Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don + Melissa, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Lisa, Seth, Victor
Cracking Fusilli in Half
When Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living," did he mean to justify snapping dried spaghetti in half in order to fit it into a small-ish pot of boiling water? He almost certainly intended it in a thoroughgoing way that would include speculations about (and examinations of) daily life. As a Greek he might not be aware of the possible cultural crimes committed by people who investigate this activity. He might focus on the pragmatic aspects or whether to avoid using so much water and salt for one portion. Indeed, we have never heard of anyone cracking fusilli in half, say.
We are an interesting people. Wine geeks, I mean. Some of it is just the whole geek ethos -- anything worth doing is worth beating into the ground several times over -- but it is more charitably associated with Socrates (and Zen masters, for that matter) who can find the joy in any moment.
Don wants his wines served together so we taste half of Jayson's offerings first:
Wine J1: matchsticky nose, a few people immediately ask about Muscadet (which is wrong but prescient), the wine is very tactile: lots of glyceral goodies ("mouth-coating" -Melissa); we like it but, alas, after a desultory guess of chardonnay we are stumped; Jayson says it is not from France which prompts me to ask if it is from the Jura (wasn't listening) and Don to ask if it is from Burgundy (wise guy); but it is actually wine from a moderately chi-chi maker who gets nearly $50 for his acidic seafood-friendly wine: Luis Seabra 2019 Vinho Verde Alvarinho "Granito Cru", 12%
Day 2: still a book of matches, possibly a few of which are already burning; mighty juicy, lemon and lime, quite tart
Day 4: same
Wine J2: this is very very ripe, everyone tastes strawberries and cantaloupe melon, it's very pretty but low-ish acid; Don places it in the Mosel and Jay deems it a kabinett from a ripe vintage; and it is all that; this is the first draw from a half-case that Jayson bought on release and socked away; there is a lot of yum potential here but I usually think of kabinett as more steely than slutty: Willi Schaefer 2007 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett, AP 9, 8%
Day 2: still strawberry, still rather soft, I'd be unhappy if this were my wine
Day 4: same
Now, Don hits for the cycle:
Wine D1: this was sweet once but has gone dry; it's definitely chenin but I also say it isn't Vouvray (which it isn't); we chase up and down the map until somebody thinks of Azay... a-ha!
this is an incredibly complex, densely-flavored, busy wine with tutti-frutti (Jeff), anise and licorice (Jayson), and so much phenolic material; others get more intense fruit than I do: Robert Denis 1995 Touraine Azay-le-Rideau Demisec "Vignes de la Gaillarderie", 12%
Day 2: the nasal onslaught is a little more orderly now, peaches and cement, just-so ripeness and zing, completely fresh, there is chenin weight but not at all cloying, wow (I'm much more impressed today than I was yesterday)
Day 4: The most vinous of the three Denis wines but also showing more fruit and now some ginger-and-spice.
Wine D3: Jay and I hesitate because the nose has a whiff of mold or chlorine; this is a much clearer and simpler palate, more obviously older chenin, does not have the vigorous polyphony of the 1995 but still singing to itself in modest harmonies: Robert Denis 1996 of the same wine, 12%
Day 2: Nose-al impurities have blown off. This is echt old chenin, very reminiscent of other '96 Loire sweeties. This is in excellent shape (good acidity, no oxidation within 50 miles of it) but not so luscious as other old sweeties. Richard Kelley said that Denis bottled early, perhaps he picked a little early, too?
Day 4: About the (marvelous) same
Wine D4: "super juicy!" -Don; indeed this has huge acidity that makes my mouth water and vibrate, "crystalline complexity!" -Jay; beyond the zing this is a very structured wine, not very forward fragrances but long in the mouth: Robert Denis 1997 of the same wine, 12%
Day 2: youthful, the sizzling acidity is a little tamer, this is more like the '95 than it is like the '96, but, if you can believe it, the mid-palate is stronger and the finish is longer, and you'd be hard-pressed to guess the sugar level, amazing
Day 4: color still as light and bright as new wine, but has turned into fruit juice! all fermenty and alcoholic flavors are overrun with yellow-fruit vigor
Ladies and Gents, thus has Don presented for your delight and amazement: a vertical of Robert Denis wines that are ready!
Wine D2: "Much sweeter, much darker" -Jay; this has a honeyed nose and a palate with lots of extract too and also a bit herbal and tannic; the honey-and-herbs thing says Vouvray (and it is), tastes older than the Denis wine; "older and stricter" is the phrase we settle on: Huet 1996 Vouvray Demisec "Clos du Bourg", 12%
Day 2: today, the older-and-stricter thing is dominant: no herbs or honey... there is the scent of clean china, Granny Smith apples, ginger, maybe saffron
Day 4: Yeah, yeah, after four days old chenin comes unglued, got it.
