Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don+Melissa, Eden+Scott, Jay, Jeff, Lisa, Victor
It is Wednesday midnight. I am going to slow-o the wines for tomorrow. That's five bottles to pull, de-capsule, uncork, sniff/decide, and set aside.
Purely for safety's sake, not for any obvious cause, I am using the Durand on them all.
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
My prongs are warm.
And vibrating.
And, indeed, there was no need for precautions, as these are five pretty darn good-looking corks. All solid. Three of the five show no signs of soaking at all. Only the German one is a bit messy and that's because this bottle is overfilled. (=> wine bubbles out around the Durand before it's even all the way in.)
Everything passes the sniff test.
-----
So, until tomorrow, let's compile some stats about these wines:
- in this order: Pira, Ferrando, Voge, Barge, von Hovel
- Only the German wine had a plastic capsule (with pull strip!); all the others had foil, some of it quite heavyweight.
- The wines clock in at 14.5%, 13.5%, 13%, 12.5%, and 7.5% alcohol. Will people notice?
- The regional designations were declared in law in 1966 (+G 1980), 1967 (no G), 1938, 1940(!), er um since forever?
- Vignarionda is so-named because the vineyard goes around a corner, Cornas is Celtic for 'burned earth' while Cote-Brune is French for 'brown slope', Les Vieilles Fontaines is named for a historical spring in the area, Hutte means hut (which the hill's steep sides reminded somebody of)
- Barolo ~2000 ha (Vignarionda ~10 ha), Carema ~20 ha, Cote-Rotie ~250ha, Cornas ~125 ha, Cote-Rotie ~250 ha, Oberemmeler Hutte ~5 ha
Some study notes:
click click click Although the family had lived in Serralunga for 100 years, Luigi Pira converted the estate to grape farming only in the 1950s and then started making wine in the 1990s. His son runs the estate today. Their plot is ~1 ha and was re-planted in 1994. It is 330m above sea-level and gives ~4000 bottles/year. Vinification in stainless, one year in small casks, the rest of the time in large Slavonian casks.
click click Ferrando suffered the same legal misfortune as Chidaine: although the grapes come from the right place, the winery is in the next town over. Hence, Ferrando makes 'black label' and not riserva.
Alain Voge joined his father in 1958 and converted from polyculture to viticulture. From 2004-2018 the technical director of the property was Alberic Mazoyer, formerly of Chapoutier, who brought with him a high level of skill and barriques. Les Vieilles Fontaines was first made in 1988 from vines on granite soils. In 2006 the vines were ~60 years old.
Dom. Barge began in 1860, bottled their own wine in 1929, and make wine through today. Gilles has handed off the reins to Julien, but he was the maker of this bottle. The fruit is from various parcels in Cote Brune (which is also a lieu-dit). Gilles was totally a traditionalist: whole clusters with all the stems, "I use about 0% to 2% new wood" is a quote, and he usually includes 5% viognier. This cru bottling could only be made after his father, Pierre, had passed.
Von Hovel was founded in 1803. They own ~11 ha of vineyards in the Saar valley, including a chunk of Scharzhofberg and two monopoles (Kanzember Horecke and Oberemmeler Hutte). OH is rather far from the river, up on a plateau, faces SW and comprises 5 ha. click
-----
The geeks have assembled -- all save Lisa, whose profession is prone to emergencies and she is delayed. Don says that his four wines are really a set of four but it's fine to have them in pairs (as most people seem to have two glasses available).
Don #1: Francois Chidaine 2008 Vouvray "Les Argiles" - beautiful, lemony, perfect ripeness, the finish is so long!, we easily guess this is Vouvray sec; of course, we guess the usual three (nope) but Don hints that the chai is actually not in Vouvray and that tells us it's Chidaine; the label does not give a style but Don says it is "probably sec."
Day 3: Same. I think this is a wine best served in a quiet setting where you can pay attention to how good it is. A noisy restaurant would be less good.
