Numbers 7 through 11 of My Top 10 List of This Year's Louis/Dressner Selections' Imports7. Chinon Croix Boissée 1998 from Bernard BaudryNot a particularly good year, just a great wine. This is Baudry’s best site, although in young vines. Whenever I taste in the cellar it always interesting to see how the pedigree of the vineyard makes it stand out against other parcels that are in old vines.There is just beautiful concentration and balance to this bottle. I’ve been drinking this over the past several months and only wish I had more. Kermit Lynch also gets this wine as does Neal Rosenthal. We're sold out, but they might have some. 8. Montlouis Clos Habert 1998 Demi-Sec from François ChidaineAlso a lousy year and a great wine. So many of the Layons are difficult to taste in 98, so many Vouvray make you think longingly for 1997, but this Montlouis is perfectly sculptured Chenin. I don’t know if it because he is in biodynamie, but Chidaine has made a grand vin here that could be mistaken for a great vintage. It's also time to talk more about the secs and demi-secs and less about the sweet wines. There is some shipping to Chicago and some to Connecticut. Otherwise, there is nothing around.9. Bois du Boursan Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1997Jean-Paul Versino is a charming character who has 40 some odd parcels in Châteauneuf, with the average age being 60-years-old. The yields are tiny, the élavage is in foudres and the wines have concentration and beautiful mouth-feel. The 1998 will be coming in soon (it was only recently bottled) but the 1997 drank beautifully throughout the year. We only started working recently with Versino – Paul Pernot in Puligny-Montrachet knows him and gave us his phone number about 18 months ago. There is none left.10. Anything from Mittnacht-Klack --We don't import this wine, but I love the name. Mittnacht-Klack. Mittnacht is Jean Mittnacht and Klack is Annie Klack, making them Mittnacht-Klack. Robert Parker has the following to say about them in French: Les grands crus du domaine Mittnacht-Klack ont une pureté aromatique et une richesse de sève qui les placent au premier rang de la production alsacienne. I'm not sure if Mr. Parker said the same thing about them in English.My wife, Denyse Louis, grew up in Alsace. The first time we looked for a grower in Alsace we drove all over and tasted all over. We had an appointment in Pfaffenheim, parked the car in the town square and the local village drunk eyed us over. Finally, he said: "Vous avez les narrines des amoreuses." In English, this means: "You have the nostrils of lovers." We continue to be happily married. 11. Château St-Anne Bandol 1998 --I like Mourvedre a great deal and Bandol is the purest expression of the grape. There is so much good wine being made in the AOC that I am happy we have one of the best estates. There are others.St-Anne has hit a stride, after a few years of disorganization, and Françoise Dutheil de la Rochère, has now taken charge of the vinification. Her husband François had died right after the 1995 vintage and it took a while to get back on track. This estate is one France's forerunner's in organic production and was one of the first estates to decide to stop using sulphur. I was once in Detroit seeing retailers and some retailer tasted this wine and asked what the grape varieties were. I told him it was Mourvedre and he told me he also loved Mourvedre. When I asked him which one was his favorite Mourvedre, he told me "Cline Cellars." At my next appointment, the retailer asked me what grape varieties went into the wine. I told him Bandol. He admitted that he didn't know that Bandol was a grape variety and I assured him that it was in fact one of the great grape varieties of the world. He should look it up in Jancis Robinson's book. That's it. Happy New Year to everyone and happy blogging!
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