DC Does It

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Rahsaan

Rahsaan
It was Thursday and we got together a group with Jonathan Loesberg, Bob Semon, Cole Kendall, Cristian Dezso and myself. And some wine.

When I arrived they were already decanting the red wines but I thought it was appropriate to start pouring the Gamble Wine. Truth be told, I was suspicious of the 2000 Henri Gouges Bourgogne Pinot Blanc but I was hoping for some sort of Inspirational Massive Overachievement. Alas, that did not happen. But it was not dead and the spicy apple cider was more pleasing to some than others.

A more reliable wine was the 2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuve Frdric mile, which showed firm chalky mineral fruit. As expected. As it warmed I found it to show more round ripe fruit than I expected but always in a rockin golden mineral package. Nice. But then again I dont have much experience with CFE.

Moving to red wine, the 1990 Chteau de Pibarnon Bandol was fun at first. Quite rich and vibrant and easy to drink. I liked the first glass better than later glasses because once I started drinking the Clape this seemed blocky and goofy. But then Im judging out of class.

There was a quick flirtation with the 1993 Le Vieux Donjon Chteauneuf-du-Pape but it was deemed flawed for some reason. Bob seemed to think it was the inherent Mourvedre stink but Jonathan thought it was corked.

Either way, the Vieux Donjon was not as bad as the sour and over-the-hill 1993 Chteau de Beaucastel Chteauneuf-du-Pape. Luckily it was redeemed by the rockin-and-rollin 1994 Chteau de Beaucastel Chteauneuf-du-Pape. At first I found this a bit too slutty and unstructured, but then it was pointed out to me that my palate has been warped by young Burgundy. And at that point I started to appreciate the seductive sweet finely-hued ripples of fruit. Seriously.

Prior to that, I had been enjoying the ripe yet firm 1995 Chteau de Beaucastel Chteauneuf-du-Pape. But truth be told, this probably does need more time to resolve its structure. Not that I have strong opinions about these wines. They were both fun.

Inspirational was the 1980 Clape Cornas which started off very sweet and very ripe and very youthful. With air some of the funky edges started showing but this was such a comfortable wine that it easily won the Thunderbird Prize.

Also impressive was the 1999 Clape Cornas, which was quite the contrast to the 1980 with more youthful purple fruit. But, it also seemed to be moving on to the next stage and showed some delicate florals to go along with the hard middle fruit. This may have been an inbetween wine but it was fun fun to drink.

1990 Domaine de La Taille aux Loups Montlouis Cuve des Loups was curiously golden brown but considering that color that it showed pretty fresh on the palate. Bob found buckwheat and all other sorts of breakfast cereal flavors. I found sweet honey and fresh acidity and I was not fully convinced but it was more straight down the line than the funky and weird 1979 Baumard Coteaux du Layon Clos Sainte Catherine which literally smelled like espresso by the time I got my pour. Others enjoyed the pungency and the complexity but I went back to the red wines.

Either way, not a bad dinner Not a bad dinner...
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
DC Does ItIt was Thursday and we got together a group with Jonathan Loesberg, Bob Semon, Cole Kendall, Cristian Dezso and myself. And some wine.

When I arrived they were already decanting the red wines but I thought it was appropriate to start pouring the Gamble Wine. Truth be told, I was suspicious of the 2000 Henri Gouges Bourgogne Pinot Blanc but I was hoping for some sort of Inspirational Massive Overachievement. Alas, that did not happen. But it was not dead and the spicy apple cider was more pleasing to some than others.
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What, not labeled Pinot Gouges? And what is this stuff, declassified NSG blanc?

Luckily it was redeemed by the rockin-and-rollin 1994 Chteau de Beaucastel Chteauneuf-du-Pape. At first I found this a bit too slutty and unstructured, but then it was pointed out to me that my palate has been warped by young Burgundy. And at that point I started to appreciate the seductive sweet finely-hued ripples of fruit. Seriously.
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Slutty and unstructured? I think that the young Burgundy comment is on the money. I had the '94 Beaucastel last week and it was pretty typical Beaucastel: dark Mourvedre fruit and structure, less opulent than some other years of it.

