Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Each year around MLK day I try to get a few friends together to mark the time that has passed, recap the more amusing events of the past 12 months, remark upon my approaching baldness, and drink as much wine as possible.
This birthday was no exception. A few of the memorable bottles below.
Hirsch "Heiligenstein" 2002 Riesling (Kamptal, Austria)
Well, yes, thank you very much Mr. Hirsch. Lovely stuff. Sorry about opening this a bit soon in it's days, but I'll tell you what, sometimes closed is good for an aperitif. Don't want to think too hard before the food comes, now do we?
Giacomo Conterno "Monfortino" 1979 Barolo (Piemonte, Italia)
I remember once awhile back Lyle Fass asked me if I had ever had a Monfortino that was ready. It was basically a rhetorical question, his point being that Monfortino is somewhat akin to a mirage in the desert - it always seems like you will reach that magical place with just a bit more time, and yet you never find yourself there. Whenever a Monfortino and I happen to meet, I usually find this to be a pretty pertinent insight. On this particular evening, the nose of this wine was ravishing. Really. Like you just wanted that for your birthday. Just the aroma. Hey, thanks, cool, let's do this again next year, because this is all I really wanted, I appreciate it. But then there is the palate, which even in this old age has saved a bit of rocky tannins to be rolled around on the palate as one might savor a few small pebbles from a warm water stream. I don't mean it was mineral. I mean it gathered up it's everything into discreet modules and you sort of had to link and flatten them out in your mind's eye. Guess I'll check back in another 5 years. Or actually, I probably won't, as this was the generous contribution of a friend, and it would be unlikely for me to encounter it's like again, seeing as how I spend most of my time trying to gets the drinkers of the world to try a little Susumaniello, for pete's sake.
AR.PE.PE "Rocce Rosse" 1996 Valtellina Superiore Sassella Riserva (Lombardia, Italia)
"You had the experience." I remember a sous-chef saying this to me several years ago. "You did the chestnuts on the fire, or you wrapped the proscuitto around the melon, whatever it was, it all came together for you. It all made sense, and you were happy for it. Happy that you could find that, when you didn't even know it was something you were looking for." I was talking to him about my recent (at that time) trip to Italy, my first trip to Italy. He was talking to me about the reason he had become a professional cook. I think about that sometimes, you know, "having the experience". Because a lot of times those big ticket meals and ingriedents and famous locales, they don't bring on that experience for me. But you know, I found it again with this wine and plenty of cured pig foodstuffs sourced from Murray's Real Salami. I just kept going back to this, grabbing another handful of meat, and leaning back in my chair. Other people want to drink this as well? Oh, well, sure, okay, ummm, yeah I guess you can have some. I was loathe to give it up. Somedays in the workaday world you just want to sit back with something that works together so well and enjoy it, no rush, just enjoy. Okay, most days, not just somedays. But usually it doesn't end up happening. Well this time it all came around. Thank ye', thank ye'.
This was a little tight upon opening, then the petals started to open up. I imagaine this will be around giving folks contentment for another bunch of years.
Renaissance Vineyards 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon (the famed Yuba County, California)
Some people (snobs, my friends) objected to this wine as not to their liking. Screw 'em. This was mighty interesting to me, and it was mighty thoughtful of someone who knew I had had the '94, '97, and '99 of this in the past to bring it along. Lots going on on the nose. A whole Mille Feuille of layers on the opening of the palate, and then WHACK! a giant sloppy, slurping kiss of dark fruit on the finish. Which I guess is the Renaissance Cab signature, 'cause it sure does seem to be a constant. This was very cool to try. My first pre-Gideon bottling.
Raveneau "Vaillons" 2005 Chablis (Burgundy)
Well yes, all the potential is there isn't it, but this is, in the apparent theme of most of the evening, still quite young (but of course you knew that already). I remember when I got my first JV jacket. You could smell new on it. I was a kid. It was too big for me. I kind of drowned in it, as fabric bunched and sagged around my middle. It would be awhile before I grew into that jacket, before I looked the handsome devil my mom always said I was. Back then my cheeks were still kind of puffy, and I was far from the gaunt figure I am today. This wine is a kid just getting that jacket.
