TN: A Jeebus for Jonathan (June 4, 2009)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
Attendees: Jonathan Loesberg, Brad Kane, Sharon Bowman, Joe Dougherty, Don Rice, Salil Bengal, Cliff Rosenberg, Jeff Grossman

We have almost-exclusve use of the back room at Il Corso. This is my first time seeing their new digs (across the street from their old digs). The space is a little smaller but it's squeaky clean (as is its bland modern decor).

Anyway, it's what's on the plate that counts. Yes? The menu offered a plethora of delightful-sounding choices. I chose two plates, Burrata (+ salumi) and Bunny (roast, sauced, and with an ocean of polenta). The dishes in front of other people smelled good, too, especially the pappardelle with duck ragu.

The wines:

Wittman 2006 Westhofer Aulerde Riesling Trocken Grosses Gewachs - 4 327 231 024 07, rich, viscous, a little honeyed (many say it's sweeter than 9.5 g residual sugar), long finish

A+P Bornard 2006 Arbois Pupillon "Le Rouge-Queue" - Sharon brings us a wine made from an esoteric cultivar called 'Chardeaux Neye', Jonathan: "Like a white chateauneuf just about to go bad"; but, really, he means that in a good way; very modest oxidation (i.e., not even as much as LdH white), nicely underripe (i.e., no tropical froot flavors)

Pichler 1991 Ried Durnsteiner Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd - Salil calls it the wine of the night before it is opened; still very pale in color, complex palate, not very rich but juicy and very long

Cullen 2000 Margaret River "Diana Madeline" - served blind, I took it for a slightly tired mid-1990s Bordeaux (it is a blend of Bordeaux grapes), nicely restrained for an Aussie, Salil says however that bottles are very variable

Pacalet 2006 Nuits-St-Georges rouge - wowsa nose of lemon oil and orange pith, on the palate it has lots of fine tannins and a bit of perfume but it lacks depth and earthiness at this stage

Baumard 1993 Savennieres "Clos du Papillon" - very honeyed, gracefully aged, excellent with food

Huet 1957 Vouvray "Clos du Bourg" demi-sec - omg, rich and viscous, golden fruit and sultanas, elegant, Brad: "A better showing than the Huet dinner"

Texier 1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - pretty enough but very Northern Rhone-ish, Jonathan: "I would pick it out as grenache that didn't get ripe"

Dom. Pierre Andre 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - light on its feet, rounded, a touch spirity, very recognizable as Ch9

Bousquet des Papes 2000 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Grenache" - richer, more extracted (which helps with food), Jonathan: "Don't touch for 5 years"

Ch. du Mourre du Tendre 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - tannic, somewhat bitter, not so appealing as the others

Texier 1999 Hermitage - very ripe nose, very syrah palate, comfortable hipster wine, much better than the bottle a few months ago, Brad-"My red wine of the night"

Huet 1964 Vouvray "Le Mont" moelleux - wow, the nose is a touch musty but the wine is more than sound; how do I describe it?... no 'thrust', no 'zing', it's far too sophisticated for that, stone fruit, raw almonds, the smell of clean scrubbed skin and sandy earth, not really sweet yet it has the aroma of marzipan

Kiralyudvar 1999 Tokaji Furmint "Lapis" - Joe says this house is owned by Tony Hwang (who now owns Huet), residual sugar 29 g/l so no problem detecting it here, kinda smelly but it grows on you

Dashe 2007 Late Harvest Zinfandel - 375ml, goopy, Raisinettes, feh

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Perfesser, a pleasure to meet you in person!

A few personal notes:

Joe... I meant to ask you, how was the pasta con sarde?

Jonathan... Musar notes click

Cliff... photos: click

Don... I could find no online archive of "7 Days" but I will try to remember to look for it the next time I'm near my archive (e.g., the cellar).
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Pacalet 2006 Nuits-St-Georges - wowsa nose of lemon oil and orange pith, on the palate it has lots of fine tannins and a bit of perfume but it lacks depth and earthiness at this stage
Click to expand...

