TN: Mass infantacide

[carswell]

Happened to be in the right place (one of the better SAQ outlets) at the right time (a 15% off sale, with a few pricey new arrivals being opened to tempt the high-rollers -- a group, I hasten to add, that doesn't inlcude me) yesterday afternoon. Here are my quick takes. Prices are in Canadian dollars (C$1 is hovering around US$0.93 these days) and include 13% sales tax.

>Corton-Charlemagne grand cru 2007, Bonneau du Martray ($150.50)
Lemon, minerals, butter and oats haunted by hawthorn blossom. Oak in background. Lean, sleekly muscular, the fruit shot through with laser-like acidity. Long. Tight and somewhat one-dimensional for now. Undeniably a thoroughbred though less electrifying than young vintages from the 1990s.

>Savigny-lès-Beaune premier cru 2006, La Dominode, Bruno Clair ($94.25)
Classic Pinot nose of red berries and forest floor. Rich but fluid. Fine but tight, tight tannins. Long. A lovely wine of evident finesse and balance though needing time to knit together. The $20 price jump notwithstanding, not quite as enthralling as the 2002 and 2005.

>Ribera del Duero 2005, PS, Aalto ($135.50)
Dark and brooding. Dense, nearly opaque, to the eye. Jammy plum, graphite, smoke and lots of high quality oak. Intense, concentrated, saved (just) from heaviness by its imposing structure, dark unfruity flavours and trickle of acidity. Velvety texture. Long finish that seemed a little hollow, a little less oomphy, that what preceded. Or maybe my palate shut down from sensory overload. A wine for the more-is-more crowd; could probably serve as a definition of parkerized (98 points!). To me, unrefreshing, not food-friendly and lacking a strong sense of place, at least at this stage. Maybe a decade more in the bottle will change that, though even if price weren’t an issue, I wouldn’t be willing to risk it to find out.

>Châteauneuf du Pape 2007, Domaine Saint-Préfert (private import from La Céleste levure, c. $50?)
Complex and engaging nose: spiced plum and oak, burnt earth, garrigue, minerals, hint of animale. Rich with dense, sweet fruit enlivened by acidity, savouried by ink and spice. Long, bitter-tinged finish on which the alcohol (15.5%) finally reveals itself. One of the sexier Châteanuefs I’ve tasted from this vintage; it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that the owner-winegrower is a woman.

[crw77]

Thanks for the notes. That's not infanticide, that's a tasting. :-)

Bonneau du Martray is a reliable source for CC. But seriously carswell, hawthorne blossom? They have those in Canada or something?

Ouch. Clair Dominode is that high now? I had available the '98 a year or two ago for less than $25 USD. Year in and year out as good as it gets in Savigny.

I have to wonder what global warming is going to do to the hot climate places like Ribera del Duero. Other regions are trying to avoid jammy wines (some are trying harder than others), but when you were rich, ripe and borderline overripe to begin with(?).

I give up, what is there about a wine made by a woman that somehow ends up in the final blend? Maybe I don't want to know.