File this one under really fucking late.
Brad exacted a promise from me that I'd post on this dinner dinner last year, and after procrastinating a couple of weeks I managed to lose my notes. Sweet.
It turns out I'd written them upside-down on the backs of pages in an already-filled tiny notebook. Which I eventually found in the bottom of a locked file cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory, with a sign... you know the rest. But so much for being thrifty.
So with a respectful nod to Thor, I'd like to post these notes that are noweleven thirteen months old.
On this particular Sunday evening, Kane collected an unusually mixed assortment of participants from at least two or three different wine boards to eat and drink at Bar Tartine. I believe the assembled included skraft, Larry Stein, Arjun Mendiratta, Jon Bonn, Kim Vance, winemakers Russell Bevan and Larry Schaffer, and some plus-ones. And everyone got on just famously.
eh.
Not surprisingly, the wines on the table -- and by extension, the folks who brought them -- were rather binary in style. Some serious red/blue state stuff here, except that we had lovers of dirt and acid, and lovers of yummy.
Now things started out very polite and respectful, with a bit of this-isn't-my-preferred-style-but-it's-nice kinda stuff, but it was fairly inevitable that the tension level would start to ratchet up a bit once peoples' BAC began to rise.
But enough gossip - let's talk about the wines:
2007 Dry Stack Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Rosemary's Block
This was opulent, floral and thickly-textured, even corpulent, with a generous amount of palate sweetness. Oohs and ahhs from at least half the table, but it wasn't my thing at all. Although sauvignon blanc so rarely is.
NV Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Terre de Vertus Non Dose
Toasty, complex nose with generous autolytic aromas, saline minerality and some well-integrated wood. Didn't find this to be austere at all - in fact it was a richer and more full-bodied style than I'd expected. Very nice as long as you're down with the style.
2003 Brgerspital zum hl. Geist Wrzburger Pfaffenberg Riesling Kabinett
No. Flabby, with insufficient structure for the sweetness. 2003itis, alas.
2006 Frederic Gueguen Chablis 1er Cru Cte de Lchet
Tight nose but a nicely mineral-driven palate with some palate sweetness per the vintage and good weight. I like the restrained style here. Not bad for 2006 Chablis, which has not often been to my liking.
2002 Franois Cazin (Le Petit Chambord) Cour-Cheverny
Bracingly citric, slightly nutty, with musty minerality. Nearly dry and a little punishing. Love it. No great depth but who cares. I could have drank the entire bottle if there wasn't so much other stuff on the table.
Next up were a bunch of Tercero wines Larry Schaffer had generously brought. The Rhone-variety reds didn't grab me (though nothing was gravely amiss), but his GSM ros was okay and the grenache blanc was nice.
2007 Tercero Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre Ros
Simple fresh strawberry and melon flavors with crisp acids, if not much persistence on the palate. Uncomplicated and easy to drink.
2007 Tercero Grenache Blanc Camp 4 Vineyard
Aromatic and rich, with a nice mouthfeel. Just enough acid to refresh the palate. Good.
1997 Von Schubert Maximin Grnhauser Abtsberg Riesling Kabinett
Hello, this was in a simply beautiful place. Perfect balance of sweetness and fruit, acid, richness. No real notes as I had to put the pen down and just savor it. What a head turner. Thanks Larry.
1999 ric Texier Hermitage
Classic Northern Rhone nose of aged meat, tobacco. Wow, this is surprisingly soft and ready to drink, with red fruits, bacon fat, smoke and firm but friendly acids. Perhaps a bit lean for '99; I doubt this will make old bones but it's freaking delicious now. Thanks skraft. I shake my head as Mr Schaffer to my right grimaces, complains that it's underripe and dumps his glass. My wine of the night, it continued to improve until there was none left.
2005 Orin Swift Papillon
Arjun and I had a mutual head-scratching over this one, the gist of which was that the 'chocolate' label is thrown about too often with wine. How many wines truly taste anything like milk or dark chocolate? Well this does, for one. In fact, it's like sweet milk chocolate filled with raspberry and currant preserves. Stop. This is less wine than it is red liquid dessert.
Yet perhaps unsurprisingly this wine split the group along the aforementioned lines, as folks were inclined to either love its explosive yumminess, or abhor its horrific fakeness. But according to the winery, this is supposed to be a Bordeaux blend. Folks, it shouldn't taste like Cadbury.
2005 Bevan Cellars Syrah Dry Stack Vineyard
Dark and concentrated; round in the mouth, young but rather plush; far more distinguished than the Swift, but still too much yummy for my palate, especially after the Hermitage.
