Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Brad, Don, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Jessica, John, Lauren
A mixed crowd of NYC wine geeks and Chantepleure members walk into a... Turkish restaurant and, um, er... spend a lovely summer evening sipping and swirling mostly Loire wines. It's nice for both crowds to jeeb with some new blood. I've actually met John a couple times before and he is pretty clearly earlobes-deep in the wine; anybody who brandishes a bottle and announces, "This is my favorite romorantin!" is OK with me. Jessica is ITB, on the Marketing side, but I never did quite grok the complexities of how she is working or not working with the Monsieur Touton group. Lauren is a pal of Jessica's but a newbie wine geek in her own right, with a more global view of wine than the rest of the Francophiles at the table. Lauren is also a total pro on where to get good NYC pizza!
Aba Turkish offers all the usual things a la Turque so we get a full spread of appetizers to share - eggplant, hummus, beets, zucchini fritters, spinach pastries, calves' liver - and then each person gets their own main, which should be a kebab, if you know what's good for you.
Like all ethnic joints, they were happy to bring us a couple of ice buckets and, ahem, receptacles for unused wine, and let us do all the foil-cutting and cork-pulling and sniffing and tsk-tsk'ing and well, you know:
Pinon 2022 Vouvray Sec "Les Deronnieres" - 12.5%, single-digits RS dry, crisp and minerally, hardly any fruit, yum
Day 2: somehow both crisp on the palate and honeyed on the finish
Day 3: crispness is fading a little, still did good things served against a serving of gorgonzola dolce
Maillet 1996 Jasnieres - 375ml, this is a Don Special... winner of the Medaille d'Or and nobody's ever seen or even heard of it; OMG, beautiful, just-so ripeness, barely oxidized at all, tangy (nearly citrus), a long finish with a light touch
eXmuros (Tigny/Balouzet) 2022 Saumur Blanc "Terre de Breze" - 12%, well-made, good finish, but kinda ho-hum otherwise
Herve Villemade 2014 Cour-Cheverny "Les Acacias" - 13.5%, John's favorite romorantin, sturdy acidity, a little sweet in spite of itself, I like this
Day 2: very slightly oxi, reinforces the citrussy aspect, long finish
Day 3: still kickin', did good things with a plate of heirloom tomatoes
Brendan Stater-West 2023 Saumur Blanc - 12.5%, new kid on the block, this is a whole lotta acid ("Overly brisk" -Jayson), it stops just short of shrill but it's not very interesting
Huet 1973 Vouvray Demi-Sec "Le Haut Lieu" - 375ml, I make to avoid drinking this now but Jayson says it has dropped a lot of sugar, very intense flavors, powerful, also a lot of mouthfeel, heavyweight, indeed rather drier than you'd think, I like it but I am a little puzzled by it
Costanti 2009 Brunello di Montalcino - 14%, yup that is ripe, no obvious wood left in it, very mineral
Day 2: lost its edge, kinda square now
Day 3: same
Julien Crinquand 2023 Arbois Trousseau "(Les) Canons du Jean", Cuvee du "P'tit Prince" - totally tingly in the mouth, high-impact tweakiness, a little reduced?, an expressive bottle of reddy-red wine, terrific
Dom. du Vieux Telegraphe 1994 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - that is an Old Rhone nose!, on the palate the wine is rich and viscous, dark berry flavors, earthy, this is grenache that even Jay likes
Dom. Mark Angeli (Ferme de la Sansonniere) 1996 Anjou "Les Gelinettes" - 12%, no one knows what to expect from an Angeli wine this old, the cepage is cab franc+cab sauv+grolleau, very light when opened, half an hour later it is suddenly potent, florally-redberry, but a tapestry of acid and mineral flavors coming and going, red WOTN (unless that's the Pif)
Day 2: roses and raspberries, bright flavors in such a dark wine! maybe a touch of menthol?
Day 3: same
Clos Roche Blanche 2014 Touraine "Cuvee Pif" - cab franc and cot, a God bottle, slightly tweaky (as the Trousseau) but with Loire poise, pink-red fruit, medium weight, "the best bottle of Pif I've ever had" -Jayson
Fritzsche 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon, Bengier Vineyard - 12.5%, velvety, totally true to its type, so glad I've bought some
Day 2: cool cabernet fruit, so easy to drink
Cazin 2015 Cour-Cheverny "Cuvee Renaissance" - nicely made but not very charismatic, sigh, I think it took Cazin a while to figure out his response to global warming
Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) 1993 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese - 3 551 083-7 94, 7.5%, nice nose but kinda headed in the direction of Lemon Pledge, the palate has more stuffing left in it but still gives a lemony impression, OK for an old spat
Pinon 2005 Vouvray "Cuvee Botrytis" - 500ml, 10.5%, wonderful, rich and apricotty, marvelous acids give it shape and lift, yum
That was fun, folks! Pretty good bunch of wines. Nice to hang with John, Jessica, and Lauren (and the homeys). We should repeat soon!
