Chateau Cambon la Pelouse 2003

Chateau Cambon la Pelouse 2003

Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France

Retail $20

The Wooden Guys would give it two thumbs up, if they had thumbs.

Night One

Like several for the moderately-priced bottles of '03 Bordeaux I have opened recently, this is coming to life, perhaps even peaking now. A year ago it was dead, but now it is showing a pleasant balance of fruit, blackberry and some raspberry, and more aged flavors of violets and cigar box. Tannins are soft and smooth. This has matured into a very pleasant bottle of wine at a bargain price, drinking at its peak right now. highly recommended as a bargain introduction to a great year for Bordeaux.

Night Two

A lot of the fruit is gone. Some minerality is showing through. Overall, though, it lacks the complexity of Night One. This is not a wine to hold a lot longer. Drink it now and enjoy it.

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2005 Château de Bellevue

Type Red
Producer Château de Bellevue
Variety Red Bordeaux Blend
Country France
Region Bordeaux
SubRegion Libournais
Appellation St. Émilion Grand Cru
Price $15 (375 ml) at



The Little Wooden Guy likes the wine, and the smaller bottle makes him feel bigger.

The color was incredibly dark, completely opaque but for the very edges, black with a purple tint.

The nose opened with blackcurrant and cedar, with a background aroma of vanilla cream, but very light, not overpowering wood-based vanilla.

On the palate, blackcurrant is the predominate fruit, along with some blackberry. Peppermint and eucalyptus appear on the mid-palate, lightly, behind more fruit, some cedar and vanilla, which grow toward a mid-length finish. Mouth feel is silky, with firm tannins and bright acids.

This is very nice wine, and sometimes a 375 is just the perfect size.






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1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre

Type Red
Producer Paul Jaboulet Aîné
Variety Syrah
Designation Domaine de Saint Pierre
Country France
Region Rhône
SubRegion Northern Rhône
Appellation Cornas



The Little Wooden Guy finds this wine is just tired, beyond its prime.

Night One

The color is interesting. It is a little translucent and deep dark red. The nose is very deep and a little raisiny, with dark fruit, marjoram, green olives and bacon fat. There is less fruit on the palate than the nose. The fruits are black, blackberries and plums, but they are subdued. Floral flavors, violets and lavender, join the fruit. Green olives and bacon fat appear on the mid-palate. The finish falls flat.

Night Two

Some florals remained, but almost no fruit. Very little mid-palate remained. This was clearly wine past its prime.





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1997 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Type Red
Producer Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel)
Variety Red Rhone Blend
Designation n/a
Vineyard n/a
Country France
Region Rhône
SubRegion Southern Rhône
Appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape



This wine has the Big Wooden Guy scratching his head a bit.

Night One

The color clearly says this is an older wine. It is translucent and brick-red with orange edges. The nose is interesting, tarragon, thyme, cherry, and a little crushed limestone. The palate is complex. It starts with dried cherries then loads tarragon, thyme, sage and leather on top. On the mid-palate the cherries go from dried to tart and add some strawberries, while carrying the spices along from the attack. Lavender also shows up on the mid-palate. The finish is long.

Night Two

Most of the fruit is gone from the nose on Night Two. Instead, it is redolent with leafy spices and dried flowers. There are still a few cherries on the palate but they are resting on a deep bed of violets, lavender, tarragon, thyme and sage.

Conclusion

This is an interesting, even curious, wine. It is not fantastic, or particularly special, but it very pleasantly shows what happens when good wine spends some time in the cellar, long enough to let the fruit fade and the spices and flowers come forward.






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1999 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière

Vintage: 1999
Type: Red
Producer: Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
Variety: Red Bordeaux Blend
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
SubRegion: Libournais
Appellation: St. Émilion Grand Cru



The Wooden Guys are running to see if their store has any more of this wine.

