Sebastien Treuillet
Domaine Etienne et Sébastien Riffault
Les Quarterons Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc 2017
I’ve heard for years about the wildly extroverted and extra-ordinary Sancerre wines from Sebastien Riffault. His wines are an outlier of ripeness in a sea of lean high acid chalky juice. Rich with an amber glow.
He picks his Sauvignon Blanc at the last minute to reach a level of ripeness you’d never expect could come from the tiny cold pocket of the Loire.
Now I like both styles, but this is super fun and something completely new to me.
Think juicy peach, fresh apricot, and bright yellow pineapple. But still with high acid - nothing flabby. — 5 years ago
Sebastien Bobinet et Emiline Calvez
Hanami Saumur Cabernet Franc 2012
Funk for days, some effervescence on the palate. Earthy and well-fruited / super fun — 7 years ago
Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils
Chablis Chardonnay 2014
Pale yellow w green tinge. Lime driven citrus. Fruited but no fat or oak. Zippy and good qpr. Outclassed the Sebastien dampt chablis 2014 — 8 years ago
Château Thivin
Côte de Brouilly Gamay 2015
If you find yourself dining alone at herbsaint in NOLA, this bottle makes for pretty good company. Wish you were here g. And @Ryan Mullins know you'd dig this. All the right stuff - peony flower, raspberry and potting soil. Everything I used to hate about Gamay that I now love thanks to @Sebastien Telford-Rake — 9 years ago
Sebastien Treuillet
Pouilly-Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2014
At first it's passionfruit aromas were a little too overpowering however they've seemingly blown off and settled nicely into the background. Cut grass, lemongrass and a subtle smoke have appeared for a while and grapefruit and green apple show themselves too. The palate is tropical with assertive acidity with some pithy character and long finish. At first I didn't really enjoy this, give it a while and serve around 12-14 degrees — 9 years ago
Fromm Winery
Clayvin Vineyard Pinot Noir 2004
Sentimental fave. Got it at Fromm during 06 harvest when Sebastien Cathiard was working there. Hoarded until roasted chicken earlier this month. Rich, full-blown savory perfectly mature. No regrets. — 9 years ago
Jean et Sébastien Dauvissat
Vaillons Chablis 1er Cru Chardonnay 2010
I’ve had this bottle sitting in my cellar pretty much since I got back from Riyadh, nearly 7 years ago. I’m not really sure why I held onto it as long as I did but whatever. It’s open now. In the glass, the wine pours a brilliant, deep golden color. A fully mature wine at this point with a whole host of secondary and tertiary characteristics on the nose: toasted bread, apricot marmalade, feta cheese, nuts, Vanilla Tootsie Roll (the blue wrapper), sour dough, desiccated tropical fruit, warm asphalt, and alfalfa. A truly strange combination but it’s all there, whether you want it to be or not. On the palate, dried apricot, flan, and cashews. Medium acid. The finish is long. At this later stage of its life, the 2010 Jean & Sebastien Dauvissat “Vaillons” is not a wine for everyone as there will no doubt be folks who’s palate will not agree with the oxidative character of the wine. That being said, I found it rather charming. Drink now. — 4 years ago
Lucie & Sebastien Cheurlin
Pluie d' été Brut Rosé Champagne
Summer rain! Rosé rain! Let it rain this wine on me. One of those that hits hard but tickles your fancy so delicately you welcome the blow. — 5 years ago
Domaine Sebastien Dampt
Terroir de Milly Petit Chablis Chardonnay
Very bright, citrus, lime, wet rock. Good price for petit Chablis. — 6 years ago
Château Lynch-Bages
Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2000
The 2000 is delicious but, it is evolving at a glacial pace. Out of magnum.
On the nose, touch of barnyard, glycerin, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, dark,,turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals.
The body is full, round & sexy. Dry softened, sweet tannins. ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, fresh tobacco leaf, saddle-wood, dry underbrush, dark, turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals. The acidity is magnificent. The structure, tension, length and balance are sensational. The finish is drop dead gorgeous. I’d still hold mine another 5 years as long as you have 3-4 bottles for more 5 year increments.
Photos of, their Estate vines, Clyde Beffa-Owner of K&L Wine Merchants, Owner of Chateau Lynch Bages - Jean-Michel Cazes, guests of the dinner and a sunset view from their Estate.
