TN: Mostly French, with 1 German and 1 Austrian

[dalewilli...@gmail.com]

Betsy made chicken with couscous and Moroccan spices (kind of tagine-ish)
2014 Clos de Roilette (Coudert) Fleurie
Red berries, coffee, some structure here , this is not the Tardive but could use some time. Tasted again on night 3, actually better. B with real potential

I made a sheet pan dinner of salmon Brussels sprouts and broccoli
2011 Knoll Pfaffenberg Steiner Riesling.
Crisp and stony, put fruit with ginger and orange zest. Wet rockiness abounds. B+

Pork chops and vegetables in Japanese curry, somen, salad
2005 Potel Hauts Jarrons Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Young, black cherry and sandalwood, still some prominent tannin, I thought this would be ready but I expect better in a few years. B/B+ for now,

Just me, with black sea bass, cacio e pepe ravioli, asparagus
2019 Pierre Martin “Monts Damnes” Sancerre
Chalk and seashells, citrus,bright. B+/B

Lots of admire about Coach K but very happy how his last game turned out.

Betsy came back from a special reunion weekend (and great concert), we started with a oyster comparison (Fat Baby from Long Island Sound vs Savage Blonde fromPEI) and leftover pork curry. Leftover Sancerre with oysters, and then the 2014 Lapierre N (Sans Soufre) Morgon
These days I buy more Foillard than Lapierre, generally find more value, but maybe I should reconsider, at least with the no sulfur version. Pretty, juicy red and black cherry, oregano, roast gamebird notes.There were a couple of others in box, hope they are N as well. B++

Monday Indian takeout (pakora, papadum, palek paneer, lamb roganjosh) before a wondrous 1st half of basketball (followed by a horrible 2nd half)

2012 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese #10
This should be a stunner, but wasn’t. The cork started slipped into bottle when I was opening, and the wine was more advanced than it should be. Good fruit (peach and melon), but petrol is very high, and it’s got a honied/apricot note and a bit of VA. Blind I might have thought this was a mid-90s Rheingau Auslese. Tasty, but not what is should be. B on taste, C+ for meeting expectations. Hopefully just a poor cork

2016 Gérard Villet "Cuvee Tradition" Arbois blanc
It’s like dry vin jaune, but worse.:(
Old apples, with a touch of cleaning fluid and rubbing alcohol. I am sure there are fans of this style who would rate highly, but for me this is a D.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

[Graham]

On 2022-04-05 6:05 p.m., dalewilli...@gmail.com wrote:
> Betsy made chicken with couscous and Moroccan spices (kind of tagine-ish)
> 2014 Clos de Roilette (Coudert) Fleurie
> Red berries, coffee, some structure here , this is not the Tardive but could use some time. Tasted again on night 3, actually better. B with real potential
>

I have given up on Coudert's wines. The last couple of bottles could
only be described as "nothing special". I've had better village wines.
These days if I fancy a gamay, I buy those from a small winery in BC,
Blue Mountain, whose gamay was described by the late Stephen Spurrier as
the best he'd tasted outside Beaujolais. They are beautifully fragrant
and I enjoy them just for sipping (and sniffing) after a meal.
Unfortunately, there will be no 2021 as the grapes were tainted by smoke
from the devastating wildfires in the Province.
I now also drink their PNs more often than my other favourite - Arlaud's
Roncevie.
Graham

[Mark Lipton]

On 4/6/22 11:19 AM, Graham wrote:

> I have given up on Coudert's wines. The last couple of bottles could
> only be described as "nothing special". I've had better village wines.
> These days if I fancy a gamay, I buy those from a small winery in BC,
> Blue Mountain, whose gamay was described by the late Stephen Spurrier as
> the best he'd tasted outside Beaujolais. They are beautifully fragrant
> and I enjoy them just for sipping (and sniffing) after a meal.
> Unfortunately, there will be no 2021 as the grapes were tainted by smoke
> from the devastating wildfires in the Province.
> I now also drink their PNs more often than my other favourite - Arlaud's
> Roncevie.

Coudert is a bit of a puzzle, especially the Tardive bottling. They do
take a long time to come around, and there is some debate as to whether
they really do or not. A number of people I know in NYC are planning an
investigative tasting of Coudert's wines 1999-present to try and assess
just how and if they develop.

We've found two domestic sources of lighter-styled Gamay that we like:
Edmunds St. John's Bone-Jolly (rouge and rosé) and Chateau Grand
Traverse's Limited Reserve Gamay from the Old Mission Peninsula near
Traverse City, MI. Neither is likely to be mistaken for even
Beaujolais-Villages but rather have their own unique character.

Mark Lipton

[Graham]

It seems that your two US Gamays are not available in Alberta. Of course
the BC wines come from small producers and are not widely available,
even in Canada.
When visiting family in BC last week, I picked up a few PNs that are
available there and am now drinking through them, looking for another
good one. So far no luck.
It's early days for the industry there. When I arrived in Canada in
1975, there were only 5 or 6 small "cottage" wineries that produced
excellent whites but there has been an explosion in the number in last
20 years or so. Even the French have bought in and have been producing
Osoyoos Larose (obvious owner) that is good but a bit over-priced.
Graham