Bouchon
The Venetian Resort, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV
September, 2009
- Jeb Dunnuck

Bouchon is the bistro side of Yountville’s famed French Laundry and while the Vegas destination isn’t quite up to the level of the parent establishment, they still deliver a quality meal and a decent (and relatively affordable) wine list.  This early morning visit followed a long night at the poker tables and the early time allowed us to sit on the outdoor patio, prior to the 110+ degree Vegas heat baking anything that dare step outside.

One of the many French cookbooks I have gives a recipe for “Chicken and Waffles” but, I could just never bring myself to actually make it. Roast chicken, in the morning, with waffles… seriously? Well,  after seeing this on the menu and despite the odd looks I received from the wife, I couldn’t resist giving it a whirl, .  To give you an idea of the success of the dish, I’m still craving this meal some 5 months later. The syrup compliments the simply roasted bird and the waffles were as decadent as could be. A huge order of french fries rounds out the food. Eclectic, yes  I know, but it did work!

On the wine side, a bottle of the 2006 Qupé Roussanne Hillside Estate Bien Nacido Vineyard offered fantastic aromatics of stone fruits, apricot, honey comb and subtle butter notes along with solid underlying minerality. It’s rich and full on the nose as well as complex and smooth. Medium to full bodied on the palate, the wine is perfectly balanced with fresh acidity, a precise, pure texture and a long finish. I’m a fan and would opt for drinking this over the next 3 or so years.

A bottle of 2007 Melville Pinot Noir Estate was straight up delicious with big, upfront pinot fruit, vanilla and a little licorice and exotic spice aromas. In the mouth, it’s medium to full bodied with a big texture, beautiful balance and finish that has you coming back for another drink.   This will be a crowd pleaser and I’d image would pair with a wide variety of foods.  At the release price of around 20 bucks, it’s also a fantastic value!

2006 Qupé Roussanne Hillside Estate Bien Nacido Vineyard - 92 pts.
2007 Melville Pinot Noir Estate - 91 pts.

Chez Michel
10 Rue de Belzunce, 75010 Paris, France
June, 2009
- Jeb Dunnuck

Thierry Breton is the chef of this small bistro and he specializes in game and classic dishes from Brittany.  Located in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris, I don’t think this place could be harder to find. I’ve been lost both times I’ve visited and this time, the cab driver had to make multiple calls just to get us within walking distance.  If visiting, the cross streets are Rue St. Vincent de Paul and Place de Roubaix. Hopefully that helps and I do think it’s worth the effort to find.

For this visit, Traci and I had just gotten into Paris (after spending more than a week in Chateauneuf-du-pape tasting through the 2007s), were beat and looking for a relaxing, easy evening with good food and an affordable, solid bottle of wine.  Chez Michel delivered and the Soupe de Poisson, Mussels, Coq au Vin and Salmon courses were all first rate.  The wine list, while not very deep, did offer value and the 2006 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape came in at under 60 euro and was a no brainer.  This is certainly one of the top wines of the vintage and this bottle was even better than a previous one from a couple days earlier.  Possessing awesome purity as well as the edge and cut you expect from this producer, it had top notch aromatics of dark fruit, licorice and graphite  (this cuvee sees zero new wood.)  Balanced, precise and very pure, my guess is that this will drink beautifully over the next 15+ years.  All in all, a solid way to start a couple days in Paris!

Food:

• Soupe de Poisson
• Snails
• Mussels
• Steamed Salmon
• Coq au Vin
• Far Breton

Wine:

• 2006 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape - 94 pts.
  

Boulder, CO
December, 2009
Jeb Dunnuck

That’s it, every Friday needs a lunch like this…  The theme was Spain and there wasn’t a dog to be found in the lineup.

We started off with a sublime 1989 Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva. This is a blend of Viura and Malvasía and I don’t know of a better white for under 50 bucks.  Rich and in an oxidized style, this gains freshness in the glass and just oozes character and class.  Medium bodied with sweet fruit, a clean texture and a beautiful finish, this is also incredibly consistent.  Probably the third bottle I’ve had this year and they’ve all shown incredibly well.  As a side note, I think the ‘81 of this is even better!  Do yourself a favor and give one of these a whirl.

The sole white (if you don’t count the dessert wine)  led into a bevy of reds and we started with the lightest and progressed to the younger, heavier wines.  The 1985 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia would give more than one grand cru burgundy a run for its money.  Light, nuanced and complex aromatics lead into a silky, completely integrated wine that is drinking at point.  I wished this had a touch more umph but the table loved this wine.  It also improved in the glass so while at point, I don’t think it’s going to fall apart over the next couple of years either.

