A visit to Funky Town (or a night of french wine tasting)

[bacchaebabe]

Last night got down to the Tilbury Hotel for the Pour de France put on by Palm Beach Wine Co.

More impressions that detailed notes as there was a lot of wines to get through - none of which I'd had before.

Loire

04 Bourgeois Petit Savignon Typical sav blanc passionfruit nose lot's of acid. Crisp, clean steely palate. Very structured and almost riesling like on the palate. Probably the most like a new world Sav blanc.

04 Bourgeois Sancerre 'Les Barrones' Nose closed, not as much fruit there. Bigger fruit on palate though. Lime, orange, acid. Some of these wines were served too cold and seemed very closed.

03 Gitton Sancerre Watery finish. Slightly woody. Honey on finish. No length and hollow. Wasn't keen but again too cold I think.

03 Dagueneau Pouilly Fume Passionfruit, apple, sherbet nose. Bitter finish and felt watery and hollow. Like the flavours were just rolling off my toungue and being replaced with water. Very strange. This was slightly better with food and had more body and depth after being warmed up in my hands a bit.

Alsace

00 Mader Muscat Strong spearmint nose - very strange! Quite sweet but obviously not like a fortified muscat at all. Still watery and hollow with a dry spearmint finish.

02 Josmeyer 'le kottable' Kero, lime, toast nose. Quite a sweet honey riesling like palate. I don't even know if this was a riesling or not. I did like this one the most of all the whites though. I guess I could relate to it a bit more.

Chablis & Burgundy

03 Brocard 'St Claire' Lemon, sherbet nose. Butter and plenty of acid. A bit weak and thin for my liking.

03 Pommier Again lemon and sherbet nose. A bit more mouthfeel here but still a tad watery with butter and plenty of acid.

02 Clair 'St Aubin' 1er Cru Same nose. More body again. A bit of marzipan. Still plenty of acid but there's a lot more going on. Slightly bitter finish.

Rhone & Pacherenc

01 Close des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape This was a Grenache Blanc. Lemony nose. Very tart finish - not keen on this at all. (Especially at $75 a bottle!)

02 Bouscasse Pacherenc du Vic Bilh sec More like a sav blanc with passionfruit grassy nose. tasted strongly of pears though. Quite a pleasant drop but unusual with all the pears. Suppossedly quite a rare variety (Pacherenc)

And on to the reds...

Beaujolias

03 Metrat Chiroubles Sweet cherry bubblegum lolliebag nose. A gamay apparently. Light body and plenty of tannis. Interesting nose but not enough body for my liking - just too thin with all the tannins on the finish.

Burgundy

02 Clair Hautes Cotes de Beaune Still feeling a little sweet after the beaujolias but much more savory on the palate. More subdued somehow. better and smoother with food.

02 Clair Santenay Clos Genet Cherry nose, More spicy and barnyard. More tannins. You are now on the outskirts of funky town.

02 Clair Santenay 1er Cru Tavannes Cherry almost malty in some way. Not too bad but I'm not a big Pinot fan.

Rhone

01 Fenouillet Cotes du Ventoux Bit green, stalky and weedy. Very grippy finish.

00 G M Laurus Cotes du Rhone Pooy Barnyard nose. Blood and very bitter finish. Not keen at all although got better with food. I think all these wines scream out for food. Lucky there were plenty of canapes on hand. Welcome to Funky town

03 Curson Crozes Hermitage Strawberry cherry nose. More like an aussie pinot! Preferred to the previous wine but still a thin bitter tannin finish and a chemical mid palate.

01 Clape Vin Des Amis Syrah Chicken coop nose. Very funky, earthy and completely ferral. I really don't like this style at all but my drinking partner was rather fond. Horses for courses!

00 Mont Redon Chateauneuf du Pape Cleaner style and more approachable. Probably my favorite red of the night but I still wouldn't buy any.

99 Michael Perraud Cornas A bit funky but more balanced and nice. Note: this does not go with Salmon mousse canapes - yuk!

00 Domaine Gourt de Mautens Rasteau Primarily a grenache. Lots of tannis and a bit stalky - still very funky.

Robert Michel Cornas 'La Geynale' Northern Rhone 100% syrah. Big tannis but smooth and approachable with a very grippy finish. No primary fruit though. Felt like I had a velcro tongue after drinking this. Would need to accompany beef cheek.

Rayas Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone ($120) A more integrated Shiraz Grenache. A bit of pepper but back to funky town. Not too bad but I wouldn't shell out $120.

Bordeaux

00 Nardou Cotes de Francs Quite viscous. Not too bad but I was suffering serious palate fatigue by now. Still plenty of tannins and that unpleasant bitter finish.

Cahors

00 Cedre Heritage Cahors A bit thin and weedy coming off the others but not too bad. Last one for the night so keen to finish by this stage.

In summary, there was nothing in this lot I'd consider purchasing at any price point. Some of the whites were interesting but I think there's a lot more flavour in new world whites. The reds I just found too much like hard work. I am really not fond of that funky characteristic and the bitter finish is not fun either. An interesting night all the same.

[JDSJDS]

FWIW, the list of wines poured is pretty dismal, quality-wise. Some good producers (e.g., Josmeyer, Bourgeois, Dagueneau, Brocard, Clos des Papes, Clape, Rayas), but normally just their entry level wines. After that, it's third or fourth rank producers.

The equivalent would be a person in France being poured, as representative of Oz wines, Penfold's Koonunga Hill, McWilliams Hanwood Shiraz, Wyndams Bin 555, Wynns Cab/Shiraz/Merlot, etc. Some good producers there, but really basic wines.

It always amazes and saddens me how bad the selection of Old World wines is in OZ, and how incredibly expensive they are. I guess it bolsters the sale of Oz and NZ wines, which you get at outstanding prices compared to most other countries. But please don't assume frog wines are well represented by this list!

Canada may be maddening in terms of wine prices, but we do get an amazing range of wines from all over the world here - we're ripped off equally, at least!!

[bacchaebabe]

Hmmm, very interesting to hear that. I wasn't particularly impressed with much so at least my palate doesn't lie, which is something. For the prices for some of them, I would have expected more though.