Frenchies-Friday Night

[Grant Dodd]

Friday night, held a tasting for a bunch of guys,loosely titled "La Tour de France". Went on a regional tour,bypassing Burgundy though to avoid price problems and abject disappointment. I tend to find that most people don't "get" Burgundy ( including me,a lot of the time!),and there's not much point buying the cheap stuff as it is often undrinkable. Didn't take notes,but here are brief recollections.


Bordeaux

Chateau Potensac 2000 ( MEDOC)
Chateau La Fleur de Jauge 2000 (St EMILION)

Says a lot about the vintage,these wines were very good for unheard of offerings. Full of flavour,nice varietal distinction( although I did struggle a bit to find pure merlot characters in the St.E). If I had to give points,I'd probably go for somewhere in the 89-90 range.

Rhone

Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde 1999 92 points
Guigal Hermitage 1998 93 points
Vieux Telegraph "Le Crau" CNP 2000 94 points

All very good,with the Le Crau being the wine of the night. Fantastic persistence and length, a lot of spicy,earthy flavours lingering on the palate. The Cote Rotie showed nicely,good lift on the nose with out the overt apricot notes that we are finding with some of our interpretations of this style in OZ. The Hermitage was great,meaty,spicy,great length and adundant tannin,needs some time.

Languedoc

Mas de Daumas Gassac 1996 88 points

Quite developed,I note this as ready to drink. This one was 80% cab,and showed tobacco leaf/earth/cigar box notes with a touch of feralness/leather. A bit of a curio, but interesting nonetheless.



Pol Roger 96 to start with too, 95 points and excellent VFM in vintage champagne terms


Cheers