Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Have not tried the 2019, sorry. The danger here, for me, is the candied sweetness, so always worth trying a bottle before committing any more resources.
CWD: Tell us one good thing you drank this week
- Thread starter Politburo
- Start date
Have not tried the 2019, sorry. The danger here, for me, is the candied sweetness, so always worth trying a bottle before committing any more resources.
Florida Jim
Florida Jim
These days, the delta has shrunk a lot.
Gave a belated bday dinner for a friend - there were five of us and all of them are lightweights when it comes to wine consumption. So we started with a 2015 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg kabinett 2015, which was delicious and balanced and carried us from the sunroom through the first course at my dinner table (cucumber/buttermilk soup with lots of herbs - cilantro, parsley, and Thai basil from my yard - and other umami-inducing ingredients). Then we moved onto porchetta-styled duck breast, a zucchini/carmelized onion/curried panko tian (all three recipes from NYT), plus roasted potatoes, which I paired with Bachelet’s CdN Villages 2014, a pretty, accessible wine I had also had earlier this summer so I knew it would show well with the duck.
Eden Mylunsch
Eden Mylunsch
I’m disinclined to rationalize the queen’s ransom required to obtain Clos Cibonne or Domaine Tempier these days for my cellar but my friends tend to buy them anyway and like to pop them when I’m around because I actually know them for what they are, vs. their other friends who’d be just fine with Hampton Water or Gerard Bertrand (“lookit that purty bottle!”)*. So tonight, instead of opening the bottle of Grocery Outlet Tibouren, I unscrewed a bottle of 2011 Torbreck Woodcutter’s Semillon. Holy crap, it was still good!
Now, this bottle has been abused more than a bass player standing between the two drummers in an Allman Brothers tribute band in a heavy metal club in Keokuk, Iowa. I found a case of it stashed in my storage room in the wilds of Malibu a couple of years ago, with not a lick of temperature control. And then it got moved to Dallas where it sat in an un-air conditioned moving van company warehouse for a year. Upon relocation to California it finally achieved an appropriate repose in an official, temperature controlled wine storage facility, but given its provenance and its Stelvin closure, I had few hopes for its drinkability. But it was a Tuesday night, and who the hell opens “good” wine on a Tuesday?
Wtf, when Michael Jackson referred to “Jesus juice” this may have been what he was talking about. Acidity for days, waxiness like you’d expect from a proper Hunter Valley Semillon with similar age, only it had developed that broad, tropical fruit character that sings of the exquisitely intense heat of the Barossa Valley. It was grown on 100+ year-old vines in a flat section of the Barossa awash with hungry, angry birds who love grapes. Fortunately, the vineyard’s owner used to own a dancehall in Tanunda and discovered that the leftover disco balls would deter the voracious magpies and ravens when he hung them up (the balls, not the birds) around the vineyard. Weighing in at 13.5% alcohol (miracles do happen in the Barossa!!), it has a rich, lush texture and ends in a long finish. It was maybe $15 on release, but I recently tried to give some bottles away to friends but found no takers. Their loss = my gain, I guess
-Eden (maybe it ain’t Ch. Y but it’s not too bad)
* which inspires me to write to the NYT Ethicist (or at least Eric Asimov) to find out if this channel of thinking makes me an opportunist, an asshole, a skinflint, an enabler, or just a geezer still living in the past, when great, obscure wines were still freakin’ affordable)
Now, this bottle has been abused more than a bass player standing between the two drummers in an Allman Brothers tribute band in a heavy metal club in Keokuk, Iowa. I found a case of it stashed in my storage room in the wilds of Malibu a couple of years ago, with not a lick of temperature control. And then it got moved to Dallas where it sat in an un-air conditioned moving van company warehouse for a year. Upon relocation to California it finally achieved an appropriate repose in an official, temperature controlled wine storage facility, but given its provenance and its Stelvin closure, I had few hopes for its drinkability. But it was a Tuesday night, and who the hell opens “good” wine on a Tuesday?
Wtf, when Michael Jackson referred to “Jesus juice” this may have been what he was talking about. Acidity for days, waxiness like you’d expect from a proper Hunter Valley Semillon with similar age, only it had developed that broad, tropical fruit character that sings of the exquisitely intense heat of the Barossa Valley. It was grown on 100+ year-old vines in a flat section of the Barossa awash with hungry, angry birds who love grapes. Fortunately, the vineyard’s owner used to own a dancehall in Tanunda and discovered that the leftover disco balls would deter the voracious magpies and ravens when he hung them up (the balls, not the birds) around the vineyard. Weighing in at 13.5% alcohol (miracles do happen in the Barossa!!), it has a rich, lush texture and ends in a long finish. It was maybe $15 on release, but I recently tried to give some bottles away to friends but found no takers. Their loss = my gain, I guess
-Eden (maybe it ain’t Ch. Y but it’s not too bad)
* which inspires me to write to the NYT Ethicist (or at least Eric Asimov) to find out if this channel of thinking makes me an opportunist, an asshole, a skinflint, an enabler, or just a geezer still living in the past, when great, obscure wines were still freakin’ affordable)
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Delicious.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Last night a bottle of 2005 Domaine Weinbach Alsace Riesling Cuvée Ste Catherine 13.5% was complex and dense without being ponderous, an impressive wine despite a whiff of tca. But the main reason I'm posting is that it came with a glass stopper, so it served as a reminder that while corks get blamed for 100% of tca, they are only responsible for 99% (or less).
