Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don + Melissa, Eden + Scott, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Seth
Lisa lost a filling and, alas, today is the day to put it back in... alcohol and novocaine are not a good mix. Victor is on Grandpa duty, I think. So we've empaneled Eden and Scott to join us.
Don and Jayson pouring.
--
Don 1
Day 1: "Chenin!" -Jayson, "Pretty tart in the finish..." -Jeff, "...and it's rounded out from this morning" -Don, doesn't really taste like any of the wines we usually drink so Jayson guesses (successfully) that the wine is from Touraine, most of us get the citrussy twang of it but a few get old tomato
Day 2: it's got that wooly chenin nose in spades but the sweet/glyceral promise is not fulfilled in the mouth: it's just a little too tart, surprisingly dry, just a bit thin... it's not bad but it's not too attractive, either; Seth and Jayson both think it has improved quite a lot
Day 3: no change
reveal: Domaine Huet 1980 Vouvray "Le Haut-Lieu" "Vin de Glace" - 12%
From Richard Kelley:
A dreadful vintage with six weeks of rain leading up to the harvest. A small crop of very high acid wines capable of producing only sec and a little demi-sec. The harvest was very late; between the 3rd and 16th November. One wine designated vin de glace was picked in the snow on the 11th November and bottled separately, although don't be confused by the 'ice wine' designation. No sparkling wines this year either.
-Le Haut Lieu 'Vin de Glace'
-Le Clos du Bourg Sec
-Le Mont Demi-Sec
--
Don 2
Day 1: "Smells like ketchup" -Seth, "Now that you say that..." -Eden, but group response is divergent here, too: Jayson and I get flowers; all agree the palate is soft, and the whole effect of the wine is very gentle, like, say, it's fading away; the cepage on this wine is nuts: on sight it's just white wine color with a bare hint of bronze, it isn't this or that or the other... eventually, Don gives in and tells us it is a blancs de noir of gamay and grolleau -- that's how bad things were
Day 2: in the nose, I am reminded of my grandfather, who smoked cigars all the time so not only did he smell like tobacco leaf but, as a child, I would be given the empty cigar boxes to play with and, of course, the paper lining holds the fragrance a long time; in the mouth, it's pretty ordinary -- though I suppose an ordinary wine was an accomplishment in that vintage
Day 3: no change
reveal: Le Clos de Tue-Boeuf 2013 Vin de France Rose - 9.5%, discussed by SFJoe here
From the Wine Spectator website:
"The winter heading in to 2013 was long and lingered into spring. It was one of the latest starts of the growing season in years. Vintners battled rain and rot into June. July, August and part of September were dry but not very hot, making ripening difficult. Rains in September and October forced many vignerons to make the difficult decision of risking rot while waiting for full maturity."
--
Jayson 1
Day 1: off-dry but reticent (if not downright recalcitrant), "Rich body" -Don, "I like the texture" -Jayson, eventually we place it as a feinherb from the Mosel but we can't go any further; this is a Source Material import
Day 2: nose still shy but the palate is blooming: green grapes and apricot pits and maybe a touch of redfruit, just tangy enough to make me salivate, slate in the finish (which is long), good potential here, just needs to come out of its shell
Day 3: getting a little salty/savory quality, this would probably keep improving if I had any left
reveal: Wolfram Stempel 2020 "MHF" (Maringer Honigberg Feinherb) - 10.5%, 15 g/l
--
Jayson 2
Day 1: We start completely adrift ("Italian?" -Jeff, "Sauvignon Blanc?" -Eden, "Riesling?" -Jay) but eventually find our way to chardonnay, Burgundy, and Puligny; "Lemon and butter! I want to dip my lobster in it!" -Melissa, Thomas Morey is a son of Bernard Morey, whose wines were much revered
Day 2: underbrush, a bit of smoke, and dark earth, still a bit of sweetened lemon in there, long and stony finish, Lord knows I am no fan of White Burgundy but this is really nice
Day 3: still good
reveal: Thomas Morey 2020 Puligny Montrachet 1er "La Truffiere"
--
Don 3
Day 1: this is cab franc, "And spirity cherries" -Jeff, "Oak, lead, and cherries" -Eden, smoke, violets, wet leaves... Jay guesses '79 Olga which is a great guess, but this is the '87 "a good wine that almost happened" -Don
Day 2: kinda pale color and no vigorous thrust but this is a nice wine, it enters, lingers, and exits very clean and smooth, a wisp of lemon and tobacco and shoe polish on top of the cherries, happy to have this in my glass
Day 3: fading
reveal: Olga Raffault 1987 Chinon "Les Picasses" - 12.5%
From "Chinon" by François Midavaine, 1995:
September started great. Two degree gain in one week. Pretty high yields. Then rain during the harvest especially at the end of it. No rot. Friendly, pretty wines were made.
