First the Sauvignon St Bris, from Marcel Pichon. A bizarre wine with
a transition-of-seasons meal: grilled fresh sardines, cepes, broccoli. (Nearly
the last of the year's cepes, but with the cold weather the winter
grilling season starts in earnest. Since there's a fire most
every day, we grill 4 or 5 times per week.) What a strange bottle,
a very yeasty champagne-like nose, and almost like a still
champagne in the mouth also: medium acid, yeast, creamy
but muted fruit. No sauvignon typicity. Adele liked but I
didn't much. The bottle was a gift and normally had been
properly stored, the giver a Burgundian with a very fine cellar.
Damaged?

'89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!

-E

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Emery Davis
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Thanks for note. Do you not think the Sauvignon de St. Bris was just
tired? I don't know Pichon, but with the exception of a few Bordeaux
Blancs (that also include at least some Semillon ) I seldom find that
SB improves from cellaring. A lot of people I respect cellar some top
Sancerres and maybe NZ wines like Cloudy Bay, but I'm generally
happiest with latest vintage. I've never had a SdSB more than 3 years
from vintage date.

Chateauneuf sounds great!



Emery Davis wrote:
> First the Sauvignon St Bris, from Marcel Pichon. A bizarre wine with
> a transition-of-seasons meal: grilled fresh sardines, cepes, broccoli. (Nearly
> the last of the year's cepes, but with the cold weather the winter
> grilling season starts in earnest. Since there's a fire most
> every day, we grill 4 or 5 times per week.) What a strange bottle,
> a very yeasty champagne-like nose, and almost like a still
> champagne in the mouth also: medium acid, yeast, creamy
> but muted fruit. No sauvignon typicity. Adele liked but I
> didn't much. The bottle was a gift and normally had been
> properly stored, the giver a Burgundian with a very fine cellar.
> Damaged?
>
> '89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
> saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
> a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
> CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
> trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
> spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
> layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
> and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!
>
> -E
>
> --
> Emery Davis
> You can reply to ecom
> by removing the well known companies

On 6 Nov 2006 04:58:56 -0800
"DaleW" > wrote:

> Thanks for note. Do you not think the Sauvignon de St. Bris was just
> tired? I don't know Pichon, but with the exception of a few Bordeaux
> Blancs (that also include at least some Semillon ) I seldom find that
> SB improves from cellaring. A lot of people I respect cellar some top
> Sancerres and maybe NZ wines like Cloudy Bay, but I'm generally
> happiest with latest vintage. I've never had a SdSB more than 3 years
> from vintage date.
>

Hi Dale,

I do think the SSB was tired tasting, but there were other strange
components as well. Personally I don't think 6 years is too far over
the hill, but then I am a well known oenonecrophilliac.

This said I don't usually age much Sauvignon, but that's probably
largely because I don't have a lot of it. I do have some 89 La Louviere
kicking around, that's Sauv-Semillon, right? Probably ready even by
my standards! I think I've also got a couple of bottles of Isabel
01, might be interesting to try one soon as a comparison.

This said, St Bris certainly has no reputation as a vin de garde.
A couple of years ago I dug up some forgotten St Bris from Sorin
de France, around 10 years old it was actually (surprisingly) very good.

> Chateauneuf sounds great!
>

The real deal!

>
[]
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Emery Davis
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In message . com>
"DaleW" > wrote:

> Thanks for note. Do you not think the Sauvignon de St. Bris was just
> tired? I don't know Pichon, but with the exception of a few Bordeaux
> Blancs (that also include at least some Semillon ) I seldom find that
> SB improves from cellaring. A lot of people I respect cellar some top
> Sancerres and maybe NZ wines like Cloudy Bay, but I'm generally
> happiest with latest vintage. I've never had a SdSB more than 3 years
> from vintage date.
>
> Chateauneuf sounds great!
>
>
>
> Emery Davis wrote:
>> First the Sauvignon St Bris, from Marcel Pichon. A bizarre wine with
>> a transition-of-seasons meal: grilled fresh sardines, cepes,
>> broccoli. (Nearly
>> the last of the year's cepes, but with the cold weather the winter
>> grilling season starts in earnest. Since there's a fire most
>> every day, we grill 4 or 5 times per week.) What a strange bottle,
>> a very yeasty champagne-like nose, and almost like a still
>> champagne in the mouth also: medium acid, yeast, creamy
>> but muted fruit. No sauvignon typicity. Adele liked but I
>> didn't much. The bottle was a gift and normally had been
>> properly stored, the giver a Burgundian with a very fine cellar.
>> Damaged?
>>
>> '89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
>> saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
>> a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
>> CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
>> trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
>> spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
>> layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
>> and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!
>>
>> -E
>>
>> --
>> Emery Davis
>> You can reply to ecom
>> by removing the well known companies
Does it not depend how they are made? I have found, for isntance,
that the Goisot Sauvignons de Saint-Bris are much greener, more
obviously cassis and Sauvignon Blanc and more New World in style and
do not keep as well as, for example, the Defrance ones which are cold
fermented over a longer period of time and do keep their structure and
and some SAuvognon Blanc cripsness as they age. I remember discussing
this with Madame DEfrance who said that they also liked theirs with
bottle age and had actually found a bottle which must have been at
least 25 years old, made by the previous generation and lost in a
corner, which had tasted more like a Chardonnay than SB but was good
in fruit and balance. The oldest I have drunk has been some 1990
about three or four years ago - again an accident -and found that what
she had said was beginning to be true at that age.