Producer notes and history...Lynch Bages takes its name from the local area where the Chateau is located in Bages. The vineyard of what was to become Lynch Bages was established and then expanded by the Dejean family who sold it in 1728 to Pierre Drouillard.
In 1749, Drouillard bequeathed the estate to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Lynch. This is how the estate came to belong to the Lynch family, where it remained for seventy-five years and received the name Lynch Bages. However, it was not always known under that name.
For a while the wines were sold under the name of Jurine Bages. In fact, when the estate was Classified in the 1855 Classification of the Medoc, the wines were selling under the name of Chateau Jurine Bages. That is because the property was owned at the time by a Swiss wine merchant, Sebastien Jurine.
In 1862, the property was sold to the Cayrou brothers who restored the estate’s name to Chateau Lynch family.
Around 1870, Lou Janou Cazes and his wife Angelique were living in Pauillac, close to Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron. It was here that Jean-Charles Cazes, the couple’s second son, was born in 1877.
In the 1930’s, Jean-Charles Cazes, who was already in charge of Les-Ormes-de-Pez in St. Estephe agreed to lease the vines of Lynch Bages. By that time, the Cazes family had history in Bordeaux dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century.
This agreement to take over Lynch Bages was good for both the owner and Jean Charles Cazes. Because, the vineyards had become dilapidated and were in need of expensive replanting, which was too expensive for the owner. However, for Cazes, this represented an opportunity, as he had the time, and the ability to manage Lynch Bages, but he lacked the funds to buy the vineyard.
Jean-Charles Cazes eventually purchased both properties on the eve of the Second World War. Lynch Bages and Les-Ormes-de-Pez have been run by the Cazes family ever since. In 1988, the Cazes family added to their holdings in Bordeaux when they purchased an estate in the Graves region, Chateau Villa Bel Air.
Around 1970, they increased their vineyards with the purchase of Haut-Bages Averous and Saussus. By the late 1990’s their holdings had expanded to nearly 100 hectares! Jean-Michel Cazes who had been employed as an engineer in Paris, joined the wine trade in 1973. In a short time, Jean Michel Cazes modernized everything at Lynch Bages.
He installed a new vat room, insulated the buildings, developing new technologies and equipment, built storage cellars, restored the loading areas and wine storehouses over the next fifteen years. During that time period, Jean Michel Cazes was the unofficial ambassador of not just the Left Bank, but all of Bordeaux. Jean Michel Cazes was one of the first Chateau owners to begin promoting their wine in China back in 1986.
Bages became the first wine sent into space, when a French astronaut carried a bottle of 1975 Lynch Bages with him on the joint American/French space flight!
Beginning in 1987, Jean-Michel Cazes joined the team at the insurance company AXA, who wanted to build an investment portfolio of quality vineyards in the Medoc, Pomerol, Sauternes, Portugal and Hungary.
Jean-Michel Cazes was named the director of the wine division and all the estates including of course, the neighboring, Second Growth, Chateau Pichon Baron.
June 1989 marked the inauguration of the new wine making facilities at Lynch Bages, which was on of their best vintages. 1989 also marked the debut of the Cordeillan- hotel and restaurant where Sofia and I had one of our best dinners ever. A few years after that, the Village de Bages with its shops was born.
The following year, in 1990, the estate began making white wine, Blanc de Lynch Bages. In 2001, the Cazes family company bought vineyards in the Rhone Valley in the Languedoc appellation, as well as in Australia and Portugal. They added to their holdings a few years later when they purchased a vineyard in Chateauneuf du Pape.
In 2006, Jean-Charles Cazes took over as the managing director of Chateau Lynch Bages. Jean-Michel Cazes continues to lead the wine and tourism division of the family’s activities. Due to their constant promotion in the Asian market, Chateau Lynch Bages remains one of the strongest brands in the Asian market, especially in China.
In 2017, Chateau Lynch Bages began a massive renovation and modernization, focusing on their wine making, and technical facilities. The project, headed by the noted architects Chien Chung Pei and Li Chung Pei, the sons of the famous architect that designed the glass pyramid for the Louvre in Paris as well as several other important buildings.
