Today I met a couple of friends for lunch and wine exchange, then
headed over to City Hall when Chambers St. Wines was doing a charity
tasting of Louis-Dressner wines. Kudos to CSW and LDM for their
efforts, which should have raised a nice sum for Partners in Health, a
topnotch group doing good work in Haiti. People were staggered, but it
quickly got full. I sampled less than half the tables. Due to my
natural inpatience with waiting.I decided to skip the Beaujolais
tables, as I have a lot and have tasted a lot, and tried to skip fave
producers where I had tasted or bought most of what they were
offering. Still, I missed many producers I'd have liked to try,
because I was on schedule. Especially sorry I missed Baudry, Causse
Marines, Still, tasting is less important than what PIH does.

Below is a few impressions based on a little more than an hour of
circulating. I'm not the most physically gifted taster, I'm used to
spending an hour (or an evening) with a wine before deciding what I
think. So my impressions based on quick pours, tastes, and spits are
of limited value, but I always like to record nonetheless. But in any
case a fun time seeing lold and new friends, tasting a load of
interesting wines, and helping a good cause.

I tasted a few things I either neglected to note or can't read
writing, but t thought:

Domaine de la Pepiere (Ollivier)
I actually didn't mean to try the regular 2009 Muscadet, as I have
several already, but when I had my glass out to ask for other Marc
Ollivier quickly poured, That's ok, nice wine. I really enjoyed the
2009 Gras Moutons, slender but not lean, good length, a buy.

Luneau-Papin
I liked the 2009 Clos des Allees and loved the 2007 L d'Or. The 2005
Pueri Solis was fleshy and not especially Muscadet-ish, but I liked
enough to put on buy list. I thought there was something a bit off on
my pour of the 2008 Terre de Pierre La Butte de la Roche- chemical
edge. Not sure what was happening, maybe just me

Franck Pascal
A couple of Champagnes that didn't wow me

Franck Peillot
This might have been the find for me. I know people have a good
opinion of Peillot, but somehow I've never gotten around to try- a
mistake. I liked the 2009 Roussette du Bugey Altesse very much- floral
and crisp. The 2009 Pinot Noir was good too- some found it too cherry,
but I liked its cough drop character. But the 2008 Bugey Mondeuse was
my favorite- leafy and lovely, bright red fruits, earth.

Rene Mosse
I really enjoyed the 2009 Anjou Blanc, fresh and bright, a buy. Others
preferred the richer *Rouchefer, which I liked, but not as much as the
less expensive one (not that anything at this tasting was really
expensive). But I really didn't care for the red.

Cazin
An old fave. I thought the 2010 Cheverny was nice, but the '08 Cour -
Cheverny was one of my wines of tasting- I always like this wine,but
this was one of my faves of entire tasting.

Domaine du Moulin, Herve Villemade
New producer for me. The NV Bulle was a (slightly) pink (slightly)
bubbly, fun and frothy. The Cheverny blanc was nice, though I think I
slightly preferred Cazin. The 2009 Cheverny rouge had a bretty edge,
but I explained to a friend I didn't mind that leathery strain of
brett, and quite liked the wine. Might buy. But the 2009 "Desire" in
mag was also bretty, and this one was more sewagey- not for me.

Filliatreau
I didn't care much for the tank sample of the '10 Saumur, finding it
too grapey, but I have little experience with unfinished wines, so
grain of salt. But the 2009 "Grand Vignolle" Saumur-Champigny was very
good, and I plan on buying. The 2006 Saumur-Champigny was quite nice,
too, might take a look when it arrives.

Eric Texier
I only tasted the 2009 CdR blanc, which was fine but not compelling,
others liked better,. I tried twice to revisit to try reds, but crowd
was too daunting.

Occhipinti
Nice to try, and to tell the winemaker how much I like her olive oil
as well as her wines! The 2009 SP678 Bianco was quite exotic, huge
nose of herbs and pine resion. Light but mouthfilling. The SP68 red
was also interesting and good. The 2009 Tami Frappato was fresh and
light, but the 2009 Tami Nero d'Avola edged it,

Radikon
I didn't care much for the 2005 Ribolla Gialla, but the 2005 Oslavje
was nice in a pine resin meets hint of oxidation style. But the 2005
Jakot was my favorite, one of the wines of the tasting for me (I
swallowed!), deep and complex.

Again, I'm no great taster, and do especially poorly in speed tasting.
But this was a fun and worthy event, and I'll buy some wine based on
it. I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of
consistency.*