We continue with the other half of Jayson's offerings:
Wine J3: everyone names syrah immediately (although I privately thought it could be gamay); "showing the coffee-grounds side of syrah now" -Jayson; I can glimpse that but there is also a lighter/lifted taste that stands in front and doesn't let the darker-fruited palate come through too much; "a little pale so Cote-Rotie" -Victor (he says in his experience that Hermitage and Cornas are "inky"); we know the wine is young but go berserk trying to guess the vintage... 2017 is neither obviously sweet-n-fruity nor is it structured and classic; Jayson chose this particular wine because Seth has averred that there is a green, off-putting note in the bouquet that troubles him and he does call it out here; after some discussion we think a few of us have also identified what it is but it is not bad to us so it comes down to alleles: Benetiere 2017 Cote-Rotie "Cordeloux", 12.5%
Day 2: 'the roasted slope' is still prominent in the bouquet, still fine but mouth-coating tannins, but this is also getting more complex as the slightly candied element is integrating with the coffee grinds to give me more black cherry and turned earth, this is more like what I want from C-R
Day 4: beautiful
Wine J4: this is *everything* you want a dessert wine to be: sweet but not so much as to rust-out your fillings, shapely acids neither too soft nor too zingy, full aromas and flavors of baked apple, ginger, and clover honey; Lisa nails it, maker, year, and wine! Jayson bought his at one of the recent sales while Lisa was handed hers by Francois Pinon (this visit): Pinon 1996 Vouvray "Cuvee Botrytis", 12.5%
Day 2: that's really pretty, enticingly sweet but not going to wear you out
Final notes:
Were Robert Denis and Gaston Huet contemporaries? Almost: Gaston Huet lived 1910-2002. I don't have birth and death dates for Robert Denis but he made wine at least through 1997, and he looks 60s-ish in the photo (dated 1990) so something like 1928-1998.
Robert Denis had four hectares of vines of which around 25% was dedicated to Grolleau. The harvest was picked by hand and the wines were raised in demi-muids. Denis elected to bottle early, in April, but would only release his wines after a couple of years, or when he considered them ready for drinking. His vines still exist and are now worked by Christophe Verronneau. -- credit to Richard Kelley's site
Good night, folks.
Cracking Fusilli in Half
When Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living," did he mean to justify snapping dried spaghetti in half in order to fit it into a small-ish pot of boiling water? He almost certainly intended it in a thoroughgoing way that would include speculations about (and examinations of) daily life. As a Greek he might not be aware of the possible cultural crimes committed by people who investigate this activity. He might focus on the pragmatic aspects or whether to avoid using so much water and salt for one portion. Indeed, we have never heard of anyone cracking fusilli in half, say.
We are an interesting people. Wine geeks, I mean. Some of it is just the whole geek ethos -- anything worth doing is worth beating into the ground several times over -- but it is more charitably associated with Socrates (and Zen masters, for that matter) who can find the joy in any moment.
Don wants his wines served together so we taste half of Jayson's offerings first:
Wine J1: matchsticky nose, a few people immediately ask about Muscadet (which is wrong but prescient), the wine is very tactile: lots of glyceral goodies ("mouth-coating" -Melissa); we like it but, alas, after a desultory guess of chardonnay we are stumped; Jayson says it is not from France which prompts me to ask if it is from the Jura (wasn't listening) and Don to ask if it is from Burgundy (wise guy); but it is actually wine from a moderately chi-chi maker who gets nearly $50 for his acidic seafood-friendly wine: Luis Seabra 2019 Vinho Verde Alvarinho "Granito Cru", 12%
Day 2: still a book of matches, possibly a few of which are already burning; mighty juicy, lemon and lime, quite tart
Day 4: same
Wine J2: this is very very ripe, everyone tastes strawberries and cantaloupe melon, it's very pretty but low-ish acid; Don places it in the Mosel and Jay deems it a kabinett from a ripe vintage; and it is all that; this is the first draw from a half-case that Jayson bought on release and socked away; there is a lot of yum potential here but I usually think of kabinett as more steely than slutty: Willi Schaefer 2007 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett, AP 9, 8%
Day 2: still strawberry, still rather soft, I'd be unhappy if this were my wine
Day 4: same
Now, Don hits for the cycle:
Wine D1: this was sweet once but has gone dry; it's definitely chenin but I also say it isn't Vouvray (which it isn't); we chase up and down the map until somebody thinks of Azay... a-ha!
this is an incredibly complex, densely-flavored, busy wine with tutti-frutti (Jeff), anise and licorice (Jayson), and so much phenolic material; others get more intense fruit than I do: Robert Denis 1995 Touraine Azay-le-Rideau Demisec "Vignes de la Gaillarderie", 12%
Day 2: the nasal onslaught is a little more orderly now, peaches and cement, just-so ripeness and zing, completely fresh, there is chenin weight but not at all cloying, wow (I'm much more impressed today than I was yesterday)
Day 4: The most vinous of the three Denis wines but also showing more fruit and now some ginger-and-spice.
