2008 Produttori del Barebaresco Barbaresco

It's not long ago i posten a tasting note on the 2007 Produttori del Barebaresco Mucagota Riserva. That was one of the single vineyard riservas from the coop. This time i decided to taste the standard Barbaresco from 2008, which I have read good thins about. PdB did also produce Riserva's in 2008, but the standard Barbaresco usually offers some good value even in these vintages.

Tasting note on the 2008 Produttori del Barebaresco Barbaresco

I'll divide this tasting note into 3 stages:
1. After 2 hours of decanting
2. After 4 hours of decanting
3. Half of the bottle left in the fridge over night with the cork

Stage 1:
Floral, plum, dried fruit. The fruit and florality is a bit massive. The notes continue on to the finnish, but now with an underlying tar component that I only get on the finnish. Dry, pretty big tannins. The wine is approachable, but should benefit from more air.

Stage 2:
Initial attack of red fruit, then overtaken by florality before a nice potion of sour cherries. The fruit is a bit more balanced and leaner than in stage 1. Again the finnish is floral with the underlying tar component.

Stage 3:
Even more leaner fruit and more sour cherries. It's facinating to see how the sour cherry notes need air to show. Still dry tannins, but rounder than on the first day. There is also a nutty component on the finnish now. 90 points

2005 Chateau Musar

I've posted a TN on a Musar earlier, but then it was the 2004 Chateau Musar Hochar Père et Fils. Now it was time to try the big brother, the Chateau Musar.

Tasting note on the 2005 Chateau Musar

Straight out of the bottle the nose shows strawberry, cigar and plum on the nose. The palate is dominated by cigar and leather, with some undelying flavours of fruit.

After 2 hours of decanting this wine starts to really show. The palate has changes from being dominated by the cigar and leather to being dominated by fruit and floral notes. The cigar, leather and earth is now the underlying notes, which is the way i prefer it. To me, this comes cross as a Nebbiolo at times. Dried fruit, rose pedals, cigar and leather. 91 points

This is a wine with good complexity. It needs some time in a decanter to really shine, but given that, it is approachable now. Given the price point that this wine can be found at, I would say it's a really good QPR.

2010 Joseph Drouhin Gevrey Chambertin

It's been way too long since I posted the last tasting note on here. I'm so sorry for that. My wine consuption goes up and down, meaning that I don't always taste a lot of wine each week. In addition to that, work and other stuff can also get in the way. All those factors combined, do cause me to not updating this blog as often as I want to.

I thought I'd start my "comeback" right where I left off, with a 2010 Joseph Drouhin. Last time we went for the 2010 Joseph Drouhin Santenay, this time I took it a step ut to the Gevrey Chambertin village. I've read somwhere that this has some 1er cru juice in it, so my expectations where kindof on the high side.

Tasting note on the 2010 Joseph Drouhin Gevrey Chambertin

The first couple zips: More ripe fruit than expected. Sweet strawberry, floral notes and minerality.The mid palate is a bit on the flabby side. Ends with some good soureness, plum and minerality. Quite long.

After some air the soureness takes over. The fruit gets leaner and the baby fat has blown away, but the soureness of the finnish is way over the top and unbalaned for me.

With even more air the body fleshes out. It gets more meaty. The finnish is still a bit overthetop sour and some stilky tannins.

After a day in the fridge the wine has developed further. It's is now very jammy, both red and dark fruit. The soureness is better integrated. It's very smooth. Perhaps a tad on the jammy side for me, but very deliciuos. Lacks some charachter though. 89 pionts

2010 Joseph Drouhin Santenay

I keep digging into the Burgundy wines from 2009 and 2010. This time, I found a cheap bottle of 2010 Pinot at my local store from Joseph Drouhin. Joseph Drouhin is one of the largest producers of red wine in Burgundy. The estate has a total of 73 hectares of vineyards. The breakdown is as follows:

• Chablis: 38 hectares
• Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune: 32 hectares
• Côte Chalonnaise: 3 hactares

For some of their village and regional wines, Drouhin buys grapes from other producers.

