Last night was a successful Tuesday Tasty Tasting (TTT) in Oakland for me and a few other natural wine twitterers, organized by David (@100aocs). We all gathered around a few tables at The Punchdown, a natural wine bar in Oakland which opened not even 3 months ago. Small detail: as John tweeted, they have an orange wine section on the menu 🙂

A few drops left in the glass

The owners, DC and Lisa, had prepared a fantastic list of French wines for us. Disclaimer for the score crusaders: yeah, I use scores, because I like this simple and succinct way to remember what I thought about it at that moment.

Le Cloux Delorme, Albane & Bertrand Minchin, Sauv Blanc, Loire Valley, AOC Valençay, 2009

• flinty clay soils
• little animal, mint on the nose, smells like Spring, a hint of maple tree sap, dry. Made for me. Loved it!
• 4/5

Château Graville-Lacoste (Hervé Dubourdieu), Sauv Blanc, AOC Graves, Bordeaux, 2009

• gravelly soils
• green, skunk on the nose, not as short as the previous one, and longer in the mouth. Good one.
• 3/5

Domaine Bernard Baudry (Cab Franc), Loire Valley, AOC Chinon, 2008

• barny, sausage on the nose, dry tannins
• 3/5

Domaine Henri Prudhon & Fils “Les Argillers”, Pinot Noir, Bourgogne, AOC St-Aubin,  2007

• strong alcohol, paint on the nose, bitter caramel, did not find it balanced
• 2/5

Maxime-François Laurent “Pourpre” (Grenache), AOC Côtes-du-Rhône, 2009

• parsley on the nose, fruity, tannins, high alcohol, but still balanced. My fav of the reds!
• 4/5

Ch Peybonhomme les Tours, Merlot/Cab Franc, Premières Côtes de Blaye, 2007

• rustic, very masculine, a subtle taste of brandy that I always like
• 3/5

Ghislaine & Jean-Hugues Goisot, Chardonnay, Bourgogne, Côtes d’Auxerre, 2007

• limestone-clay soils
• spring water directly from the mountains on the nose, very mineral, rich and supple
• 2/5

Jacques Puffeney “Cuvee Sacha”, Chardonnay 70% / Savagnin 30%, Jura, AOC Arbois, 2005

• jurassic limestone
• 3/5

Frederic Lambert, Savagnin, Cotes du Jura AOC, 2007 (courtesy of Raphael, @returnToTerroir)

• Typical Savagnin, so for me that can’t be bad.
• 3/5

Pyramid Valley Vineyard “Late Harvest Semillon”, Marlborough, New Zealand (courtesy of John @sfWineBlog)

• herbaceous, classic late harvest sweet sugars, but still refreshingly bitter (amazing), delicious!
• 4/5

Yum. Yeah, that’s what I call a nice Tuesday Tasty Tasting (TTT).