Three from Château des Jacques

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“This wine could almost be mistaken for Pinot Noir in a blind tasting.”

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Some months ago, a member of a private Facebook wine group I lurk in posted a picture of an old vintage of a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Village. The poster explained that the bottle had recently been gifted to them and wondered if it might still be any good. Most replies rightly stated that this was unlikely, given the wine’s age and provenance, or lack thereof. And, of course, there were a few obligatory knee-jerk declarations that nothing Louis Jadot makes and/or exports is any good, so why even bother. Those comments elicited some quick kickback from more knowledgeable wine drinkers who countered that Jadot does indeed have some worthwhile selections that are more than just forgettable plonk in their portfolio. Take Château des Jacques for instance.

According to the Kobrand Corporation website, “The historic Château des Jacques estate, located in the village of Romanèche-Thorins in the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, is widely recognized as the most prestigious estate in Beaujolais.” Whether or not this is hyperbole or actual fact, I can’t say. I can testify to the fact that I have had some good wines from this producer, starting with the 2012 Château des Jacques Moulin-à-Vent in 2015. That same wine was a thing of silky beauty when I tasted it about 6 months ago, and I can only rue the fact that I took no notes at the time. My bad.

Last week, I picked up the 2020 bottling at Plum Market, and I found it to be much to my liking, even though it may be more about promise at this early stage of development.
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Two Reds

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“Fairly rich in fruit, yet decidedly dry from entry through finish…”

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In a previous life in retail wine sales, customers would regularly ask me if I could meet or beat Costco pricing for specific wines, and my stock reply was always that, while I couldn’t match their prices, I had so many more selections to offer that the bulk store didn’t even carry. It was true, and most of my clients got the message. Conversely, however, Costco has always (and still does) carried some very worthwhile selections at very good prices.

I happened upon a couple of those good red wines in the last week. One is a Cru Beaujolais and the other, a Zin from California, and, yes, I found them both at our friendly neighborhood Costco.

We’ve been fans of the wines from Kermit Lynch’s Morgon producers such as Jean Foillard and Guy Breton for many years, but this is my first encounter with Domaine Fagolet, and although I tend to be a bit suspicious of bottles sporting a high rating on the front label, I am pleased with what I found when I poured a glass of this one.
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My Birthday Wine

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“This is Chardonnay the way I like it.”

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I had a birthday this past Saturday, and I was in the mood for a good glass of white wine. I didn’t want a red wine, I didn’t want a pink wine, and I didn’t want a “wow” wine. I just wanted something good and white, and as Kim and I were browsing through the produce and wine departments at Westborn Market in Berkley that day, I found exactly what I was looking for.

We’ve been fans of Jean Manciat’s Mâcon-Charnay for many years. For the uninitiated, this is 100% Chardonnay, from one of the “lesser” appellations of Burgundy. We went through a lot of their Franclieu bottling back in the day, and I had been eyeing this one for a while, so it all seemed to come together as I finally took one from the shelf and added it to our cart. When I pulled the cork and poured myself a glass that evening, I was quite satisfied with the libation I had selected.
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Drinking Spanish Down the Hall

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“Definitely more old world in style than new,
and much to my liking in that regard.”

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It’s time once again to remind readers that you don’t need to be a Costco member to buy wine legally at any Michigan Costco. I mention this, because I’ve been consistently finding worthwhile, value-priced wines at our friendly neighborhood Costco, which is where I found this fine Spanish red.

This is my first experience tasting anything from Bodegas Casado Morales. It took a little bit of searching for me to find anything about this producer online. The winery’s website doesn’t tell me much more than that it has been family-owned and operated by three generations, since 1925, and the average age of the vines is 40 years old. The importer’s website tells even less, and makes no mention of this particular selection at all. I found a little more about Casado Morales from the Ruta del Vino Rioja Alavesa site, but nothing in the kind of depth or detail that many other producers’ online presence offers.

In the end, I can only let the wine tell its own story, and it’s a very good one indeed.
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Two from Cotes Catalanes

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“I would not hesitate to buy either again, as both deliver great bang
for relatively few bucks.”

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Last week, our old Gang of Pour partner-in-crime Alan Kerr (aka Canadian Zinfan) came to visit, so I picked up a few bottles of wine for us all to try together. It was not my intention to purchase selections from the same region, but that’s what we found ourselves with when we uncorked these two, one a rosé, and the other, a hearty red. Côtes Catalanes is located in the Roussillon region of southwestern France, and as it turned out, both are quite pleasing to the palate.