Tasting note on the 2010 Joseph Drouhin Santenay

Some ripe plum and cardboard on the nose. The first attack brings some sour raspberries and cherries. Ripe fruit, some minerality and iron feel. Plum and cherries on the finnish. There is also some unbalanced sourness and greeness on the back end.  
It is not a bad wine, it's just not very exciting. The mid palate is hollow, the fruit is a bit too ripe for me and their isn't much complexity to talk about. The wine though is very servicable, has some of the Pinot characteristics and has a nice acidity. A decent weekday wine.
86 points

2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Muncagota Riserva

Produttori del Barbaresco is one of the few great cooperatives in the wine world. It has 56 members and a total of 250 acres of Nebbiolo planted vineyards in Barbaresco. The coop produces only wines from the Nebbiolo grape, and the average total number of bottles produced each year is 420,000. In good vintages the wines are divided into the standard Barbaresco (40%), single vineyard Barbaresco riservas (40%) and the Nebbiolo Langhe (20%). In off vintages they only produce the standard Barbaresco and the Nebbiolo Langhe.The nine single vineyards produced in good vintages are: Asili, Rabaja, Pora, Montestefano, Ovello, Pajé, Montefico, Muncagota (Moccagata) and Rio Sordo.

Tasting note on the 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Muncagota Riserva

The colour is light red. The nose is really singing. Huge amount of cherries, but there is also some floral notes, dirt and licquorice. Very promising nose.

On the palate; strawberries, rocks soily and plum. I use the soily description from time to time, but this is real dirt. Not in a bad way though. Very interesting. Feels like I took a handfull of soil and put it in my mouth, and I love it.  The finnish is dry, starting off with sour cherries, then a leather component is added before it get's more mineral. At the end it gets dark. The wine has a very good acidity

This wine is very good, but I get the feeling it's holding a bit back. This should have potential to get better. It might be that it's getting into a dumb phase. 92 points

2011 Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Sec

Domaine Huet is the star of Vouvray, and for me even the star of white Loire. The domaine was established in 1928 by Voctor Huet and his son Gaston. Today they have a total of 35 hectares of vineyards within the Vouvray appellation. The three major vinyeards account for 23 hectares, the vineyards being Le Haut Lieu, Le Clos de Bourg and Le Mont.

The Le Mont vineyard was acqured by Gaston Huet in 1957 and consists today of 6 hectares of vines. The vineyard is stony with green clay and much slicium. This tends to give an elegant wine with floral notes.

Tasting note on the 2011 Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Sec

It's not often I comment the colour, but this wine has such a beautiful golden, but not too dark yellow colour. The nose is very aromatic with lemon, frass, dusty minerality and floral notes.
Very good mouthfeel. A perfect balance between weight and freshness. I get apples, citrus, minerality and peaches. The finnish is very long and starts off with a heavy amount of minerality, then the finnish creams out into creamy fruit and honey balanced out with a beautiful acidity. It feels a bit sweet but while being dry. On the tail i pick up some baked apples and cinamon. 94 points

This is by far the best white wine I have posted a tasting note for on this blog. It has such a good weight, complexity and balance. It's drinking so nicely right now, but can probably last for another 20 to 30 years. Given the price, this is a great QPR and a must have for anyone who likes wine.

2007 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is a DOCG appellation within the Italian wine region of Tuscany. The vineyards of the appellation surrounds the town of Montalcino. Geographically, Montalcino lies about 120 km south of Tuscany. In the early days it was believed that the grapes produced within the appelation was a individual grape variety called Brunello, but in 1879 it was determined that the grapes were in fact Sangiovese. To be able to call the wine a Brunello di Montalcino today, the wine must consist of 100% Sangiovese grapes and all grapes must be grown in the Brunello di Montalcino appellation.

Castello Banfi is one of the big producers of Brunello di Montalcino wines. They have a wide distribution, so there is a good chance you'll see a Banfi at your local wine shop. They produce a total of 15 different wines. The Brunello di Montalcino is their basic Brunello. THey have 170 hectares of vineyards devoted to the wine.

Tasting note on the 2007 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino

The nose shows lot's of florality, cherries and some licquorice.  Blackcurrants, cherries, earthiness, chocolate on the palate. A medium plus palate where the fruit is quite ripe. Blueberry, some stemmy tannins and dry finnish. Decent length. With little air, the wine opens up and the florality takes over. The wine is so floral. Big floral notes. The fruit gets more dried out as well. It is young, ripe and big. Lacks some balance and freshness. 89 points

Saved 1/3 of the wine in the decanter and let it stay in room temprature for 3 days. The wine has now calmed down, but it's not gone. Red and dark berries on the nose. More light to medium bodied. Some cherries, cigar and dried plum on the finnish. Quite long. A more wine for my palate at this stage, but still 89 points if I was to score it at this stage and in an objective manner.

This wine has scored big with some of the wine critics. Sucking gave it 94, Wine Enthusiast 92 and TWA gave it 91 points. It's not that suprising. I think these critics tend to like the bigger, riper style more than I do.