Checking in at the 10 year mark. Absolutely gorgeous upon opening the bottle. Perfumed nose leaps forth. Delicious fruit from the first taste. Elegant sweetness to the tannins. All components come together to deliver a seamlesss structure. One of the best Ovello's I've had.
Decanted and aerated. About 2 hours in, the tannins begin to clinch down and what was an elegant finish becomes more closed, hiding any nuance from the fruit. Tannic influence dominates the finish as time goes on.
First time dining inside with friends at their house in over a year (everyone being vaccinated). Chicken Marbella, scratch-made mashed potatoes and baked carrots were worthy of 3 Michelin stars.... hard to describe how savory and delicious this dish was. Dessert was a beautifully piquant key lime pie.
Fun comparison of Serralunga terroir in two different vintages from the Lazzarito cru....
The 2000 vintage was represented well with lush fruit and burnished tannins..... a delightful wine.
14% abv
Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Pinot Bianco
Buona Pasqua!
14% abv
Raised in Slavonian oak botti
12.5% abv
Garganega, Trebbiano Toscano, Sauvignon Bianco, Chardonnay, Saorin
Tasty. Coming into its own now with full black fruit complemented by garrigue, spice and a solid underpinning of minerality. Deft combination of mostly Grenache with some Mourvedre. This has at least another 5 to 7 years of prime drinking window. Around 13% abv. Not particularly elegant, but precise... no heat... food friendly. Interesting bits of tertiary development at this stage.
Crystalline elegance in a glass. Rich grenache (I thought a dollop of Mourvedre, but it's all Grenache) with an endless finish. Pure and seductive. Wow!
I've posted about this cuvee before. and this bottle warrants a follow up. It is a wine that is impossible to put down. Each sip over dinner brings an interesting new facet as the wine unfolds. 50% whole cluster adds a very unique brambly character that I've fallen in love with... and a beautiful nose to match....
It reminds me of a Vosne-Romanee from Dugat-Py.
Sometimes you are fortunate to enjoy a bottle of wine that has close to perfect pitch. This is the best bottle I've ever had from Josko Gravner, the Maestro.
Subtle aromatics, but the complexity of the palate is wonderful at this stage of development. White peach, almond, pit and a honeyed (but not sweet) viscosity on a lengthy, beautifully alluring finish that draws you in. Don't drink this too cold. It unfolds beautifully in the glass.
In a somewhat disjointed phase (or perhaps bottle variation). Too tannic on the first day, then better on day 2 and day 3. Deep black cherry fruit up front giving way to some heat and not a lot of complexity on the finish. Definitely not in the same league as the legendary 2004 vintage Rancia, which has been beautiful throughout its life. The 2006 may be in a race to see if the fruit outlives the tannins.
Deg. Dec 2018, 12% abv
100% Pinot Noir."...Champagne Marie Courtin is located in the village of Polisot in the Côte des Bars (often referred to as the Aube), in the southern part of the Champagne region. With its slightly warmer temperatures, this area is particularly prized for its Pinot Noir grapes. Combined with the Kimmeridgian limestone sub soils, Aube champagnes retain a freshness similar to Chablis, which is more of a neighbor to Polisot than Epernay or Reims! In fact, many of the Grand Marques source their Pinot Noir from the Côte des Bars because of this unique combination of texture and delineation that the sub-zone provides.
Dominique Moreau created the estate in 2005 with a vision to produce a series of single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage Champagnes from Biodynamically-grown grapes that are farmed and elaborated with meticulous care. This philosophy is in stark contrast with the predominant mindset in Champagne which has historically focused on blending grapes, vineyards and vintages to achieve a consistent product or "house style", and with a tendency towards very high yields and full-on chemical treatments. For Dominique Moreau and likeminded growers, their house style is their terroirs, and is influenced by important factors such as massale selection clones and the ecoysystem of which their vines are a part.
Most of Dominique's wines come from a hillside vineyard of 40-45 year old, massale-selection Pinot Noir in Polisot (located the next town over from Celles-sur-Ource, where Cédric Bouchard lives and works). The combination of low yields, clay-limestone soils with bands of Kimmeridgian, and an east/southeast exposure gives the wines both power and cut, with an intense brininess and minerality at their core.
At harvest, the grapes are all harvested by hand. The wines are fermented with natural yeasts that have been selected from their vineyards and cultivated separately. These native yeasts are used for both the primary and secondary fermentations. Lastly, there is no dosage added upon disgorgement.
Dominique makes several cuvées, but the bulk of her small production is split between her cuvées Résonance and Éfflorescence, the former fermented in stainless steel and aged sur lattes for 24 months, and the latter is fermented and aged in used barriques, followed by 36 months sur lattes. The grapes for Resonance are from the top of the slope, whereas Efflorescence fruit comes from the bottom of the hill, which she says “has greater power and potential”. The third Blanc de Noirs is a zero sulfur cuvée known as Concordance, which minted Dominique's reputation as a deft vinifier.
“Efflorescence” means "to evolves in perpetuity”. Starting with the evolution encouraged by the small oxygen exchange in barrel, she feels that this wine in particular will show a very different face at each stage of its development in bottle..."
Abv 13%
