Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don, Eden, Gil, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Victor
Summertime planning is just awful. People are away, or family is here, or whatever. Eventually, we find a date that a majority of folks can make.
Victor and Jayson pouring. In anticipation of the riesling and bordeaux I lay in a supply of olive bread and skirt steak for dinner. Let's see.
Victor leads off with a curious white.
Victor #1
Wow, there's lots of wine in this wine, resinous, maybe some age?, heavy yellow fruits, flowers, it's very big, but I'm not going to relinquish the theme just yet so I guess White Bordeaux (no).
"Great cut and good body" -Don
Jayson guesses chardonnay (yes) and then White Burgundy (no).
Five guesses later, Gil is onto it: still Champagne! (yes).
Jay guesses 2019 and our work is done here.
Louis Roederer 2019 Coteaux Champenois "Hommage a Camille", Le Mesnil sur Oger, #709 of 1665 bottles, this is a single-vineyard cru, made in a style to honor the strong widow of the house, Camille Olry-Roederer, who ran the show from 1932 - 1975.
Day 4... This is still amazing wine with vigorous acidity, a long even finish, full of sultanas, golden raspberries, flint, a bit of peach?, and the impression of more sugar than it probably has. There's also just a little matchstick. If I didn't know what it is already, I'd've said this is Austrian.
---
Jayson runs the table for the next three wines.
Jayson #2
Guessing the cepage is easy here: this is riesling. Very mineral-driven (e.g., face-powder, licking rocks, fine and firm tannins) and also rather closed.
Jayson hints that it is an older wine and we get to 2004 pretty quickly.
But we do three legs of the Tour de France before we finally place it: Alsace.
And then Victor nails it (likely guessing the man as much as the wine).
Trimbach 2004 Riesling "Cuvee Frederic Emile", we've had this so many times, down through the years, you'd think we could know it on taste, but it has also been very variable.
Day 4... Even more minerality-first than before; in fact, getting hard to find the fruit. FWIW, the wine has picked up red-fruit flavors of strawberry and red plum. There's also just a tiny whiff of beach ball or plastic sofa cover. Still a big and impressive wine. It leaves legs in the glass.
---
Jayson #3
Theme provides structure so we start by guessing more 2004 riesling :^)
But this one has more zip and fruit than the Fred, but less minerality.
We place it into Austria pretty easily but nobody guesses Nigl (two people said the wine did not fit their idea of the house style).
Nigl 2004 Kremstal Riesling "Privat"
Day 4... This is still fresh and vital and zingy and green grapes and a little star anise and leaves my mouth watering. Excellent.
---
Jayson #4
A-a-a-and this must be the German one... yup.
Everyone is moaning in pleasure... "so much flavor and yet a lightness and delicacy about it" -Melissa
Jay and Eden both guess Willi, I guess spatlese
Willi Schaefer 2004 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese AP9
Day 4... Bright and light and vigorously like limeade washed over slate. This would still work wonders at the table but, by itself, I prefer the Nigl now.
---
It is now after intermission and so onto the reds!
Jayson #1
This is a medium-light red or very vigorous dark pink.
Totally dry, lightweight, slightly stinging acidity, a note of spearmint or wintergreen. "It's got some real bite to it" -Jayson
We figure out that it's pinot noir and, with another moment's thought, that this is still red Champagne!
...which is funny because we were talking about Horiot earlier in the evening and Jayson had to don his most lawyerly poker face.
O. Horiot 2016 Rose de Riceys "En Valingrain"
Day 4... I drank it all the first night. What was I thinking? Jayson says the nose has exploded with pinosity and flavor.
---
Victor #2
We are all primed to guess Bordeaux... and, of course, it ain't. I've said before that Victor is a tricky one.
Jay gets a whiff of garrigue and calls syrah (yes).
This wine is a bruiser: lots of black fruit, menthol, mushrooms; lots of tannins ("rustic" -Jay); totally dry, pretty darn unyielding.
We guess France? (yes), Cornas? (no), Hermitage (yes).
We work on the age next ("the color indicates one thing but the palate indicates another" -Eden) and soon get to vintage 2001.
And then we go through every Hermitage maker we can think of, although we don't get to the big commercial players until the end (really, why bother guessing Chapoutier or Delas Freres? but Jaboulet has made excellent wines in the past, and so it is)
Jaboulet 2001 Hermitage "La Chapelle"
Day 4... simmered beef with a cassis sauce. These is a note of bitterness way in the back and way at the end, alcohol or oak leftovers, I cannot tell. The texture of this is beautifully mid-weight, rich without being dense, full without being mean to my tongue, great wine from a big warm year.
---
Victor #3
More syrah.
By comparison to the Jaboulet, this has lots of red fruit and is much less tannic.
La Chapelle again? (yes)
We start guessing younger vintages but Victor course-corrects us.
Jaboulet 1997 Hermitage "La Chapelle"
Day 4... Honestly, this is better than the 2001. The bouquet stands several inches above the rim, the acidity is sturdier, which makes the red-fruit flavors more clearly defined. The finish is longer, too. And, yes, there are still some tannins here; the flavor is not totally vivid; it's not a perfect cup. But it is pretty near a wow cup.
---
Victor #4
We're dialed in so we can just enjoy it and guess the year.
"Jammier color" -Eden
"Best of the three!" -Jay
Pretty clearly a really good vintage so we start with 1990, then 1989 ("Older!" -Victor), 1978 ("Not that old!")
Jaboulet 1988 Hermitage "La Chapelle", a vintage not remembered so well as the next two but it was (and is) also really excellent
Day 4... Still the best of the three: juicy acidity, there's earth mixed in with the red and black fruits, and maybe a little paprika. It tingle everywhere in my mouth, and it's so long. This is a wow cup.
