TN: Glass After Glass (May 9, 2024)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
attendees: Brad, Don, Jay, Jayson, Jeff

Ah, the hazards of decor came home to roost at Brad's recently. A glass shelf filled with cups, glasses, and bowls came off its pegs and sent all of them, and the shelf below them, crashing to the kitchen floor. Kitchen floors are not soft, you know. Shards everywhere. Big ones, little ones, sharp ones, lots of them.

Fortunately, Brad had not started cooking yet.

By the time we arrive, the mess was largely vacuumed-up and swept aside, and yummy cooking was proceeding as always. Tonight's menu:
- shrimp with garlic and ancho powder
- Brad's famous roast chicken (lots of it)
- a huge green salad with lots of chopped vegs
- a cheese plate (Mt. Tam, Harbison, two more)
- ...and dessert from an Italian bakery: pistachio cream-filled bomboloni, pastry cream-filled croissant, and a chocolate-dipped spiral croissant

The five of us managed to find our way into a dozen-plus bottles, too:

Delaille 2022 VdF "le Petit Salvard" - sauvignon blanc from the Loire, fairly typique, ripe enough to say 'clementines' but lightweight at 12.5%, good for a $20 bottle

Thomas-Labaille 2022 Sancerre "Chavignol" "Les Monts Damnes" "Cuvee Buster" - very substantial mouthfeel, chalk and minerals, much less ripe than the Delaille, excellent, I really should buy this more often

Roche Bleue 2022 Coteaux du Loir "La Belle D'Aunis" - 13%, rather dark but still typique aromas and flavors, dusky and dusty, nearly strawberry, good

Clos Roche Blanche 2013 Touraine "Cuvee Gamay" - 12%, still amazingly youthful, granite?, dark berries, so good

Edmunds St. John 2017 "El Jaleo" - grenache-forward tonight AND some diacetyl, not the best showing

Daniel Bouland 2018 Morgon "Les Delys" - 14%, very yummy, mid-weight, a little hot but really nice to consume

Extra Dimensional Blah Blah Blah 2023 "Summer-Salters III" Rose - good pinky fruit (the website says mourvedre, primitivo, and barbera), rather sharp but good to drink

Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste 1998 Pauillac - 13%, that's rocky, tannins fairly delicate, mulberry and black raspberry, very yum

Carmarans 2022 "Mauvais Temps" - ain't kidding... corked

Paul Anheuser 1996 Kreuznacher Kahlenberg Riesling Spatlese - 7 710 007 022 97, yeah it's sweet but lacks structure

Foreau 2015 Vouvray Moelleux - open 3 weeks(!), mid-weight, still vibrating, sweet, granite-y, lovely texture

Erben von Beulwitz 2001 Kasher Nies'chen Riesling Auslese - 3 519 004-3-02, no note?

Schoffit 1995 Tokay Pinot Gris, Rangen de Thann SGN "Clos St. Theobald" - 11%, OMG, this is wonderful: sweet, earthy, tingly, wow

Thank you, all for a lovely evening and extra thanks to Brad for being a great host in extremis.
 
Thanks for being the scribe, Jeff.

Really enjoyed the '22 Buster. The minerality really grew over the next two nights and the wine came into sharper focus, though it was great from the start.

I think I liked the '17 ESJ El Jaleo more than everybody else, as well as the '18 Bouland- Morgan Delys, which I didn't find hot at all. It's most definitely in the bigger, more fruit forward style, so for all the screechy Gamay lovers at the table, it certainly didn't work for them, but I was the counterpoint on the '13 CRB which I didn't like at all.

The real show-stopper for me was that '95 Schoffit. Just so much there and wonderfully balanced.
 
Glad to hear the Buster continued improving; that was great wine.

And yes, heck, that Schoffit was amazing! But who cellars Schoffit?
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

Paul Anheuser 1996 Kreuznacher Kahlenberg Riesling Spatlese - 7 710 007 022 97, yeah it's sweet but lacks structure
Click to expand...

So I guess you'd have to consider this a Busch-league Spatlese?

Sorry to hear about the spree of decor at Brad's. Damn that gravity! Been there, done that, total pane. I saw no mention of backup glassware in this report but I presume the attendant Disorderlies were not reduced to drinking from Flintstones jelly jars or taking the DTC route by passing the bottle around (not particularly good in terms of assessing or appreciating the bouquet).

I need Brad's Famous Roast Chicken recipe. Getting tired of the greasy rotisserie birds all the time from whatever grocery chain has them on the shelf. And is it just me, or does anyone else agree that the regular chickens at Whole Foods are better than their organic version?

-Eden (and speaking of "Whole Paycheck," it was David Allan Coe* who wrote Johnny Paycheck's biggest hit, a song about a recruiter who offered a bottle to someone as an inducement to accept a position: "Take This Job and Schoffit")

*not to ignore Coe's son Tyler Mahan Coe who's behind the "Cocaine & Rhinestones" podcast, just about the most compelling online listening this side of "I'll Drink to That" and radio transcriptions of "Dragnet."
 
Anheuser still exists, and in fact is imported into the SF Bay Area. The Kahlenberg vines were considered significant enough that, IIRC, Dönnhoff bought them. At one point several decades ago, Anheuser was one of the leading Nahe domaines. These days, the level of top Nahe producers (which is extremely high) is beyond Anheuser's reach, but the wines, when I taste them from time to time (in San Francisco, not at the estate), are respectable and not expensive.
 
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