Musings, Missives and Great Hair: The LDM tasting 2010 - French Edition

As usual I know what to expect when I go to a tasting at the LDM headquarters in Greenwich Village. Great wines, friendly faces, some good-ribbing/abuse, winemakers, communication gaps with those winemakers, wonderful food and increasingly more and more crowded tables. But if you're hardcore like me and stay till the end the crowd thins a bit. One thing I did not expect was the fine specimen of hair that has re-appeared on Joe Dressner's head. Go Joe. It looks great.

Jean-Paul Brun, Terres Dorees, Beaujolais

The Beaujolais '09's look great from my small sampling with Jean-Paul Brun. The 2009 Beaujolais Blanc was one of the more opulent versions of this wine I've had but this had proper balancing acidity and just shows the beauty of pure Chardonnay fruit in a simple, straightforward way. I loved the 2008 VDP Roussane from limestone soils. It was like Roussane from St. Aubin or something. Great acids, deep minerality and those weird waxy Roussane flavors that usually get overblown in the Rhone, but not here. The 2009 l'Ancien was grippy and a bit rustic with good acid, yet a touch of bitterness. Seems like a l'Ancien that needs 3-4 months to unravel, but all the components are there. The 2009 Cote-de-Brouilly was very structured with an explosion of fruit. Beautiful purity and length. My 2nd favorite Bojo at the table. The 2009 Fleurie showed not so good. Little bubbly and very reduced. I'll defer till I can taste a bottle on my own. The 2009 Morgon was nice with very ripe fruit and and in a juicy style. I like this the least of the "new" Brun cuvees. It is very good, and a nice value, but there is a slew of better Morgon out there. I won't turn a bottle down but I won't go out of my way either. The 2009 Moulin-a-Vent absolutely knocked me on my ass. Concentrated. Deeply concentrated but not forced in any way. Yet with all that concentration this was incredibly refined and silky with dazzlingly pure fruit and just a smoking long finish. No matter how many more 2009 Beaujolais I taste I know this will be in the top tier of the vintage. One for the cellar. Maybe the best Brun wine I have ever had.

Damien Coquelet, Morgon


From Georges Descombes son, who was somewhere in a volcanic cloud as the tasting sheet told me came one excellent wine and one legendary mind-fuck of a Chiroubles. Coquelet and Descombes own Chiroubles now. Move over Chanson. Even though I don't even like you that much. The 2009 Beaujolais-Villages was lovely, ripe, pure, transparent wine showing soil tones, bright cherry fruit with zingy acidity. Showed better than Brun's but did have less structure. The 2008 Chiroubles Vieilles Vignes maybe was even better than previous Descombes versions of the wine I've had. The fruit was so bright, so vivid, so clearly defined and just so Chiroubles. Flamboyant yet light at the same time with a lovely confectionary note. Lots of violets and dark floral aromas complement the fruit. Very ripe, as 2009 seems to be, but so light on its feet. The tannin quality was very high and perfectly ripe. Just a superstar bottle of wine. Not bad for a 21 year old. I met him and had dinner with him in February 2008 at the Descombes estate in this crazy colored kitchen pictured below. Notice the Veuve-Clicquot spit bucket we were using. He did not speak English, nor I French. The food was great and pics of the food and a pic of that crazy kitchen with some familiar people in it will be the picture highlights of this post.

Georges Descombes, Beaujolais


Georges Descombes, whose ridiculous nickname escapes me at the moment was Eyjafjallajokullised. The wines showed very good with some being better than others but that was a function of where they were in their evolution. The 2008 Regnie was very floral on the nose with solid fruit and a nice structure. Very good as his Regnie usually is. Never wows you but I don't think that's what Regnie is supposed to do. The 2007 Morgon was in a weird place. Angular, high acid, closed and showing poorly in general. Just a closed wine that was all out of sorts. The 2007 Brouilly VV was the most showy and big of all the Descombes offerings on this day. Vosne-Romanee-like nose with spice, dark flowers and big palate but balanced and very pure. Big, concentrated fruit and long. The Bojo for Cabernet lovers. Will benefit from age. Too big for me right now but in two or three years this will be a beauty. Some will like now for it's wow factor and opulence, but more nuance will come. The 2007 Morgon VV was very concentrated but young and backwards. Really tannic and structured. I'd revisit in a few years as it sorts itself out.

