurztraminer I think it also works with the dry Rieslings from Alsace.

colonelgrape: 94. Definitely a French Riesling, dry as a bone. The acidity was just right and gave the wine some pep. The flavors came through after the inital rush: lemon, peach, orange, honey. A long finish, hints of mineral along with the tartness from the acid made it very enjoyable. I’ve been into minerality lately…really good terrior coming through from Loire Valley and Alsace recently. This glass worked well with the Thai food but I think it would be just as good on it’s own on a nice hot summer day.

MobyGrape: 90. I feel somewhat betrayed by Riesling.  In my head, all Rieslings are all jolly German creations hopping around in lederhosen.  They’re sweet and delectable and most of all…sweet.  Let me warn you, this is not sweet.  I will admit that yes, I had done a reasonable (minor) amount of homework about Rieslings and was fully aware that if from France instead of Germany, they tend to not be sweet.  To that, I say stop fermenting everything and throw some sugar back in there, France.  Even though I had an idea what I was getting into, I hoped against hope that this one bucked the system and decided to be a sweeter variety.  It wasn’t, at all, but I can’t deny that it was a delicious wine.  It was crisp and tasted like lemongrass.  I don’t know if that’s a real thing you would want to eat or not, but I do know I’ve smelled it in soaps and whatnot.  All that said, refreshing and lemony and delightful in its own way?  Yes.  Sweet?  Noooooo.