Trousseau is a grape from the Jura in France, as well as the Douro Valley in Portugal, where it’s called bastardo. This bottle, which I pulled from a forgotten corner of my wine fridge, was wonderful, still fresh and lively, delicate in texture yet full of verve, floral aromas and complex flavors. California trousseau is a niche wine, but whoa, was this good.
Jacky Truchot Clos de la Roche Vielles Vignes 2005
A small group gathered at Le Coucou in New York in September for a lunch to examine the progress of some 2005 Burgundies. The vintage was critically lauded when the wines were released, but they have often been too robust and burly for my taste.
To me, this bottle, from one of my favorite grand cru vineyards, was the star. It was dense and fruity, befitting a 2005, yet it managed to be precise, complex and almost ethereal at the same time. Jacky Truchot, the vigneron, who retired after this vintage, was known for making subtle, delicate wines, but how does one wine encompass both density and lightness?
Renaissance Sierra Foothills North Yuba Cabernet Sauvignon Première Cuvée 1996
Renaissance is one of California’s strangest wine stories: A religious cult, the Fellowship of Friends, started this wine business in the Sierra Foothills in the 1970s. By the 1990s, it was making great wines, but things have slid since then. Esther Mobley wrote a great article about Renaissance for The San Francisco Chronicle in 2018.
Somewhere, I acquired a few bottles and held onto this one until last January, when I opened it at a dinner with friends. It was stunning, a touch austere at first but, with air, became more and more complex and enjoyable. Like the Rafanelli, it was a bottle that ran counter to the oaky, fruity, alcoholic style that prevailed back then, but it stood the test of time.
