Did I say room? No, not quite right. Shed? Tent? Lean-to? Look, Im aware that wine folk can occasionally be rowdy, table-hogging miscreants, and on more than one occasion Ive been in a restaurant thats banished us to the hinterlands (I remember one, somewhere north of Boston, that set up our table in the storage room), but Im not even sure that the area in which were dining counts as a structure. One things for sure: its deafening, thanks to the rain that pounds on the corrugated metal roof (yes, really)and later, a few soaked-through bags, boxes, and jackets indicate the formation of a brackish pond beneath our feet.
continued here. Grossly out-of-date notes follow:
Huet 1999 Vouvray Brut (Loire) Gentle. Light lime and quinine powdered with chalk and spiced aspirin. This is like smelling Loire-dust. Very long, with a fine crescendo. Lovely. (3/05)
Loimer 1997 Langenloiser Spiegel Grner Veltliner Alte Reben (Kamptal) Ripe and fairly mature, with celery and sweet apricot. Is there botrytis in this wine? Cream-textured and rich, though perhaps lacking some length. Tasty. (3/05)
Cave des Vignerons de Saumur 2003 Cabernet dAnjou Rserve des Vignerons (Loire) Candied strawberry and red cherry. Juicy, light, and balanced. Pleasant, but not really more than that. (3/05)
Olga Raffault 1995 Chinon Les Picasses (Loire) Peaty earth and chalk dust with a light herbaceousness plus a dense (but not powerful) core of black cherry. Great acidity. Long and complex. While this is showing signs of its eventual maturity, its definitely not there yet. (3/05)
Rockford 1993 Shiraz (Barossa Valley) The spiced vanilla of American oak (at least, I assume) with milk chocolate liqueur, blackberry, blueberry, and black pepper. Juicy, chewy, and longish, but a bit hot. Fatuous. Yet, somehow, I dont mind it. I wouldnt want to drink it in quantity, though. (3/05)
Ridge 1987 Geyserville (Sonoma County) All of 13.7% alcohol. It hardly seems possible. Mixed pepper dusts fall upon sweet strawberries and light plumminess. Theres an earthy funk to it as well, plus a slight edge of drying apple-walnut bitterness on the finish; this is a wine thats just past maturity and is starting to show signs of minor erosion, despite its still-considerable appeal. Its often said that zinfandel ages into something akin to claret. Not so in this case; the antecedent Id choose is Burgundy, or perhaps a light-minded Oregon pinot noir. A lovely old wine fading into its sunset, but still vibrant with deep, fruit-toned colors (3/05).
Ridge 1987 Zinfandel Lytton Springs (Sonoma County) 13.4% alcohol. Does that even count as wine in California anymore? Sweaty, dark, and dusty. Minted plum with a hint of smoke. Lightly-tarred tannin. Very slightly volatile. Structured, long, and still quite intense. This is in the prime of its maturity, and absolutely delicious. (3/05)
Sandalford Estate Reserve 2003 Verdelho (Margaret River) Fruit buds and crushed flower pollen with an anise-like herbality (fennel fronds, perhaps). Good acidity. Theres a nice, light, fresh quality to this wine, though it doesnt lack flavor. (3/05)
Charles Heidsieck 1990 Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Blanc des Millnaires (Champagne) Reggiano rinds, stale lemon, green olive, and slightly sweaty socks. As bad as the previous sounds, I actually kind of like the result. Later, a little zing of black cherry skin appears; unusually so, considering that this is a chardonnay-based sparkler. Very good, but I wouldnt hold it much longer. (3/05)
Peregrine 2003 Riesling (Central Otago) Performing even better than at the winery. Dried apricot, deep black minerality, tarragon, and light residual sugar. Medium-bodied with preliminary bursts of complexity, terrific balance, and a long, drying finish. Very, very promising. (3/05)
Stonecroft 2000 Gewrztraminer (Hawkes Bay) Dead cheese (not just rotten, but an actual corpse), celery, and stinky armpit. Blessedly short. A truly awful wine. (3/05)
Tyrells 1992 Semillon Vat 1 (Hunter Valley) Lemon, apple, creamy tangerine. Theres a sweetish aspect, and some crystallization on the finish. Beeswax, as well? A little goofy, but decent enough. Perhaps its just not old enough? Too old? I can never tell with these wines (3/05)
Mount Mary 1997 Quintet (Yarra Valley) Teeming-with-life earth, black cherry, cedar, and raw tobacco with a black pepper edge. More black fruit follows in dark waves, but then the wine transforms itself, turning crisper (specifically, more malic) along the way, until tannin clamps down hard on the finish. Starts brilliantly, finishes less soperhaps just a stage. Or perhaps not. (3/05)
Castagna 2001 Genesis Syrah (Beechworth) Fetid and sweaty Worcestershire soda, blended with herbs and earth. Long, spicy, and black-peppery, with layers of drying tannin. Weird enough that I cant decide whether or not I like itexcept, of course, for the fact that I appreciate its very weirdness. (3/05)
James Irvine 1994 Grand Merlot (Eden Valley) Huge, structured, full-bodied, and yet balanced in a very New World, thermonuclear fruit device fashion. Blackberry, blueberry, and plums abound, but theres also an appealing graphite texture and pretty fair acidity. The wine is just massive, which makes the fairly abrupt fade on the finish a little disappointing, if not entirely surprising. In its style, this is quite impressive. (3/05)
Cullen 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot (Margaret River) Dense and a little roasted, with razor-like tannin and a certain alcoholic weight (though theres only a bit of heat). Coconut, blackberry, andnot much else; the center is hollow, theres volatile acidity hanging about (and sure to get stronger), and the wine finishes with both feet and a large portion of its torso in the grave, though its still swinging its fists as it descends. A bit brutal to drink, honestly, and it appears to have suffered the fate so often predicted for modern-style wines (though what it was actually like young, I have no idea). Some at the table opine that its actually having a mid-life crisis, and while I concede their greater experience with the wine, I dont see it based on whats on display. (3/05)
Veritas 1997 Shiraz Hanisch (Barossa Valley) Black raspberry and black cherry, both coated with bitter chocolate. Then, theres crme de cassis, licorice liqueur, bubblegum, and a significant spike of acetone. Texturally, the wines sticky to the point of being gummy, an absolute harlot with its fruit, and rather massive. All that said, theres a certain insane balance to the wine, and those for whom more has no upper bound will probably love the geysering sluttishness of it. But its definitely not my thing. (3/05)