Good to see that the Prof is having his way with your drinking habits. You'll be a Grenache fiend in no time, I'm sure.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
What, not labeled Pinot Gouges? And what is this stuff, declassified NSG blanc?
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No, it is labeled pinot blanc. We were wondering about its origins but no one knew for sure.

Slutty and unstructured? I think that the young Burgundy comment is on the money. I had the '94 Beaucastel last week and it was pretty typical Beaucastel: dark Mourvedre fruit and structure, less opulent than some other years of it.
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I don't pretend to have any knowledge of different vintages of CdP or Beaucastel but it was sluttier and more forward than the 95 we had open. That said, my Northern Frame of Reference was clearly at work in judging all the Southern Wines. I'm sorry..

FWIW, your note from the other week was the inspiration for this entire dinner!

Good to see that the Prof is having his way with your drinking habits. You'll be a Grenache fiend in no time, I'm sure.
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Yes, he claims that he could convert me. But only if he gets enough exposure. I think he said he needed one night per week. And that's a lot of grenache! :)
 
Rahsaan, I'm concerned about your sudden multiple uses of the term "sluttier" to descibe wine. Have you been hanging out with intolerant agents of the Patriarchy? Or vandergrift?
 
I'm concerned about your sudden multiple uses of the term "sluttier" to descibe wine
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These were Southern wines!

originally posted by VLM:
You're lyingNo way Bob Semon was there. I see no trace of frighteningly obscure Italian dessert wine.
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I think he had a scheduling problem beforehand so the only thing available was the Unknown 1990 Montlouis Cuvee.
 
originally posted by MLipton:

What, not labeled Pinot Gouges? And what is this stuff, declassified NSG blanc?
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Once upon a time, long ago and on a plane of existence far, far away from here (Nuits-St-Georges, to be exact) a mutant Pinot Noir vine was found among all the normal vines. Rather than rip it from the soil, decrying it as a despoiling, mutant blot upon the Burgundian escutcheon, this abnormal grapevine, a grapevine that had the temerity to produce WHITE Pinot Noir instead of the same-ol'- same-ol' RED Pinot Noir, this unique vine was exalted by the Family Gouges. Cuttings were taken and propagated and seeds were cast upon the ground and other places and they became fruitful and multiplied and now the the Domaine has enough of these deviant plants cooking away to be able to bottle maybe a whopping 120 cases (depending on the vintage) per annum of the Premier Cru La Perrire Blanc. The wine ages well, developing more along the lines of red Pinot Noir than the white Pinot Blanc we're used to swilling from Alsace, Austria or Oregon when we eat salmon.

But Mark, you probably already knew all of that. To get to your question, the Gouges Bourgogne Blanc is from younger vines and doesn't have the aging ability of the La Perrire Blanc. It's also grown in vineyards situated in the "less desirable" part of town (AKA: "Bourgogne", so try as it might, this stuff just is not going to wind up as NSG Blanc. It's that French caste system at work again,a nd don't hold your breath for the AOC laws to be overturned on appeal or anything. However, there's also another Gouges 1er vineyard that produces a few cases of blanc each year but the quantity is so minuscule that nobody at the Domaine even admits that the wine exists. It's sort of like that block of Zinfandel that Auguste Clape planted in Cornas after Paul Draper visited back in the early 1980s, or the row of Colombard Helmut Donnhoff tends in Oberhuser Brcke. Nobody breathes word-one about 'em, but they're out there anyway, likely sold off to some middle-east potentate or The Pope or someone else with equally lofty pretensions and enough F-U money burning holes in their cassocks that enables them to buy wines of this ilk. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet gotta drink something interesting when they get together to play bridge, no?

-Eden (I wonder if they all belong to the same ilk's lodge?)
 
originally posted by VLM:
You're lyingNo way Bob Semon was there. I see no trace of frighteningly obscure Italian dessert wine.
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You can see that the fellow on the right made a good attempt to fool us by dressing up as Bob Semon, even if he forgot to bring the multiple bottles of Moscato.
IMAGE_277.jpg
 
Here is an unfortunately out of focus image of the good Prof attempting to parse the 1993 Vieux Donjon; tragically, the meter had more beats than he anticipated.

