~$25US, approx 80% Grenache, 20% Syrah, Gigondas, Southern Rhone, France.

I had fun with this one…Saw the single ‘99 sitting in a bin-end & having read great things about Barruol and the Gigondas appellation but never having the opportunity to try either, I bit. I had intended to pick up a Chateauneuf, but I couldn’t miss an opportunity to try something new.

Popped and decanted on Saturday. Had a sip and it tasted good - but the fruit, alcohol and herbiness seemed out of wack. Ended up drinking beer…Put it back in the bottle after 3-4 hrs in the decanter, recorked and threw it in the fridge.

Sunday afternoon, I took it out of the fridge and let it warm up a touch. Beautiful. The time had softened the wine considerably - to almost Pinot-Noir suppleness. Really exciting stuff coming into play. The Thyme/Sage herbal flavors really locked themselves into sweet strawberry and red cherry juice. Great acidity and medium body. Firm and lengthy finish; after all this playing around, the end-grip balanced the fruit’s fullness perfectly.

After nearly a decade, this wine was showing all kinds of beautiful, and had the cojones to go another 10 in bottle. This is a tough wine, but kinda  tough in it’s principals and resolve more than brute force or brawn.

While Chateauneuf-du-Pape is getting expensive and trendy (though always near and dear),  I’ll be buying up all the older Gigondas that I see, thank you very much. And playing with wine for a day or two can be really rewarding.

~$15US, Gamay / Pinot Noir Blend, Cheverny, Loire Valley, France

Cheverny is one of the many unheralded appellations within the Loire Valley a.k.a. The Garden of France. By appellation law both red and white  wines must be blends - so the actual mix is here unknown, but Gamay Noir and Pino Noir are both in play - predominately Gamay.

After popping there was definitely some barnyard funk and a rustic edge, so I decided to decant to let things blow off. After about an hour, aromas were much more harmonious; obvious cherries and something like the smell of the forest right after a rain…damp and earthy. Home-grown, understated, but over-achieving, like a back-woods guitar prodigy that can play like the devil, but doesn’t realize it’s anything special.

A great food partner with medium-bodied cuisine - nothing too exotic and bold, and nothing too delicate. Grilled pork, salmon, simple pastas, and goat cheeses all would make easy friends.

~$US15, 100% Grüner Veltliner, Kamptal Austria

Lemony-limey nose with some mushroom earth-funk. Lush Creamsicle body with tons of mandarin orange. Wonderful acidic lift beneath the soft body. Expressive chalky and spicy finish. Lipsmaking wine and gobsmacking value.

~$50US, 100% Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero, Spain

This is the 2nd wine of the cult-garagiste-super-hyped Dominio de Pingus, in Ribera del Duero. Peter Sisseck brings a Bordelais heritage and strict selection with obnoxiously low yields to the Tempranillo grape. I just saw the 05’s come out, so I was temped to try this bottle. I popped and decanted about an hour before tasting.

It just smelled big - an overscaled bowl of cherries and strawberries like a massively rich California Pinot Noir. There was something primal about the nose - not earthy, but of-the-earth. Given the power of the aroma, I was expecting the palate to be jammy-jam extracted, but it shocked me with a very acidic and bright punch to the mouth. Young and vibrant. It didn’t give much in the midpalate and the tannins were grip-tight, but the finish just wouldn’t quit. One of the most lingering wines I’ve had in awhile, ripe with red cherries and dusty leather.

This is obviously a wine built for the long haul - 5 hours in the decanter, and still tight. A new-world nose, with an old world palate - fascinating, but just not in a pleasurable place right now. Like getting a masterful massage when you have a really bad sunburn - sometimes it’s best to wait a little longer.

Update: I left about 1 glass worth in a half-bottle overnight. Softer overall and more even-keeled. Chewey (almost chunky - depositing strange residue specs on the glass) with leather dominating along with coffee flavors. Acidity still coming through most prominently. Not quite there…but much more interesting than day 1.

We tasted and enjoyed a bunch of French wines over the last week/weekend. It’s hard to pick a favorite; they all tasted great, but the Bougogne Blanc and the Beaujolais Village were the most distinctive and fun to drink.

Domaine Patrick Javillier, Bourgogne Blanc, ‘Cuvee des Forgets’, 2002: Beautiful soft lemon-drop core with long mineral-driven finish. Slight nuttyness. Sexy. Great with cheese and creamy sauces.

Terres Dorees, L’ancien Beaujolais Village, Vieilles Vignes, 2007: Fresh strawberries and bramble patch with a smokey, meaty midpalate. Tons of white pepper. Remains light-medium bodied, but bursting with fruit. Tight acidity and some tar on the back-and. Fabulous value and a controversial wine - I’d be scared to if I had to compete with village Beaujolais like this. Salmon or pork on the grill.