The 2000 Clos Erasmus was pop and pour and while not up to an otherworldly ‘98 from the previous night, boasted gorgeous aromas of chocolatey dark fruit, hot asphalt, dusty spice and serious chalk and minerals.  There was noticeable wood at first but over the lunch and later that evening, this was completely soaked up by the fruit.  The palate is medium to full bodied with impressive purity and richness, a killer texture and a tannic, blockbuster finish.   I thoroughly enjoyed this but if you like more mature aromas, or are tannin adverse, give this another 3 or so years in the cellar.  That might do it…

The 1996 Artadi Rioja Viña El Pison was showing hints of maturity on the nose with peppered steak, raw meat, minerals, vanilla and slightly cheesy notes as well as straight up, pure fruit.  It’s earthy, rich, and amazingly complex.  In the mouth, the wine is perfectly built and maintains a sense of elegance as well as power.  Full bodied but with a precise, structured edge, this gains steam on the finish and shows huge length.  I love the cut and poise and it’s rare to find this level of both power and elegance.  Huge, huge fan here.

About as polished and seamless as can be, the 100% Grenache 2005 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Aquilon started off with lots of sweet, high class oak but like the Clos Erasmus, quickly showed primarily pure, beautiful fruit.  Blackberry liqueur, vanilla, licorice and spice all come jumping from the glass and the palate is a lesson in texture and balance.  Perfectly built, seamless, full bodied and yet light and airy, this is still a baby in terms of development.  Can a wine that is so seamless and approachable at this stage possibly age and improve?  I don’t know but I’d drink this any day of the week.

A more structured, dense wine, the 1999 Celler Vall Llach had plenty of toast and char as well as a slight nutty note to go with its dark, earthy fruit driven core.  Medium to full bodied, this becomes more than a little impressive after the first sip and the wine is perfectly structured, balanced and rich. It finishes with ripe tannin, pure fruit and plenty of length.   The blend here is 35% Merlot, 50% Cariñena and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.

We capped the meal with a 1940 S.A. Málaga Larios Málaga Solera. Completely opaque and with a very dark brown/black color, it was the essence of coffee flavored toffee (maybe throw in some flamed brown sugar… or molassas.. or.. you get the idea.) The beauty, and frankly a unique component to the wine, was that despite the huge body and relatively thick texture, the wine remained light, airy and down right drinkable.

1989 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva (White) - 93 pts.
1991 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Viña Real Gran Reserva - 93 pts.
1985 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva - 92 pts.
2005 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja Aquilon - 96 pts.
2000 Clos Erasmus Priorat - 95 pts.
2001 Fernando Remírez de Ganuza Rioja Trasnocho - NR
1996 Artadi Rioja Viña El Pison - 97 pts.
1999 Celler Vall Llach Priorat Vall Llach - 95 pts.
1940 S.A. Málaga Larios Málaga Solera - 96 pts.

Denver, CO
November, 2009
Jeb Dunnuck

This dinner was arranged by the amazingly gracious Michael Weiss, and showcased the Crème de la Crème of the 1989 vintage.

Along with a number of tapas and appetizers, the evening started off with a surprisingly open and soft 1995 Krug Brut Champagne.  Yeast and bread aromas as well as plenty of ripe fruit show up on the nose and the wine struts on the palate with a soft, mouth filling texture, beautiful cut and clarity and a great finish.  I think the table was surprised at how approachable the wine was.  Representative or not, the wine was stunning.

Next, we dove into a lineup of ‘89 Chateauneuf-du-papes and a better flight I’ve not had for… well, ever?  Seriously, I felt like a kid in a candy store the whole evening.  The 1989 Château de Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin was near perfect and displayed a meaty, smoky personality with mushroom, tree bark and perfectly ripe, cool dark fruit aromatics.  The palate had so much length and staying power that I almost had to rinse my mouth out before trying another wine… the damn thing would just not quit!  Full bodied, perfectly structured and with a prodigious, unbelievable texture, this has everything you could want in a wine and while I think this would make any warm blooded human giddy to drink, it’s still young. While I wouldn’t hesitate to pop another bottle tomorrow (if I was lucky enough to have any), based on this showing, it’s still 3 to 5 (or more) years out from full maturity.

The 1989 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins was surprisingly clean and almost civilized with massive garrigue, herbs, minerals and roasted meat juice aromas and flavors.  Very full bodied and rich, the wine opened up in the glass and saturates the palate with ripe, exotic fruit and burly tannin.  Long, structured and still young, this stunning wine has a long life ahead of it.

In complete contrast to the two heavyweights, the 1989 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve was slightly reserved at first and when compared to its ‘90 and ‘95 siblings, shows a slightly cooler profile with a licorice and garrigue character.  Over the evening, more kirsch and sweetness emerged on the nose and the palate was pure Rayas with amazing sweetness, a seamless, lush and pure silk texture and killer finish.  Can anything compare to the sheer seamlessness and drinkability of a mature (relatively) Rayas?  Wow.

All of the wines went perfectly with a Lamb Shank & pasta dish and the bottles were drained over a roughly two hour period.  They had been previously decanted and while drinking well,  they all improved in the glass and probably fall on the early side of their maturity window.   At 20 years of age, that’s saying something and I think these wines would stand up to and surpass anything out there.