Night One

The nose starts with blackcurrants and mulberry, pencil lead and green olives. This is a real snoot-full, the sort of wine you can forget to drink, it's so easy to get lost in the different layers of the nose.

Deep dark brooding fruit leads the palate, mulberry, blackberry and blackcurrant. A little bit of redcurrant brings some bright acidity to balance the silky sweet tannins. Pencil lead, a bit of dark earth, and a touch of cedar show up on the mid-palate. The finish is mid-length.

Night Two

On Night Two the fruit, on the nose, seems lighter. Some red fruit has joined the black, a little black cherry and raspberry dancing with blackcurrant and mulberry. Pencil lead, some dark loam, and some cedar round out the nose.

The palate, on the other hand, is still dark, brooding, silky, and wonderfully smooth. Blackcurrants and mulberry, a little bit of blackberry, pencil lead, and a bit of the crispy end of a prime rib. Tannins are silky smooth, bringing just a bit of leather to coat the sides of your cheeks and coat your teeth. The finish is long.

This is good wine, very good wine. I think I'm going to go buy some more.

Other ratings include a 92 from Robert Parker, 88 from Wine Spectator, and 90 from Stephen Tanzer, all in 2002. Of them all, I would have to say Parker, who noticed the graphite, meat and sweet tannins (isn't the definition of genius "anybody who agrees with me"?), gave the best prediction of long-term quality.






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2005 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Blanc Kritt

Type: White
Producer: Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss
Variety: Pinot Blanc
Vineyard: Kritt
Country: France
Region: Alsace
SubRegion: Andlau
Appellation: Alsace AOC
Price: $23.00
From: Bin Ends Wine for $18.40. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.



The Big Wooden Guy finally gets a turn, and has big hugs for this Alsace gem.

Night One

The first impression was thickness on the palate. This was not a dry, tight, acidic summer afternoon quaff. This was a thick serious food wine. Next was the creamy softness of it. Immediately out of the bottle it was sweet and creamy, giving a first instant impression of coconut cream. Some time out of the bottle allowed that to soften, first to banana, then finally settling on pears, and very obvious pears. I expect nobody could drink this wine, thirty minutes or more after opening it, without saying "oh, pears!" out loud. It had one other flavor that was a bit unusual, first hinting at toast, but too flavored to just be dry bread. No, the best description was Zweiback, the old crackers that parents gave teething babies, but that are the real secret behind the crust of genuine New York Cheesecake (graham crackers started with cafeteria lunch ladies and condensed milk "cheesecake," but the real thing has Zweiback). The wine also had some balancing acidity and tartness. The tartness was more exotic than typical lemon, and is best described as somewhere between, or even a blend of, key lime zest and starfruit.

Night Two

Pears were the predominant, perhaps even overpowering, aroma, modified a little with a bit of tart apple and toasty Zweiback.

Pears continue to dominate the palate, as well. They are joined by exotic soft citrus tastes, something akin to ugli fruit, with a slight ginger bite. Night Two sees a bit of bitterness on the mid-palate, a bitterness reminiscent of almond skins. The finish is long, highlighting ginger and a little white pepper.

This is very good wine.

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss Costières-de-Nîmes Domaine des Perrières

Type: Red
Producer: Marc Kreydenweiss
Variety: Red Rhone Blend
Designation: Domaine des Perrières
Country: France
Region: Rhône
SubRegion: Southern Rhône
Appellation: Costières-de-Nîmes
Price: $17.00
From: Bin Ends Wine for $13.60. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.



The Little Wooden Guy applauds any Rhone that comes in under $20 and delivers classic flavors.

Night One

The nose opens with huge barnyard smells, layered smells of animal, dirt and hay. Applewood-smoked bacon is also in the forefront, a strong classic smell. Fruits are intense, like dried cherries and raisins.

The palate opens with surprising mineral flavor, like walking through a limestone quarry and inhaling fine dust as you drink. Fruit is just as intense on the palate, tannins are very tight. The same applewood-smoked bacon shows up on the mid-palate as the limestone softens and darkens into pencil lead.