--
Jayson 3
Day 1: prompted by a note from FL Jim; dark, purply, opaque, "Smoky" -Jeff, "Cherry pie" -Melissa (I think someone is hungry for cherry pie tonight), there is a faint lactic note on the nose, probably a leftover from malo but Jay is very off-put by it; several people guess barbera because of the vivid acidity and weighty texture but this is gamay, very young gamay
Day 2: singing fortissimo, the lactic note is stronger, the red fruit-basket is stronger, palate presence and retro-nasals are more vivid, low tannins (as you'd expect) and juicy without being tangy, this will be a heckuva wine in a few years
Day 3: no change
reveal: Louis Claude Desvignes 2020 Morgon "Javernieres"
--
Jayson 4
Day 1: let me guess... vintage 2020!; another substantial wine, Jayson thinks the nose is showing typique but the palate is not... hm...; a couple of us think this is Rhone syrah because of a substantial palate and dark color but, no, it's Burgundy; we luck into placing it in the Cotes de Beaune but then all our guesses are northern or central AOCs when this is actually from about as far south as it is possible to go! (map of Cotes de Beaune, map of Santenay)
Day 2: pronounced legs in the glass, nose smells a little more like Burgundy (or else I'm a little more afflicted with confirmation bias), also strong wine on the palate, though kinda like a chewing gum flavor (a hint of candied red fruit now?), also graham crackers; good fruit intensity but not a ravishing beauty, mind you I'm not spilling it out
reveal: Thomas Morey 2020 Santenay 1er "Grand Clos Rousseau"
--
Don 4
Day 1: "Pear" -Melissa, Jeff, and Eden; chenin for sure, baking spices, acidity is fairly soft, "Pinon" -Jay, who continues, "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Cuvee Novembre", Don replies "Yes, what year?", Jay: "2003". OMG. (As it happens, that's the only vintage of the wine that Jay knows but there have been several others before then, at least '95 and '02.)
Day 2: a fuzzy-warm memory of a great sweet wine, so rounded, so pure, honey and twigs
Day 3: fading
reveal: Francois Pinon 2003 Vouvray Moelleux "Cuvee de Novembre" - 12%
From Richard Kelley:
This was the super hot summer with the August heatwave. It was the earliest vouvray harvest in 120 years, since 1893. Huet started picking on September 14th.
--
Jayson's theme was 'vintage 2020', as you may have already noticed. Excellent selections.
Don's theme was 'Loire wines from difficult vintages', with a sub-theme of 'Vouvrays harvested in November'. There's no edition like erudition.
Pix:
As always, great fun to chat with everyone.
Lisa lost a filling and, alas, today is the day to put it back in... alcohol and novocaine are not a good mix. Victor is on Grandpa duty, I think. So we've empaneled Eden and Scott to join us.
Don and Jayson pouring.
--
Don 1
Day 1: "Chenin!" -Jayson, "Pretty tart in the finish..." -Jeff, "...and it's rounded out from this morning" -Don, doesn't really taste like any of the wines we usually drink so Jayson guesses (successfully) that the wine is from Touraine, most of us get the citrussy twang of it but a few get old tomato
Day 2: it's got that wooly chenin nose in spades but the sweet/glyceral promise is not fulfilled in the mouth: it's just a little too tart, surprisingly dry, just a bit thin... it's not bad but it's not too attractive, either; Seth and Jayson both think it has improved quite a lot
Day 3: no change
reveal: Domaine Huet 1980 Vouvray "Le Haut-Lieu" "Vin de Glace" - 12%
From Richard Kelley:
A dreadful vintage with six weeks of rain leading up to the harvest. A small crop of very high acid wines capable of producing only sec and a little demi-sec. The harvest was very late; between the 3rd and 16th November. One wine designated vin de glace was picked in the snow on the 11th November and bottled separately, although don't be confused by the 'ice wine' designation. No sparkling wines this year either.
-Le Haut Lieu 'Vin de Glace'
-Le Clos du Bourg Sec
-Le Mont Demi-Sec
--
Don 2
Day 1: "Smells like ketchup" -Seth, "Now that you say that..." -Eden, but group response is divergent here, too: Jayson and I get flowers; all agree the palate is soft, and the whole effect of the wine is very gentle, like, say, it's fading away; the cepage on this wine is nuts: on sight it's just white wine color with a bare hint of bronze, it isn't this or that or the other... eventually, Don gives in and tells us it is a blancs de noir of gamay and grolleau -- that's how bad things were
Day 2: in the nose, I am reminded of my grandfather, who smoked cigars all the time so not only did he smell like tobacco leaf but, as a child, I would be given the empty cigar boxes to play with and, of course, the paper lining holds the fragrance a long time; in the mouth, it's pretty ordinary -- though I suppose an ordinary wine was an accomplishment in that vintage
Day 3: no change
reveal: Le Clos de Tue-Boeuf 2013 Vin de France Rose - 9.5%, discussed by SFJoe here
From the Wine Spectator website:
"The winter heading in to 2013 was long and lingered into spring. It was one of the latest starts of the growing season in years. Vintners battled rain and rot into June. July, August and part of September were dry but not very hot, making ripening difficult. Rains in September and October forced many vignerons to make the difficult decision of risking rot while waiting for full maturity."