Color?
 
Nice selection of wines.

Texier 1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - "I would pick it out as grenache that didn't get ripe"
Click to expand...

But this doesn't make sense. If they didn't get ripe in 99, what does it take!
 
originally posted by Arjun Mendiratta:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Pacalet 2006 Nuits-St-Georges - wowsa nose of lemon oil and orange pith, on the palate it has lots of fine tannins and a bit of perfume but it lacks depth and earthiness at this stage
Click to expand...

Color?
Click to expand...

Red.

I went in aware of the family relation to Marcel Lapierre, so the power of suggestion was definitely at work, but I was struck by the stylistic similarity. Lovely, pure fruit, nice lift -- a thoroughly enjoyable bottle.
 
originally posted by Cliff:...aware of the family relation to Marcel Lapierre, so the power of suggestion was definitely at work, but I was struck by the stylistic similarity...
Click to expand...

But the price is a few multiples more expensive than Lapierre, no?
 
I was grateful to have the chance to taste it. Having heard a lot about Pacalet, this was my first encounter.
 
The pasta was fine. Not life-changing, but fine.

Wasn't it the '91 Pichler? I didn't look closely, but that was my vague notion. Pretty pleasing Huets. That was an excellent bottle of the '57. Even Ms. Bowman seemed to like it in her understated way. Those on the wait list should be envious. And the rain in '64 made it into a vintage for those who prefer their moelleux less sweet. But also a delicious bottle. Worth noting that it was certainly an old label and old bottle, sourced recently in France.

btw, it's spelled "Hwang" in this case. A somewhat similar case to my own family name, I suppose, with many spellings. Though I reckon the small Donegal clan is a bit outnumbered.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Cliff:...aware of the family relation to Marcel Lapierre, so the power of suggestion was definitely at work, but I was struck by the stylistic similarity...
Click to expand...

But the price is a few multiples more expensive than Lapierre, no?
Click to expand...
So is land in Nuits vs. land in Morgon.
 
I believe the FX Pichler Kellerberg Smaragd was a '91. Really was a stunner with a ton of complexity, crazy smoky/metallic/mineral flavours combined with white fruits and amazing balance. From the couple of experiences I've had with older Austrians (a '95 FX Kellerberg Gruner was a real knockout a month ago), I think I need to start hunting down some of those bottles.
That was probably my favourite of the night after the '57 Huet, which was just absolutely gorgeous. Really seamless and beautifully balanced with an almost weightless, floating mouthfeel. Among the reds the Texier Hermitage was my favourite, although the Pierre Andre and Texier CdP were both also stunners (loved the aromatics on the Andre in particular - although that was incredibly young and I imagine it'll be awesome with more time).

As for the Dashe Zin, it's one of the few wines I've really despised just from the aromatics (then again for starters I'm not a Zin fan at all). Horribly raisiny, some VA and alcohol, confected - pretty much a 'Blech!' wine for me.

Should also add that the Texier Hermitage kept getting better and better through the night - the last sips were the best; by that time it was showing some crazy smoky and lavender notes amidst the fruit - I'll definitely have to look out for some of that. Great meeting the Disorder crowd - look forward to catching up again in the future.

Cheers,

Salil
 
The Pichler was indeed the 91.

The Huets were both fabulous. Thank you Brad. And that weird Chardeaux Neye did keep growing on me.

Rahsaan, on the Texier, 99, ripeness wasn't the problem. It's just that the wine tasted austere. I assume that was the style Texier wanted. I don't think it works much better for CdP then oak and overripeness does though.

It was great meeting all of you.
 
I really liked the Baumard, it was in a great place. The Arbois was quite tasty. Liked that Pierre Andre. Liked a bunch of those wines, a fun night, and great to see everyone.

Don, how was the morning?
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm: So is land in Nuits vs. land in Morgon.
Click to expand...

