Visit to a Shop - quiz (July 2023)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
While looking for other things I stumbled on a tasting of their "Top 12" case of the month. With the coupon, $165, which is a good price.

Here are the wines and my swirl-and-spit impressions. Can you match them up?

1. Bodegas Zarate 2022 Albariño
2. Clos Siguier 2019 Cahors
3. Collestefano 2021 Verdicchio di Matelica
4. Dom. de la Patience 2021 Merlot (Coteaux du Pont du Gard)
5. Dom. du Bel Air 2021 Bourgueil "Jour de Soif"
6. Field Recordings 2021 Pét-Nat Rosé
7. Finca Torremilanos 2020 "Los Cantos" Ribera del Duero
8. Früg 2021 Gruner Veltliner
9. Mas de Gourgonnier 2020 Baux de Provence
10. Ramsay 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon
11. Ravines 2020 Chardonnay, Finger Lakes
12. Sorelle Bronca NV Prosecco Extra Dry

a. meh
b. meh
c. meh
d. eh
e. eh
f. eh
g. too soft, lacks charm
h. sandalwood (so, too much oak) but kinda OK
i. OK
j. juicy and bright
k. typique, nice!
l. salty, zingy

Three out of twelve make nice drinking. Not bad, at the 'Boatloads' price point.

Answer key (highlight the enclosed space):
-- sorted by wine ( 1l 2d 3i 4a 5k 6b 7g 8c 9j 10h 11e 12f )
-- sorted by note ( a4 b6 c8 d2 e11 f12 g7 h10 i3 j9 k5 l1 )
 
Tonight we're having #2, but our bottle also says Les Camille and Vieilles Vignes. Hoping yours was the regular, and this will rate at least a meh+
 
I have the descriptors in goodness order. Eh is better than meh. (Eh means 'nothing special here' while meh means 'really offensively ordinary'.)
 
originally posted by MLipton:
And also, h: oaky but OK [insert appropriate emoticon]

Mark Lipton
Click to expand...

"but OK" presumably because it's sandalwood (cigar box?), which I (you too, Jeff?) have a weakness for.

Only the usual (really offensively ordinary) kind of oak is unbecoming a gentleman.
 
3. Collestefano 2021 Verdicchio di Matelica
l. salty, zingy

5. Dom. du Bel Air 2021 Bourgueil "Jour de Soif"
k. typique, nice!

8. Früg 2021 Gruner Veltliner
j. juicy and bright

11. Ravines 2020 Chardonnay, Finger Lakes
i. OK
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
"but OK" presumably because it's sandalwood (cigar box?), which I (you too, Jeff?) have a weakness for.
Click to expand...
Sandalwood reminds me of incense and sachet. Which are not wine flavors! These are flavors added on top of the wine by the maker.

Not cigar box. My grandfather always had a cigar in his mouth and, as a kid, I played with the boxes, so I know the smell of them intimately. It is a nice smell but it's inextricably mixed with the tobacco smells.

Anyway, sandalwood -- in moderation -- is OK in wine if the grape/blend can work with it. In this case, it's the Cal cab so it works.

Only the usual (really offensively ordinary) kind of oak is unbecoming a gentleman.
Click to expand...
Or a scholar.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
not finding "overrated and overpriced" among the answers had me disoriented too early in the exam hour
Click to expand...
Heh. The store was sufficiently savvy not to indicate points on the blurbs that day. And $165/dozen, even for cooking wine, is fair.

The question is why are these twelve so popular? (...unless this is simply wish fulfillment on their part; I have not seen the data, just sayin')
 
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
3. Collestefano 2021 Verdicchio di Matelica
l. salty, zingy

5. Dom. du Bel Air 2021 Bourgueil "Jour de Soif"
k. typique, nice!

8. Früg 2021 Gruner Veltliner
j. juicy and bright

11. Ravines 2020 Chardonnay, Finger Lakes
i. OK
Click to expand...
Good guesses! You are right about the Bourgueil: it smelled and tasted just like a regular wine from there.

You're also right that the Verdicchio was one of the better ones but it got the i.OK while the salty/zingy went to the Albarino.

Alas, the Frug does not live up to its PR materials. Juicy/bright was the Mas de Gourgonnier.

I was disappointed by the Ravines, but 2020 was a big solar year and that's probably not helping capture my interest.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
"but OK" presumably because it's sandalwood (cigar box?), which I (you too, Jeff?) have a weakness for.
Click to expand...

Sandalwood reminds me of incense and sachet. Which are not wine flavors! These are flavors added on top of the wine by the maker.
Click to expand...

Indeed a superposition and not wine flavors, thus a gaping hole in my conceptual edifice (or conceptual idée fixe).
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
not finding "overrated and overpriced" among the answers had me disoriented too early in the exam hour
Click to expand...
Heh. The store was sufficiently savvy not to indicate points on the blurbs that day. And $165/dozen, even for cooking wine, is fair.

The question is why are these twelve so popular? (...unless this is simply wish fulfillment on their part; I have not seen the data, just sayin')
Click to expand...

heh > eh > meh
 
I'm not sure sandalwood results from some sort of winemaking intervention. The one CdP that consistently showed it years ago was Mourre du Tendre. Until 2013, it was made by Jacques Paumel, who eschewed all modern practices that gained ground in the aughts, from new oak to overripeness (compared to other CdPs,of course). Nor was his cepage mix anything wildly out of the ordinary (90% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre). I don't know where the sandalwood came from.They used ambient yeast (maybe that had evolved a specific subvariety there?). I have to say, it is my only experience with the odor, so maybe we are not talking about the same thing.
 
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