Servus Andrea

9.6

Deliciously flinty and vibrant — 6 years ago

Joe Englin

9.0

The funk of a Pinot Noir with the body of a Cab. Great stuff! — 9 years ago

with Paula

Keith Levenberg

9.6

Tremendous performance out of this, easily the most impressive and also the most substantial Breton Franc de Pied I've had to date. I had previously viewed this bottling as a tier below the Baudry or Joguet FDPs but perhaps the vines have matured to the point where I should reassess (or maybe the wine itself is just maturing). This offers a powerful blast of complex aromatics right from the first sip, both earthy and savory and maybe even spicy, too. It's one of those wines where a lot of that personality moves into the background after a few minutes, so make sure you sample this one out of the gate instead of leaving it around to breathe all night. But from there the palate offers luscious fruit, significantly more concentrated and more layered than any prior vintages of this wine have been, with maybe a very fine bead of CO2 in there that you can barely notice through the fruit. You *can* get a sense through the fruit of some of the interesting things that were fleeting through those initial aromatics, savory root flavors and spice seasonings and what-not. But it's really the sense of power I find most impressive relative to prior vintages that were more in the camps of "elegant" or glou-glou. This is the kind of stuffing that makes you think it'll be virtually ageless and just coast forever on all that material, like the '59 Bordeauxs or something like that. — 10 years ago

Chris Scanlan

Sales Amy Atwood Imports

9.3

Jou Jou Vin 2011 Mossik Cabernet Franc from White Rock Vineyard, Napa Valley. It's always difficult when tasting friends wines to remain objective, and while I want to shout this wine from the hilltops (Radio-Coteau style!) I also want to be I also aspire to eliminate personal biases - positive or negative. Jou Jou you should know your wine received much conversation towards a mostly positive frame. The touch of brettanomyces was dually noted, there were comments on carbonic maceration, but I found balance throughout. I jested about the wine being topped with Baudry La Croix Boissée but the fact is, this wine has a strain of brett that works well with the fruit. The brett adds a spicy, wet earth, or mulchy wet tobacco leaf component that lends itself to wines of Chinon or Bordeaux. Is that replicable? Future vintages will tell. Will it grow in bottle? I plan to drink many more for my own recognizance. First day had some notes of carbonic maceration and brighter red fruits, along with that leafy Cab Franc character, fine dense tannins and moderate acidity with a slight sour note likely a proponent of brett. Day 2: I'll be damned. This is some damn good shit. It's worth that $250 dollar price tag! ;) But truly, the leaf/mulch quality is intact and integral, the darker berry fruits come out but there is still a pleasant sour cherry mid-palate that combines with the albeit softer yet still dense/fine mouth filling tannins. I realize part of the reason this wine was the talk of the blind tasting was that the brett, while in balance, set it apart from every other wine tasted. It was unique, it spoke of an older world style, it crept up in conversation because it lent something else to talk about. Kudos Jou Jou. The wine was made from 12 year old CF vines farmed organically (uncertified) grown in a layer of white volcanic ash. Grapes are fermented WC with ambient yeast in open top macro-bins, gently foot tread, native ML, pressed dry into 75% neutral FO and 25% Stainless Steel. 50 ppm SO2 added post ML, 10-15ppm added before bottling, racked once to bottle in June 2012. 25 cases produced. Good luck finding some! — 12 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.2

Rose’s can be hard to pinpoint but Petite Mairie’s is unmistakenly Loire Cab Franc and that’s precisely what I love about this wine. If you like the stripped down vastly undervalued Loire red wines from greats like Guibertau, Baudry, Thierry Germain, Catherine and Pierre Breton, and so on, you’ll similarly appreciate this wine.

It has that pure herbal vegetal frame - artichoke, asparagus, and sage surrounding wet gravel and light berries. The flavors include fresh tilled soil , green bell pepper, and roasted red pepper. Really terrific from the Rosenthal portfolio. — 7 years ago

Maxence Guilluy

9.8

Very fruity, melted tannins, light — 10 years ago

Matt Schwartz

8.9

Dark flavor for CF but easy drinking and delicious — 10 years ago

with Kelsey

Alex Fishman

8.9

After hours awesomeness — 11 years ago

with Jason

Mike Deutsch

9.0

One of my favorite go to wines — 7 years ago

Chris Tyler

9.2

So pretty. A delicate wine next to the Baudry. — 9 years ago

Tim Herrmann

8.9

This actually reminded me quite a lot of the baudry from several nights before, but with less precise minerality and a touch of rustic green--but pleasant--flavors. And I loved it with thai food. — 10 years ago

Marshal White

9.3

This is the Baudry Chinon Domaine of Bordeaux to me. So. Damn. Tasty. — 11 years ago