Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Mark Lipton, Rahsaan, Don + Melissa, Jay + Arnold, Jeff
The Professor is in town to professionally opine. But that's tomorrow. So, tonight he Jeebs.
A nice crowd gathers at Salt + Ginger, a Shanghainese restaurant in Jersey City, not too far from the digs of the inestimable Jay Miller. We are given a long table along the long wall, smiles from the staff -- well, except for the very serious man who showed, cut, and served the Beggar's Chicken.
It is a great pleasure to share a table again with Mark and Rahsaan, and also to see both Arnold and Melissa in person! Conversation dives deep into work topics -- we're all so very interesting! -- and an update on Mark's vineyard.
We order a panoply of dishes: the aforementioned Beggar's Chicken (a whole chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and wrapped again in dough), wine-soaked chicken, soy sauce cooked chicken legs, roast quail, garlic noodles, eggplant and green beans, bean sprouts and pickled vegetables, mapo tofu, sea bass blossom, 13-spice shrimp, and two desserts, pumpkin sticky rice and, ahem, the other one.
Shanghai cuisine has a reputation for slightly sweet preps but I did not think that was especially in evidence tonight. In fact, the foods were all very well-behaved, from a wine vantage: a not-at-all hot mapo tofu, plain roasts or fried foods, many things tangy but not sharp, with only the 13-spice shrimp making a powerful impact.
And Bacchus' Chinese avatar (whichever of the half-dozen I found) was kind to us, too:
The Marigny 2020 Piquette - 4.2%, a "wine-like beverage" with a long history, this is what you get when you run water through pomace; this one is from pinot noir, very fizzy, dry, smells of roses, the palate is watery all right but it might be really good over ice on a hot day or maybe ginned-up like sant'gria
Rollin 2010 Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc 1er "Sous Fretille" - a Jay Miller Standard Offering (JMSO™), good acidity, good freshness, long and subtle, another excellent bottle of this (and you all know white Burgundy is not my thing)
Falkenstein 2020 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Spatlese "Mammen" - AP 13 (3 525 672 13 21), 8%, colorless, pretty and long but a bit diffuse and not intensely present, flowery and slightly tart, maybe wait a bit before pulling the next one so it has time to wake up
Day 3: it's awake now, still fresh and zippy, good ripeness (think: clementines) with just enough sweetness to make it 'bendable' in the mouth (instead of crackling-crisp like a Kabinett), clings to your tongue a while but still not really long on the finish
Meulenhof (Justen) 2019 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese "Alte Reben" - AP 2 582 038 11 20, 10%, this one, on the other hand, is raring to go: pale gold color, wow intensity, warm and full, maybe even plush, the red slate soils are being very kind to these old vines, continues amazing all evening
Joly 1996 Savennieres "Coulee de Serrant" - 14%, last of Don's stash (which he said showed about half good bottles and half meh), this is a good one: clean, full, complex, showing a little age, yellow fruit and rocks in abundance
Amirault 1996 Bourgueil "Le Petit Cave" - 12%, one of their better vineyards but I tasted a typical dirty Loire cab franc, others like it more than I did
Ch. Rauzan-Segla 1988 Margaux - 12.5%, another JMSO™, this is another great bottle, lemony-blackberry fruit and turned earth, outstanding with the various roast birds
Day 3: still good, maybe vaguely school-paste-y or is that just cab franc?, in any case it's sturdy yummy stuff
Edmunds St. John 2012 Syrah, Fenaughty Vyd - 14.1%, very syrah, just slightly sweet, lots of stuffing and also very glyceral, wow wine
Day 3: how can this still show so powerfully? and so pure? there's still moss-covered rocks and running river-water and wet earth and cranberry sauce, the touch of sweetness is less visible now
Maximin Grunhauser 1999 Abtsberg Riesling Auslese - AP 3 536 014 7 00, 7.5%, juicy but mild on the palate, only delicately sweet, attractive wine from a so-so year
Falkenstein 2015 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Auslese - AP 3 525 672 5 16, 7%, sharper than the Grunhauser, cool and slightly licoricey, also not too sweet
After a few hours at the table it appeared that a few hours had passed. The restaurant did not offer fortune cookies, which is for the best really. However, as Jay had an over-supply of homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies, we did each leave the jeebus with a goodie bag. (They were very good!)
