Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don & Melissa, Jay, Jeff, Lisa, Scott & Anne-Marie, Seth, Victor
Tonight's episode: Not every wine is a winner.
Wines provided by Victor (x3) and Jay (x5).
By his own admission, Jay sent a corked wine. As we later found out, not just a little corked but Horribly, Horrendously Corked. I'm sure you smelled it last Thursday evening around 7:30pm. That is why Jay sent a fourth red, just in case the first red was, indeed, corked.
Don leads off the evening with, "Jay, shall we start with your second wine?"
He'll be here all week, folks.
But, actually, we start with the whites.
WHITES
Victor's white: Interesting and odd nose: ester-y, slightly cheesey, maybe old Rhone, maybe slightly spoiled, kinda hard to tell. "Banana" -Melissa, "Actually rather lovely" -Jay. We ask the obvious question: "Old World?" (yes). I jokingly suggest, "Mesopotamia?" to which Victor says, "No, but close." And that gave the game away because it could only be Ch. Musar. Reveal: Ch. Musar 2010 Blanc.
Jay's white: "I would call that golden" -Anne-Marie, "Vegetal and tropical at the same time!" -Don, Jay says that was an insightful comment that should give us the cepage (yes, gruner veltliner), but who made it? Jay, innovating again, says it's by a maker he doesn't really care for and this was one last shot. Not Brundlmeyer, not Alzinger, not Nigl, not Jurschitsch (my q), gee, who bottles GV but Jay doesn't really like it? Instead of naming dozens of gv makers we immediately surrender to the odds. Reveal: Weingut Knoll 2001 Ried Loibenberg Gruner Veltliner.
=> Day 3: about the same, its intensity does serve it well at the table
REDS
Jay's #2 (the corked wine): What a pity. Reveal: Clos Roche Blanche 2006 Touraine "Cuvee Cot".
Jay's #5 (a.k.a., The Lord High Substitute): This is rather nice with delicate tannins and mixed red fruit and whiff of turned earth in the distance. It's definitely "Pinot noir" -Victor, apparently not "Burgundy" -Jeff but instead "New World" -Don; while I'm on the anti-roll, it isn't "Oregon" -Jeff but it is "California" -Don. Victor correctly gets the age range (15-20 yrs) but, as there are more than 3 or 4 wineries in California that make pinot noir, we again immediately surrender to the ridiculous odds. Reveal: Arcadian 2001 Pinot Noir "Garys' Vineyard".
=> Day 3: about the same, still a good drop
As a pair:
Victor's #2: This is cab, and has a beautiful, even mesmerizing nose; we chase it back to Pauillac, I guess 1978 (close, it's 1979) but after a few guesses Victor does the reveal. Reveal: Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979 Pauillac.
=> Day 3: there is a raspy note of orange pith in the mid-palate now, adds another nice grace note
Victor's #3: Ugh, another corked wine! Reveal: Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou 1979 St-Julien.
And as a pair:
Jay's #3: Very purple, presumably young, it has a sort of a buttery nose and prominent fruit, it's kinda boring but maybe it's somebody's zinfandel. Before I can swirl and spit, however, others jump on it. "Pepper-licorice" -Anne-Marie, "Syrah" -Scott (yes), "New World garrigue and butterscotch" -Don, "Kinda warm and cinnamon-y" -Jeff, "Hyper-extracted" -Seth, "All the worst qualities" -Victor. Hm. As zinfandel it's blah, as syrah it's terrible. Another Jay experiment, this wine was much touted on some other board, by all the best people, we're told, as being 'like Gonon'. Not. Reveal: Halcon 2019 Syrah "Elevacion".
=> Day 3: about the same, maybe there is a little more bitterness; rumor has it that the other board suggests that we failed to place the wine under a plexiglass pyramid oriented to true north a few days ahead (shame on us!)
Jay's #4: "New sneakers" -Jeff, "Salty" -Don, and yes it is very saline. There is great intensity here as well as very strong acidity, but the mid-palate is kinda thin. It's another New World syrah at 14.4%, we later decide that it's probably recently gone OTH because we discover that the pedigree is impeccable. Reveal: Edmunds St. John 1997 Syrah "Durell Vineyard".
=> Day 3: hm, is this corked?
