Got a bottle of 01 Abbaye St Plana Faugeres ‘La Closeraie’ chillin’ in the cave, any thoughts? Ready to pop?

QOTD: Staying the *%!@ home and drinking! Its -25 degrees (WC) in Chicago y’all!

never had – nor heard of – Faugeres. Very interesting, will have to find one in the local market. I’m new to French wines but want to explore some of the non-Bourdeaux regions during 2008.

QOTD: Lots going on but had a great dinner at my brother’s house last night. We opened a bottle of Melville Pinot, Frank Cab and Beringer Nightingale. The Melville won, hands down. Yum!

QOTD: Just kickin it…..

Gary,

great choice, Faugeres is a very underestimated appelation in France. I spent 4 weeks last year in that region and had about 40 different wines from the top producers:

Great PQR, a lot of nice Rose and White wines and stunning quality starting at the cave cooperative up to top producers like Barral.

keep on going bringing the thunder to the people.

best from Germany
Thorsten

QOTD: my only regret is having died a virgin.

QOTD: This weekend, I bolted down to Fort Smith. Looooooooooong drive.

QOTD – blew it up in Buffalo! Check out the thread in VV……crazey!!!!

QOTD: Skating, hockey, skiing, snowshoing, shoveling… We have so much snow this year in Quebec, we don’t know where to put it. I can only see the tip of my kids swing set! We have to make the best of it because it will be here until April for sure.

I have never even heard of Faugeres; looking forward to trying one soon.

Ok, so this doesn’t actually relate to the laid back friday episode (which I did watch BTW) but I introduced myself to you at the Boston Wine Expo on Saturday. Gotta say you were the non-liquid highlight of my visit. Very cool and EXACTLY the same energy and passion that comes through on the Thunder Show each day! Very inspiring to a newbie like me. You asked me to report back on my favorite wines of the show so I’m going to take that as my personal QOTD. Here are my top choices (although I needed at least another day to do a decent taste-through of the show):

Michel Picard – 05 Cote de Rhone (I was told it was about 13 bones which would make it a steal) and the Chateauneuf du Pape.

Also loved the Les Domaines Paul Mas from Languedoq. Never had the reds from that area and was pretty psyched about them.

Keep up the good work. Big props to Mott!

Scott

PS – I’m lovin’ the wrist band from the schwag bag!

What up… just now coming to grips with my Pats performance. Very excited, though, the fiance (a chardonnay devotee) asked me to bring home some syrah to try out. We decanted and are enjoying a nice big smokey south african shiraz at the moment. The Hammer, it’s quite tastey! Tomorrow a little Santa Barbera syrah, and next an australian shiraz. Having a cool little two person, three night comparison tasting at home. Anybody familiar with OTBN? (Open That Bottle Night) Have actually been lovin me some Faugeres Jadis ’03 over the last year, throwin some serious sweaty gym socks notes. And, just recently, had a great dry Ostertag Muscat and ’96 Duhart Milon that was ddrinking wonderfully.
Hope you dig your time in Beantown!

Good show. I’d like to see more of “regular vs reserve” shows!
QOTD: Just got home from nearly a week at a conference and so I’m going to play with my baby girl until she’s passed out then get caught up on some WLTV and spread the thunder!

QOTD: if your soul were a blend, would it be Rhone, Bordeaux, some other super blend? I’ll answer first! My soul would have 8% Petit Verdot, 19% Roussanne, 15% Mourvedre, 24% Syrah, 4% Tannat, 17% Grenache, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Tempranillo, 11% Nebbiolo, 7% Sangiovese and 14% Petit Verdot, with the rest being roughly 21% Reisling and 9% Albarino, also a splasheroo of 6% botrytised Semillon, some dark dank black Petit Syrah and a little dribble of Counoise, some excellent sexual Sangiovese (6%) and a bit of Marsanne, with a slippery infusion of Pinot Noir! Oh, such a beautiful soul, worth years and mountains, so delicious… Jesus Christ what a tastiness! What would your soul blend be?

My soul would be equal parts motor oil, pulverised butterfly wings, baby tears and Chardonnay! It will be a wonderful soul, tannic and ageworthy, also a bit thought provoking and melt in your mouth super!

Great show GV! Though yesterday’s show was waaaaaaaaay more radool. 😉
subQ: no, never had one
subQ2: I don’t think anyone could ever hate on you. No es posible!
QOTD: I made it to Maine on Saturday afternoon, and since then have been hanging out with all my family and that has been GREAT! (They all watched the show yesterday, buddy!!!) Plus, enjoying the snowstorms which have been steady since I arrived. Yahhhhoooooooo!

funny, Gary, how your read my mind… as soon as I opened this episode, I thought : “quoi? un Faugères…un autre vin français!” immediately followed by “our producers should start paying STRONG attention to what this guy is doing out there”. last year, I even called a few producers in Chinon, Languedoc and S.West so that they could know the good news about their wines! Yes, you’re right : despite still an ocean of mediocrité, they are a LOT of good and DIFFERENT wines and producers in our Hexagon –who follow the same lines as yours, and would be happy to know they’ve got a strong herald in Opportunity Land. I, myself, am a fan of Saint-Chinian (Navarre, Canet-Valette), not only because of the vignerons, but also because the land is magic…
Salut

Those bottles line up like a wine vest… Kids in Feb = Freaky in May not November.

The best week ever!!! Enjoyed every minute!

-Had a wine tasting this weekend…enjoyed some time off too with a great bottle of Bordeaux…hope you had fun in Boston!

Gary,

I’m so glad the Barrals showed nicely. They are one of the favorite wines of Andrew the owner of Wine Watch, the best wine store in Fort Lauderdale where we get together every weekend. I haven’t tried the 2004, but the 2003 where pretty solid. Amazing aromas and complexity, and a freshness that was so unexpected given the vintage. I look forward to trying the 2004 now!

QOTD. The weekend was solid. Walks on the beach, wine tastings, Opera on Sunday and finished with an awesome dinner at Café Maxx. I brought some 1997 Dehlinger Pinot from the Octagon vineyard. That was pure heaven!

Take care!

Thank You, Gee !!
Another Interesting Episode on exposing some little known but Great Wine
areas of Southern France. Never had a Faugeres.

GV – Fun stuff! QOTD – Missing the Boston Wine Expo, but wine and dominoes (the game people)!

QOTD: Chillin at home with the fam, and helping my sister recover from a breakup.

Never had anything from Faugeres although trying wines from Languedoc-Roussillon is on my short term wish list.

Hey Gary. This past weekend, I went to the Lodi Wine and Chocolate weekend. It was a weekend of driving to every winery in Lodi tasting and eating. (I had a DD, don’t worry.) I went to 30 out of the 37 participating wineries. It was awesome. I met alot of cool peeps, seen a few good bands. I must of tasted 100 plus wines. I didn’t like them all but I did like a lot. Abundance Vineyards rules!!!

Gary- I have not had wines from Faugeres yet…………….soon!!!!! 🙂