Tim

Emery Davis wrote:

> '89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
> saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
> a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
> CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
> trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
> spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
> layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
> and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!

Thanks for the notes, Emery. And your last statement couldn't be truer.
I still have a few '89s left in the cellar (Beaucastel, Ch. de La
Gardine, Clos du Mont-Olivet) but no Font de Michelle. I agree with you
about '89s status: the wines have been deeper than the '88s but more
structured than the '90s. I find that I've finished my '90s before my
'89s (I still have a few '90s left, but not many after opening the Vieux
Donjon I recently posted on) for just that reason.

Mark Lipton

Tim (and Emery)

I'm sure that producer style has an effect, and I don't put myself out
as an authority on SdSB (or anything for that matter) - I've probably
had 8 or 10 Sauvignon de St Bris total in my life, and most of those
were either Goissot or Brocard. I totally admit that my tastes for
younger Sauvignon Blanc are my own. I have friends including respected
wine writers who talk of aging Cotat Sancerres for 15 years, but for my
tastes they are never better than the first year or two. On the other
hand, I can be a bit of a necrophiliac for claret or red Burgundy.

I don't see any Defrance SdSB offered in US, but will keep eyes open.

thanks

Timothy Hartley wrote:
> Does it not depend how they are made? I have found, for isntance,
> that the Goisot Sauvignons de Saint-Bris are much greener, more
> obviously cassis and Sauvignon Blanc and more New World in style and
> do not keep as well as, for example, the Defrance ones which are cold
> fermented over a longer period of time and do keep their structure and
> and some SAuvognon Blanc cripsness as they age. I remember discussing
> this with Madame DEfrance who said that they also liked theirs with
> bottle age and had actually found a bottle which must have been at
> least 25 years old, made by the previous generation and lost in a
> corner, which had tasted more like a Chardonnay than SB but was good
> in fruit and balance. The oldest I have drunk has been some 1990
> about three or four years ago - again an accident -and found that what
> she had said was beginning to be true at that age.
>
> Tim

Bris is also the ritual of circumcision in Yiddish. So St Bris could be a
wine missing a vital part.
"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
> Emery Davis wrote:
>
> > '89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
> > saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
> > a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
> > CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
> > trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
> > spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
> > layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
> > and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!
>
> Thanks for the notes, Emery. And your last statement couldn't be truer.
> I still have a few '89s left in the cellar (Beaucastel, Ch. de La
> Gardine, Clos du Mont-Olivet) but no Font de Michelle. I agree with you
> about '89s status: the wines have been deeper than the '88s but more
> structured than the '90s. I find that I've finished my '90s before my
> '89s (I still have a few '90s left, but not many after opening the Vieux
> Donjon I recently posted on) for just that reason.
>
> Mark Lipton

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:24:44 -0500
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> Emery Davis wrote:
>
> > '89 Font de Michelle (regular cuvee) with rotisseried duck,
> > saute of sprouts and chestnuts. (A very fine duck from
> > a different duck guy than we usually use). A very elegant
> > CdP, fully mature from IMHO the best year of the extraordinary
> > trio of 88-89-90. Clear color going a bit brick, rich
> > spicy kirsch nose, very long and with terrific balance,
> > layer after layer of fruit confit with overtones of white pepper
> > and spice. A true pleasure, this is why we have a cellar!
>
> Thanks for the notes, Emery. And your last statement couldn't be truer.
> I still have a few '89s left in the cellar (Beaucastel, Ch. de La
> Gardine, Clos du Mont-Olivet) but no Font de Michelle. I agree with you
> about '89s status: the wines have been deeper than the '88s but more
> structured than the '90s. I find that I've finished my '90s before my
> '89s (I still have a few '90s left, but not many after opening the Vieux
> Donjon I recently posted on) for just that reason.
>

Mark, I think everyone but Bill Spohn is starting to find those 89 and
90s thin on the ground. But as it happens I've got nearly a case of the
89 in question, I think I forgot about it for a while. Not to mention that
'89 cuvée Etienne Gonnet, which is still waiting for you and Jean (and
Andrew) to taste!