--
Jayson 1
Day 1: off-dry but reticent (if not downright recalcitrant), "Rich body" -Don, "I like the texture" -Jayson, eventually we place it as a feinherb from the Mosel but we can't go any further; this is a Source Material import
Day 2: nose still shy but the palate is blooming: green grapes and apricot pits and maybe a touch of redfruit, just tangy enough to make me salivate, slate in the finish (which is long), good potential here, just needs to come out of its shell
Day 3: getting a little salty/savory quality, this would probably keep improving if I had any left
reveal: Wolfram Stempel 2020 "MHF" (Maringer Honigberg Feinherb) - 10.5%, 15 g/l
--
Jayson 2
Day 1: We start completely adrift ("Italian?" -Jeff, "Sauvignon Blanc?" -Eden, "Riesling?" -Jay) but eventually find our way to chardonnay, Burgundy, and Puligny; "Lemon and butter! I want to dip my lobster in it!" -Melissa, Thomas Morey is a son of Bernard Morey, whose wines were much revered
Day 2: underbrush, a bit of smoke, and dark earth, still a bit of sweetened lemon in there, long and stony finish, Lord knows I am no fan of White Burgundy but this is really nice
Day 3: still good
reveal: Thomas Morey 2020 Puligny Montrachet 1er "La Truffiere"
--
Don 3
Day 1: this is cab franc, "And spirity cherries" -Jeff, "Oak, lead, and cherries" -Eden, smoke, violets, wet leaves... Jay guesses '79 Olga which is a great guess, but this is the '87 "a good wine that almost happened" -Don
Day 2: kinda pale color and no vigorous thrust but this is a nice wine, it enters, lingers, and exits very clean and smooth, a wisp of lemon and tobacco and shoe polish on top of the cherries, happy to have this in my glass
Day 3: fading
reveal: Olga Raffault 1987 Chinon "Les Picasses" - 12.5%
From "Chinon" by François Midavaine, 1995:
September started great. Two degree gain in one week. Pretty high yields. Then rain during the harvest especially at the end of it. No rot. Friendly, pretty wines were made.
--
Jayson 3
Day 1: prompted by a note from FL Jim; dark, purply, opaque, "Smoky" -Jeff, "Cherry pie" -Melissa (I think someone is hungry for cherry pie tonight), there is a faint lactic note on the nose, probably a leftover from malo but Jay is very off-put by it; several people guess barbera because of the vivid acidity and weighty texture but this is gamay, very young gamay
Day 2: singing fortissimo, the lactic note is stronger, the red fruit-basket is stronger, palate presence and retro-nasals are more vivid, low tannins (as you'd expect) and juicy without being tangy, this will be a heckuva wine in a few years
Day 3: no change
reveal: Louis Claude Desvignes 2020 Morgon "Javernieres"
--
Jayson 4
Day 1: let me guess... vintage 2020!; another substantial wine, Jayson thinks the nose is showing typique but the palate is not... hm...; a couple of us think this is Rhone syrah because of a substantial palate and dark color but, no, it's Burgundy; we luck into placing it in the Cotes de Beaune but then all our guesses are northern or central AOCs when this is actually from about as far south as it is possible to go! (map of Cotes de Beaune, map of Santenay)
Day 2: pronounced legs in the glass, nose smells a little more like Burgundy (or else I'm a little more afflicted with confirmation bias), also strong wine on the palate, though kinda like a chewing gum flavor (a hint of candied red fruit now?), also graham crackers; good fruit intensity but not a ravishing beauty, mind you I'm not spilling it out
reveal: Thomas Morey 2020 Santenay 1er "Grand Clos Rousseau"
--
Don 4
Day 1: "Pear" -Melissa, Jeff, and Eden; chenin for sure, baking spices, acidity is fairly soft, "Pinon" -Jay, who continues, "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Cuvee Novembre", Don replies "Yes, what year?", Jay: "2003". OMG. (As it happens, that's the only vintage of the wine that Jay knows but there have been several others before then, at least '95 and '02.)
Day 2: a fuzzy-warm memory of a great sweet wine, so rounded, so pure, honey and twigs
Day 3: fading
reveal: Francois Pinon 2003 Vouvray Moelleux "Cuvee de Novembre" - 12%
From Richard Kelley:
This was the super hot summer with the August heatwave. It was the earliest vouvray harvest in 120 years, since 1893. Huet started picking on September 14th.
--
Jayson's theme was 'vintage 2020', as you may have already noticed. Excellent selections.
Don's theme was 'Loire wines from difficult vintages', with a sub-theme of 'Vouvrays harvested in November'. There's no edition like erudition.
Pix:
As always, great fun to chat with everyone.