1999 Ferraton Pere et Fils Ermitage Le Meal

Jamie came over after the restaurant closed and brought a bottle of 1999 Ferraton Pere et Fils Ermitage Le Meal, which he picked up at the Fountainhead earlier this evening. The bottle had been sitting in his car, so it was cold, but opened with a spicy nose - reminiscent of church incense. Totally closed up on the tongue, but carrying over that churchy, full spiced mouth.

Decanted for a bit, we waited, and warmed the glasses - looked at the wine in the Juliska decanter which Kim had given to me earlier this year. From the Rhone Valley, we thinks the primary grape is Syrah, and it smells and tastes like a Syrah, although not as silky and elegant as the Cuillerons we had in September (see previous blogs).

Upon reading the label, the wine is biodynamic - meaning it is organic plus ten. The vines are planted and treated with the movements of the earth and tides and moon cycles and a bunch of other eco-friendly lets love our Earth Mother and have her provide us some great grapes kinda stuff. We have never had a bad wine made in this fashion, so I have to believe it works.

Bacon fat on the tongue, following with blooming dark fruit, black pepper and smokey Roman Catholic incense. Too early to tell where it is going, but we are both ready for the journey and like the start.

9.14.07/ 1999 Yves Cuilleron Saint Joseph “L’Amarybelle”

While we were waiting for the Les Serines to mellow out (see previous post) we opened the L'Amarybelle which we have had in past vintages (03 and 04). It was astounding that it could taste so different than the Les Serine while being the same grape from the same region. And it wasn't because Les Serine was an off bottle.

The L'Amarybelle was subtle, but in your face at the same time. Totally balanced with tannins and fruit. It had the smoky tar, but the sweet innocent raspberry to lighten it up. It was beautiful by itself, and nicely complimented the grilled leg of lamb I snacked on while tasting the lucious fruit.

We decanted it, and I kept stealing sips while our friends tried to figure out what to open next!

09.14.07/1999 Yves Cuilleron Saint Joseph “Les Serines”

It all goes back to trying wines in Nantucket. For Jamie and Kim's engagement, we sent them a bottle of wine at the hotel where they stayed the night they got engaged - the Waiwinnet in Nantucket. My friend Matt (who was the former Wine and Spirits Manager at Craft) looked at the list and said - get them the Cuilleron! It was a white Condrieu and they said it was one of the best wines they ever had. The next time we had an opportunity to buy Cuilleron, Matt steered us in the right direction and selected a few different regions for the reds. All 2002 and 2003 vintages, we probably drank them too young but they were delish.

Jamie found a bottle of the 1999 Les Serines (of which we have two cases of 2004) and we opened it up with some friends - see post below. It was smoky tarrific - almost to the point of not being able to drink. We let it sit for awhile and opened another bottle, but it never really came around to being delish. It was too young. At 8 years! The primary grape is syrah, but nothing elegant and silky like you would expect. It was more like a pinotage from South Africa. Needless to say we were a little worried about the 04s, but see my posts later for that tasting!