Pix courtesy of Brad.
A mixed crowd of NYC wine geeks and Chantepleure members walk into a... Turkish restaurant and, um, er... spend a lovely summer evening sipping and swirling mostly Loire wines. It's nice for both crowds to jeeb with some new blood. I've actually met John a couple times before and he is pretty clearly earlobes-deep in the wine; anybody who brandishes a bottle and announces, "This is my favorite romorantin!" is OK with me. Jessica is ITB, on the Marketing side, but I never did quite grok the complexities of how she is working or not working with the Monsieur Touton group. Lauren is a pal of Jessica's but a newbie wine geek in her own right, with a more global view of wine than the rest of the Francophiles at the table. Lauren is also a total pro on where to get good NYC pizza!
Aba Turkish offers all the usual things a la Turque so we get a full spread of appetizers to share - eggplant, hummus, beets, zucchini fritters, spinach pastries, calves' liver - and then each person gets their own main, which should be a kebab, if you know what's good for you.
Like all ethnic joints, they were happy to bring us a couple of ice buckets and, ahem, receptacles for unused wine, and let us do all the foil-cutting and cork-pulling and sniffing and tsk-tsk'ing and well, you know:
Pinon 2022 Vouvray Sec "Les Deronnieres" - 12.5%, single-digits RS dry, crisp and minerally, hardly any fruit, yum
Day 2: somehow both crisp on the palate and honeyed on the finish
Day 3: crispness is fading a little, still did good things served against a serving of gorgonzola dolce
Maillet 1996 Jasnieres - 375ml, this is a Don Special... winner of the Medaille d'Or and nobody's ever seen or even heard of it; OMG, beautiful, just-so ripeness, barely oxidized at all, tangy (nearly citrus), a long finish with a light touch
eXmuros (Tigny/Balouzet) 2022 Saumur Blanc "Terre de Breze" - 12%, well-made, good finish, but kinda ho-hum otherwise
Herve Villemade 2014 Cour-Cheverny "Les Acacias" - 13.5%, John's favorite romorantin, sturdy acidity, a little sweet in spite of itself, I like this
Day 2: very slightly oxi, reinforces the citrussy aspect, long finish
Day 3: still kickin', did good things with a plate of heirloom tomatoes
Brendan Stater-West 2023 Saumur Blanc - 12.5%, new kid on the block, this is a whole lotta acid ("Overly brisk" -Jayson), it stops just short of shrill but it's not very interesting
Huet 1973 Vouvray Demi-Sec "Le Haut Lieu" - 375ml, I make to avoid drinking this now but Jayson says it has dropped a lot of sugar, very intense flavors, powerful, also a lot of mouthfeel, heavyweight, indeed rather drier than you'd think, I like it but I am a little puzzled by it
Costanti 2009 Brunello di Montalcino - 14%, yup that is ripe, no obvious wood left in it, very mineral
Day 2: lost its edge, kinda square now
Day 3: same
Julien Crinquand 2023 Arbois Trousseau "(Les) Canons du Jean", Cuvee du "P'tit Prince" - totally tingly in the mouth, high-impact tweakiness, a little reduced?, an expressive bottle of reddy-red wine, terrific
Dom. du Vieux Telegraphe 1994 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - that is an Old Rhone nose!, on the palate the wine is rich and viscous, dark berry flavors, earthy, this is grenache that even Jay likes
Dom. Mark Angeli (Ferme de la Sansonniere) 1996 Anjou "Les Gelinettes" - 12%, no one knows what to expect from an Angeli wine this old, the cepage is cab franc+cab sauv+grolleau, very light when opened, half an hour later it is suddenly potent, florally-redberry, but a tapestry of acid and mineral flavors coming and going, red WOTN (unless that's the Pif)
Day 2: roses and raspberries, bright flavors in such a dark wine! maybe a touch of menthol?
Day 3: same
Clos Roche Blanche 2014 Touraine "Cuvee Pif" - cab franc and cot, a God bottle, slightly tweaky (as the Trousseau) but with Loire poise, pink-red fruit, medium weight, "the best bottle of Pif I've ever had" -Jayson
Fritzsche 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon, Bengier Vineyard - 12.5%, velvety, totally true to its type, so glad I've bought some
Day 2: cool cabernet fruit, so easy to drink
Cazin 2015 Cour-Cheverny "Cuvee Renaissance" - nicely made but not very charismatic, sigh, I think it took Cazin a while to figure out his response to global warming
Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) 1993 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese - 3 551 083-7 94, 7.5%, nice nose but kinda headed in the direction of Lemon Pledge, the palate has more stuffing left in it but still gives a lemony impression, OK for an old spat
Pinon 2005 Vouvray "Cuvee Botrytis" - 500ml, 10.5%, wonderful, rich and apricotty, marvelous acids give it shape and lift, yum
That was fun, folks! Pretty good bunch of wines. Nice to hang with John, Jessica, and Lauren (and the homeys). We should repeat soon!
Pix courtesy of Brad.