The project will be completed in 2019. This includes a new grape, reception center, gravity flow wine cellar and the vat rooms, which will house at least, 80 stainless steel vats in various sizes allowing for parcel by parcel vinification.
The new cellars will feature a glass roof, terraces with 360 degree views and completely modernized reception areas and offices. They are not seeing visitors until it’s completion.
In March, 2017, they purchased Chateau Haut Batailley from Françoise Des Brest Borie giving the Cazes family over 120 hectares of vines in Pauillac!
The 100 hectare vineyard of Lynch Bages is planted to 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyard has a terroir of gravel, chalk and sand soils.
The vineyard can be divided into two main sections, with a large portion of the vines being planted close to the Chateau on the Bages plateau. At their peak, the vineyard reaches an elevation of 20 meters. The other section of the vineyard lies further north, with its key terroir placed on the Monferan plateau.
They also own vines in the far southwest of the appellation, next Chateau Pichon Lalande, on the St. Julien border, which can be used in the Grand Vin. The vineyard can be split into four main blocks, which can be further subdivided into 140 separate parcels.
The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
The vineyards are planted to a vine density of 9,000 vines per hectare. The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
Lynch Bages also six hectares of vine are reserved for the production of the white Bordeaux wine of Chateau Lynch Bages. Those vines are located to the west of the estate. They are planted to 53% Sauvignon Blanc, 32% Semillon and 15% Muscadelle. On average, those vines are about 20 years of age. Lynch Bages Blanc made its debut in 1990.
To produce the wine of Chateau Lynch Bages, vinification takes place 35 stainless steel vats that vary in size. Malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of 30% French, oak barrels with the remainder taking place in tank.
The wine of Chateau Lynch Bages is aged in an average of 70% new, French oak barrels for between 12 and 15 months. Due to the appellation laws of Pauillac, the wine is sold as a generic AOC Bordeaux Blanc, because Pauillac does not allow for the plantings of white wine grapes.
For the vinification of their white, Bordeaux wine, Blanc de Lynch-Bages is vinified in a combination of 50% new, French oak barrels, 20% in one year old barrels and the remaining 30% is vinified in vats. The wine is aged on its lees for at least six months. The white wine is sold an AOC Bordeaux wine.
The annual production at Lynch Bages is close to 35,000 cases depending on the vintage.
The also make a 2nd wine, which was previously known as Chateau Chateau Haut Bages Averous. However, the estate changed its name to Echo de Lynch Bages beginning with the 2007 vintage. The estate recently added a third wine, Pauillac de Lynch-Bages.
— 7 years ago
Sebastien Brunet
Le Naturel Vouvray Chenin Blanc 2017
Beeswax champagne — 4 years ago
Domaine Sebastien Dampt
Terroir de Fye Petit Chablis Chardonnay 2019
Unreal nose. Just so beautiful. Huge perfume. Seashells. Oyster shells. Unmistakably Chablis. So so mineral. There is no fruit. An exercise in a blast of terroir so intense you gotta be a wine geek to enjoy it. Salty. White pepper. A perfume that is broad and precise. Really really beautiful. Palate terrific and has some ripe fruit, green apple mostly, a nice hit of richness in the texture, good purity and a lonely initial blast of fruit/mineral concentrate and then the finish is all seashells that linger. Excellent wine for the appellation.
As it airs it picks up weight on the palate. Terrific wine for no money. So salty and fresh. — 5 years ago
Delphine & Sebastien Boisseau
Terres de Chazeux Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Carmine gave us just what we asked for: a lighter to medium body red with low tannins and mild earth. This fit the ticket perfectly- a delicious French wine in an Italian restaurant! — 7 years ago
Château Coutelin-Merville
Saint Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2009
Thank you Sebastien very nice — 8 years ago
Sebastien Bobinet et Emiline Calvez
Saumur Cabernet Franc
Fun, funky, red fruit. Very Loire — 8 years ago
Finca Jakue
Getariako Txakolina Hondarrabi Zuri 2015
Bright, effervescent and thoroughly refreshing. Wish I was in San Sebastien. — 9 years ago
Rob M
From 6ft, lovely fizz and fruity, good balance with acid and hint of tannens on the end — 4 years ago