Don #2: Huet 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec "Le Haut Lieu" - juicy, stronger impact, "cheesey" -Jay, I get an off-and-on hint of spoilage in the nose but probably just some kind of chenin funk; plenty of acid, "steely" -Jay, "sweet parsnip vibe" -Eden; no doubt this is Vouvray demi-sec and Eden guesses Huet; we talk among ourselves and guess Le Haut Lieu (yes) as Clos du Bourg is always rather powerful/structured and Le Mont is always rather minerally
Don #3: Foreau (Clos Naudin) 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec - similar to the Huet (so also 2008 demi-sec), this is slightly older, maybe just slightly oxidized, palate is looser, we think it's Foreau (yes), "a slightly disappointing demi-sec" -Don
Don #4: Francois Pinon 2008 Vouvray Moelleux - "a mic drop" -Eden, "long, lush finish" -Jay, a little butterscotch and sweet orange on the nose, intense unctuous palate, wow wine territory, no doubt moelleux (yes), no doubt 2008 ("Theme! Theme! There are theme in this flight!"), and as the honeyed finish lingers, no doubt it's Pinon (yes).
Day 3: Still knocking 'em dead.
Quote for the flight: "2008 is such a beautiful, sharp, electric vintage for Les Argiles" -Pascaline
Wonderful. After a few more minutes of admiring the Vouvray -- we are a Vouvray-admiring crowd -- we move on.
I have written all my intros: "Tonight, we are not playing Stump the Band because the Band is just too good. What we are going to play is Name That Tune."
For the first two wines: "This is Piedmont nebbiolo. Perhaps one of these wines is a Barolo and the other is from a nearby nebbiolo-based DOC. Or maybe it's one Barolo and one Barbaresco. Can you say which is which and what is what?"
Pira, Luigi 2008 Barolo "Vignarionda" - "red Twizzler on the nose" -Scott; general agreement on redfruit, a bit of sweet, and a bit of licorice; seems rather young and tight still (though not all of us agree on that call); the group decides this is too suave and not gritty enough to be Barolo so they call it for Barbaresco; this is a really enjoyable wine right now, yes with years to go, but the cran-cherry and fine tannins are terrific now
Ferrando 2007 Carema, Etichetta Nera - Ugh. Seriously corked. Bad. Sigh. The sniff test does not know-all, tell-all.
For the next two wines: "This is Northern Rhone syrah. Perhaps one of these wines is from the most-famous sub-region while the other is from a smaller nearby sub-region. Or maybe it's one really good St-Joseph and one really ordinary St-Joseph. Can you say which is which and what is what?"
Voge 2006 Cornas "Les Vieilles Fontaines" - provocative bottle! Jay and I prefer the nose of this one to the Barge but everybody else goes the other way; "lees on the nose" -Melissa; "Violets!" -Scott; this is definitely showing youthful with many years of vigor ahead, it's almost too tight to drink now; I suspect that the wood treatment in its first year has had a preservative effect and, fortunately for us, the old vines nature survived the experience; after chewing it over a bit Don pipes up with "it's Cornas"; I ask him how he got there and he said there is a lemony-grapefruitty thing that he tasted prominently in the very first good Cornas he ever had and that sensation has stuck with him; bravo!
Barge 2006 Cote-Rotie "Cote-Brune" - "Much better" -Victor; I think there's a whiff of brett here but nobody agrees with me; "spicy" "flowery" "very delicious" no doubt the favorite of these two; the consensus calls the wine feminine and then declares it to be Hermitage; I try to invert this logic but I have to give several hints before anyone thinks about a co-ferment with viognier (and therefore guesses Cote-Rotie)
For the last wine: "This is German riesling. Auslese one-star. A reward for playing."
von Hövel 2007 Oberemmeler Hütte Riesling Auslese '*' AP#10 - And so it is. Medium gold color, sweet, shapely acids, complicated, fine texture, lime-scented but not tart, long. Vintage guesses are in the right ballpark, but apparently nobody knows this producer.
Day 3: Still very pleasant but getting a touch tart now.
An excellent flight. The wines showed typically and well. And I think we had fun.
