Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don + Melissa, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Lisa, Seth, Victor, with guest visits by Eden, Isabelle, and Adira
Jayson and Lisa pouring. Theme: the Malbec wines of Montenegro.
While Lisa sorts out some tech issues, we start on Jayson's offerings.
First up, the white malbec: "Lemony!" -Don, "Pineapple!" -Melissa, "Very waxy!" -Jay; there is widespread agreement that the wine has vigorous cut and a note of sweet pineapple (Seth later says it turns towards grapefruit with some air); we narrow it down to a US wine, at which point I guess it's sauvignon blanc from the Finger Lakes (wrong grape, right region); some folks love it and some are cool to it but we are all surprised at the reveal: Eminence Road 2018 Chardonnay, Lamb's Quarters Vineyard, 11.6%. Nobody would have picked this out as a chardonnay.
Day 2: about the same, maybe fading a bit now that it is exposed to air
Day 4: hints at beer
Next up, red malbec: Everybody calls out the fruity nose and youthful palate; the texture seems silty to me (unpleasant); Jayson calls out the finish as "grapey"; we were pretty good about guessing that the wine is from the Loire and from there it was easy to call the cepage (cot): La Grange Tiphaine 2019 Cot VV, 14% (real or just ducking the import duties?).
Day 2: still Exuberance-R-Us here
Day 4: drinking beautifully
Lisa has arrived, all caught up on the two beverages above, and now we start on her pours. We drink B before A because that is how the Fates their Gifts allot:
Wine B smells and tastes like a Loire cab franc to me, all dark fruit and a bit of shoe polish, but minus any green flavors (and that will turn out to be significant); anyway, cepage aside, this is a big ol' fruit bomb, a high quality one with "lavender-y aromatics" -Don, and Jay rapidly guesses CRB (correct!) but can't quite get which of the cabernet bottlings; that would be because it's also the cot: Clos Roche Blanche 1999 Touraine "Rouge Cot", 12%.
Day 2: beautiful fruit and composure that comes of age, a little funky however
Day 4: about the same, maybe more fragrant
Onward to the beginning: Wine A is delicious, at least three of us exclaim it practically at the same time; very floral, mid-weight, I get a whiff of chicken broth (yum!), however Jayson is off-put by the smell of dilly oak; I'm not so bothered by it but I agree that the bouquet is way better than the palate; back to the guessing... the wine is French so all the usual US and Spanish dilly oak lovers are out; Lisa says the wine is from the Languedoc and Don eventually names it: Ch. d'Oupia 1999 Minervois "Les Barons", 13%. A terrific vin de garde; hold these for a while longer.
Day 2: this is so yum
Day 4: good to the last drop
At this moment, Jayson and Lisa put on the gloves and, after three grueling rounds, Lisa gets the decision.
Lisa's Wine C is totally corked, old socks, chlorinated pool water, you name it, it's there. Alas, it was: Marechal 1999 Savigny-les-Beaunes VV
Wine D is lovely, another mid-weight wine with bright cherry flavors, Don immediately calls it for 1999 (he's caught on to Lisa's theme), and we pretty quickly guess the cepage (first guess: gamay, second guess: pinot noir) and, from that, that it's Burgundy; but where and who? We think it's Cote de Beaune but that's totally a guess. Lisa now reveals that her theme tonight was red wines of 1999 that were imported by Louis/Dressner. Nice but doesn't actually help us because we can't think of many Burgundy producers that LDM brought in... yeah, Marechal, one vintage of Fourrier, a vintage or two of Pavelot, and, um, er, ahem... so the reveal: Dom. Legros 1999 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er "Clos Sorbe", 13.5%.
Day 2: the cherries are fading
We continue now with Jayson's remaining two wines.
Wine 3 smells like Bordeaux (and it is); "Savory" -Jay, "Salty" -Don, "More red fruit than black fruit" -Jeff; Jay picks it as Right Bank and I pick it as Saint-Emilion (via faulty logic but it's what's in the guess, amirite?) and Jay sews it up as Ch. Magdelaine, though we do not guess the vintage: Ch. Magdelaine 1985 St-Emilion GC, 12.6%. This is drinking beautifully, at peak, and Jayson says that an hour of air will release more fruit on the palate.
Day 2: whatever the grown-up word for "yum" is... and I've done my bit for note-taking, I'm finishing this now
Finally, weighing in at 8.5%, we have Wine 4: "Gorgeous" -Jay, sweet, crisp, everyone loves it, it even receives the Arnold Seal of Approval; riesling, of course, German (yes), "Creamy" -Don, "A hint of petrol" -Seth, discussion is that the wine shows signs of maturity which in small doses, as here, add the petrol and cream and weight and serenity to the wine, but which in larger proportion would tend to make the wine generic and simply old; in a few minutes, Seth guesses Ludes (he's familiar with Jayson's recent purchases): Weingut Hermann Ludes 1994 Klusserather Bruderschaft Riesling Auslese, 3 560 027 4 96. "Really ripe stone fruit thing" -Jayson, the wine shows great intensity of peach and apricot but is hardly sweet at all, Jayson says this is an auslese with only 40g RS.