Matthieu Baudry, Chinon, Loire Valley

Just gets better every year. Nothing can stop Matthieu. The 2009 Chinon Rose was so pretty it was scary. Like seeing Adriana Lima in person. You can't stop staring, sniffing, licking, tasting. Okay, mixing a bit too many metaphors here, but you get the point. This wine blew me away. It had a texture that was haunting with such pretty fruit and was so perfectly put together that the part of my enjoyment was just a dumbfounded look on my face that a rose can actually really move me, as it never does. I like Lopez a lot bit that is more an object of adulation for me. Spectacular wine. Run and get this. The 2008 Chinon Les Granges was the killer value that it always is and is a wine I look to to see how the vintage was in Chinon. This wine is always a window into the vintage. It had nice, ripe, juicy fruit and a lot of it. I was really impressed by the fruit concentration here. This wine has been getting more concentrated every year since 2002. Not a bad thing at all for a value wine like this. Nice wine. The 2008 Chinon Clos Guillot is a cuvee I have never warmed up to. From young vines, the wine is just too rich for me. This was the best rendition yet but there is something about this wine I don't like. I can't like every vineyard I guess. Dark wine with enormous concentrated almost blackish fruits, but blackish in a Loire way, not a Roussillon ridiculous caricature over the top way. Really structured and sticks to the palate with big, noble tannins. A bit hollow in the middle bit it seemed more a closed hollow rather than a donut wine. The 2009 Chinon Grezeaux is the opposite of Clos Guillot for me. I love this wine, have a deep vertical in the cellar and it always reminds me of old-school Graves. The nose was screaming with scorched earth, tabac, minerals ans a wet earth quality. Not much fruit on the nose, but Grezeaux is not about fruit for me, its about all that other stuff. Balanced, elegant, yet with an undeniable rustic charm to it. Very ripe tannins. As usual at Chez Baudry the quality of the tannin is top-notch. Now the big boy. The 2007 Chinon Croix Boissee was showing beautifully on this day. I had three tastes of this. My first note just says heavenly. Kind of like the perfect Chinon and the finest wine being made in the appellation today. It has this uncanny velvety texture and maybe the same richness of the Clos Guillot but this wine is just so much more refined. Silky, velvety. All I could write about was the texture. Not a hint of that Chinon "grit" but still was showing its place perfectly. The tannins were unbelievable. Ripe, velvety, and a long, resonant finish that will leave just about anybody contemplating something. The best value of the day. This should retail for around $34-$37. That is a steal for a wine this good.

Marc Ollivier, Domaine de la Pepiere, Loire Valley

Another year. Another brilliant set of wines from Marc Ollivier, who was here in spirit as he was volcanoed, The 2009 Muscadet-de-Sevre-et-Maine-sur-Lie was just gobs and gobs of minerals in a liquid form with a rich, lush texture, a faint rainwater vibe, crisp acidity, cleanliness and purity that is almost unrivalled in white wine. One of the most minerally versions of the regular cuvee. Like 2002 but a bit more opulent. Drink young and drink lots. That is what I'll be doing. The 2008 Muscadet Les Gras Moutons which is a new parcel with gneiss and schist in the soil. I wasn't crazy about this. Kind of lemon-limey with high acids. A little disjointed. Some good length and mineral but didn't really leave an impression. The 2009 Clos des Briords was like a more refined, deeper, more cerebral version of the normal cuvee. Really bright wine. Juicy and filigreed. Loads of meyer lemon and chewy minerality. A fine, if a bit young Briords. I'd give it three years to get in its sweet spot. The 2007 Granite de Clisson is one big-ass Muscadet. Bold wine. A rich wine, with all that good leesiness and outstanding concentration yet a spine like you would not believe. Incredibly defined and clear minerality. Just amazing Muscadet. Apex stuff. The 2009 La Pepie Rose was delicious. 100% Cabernet Franc and slammin'. Incredible texture, a bit richer and darker fruit profile than the Baudry, but extremely pure with vivid fruit. I did not take notes on the "Red Muscadets" but they were both good.