Till the next time.
The Professor is in town to professionally opine. But that's tomorrow. So, tonight he Jeebs.
A nice crowd gathers at Salt + Ginger, a Shanghainese restaurant in Jersey City, not too far from the digs of the inestimable Jay Miller. We are given a long table along the long wall, smiles from the staff -- well, except for the very serious man who showed, cut, and served the Beggar's Chicken.
It is a great pleasure to share a table again with Mark and Rahsaan, and also to see both Arnold and Melissa in person! Conversation dives deep into work topics -- we're all so very interesting! -- and an update on Mark's vineyard.
We order a panoply of dishes: the aforementioned Beggar's Chicken (a whole chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and wrapped again in dough), wine-soaked chicken, soy sauce cooked chicken legs, roast quail, garlic noodles, eggplant and green beans, bean sprouts and pickled vegetables, mapo tofu, sea bass blossom, 13-spice shrimp, and two desserts, pumpkin sticky rice and, ahem, the other one.
Shanghai cuisine has a reputation for slightly sweet preps but I did not think that was especially in evidence tonight. In fact, the foods were all very well-behaved, from a wine vantage: a not-at-all hot mapo tofu, plain roasts or fried foods, many things tangy but not sharp, with only the 13-spice shrimp making a powerful impact.
And Bacchus' Chinese avatar (whichever of the half-dozen I found) was kind to us, too:
The Marigny 2020 Piquette - 4.2%, a "wine-like beverage" with a long history, this is what you get when you run water through pomace; this one is from pinot noir, very fizzy, dry, smells of roses, the palate is watery all right but it might be really good over ice on a hot day or maybe ginned-up like sant'gria
Rollin 2010 Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc 1er "Sous Fretille" - a Jay Miller Standard Offering (JMSO™), good acidity, good freshness, long and subtle, another excellent bottle of this (and you all know white Burgundy is not my thing)
Falkenstein 2020 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Spatlese "Mammen" - AP 13 (3 525 672 13 21), 8%, colorless, pretty and long but a bit diffuse and not intensely present, flowery and slightly tart, maybe wait a bit before pulling the next one so it has time to wake up
Day 3: it's awake now, still fresh and zippy, good ripeness (think: clementines) with just enough sweetness to make it 'bendable' in the mouth (instead of crackling-crisp like a Kabinett), clings to your tongue a while but still not really long on the finish
Meulenhof (Justen) 2019 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese "Alte Reben" - AP 2 582 038 11 20, 10%, this one, on the other hand, is raring to go: pale gold color, wow intensity, warm and full, maybe even plush, the red slate soils are being very kind to these old vines, continues amazing all evening
Joly 1996 Savennieres "Coulee de Serrant" - 14%, last of Don's stash (which he said showed about half good bottles and half meh), this is a good one: clean, full, complex, showing a little age, yellow fruit and rocks in abundance
Amirault 1996 Bourgueil "Le Petit Cave" - 12%, one of their better vineyards but I tasted a typical dirty Loire cab franc, others like it more than I did
Ch. Rauzan-Segla 1988 Margaux - 12.5%, another JMSO™, this is another great bottle, lemony-blackberry fruit and turned earth, outstanding with the various roast birds
Day 3: still good, maybe vaguely school-paste-y or is that just cab franc?, in any case it's sturdy yummy stuff
Edmunds St. John 2012 Syrah, Fenaughty Vyd - 14.1%, very syrah, just slightly sweet, lots of stuffing and also very glyceral, wow wine
Day 3: how can this still show so powerfully? and so pure? there's still moss-covered rocks and running river-water and wet earth and cranberry sauce, the touch of sweetness is less visible now
Maximin Grunhauser 1999 Abtsberg Riesling Auslese - AP 3 536 014 7 00, 7.5%, juicy but mild on the palate, only delicately sweet, attractive wine from a so-so year
Falkenstein 2015 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Auslese - AP 3 525 672 5 16, 7%, sharper than the Grunhauser, cool and slightly licoricey, also not too sweet
After a few hours at the table it appeared that a few hours had passed. The restaurant did not offer fortune cookies, which is for the best really. However, as Jay had an over-supply of homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies, we did each leave the jeebus with a goodie bag. (They were very good!)
Till the next time.