As always, great to see everyone, share some time and some wine.
Jayson and Lisa pouring. Theme: the Malbec wines of Montenegro.
While Lisa sorts out some tech issues, we start on Jayson's offerings.
First up, the white malbec: "Lemony!" -Don, "Pineapple!" -Melissa, "Very waxy!" -Jay; there is widespread agreement that the wine has vigorous cut and a note of sweet pineapple (Seth later says it turns towards grapefruit with some air); we narrow it down to a US wine, at which point I guess it's sauvignon blanc from the Finger Lakes (wrong grape, right region); some folks love it and some are cool to it but we are all surprised at the reveal: Eminence Road 2018 Chardonnay, Lamb's Quarters Vineyard, 11.6%. Nobody would have picked this out as a chardonnay.
Day 2: about the same, maybe fading a bit now that it is exposed to air
Day 4: hints at beer
Next up, red malbec: Everybody calls out the fruity nose and youthful palate; the texture seems silty to me (unpleasant); Jayson calls out the finish as "grapey"; we were pretty good about guessing that the wine is from the Loire and from there it was easy to call the cepage (cot): La Grange Tiphaine 2019 Cot VV, 14% (real or just ducking the import duties?).
Day 2: still Exuberance-R-Us here
Day 4: drinking beautifully
Lisa has arrived, all caught up on the two beverages above, and now we start on her pours. We drink B before A because that is how the Fates their Gifts allot:
Wine B smells and tastes like a Loire cab franc to me, all dark fruit and a bit of shoe polish, but minus any green flavors (and that will turn out to be significant); anyway, cepage aside, this is a big ol' fruit bomb, a high quality one with "lavender-y aromatics" -Don, and Jay rapidly guesses CRB (correct!) but can't quite get which of the cabernet bottlings; that would be because it's also the cot: Clos Roche Blanche 1999 Touraine "Rouge Cot", 12%.
Day 2: beautiful fruit and composure that comes of age, a little funky however
Day 4: about the same, maybe more fragrant
Onward to the beginning: Wine A is delicious, at least three of us exclaim it practically at the same time; very floral, mid-weight, I get a whiff of chicken broth (yum!), however Jayson is off-put by the smell of dilly oak; I'm not so bothered by it but I agree that the bouquet is way better than the palate; back to the guessing... the wine is French so all the usual US and Spanish dilly oak lovers are out; Lisa says the wine is from the Languedoc and Don eventually names it: Ch. d'Oupia 1999 Minervois "Les Barons", 13%. A terrific vin de garde; hold these for a while longer.
Day 2: this is so yum
Day 4: good to the last drop
At this moment, Jayson and Lisa put on the gloves and, after three grueling rounds, Lisa gets the decision.
Lisa's Wine C is totally corked, old socks, chlorinated pool water, you name it, it's there. Alas, it was: Marechal 1999 Savigny-les-Beaunes VV
Wine D is lovely, another mid-weight wine with bright cherry flavors, Don immediately calls it for 1999 (he's caught on to Lisa's theme), and we pretty quickly guess the cepage (first guess: gamay, second guess: pinot noir) and, from that, that it's Burgundy; but where and who? We think it's Cote de Beaune but that's totally a guess. Lisa now reveals that her theme tonight was red wines of 1999 that were imported by Louis/Dressner. Nice but doesn't actually help us because we can't think of many Burgundy producers that LDM brought in... yeah, Marechal, one vintage of Fourrier, a vintage or two of Pavelot, and, um, er, ahem... so the reveal: Dom. Legros 1999 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er "Clos Sorbe", 13.5%.
Day 2: the cherries are fading
We continue now with Jayson's remaining two wines.
Wine 3 smells like Bordeaux (and it is); "Savory" -Jay, "Salty" -Don, "More red fruit than black fruit" -Jeff; Jay picks it as Right Bank and I pick it as Saint-Emilion (via faulty logic but it's what's in the guess, amirite?) and Jay sews it up as Ch. Magdelaine, though we do not guess the vintage: Ch. Magdelaine 1985 St-Emilion GC, 12.6%. This is drinking beautifully, at peak, and Jayson says that an hour of air will release more fruit on the palate.
Day 2: whatever the grown-up word for "yum" is... and I've done my bit for note-taking, I'm finishing this now
Finally, weighing in at 8.5%, we have Wine 4: "Gorgeous" -Jay, sweet, crisp, everyone loves it, it even receives the Arnold Seal of Approval; riesling, of course, German (yes), "Creamy" -Don, "A hint of petrol" -Seth, discussion is that the wine shows signs of maturity which in small doses, as here, add the petrol and cream and weight and serenity to the wine, but which in larger proportion would tend to make the wine generic and simply old; in a few minutes, Seth guesses Ludes (he's familiar with Jayson's recent purchases): Weingut Hermann Ludes 1994 Klusserather Bruderschaft Riesling Auslese, 3 560 027 4 96. "Really ripe stone fruit thing" -Jayson, the wine shows great intensity of peach and apricot but is hardly sweet at all, Jayson says this is an auslese with only 40g RS.
As always, great to see everyone, share some time and some wine.