I also have been hitting the 90s first, but also 93 (which wasn't half
bad) and even some 95s. I _do_ have a jeroboam of '90 Grand Tinel
waiting for the right occasion, though! That one I think will be
aging nice and slowly.

About the cellaring issue, every once in a while someone asks, why
bother to keep a cellar? It sure is obvious to those of us who do,
but somehow the idea is hard to convey. Kinda like Tivo, I guess.

cheers,

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies

Emery Davis wrote:

> Mark, I think everyone but Bill Spohn is starting to find those 89 and
> 90s thin on the ground. But as it happens I've got nearly a case of the
> 89 in question, I think I forgot about it for a while. Not to mention that
> '89 cuvée Etienne Gonnet, which is still waiting for you and Jean (and
> Andrew) to taste!

Hold onto it! It'll be another couple of years before we're brave
enough to take him on a trans-Atlantic flight. This weekend's 3-hour
train trip from Chicago was enough for us ;-) Jean's been militating
for a return to France, and we've never been to the Loire, so you're in
our crosshairs.

>
> I also have been hitting the 90s first, but also 93 (which wasn't half
> bad) and even some 95s. I _do_ have a jeroboam of '90 Grand Tinel
> waiting for the right occasion, though! That one I think will be
> aging nice and slowly.

Yup. I've got a '90 Clos du Mont-Olivet Cuvée du Papet that'll be there
for a few years, too. It was a monster in its youth, but also in need
of a lot of integration. IIRC, there's a '90 Beaucastel there, too, but
Beaucastel breaks all the rules when it comes to CNdP. I've been
starting to dip into our '94s, also, while waiting for the '95s to do
whatever it is they're going to do. What's been your impression of the
'95s you've opened so far? I've heard mixed reviews on the Wine Internet.

Mark Lipton

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:22:32 -0500
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> Emery Davis wrote:
>
> > Mark, I think everyone but Bill Spohn is starting to find those 89 and
> > 90s thin on the ground. But as it happens I've got nearly a case of the
> > 89 in question, I think I forgot about it for a while. Not to mention that
> > '89 cuvée Etienne Gonnet, which is still waiting for you and Jean (and
> > Andrew) to taste!
>
> Hold onto it! It'll be another couple of years before we're brave
> enough to take him on a trans-Atlantic flight. This weekend's 3-hour
> train trip from Chicago was enough for us ;-) Jean's been militating
> for a return to France, and we've never been to the Loire, so you're in
> our crosshairs.
>

Looking forward to it! As to Andrew's frequent flyer points, I think you've
just got to take the plunge. Our Gillian did her first 13 hour flight at
8 weeks, and (perhaps as a result of habit) neither her nor brother
Paxon have ever made a scene on a plane. If fact at 7 and 9 they
just did their first solo, a trip to Florida, that with delays had them
on the plane for 12 hours... Apparently it went well enough, at least
Air France hasn't sent a letter refusing future flights!

Anyway if he's eating Bresse chicken fingers, I think you'd better
let him start tasting the wine. (Gillian and Paxon liked the CdP
too, by the way. <g>)

[]
> whatever it is they're going to do. What's been your impression of the
> '95s you've opened so far? I've heard mixed reviews on the Wine Internet.
>

I'm very skeptical in general of 95 CdP. It got high billing from the
locals as being similar to 88, but it clearly lacks the depth of fruit
as well as the structure of that year. This was less obvious upon
release of the wines.

What's bizarre is that none of my 95s have really gone to sleep in the
usual manner. They seem to fade in and out of focus, but remain
feminine (by and large if not exclusively) and fruit forward.

I certainly don't think 95 is a year for the long haul, and I really
scratch my head thinking about RP saying 20+ years. Some
nice wines but no great classics, and a vintage that will be
remembered for huge price hikes and internationalization more
than terrific quality.

My 0.02¢. What do you think?

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies

Emery Davis wrote:


> I'm very skeptical in general of 95 CdP. It got high billing from the
> locals as being similar to 88, but it clearly lacks the depth of fruit
> as well as the structure of that year. This was less obvious upon
> release of the wines.
>
> What's bizarre is that none of my 95s have really gone to sleep in the
> usual manner. They seem to fade in and out of focus, but remain
> feminine (by and large if not exclusively) and fruit forward.
>
> I certainly don't think 95 is a year for the long haul, and I really
> scratch my head thinking about RP saying 20+ years. Some
> nice wines but no great classics, and a vintage that will be
> remembered for huge price hikes and internationalization more
> than terrific quality.
>
> My 0.02¢. What do you think?

I can't say, as the only '95 I had (Pegau) was had shortly after
release. I've steadfastly kept my hands off them as is my wont for CNdP
until year 13 or so. From what I've heard, though, I may have erred.
Certainly, it'll be interesting to contrast them to the '94s, given the
relative lack of hype accorded to the '94s.

Mark Lipton