Wines We Loved
Everybody liked the Puech Noble for its savory, broad fruit. Those familiar with white burgundies appreciated the 1er cru qualities of complexity and richness of the Curveux Pouilly-Fuisse.
March 27, 2024
Whites
Everybody liked the Puech Noble for its savory, broad fruit. Those familiar with white burgundies appreciated the 1er cru qualities of complexity and richness of the Curveux Pouilly-Fuisse. It is of incredible value and a wine to age one to four years. We have four cases left.
For the reds, it was a tale of two tastings: They needed more airing than what we had given them. Early tasters got potential, not reality: reductive sulfur note, tannins, and sullen fruit. Later, arrivals got how good the wines are.
The most fantastic change came in the Langlade. Early on, it was eclipsed by the richness of the prior wines. At the end, it began to show the savory, smooth signs of maturity that you usually get only in much more expensive wines. The next day, it was superb, with the savory forest floor of top-level Bordeaux. You should try it, but decant it two or three hours in advance to get the whole experience.
White
Premier Cru White Burgundy at a Bourgogne price
2022 Domaine Curveux Pouilly-Fuisse Vignes Blanches 1er Cru;
Aroma: reserved, then strong apple acid, wood, and fruit, later mellows and comes together, pear and apple, wet stone lots of depth; Mouth: well-integrated oak, intense fruit, more delicacy, if not quite the volume of the Menestrieres, nuanced and complex later blooms to a deep purple-tinged apple and pear with underlying notes of wood and acid, complete and satisfying; Excellent $40; Case, $34
A Star of the northern Rhone goes to Languedoc
Domaine Rostaing Puech Noble Blanc Coteaux du Languedoc 2022
A simply irresistible white wine from the south of France that will have you thirsting for more! : In the late 1990s, René Rostaing of Cote Rotie fame purchased near Nîmes. The ground on a small plateau is covered with galets roulés – rounded stones – like those found in nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Puech Noble is higher and thus cooler than Chateauneuf, offering a fresher character in its wines.
Aroma: delicate wildflower, nectarines and honeysuckle. Mouth: the wine is a balance of fleshy, rich stone fruit, crisp zest of citrus, and crushed rocks. This makes for a juicy, racy texture and mineral white wine that will disappear quickly. We can't recommend this juice enough. Bravo!; Excellent $28.99; Case, $24.99
Red
You've Never had a Malbec like this
2021 Rocher de Violette Cot
This has none of the coarseness, extraction, or sometimes unripeness of the Argentinian versions. Grown in the Loire valley, where it is called Cot, it's a wine of grace and purity that reveals the grape's violet (both color and flower) essence that the heartier extracted tannic versions obscure. It's a marvel of purity and ripeness.
Color: medium ruby; Aroma: haunting fragrance, very pretty, very pure and fine; Mouth: v very pretty lighter, lovely intensity, finesse; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
Poised and Pretty Spanish Red
2022 Guimaro Ribeira Sacra Tinto
In the cooler heights of the hills of northwest Spain, the Mencia grape, when well grown, can have a pinot noir-like purity and grace. This one is full fruited and round. We loved it for its extraordinary purity.
; Color: medium red black; Aroma: very fresh, very pretty, herbal firm, nutty, piercingly herbal, firm; Mouth: fresh, very clean, fullish, fat, juicy, very intense, very pure rich; Very Good Plus
$24.99; Case, $21.50
You Won't Believe It's Not Burgundy
2020 Alphonse Mellot Pinot Noir Cotes de la Charite
The Pinot Noirs of Sancerre are often very pretty without too much depth. Famous Sancerre producer Alphonse Mellot found limestone soils a few miles to the east in The Cotes Charite that give more character to the wine. In 2020, he made a wine with a spice and elegance like that of a Cote de Nuits in a ripe vintage.
Color: very dark; Aroma: heady and sweet, very intense, vibrant, full, a nice sour herbal note, sour plum; Mouth: clean herbal, then acid, good fruit, graphite, some sour plum, very long, sublime and gratifying; Very Good - Excellent $40; Case, $34
The 'Grand Cru' You've never heard of
2018 Dufes Successeurs, Langlade
In the Middle Ages, the small Languedoc town of Langlade was considered a grand cru on the burgundy level. Connoisseurs from Louis XIV to Thomas Jefferson loved it. But phylloxera destroyed its vineyards in the 19th century. A Franco-American woman, Elisabeth Van der Bent, is working to restore its reputation. Her wine is made mainly from Rhone grapes but drinks more like a mellowed cross between a Rhone and St. Emilion. Not to overstate, it is extraordinary and worth far more than its price.
Color: medium dark; Aroma: very fine herbal dense, spicy with wood elegant, spicy wood; Mouth: smooth, elegant, clean, bright, light and lithe, fine tannins, long, very fresh, creamy in texture and supple; Very Good - Excellent $29.99; Case, $25.49
Federal Discovery Case: two each of the wines $335
Or mix any twelve bottles at their case prices
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: Click to Order
- Len Rothenberg
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
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downtown on orders more than $75;
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