2016 Castello Colle Massari Poggio Lombrone Montecucco Sangiovese Riserva

 

Very young showing with a blast of fruit and tannin. Needs another 10 years. I vacuum sealed it and stored in the wine fridge for about three weeks, checking on it occasionally.  Finally, it started to mellow and reveal its delicious potential. 

2022 Domaine Huet Vouray Le Mont Moelleux

 

Way too young... significant wine with lots of potential ... bury it..

2023 Deiss Engelgarten and 2023 Deiss Rotenberg

 Based on these two wines, I think the 2023 vintage for Deiss is pretty top notch.

The 2023 Deiss Engelgarten is a field blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Muscat from alluvial gravels mixed with clay and marl in Bergheim. It drinks young now, obviously, but does open up providing a glimpse of a beautifully balanced citrus tropical palate with the fruit positively vibrating. A stunning wine, IMO, that will very much benefit from aging.  Paired with fried pickles, and mango bango fried shrimp..I think a maple Manhattan snuck into the early line up, too. 
I think this may be the best Deiss Engelgarten I've ever had. Just a stunningly crisp audacious palate that smooths out over a couple of hours...really a pleasurable bottle of wine, but then I am partial to Deiss wines.

The 2023 Deiss Rotenberg is a field blend of Pinot Gris and Riesling grown on south facing , red-tinged Jurassic limestone. This is an earthier wine than the bright Engelgarten but as impressive nonetheless. Drank this after dinner at home paired gouda and asiago cheeses and some water crackers.

It was a great learning experience drinking these two heroic wines.... so powerful yet lithe... these wines should be on everyone's buy list....

Sonoma Coast and Côte de Beaune

 

2012 Kutch Pinot Noir MacDougall Ranch Sonoma Coast
Double decanted back into bottle. 
Wow!!!!!
This is an elegant, yet showy mouthful of briary sous bois, whole cluster, impeccably grown black fruit. Reminds me a of a Dugat-Py cru hitting on all cylinders. This wine could easily be cellared another five to ten years and the tertiary development would be fascinating on the palate. 

2012 Kanzler Vineyard Pinot Noir Estate 
Goodness from Sonoma Coast, absolutely beautiful right now.
Comprised of clones 667, 115 and Pommard-4 on Goldridge soils. 

2005 Vincent Girardin Volnay 1er Cru Les Santenots 
One of the best bottles I've ever had of this wine. In a beautiful peak zone of development. The nose, the fruit, the acidity,   The elegance and balance of Les Santenots on full display. WOTN. A favorite pairing with blackened catfish étouffée.

Celebration Wine Dinner

 Celebrating being pretty well recovered from full knee replacement surgery (avoid ar all costs, by the way), we dipped into delicious wines and cuisine....

Creole bbq oysters chargrilled in the shell
Octopus confit
Scallop toast
Paired with 2009 Alexandre Le Brun Révélation Blanc de Meunier Extra Brut
Showing beautifully,  it was very bracing upon uncorking it. Intense yellow orchard fruit, quince and apricot... a big wine.... this will age for years longer... nose of brioche and baking spices.... I don't get a chance to drink much 100% Pinot Meunier wines.... this was a treat. 

Fresh picked heirloom tomato sandwich with homemade mayonnaise 
Vermouth Bianco

Segue to....
2005 G D Vajra Barolo Albe
2017 G D Vajra Barolo Bricco Delle Viole 
Paired with
Chargrilled whole Branzino
Pan-roasted scallops over rock shrimp risotto 

The 2005 Albe is a blend of grapes from Fossati, Coste di Vergne and La Volte (all in the Barolo commune) , and it was showing spectacularly. Tannins have fully integrated to support beautiful red fruit, tar and roses accented Nebbiolo.  Long complex and satisfying finish. 

The 2017 Bricco delle Viole is clearly young ... actually opened it a couple of days early to breathe a bit and then vacuum sealed it till the dinner. Wow, beautiful high toned fruit supported by such a finely chiseled structure of filigreed tannins and acidity. Ideally hold another ten years but it was a delight to check in on now.

Later on, a 2007 Mt. Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon was uncorked.  Ricotta cheesecake and Peaberry Kona espresso was served with it. The 2007 Mt. Veeder Cab was a blast of deliciously mature Napa fruit, black cherry,  cassis, hints of mellow cacao nibs. Wow... scrumptious. 

2020 Marcel Deiss Grasberg

 

Showing beautifully tonite with a spicy fried Bahamian conch dish. 

