Littorai 2006 (which are all great), and that's not all...!

We figured that the bottles we received from Littorai have rested enough since its arrival two weeks ago. And so with the opportune arrival of our Indonesian partner in town plus two other wine-loving friends, we decided it was time to uncork a selection of the Littorai wines over dinner last night at A.K.'s place.

I have always found vertical and horizontal tastings instructive, and so for the first round I thought it would be beneficial to taste through a selection of the 2006 horizontally, all with the exception of one 'generic', i.e., non-vineyard-designated 2007 Sonoma Pinot Noir. The comparative older bottles will be saved for another occasion, hopefully some time soon.

Domaine Vacheron's 2006 Sancerre "Les Romains" preceded the Littorai chardonnay to accompany the salad. I've been in the kitchen for more than an hour by now -- and we were still waiting for A.S. and C.L. to arrive -- so any crisp and chilled beverage was not only welcome, it was necessary. And this wine stood up to task admirably. Despite the pronounced acidic and sweet vinegar notes of the dressing, this wine held more than its own. Cool candied lemons and fresh cut grass on the nose and a voluminous, palate-saturating grapefruit coulis flavors asserted itself in the mouth. Slight hints of peanut skins and spiciness due to the oak used, but this could not (and should not anyway) dominate the freshness and intensity of the Sauvignon grape. Delicious stuff with plenty of life ahead.

I went back to the kitchen to ready the pasta and while waiting my partner A.K. could not help resist pouring himself the 2006 Chardonnay "Charles Heintz Vineyard". I saw him sticking his nose inside his glass and smiled. He took a sip and told me I should hurry and try it. Well, not until the pasta is ready, Brother! Fortunately it was fresh pasta, so the distance between my curiosity and tasting the wine was thankfully shortened (5 minutes was all it took).

Admittedly before dinner I had harbored more excitement regarding the Littorai's chardonnays than its pinots. It was, well, just personal. With all the dining and cooking in Singapore's tropical weather, I had taken a slight preference for whites to reds lately: they are just more compatible and versatile with whatever I tend to eat. But then again I am known as the 'Burghead', so no matter what I could never disown my inner pinot tendencies.

The Heintz chardonnay had a ripe yellow fruits nose with warm hints of smoke and spices, enlivened by a touch of talcum powder. This is, make no mistake, a true blue Californian chardonnay, and a proud one at that. However what it did not share with its brethren was a rarely found sense of restraint and balance. Fresh melon and pear fruits with a buttery texture greeted the palate, and although quite fat in texture, this had an uncanny mineral streak somewhere in between and carried no trace of heat -- something I am (over)sensitive to. Although not particularly well endowed with natural fruit concentration nor steely acid backbone, everything was all in the right place in the right amount. A well balanced and unpretentious chardonnay. A lovely drink I can savour all night long.

The 2007 Pinot Noir "Sonoma Coast" introduced itself with a very pretty and high-toned nose of crushed blackberries, cranberries and a hint of cola. Fresh and bracing on the attack, and had a creamy almost candied appeal in the mouth yet despite the lively acidity, the insufficient natural intensity made it finish off really quickly at the back-end. Pleasant and easygoing, this will be best appreciated in the company of food. True to form, this was also the wine that dissipated the most quickly during the night with fatigue setting in far sooner than the other bottles.

We moved on quickly to the three vineyard-designated 2006 pinot bottlings, and things got pretty interesting, especially as we came back to them over and again throughout the evening and discussed the character and virtues of each one.

After the straightforward 2007 Sonoma Coast, the nose of the 2006 Pinot Noir "Hirsch Vineyard" was markedly different. Immediately more intense, flamboyant and confident, candied aromas of raspberries and slight hint of cola. The attack was sweet and the fruits high-toned. At times this gave a minor impression of liqueur-like sweetness, with a good lift and moderate inner-mouth perfume. Very accessible and immediately likable, but somewhat began to lose some grip some two hours or so later.

The 2006 Pinot Noir "Roman" was an altogether a different animal. Compared to the Hirsch which was singing happily, the Roman was more serious and muscular. Very earthy and meaty nose was yet reticent at this point, but the hints of smoke, flint, brown spices, herbs and roasted coffee beans peeked through with some persistent coaxing. No surprises in the mouth either: darker (purple and blue) fruits, with an enticing, distinct hint of blueberries, dark chocolate and licorice. Curiously, for something this ripe and muscular, this was not at all low-toned. In fact, the nose of this wine evolved the most throughout the night, and it was the most steadily improving wine as it sat in the open bottle throughout the four hours or so we spent tasting the wines. In my opinion, the most decidedly Burgundian nose must go to the Roman as it combines well delineated deeply pitched dark fruits with meatier, gamier complicating nuances which some Burgundian terroirs tend to impart (Pommard, Vougeot, even Bonnes-Mares came to mind). A very focused and impressive pinot noir of character. I have to agree with A.S. this was the most 'charactersome' wine of the night. Yes, I like!