This is a terrific candidate for big Night Two changes, so stick around and see what happens.

Night Two

Most of the barnyard is gone from the palate. It opens, instead, with medium red fruit. It is not big juicy cherries. Instead, it offers pomegranate and cranberry. It is nowhere near as intense as on Night One. There is some pencil lead on the mid-palate. A clear smoked bacon flavor pops out on the finish. The wine s less intense, but far more balanced, on Night Two.

This is good wine at a great price. The explosiveness right after corking is interesting, but the greater delicacy and balance is even more delightful. To me, that is a clue that this will benefit from some time in the cellar, a couple of years before it really hits its stride.

2000 Michele and Patrice Rion Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras

Type: Red
Producer: Michele & Patrice Rion
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vineyard: Les Cras
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
SubRegion: Côte de Nuits
Appellation: Chambolle-Musigny
Price: $35.99
From: Chambers Street Wines



The Little Wooden Guy appreciates it when patience rewards him with wine that improves as much as this one did from one night to the next.

Night One

The color was a translucent slightly bricked red with a tint of orange just beginning at the edges.

The nose was nice, soft red fruit and some cocoa lie strewn on a barn floor. There is also a bit of fennel lingering, with an even smaller bit of sage.

Red fruit on the palate is far sharper, more acidic, than the nose lets on. It opens with tart wild strawberries, cranberries, and pomegranate. Fennel and sage are a much larger part of the palate than the nose.

This wine is rather one-dimensional, with little change other than increased tannins on the mid-palate, and a finish that collapses quickly.

Night Two

The nose on Night Two is a little darker, a little more ripe, but still deep and musty. Sage and marjoram are there, too, along with a pinch each of fennel and cardamom. the nose is far more integrated and rich than on Night One.

Again on Night Two, the palate is sharper and more acidic than on Night One. Fruits are newer, fresher, perhaps even not-quite-ripe, tart with acids. Sour cherries, tiny wild strawberries, cranberries, and the very dark red fruit of pomegranate all contribute to the fruit flavor profile. Now the wine has a real mid-palate, with smoke and crisp pork fat rubbed with leafy spices. The finish also last longer, a lot longer, than on Night One. Satiny tannins give a sense of suede, not leather, red fruits come back to the fore as the flavor first glows, then slowly fades.

Huge changes from Night One to Night Two, particularly on the mid-palate and the finish, hint of more life in the cellar, even for an off-year. The color, on the other hand, says it is nearing the end of its life. The best bet to balance the two is probably to give it another year, two at the most, then leave plenty of time for decanting before drinking.

2001 Château Bessan Bordeaux Contrôlée

Type: Red
Producer: Château Bessan
Variety: Red Bordeaux Blend
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Appellation: Bordeaux Contrôlée



The Little Wooden Guy reminds you, "Bordeaux" does not necessarily mean "good wine."

Night One

The nose on this is a dead ringer for a mediocre cabernet from Chile. It is all green pepper and coffee. There is no fruit to be found.

On the palate, too, this seems more like Chile than Bordeaux. Blackcurrants are there, but they are cooked up with green peppers and some coffee grounds. Tannins are very firm, even hard. There is not much of a mid-palate and the finish dies off quickly.

Night Two

The nose did not get any better over night. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Hang on a second.

Oh heck, it got worse.

I'm going to go open something good. Or at least drinkable.

2005 Nicolas Potel Bourgogne Cuvée Gérard Potel

Type: Red
Producer: Nicolas Potel
Variety: Pinot Noir
Designation: Cuvée Gérard Potel
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Appellation: Bourgogne
Price: $20
From: Bin Ends Wine, as part of Twitter Taste Live



The Little Wooden Guy is pleased to present a good $20 pinot, and from Burgendy, no less.