Wine D3: Jay and I hesitate because the nose has a whiff of mold or chlorine; this is a much clearer and simpler palate, more obviously older chenin, does not have the vigorous polyphony of the 1995 but still singing to itself in modest harmonies: Robert Denis 1996 of the same wine, 12%
Day 2: Nose-al impurities have blown off. This is echt old chenin, very reminiscent of other '96 Loire sweeties. This is in excellent shape (good acidity, no oxidation within 50 miles of it) but not so luscious as other old sweeties. Richard Kelley said that Denis bottled early, perhaps he picked a little early, too?
Day 4: About the (marvelous) same
Wine D4: "super juicy!" -Don; indeed this has huge acidity that makes my mouth water and vibrate, "crystalline complexity!" -Jay; beyond the zing this is a very structured wine, not very forward fragrances but long in the mouth: Robert Denis 1997 of the same wine, 12%
Day 2: youthful, the sizzling acidity is a little tamer, this is more like the '95 than it is like the '96, but, if you can believe it, the mid-palate is stronger and the finish is longer, and you'd be hard-pressed to guess the sugar level, amazing
Day 4: color still as light and bright as new wine, but has turned into fruit juice! all fermenty and alcoholic flavors are overrun with yellow-fruit vigor
Ladies and Gents, thus has Don presented for your delight and amazement: a vertical of Robert Denis wines that are ready!
Wine D2: "Much sweeter, much darker" -Jay; this has a honeyed nose and a palate with lots of extract too and also a bit herbal and tannic; the honey-and-herbs thing says Vouvray (and it is), tastes older than the Denis wine; "older and stricter" is the phrase we settle on: Huet 1996 Vouvray Demisec "Clos du Bourg", 12%
Day 2: today, the older-and-stricter thing is dominant: no herbs or honey... there is the scent of clean china, Granny Smith apples, ginger, maybe saffron
Day 4: Yeah, yeah, after four days old chenin comes unglued, got it.
We continue with the other half of Jayson's offerings:
Wine J3: everyone names syrah immediately (although I privately thought it could be gamay); "showing the coffee-grounds side of syrah now" -Jayson; I can glimpse that but there is also a lighter/lifted taste that stands in front and doesn't let the darker-fruited palate come through too much; "a little pale so Cote-Rotie" -Victor (he says in his experience that Hermitage and Cornas are "inky"); we know the wine is young but go berserk trying to guess the vintage... 2017 is neither obviously sweet-n-fruity nor is it structured and classic; Jayson chose this particular wine because Seth has averred that there is a green, off-putting note in the bouquet that troubles him and he does call it out here; after some discussion we think a few of us have also identified what it is but it is not bad to us so it comes down to alleles: Benetiere 2017 Cote-Rotie "Cordeloux", 12.5%
Day 2: 'the roasted slope' is still prominent in the bouquet, still fine but mouth-coating tannins, but this is also getting more complex as the slightly candied element is integrating with the coffee grinds to give me more black cherry and turned earth, this is more like what I want from C-R
Day 4: beautiful
Wine J4: this is *everything* you want a dessert wine to be: sweet but not so much as to rust-out your fillings, shapely acids neither too soft nor too zingy, full aromas and flavors of baked apple, ginger, and clover honey; Lisa nails it, maker, year, and wine! Jayson bought his at one of the recent sales while Lisa was handed hers by Francois Pinon (this visit): Pinon 1996 Vouvray "Cuvee Botrytis", 12.5%
Day 2: that's really pretty, enticingly sweet but not going to wear you out
Were Robert Denis and Gaston Huet contemporaries? Almost: Gaston Huet lived 1910-2002. I don't have birth and death dates for Robert Denis but he made wine at least through 1997, and he looks 60s-ish in the photo (dated 1990) so something like 1928-1998.
Robert Denis had four hectares of vines of which around 25% was dedicated to Grolleau. The harvest was picked by hand and the wines were raised in demi-muids. Denis elected to bottle early, in April, but would only release his wines after a couple of years, or when he considered them ready for drinking. His vines still exist and are now worked by Christophe Verronneau. -- credit to Richard Kelley's site
Good night, folks.