In the quick taste-through where I had to decide how to line up the pinots earlier on, I felt that "The Haven Vineyard" might well be the most complete and well-rounded of the featured pinot noirs. Going into the tasting proper the impression was largely unchanged. After the Roman, the Haven was, no doubt, more highly pitched in the nose and flavors comparatively. In a way it was more similar to the Hirsch, probably testament to the same region they both came from. Complex, briary aromas mixing wild berries, earth, flint and mineral notes. The entry on the palate is sweet and persistent, with candied red and black fruits mix, pushed along with a good backbone energy giving an impressive sense of volume in the mouth. Still I had a nagging impression that the wine had not yet come together at this point because it felt somewhat casual and was lacking the thrust and grip at this point -- something I noted the Roman did not lack in spite of the latter's brooding reticence. However there was no doubt that in terms of overall composition, this was the most complete wine for the night, as it had more of everything in more places. A.K. loved this wine immediately, noting the complexity and elegant posture the wine commands. A.S. agreed with me that this was the most complete wine but noted the residual sweetness which marked the finish. Given my lack of experience with this wine, assuming this was not an odd case of bottle variation, I could only predict that this were but a temporary settling-down period for the wine and it would thereafter come together and become more tautly and seamlessly integrated with a little more bottle age.

Another pinot noir was opened to provide a comparative perspective to the fine Littorai pinots we just had. A.K. cracked open his personal bottle of a 2002 Calera Mt. Harlan "Mills Vineyard". Interesting is the word that I would use on this wine. It was a sound pinot, with a good varietal character. But in contrast to the preceding Littorai pinots, it had less energy, clarity, definition and a lightness of touch. It was also decidedly more woody and lower pitched. The flavors were dominated by darker fruits, coffee and chocolates, and a meaty, dusty finish.

I asked around the table of what they thought of the wines overall. Almost unanimously everyone said that the Littorai are varietally typical wines, unpretentious of where it is from, but cut with a cloth of elegance and understatement uncommonly found amongst its peers. Although quite ripe and sporting a degree or a degree-and-a-half of alcohol compared to a typical burgundy, there was no touch of heat nor flabby surmaturité flavors. Ripe yes, overripe no. Accessible yes, but upside potential for aging they are not lacking too. It was strange that just as when I was emphasizing the point of these wines being varietally accurate, A.S. mentioned that just recently he tasted a selection of "top" Californian pinot noirs which, when served blind, he actually thought they were Californian syrahs! Now this statement came from a person who, in spite of his definite old-world inclinations, is above all an acute (and astute) taster -- he rarely gets a terroir wrong, let alone grape varietal. I shook my head in sad agreement and I said, "Man, that was PRECISELY what I thought the last time I attended a major 'cult' Californian Pinot Noir tasting! I guess things haven't changed much, have they?" Interestingly some of those cult pinots sported an alcohol level not necessarily overwhelmingly higher than some of the Littorais tonight, so the ultimate question that set the two camps apart is this: does it have BALANCE? Tonight the case was clearly supported. Irrespective of what one reads on the label, the proof is ultimately in the wine. A respectfully crafted wine from a suitable terroir can achieve balance. I think the Littorai wines tonight showed this attribute quite clearly. Those which tasted like syrahs did not.

Four hours had passed, but the night had to continue with one last bottle. These days there would be no vinous gathering without champagne. In any case the group badly wanted to taste a prestige cuvée from Philipponnat, the most recent vintage 1999 of "Clos des Goisses". The "Clos des Goisses" site is one of the foremost champagnes which, thankfully, up to now is still relatively undervalued. It is planted with 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay, on very steep slopes near the river. It is often the ripest site in all of Champagne, and hence tend to carry the highest level of alcohol. The 1999 "Clos des Goisses" sports a 13% alcohol content, not at all common for champagnes, but you wouldn't know. A blend of 65% pinot noir and 35% chardonnay, this got our table abuzz with praises. Very reticent, almost aloof nose which upon patient coaxing revealed hints of lime peel and crushed rocks, all elevated at the highest pitch. Initially I thought this smelled like a stainless-steel-fermented Chablis grand cru less half the weight (as if such a Chablis has any noticeable weight to begin with, but you get my point here). The wine was airy in the nose and in the mouth, with so much latent energy and ripeness it was quite unlike anything I've ever tasted before, and added to that a shadowy presence of gentle flowery perfume. This became a new lesson of understatement and elegance for champagnes and still wines to me. Endless, gentle and precise finish that seemed razor-sharp yet never put any raw pressure to the palate. Quite ethereal, and as good an example as any 1999 champagnes I have ever tasted.