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Veuve Clicquot Champagne La Grande Dame Brut 2006

Veuve Clicquot Champagne La Grande Dame Brut 2006

Named after the venerable Widow Clicquot herself, La Grande Dame Brut 2006 is a blend of 53% Chardonnay and 47% Pinot Noir. The nose is expressive—bioche dipped in honey, baked apple and a whisp of smoke hanging above richer aromas. The attack is deep and vinous, and there is a lovely creaminess at the center. […]

Veuve A. Devaux Champagne Sténopé 2008

Veuve A. Devaux Champagne Sténopé 2008

Champagne Sténopé 2008 sports telltale braille on it’s packaging, a giveaway that Michel Chapoutier has a hand in this particular bottling as well as Champagne Devaux. According to the winery, they never “discloses the blend,” that said, it’s the color of sun-bleached straw, with earthy overtones lending a serious edge to notes of lemon pith […]

Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Millésimé 2002

Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Millésimé 2002

As stately as I expected it to be (can one really expect anything less of a wine as legendary as Cristal in one of Champagne’s most celebrated vintages?) glinting pale gold, the color of a freshly-minted coin. The 2002 Champagne Cristal Brut Millésimé is imbued with soaring notes of pear and smoke, brioche and chalk. […]

Emmanuel Darnaud Mise en Bouche Crozes-Hermitage 2013

Emmanuel Darnaud Mise en Bouche Crozes-Hermitage 2013

Classic Crozes-Hermitage, the 2013 Emmanuel Darnaud Mise en Bouche is composed of 100% Syrah grown in gallet-studded Glacial alluvia. Brooding and baritone, the nose is laden in black fruit. Gamier notes and black olives evolve into blackberries steeped in fresh thyme, violets, and anise pastille. The attack is all black fruit, couched in firm, grippy […]

Hugel Riesling Alsace 2013

Hugel Riesling Alsace 2013

Hugel is always solid, and reasonably priced. It was my pleasure to taste this gem at a Wines of Alsace dinner in Portland. White flowers, white peaches and a quaint dab of kerosene, this is classic Alsatian Riesling. It boasts a “straight backbone”, as our dinner host Thierry Fritsch described it, inlaid with stone fruit, […]

Domaine Weinbach Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Mambourg Vendanges Tardives 2013

Domaine Weinbach Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Mambourg Vendanges Tardives 2013

A stunner of a Vendanges Tardives, certainly not as unctuous as a Sauternes, the Weinbach Alsace Grand Cru Mambourg offers that rare combination of power and delicacy, tenderness and concentration. On the nose, apricot and white peach notes are cradled in orange blossom, granulated honey and spice. On the palate, supple creaminess, and lots of […]

Domaines Schlumberger Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Saering 2011

Domaines Schlumberger Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Saering 2011

A delicious Grand Cru Alsatian Riesling from Schlumberger. The Saering 2011 is fine-tuned and surprisingly powerful. Grown in marl-limestone-sandstone soils, where vine roots burrow deep, the countenance of this wine one of white peaches and lemon curd, complicated by a pretty, herbaceous veneer. On the palate, it’s lush and creamy, with decadent layers of orchard […]

Domaine Ostertag Vin D’Alsace Fronholz Pinot Gris 2013

Domaine Ostertag Vin D'Alsace Fronholz Pinot Gris 2013

Wine of the night, tasted at a recent Wines of Alsace media dinner. If ever there was an example of a pitch-perfect Pinot Gris, surely it is this, the 2013 Ostertag Vin D’Alsace Fronholz, a lively dance of lanolin, honey, quince, dewy pear, fruit and stony minerality. In the mouth, it’s fresh with a kind […]

Barton & Guestier Côtes De Provence Passeport Rosé 2015

Barton & Guestier Côtes De Provence Passeport Rosé 2015

Guestier’s Côtes De Provence Passeport Rosé 2015 is pretty and very drinkable considering its modest price. The nose is aloft with red berries, blood oranges, wafting sea air. It’s a delicious compromise between minerally limestone tension and fruit, which translates as cantaloupe flesh and crushed raspberries followed by a mouthwatering and lengthy finish. It’s fresh, […]

Hecht & Bannier Côtes de Provence Rosé 2015

Hecht & Bannier Côtes de Provence Rosé 2015

The second 2015 rosé I’ve sampled from Hecht & Bannier, aside from admittedly loving their modern packaging, I have been impressed with both the Bandol and this Côtes de Provence in terms of quality and price. A blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, and Rolle, it’s an expressive pink. The vines flourish under the warm maritime […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com