Recent tastes

[Florida Jim]

Recent tastes:

All of these were served with various food that I thought appropriate to the wine.

1999 Grapeleaf, Pinot Noir Russian River:

nice translucency, somewhat oaky petite red fruit nose, big whiskey barrel oak on the palate obliterates the fruit. Too bad as the ‘99 Sonoma bottling was a lovely, elegant wine.

1995 Beaux Frees, Pinot Noir:

pleasant pinot with no undue wood or signs of over-extraction (to my surprise), fairly well integrated and balanced; but there’s no “there” there – it is a muted version of generic pinot from anywhere. Not objectionable and nothing amiss but characterless.

2001 Copain, Syrah Cailloux & Coccinelle:

tasted over several days, this is Washington meets Cote-Rotie type syrah done well; it has very distinct elements of leather, black pepper, olive and mineral on the nose and palate but also delivers a big, very ripe fruit in the mouth; not my ideal syrah but very tasty and certainly having a distinct character.

I have the vague feeling this will be better young but have nothing to support that.

About $36, delivered.

1996 Clos Marie, “Les Glorieuses” (Pic Saint Loup);

big tannins on day one – back in the cellar it goes; with roast pork on day two, it was better balanced with grainy red fruit, a distinct earthiness and pretty good length. Clearly of its place, this was an interesting, if not fascinating, wine. Needs time.

About $20, discounted retail at release.

Recent vintages of this wine sell for multiples of that price and have not impressed (IMO they are showing less of the earth and more of the winemaker.)

Best, Jim