I remember thinking both them and von Schubert in the Ruwer had really great wines. I bought quite a bit of the trocken that vintage, but was wary of the Auslesen (only have 3 bottles left). My revealed preferences (i.e. what I bought): Nik Weis (primarily his Saar bottlings, esp. the Saarfeilser, which was a feinherb that year), a bit of Zilliken, some von Hövel (for early drinking). Very little in the main valley, though.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
So, double glou in the wine and none at all in the pizza? Got it.
Larry Stein
Larry Stein
2018 Sandar & Hem Pinot Noir, Mindego Ridge Vineyard (Santa Cruz Mountains)
Curiosity got the best of me so I opened a bottle of Rob Bergstrom's first vintage of Pinot from this vineyard.
It's firing on all cylinders. It's in a really nice place now. Texture and length are excellent, and it has that tenor, more ethereal Pinot note that I really like. Rob now makes Pinot from Deerheart Vineyard which is more in the baritone range. If you want power in a Pinot, this ain't that wine. 13.2%. Nice match with fresh King Salmon (thank you, Costco).
I have one more bottle which I'll hold for another year or so.
Between bottling for Rob, Shalini Sekhar (Neely) and Ed Kurtzman (Sandler/August West), my cellar has a nice amount of Pinot Noir in the style that I prefer.
Curiosity got the best of me so I opened a bottle of Rob Bergstrom's first vintage of Pinot from this vineyard.
It's firing on all cylinders. It's in a really nice place now. Texture and length are excellent, and it has that tenor, more ethereal Pinot note that I really like. Rob now makes Pinot from Deerheart Vineyard which is more in the baritone range. If you want power in a Pinot, this ain't that wine. 13.2%. Nice match with fresh King Salmon (thank you, Costco).
I have one more bottle which I'll hold for another year or so.
Between bottling for Rob, Shalini Sekhar (Neely) and Ed Kurtzman (Sandler/August West), my cellar has a nice amount of Pinot Noir in the style that I prefer.
Glad you liked it! People should talk about Kenny's wines more as they are exactly what a lot of people say they want. My guess is that this was maybe a few $$ more than Brun l'Ancienne but less than one of the Cru wines.
BTW, Kenny and Lynn released a transparency report this year which was really amazing. It might be worth signing up for their email updates and ordering directly from them. I do it often to send gifts to people. Good deals on shipping and supports people I really like and care about who are making great wines that are great value. (Oh, and all the Branham fruit goes into the regular Zinfandel now.)
Loading…
www.hobowines.com
Loading…
www.hobowines.com
Christian Miller (CMM)
Christian Miller
Valdiguie is a fun grape, when liberated from the obligation to imitate Beaujolais. For a little while, Solano County's Wooden Valley Valdiguie was our house red.
Christian Miller (CMM)
Christian Miller
Vermentino di Sardegna Costamolino 2023, Argiolas - forthright varietal, with distinct tarragon/oregano tone on lemon pith aroma; med-light body, tangy, dry, very slight CO2, hint of pleasant bitterness in med length herbal finish. Very good with bread and salami, romano beans with a dill vinaigrette that was mostly olive oil.
Rioja Rosado 2022, CVNE - vivid light scarlet; watermelon/cherry fruit with hints of smoke and herbs; med-light body, fruity, dry, a bit watery middle, lowish acid but a tinge of dry tannin makes up for it; med length. Very far from the ubiquitous modern Provence style. Gastronomic rosé but quaffable too.
Rioja Rosado 2022, CVNE - vivid light scarlet; watermelon/cherry fruit with hints of smoke and herbs; med-light body, fruity, dry, a bit watery middle, lowish acid but a tinge of dry tannin makes up for it; med length. Very far from the ubiquitous modern Provence style. Gastronomic rosé but quaffable too.
Just tried a bottle of 2022 Folk Machine Parts and Labor (a blend of Barbera, Carignane, Syrah and Grenache). Juicy and well balanced. 12.4% ABV.
Yes, it is a couple of bucks more than l'Ancienne, and though very good, it is missing that mineral element. The Folk Machine is about the same price as Texier's Chat Fou, which I find more similar.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
It feels like blasphemy posting on this thread. F’ing politburo.
Any hoo. 2020 Pierre Morey Bourgogne Côte D’Or Chardonnay is at the zenith of this level of white Burg. Spice poached pear and Verbena nose adds the creaminess of a tart on the palate that is conveyed by the integrated acids that carry the finish on and on and on. This is really good and helping me drown the sorrow of my current predicament.
Any hoo. 2020 Pierre Morey Bourgogne Côte D’Or Chardonnay is at the zenith of this level of white Burg. Spice poached pear and Verbena nose adds the creaminess of a tart on the palate that is conveyed by the integrated acids that carry the finish on and on and on. This is really good and helping me drown the sorrow of my current predicament.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
It feels like blasphemy posting on this thread. F’ing politburo.
Any hoo. 2020 Pierre Morey Bourgogne Côte D’Or Chardonnay is at the zenith of this level of white Burg. Spice poached pear and Verbena nose adds the creaminess of a tart on the palate that is conveyed by the integrated acids that carry the finish on and on and on. This is really good and helping me drown the sorrow of my current predicament.
Sorry to hear your current predicament is not all spades.