TN: Chidaine and Bachelet winners, Jonqueyres trailing

With Betsy gone, the last couple nights I've lazily just munched on leftovers - lamb stew, goose wings, braised cabbage, etc. A few wines managed to get opened, too: 2001 Ch. Jonqueyres (Bordeaux Supérieur) Medium-bodied, modest red Merlot fruit. Light tannins, moderate acidity, not a lot of length. I've liked this more in previous vintages. Decent but anonymous, ok but no better QPR at $10. B-B-

2002 Françoise Chidaine "Les Tuffeaux" Montlouis sur Loire Woo-hoo. This is more like it. Clean apple and peach fruit, nice floral-honeysuckle nose. Demi-sec, with enough acidity to make this quite slurpable. Balanced and delicious. By day 2 & 3, a strong mineral note had taken the driver's seat. Helluva a deal at about $15, must get more. A-

A bottle of '98 Fontenil was corked, next up was 2002 Domaine Bachelet Bourgogne Rouge Bigger brawny style of Bourgogne, concentrated deep cherry fruit. A bit tannic, this could use some cellar time. The fruit tastes quite ripe, but there's good acidity here too. Starts off as very fruit-driven, but after some air there's evident damp earth, leather, and sandalwood. Another good deal, this one at $19. A-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.   Dale

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