Of course. I was just wondering what kind of a 'compliment' it is to say that a $60-80 bottle of wine reminds one of a $20 bottle of wine. As much as I like and respect Lapierre, that could be interpreted as a slight towards Pacalet.

Although I apologize for being so price-focused..
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Pacalet 2006 Nuits-St-Georges rouge - wowsa nose of lemon oil and orange pith, on the palate it has lots of fine tannins and a bit of perfume but it lacks depth and earthiness at this stage
Click to expand...

Very excellent writeup, though someone should note that for this one, it was transformed by later in the evening. It had shed the citrus stuff (thank pip) and gotten flesh and a kind of brutal weight that was not disagreeable. Rather the opposite.

I wish I had retasted the Arbois, because it just kept getting better for the few minutes I had it out to play.

The Cullen had a kind of guilty-pleasure element to it. An "Oooh, this is so not right. I'll just take another tiny sip to make sure." A nexus of moral perversity.

The whites all appealed to me, which was unexpected and nice. Both Huets were lovely, and the rieslings reserved young and old charms of dryness I cannot fault in the least.

I must say that the pothole was the Pierre Andr; feh. And, as noted, the prunefandel.
 
Wish I had a chance to go back to Pacalet later. the Wittman and Pichler both blossomed with air.
 
Most of these wines were worth revisiting, and I regret having to leave early because of a last-minute job.

(Joe thanks for asking - we delivered to the session on time. The assignment was a funky Tony Award Host-Playon theme, featuring Spinozza playing a bluesy solo over riffing horns and a bed of strings. What a great guitarist.)

I thought the rieslings made an interesting pair; one primary the other evolved, yet both open and showing well. Like they were debating their respective merits.

I was relieved that the Baumard Papillon showed well, even though it lacked the bells and whistles that clamor for attention. It was just good wine. Easy to drink with dinner and balanced, with a bit of creaminess along with stone fruit. No over the hill flavors. It's mellowed nicely since I put a few in the cellar a decade ago, and seems to be maturing gracefully.

The trio of C9 was also interesting. The wines differed enough in style to make for some pleasurable back-and-forth comparisons without having to work too hard. I agree that the 99 Texier CdP is on the austere side now. I'm keeping a few of these to see where they end up. The Hermitage was a treat - my favorite red of the night. Pacalet was intriguing aromatically but a little rough going on the palate at the moment. What will this taste like in ten years? It'll be interesting to find out.

The Cullen was marred (slightly) by VA for me - maybe I'm just too sensitive to it. Also, it was beyond what I prefer extraction-wise, though not overripe. What was the alc level, did anyone check the label? I bet it was in the 14 range. When I tasted my first impression was "spoof" but then I heard it's biodynamic - wtf? It opens the unsolvable discussion over what is spoof.

We are so fortunate to be able to revel in these old Vouvrays. This was just a pristine bottle of 57 demi. The thing about the 57 (and even 59) Clos du Bourgs I have tried in the past decade is that they are drinking so well - and yet are only moderately evolved - that it will take some effort to keep my dwindling stash long enough to see them through to their next and perhaps even more interesting developmental destination. Which leads to the question- will we live long enough to be able to enjoy them at that point?

Having said that I thought the 64 showed a little more evolution than the 57, by which I mean additional complexity (in taste and shape). Did anyone take that bottle home? The original release Huet label was cool.

Jeff are those pix of your place? Beautiful.

Thanks everyone.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:

btw, it's spelled "Hwang" in this case. A somewhat similar case to my own family name, I suppose, with many spellings. Though I reckon the small Donegal clan is a bit outnumbered.
Click to expand...

And then there's the issue of pronunciation with your surname. Witness the variant exhibited by your 5th cousin thrice removed on the distaff side Dennis at that upstart institute in SoCal.

Mark Lipton (n Lipstein n Lipski n ???)

Ellis Island makes aliens of us all
 
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