The rosé was recommended to me by my friend Michael Korn, a longtime sales rep for Woodberry Wine here in southeastern Michigan. Michael put this bottle directly into my hands at Holiday Market in Royal Oak, so I brought one home, where it sat patiently until we were ready to give it a go. Michael has never steered me wrong with anything from the portfolio he represents, and he was spot on with this one as well.
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2022 Pasquiers Côtes du Rhône

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“Another QPR All-Star from a solid producer deserving of greater recognition…”

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I might have been tempted to say that we went through a buttload of the 2020 Domaine des Pasquiers Côtes du Rhône this past winter and spring, but for the fact that a “buttload” is an actual unit of measurement, and, somehow, I don’t think we really drank 126 gallons of the stuff. (A tip of the top hat to Shar Douglas for alerting me to this archaic curiosity.)

We did in fact go through numerous bottles of said wine, however, because it was simply delicious. It finally disappeared a few months ago, and then, lo and behold, a new vintage showed up on the shelves of Holiday Market in Royal Oak in the last week or two. For some reason, we never did see a 2021 vintage, but that’s OK, because this 2022 model is a winner.
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2020 Geezer

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“A delicious and beautifully balanced wine in every way…”

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I don’t normally write a review from memory, but this wine is so impressive, it pretty much wrote itself. The occasion was a long overdue renewal of acquaintances with our friends Jim and Cheryl Brennan. The location was Mon Jin Lau, arguably the finest Asian-fusion restaurant (they call it “Nu-Asian”) in southeastern Michigan. The wine was one that we’ve had a decades-long love affair with, the perennial favorite Ridge Geyserville. I had taken a gander at the wine list before handing it off to Jim to see if anything caught his eye, and when he mentioned this, that was all any of us needed to hear.
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Grillo from Mary Taylor

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“…here is yet another reason why I have been so taken with the Mary Taylor 
line of European country wines over the last several months.”

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In my continuing quest to find new (to me, at least) wines imported by Mary Taylor, I stopped in to Westborn Market in Berkley a few days ago, to see if Beverage Manager Steve Rapson was stocking anything that I haven’t had a chance to try yet. Steve seems to be as big a fan of MT Wine as I am, and sure enough, he has the white counterpart to the red Sicilian I reviewed last month displayed well-stocked in the department. I used to enjoy Grillo back in a previous life in retail, when it played a role in a revolving cast of dry whites I brought home, including Albarinho, Muscadet, Vermentino and Arneis. It’s been quite a while since I last had one of these, so for that reason, I was even more intrigued by what might be in this bottle. 
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A Bargain Esprit

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“…this fine young wine is still mostly about promise,
but the promise is very good indeed.”

Time Sensitive: This is a great buy for $25, but it won’t last long. There were a couple of cases available in the bins at our friendly neighborhood Madison Heights Costco just two days ago. Today, there is half that or less. It may be gone by this weekend, so, quick like a bunny, get some if you can.

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We don’t see nearly as much Tablas Creek in our neck of the woods as we used to. In fact, the bottle reviewed here is the only one I have been able to find around here in at least a year. I had to pull two bottles from our cellar the last time I wanted something from this producer, and I was reminded yet again why TC has been on our short list of favorite California wineries for almost two decades.

This particular bottling has been hanging around our friendly local Costco since at least last fall. We even ponied up the $49.99 to try one sometime around Thanksgiving, when we found it to be good, but in need of more time in the cellar. A few days ago, I noticed that it is now priced at $24.99 at the same Costco, a pretty obvious indication that the wine has not been selling, and that the distributor wants to discount it and move it quickly. At that price, I felt obliged to pick up another bottle and give it further consideration.
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Two Dry Rosés

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“This is what dry rosé is all about.”

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Since rebooting Tasting Notes from the Underground this past February, I’ve reviewed no fewer than 10 dry rosés. We’re unabashed fans of this style, and take great pleasure in trying examples from all around the world. Happily, there is a boatload of the stuff available around here, and a lot of it is pretty good. What’s more, it seems like every retailer has at least a few selections that the last place I stopped at didn’t, so there’s always something new to try.

I picked these two bottles up last week at Plum Market West Bloomfield. I was checking the first one out when my friend Paula Hartson, who was working in the department, came up and confirmed my suspicion that I was eying a good one. She then also recommended the Slovenian rosé, telling me, “Those are my two George wines for the day!”

That Paula, she always hits the mark when it comes to suggesting the kind of wines I like to drink!
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