Fiorano 1992 Red (Lazio, Italia)
My first experience with the red, after lots of bottles of the whites. And it was just AMAZINGLY kind of the dude who brought this to remember that and offer it up. Long may you lurk, Sir.
So the wine: well, yes, I'd love to tell you about it, only, well, What the Hell Is It? I mean it's good, but it was all cylinders firing to try to come up with an analogous example in the wine world. One person referred to Loire reds. But you know, I understood what he was talking about, but uhm, that's not what this tastes like. Not exactly. It tastes like the village of Chambolle was airlifted out of the Cote d'Or and found itself amongst the vines of Chinon. Really. I mean, it's not one or the other. And it's got a little Ruche' thrown in for good measure, seems like. So maybe I shouldn't even try to look at it that way. Maybe I should try to get a grasp on this wine in the way in which I have been accustomed over the years: by ranking it in a hierarchy. You know those Lazio reds of Giglio? Well this wine ROCKS ALL OVER those wines! Kicks their ass!!! This is the so spectacularly better than those wines that Mr. Giglio should be ashamed to show his face in public. It makes Giglio seem like a distant farce in a grainy, old movie.
Okay, maybe those aren't meaningful ways to understand a wine. Maybe compare and contrast don't really hold up as tools when what you are experiencing is unique, and dare I say it, singular.
Anyway, I am glad I was there when.
A bottle of Ronco del Gnemiz 1997 red was corked. A bottle of NV Jean Laurent "Blanc de Noirs" had bubbles the size of a kickball. A Bressan 1997 Pignolo was not showing well (pepperoncini, anyone?). An A. Clape "Le Vin des Amis" 2006 was quite popular amongst the assembled (perhaps owing somewhat to context). A 1999 De Conciliis "Naima" was a treat in how it was drinking, a nice fruity respite after lots of more ponderous wines. There were others. Where do all the bottles and all the years go?
See you next year for 33.
This birthday was no exception. A few of the memorable bottles below.
Hirsch "Heiligenstein" 2002 Riesling (Kamptal, Austria)
Well, yes, thank you very much Mr. Hirsch. Lovely stuff. Sorry about opening this a bit soon in it's days, but I'll tell you what, sometimes closed is good for an aperitif. Don't want to think too hard before the food comes, now do we?
Giacomo Conterno "Monfortino" 1979 Barolo (Piemonte, Italia)
I remember once awhile back Lyle Fass asked me if I had ever had a Monfortino that was ready. It was basically a rhetorical question, his point being that Monfortino is somewhat akin to a mirage in the desert - it always seems like you will reach that magical place with just a bit more time, and yet you never find yourself there. Whenever a Monfortino and I happen to meet, I usually find this to be a pretty pertinent insight. On this particular evening, the nose of this wine was ravishing. Really. Like you just wanted that for your birthday. Just the aroma. Hey, thanks, cool, let's do this again next year, because this is all I really wanted, I appreciate it. But then there is the palate, which even in this old age has saved a bit of rocky tannins to be rolled around on the palate as one might savor a few small pebbles from a warm water stream. I don't mean it was mineral. I mean it gathered up it's everything into discreet modules and you sort of had to link and flatten them out in your mind's eye. Guess I'll check back in another 5 years. Or actually, I probably won't, as this was the generous contribution of a friend, and it would be unlikely for me to encounter it's like again, seeing as how I spend most of my time trying to gets the drinkers of the world to try a little Susumaniello, for pete's sake.
