Wine ChroniclesWine snapshot : Volnay Champans Premier Cru 2010
Posted on May 25, 2020
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay Champans AOC Volnay Premier Cru 2010
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
25 May 2020
It is always fun to asses wine 10 years later. And although the harvest of the bottle that is featured this week has not been in bottle for 10 years, it has been nearly 10 years since the 2010 harvest.
For this week’s wine snapshot, we look back to almost exactly seven years, as well, since my Wednesday morning, 29 May 2013 visit to the Domaine Marquis d’Angerville in Volnay. It was at that point only five days without rain over the entire month, remarked owner Guillaume d’Angerville, at that time. Note the sound of draining water – lots of it – because it had rained so much. A difficult, but prolonged growing season in 2013 did eventually deliver lighter wines, graceful and fresh rather than concentrated.
About 2010
But here I feature the 2010 vintage, since I bought some back in 2013. 😉… It is interesting to read rather critical assessments of the vintage just after it occurred, as they tended to stress the difficult growing season at that time, too. Some were writing more favorably about 2009, but I think that such assessments may be a bit of hogwash. As a cooler climate vintage, the 2010s exhibit more elegance and refinement and nuance than many 2009s. You want a racy style? Go for 2010. There is much freshness, ripe and focused fruit, lifting and floral aromatics, supple tannins, vivacity and extract. Read More
Wine snapshot: Terreno Chianti Classico
Posted on May 18, 2020
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
18 May 2020
Welcome to my new weekly wine feature: “wine snapshot”, where I pick a wine favorite each week. And this week we find ourselves in Italy.
Finishing final sips of the Terreno Chianto Classico 2014 reminds me of a wonderful tasting last September at the unique Winery Hotel outside of Stockholm, Sweden.
Hotel owners the Ruhne family have become famous in Sweden for bringing picked grapes in temperature controlled trucks from their vineyards in Italy to their hotel, where a qualified crew sorts and ferments them into wine. Dubbed “Winery Red” it is made from grapes harvested in Tuscany.
Love the tart cherry of the wine, with subtle earthy notes, paired with the double cream and truffle cheese.
Much of the equipment – vats, barrels and all – remain visible behind the hotel bar. The Winery Hotel has become a unique meeting point for wine connoisseurs and beginners, where wine education is encouraged via fun wine tastings and “deep-diving” wine courses. Read More
Wine snapshot: Château Sociando Mallet 2003
Posted on May 11, 2020
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
11 May 2020
Welcome readers to my first wine snapshot: a weekly feature.
Each Monday, I will do a profile of a single wine that I like. And we start things off on Monday 11 May with the fine Château Sociando Mallet.
With impeccable gravel over clay and clay limestone terroir that “sees the river” to better temper weather extremes, this fine estate in the northern Médoc fared very well in the heatwave 2003 vintage, which had very early picking dates for most estates.
Fine tone and color for its age.
While some wines can taste jammy and/or superficially ripe, this “Montrose of the Haut Médoc” kicked ass. Note the tone and color that reveal “normal” evolution. The wine exudes ripe fruit and a hint of jam, but hardly overbearing. Nearly 16 years in bottle, one senses pleasing tertiary notes of Cuban cigar and creosote but also primary (and juicy) black fruit. The tannins are already well integrated if still thankfully present to lend structure, and the long finish is marked by freshness, indeed rather tangy: A major plus for this vintage. It lacks the peerless balance of the 2005 vintage, but it is excellent and can stay on this plateau for many more years in your cellar. Read More
Champagne in the time of Corona. Virus, that is.
Posted on April 26, 2020
“Champagne makes you feel like it’s Sunday, and there are better days around the corner.” – Marlene Dietrich
By Panos Kakaviatos
27 April 2020
Truffle sandwiches Façon Rostang: worth the risk.
When I arrived the evening of 6 March, thanks to friend Claire Dawson, some dinner participants nervously shook hands. But any apprehensive air eroded as we enjoyed the fabulously simple mini truffle sandwiches, the signature aperitif of the restaurant made with butter and toast: “Façon Rostang.”
And the occasion, to mark the 20th anniversary of Champagne Gonet-Médeville was important enough to attract several top wine journalists based in Paris, including legendary French wine writer Michel Bettane.
Who needs wine experts?
Posted on January 21, 2020
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
21 January 2020
Not too long ago, the highly respected American public news channel National Public Radio asked, “Is wine tasting junk science?”
It referred to several academic studies that implied the irrelevance of wine expertise.
For example, a 2001 study in Bordeaux caused a stir when a PhD candidate served the same white wine to 54 oenology students, but added red food coloring to some glasses, creating an impression of one red and one white. Most not only rated both wines quite differently, but also believed them to be different varietals.
A University of Davis study meanwhile found that consumers have a wider range of wine sensory “likes” than expert tasters and competition judges. The results of the study suggest that consumers are likely better off “trusting their own preferences” to choose wines they like, rather than relying on “expert” advice, as reported in the industry magazine Wines & Vines in 2014.
Indeed, respected wine author and consultant Robert Joseph wrote in an e-mail: “Most wine consumers, like consumers of cheese, tea and chocolate and music, don’t generally need experts; by trial and error – and with help from friends and family – they find what they like and generally stick to it.” Read More
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