TN: The Virtual Tasting #10 (January 28, 2021)

[Jeff Grossman]

attendees: Don & Melissa, Jay, Jeff, Lisa, Scott & Anne-Marie, Seth, Victor; and Jayson

First toast of the evening belongs to Shelly Ayana Rosenberg, born at 7 lb, 1 oz on January 13 10:54pm.

I think she's getting alternating bottles of milk and Cuvee Frederic Emile, but I'm not certain of that.

Tonight's serendipitous theme is "the late 1990s" although not entirely. Onward:

Wine #1: "Smells kinda piney but the palate is softer" -Victor immediately declares; I taste cherry pits, good minerality, not overtly fruity, and a bit of alcoholic spirits so I call Chianti (no); Jay guesses frappato (no); we later confirm that it is indeed a varietal wine from Italy but we get no further... I Fenicotteri (Savino) 2015 Nero d'Avola - 13.5%... I think this is an unusually firm and full, but not forced, wine. Definitely not a little country wine from down the road.

Wine #2: "Rhone syrah!" -Seth, also in the first few moments (yes); "Northern!" -Seth (yes); "Cornas!" -Seth (no); taking a moment, it is slightly old and slightly funky syrah; Jay suggests changing glasses, which I do, and now there is a good dose of tobacco among the old plums and wet sticks; we toss out a few more guesses until Melissa says, "Ogier"... which it is: Wolfsbane Potion: Michel Ogier 1998 Cote-Rotie... the normale, no cuvee designation

Wine #3: "Barbera!" -Jay (yes); we must be gods... when asked, Jay says he knew it because of the lactic nose and strong acidity; I didn't catch that nose but I did see that the wine is very dark and has strong acidity which are characteristics of barbera to me; Scott now challenges us... d'Asti or d'Alba? My turn to say "d'Alba" because the wine is too brambly and rustic to be d'Asti (Scott reminds us that barbera gets prime vineyards in Asti but only second-best or third-best in Alba because they prefer nebbiolo); reveal: Giacomo Conterno 2007 Cascina Francia Barbera d'Alba - 15%... woof, yeah, that and the price is why I stopped drinking this wine back in 1999

Wine #4: Pretty aromas, pretty tannic but not concentrated, flavors of cranberry, seawater, and veal stock, "A hint of eucalyptus" -Anne-Marie; as it airs out the palate gets lighter yet, "Dry, but a sweetness in its nature" -Victor; stump town but we are all surprised and pleased with the reveal: Essence of Dittany: Joel Taluau 1996 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil VV

Wine #5: Stump town again; we are definitely not gods... it's red, the nose has a whiff of something off-putting to me, we triangulate a bit and settle on sangiovese but we never find our way to Emilio-Romagna: Drei Dona (Tenuta La Palazza) 1998 Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore Riserva "Pruno"

Wine #6: medium brown, sweet stuff though not sugary or candied, "It has a tarte tatin quality" -Melissa; we guess Loire but don't quite pin it down to this semi-rare bottling: Acromantula Venom: Chateau Soucherie (Py Tijou) 1997 Coteaux de Layon "Cuvee S"

The final toast of the evening belongs to Francois Pinon, recently passed, a great winemaker and a gregarious, wonderful man.

Wine #7: honey and honeyed, in that Smith Brothers kind of way, tangy and very rich but never quite cloying, merci, Francois: Francois Pinon 1996 Vouvray Moelleux "Premiere Trie"

To read Chris Coad's adventure with Francois Pinon, click here: Traction Avant and buy the merch: shop

 

[Jay Miller]

I can add that the Pinon was still delicious 4 nights later.

Maybe even better though that might have been because I wasn't frazzled and half asleep.

 

[VLM]

Bravo! I still have a few bottles of that Pinon left as well as some of the 2005 Botrytis. I plan to salute Francois for years to come. I used the occasion of the day to order myself a t-shirt too, thanks for the link and reminder.

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

"Joel Taluau 1996 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil VV"

ooh!

Victor should remember this well - last time I had the wine (April of 2018), it was at his place with the person who had inherited the bottle in attendance. Brilliant showing. Wish more wines were that kind of "dry" .

 

[Jayson Cohen]

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
"Joel Taluau 1996 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil VV"

ooh!

Victor should remember this well - last time I had the wine (April of 2018), it was at his place with the person who had inherited the bottle in attendance. Brilliant showing. Wish more wines were that kind of "dry" .

