“Tour de France”

“Tour de France” Wine Tasting, Bet Shalom Wine Club, July 9, 2022

Alsace

Domaines Schlumberger Riesling Grand Cru Saering 2019 @ $39.99. Wine & Spirits: “Racy, ricey and rich in yellow fruit, from apple to plum to lemon, this is a clean, linear Riesling with talc-like minerality keeping it tightly focused. It’s youthful and needs bottle age to develop its breadth of flavor.”

Savoie

Domaine Labbe Abymes Vin de Savoie Jacquere 2020 @ $13.99. The estate is located nine miles south of Chambery, a town in the Savoie noted for its vermouth and cheese. The wine is 100% Jacquere, a grape that grows especially well in this region; it is bright, crisp and refreshing, punctuated by flavors of freshly sliced lemon, green apple, white pear, and a textbook Savoie minerality.

Beaujolais

Mommessin Saint Amour 2016 @ $24.99: Natalie Maclean: “A bright 100% Gamay produced with 50% whole-cluster Gamay wine grapes and was aged almost a year on its lees. Look for bright sour cherry, cracked pepper, earthy violets and sweet cake spice on the palate.”

Languedoc-Roussillon

Paul Mas Reserve Carignan Vielles Vignes 2019 (Pays D'Oc) @ $13.98: Winemaker notes:

·     Color: Intense deep purple with ruby hues.

·     Nose : Spices and blackberries then aromas of cocoa and undergrowth appear with aeration; finish on toasted notes.

·     Palate: Powerful, rich and mellow with silky tannins. Balance between floral character, fruity and fine spices. A complex and elegant wine. Lingering licorice finish.

Cahors

Chateau De Haute Serre Malbec 2014 @ $29.99. Enjoy this spectrum of expert tasting observations!

Wine & Spirits: Georges Vigouroux was one of the first people to resuscitate the wine scene in Cahors in the 1970s, planting vineyards and restoring the Château de Haute-Serre. Since 1990, the estate has been run by his son, Bertrand-Gabriel Vigouroux; the property extends across 161 acres of the region’s rocky limestone ridges. This wine is the most classic of the Vigouroux Cahors we tasted, a cuvée fermented in stainless steel and aged in used oak barrels. It’s dense and chewy, packed tight with notes of spiced plums and dried fruit, with a hint of old leather and earth adding character. 

Wine Enthusiast: On some of the highest vineyards in Cahors, this estate has a history reaching back to the Middle Ages. This latest vintage from this major estate has a firm structure and cool texture. Allied to acidity and dark tannins, the rich black fruits are going to need time to mature.

Wine Spectator: A concentrated red, building ripe cherry, plum pudding and licorice drop flavors that are detailed with floral, cocoa powder and raspberry accents. Fresh acidity and mineral elements give focus through the orange peel—tinged finish.  8,000 cases made.

K&L Wine Merchants: The Haute-Serre is primarily Malbec with a splash of Tannat and Merlot. All farmed on the red clay and gravelly soils, the vineyards are some of the highest in the appellation. The wine is aged in a mix of new and used oak giving the wine polished tannins and allowing the wine to express its flavors of black raspberries, baking spices and cocoa powder.