=> Day 4: no, I don't think so; the mid-palate has come back a bit and, with the good acidity, is kinda OK now
Tonight's episode: Not every wine is a winner.
By his own admission, Jay sent a corked wine. As we later found out, not just a little corked but Horribly, Horrendously Corked. I'm sure you smelled it last Thursday evening around 7:30pm. That is why Jay sent a fourth red, just in case the first red was, indeed, corked.
Don leads off the evening with, "Jay, shall we start with your second wine?"
He'll be here all week, folks.
But, actually, we start with the whites.
WHITES
Victor's white: Interesting and odd nose: ester-y, slightly cheesey, maybe old Rhone, maybe slightly spoiled, kinda hard to tell. "Banana" -Melissa, "Actually rather lovely" -Jay. We ask the obvious question: "Old World?" (yes). I jokingly suggest, "Mesopotamia?" to which Victor says, "No, but close." And that gave the game away because it could only be Ch. Musar. Reveal: Ch. Musar 2010 Blanc.
Jay's white: "I would call that golden" -Anne-Marie, "Vegetal and tropical at the same time!" -Don, Jay says that was an insightful comment that should give us the cepage (yes, gruner veltliner), but who made it? Jay, innovating again, says it's by a maker he doesn't really care for and this was one last shot. Not Brundlmeyer, not Alzinger, not Nigl, not Jurschitsch (my q), gee, who bottles GV but Jay doesn't really like it? Instead of naming dozens of gv makers we immediately surrender to the odds. Reveal: Weingut Knoll 2001 Ried Loibenberg Gruner Veltliner.
=> Day 3: about the same, its intensity does serve it well at the table
REDS
Jay's #2 (the corked wine): What a pity. Reveal: Clos Roche Blanche 2006 Touraine "Cuvee Cot".
Jay's #5 (a.k.a., The Lord High Substitute): This is rather nice with delicate tannins and mixed red fruit and whiff of turned earth in the distance. It's definitely "Pinot noir" -Victor, apparently not "Burgundy" -Jeff but instead "New World" -Don; while I'm on the anti-roll, it isn't "Oregon" -Jeff but it is "California" -Don. Victor correctly gets the age range (15-20 yrs) but, as there are more than 3 or 4 wineries in California that make pinot noir, we again immediately surrender to the ridiculous odds. Reveal: Arcadian 2001 Pinot Noir "Garys' Vineyard".
=> Day 3: about the same, still a good drop
As a pair:
Victor's #2: This is cab, and has a beautiful, even mesmerizing nose; we chase it back to Pauillac, I guess 1978 (close, it's 1979) but after a few guesses Victor does the reveal. Reveal: Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979 Pauillac.
=> Day 3: there is a raspy note of orange pith in the mid-palate now, adds another nice grace note
Victor's #3: Ugh, another corked wine! Reveal: Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou 1979 St-Julien.
And as a pair:
Jay's #3: Very purple, presumably young, it has a sort of a buttery nose and prominent fruit, it's kinda boring but maybe it's somebody's zinfandel. Before I can swirl and spit, however, others jump on it. "Pepper-licorice" -Anne-Marie, "Syrah" -Scott (yes), "New World garrigue and butterscotch" -Don, "Kinda warm and cinnamon-y" -Jeff, "Hyper-extracted" -Seth, "All the worst qualities" -Victor. Hm. As zinfandel it's blah, as syrah it's terrible. Another Jay experiment, this wine was much touted on some other board, by all the best people, we're told, as being 'like Gonon'. Not. Reveal: Halcon 2019 Syrah "Elevacion".
=> Day 3: about the same, maybe there is a little more bitterness; rumor has it that the other board suggests that we failed to place the wine under a plexiglass pyramid oriented to true north a few days ahead (shame on us!)
Jay's #4: "New sneakers" -Jeff, "Salty" -Don, and yes it is very saline. There is great intensity here as well as very strong acidity, but the mid-palate is kinda thin. It's another New World syrah at 14.4%, we later decide that it's probably recently gone OTH because we discover that the pedigree is impeccable. Reveal: Edmunds St. John 1997 Syrah "Durell Vineyard".
=> Day 3: hm, is this corked?
=> Day 4: no, I don't think so; the mid-palate has come back a bit and, with the good acidity, is kinda OK now
