TN: Coteau jail, Coteau directly to jail

Domaine Coteau 2004 Pinot Noir (Yamhill County) – Earthy beets and dark, brooding, slightly charred plum fruit. I’m tempted to call this “feral,” but that’s not really accurate. It’s a wine that’s more comfortable in lumberjack clothing than a business suit, a wine for a deck in the woods rather than a balcony in Tuscany. It’s good – in fact, it’s quite good – but it’s a very particular sort of good, and not everyone will like it. (8/06)

The Yamhill County subdistrict of the Willamette Valley is horseshoe-shaped. Oenological gerrymandering? Perhaps, but the locals insist that it’s a well though-out cartography, based on consistency of soil and mesoclimate. (Can you tell I’ve just been there?) There isn’t yet a consistent style, but then in the New World such things are unlikely in any case. Alcohol: 13.8%. Closure: cork. Web: http://www.domainecoteau.com/.

TN: A Ridge and three valleys

Jadot 2004 Pouilly-Fuissé (Burgundy) – Light, clear pear and faint dried orange with a thin layer of spice. Decent, quaffable, nothing special. (7/06)

My father-in-law’s favorite wine. Why? I have absolutely no idea. It’s recognizably white Burgundy, but beyond that…I dunno. Alcohol: 12%. Closure: cork. Importer: Kobrand. Web: http://www.louisjadot.com/.

Banfi 2004 Pinot Grigio “San Angelo” (Tuscany) – Light lemon-grapefruit juice with a sticky, palate-deadening texture. Off-dry? This is cocktail wine, totally unsuitable for food, and just reeks of industrialism. (7/06)

This is the pinot grigio style that has made it the most popular imported white wine in the United States: simple fruit, simple sugar, absolutely no complexity. There’s really not much to say about wines like this. They are what they are. Alcohol: 12.5%. Closure: cork. Importer: Banfi. Web: http://www.castellobanfi.com/.

Ridge 2002 Zinfandel Ponzo (Russian River Valley) – Big, almost explosive fruit and oakspice with a particulate leather texture, black earth, and an utterly compelling and enjoyable presence on the palate. Delicious and not yet fully mature, but drinking incredibly well now. (7/06)

96% zinfandel, 2% carignane, 2% petite sirah. This isn’t a vineyard Ridge has been vinifying separately for long (it used to go into a Sonoma blend), but the results so far have been highly promising. Alcohol: 14.4%. Closure: cork. Web: http://www.ridgewine.com/.

Ruffino 2001 Chianti Classico Riserva “Ducale Oro” (Tuscany) – Roasted strawberry-encrusted game and white-peppered earth, but overly restrained, as if tasted through gauze. Very matter-of-fact, with a simplistic finish. (7/06)

85% sangiovese, 15% “other.” A Riserva should be a masterwork of sangiovese and the terroir, but this wine has slid year by year into a sort of comfortable mediocrity. It’s a shame, too, given its ubiquity in the marketplace, as many people will get the incorrect idea that this is what Chianti Classico Riserva is about, and all it can achieve. There’s a lot of underachieving wine in Tuscany, and this is a sort of poster child for the underachievement. Alcohol: 13%. Closure: cork. Web: http://www.ruffino.com/.

TN: Pinot, Paul & Volnay (Oregon, pt. 4)

Scott Paul – It’s easy to miss Scott Paul’s brand-spanking new tasting room (and their even less-frequently spanked new winery, still in semi-skeletal form across the street), because it’s sorta tucked between what looks like a grain mill and a bunch of construction vehicles. As a result, we zip right by it the first time, and have to double back…which isn’t really much of a problem in the micro-village of Carlton.

The facility itself is bright but cozy, with the much commented-upon rabbit prominently featured on one wall, and fairly quiet. Most of the winery principals wander through at one point or another – Scott Paul Wright ambles, looking concerned (quite possibly over the state of construction across the road, given the quickly-advancing summer), while winemaker Kelley Fox strides purposefully through the room as if she intends to smash through the front door with her forehead. We don’t bother them, instead settling at a central table and perusing the tasting options.

Most pinot noir producers would not openly invite comparisons to Burgundy. Why that might be would vary from producer to producer, but the most obvious reason is that the wines are usually so different that their proximity will show one or the other in ill light. Not so at Scott Paul, for Wright owns a small, specialized Burgundy importing company, and presents these wines alongside his own. It’s a bold move.

Huber-Verdereau 2004 Bourgogne Blanc (Burgundy) – Lemon, apple and grapefruit with a flat, slate-like texture. Crisp and a little chewy on the finish. A nice little chardonnay, with no particular aspirations.

François Gay 2003 Savigny-les-Beaune (Burgundy) – Big, ripe and floral, showing dark plum and medium tannin with a heavy, seemingly alcohol-induced palate weight. A bit thudding. It’s actually not at all a bad wine for the vintage, but it’s really neither my style nor what I look for from a Savigny.

Pascal Bouley 2003 Volnay (Burgundy) – Juicy raspberry sours with a leafy finish. It seems overtly malic (or at least the acidity is slightly out-of-balance on the high side, possibly leaning towards the volatile), with strong, drying tannin. Turns to cran-raspberry juice on the biting, tongue-numbing finish. There’s potential, and fans of this style might find much to like here, but it’s most definitely not for me.

