Golden Summer Evening with Goldun Fine Wines

just trying to earn a living

just trying to earn a living

Restaurants beg him to store his personal wines with them.

When he sniffs wine he pours it up his nose.

Jon Rimmerman asks him for travel tips.

Miles suggested they invent Barolo jazz.

He is.. the most interesting.. wine merchant in the world.

Eno Fine Wine is Steve Goldun’s new project. Goldun not only offers some of the best pricing we have seen for wines we A-D-O-R-E, he also loves to cook! If there is a better confluence of favors and flavors for an impromptu summer evening, we do not know one. Steve Goldun is 99% ready to go live with his online wine merchant site Eno Fine Wine. Even though it is not in our personal wine-snagging interest to publish what you are about to read, we are going to tell most of the truth regardless because we are reasonably confident only a handful of tBoW readers [ed. compared to the dozens of tBoW readers?]? will believe the hype. Here is the updown.

Goldun travels to Italy and France several times a year and has been doing this for decades. Because he favors Burgundy and Piemonte wines. He has developed excellent relationships with some of the finest wine houses and importers in the process. He favors all great wines so he is also able to offer super wines from Spain including Lopez de Heredia selections along with the occasional Beaujolais. His sweet spot is Burgundy but he keeps Piemonte on a tight leash. As with all vendors of wine the key for consumers is to identify someone whose palate pretty well matches your own.

enofinewineWEBGoldun is a seasoned wine maven. In golf they would say “he has legs.” He ran the wine shop at Palate which, for a few years, was one of the top dining venues in Los Angeles. As a wine merchant, whether working the floor and the phone in top LA wine stores or his own shop, he prefers to offer wines he can stand behind without equivocation and offer at prices that are below the broad market. Uh…works for us. Steve describes the wines he prefers as “real wines” where others might say terroir-driven or authentic. These are wines that are typically made with indigenous grapes without the pretense of Michelle Rolland/Robert Parker styles. You will not find many of the wines Goldun has with Parker points which means you have to try to know whether you like.

At the paella dinner Steve brought a sample of his current lineup, [ed. along with all the seafood; we supplied the saffron] Each wine reflects his palate and his pricing which has gotten even better with his online retail service – coming very soon! With the introduction of Eno Wine Merchant we introduce a new pricing acronym: TAFI – Pronounced like taffy – which stands for “try and find it.” The first wine is a perfect example.

StPeray06WEB2006 Francois Villard Saint Péray “Version” $30 (TAFI): Dotoré contributed this bottle he bought at Palate a few years ago. Mouse Alert!! 100% Marsanne. Excellent. Citric fruit and soft tannins. SG says “intriguing.” Still youthful at 7 years. 13.5%

PiuzePetitChablis2012WEB2012 Patrick Piuze Petit Chablis $21: He suggested this would be a winner. All steel fermented with malo. Dry and fruity Chardonnay. Racy acidity like a Riesling but with more voluptuousness [ed. voluptuosity?]. Another wine that defines the most over-used wine descriptor of 2012 – “minerality.” The highest ethical standards adhered to on tBoW compel to me confess I stole some words from another blogger that are important for understanding this wine” “hand harvested, natural yeast fermented with no chapitalisation (i.e. no added sugar to boost body and alcohol permitted in this region).” S. Irene V. of the LA times wrote something nice about this wine 10 months ago. Tanks gott the younguns don’t have any money yet or they would have bought this out! 12.5%

diochonmoulin2011WEB2011 Domaine Diochon Moulin-à-Vent Cuvée Vielles Vignes $19: We could not help nut compare this to a 201o Dubouef chateaux bottle opened the week before. Perhaps the comparison is not fair but maybe it is. Dubouef is one of the largest negociants in Beaujolais. He has the most competitive pricing. His premium chateaux wines – made at a chateau in one of the ten regions – are the priciest and are less than $20. This bottle is comparable in price but so much more superior in quality the nod has to go to the wine brought in by Kermit Lynch on multiple counts. This wine has round Gamay flavors, soft with tannic firmness. The firmness is what is missing in Dubouef. This wine is great with the paella. Read about Domaine Diochon on Kermit’s website. 13%

GrosCoteNuits09WEB2009 Anne Gros Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits $32 (TAFI): We wish we had more of this. We purchased from Goldun a a couple years ago and have been unable to resist opening such that there are very few bottles left. Berry sad. The wine has continued to develop in the bottle. This evening it is exquisite and delicious. Medium weight as are all the wines. Great acidity that has softened enough to not be noticed unless you take your time and look for it. The beauty of an ingenue growing into adulthood. This has it all. Big favorite. 12.5%

Gravonia03WEB2003 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravoñia $32: Wow. Dandelions and honey. Plenty of acid to render a muscular middle weight. 100% Viura from the estate. If this wine was a basketball player it would be Deron Williams of the Nets. Big enough to bull to the hole but nimble enough to pull up for the J. These are the guys that do not release for a decade or so. Total dedication to how they prefer to make wine. We thought these wines were all waxy and maderized. This almost has some coconut. It is spectacular. Steve has it for a steal. Please suh. May we summoh? Getting mroe of this almost makes us forget the Gros. 12.5%

What a lineup. There were other wines served and will be reviewed (if worthy) in forthcoming posts. These are the Goldun Picks. Stay frosty. A word to the wise is sufficient.

The next wave of New World wine music just broke onshore.

6 Comments

  1. Wavatar
    doctore says:

    –The words he uses to describe wine have not been invented yet
    –Wine pours itself in anticipation of his tasting
    –Wines he considers flawed are immediately sent to a government toxic waste dump.

    • Wavatar
      Bacchus says:

      Nice. Let’s keep this rolling! Meeska?
      — The Costco wine buyer has placed a 24/7 tail on him.
      — The NCAA is investigating him…just because.

  2. Wavatar
    doctore says:

    Robert Parker allows him to use another 20 points.

  3. Wavatar
    Bacchus says:

    — He only rates other raters.
    — Jancis Robinson has him on speed dial but he won’t pick up.
    –He has never been to Paso Robles.

  4. Wavatar
    doctore says:

    White wines have been known to blush to rose in his presence.

  5. Wavatar
    Bob Towers says:

    Eno Fine Wine is cheating me out of $324.40 for wine that I bought between July 12, 2014 and February 23, 2015. I have attempted to contact Steve Goldun by email and by phone numerous times to no avail. The website does not give the address of the business, but I found it via Wine Searcher. I went to the house and no one answered the door. I then left a message on the front porch but was never contacted. DO NOT buy wine from his website.

Got something to add?