---
Keep it cool, folks.
Summertime planning is just awful. People are away, or family is here, or whatever. Eventually, we find a date that a majority of folks can make.
Victor and Jayson pouring. In anticipation of the riesling and bordeaux I lay in a supply of olive bread and skirt steak for dinner. Let's see.
Victor leads off with a curious white.
Victor #1
Wow, there's lots of wine in this wine, resinous, maybe some age?, heavy yellow fruits, flowers, it's very big, but I'm not going to relinquish the theme just yet so I guess White Bordeaux (no).
"Great cut and good body" -Don
Jayson guesses chardonnay (yes) and then White Burgundy (no).
Five guesses later, Gil is onto it: still Champagne! (yes).
Jay guesses 2019 and our work is done here.
Louis Roederer 2019 Coteaux Champenois "Hommage a Camille", Le Mesnil sur Oger, #709 of 1665 bottles, this is a single-vineyard cru, made in a style to honor the strong widow of the house, Camille Olry-Roederer, who ran the show from 1932 - 1975.
Day 4... This is still amazing wine with vigorous acidity, a long even finish, full of sultanas, golden raspberries, flint, a bit of peach?, and the impression of more sugar than it probably has. There's also just a little matchstick. If I didn't know what it is already, I'd've said this is Austrian.
---
Jayson runs the table for the next three wines.
Jayson #2
Guessing the cepage is easy here: this is riesling. Very mineral-driven (e.g., face-powder, licking rocks, fine and firm tannins) and also rather closed.
Jayson hints that it is an older wine and we get to 2004 pretty quickly.
But we do three legs of the Tour de France before we finally place it: Alsace.
And then Victor nails it (likely guessing the man as much as the wine).
Trimbach 2004 Riesling "Cuvee Frederic Emile", we've had this so many times, down through the years, you'd think we could know it on taste, but it has also been very variable.
Day 4... Even more minerality-first than before; in fact, getting hard to find the fruit. FWIW, the wine has picked up red-fruit flavors of strawberry and red plum. There's also just a tiny whiff of beach ball or plastic sofa cover. Still a big and impressive wine. It leaves legs in the glass.
---
Jayson #3
Theme provides structure so we start by guessing more 2004 riesling :^)
But this one has more zip and fruit than the Fred, but less minerality.
We place it into Austria pretty easily but nobody guesses Nigl (two people said the wine did not fit their idea of the house style).
Nigl 2004 Kremstal Riesling "Privat"
Day 4... This is still fresh and vital and zingy and green grapes and a little star anise and leaves my mouth watering. Excellent.
---
Jayson #4
A-a-a-and this must be the German one... yup.
Everyone is moaning in pleasure... "so much flavor and yet a lightness and delicacy about it" -Melissa
Jay and Eden both guess Willi, I guess spatlese
Willi Schaefer 2004 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese AP9
Day 4... Bright and light and vigorously like limeade washed over slate. This would still work wonders at the table but, by itself, I prefer the Nigl now.
---
It is now after intermission and so onto the reds!
Jayson #1
This is a medium-light red or very vigorous dark pink.
Totally dry, lightweight, slightly stinging acidity, a note of spearmint or wintergreen. "It's got some real bite to it" -Jayson
We figure out that it's pinot noir and, with another moment's thought, that this is still red Champagne!
...which is funny because we were talking about Horiot earlier in the evening and Jayson had to don his most lawyerly poker face.
O. Horiot 2016 Rose de Riceys "En Valingrain"
Day 4... I drank it all the first night. What was I thinking? Jayson says the nose has exploded with pinosity and flavor.
---
Victor #2
We are all primed to guess Bordeaux... and, of course, it ain't. I've said before that Victor is a tricky one.
Jay gets a whiff of garrigue and calls syrah (yes).
This wine is a bruiser: lots of black fruit, menthol, mushrooms; lots of tannins ("rustic" -Jay); totally dry, pretty darn unyielding.
We guess France? (yes), Cornas? (no), Hermitage (yes).
We work on the age next ("the color indicates one thing but the palate indicates another" -Eden) and soon get to vintage 2001.
And then we go through every Hermitage maker we can think of, although we don't get to the big commercial players until the end (really, why bother guessing Chapoutier or Delas Freres? but Jaboulet has made excellent wines in the past, and so it is)
Jaboulet 2001 Hermitage "La Chapelle"
Day 4... simmered beef with a cassis sauce. These is a note of bitterness way in the back and way at the end, alcohol or oak leftovers, I cannot tell. The texture of this is beautifully mid-weight, rich without being dense, full without being mean to my tongue, great wine from a big warm year.
---
Victor #3
More syrah.
By comparison to the Jaboulet, this has lots of red fruit and is much less tannic.
La Chapelle again? (yes)
We start guessing younger vintages but Victor course-corrects us.
Jaboulet 1997 Hermitage "La Chapelle"
Day 4... Honestly, this is better than the 2001. The bouquet stands several inches above the rim, the acidity is sturdier, which makes the red-fruit flavors more clearly defined. The finish is longer, too. And, yes, there are still some tannins here; the flavor is not totally vivid; it's not a perfect cup. But it is pretty near a wow cup.
---
Victor #4
We're dialed in so we can just enjoy it and guess the year.
"Jammier color" -Eden
"Best of the three!" -Jay
Pretty clearly a really good vintage so we start with 1990, then 1989 ("Older!" -Victor), 1978 ("Not that old!")
Jaboulet 1988 Hermitage "La Chapelle", a vintage not remembered so well as the next two but it was (and is) also really excellent
Day 4... Still the best of the three: juicy acidity, there's earth mixed in with the red and black fruits, and maybe a little paprika. It tingle everywhere in my mouth, and it's so long. This is a wow cup.
---
Keep it cool, folks.