Château Picque-Caillou, Pessac-Leognan, 2005: Warm cedar, cherries and tobacco. Rich. Totally distinctive and almost renegade, with structure to carry it into the 2020s. With smoked duck, or bacon-wrapped fillets.

Jean-Luc Colombo, Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc, ‘La Redonne’ 2006: Bananas and peaches on the nose. Very well-balanced with enough acidity to keep it from the syrupy hot mess Viogniers sometimes go. Totally tropical on the palate and medium weight. A very solid summertime white, begging for grilled shrimp or steamed lobster.

François Pinon, Vouvray, ‘Cuvee Tradition’ 2006: In a dry style, but not overly lean. Finessed and elegant with pineapple, dried flowers and a gorgeous leesy-cheesy component on the nose. Poised but altogether light-hearted. With cheese or as an aperitif.

~$20US, 100% Ribolla Giallo/Rebula, Brda, Slovenia

Movia’s Ales Kristancic is one of Europe’s most dynamic winemakers working in the mountainous Italian-Slovenian border (which puts him in the running for one of most exciting in the world, IMHO). With across-the-border neighbors like Gravner and Radikon, Movia is pushing the boundaries in creating living wines using traditional methods and natural and biodynamic practices with a hands-off ‘wine-guiding’ (so hands-off that some are reluctant to even call it winemaking) technique. These wines not about creating a generally appealing fermented grape juice beverage - these speak of the heritage and land, of the people and culture.

The Ribolla has a beautiful bright golden cast. The initial aromas of green apples gave way to a fascinating herbal and spice perfume with fresh parsley, sandalwood, dried-lemon and sage. The wine has a wonderful acidity that rides high in the palate with a medium-light body. As the chill subsided, it gained some weight and power - I recommend this with just a light chill. The flow of flavors here is very hard-to-pin-down, with Amaro (herbal bitters) starting and ending on the back of the tongue while the fruit and acidity danced around in between. The finish was like cracking a fresh brick of gymnastics chalk before a high-bar routine; so fresh and minerally.

A confounding but incredibly easy-to-drink white, where each sip beckoned for another…and another…to gain understanding of its fleeting pleasures. Although totally satisfied, we felt as if we did not even scratch the surface of what this wine had to offer by the time the bottle was gone. A definite rebuy and one to seek out for fans of aromatic Italian whites, Gru-Vees and Loire-philes.

~$20US, 100% Riesling, Columbia Valley, WA

Floral nose with white peaches. Medium bodied palate with Korean plum-hard-candy flavors throughout. Focused acidity providing a lively counterpoint to the fruit ripeness. Developed secondary flavors like banana and ripe honeydew with airtime as it warmed to room temperature. Very balanced in a dry style with a slightly minerally finish. Clean and pure - One of the strongest new-world Rieslings I’ve had. Perfect with Chinese - especially with shellfish dishes.

~$16US, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, Argentina

I’ve been on an Olde World tear lately, and wanted to see what I’d been missing. We fired up a big rib steak, some sweet potato fries and popped this Cabernet, crafted by Napa Valley guru Paul Hobbs in Mendoza.

Dang. This is a huge, juicy, polished and decadent wine. Pure pleasure. Berry assault - cherries, sweet ripe blueberries exploding. Mocha and vanilla, some spicy clove and cinnamon. Rich and ripe and bringing some alcoholic heat and more than a little oak. Nice touch of bitterness to keep this from getting cloying in the finish. The bottle must have had a hole in the bottom, it emptied so quickly. Simply delicious - this is a great value compared to what $40+ buys you in Napa, and is nothing Old World fans should be ashamed to try and enjoy.

Domine du Haut Châssis Croze-Hermitage ‘Les Galets’ 2005: A tiny bit of cork taint mars the nose and palate. Still,  lots of fruit, good balance and firm backend structure. Quite a bit of vanilla coming through on the finish.  If I had another bottle of this 100% Syrah, I’d give it 3-5 years, when it would have more to offer.

Domaine De La Butte ‘Perrieres’ 2006: Midnight Black in the glass. Wild ride of a Cab-Franc. Massively funk-da-fied; barn straw vs. crude oil, raspberries, dried leaves. Big palate, bursting with fruit and funk, held together with an assertive tannic backbone. It truly took 24 hours to integrate and reveal more secrets and typical flavors like fresh herbs, tomato, and black currant. Very cool…maybe too funky for some, but full of life and energy.