A Fantastic Wine Weekend

Last weekend, we had two very good wines last weekend and one outstanding wine (the Chablis). Here are our notes.

Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine, Tavel
$14.99
Shane’s Notes

This was our second Tavel Rose and while quite different from the first, it was still excellent. It has a ruby red color and the palate showed floral notes with a slight cranberry flavor. The palate was also salty, herbal, tangy and fairly juicy. As it opened, it also developed a strawberry flavor. The finish was stony and very dry. This was a very unusual rose and it was a delight to drink. Tavel Rose’s will always have a place in our wine unit.

Schloss Schonborn
2005 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg, Rheingau, Kabinett
$15
Shane’s Notes

When we first tasted this one, we were disappointed. The palate was disjointed and discordant. However, as it opened, the flavors blended harmoniously and we really enjoyed it. Obviously, we should have decanted this one but it just didn’t occur to us. We simply aren’t in the habit of decanting whites (We learned our lesson and decanted the Chablis we drank the next night). The palate on this Riesling was rich with flavors of apricot, pear and tangerine. The finish was very minerally. This is an excellent QPR wine.

2004 Chablis
William Fevre "Fourchaume," Premier Cru
$45
Jen’s Notes

At first sip, the same thought occurred to both of us: "infanticide." The wine did open up quite a bit (after an hour in the decanter), and we enjoyed it a great deal. A few years bottle age probably wouldn't hurt, though. The palate was the most intensely concentrated white I have ever tasted. If you had snuck up behind this wine when it was working hard at something, it would have screamed and jumped out of its chair; that's the level of focus we're talking about. But I digress. As the wine nearly sizzled on our palates, we detected tangy citrus and guava flavors, and much later, juicy pineapple. Underneath it all, like a particularly well-made brassiere, was a stony, granite foundation that is the hallmark of fine Chablis. In Shane's words, the best expression of Chardonnay.