Fleurie "Clos de la Roilette," Coudert 2009

As if I don't have enough of a backlog already, ranging from producer visits in Piedmont all the way back in May through to yet to be covered trade tastings in New York last week, I'm headed back into the fray today. Back to New York, for the last handful of the September onslaught of portfolio presentations. (If it's quiet here for a couple of days, you'll know why.) Something tells me the following wine is likely to make an appearance; if not, it'll be missed.

Fleurie “Clos de la Roilette,” Coudert Père et Fils 2009
$20. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
Enjoyed with grilled sausages and salad on Sunday, again with pizza — the "omnivore" from my local parlor — last night. Coudert's 2009 "Clos de la Roilette" is drinking beautifully on point. Fresh, bright and finely detailed red fruits — like wild strawberries, firm little raspberries and ever so slightly tart red cherries — combine with lively acidity and gentle but balancing tannins to deliver a truly fine expression of Fleurie from this estate and this vintage. Quite the trifecta. This should develop gracefully over the next several years but it's drinking so well right now that I may not manage to save any.

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Quick Notes on Menand and Coudert

Yesterday morning, I finally found the time to download the photos I took at last week’s Michael Skurnik portfolio tasting in New York. Problem is, I’ve run up against a case of writers’ block when it comes to summing up my thoughts about the event. So just a couple of quick tasting notes today, on two solid but very different Burgundian reds I’ve recently enjoyed.


Mercurey Premier Cru “Vielle Vigne des Combins Cuvée Prestige,” Domaine Menand Père et Fils 2005
Price unknown. 13% alcohol. Cork. A Murray-Sykes Selection, Exclusive Wine Imports, Richmond, VA.
Medium-dark ruby in the glass, with a dark nose of blackberry and black cherry. The sweet-fruited front palate is followed by a clamp of firm tannins on the finish. Very ripe and fruit forward, in a relatively modern style, accented by a well-integrated touch of oak. Still very primary, though there’s also an attractive mineral/loam combo happening on the mid-palate. Overall, the wine’s approach is on the simple side but there’s enough stuffing here that it could develop into something interesting over the next five years. In any event, it’s delivering easy, straightforward pleasure today.

There’s next to no information, by the way, available on Menand Père et Fils. Nothing on Wine Searcher, mostly dead links (including a defunct website) on Able Grape…. Anybody out there have any details?


Fleurie “Clos de la Roilette,” Coudert Père et Fils 2007
$22. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
A little tighter than when last I tasted it, Coudert’s Fleurie nonetheless delivers a nose suggestive of wound-up energy, full of brambly red fruit and pencil lead. Slightly rustic, really, really good… and maybe my shortest tasting note yet. I’d be very happy to drink this on a regular basis.

Highlights from the Skurnik gig to come when I break through the wall….

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Notes from Fright Night

As much as I loved Halloween as a wee lad, the idea of sitting home alone on Friday night, handing out candy to scores of costumed kids, my dogs barking frantically in the background, just wasn’t calling my name this year. The idea of hanging out with friends, preparing a casual meal and tasting through a few wines, though, sounded like just the thing. What better way to pass the time between the few stray trick-or-treaters wandering their neighborhood?

Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Amphibolite Nature,” Domaine de la Louvetrie (Joseph Landron) 2007. $14. 11.2% alcohol. Importer: Martin Scott, Lake Success, NY.
Jo Landron’s “Amphibolite Nature” spends minimal time on the lees, thus delivering a purely fruit-driven expression of Muscadet that’s perfect, particularly given its low alcohol, as an aperitif. That’s exactly how we treated it. The bottle had actually been opened the prior day. What was left was showing quite nicely, with pretty lime pith and mineral scents followed by melon, crisp peach and a dash of white pepper on the palate. Very refreshing.

Bourgogne Aligoté, François Mikulski 2006. $20. 12% alcohol. Nomacorc. Importer: Elite Wines Imports, Lorton, VA.
Right up front, this delivers a nose of sour rocks and pear skins, aromas that eventually become riper and rounder. Nice front palate flesh is contrasted by bracing acids and grippy texture on the finish. In the big picture, it’s a simple wine. But it’s a pretty serious Aligoté, one that delivers admirable concentration, balance and ripe lemon-lime fruit.

Bourgogne Rouge, Domaine Chevillon-Chezeaux 2006. $22. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA.
A touch tighter and tangier than the handful of other basic ’06 Bourgogne from the Côtes de Nuits I’ve tasted thus far but delicious nonetheless. Griotte and lightly brined green olive scents follow through in the mouth, carried along on a light-bodied, brightly acidic frame with silky texture and measurable persistence. This was my first encounter – and a promising one – with the wines of Philippe Chezeaux.

Fleurie “Les Garants,” Domaine du Vissoux (Pierre-Marie Chermette) 2007. $25. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA.
I sold Vissoux’s wines years ago and now terribly miss having convenient access to them. Pierre-Marie Chermette makes some of the most fruit-rich, concentrated Beaujolais out there. They tend to show tons of primary fruit on release, sometimes tight, sometimes forward, but take time to really blossom. This is on the forward side of the curve right now, explosively fruity – crushed raspberries, violets and blueberries – on the nose, round, vibrant and juicy in the mouth. But it’s painfully young, both grapey and chalky. The pieces are all there – excellent balance and fine bones. It just needs to be forgotten about for a few years.

Fleurie “Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive,” Coudert Père et Fils 2007. $26. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
The differences between the Fleuries of Coudert and Vissoux in ’07 (as in most years, I expect) are like night and day. It was a treat to taste them back-to-back. “Cuvée Tardive” is already showing much more serious, vinous character than Chermette’s wine. Earthy, pale ruby red in color, its nose, which is really lovely, hints of wild red berries, fresh thyme and black pepper. It’s even lovelier in its impact on the palate, tense and serious. Absolutely spot-on with flank steak sandwiches topped with caramelized onions and red peppers, served on onion rolls. This too is built to last, but it’s going to require serious willpower not to drink it now.

Carema “Etichetta Bianco,” Luigi Ferrando 2004. $37. 13.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchants, New York, NY.
This was the rollercoaster of the night. Tight, closed, even a little musty when first opened, after about an hour it blossomed into a fantastic expression of high altitude Nebbiolo. Leather, herbal red fruit, vanilla and rose petals, none of which were apparent at first, came out of hiding. Aromas of drying cigarette tobacco followed, even a touch of sweet seaweed flavor. Another thirty minutes, though, and it clamped shut again, tight, tangy and wacky. Whether drunk now or later, coming to grips with this will take a patient temperament and an open mind.

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