IMAGE_279.jpg
 
originally posted by VLM:
You're lyingNo way Bob Semon was there. I see no trace of frighteningly obscure Italian dessert wine.
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That's my evil twin in the photo. The one that won't sell my old Chateauneuf du Pape to the professor. I should have suspected foul play when I got that apparently forged email saying that the dinner had been relocated to the Taco Bell on Columbia Pike. On the upside, the 2004 Luciano Landi Lacrima di Morra d'Alba passito showed well paired with a Gordita Supreme.
 
Preferring the 95 Beaucastel to the 94 has to be some form of misapplied wine criteria at work. This pairing was just another argument in favor of my claim that 94s are generally turning out better than 95s. The 95 Beaucastel may come around more and it is drinkable, but it shows all the signs of being a 78 redivivus. The 94 may not be a slut but it is certainly a floozy.

Both of the Clapes were the reds of the evening clearly.

I went back and forth on whether the VD was corked. But there was something wrong with it, something hovering over the earthiness that occasionaly had the tang of wet cardboard and at other times just something weird. The Pibarnon indicated that whatever it was, it wasn't mourvedre stink (and VD doesn't have a whole lot of mourvedre in any case).

I missed Bob's weird Italian dessert wines too. The evil twin theory makes sense to me.
 
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
originally posted by VLM:
You're lyingNo way Bob Semon was there. I see no trace of frighteningly obscure Italian dessert wine.
Click to expand...

You can see that the fellow on the right made a good attempt to fool us by dressing up as Bob Semon, even if he forgot to bring the multiple bottles of Moscato.
IMAGE_277.jpg
Click to expand...

Damn, Rahsaan, is it 1971?
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Preferring the 95 Beaucastel to the 94 has to be some form of misapplied wine criteria at work. This pairing was just another argument in favor of my claim that 94s are generally turning out better than 95s.
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I can imagine a totally coherent criteria that would generate this preference.

The 95 Beaucastel may come around more and it is drinkable, but it shows all the signs of being a 78 redivivus.
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You repeat yourself, sir. My last experience with the 1995 has lent me sympathy for your position.

The 94 may not be a slut but it is certainly a floozy.
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See Rahsaan's preference for the 1995. He is nothing if not asceticist.

I went back and forth on whether the VD was corked. But there was something wrong with it, something hovering over the earthiness that occasionaly had the tang of wet cardboard and at other times just something weird. The Pibarnon indicated that whatever it was, it wasn't mourvedre stink (and VD doesn't have a whole lot of mourvedre in any case).
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It sounds like the VD was bacterial, who gave it to you.
 
It's true that I say the same thing every time I drink the 95 Beau. But that's because it keeps being the same wine.

And Bob brought the VD. It turns out that in his misspent youth, he bought a lot of CdP.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
It's true that I say the same thing every time I drink the 95 Beau. But that's because it keeps being the same wine.

And Bob brought the VD. It turns out that in his misspent youth, he bought a lot of CdP.
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Who gave the VD to the CdP?
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Preferring the 95 Beaucastel to the 94 has to be some form of misapplied wine criteria at work...The 94 may not be a slut but it is certainly a floozy..
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Did someone prefer the 95 to the 94?

At first that was my position, but by the end of the evening I saw the charms of both wines and was not able to make a 'decision'.

And this may reflect my Northern bias, but splitting hairs over which Chateauneuf was more of a slut, floozy, tramp, or forward-showing beast is kind of like choosing the 'smartest' Nobel prize winner. There may be differences, but in the end they're all pretty smart/slutty.

That said, they were fun. Don't get me wrong!
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Good to see that the Prof is having his way with your drinking habits. You'll be a Grenache fiend in no time, I'm sure.

Mark Lipton
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No, I intend to keep plying him with burgundy to ensure that never happens.

Sorry to have missed the evening, the surfeit of CdP notwithstanding. I'm sure I could have been content with the CFE, the 1980 Cornas, and the 1994 Beaucastel (which I've had before and quite liked, despite its origins).
 
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