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"...The 2020 Grasberg is from the plateau of Jurassic imestone of the Altenberg, sloping slightly north at 350m, a late: ripening site. The field blend is Riesling and Gewurztraminer fermented and aged in foudre. The nose has golden, juicy glints of peach compote edged with lemon. It has the inherent coolness of imestone and vivid freshness, but there is a kiss of honeyed potrytis without it masking the fresh fruit, lending a subtle sweetness (35g/L), rounded and peachy. (Medium)..."
Anne Krebiehl MW, April 2023
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Producer background...

"...Today, Mathieu Deiss, born in 1984, runs Marcel Deiss. The Deiss family has been in Alsace since the 17th century, always making wine a part of farming. In the 1950s, Mathieu Deiss’ great-grandfather and grandfather, Marcel and André Deiss, respectively, decided to focus on wine. Marcel Deiss’ wife Maria Milan ran the local restaurant Le Tilleuil, so wine was made both for the inn and to sell, helping the domaine to grow slowly. Mathieu Deiss’ father, son of André, Jean-Michel, took over in 1976. Jean-Michel Deiss started to plant field blends in 1990, and he made his first, and at the time groundbreaking, Grand Vin de l’Altenberg in 1994. In 2004, this grand cru’s cahier des charges were exceptionally changed to allow field blends. The seed for the idea of field blends, or complantation, was sown in Jean-Michel Deiss’ mind in 1984 when he bought a big parcel of the Schoenenbourg Grand Cru, planted on one side to Riesling, on the other to an almost century-old field blend. “My father vinified these parcels separately and let critics taste them blind. People could identify Schoenenbourg, but people could not necessarily tell which was the field blend and which was the Riesling. This is what convinced him that that site was stronger and that compelled him to also plant field blends in other locations,” recounts Mathieu Deiss. There has been a lot of expansion. They moved from 24 hectares/59 acres in 2014 to 39 hectares/96.4 acres today. “Over the past six to seven years, we continued to find new terroirs. We also had the opportunity to reorganize the vineyard we had historically. We had parcels on the plains and the foothills, vulnerable to frost and drought, which we exchanged for plots on hillsides,” Mathieu Deiss says. “That was a key point for me for the future.” Mathieu Deiss joined the domaine in 2007. He followed a chemistry and physics degree in Strasbourg with a viticulture and oenology degree from Toulouse. He worked one harvest at home, then for Geoffrey Grosset in the Clare Valley in Australia, then for Brian Croser at Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills. He also interned with the consultancy team of Stéphane Derenoncourt for six months before spending three months in the US with an importer to learn about distribution. Mathieu Deiss and his wife Emmanuelle Milan also run Vignoble du Rêveur in Bennheim. The domaine is based on 8 hectares/19.77 acres of vines belonging to Mathieu Deiss’ mother, which his uncle farmed until his retirement. Both estate’s wines are vinified in Bergheim, but the domaines are kept separate. Vignoble de Rêveur makes more alternative styles using skin maceration. “We are taking more risks, but some terroirs are simpler than here at Deiss, and we find that maceration gave a little more density.” The wines are presold on allocation, just like Domaine Deiss. The domaine is certified biodynamic. Today, Mathieu Deiss likes to play with skin maceration for small portions of his wines; he thinks it helps their balance. He has shifted to a drier register than his father and reduced the use of new oak. However, even if the style is now fresher and brighter, the mesmerizing aromatic nature of the wines and their textural richness are still the same..." -- Anne Krebiehl MW, April 2023

2012 San Fereolo Langhe Rosso

This stuff is pretty good... a bit unique... 

Currently,  it's showing delicious aged fruit up front... high toned red berries.. but the finish doesn't really pan out ... it's a bit too sour (?) On the back end... at this stage... let it sit in the cellar and see what develops over the years..

Actually stood up quite well to a spicy rendition of shrimp and grits ...

Importers notes.
"...1593 refers to the date of the first written documentation of Dolcetto in the archives of Dogliani. It’s a fitting title, since Nicoletta Bocca has made it her life’s work to reveal this grape’s profound connection to her special zone and its proud status among the most expressive and age-worthy wines in the Piedmonte. Made from her best and oldest parcels only in the best vintages, this wine results from grapes sourced from “Cerri Sottani”, a sub-zone of Valdibà. Bocca utilizes long aging to maximum effect, letting the wine rest for 6 years in 15HL and 10HL barrels before being racked into stainless steel for further aging. After time in bottle, this wine is released more than 10 years after the harvest..."