The evening was capped with a monstrous 1995 Avignonesi Vin Santo di Montepulciano Occhio di Pernice.  Pouring out of the bottle like 40 weight motor oil, this wine smacks you in the mouth with thick, dense fruit.  It literally has a heavy, tactile feel in the mouth and while a fork could be used, the wine is balanced, silky, amazingly concentrated and crazy long on the palate.  Think PX but only better and this gets a serious Wow!

As always, thanks for reading!

- Jeb

Courses:

• Veal Sweetbreads with purple top turnips, roasted fall vegetables, Verde mustard greens
• Mussels with Chorizo, roasted tomatoes, red onion, tarragon
• Lamb Shank Tagliatelle
• Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Wines:

• 1995 Krug Champagne Brut - 95 pts.
• 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - 99+ pts.
• 1989 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins - 98 pts.
• 1989 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve - 97+ pts.
• 1995 Avignonesi Vin Santo di Montepulciano Occhio di Pernice - 97 pts.

Dear readers,

I’m quickly approaching the one year anniversary of the site and wanted to take a moment to look back over 2009 as well as announce the upcoming newsletter schedule and pending site updates. This time last year I was neck deep in HTML programming, trying to figure out the best place to host the site, what it should be called, how it should look and all of the other tiny decisions that you never think about until you have to make them. Little did I know the time, effort and money this endeavor would take but it has been a labor of love!

Since I’m an engineer at heart and dig statistics/metrics, here’s how the site has fared over the past 11 months.

Site traffic:

Measuring total traffic is always a wag but I like individual visits as opposed to other statistics. I’m currently seeing just shy of 300 visits a day and last Month was the highest yet. The below graph shows the monthly totals from 2009 and overall growth from January through November is over 600%.

FIGURE 1: Site visits

Tasting notes:

The database has just under 2,000 Rhone tasting notes (I’m working hard to increase this!) and database searches are the fastest growing function on the site. The month of November clocked in with over 15 thousand searches.

FIGURE 2: Database Searches

Newsletters:

My first newsletter came out in August and while it’s tough to read much from two data points, here it is anyways:

Issue 1: New releases from the south of France

• Posted: August 1st, 2009
• Wine reviews: 240
• Total downloads: 2,344

Issue 2: The Rhone Rangers of California

• Posted: November 1st, 2009
• Wine Reviews: 340
• Total downloads: 4,196

I can’t tell if more of you are interested in Rhone Rangers of if it’s simply more people know about the site.

Newsletter schedule

Going forward into 2010, the newsletter schedule will be as follows:

• February: France/Spain
• May: Australia
• August: Chateauneuf du Pape
• November: Rhone Rangers from the United States

I’m already hard at work on both the February and May newsletters. The February issue will cover a wide range of regions including:

• Southern Rhones: Any ‘07 Chateauneufs I missed in Issue 1. I’ve been drinking my fair share of these and simply love the vintage. The wines show beautiful purity, fresh acidity and amazing fruit. The top wines show best with a couple hours of air. Cotes du Rhone Villages: Gigondas, Lirac, Rasteau, Vacqueyras & Cotes du Rone. These were sorely under represented in my first newsletter. In addition to covering more of these wines in this issue, my yearly trip to Chateauneuf will be extended to add more visits and notes from these villages so expect the coverage to increase going into 2010.
• Northern Rhones
• Languedoc-Roussillon: Distribution in the states is limited on these but I’m trying hard to cover a good number of these.
• Rhone releases from Spain

Recent Updates

I’ve made the following updates in the last week:

• Mailing list: If you’re interested in emails for new issues or site updates, please subscribe on the front page. I promise not to fill your inbox with emails.
• Donations: In order to increase the coverage I’m able to provide in the newsletters, I’m now accepting donations. Please consider donating and every penny will go directly to supporting this site. As I’ve said in my newsletters, I’m completely independent and this site is 100% free and contains no advertisements. You can donate using paypal HERE and I’m working to integrate the donation process into this site as well.

Up and Coming

• CellarTracker Integration: The big news will be the integration of the notes on this site with Eric LeVine’s CellarTracker site. I’m a huge fan of cellartracker and can’t recommend Eric’s site enough.  To support the integration, this site will move towards a login/user based interface.  I’ve already started work on this and my goal is roll it out early in 2010.
• Enhanced search features:  I’ve been saying this for awhile now but it’s going to happen!  Search by region, producer and importer will roll out in late winter or earlier.
• Wine prices: I’m putting bottle prices into the newsletters but as of yet, haven’t rolled them into the database.  I plan on working on a way to get current retail prices displayed.

And that’s all folks!  I want to thank you for your continued support, feedback and recommendations!

Here’s to a rocking 2010!

Jeb Dunnuck
www.TheRhoneReport.com