Manuela and Francois Chidaine, Loire Valley


Another spectacular set of wines. They were all great but I had my preferences as I always do in this line up. I tend to like Sec here much more than demi-sec. I prefer Demi-Sec at Huet, but I think Chidaine's dry Montlouis' "Clos du Breuil" and the great Montlouis "Les Bournais" are emerging as some of the best whites in all of the Loire, if not France. Enough hyperbole . . .for now. The 2008 Montlouis Clos du Breuil is such a lithe wine and gets lither every year. The 2008 is brilliant. Less fat than the 2005, but much more finesse and a more filigreed wine. Exceptional chunky minerality, with lovely ripe fruit flavors and a long, mineral and bone dry finish. The 2008 Vouvray Les Argiles was very elegant with lovely ripe and crispy honeyed fruit. So long, clean and pure. This was profound. The best rendition of this wine yet. The 2007 Montlouis Les Choisilles is in a demi-sec style. Really vivid fruit. Apricot really came through. Elegant wine but maybe a bit low on the acid for me. The 2007 Montlouis Les Bournais where the vines are ten years old now, and every year of age they get, this wine gets exponentially better. Can't wait for the 2037 vintage of this stuff. But I am getting ahead of myself. The nose of this was very impressive. Definetly my longest sniff of the day. You could get lost in this nose. So complex and high toned with almond, apple, pear and striking mineral tones. Nuanced like crazy. Changing constantly. The palate was concentrated, deep, and earthy with a sand-like grainy finish. Doesn't sound that appealing but was. One of those wines that is a lens into the vineyard. Profound stuff. The 2007 Montlouis Les Tuffeaux was my favorite demi-sec wine of the day and I usually prefer Clos Habert, but not in 2007. This had incredible elegance. That was the most notable thing about the wine. Combine that sheen with the vivid fruit and the great gripping finish and you have a winner. Tremendous ripeness, but light as a feather. Wonderful. The 2007 Montlouis Clos Habert was great as usual. Such a complete Montlouis. As ripe and opulent as this wine was it was buffered by brilliant acidity. Amazingly pure and deep wine, with all the parts in place, and with all those parts expressed perfectly, all you notice is the harmony. Great. The 2007 Vouvray Le Bouchet was a very clean and precise wine.I wrote "like Meursault in Vouvray." Kind of reminded me of a Roulot wine with such cleanliness and precision as to be uncanny. Sharp as a knife with such clear definition you have to think about this wine. Profound. Just an incredible set of wines, and at those prices they are a must buy for Chenin freaks.

Francois Pinon, Loire Valley

I like this estate and last year drank some killer bottles of the re-released 2002 Vouvray Tradition, but in general there are much bigger fans of Pinon out there than me. The 2008 Vouvray Petillant Non-Dose was great. The best wine of the quartet I tasted. Lovely pure, almost chalky, earthy stank on the nose with dry, grippy, clean flavors that really linger on the palate. Elegant and pure. The Vouvray Petillant Brut NV had I think 6-8 grams of sugar in it and just paled in comparison to the non-dose. Good, but not distinctive at all. Maybe I would have liked it more had I not tasted the non-dose 30 seconds earlier. The 2007 Vouvray Silex Noir has showed spotty the times I tasted it. This was one of those spotty times. It was good and accessible but a bit simple. The acid was not there. Maybe it was closing down? The 2008 Vouvray Cuvee Tradition had crazy acid, which I love, with ripe pure, flavors. Very nice. High acid, with nice structure, makes this a winner at $20.

Thierry Puzelat, Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Loire Valley

Thierry and hus partner Pierrot Bonhomme made it and did not let a volcano stop them from showing up. Thierry, always had a smile on his face and his wines reflect his ebullient personality. The 2009 Touraine Blanc Le P'tit Blanc I was not crazy about. Had a glass at Ten Bells recently and had the same reaction. It's pure, with good fruit and a little minerality but it is a bit hot. The 2008 Touraine Blanc le Buisson Pouilleux is a favorite of mine. This is an incredible version of this wine. Very old Sauvingon Blanc vines. Sappy, dense, mineral, yet sinewy and dark, with dense, and a bit out-there Sauvignon flavors, not technicolor here but vivid black and white. The 2009 Touraine Gamay La Butte had a classic Touraine Gamay nose. That kind of slight talcum powder, bright red fruit, and a deep minerality. Really crisp and vivid. Bright stuff with great acids but a ton of fruit. Super, gulpable, summer wine. The 2009 Cheverny Rouge was great and maybe one of the better red values at the tasting. Ripe, juicy with lovely rustic tannins. Crisp and gulpable but with a little extra oom pa pa and length. Great great value here. My summer wine red possibly.

Thierry Puzelat & Pierrot Bonhomme, Loire Valley

Pierrot Bonhomme is eventually going to take over the whole Puzelat operation. A bit more serious than Thierry it seems, but a very nice guy. The 2009 VDT Rose KO was too sweet for me. Just did not like it at all. The 2009 VDT Telquel was very nice. A ripe and juicy wine with a great velvety mouthfeel. A really refined Telquel. The 2008 Touraine Rouge KO In Cot We Trust was the star at these two tables today. Real nervy wine. Very concentrated with nice fruit almost bordering on confectionary but tows the line perfectly. Really silky, ripe with a dry, structured finish. Spectacular Malbec.

I am beat and can't write anymore but I also tasted Manciat, de Moor, Texier, Causse-Marines and hope to have those notes up soon.