Night One

The nose opens with some funk, not 'huge barnyard' funk, but certainly 'more serious pinot than you'd expect at this price point' funk. Red fruits follow closely behind the funk, cherries and cherry pits, plus deeply bruised strawberries.

The palate opens with the same red fruit, cherries and bruised strawberries, plus some added rhubarb tartness. The fruit all floats above an earthy base of truffles and loam. The mid-palate is coppery, with the fruit morphing to drier cranberry. The finish is moderately long, the tannins firm but silky.

Night Two

This wine underwent huge changes on the nose from Night One to Night Two. On Night Two, the opening aromas include brambles, marjoram and fennel, along with ripe bruised strawberries. It is definitely more complex than on Night One.

It has a lot more to offer the palate on Night Two as well. First, the classic pinot arc, the tendency of pinot to grow, expand, even explode with new layers of flavor after the initial attack (compared to, for example, Malbec, that opens big then fades to the finish). The initial attack is mild, red fruit far softer than on Night One, tart cherries and pomegranate. On the mid-palate, though, it rips through several layers of additional flavors. First is fennel, then sweeter cherries, then even more tart cranberry, all with just a little sprinkling of sage and marjoram. Toward the finish a real meaty flavor, not smoked meat or bacon, but red bloody beef, joins the fruit. The finish is meaty, fruity, and long.

This is good wine and a great QPR (bang for the buck).

N.V. Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Brut

Type: White - Sparkling
Producer: Chartogne-Taillet
Variety: Champagne Blend (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay)
Designation: Brut
Country: France
SubRegion: Champagne
Appellation: Champagne
Disgorgement: 4/20/08



The Wooden Guys are amazed at all the apples in this wine.

Night One

The color is pale straw, with a very slightly copper-colored tint.

The nose is apples. No, make that APPLES!! Not fresh tart green apples, but more like one of those half-baked without any sugar or spices. Once it cooks, add just a teaspoon of warm caramel, and that is what this wine smells like.

The palate is interesting. Imagine lining up every apple you ever ate, from tartest to sweetest, then back to tart again, and quickly taking a bit out of each one, and you get what happens from attack to mid-palate. It's dry, don't get me wrong, but the impression of apple is there the whole time.

Night Two

Like Night One, the nose is huge with apples, apples, apples, and a little dollop of caramel.

And like Night One, the palate runs through a bite of every apple you ever taste, though now the tart ones are more pronounced. Still, the only possible impression of this wine is APPLE. The mid-palate adds just a bit of baguette, but mostly, it's still apples.

This is also a good time to answer the obvious question- how did I make champagne last two nights? It's called a champagne saver, and a picture of mine is below. It pushes down into the bottle to make a seal, then the wings fold down over the lip of the bottle keeping it tight. The next night it opens with a "pop!" and you can't tell it had been opened the night before.

2006 Château de Lancyre Coteaux du Languedoc Pic St. Loup Vieilles Vignes

Type: Red
Producer: Château de Lancyre
Variety: Red Rhone Blend
Designation: Vieilles Vignes
Country: France
Region: Languedoc Roussillon
SubRegion: Languedoc
Appellation: Coteaux du Languedoc Pic St. Loup
Price: $17.00 Indianapolis



The Little Wooden Guy liked the stuff so much on Night One he made me buy another bottle to do a complete review.

Night One

The nose on this is just fascinating. Imagine mixing a couple of bushels of cranberries with half as much orange peel, then drop it on a barnyard floor, and you've got EXACTLY what this stuff smells like.

The palate opens with loads of dry red fruit, mostly cranberry, with some tartcherries and tiny wild sour strawberries. The orange peel shows upon the mid-palate. Tannins are smooth and very dry, leather sucking the moisture from your cheeks. This could have years of cellar life to go. Or not. Let's find out if we get another hint on Night Two.

Night Two

The nose is similar to Night One in the cranberries and orange peel, but the barnyard smell is almost gone. It also has some fresh-ground black pepper with a few fennel seeds in the mix.

