This afternoon I attended Robert Kacher’s annual spring tasting for trade and media at the Washington Club in DC. They poured more than 150 different wines from the Kacher portfolio.
Some very good Châteauneuf-du-Papes, standouts included Domaine Font de Michelle, the Domaine Les Cailloux Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Les Cailloux Centenaire.
The 06 wines from Domaine Albert Morot were a pleasure to taste, especially the 1er Cru Teurons and the 1er Cru Aigrots. Other Burgundy standouts included the Marc Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge 2006 and the Xavier Monnot 1er Cru Clos des Chênes 2006.
Kacher imports more good French rosé than just about anyone. Highlights at the tasting included:
- Mas de Bressades
- Mas Carlot
- Domaine des Corbillieres
- Domaine de Gournier
- Mas de Guiot
- Domaine de la Petite Cassagne
As is usually the case, I really liked his wines from Costières de Nîmes, especially the Mas des Bressades Viognier-Roussanne (previously reviewed), though I was surprisingly not very fond of their Grenache-Syrah. I also was impressed with some of the wines from Mas Carlot (especially the “Les Enfants Terribles) and Mas des Guiot. These wines are well made and not over-handled and a great value as well.
From the Loire, the Domaine des Corbillieres and Domaine Thomas et Fils (especially the Ultimus) Sauvigon Blanc. They also poured a delightful Muscadet from Domaine de la Quilla.
Finally, there was an Argentine producer, Furque, that was pouring a very approachable Syrah (priced at about $8-12 a bottle) and I thought their Malbec Roble and Syrah Roble were wines I would seek out.
I didn’t get to as many wines as I had hoped, it was very well attended — and I tend to have enough at these types of events after about 90 minutes. There are always plenty of gracious, polite and charming people — but it always seems like there are a handful that really are quite obnoxious. I decided I had enough when a woman in a black suit with gold chains and too much perfume muscled me out of the way for the third time.
Robert Kacher was there and made himself available — he seemed to be enjoying himself and was a welcome opportunity to meet him. All of the staff were also extremely friendly, both at the event and when registering. I was also impressed with the food, I had already had lunch so I didn’t eat anything, but they really hit all the marks in making it feel like a special event.
Robert Kacher really is deserving of more recognition and appreciation — and you can be pretty confident you are getting a really good wine and a good value when you see Kacher listed as the importer.