Scott Paul 2004 Pinot Noir “La Paulée” (Willamette Valley) – A selection made in the cellar, assembled from the best lots, and named after one of the bacchanalian wine dinners for which producers in Burgundy are famous. It’s restrained and aromatically repressed at first, but it can be coaxed both with aggressive swirling and retronasal agitation. There’s strawberry and concentrated plum on a foundation of sweet lead, which trends towards the gelatinous but then finishes with the emergence of seeds and a grace note of bitterness. The acid’s flawless, the balance is fine, and the finish is extremely long. A lovely wine in the first throes of its adolescence.

We mention to our tasting room host that we’d be interested in seeing what else from Scott Paul is available for purchase, and she responds by offering to open a second wine for us. This strikes us as kind and generous, though we’re not about to object.

Scott Paul 2004 Pinot Noir “Audrey” (Willamette Valley) – The pinnacle of what’s available in a given year, and again a cellar selection; this time named after Audrey Hepburn. That’s a lot to live up to. And yet, the wine surpasses expectations: beautifully soft and elegant, full of life, and possessed of hidden strengths expressed with delicacy. The nose is pristine, showing red cherry and lavender, followed by the gentlest of explosions on the palate: flowers and light red fruit. The finish is lithe, silky and seductive, with spices intermingling with a fine particulate granite texture, and lingers until the sensation can no longer be separated from the memory. Stunning, world-class pinot noir.

TN: C'est Lavis

Lavis 2004 Beaujolais-Villages (Beaujolais) – A burst (that is, not quite an explosion) of delicious boysenberry fruit, with lighter red berry elements and a fresh, appealing nature. Nice acidity, maybe the faintest hint of prickle, and balanced, with a slightly tannic edge deep into the finish. (7/06)

Beaujolais-Villages is from one or more of the approximately 38 villages that are allowed to attach their name to the Beaujolais appellation – Beaujolais-Boston would be an example of how it works, though I’m quite sure there’s no gamay grown here – and, despite, that large number of villages, somewhat of a rarity. There are various reasons for this, mostly having to do with details and inconsistencies in the AOC system, but the resulting wines can be all over the map…both literally and qualitatively. 100% gamay. Alcohol: 12.5%. Closure: cork. Importer: Violette.

TN: Jesi Bucci Rosé John

Bucci 2004 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico "Superiore" (Marches) – Fresh but lively, with citrus rind and a seashore quality carried on striking (yet balanced) acidity. It gets more complex on the finish, throwing flowers and exotic but very gentle spices into the mix. (7/06)

See my previous note for more on this wine. Alcohol: 14%. Closure: cork. Importer: Empson. Web: http://www.villabucci.com/.

Tablas Creek 2003 Rosé (Paso Robles) – Earthy mixed red berries with a soft elegance and some obvious, alcohol-driven palate weight. In fact, it’s too elegant; previous versions have shown more intensity, and I think this might be suffering from a mild cork taint. It’s so mild that the wine is still pleasurable, but everything that should be at this party, isn’t. (7/06)

64% mourvèdre, 28% grenache, 8% counoise. Tablas Creek varies the blend of this wine from year to year, using whatever the vintage gives them to maximum effect (when, that is, the wine is intact). This should not be viewed as experimentation – though there’s an element of that at work in every blended wine from this producer – but as the freedom to be flexible; the one advantage Paso has over the Perrin family’s better-known wineries (e.g. Beaucastel) in the Rhône Valley. Alcohol: 14.8%. Closure: cork. Web: http://www.tablascreek.com/.

Peillot 2003 Bugey Mondeuse (Ain) – The zip of blackberry soda without the sparkle, plus a hefty dash of black pepper and aromatic purple flower pollen, make this wine a true eye-opener. Fine acidity doesn’t hurt, either. There’s a ton of fruit, but everything’s in balance and harmony, albeit at a slightly higher volume than this wine usually achieves. (7/06)

One of the rare successes of the 2003 vintage in Europe (some of the others have been Loire reds), though the vintage renders this wine more than a bit atypical. The fruit is elevated, the intensity ramped up, and the earthiness is all but invisible, yet all the wonderful structural elements that usually inhabit this wine are still there, and carry it through the heat-induced difficulties experienced at most other domaines. Alcohol: 12%. Closure: cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner/LDM.

Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah (California) – Solid, leathery blackberry with a lovely mix of earthen and fruit paste aromas lurking underneath. The wine’s a bit bass-heavy now, but with time the higher-pitched aromatics will emerge from what is already a highly aromatic wine. A terrific value, as well. (7/06)

This is a blend from all over California – Sonoma, El Dorado County, San Luis Obispo County and Paso Robles – constructed with the deft, light touch of ESJ at its best. It seems like a bargain wine, but it continues to show little sign of doing anything other than gentle, pleasurable aging…so if you have the will to preserve a few bottles, do so. Alcohol: 14%. Closure: cork. Web: http://www.edmundsstjohn.com/.