The taste is really almost identical to Night One, cranberries plus a little other red fruit, orange peel, and leathery tannins. The tannins are a little softer, rounder, more elegant. Based upon that, I think this has some promise for more cellar time, letting the tannins soften and integrate.

This is pretty good stuff and a very good price. A wine for this money that has cellar potential and a classic profile for the blend is worth looking for and putting away.

2005 Jean-Pierre Robinot (L'Opera des Vins) Coteaux du Loir Vin de Table Francais Concerto D'Oniss

Type- Red
Producer- Jean-Pierre Robinot (L'Opera des Vins)
Variety- Pineau d'Aunis
Designation- Vin de Table Francais Concerto D'Oniss
Country- France
Region- Loire Valley
SubRegion- Upper Loire
Appellation- Coteaux du Loir



The Little Wooden Guy likes it. This wine is bright, fresh and fruity, not over-oaked and overpowering.

Night One

The color is a light translucent ruby red. The palate is very fruity, cherry pits, pomegranate, and some lavender. On the palate, the mouth feel was a bit thin. Flavor was very fruity and juicy, cherries, pomegranate, and some allspice. It is very bright and acidic, fresh and fruity.

Night Two

The nose was a little deeper on Night Two, with tobacco leaf added to the cherry pits, pomegranate and lavender from Night One. Mouth feel was a lot more full, glycerin more apparent. The palate was close to Night One, but a bit deeper, pomegranate, cranberry, and some earthy mushrooms, adding cola on the mid-plate. It was still very bright and acidic.

This is a very interesting wine, light and fruity but with layers and depth.

2004 Couly-Dutheil Chinon La Baronnie Madeleine

Type: Red
Producer: Couly-Dutheil
Variety: Cabernet Franc
Designation: La Baronnie Madeleine
Country: France
Region: Loire Valley
SubRegion: Touraine
Appellation: Chinon

$13.99 at Costco, in Indianapolis, Indiana



The Big Wooden Guy isn't sure if he should drink it or smoke it.

Night One

The classic identifying odor of Cabernet Franc is tobacco leaf. If you can't place that in your library of odor memories, find the nearest Costco and buy a bottle of this wine. The fruit is either non-existent or merely shut down. What you get is wave after wave of tobacco leaf. Smelling this wine is like walking through the back room of a cigar shop on Calle Ocho in Miami or Ybor City near Tampa (and perhaps, when we finally get done with our useless and counter-productive decades-long idiocy with Cuba, Havana).

Tobacco dominates the palate as well as the nose. If you sip some in, breathe in some air, swirl it around and really try, you can find some red fruit, cranberries and red currants. There is even dark chocolate on the mid-palate. However, tobacco is the dominating feature. The finish is medium length, as is the mouth feel. Acids are bright. Tannins make a light backbone, not overpowering but clearly there and wanting more time to integrate.

Night Two

A night made some difference, but I fear not enough. Tobacco still leads the nose. It has added some eucalyptus and menthol, plus a hint of fennel. On the palate, too, tobacco keeps the lead,with the addition of black olives. Now though, the eucalyptus shows up on the mid-palate.

Acidity remains very bright, along with light tannins, offering a good backbone for additional maturity. Will fruit appear later? Perhaps. It is hard to tell if it is merely shut down or non-existent. This wine, though, provides a classroom demonstration of what "tobacco" means in Cab Franc, and for a mere $13 is worth buying two bottles- one for the lesson, and another to see what happens in 2012.

Pegovino Cotes du Rhone Villages 2005

Cotes du Rhone Villages Controlee
13.5% alcohol
$15.99 in Indianapolis, Indiana

The Little Wooden guy can take this one or leave it. For five bucks less it is okay, for five bucks more a definite failure. At this point, he's just going to save his wooden nickels until something better comes along.

Night One

The nose of this was sweet with strawberry preserves and strong minerality. There was also a slight hint of lightly chlorinated pool water.