And that's all for this month!
It is Wednesday midnight. I am going to slow-o the wines for tomorrow. That's five bottles to pull, de-capsule, uncork, sniff/decide, and set aside.
Purely for safety's sake, not for any obvious cause, I am using the Durand on them all.
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
*Pop*
My prongs are warm.
And vibrating.
And, indeed, there was no need for precautions, as these are five pretty darn good-looking corks. All solid. Three of the five show no signs of soaking at all. Only the German one is a bit messy and that's because this bottle is overfilled. (=> wine bubbles out around the Durand before it's even all the way in.)
Everything passes the sniff test.
-----
So, until tomorrow, let's compile some stats about these wines:
- in this order: Pira, Ferrando, Voge, Barge, von Hovel
- Only the German wine had a plastic capsule (with pull strip!); all the others had foil, some of it quite heavyweight.
- The wines clock in at 14.5%, 13.5%, 13%, 12.5%, and 7.5% alcohol. Will people notice?
- The regional designations were declared in law in 1966 (+G 1980), 1967 (no G), 1938, 1940(!), er um since forever?
- Vignarionda is so-named because the vineyard goes around a corner, Cornas is Celtic for 'burned earth' while Cote-Brune is French for 'brown slope', Les Vieilles Fontaines is named for a historical spring in the area, Hutte means hut (which the hill's steep sides reminded somebody of)
- Barolo ~2000 ha (Vignarionda ~10 ha), Carema ~20 ha, Cote-Rotie ~250ha, Cornas ~125 ha, Cote-Rotie ~250 ha, Oberemmeler Hutte ~5 ha
Some study notes:
click click click Although the family had lived in Serralunga for 100 years, Luigi Pira converted the estate to grape farming only in the 1950s and then started making wine in the 1990s. His son runs the estate today. Their plot is ~1 ha and was re-planted in 1994. It is 330m above sea-level and gives ~4000 bottles/year. Vinification in stainless, one year in small casks, the rest of the time in large Slavonian casks.
click click Ferrando suffered the same legal misfortune as Chidaine: although the grapes come from the right place, the winery is in the next town over. Hence, Ferrando makes 'black label' and not riserva.
Alain Voge joined his father in 1958 and converted from polyculture to viticulture. From 2004-2018 the technical director of the property was Alberic Mazoyer, formerly of Chapoutier, who brought with him a high level of skill and barriques. Les Vieilles Fontaines was first made in 1988 from vines on granite soils. In 2006 the vines were ~60 years old.
Dom. Barge began in 1860, bottled their own wine in 1929, and make wine through today. Gilles has handed off the reins to Julien, but he was the maker of this bottle. The fruit is from various parcels in Cote Brune (which is also a lieu-dit). Gilles was totally a traditionalist: whole clusters with all the stems, "I use about 0% to 2% new wood" is a quote, and he usually includes 5% viognier. This cru bottling could only be made after his father, Pierre, had passed.
Von Hovel was founded in 1803. They own ~11 ha of vineyards in the Saar valley, including a chunk of Scharzhofberg and two monopoles (Kanzember Horecke and Oberemmeler Hutte). OH is rather far from the river, up on a plateau, faces SW and comprises 5 ha. click
-----
The geeks have assembled -- all save Lisa, whose profession is prone to emergencies and she is delayed. Don says that his four wines are really a set of four but it's fine to have them in pairs (as most people seem to have two glasses available).
Don #1: Francois Chidaine 2008 Vouvray "Les Argiles" - beautiful, lemony, perfect ripeness, the finish is so long!, we easily guess this is Vouvray sec; of course, we guess the usual three (nope) but Don hints that the chai is actually not in Vouvray and that tells us it's Chidaine; the label does not give a style but Don says it is "probably sec."
Day 3: Same. I think this is a wine best served in a quiet setting where you can pay attention to how good it is. A noisy restaurant would be less good.
