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.

2001 Jerome Quiot Gigondas

Producer: Jerome Quiot
Variety: Red Rhone Blend
Country: France
Region: Rhône
SubRegion: Southern Rhône
Appellation: Gigondas
Price: $18.99



The Little Wooden Guy is really confused by this wine. It was completely different from Night One to Night Two, to the point if you didn't really know it was still the same bottle, you would not believe it.

Night One

The nose opens with cherries, both fresh Michigan cherries, sweet and juicy, and tart dried cherries. It also bring smoked bacon and the saltiness of Greek olives.

The palate is very interesting. It flashes through several different and apparently unrelated flavors. First, cherries - CHANGE - Greek olives - CHANGE - bacon - CHANGE - chocolate, then it finally settles into very dark chocolate covered cherries.

Night Two

The nose on Night Two is extremely floral, filled with lilacs and violets.

Cranberries and some blackurrant lead on the palate, orange peel follows. Over it all lay the florals from the nose. Finish is long. This wine appears to bear no relationship to the same bottle on Night One. Interesting.

Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne Réserve des Seigneurs 2004

Cotes du Rhone Villages
France
14% alcohol
$26.99

The little wooden guy is pleased to make a new friend.

The nose opens with definite minerality, red fruit cooled on a bed of cold crushed rocks. The fruit smells are light, cranberry and strawberry, the flowers and tobacco. It is a little closed immediately after opening.

"Oh my that's interesting!" That was my immediate thought when I tasted this wine. First, it was absolutely nothing like the nose. Strawberries and cola, licorice and tobacco, all meet on the attack. Mid-palate is dark cherries, pastry and vanilla, then it ends with sea salt and olives. This is really interesting. Tannins are clearly present but not drying, and fine. Finish is very long, and the after-taste continues to evolve just like the wine in your mouth.

Two hours later- The nose is still fairly closed, giving up mostly strawberry and mineral. If I smelled it blind I would guess pinot noir. Tannins are far more dominant now. Strawberries and cola are there, but more concentrated, darker, and black pepper has joined the band. Tobacco is more dominant on the midpalate and the licorice has entirely disappeared, with black pepper flowing throughout the wine's narrative. The end, also, is more tannic, a taste of strong black tea washing over the olives. I was wondering after the first try whether this would be too flabby, lacking in tannins, to last for any length of time. Now, though, a tannic backbone is not just making an appearance, but dominating. It should really be interesting to see what it does on night two.

Two more hours later- Now, for the first time, this smells like a southern Rhone wine. It has that barnyard bouquet I have come to expect, along with smoked meat, pepper and dark fruits. Dark fruit, pepper, orange peel, and meat make a mouth-filling palate. The tannins are smoother, silkier, but still firmly making themselves known, providing a strong foundation. Tobacco shows up on the midpalate, and the finish is still long.

NIGHT TWO

Barnyard, licorice, and meat open the nose, but it quickly settles down into sweet caramel, vanilla and flowers. The nose is entirely different than NIGHT ONE. Blackberries and blackcurrants, then smoked meat and tobacco, finishing with firm tannins and unsweetened cranberries. The finish lingers, with a memory of cranberry and tobacco.

This is a very interesting wine, rapidly evolving and showing terrific complexity and depth, particularly for the price point, $27.