On the attack there was dry fruit forward, cranapple juice cocktail and wet stones, with wild strawberries and then sea salt added in the midpalate. The mouth feel was slightly thin, the finish short. Mild acidity and a complete dearth of tannins bode poorly for any sort of cellar life. This is a "drink now" wine, a fresh, fruity, mineral glass for an Indian Summer afternoon.

Night Two

There was no Night Two, because some friends came over on Night One. Sorry folks.

2005 Domaine du Vieux Chêne Cuvée Friande

Domaine du Vieux Chêne
Cuvée Friande
80% Grenache, 20% Syrah
Southern Rhone- Vin de Pays de Vaucluse
Alc. 13.5%
$9.98 in Indianapolis

Do you see where the Little Wooden Guy is pointing? At the price tag, that's right. At a mere $9.98, this is a steal.

Night One

The nose was terrific, and intriguing. Cherries were there, and obvious. But it took a few seconds to identify the other smell. I finally figured it out- hazelnuts, like Frangelica liquor. There was also a very light scent of vanilla, but not overpowering in the least.

The attack on the palate was very pleasant, cherries and raspberries, licorice and leather. There was not much of a midpalate and the finish falls off quickly. But for $9.98, pretty darned good.

Night Two

There was no Night Two. I opened this during the Vice Presidential debate. I drank it all and it still wasn't enough to dull the pain in my brain.

WBW#49- N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve

I have the honor of hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday #49, "A Toast to the End of the Bush Era." Read more about it on the link, and come back later this week for my WBW#49 round-up. I will be linking wine bloggers' responses from around the country and around the world. My choice for Inauguration night? N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve.



The Wooden Guys are happily dancing around this terrific champagne.


Champagne
Le Mesnil Sur Oger
12% alcohol
$39.99 at Chambers Street Wines

The is a "blanc de blanc" champagne, meaning it is made entirely from chardonnay grapes. It is also a "grower champagne." That means it is made by the same person who grows the grapes, rather than by a corporation/negociant. Read more here about
why to buy grower champagne. I bought it from Chambers Street Wines, a wonderful wine shop in Tribeca, which is not exactly Bush country. Simply stated, this wine is everything George W. Bush could possible be against- it is French (was there ever a more embarrassing moment than when we talked about "Old Europe" and renamed "Freedom Fries," all petit attacks against our oldest ally, the nation to which we owe our very existence as a nation?), it is anti-corporate, and it is "elite," you know, champagne, not beer. To celebrate the end of the Bush Era, I will happily drink this poke in his eye.

Night One

The color is clear light golden straw, and bubbles are tiny tiny tiny. The nose is rich and yeasty, fresh-baked bread and buttered toast, with light delicate citrus (key limes and a hint of pink grapefruit) and lychee.

The palate is equally delightful. The mousse is full but delicate. Anybody wondering about the term "mousse" in champagne need but try this to understand how something can be rich and mouth-filling yet light as air at the same time. It also gives a perfect lesson in "brut," proving something can be fruit-filled and floral but bone-dry at the same time. The fruit on the palate is like the fruit on the nose- key lime and a touch of sweet grapefruit. Florals were equally citrusy, orange blossoms from a distance. The toast evolved from attack to midpalate in a fascinating way. Up front it was yeasty and toasty, but as that flavor blended with the fruit, well, the best way to describe it is an incredibly light key lime pie with a Zweiback, not graham cracker, crust. Have you ever had real, genuine, New York cheesecake? One where the crust complements the cake rather than competes with it? Those have crusts made from Zweiback crackers and butter. The overall sense of this wine is sweetness, but it is not sweet. It also had clear minerality, but only as background, not foreground.

The finish lasted quite a while, the different tastes all coming together and lingering, all very light but lasting.