I was there. But I don’t think I was the inheritor. My wife? :)

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The final toast of the evening belongs to Francois Pinon, recently passed, a great winemaker and a gregarious, wonderful man.

To read Chris Coad's adventure with Francois Pinon, click here: Traction Avant and buy the merch: shop

Just used the tote bag to carry home its first magnum! (...alas, not a Pinon wine)

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

Does dittany have a flavor?

I drank my last bottle of '96 Talual several years ago, and it seemed to be still mid-development. Do Loire reds ever die? (The good ones).

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Does dittany have a flavor?

Apparently.

I drank my last bottle of '96 Talual several years ago, and it seemed to be still mid-development. Do Loire reds ever die? (The good ones).

They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

Ah. So they continue to improve ... [insert tongue-in-cheek emoji]

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

Since matter (as opposed to information) cannot return once the event horizon has been crossed, we need to look at various cosmologies for an explanation. Depending on your preference, this Jeff Grossman came from a parallel universe via a wormhole or re-emerged as a result of a time paradox.

Mark Lipton

 

[Steve Edmunds]

TIME HAS COME TODAY!

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

It was a dinner in 2007 at Chateau Belmont, the former 2-star restaurant of Jean Bardet, that convinced me. It's a very long story on its own but in re wine: We chose two wines with dinner:
C. Renault 1964 Saumur Blanc - The vintage is hand-written on the label, what tattered shreds are left of it. Pretty gold color, acidity still holding it together, the demi-sec sweetness is also mostly there. The palate, alas, has lost anything floral and shifted towards stewed plums and black grapes.
Couly-Dutheil 1975 Chinon - Mild bricking. Beautifully resolved and fragrantly fruity when poured into the glass, but heads for 'generic old red' after a few minutes.

originally posted by MLipton:
Since matter (as opposed to information) cannot return once the event horizon has been crossed, we need to look at various cosmologies for an explanation. Depending on your preference, this Jeff Grossman came from a parallel universe via a wormhole or re-emerged as a result of a time paradox.

I prefer to believe that as one Jeff Grossman crosses the boundary incoming there is another crossing that same boundary outgoing. Conservation of Grossmans, you know.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

originally posted by MLipton:

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

Since matter (as opposed to information) cannot return once the event horizon has been crossed, we need to look at various cosmologies for an explanation. Depending on your preference, this Jeff Grossman came from a parallel universe via a wormhole or re-emerged as a result of a time paradox.

Mark Lipton

Although I feel this level of technical detail somewhat has the effect of stepping on Pavel's joke, rather than leveraging it, as we're now inside this (black) rabbit hole, here's an article on recent developments in this field of study, complete with an embedded five-minute video, focusing on those cool-looking jets that shoot out along the axis of rotation.

 

[Jayson Cohen]

originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:

originally posted by MLipton:

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

Since matter (as opposed to information) cannot return once the event horizon has been crossed, we need to look at various cosmologies for an explanation. Depending on your preference, this Jeff Grossman came from a parallel universe via a wormhole or re-emerged as a result of a time paradox.

Mark Lipton

Although I feel this level of technical detail somewhat has the effect of stepping on Pavel's joke, rather than leveraging it, as we're now inside this (black) rabbit hole, here's an article on recent developments in this field of study, complete with an embedded five-minute video, focusing on those cool-looking jets that shoot out along the axis of rotation.

Cool. Although the author must tell me about “photon collisions.” Since he would win the Nobel Prize in doing so, I’m guessing it ain’t gong to happen.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:

originally posted by MLipton:

originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
They drift, eventually, towards 'generic old red' and lose any c.f. or Loire -specific qualities.

OK, so you dumped some cab franc into a black hole. I get it. But how were you able to get close enough to observe the wine's generic properties, and still achieve escape velocity in order to return and post on WD?

Since matter (as opposed to information) cannot return once the event horizon has been crossed, we need to look at various cosmologies for an explanation. Depending on your preference, this Jeff Grossman came from a parallel universe via a wormhole or re-emerged as a result of a time paradox.

Mark Lipton

Although I feel this level of technical detail somewhat has the effect of stepping on Pavel's joke, rather than leveraging it, as we're now inside this (black) rabbit hole, here's an article on recent developments in this field of study, complete with an embedded five-minute video, focusing on those cool-looking jets that shoot out along the axis of rotation.

Most interesting, Ian. Closely related to this is the recent explanation posited for the existence of short, high intensity radio bursts (involving magnetars).

Mark Lipton