Salil Benegal
Salil Benegal
Kevin Roberts and his wife Kate were in NY for a few days. This meant a jeebus, and Zachary Ross, Jay Miller, Jeff Grossman & I joined them at Szechuan Gourmet for dinner. Fantastic food as always (the potstickers, shredded beef with leek and lamb with cumin were my personal favourites) and a fun lineup of wines with great company.
2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Clos
Fantastic. Fresh red fruits, cassis, leather, herbal elements and savoury earthy and chalky notes combining seamlessly in a very fragrant, polished package with barely any sense of weight. A really great combination with the shredded beef with leeks.
2006 István Szepsy Tokaji Harslevelu
Really interesting to sit down and follow with some time. Starts out with wax-tinged yellow fruited flavours and faintly creamy notes, becomes more aromatic and floral with air.
2004 Domaine Bachelet & fils Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
No signs of the '04 greens here - just fresh, slightly tart cherry and cranberry fruit over savoury earthy flavours on a lightweight frame. It's very young and quite primary, but really great to drink now with a sense of real purity and freshness to the fruit, and really bright, refreshing acidity underneath.
2004 Marcel Juge Cornas Cuvée C
Yikes - what happened here? Fresh red fruits with a strange buttery top note that I wouldn't expect in Cornas. It's quite accessible right now with a polished texture, gentle tannins and bright acids, but seems rather modern in style with the buttery element quite distracting.
2007 Franck Peillot Bugey Mondeuse
Brambly red fruits with a primary, grapey sweetness. Rather one-note right now.
2009 Domaine de Bellivière Pineau d'Aunis Les Giroflées
Delicious; fresh strawberries, raspberries and cream with a gentle peppery seasoning and a touch of back end sweetness. There's plenty of acidity here that keeps it very refreshing and precise, and the gentle sweetness makes it very enjoyable with the food.
2007 Jacques Puffeney Pinot Noir Arbois
Lovely once again. Unique, distinctive Pinot with lovely leathery, spicy and earthy aromatics leading into fresh red fruited flavours; manages to simultaneously convey a sense of rusticity and finessed elegance.
2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese
Another spectacular bottle of one of my favourite wines, showing its usual kaleidoscopic flavour profile of exuberant tropical fruits, florality and herbs with wonderful acidity and balance. Hans-Günter Schwarz was a magician.
2009 Meulenhof Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Another lovely bottle. Classical Mosel fruit, slate and florality with moderate sweetness - there's fantastic clarity and purity here, no sign of botrytis, and bright acidity giving it a sense of real refreshment. I wish there was more Auslese being produced in this style rather than big botrytis bombs. (Aside: $20ish for a 750 ml... I love Meulenhof's pricing.)
2004 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling Spätlese
Very, very young. Really sweet as well, full of ripe yellow fruits, honey and vanilla with decent acidity - a baby right now, but I'd love to check into this after some years once it loses some of its baby fat.
1994 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese
A Hans-Günter Schwarz Rieslaner may be the only thing that can pull my attention away from one of his Scheurebes. This one's spectacular (no surprise) - bright gold in colour and slightly viscous, with a remarkable flavour profile combining caramel, smoky and earthy notes with rich tropical and red fruited flavours. A powerhouse with intense sweetness and richness (probably Beerenauslese in its ripeness), but fantastic balancing acidity and length.
2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Clos
Fantastic. Fresh red fruits, cassis, leather, herbal elements and savoury earthy and chalky notes combining seamlessly in a very fragrant, polished package with barely any sense of weight. A really great combination with the shredded beef with leeks.
2006 István Szepsy Tokaji Harslevelu
Really interesting to sit down and follow with some time. Starts out with wax-tinged yellow fruited flavours and faintly creamy notes, becomes more aromatic and floral with air.
2004 Domaine Bachelet & fils Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
No signs of the '04 greens here - just fresh, slightly tart cherry and cranberry fruit over savoury earthy flavours on a lightweight frame. It's very young and quite primary, but really great to drink now with a sense of real purity and freshness to the fruit, and really bright, refreshing acidity underneath.
2004 Marcel Juge Cornas Cuvée C
Yikes - what happened here? Fresh red fruits with a strange buttery top note that I wouldn't expect in Cornas. It's quite accessible right now with a polished texture, gentle tannins and bright acids, but seems rather modern in style with the buttery element quite distracting.
2007 Franck Peillot Bugey Mondeuse
Brambly red fruits with a primary, grapey sweetness. Rather one-note right now.
2009 Domaine de Bellivière Pineau d'Aunis Les Giroflées
Delicious; fresh strawberries, raspberries and cream with a gentle peppery seasoning and a touch of back end sweetness. There's plenty of acidity here that keeps it very refreshing and precise, and the gentle sweetness makes it very enjoyable with the food.
2007 Jacques Puffeney Pinot Noir Arbois
Lovely once again. Unique, distinctive Pinot with lovely leathery, spicy and earthy aromatics leading into fresh red fruited flavours; manages to simultaneously convey a sense of rusticity and finessed elegance.
2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese
Another spectacular bottle of one of my favourite wines, showing its usual kaleidoscopic flavour profile of exuberant tropical fruits, florality and herbs with wonderful acidity and balance. Hans-Günter Schwarz was a magician.
2009 Meulenhof Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Another lovely bottle. Classical Mosel fruit, slate and florality with moderate sweetness - there's fantastic clarity and purity here, no sign of botrytis, and bright acidity giving it a sense of real refreshment. I wish there was more Auslese being produced in this style rather than big botrytis bombs. (Aside: $20ish for a 750 ml... I love Meulenhof's pricing.)
2004 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling Spätlese
Very, very young. Really sweet as well, full of ripe yellow fruits, honey and vanilla with decent acidity - a baby right now, but I'd love to check into this after some years once it loses some of its baby fat.
1994 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese
A Hans-Günter Schwarz Rieslaner may be the only thing that can pull my attention away from one of his Scheurebes. This one's spectacular (no surprise) - bright gold in colour and slightly viscous, with a remarkable flavour profile combining caramel, smoky and earthy notes with rich tropical and red fruited flavours. A powerhouse with intense sweetness and richness (probably Beerenauslese in its ripeness), but fantastic balancing acidity and length.