Night Two

On night two the yeastiness took even more of the nose. The smell was richer. Have you ever had Cuban toast? It is Cuban bread, sliced, generously buttered, then "toasted" in a sandwich press. It is yeasty, crusty, and redolent with butter. Spread a piece of that very thinly with key lime and lychee jellies, and you're there.

The palate was similar to the nose- Cuban bread and citrus, plus citrus flowers. Bubbles remained tiny overnight and the mouse smooth and gentle. It was a delightful mouthful, all bubbles and smiles.

I will happily pop a bottle of this the night George W. Bush says "goodbye" to his power. It's French. It's non-corporate. And yes, it's upper-class. To the end of an era, and good riddance to it.

Unless McCain/Palin win. Then I might be looking for a Merlot-Hemlock blend.

Chateau Branaire-Ducru 1999

Grand Cru Classe en 1855
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
13% alcohol

The Wooden Guys liked this one!

Night One

The color is garnet, but starting to turn to brick. The rim thins out with a hint of brown just before it turns clear.

This wine has a big strong nose. It has a lot of barnyard funk to open, but that blows off quickly. Then it brings a lot of smoky meat, real cigar box (cedar and tobacco) and a bucketload of red fruit.

The palate is big, too. It carries that bucketload of fruit from the nose to the mouth. It has smoked meat, pencil lead, and cedar. Flowers join on the midpalate. Tannins are very fine but still powerful, a rigid backbone that offers a promise of more years in the cellar.

Night Two

Red fruit, lots of red fruit, opens the nose. Cigar box follows, cedar first, then if you sniff deeply, tobacco second.

I don't want to stop drinking this long enough to reveiw it. The palate, like the nose, explodes with red fruit. Pencil lead, cedar and tobacco, then violets and a touch of clove. Tannins are smooth and silky, but still retain enough power to coat and dry the mouth.

This is good wine. It is still fruity and a little tannic, hinting to a lot more life left in the cellar.

Jean-Luc Colombo Les Abeilles Cotes du Rhone 2005

13.5% alcohol

Night One

Thick fruit opens the nose, strawberry jam and plums. These are followed by cinammon and green pepper.

The palate starts with the same strawberry jam and plums, with a clear midpalate of asian spices and smoked meat. Tannins are very fine, even dusty, but firm, still strong and not fully integrated, adding leather to the finish.

Night Two

Florals were way out front on night two, violets and lilacs. There was fruit, too, mostly bruised plums. In all fairness, I think this got a little over-oxidized from one night to the next so it is really not fair to keep judging it.

This was pleasant but not wonderful on Night One and gone on night two. The bottle was well sealed, the Vacuu-Vin top still had a good seal and suction. I expect I will not be running out to buy more of this one.

Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne Véro 2005

France
Burgundy
Bourgogne
$19.99
12.5% alcohol

The little wooden guy is not pleased with this wine. Read on to find out why.

The color is very light clear red. The nose opens tart and fruity, sour cherry and strawberries. The fruit sweetens after the initial tartness, smelling candied with brown sugar or maple. There is also just enough of a whiff of earth to tell you it is likely French.

The palate opens all sour fruit, sour cherries and sour strawberries. That sweetns a little on the finish, adding a sense of red licorice. Tannins were slightly drying but smooth.

Will this close down on night two, or will it soften and open up, revealing something other than red fruit? Let us find out together.

NIGHT TWO

Sour cherries and strawberries still lead the nose, but there is also some caramel and some sage. It actually seems, on the nose, to have closed a bit from night one. The palate is still sour cherries, but deeper, a bit richer, with blackberries throw in instead of the sweeter strawberries of the night before. A little Dr. Pepper followed, then a hint of spice. Overwhelmingly, though the sour cherries and blackberries deominated from start to finish, without significant transition to midpalate or finish.

This is a disappointingly one-dimensional wine. Yes, I know, at $19.99 it is practically free by the standards of 2005 Burgundy, but why bother? There are far more intersting wines from other regions for the same amount of scratch.