AR.PE.PE "Rocce Rosse" 1996 Valtellina Superiore Sassella Riserva (Lombardia, Italia)
"You had the experience." I remember a sous-chef saying this to me several years ago. "You did the chestnuts on the fire, or you wrapped the proscuitto around the melon, whatever it was, it all came together for you. It all made sense, and you were happy for it. Happy that you could find that, when you didn't even know it was something you were looking for." I was talking to him about my recent (at that time) trip to Italy, my first trip to Italy. He was talking to me about the reason he had become a professional cook. I think about that sometimes, you know, "having the experience". Because a lot of times those big ticket meals and ingriedents and famous locales, they don't bring on that experience for me. But you know, I found it again with this wine and plenty of cured pig foodstuffs sourced from Murray's Real Salami. I just kept going back to this, grabbing another handful of meat, and leaning back in my chair. Other people want to drink this as well? Oh, well, sure, okay, ummm, yeah I guess you can have some. I was loathe to give it up. Somedays in the workaday world you just want to sit back with something that works together so well and enjoy it, no rush, just enjoy. Okay, most days, not just somedays. But usually it doesn't end up happening. Well this time it all came around. Thank ye', thank ye'.
This was a little tight upon opening, then the petals started to open up. I imagaine this will be around giving folks contentment for another bunch of years.
Renaissance Vineyards 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon (the famed Yuba County, California)
Some people (snobs, my friends) objected to this wine as not to their liking. Screw 'em. This was mighty interesting to me, and it was mighty thoughtful of someone who knew I had had the '94, '97, and '99 of this in the past to bring it along. Lots going on on the nose. A whole Mille Feuille of layers on the opening of the palate, and then WHACK! a giant sloppy, slurping kiss of dark fruit on the finish. Which I guess is the Renaissance Cab signature, 'cause it sure does seem to be a constant. This was very cool to try. My first pre-Gideon bottling.
Raveneau "Vaillons" 2005 Chablis (Burgundy)
Well yes, all the potential is there isn't it, but this is, in the apparent theme of most of the evening, still quite young (but of course you knew that already). I remember when I got my first JV jacket. You could smell new on it. I was a kid. It was too big for me. I kind of drowned in it, as fabric bunched and sagged around my middle. It would be awhile before I grew into that jacket, before I looked the handsome devil my mom always said I was. Back then my cheeks were still kind of puffy, and I was far from the gaunt figure I am today. This wine is a kid just getting that jacket.
Fiorano 1992 Red (Lazio, Italia)
My first experience with the red, after lots of bottles of the whites. And it was just AMAZINGLY kind of the dude who brought this to remember that and offer it up. Long may you lurk, Sir.
So the wine: well, yes, I'd love to tell you about it, only, well, What the Hell Is It? I mean it's good, but it was all cylinders firing to try to come up with an analogous example in the wine world. One person referred to Loire reds. But you know, I understood what he was talking about, but uhm, that's not what this tastes like. Not exactly. It tastes like the village of Chambolle was airlifted out of the Cote d'Or and found itself amongst the vines of Chinon. Really. I mean, it's not one or the other. And it's got a little Ruche' thrown in for good measure, seems like. So maybe I shouldn't even try to look at it that way. Maybe I should try to get a grasp on this wine in the way in which I have been accustomed over the years: by ranking it in a hierarchy. You know those Lazio reds of Giglio? Well this wine ROCKS ALL OVER those wines! Kicks their ass!!! This is the so spectacularly better than those wines that Mr. Giglio should be ashamed to show his face in public. It makes Giglio seem like a distant farce in a grainy, old movie.
Okay, maybe those aren't meaningful ways to understand a wine. Maybe compare and contrast don't really hold up as tools when what you are experiencing is unique, and dare I say it, singular.
Anyway, I am glad I was there when.
A bottle of Ronco del Gnemiz 1997 red was corked. A bottle of NV Jean Laurent "Blanc de Noirs" had bubbles the size of a kickball. A Bressan 1997 Pignolo was not showing well (pepperoncini, anyone?). An A. Clape "Le Vin des Amis" 2006 was quite popular amongst the assembled (perhaps owing somewhat to context). A 1999 De Conciliis "Naima" was a treat in how it was drinking, a nice fruity respite after lots of more ponderous wines. There were others. Where do all the bottles and all the years go?
See you next year for 33.
