Some recent reds

I'm recently back from another trip to the US and had a lovely time as always. This particular visit included a spot of kayaking, painting the kitchen ahead of its upcoming renovation, and a near miss with a black bear! The bear in question was spotted ten minutes ahead of our arrival on that particular trail, but fortunately had disappeared by the time we got there, leaving just a claw mark in the mud and a load of scattered berries.  

I also enjoyed splitting some logs of wood on this intriguing piece of equipment provided by the state park! The mallet was very heavy and it was surprisingly satisfying to whack the logs with it. 

On to the wine. Today's post will be an attempt to clear up some accumulated notes on random reds. 

G and H invited me round to their house for lunch one day back in July. It was great to sit outside in the garden and the occasion included numerous fancy wines, none of which I made notes on. I did however take a pic of this particularly wonderful Volnay 1er cru Clos de la Cave des Ducs Monopole 2009 from Benjamin Leroux, which was a real treat. 

And it was lovely to see the photogenic Benjy enjoying the sun.

Moving on to other recent reds, I'll do these in reverse order of how much we liked them. 

I brought this Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2015 from Ponzi Vineyards back on my previous trip to the US. Willamette Valley is in Oregon, and this was very new world and lacking any burgundian elements. No whiff of the farmyard could be detected. It had an exuberant, crowd-pleasing nose with a lot of jammy blackcurrant, but G said the acidity wasn't high enough, and I thought this was pinot that would appeal to people who don't like Burgundy. It was 13.7%, allegedly. Not so sure about that!

Next up, a Mercurey 1er cru Les Valeys 2018 from Francois Raquillet. Apparently 2018 was a big, rich year and this was a very dark colour. On the palate it was earthy with plummy tannins and a little chocolate. It wasn't croquant unlike many Mercureys I've had in the past. G described it as "rustic village in a very hot vintage" which summed it up well. We gave it a low 8. 

Then we have a Beaune 1er cru Clos de la Mousse Monopole 2016 from Bouchard Pere & Fils. I picked this up in the Pennsylvanian booze store for $36 earlier in the year. The PA booze store sometimes has remarkably good clearance deals and I don't think anyone in D's neck of the woods is particularly interested in premier cru burgundy, so it hadn't been snapped up!

This was a slightly purple colour, glossy, with an attractive perfumed nose featuring sous bois and blackcurrant, very Beaune. As it was young, we gave it a 3.5 hour decant which it needed. It had a nice weight, was well-balanced, and had a good structure with nice fruit acids. I got a hint of rhubarb on the finish. We gave it a low 9 and thought it would last, although this was my only bottle. 

And finally, back in July, as it was my birthday month and I was feeling self-indulgent, it was time to wheel out the bottle of red Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Coche Dury which I'd been saving for a while. I served this quite chilled. It had a lot going on - blackberry, sous bois and a hint of saddle. It was very precise, and had a nice light mouthfeel, and almost a hint of apple skin on the finish. We felt that possibly the nose outshone the palate, and that it was ready to drink and not one to keep any further. It reminded me how much I love red Auxey, and it;s always a joy to drink Coche!

In other exciting news, I've signed up to attend the International Pinot Noir Celebration in July next year (what the hell, it's a big year!) so am very much looking forward to that.