Don #2: Huet 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec "Le Haut Lieu" - juicy, stronger impact, "cheesey" -Jay, I get an off-and-on hint of spoilage in the nose but probably just some kind of chenin funk; plenty of acid, "steely" -Jay, "sweet parsnip vibe" -Eden; no doubt this is Vouvray demi-sec and Eden guesses Huet; we talk among ourselves and guess Le Haut Lieu (yes) as Clos du Bourg is always rather powerful/structured and Le Mont is always rather minerally
Don #3: Foreau (Clos Naudin) 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec - similar to the Huet (so also 2008 demi-sec), this is slightly older, maybe just slightly oxidized, palate is looser, we think it's Foreau (yes), "a slightly disappointing demi-sec" -Don
Don #4: Francois Pinon 2008 Vouvray Moelleux - "a mic drop" -Eden, "long, lush finish" -Jay, a little butterscotch and sweet orange on the nose, intense unctuous palate, wow wine territory, no doubt moelleux (yes), no doubt 2008 ("Theme! Theme! There are theme in this flight!"), and as the honeyed finish lingers, no doubt it's Pinon (yes).
Day 3: Still knocking 'em dead.
Quote for the flight: "2008 is such a beautiful, sharp, electric vintage for Les Argiles" -Pascaline
Wonderful. After a few more minutes of admiring the Vouvray -- we are a Vouvray-admiring crowd -- we move on.
I have written all my intros: "Tonight, we are not playing Stump the Band because the Band is just too good. What we are going to play is Name That Tune."
For the first two wines: "This is Piedmont nebbiolo. Perhaps one of these wines is a Barolo and the other is from a nearby nebbiolo-based DOC. Or maybe it's one Barolo and one Barbaresco. Can you say which is which and what is what?"
Pira, Luigi 2008 Barolo "Vignarionda" - "red Twizzler on the nose" -Scott; general agreement on redfruit, a bit of sweet, and a bit of licorice; seems rather young and tight still (though not all of us agree on that call); the group decides this is too suave and not gritty enough to be Barolo so they call it for Barbaresco; this is a really enjoyable wine right now, yes with years to go, but the cran-cherry and fine tannins are terrific now
Ferrando 2007 Carema, Etichetta Nera - Ugh. Seriously corked. Bad. Sigh. The sniff test does not know-all, tell-all.
For the next two wines: "This is Northern Rhone syrah. Perhaps one of these wines is from the most-famous sub-region while the other is from a smaller nearby sub-region. Or maybe it's one really good St-Joseph and one really ordinary St-Joseph. Can you say which is which and what is what?"
Voge 2006 Cornas "Les Vieilles Fontaines" - provocative bottle! Jay and I prefer the nose of this one to the Barge but everybody else goes the other way; "lees on the nose" -Melissa; "Violets!" -Scott; this is definitely showing youthful with many years of vigor ahead, it's almost too tight to drink now; I suspect that the wood treatment in its first year has had a preservative effect and, fortunately for us, the old vines nature survived the experience; after chewing it over a bit Don pipes up with "it's Cornas"; I ask him how he got there and he said there is a lemony-grapefruitty thing that he tasted prominently in the very first good Cornas he ever had and that sensation has stuck with him; bravo!
Barge 2006 Cote-Rotie "Cote-Brune" - "Much better" -Victor; I think there's a whiff of brett here but nobody agrees with me; "spicy" "flowery" "very delicious" no doubt the favorite of these two; the consensus calls the wine feminine and then declares it to be Hermitage; I try to invert this logic but I have to give several hints before anyone thinks about a co-ferment with viognier (and therefore guesses Cote-Rotie)
For the last wine: "This is German riesling. Auslese one-star. A reward for playing."
von Hövel 2007 Oberemmeler Hütte Riesling Auslese '*' AP#10 - And so it is. Medium gold color, sweet, shapely acids, complicated, fine texture, lime-scented but not tart, long. Vintage guesses are in the right ballpark, but apparently nobody knows this producer.
Day 3: Still very pleasant but getting a touch tart now.
An excellent flight. The wines showed typically and well. And I think we had fun.
And that's all for this month!