2001 Giacomo Brezza Barolo
Red and blue fruits and good acid and weight, but this is super primary and mostly shut down. Snake eyes; no Barolo love tonight.
2000 Dunham Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon VI (Columbia Valley)
No idea. I mean I wrote "tobacco, super concentrated, nice." but I have no recollection of tasting this.
2005 Colgin IX Estate Red Wine
Another yummy coalition contribution. Huge, thick, sweet, structured. Thoroughly palate-coating, with tannins that have been polished down like a grain of rice destined for daiginjō-shu. Probably very expensive, but not my thing and I quickly moved on.
1994 Dehlinger Syrah Estate
Still quite alive with good concentration and baked red fruits and tobacco. Not quite special, but pretty good for 15 year old California syrah.
2007 Bevan Cellars Red Wine (barrel sample)
60-20-20 cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot. No notes on this, I suspect I had turned back to the Hermitage at this point.
2006 Melville Pinot Noir Terraces
Quite dark. Good acidity but lots of icky vanilla/mocha oak, dumped this in a hurry.
1989 Champalou Vouvray Moelleux Cuve CC
Very primary with citric flavors, apricot, honey. Nice balance between sweetness and acidity but this bottle was tight and seemed to need lots more time. Other bottles have shown quite differently.
At this point about half the group relocated to Terroir, because obviously we'd not had enough wine to drink. Terroir had unfortunately closed early because of poor business due to the Pride parade a few blocks over. After some discussion we rocketed back across town to Nopa. Here a few more bottles were bought from the list:
2007 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis
Kind of a curious choice at this point in the evening for which I take full responsibility. But no apologies - this was its usual fresh and zingy self and definitely helped reinvigorate the palate. Russell was not at all a fan, unfortunately.
There was an somewhat argumentative and intoxicated discussion over what to order next. While a bit expensive I thought a Quintarelli Valpo might please both sides of the divide, but then skraft started bitching about volatile acidity. I should note that I've since seen skraft gleefully throw back Quintarelli with friends, so I can only conclude that he simply didn't want to drink Quintarelli with us.
Finally I identified a core constituency of three or so like-minded folks and we ordered the:
2005 Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny La Grande Vignolle
Jon's significant other was delighted when I suggested ordering this Saumur-Champigny. And it was its usual rich, concentrated '05 Loire cabernet franc self. A bit brooding and could have used some air, but we dove right in nonetheless.
Some of the yummy camp had a small taste of the Saumur-Champigny, grimaced, and ordered a Gigondas or Vacqueyras. I didn't note the name, or drink any, so you'll have to ask Brad what it was as he seemed to be delighted with it.
At the conclusion of these bottles we parted company, although I think Russell was game to keep going. And you know what - despite our lack of palate symmetry I was really coming to like his cowboy social dynamic.
I wholeheartedly tried to rally a few others, but the truth was I was starting to lose consciousness, and so when people started to sneak out I eventually followed suit and stumbled home.
Thank you Brad for an interesting, but most fine evening. I'll try to get this year's notes posted before another year passes.
I think it was clear from my slanted prose, but my favorite wines of the night were the Von Schubert and the Texier Hermitage.
Brad exacted a promise from me that I'd post on this dinner dinner last year, and after procrastinating a couple of weeks I managed to lose my notes. Sweet.
It turns out I'd written them upside-down on the backs of pages in an already-filled tiny notebook. Which I eventually found in the bottom of a locked file cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory, with a sign... you know the rest. But so much for being thrifty.
So with a respectful nod to Thor, I'd like to post these notes that are now
On this particular Sunday evening, Kane collected an unusually mixed assortment of participants from at least two or three different wine boards to eat and drink at Bar Tartine. I believe the assembled included skraft, Larry Stein, Arjun Mendiratta, Jon Bonn, Kim Vance, winemakers Russell Bevan and Larry Schaffer, and some plus-ones. And everyone got on just famously.
eh.
Not surprisingly, the wines on the table -- and by extension, the folks who brought them -- were rather binary in style. Some serious red/blue state stuff here, except that we had lovers of dirt and acid, and lovers of yummy.
2007 Dry Stack Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Rosemary's Block
This was opulent, floral and thickly-textured, even corpulent, with a generous amount of palate sweetness. Oohs and ahhs from at least half the table, but it wasn't my thing at all. Although sauvignon blanc so rarely is.
NV Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Terre de Vertus Non Dose
Toasty, complex nose with generous autolytic aromas, saline minerality and some well-integrated wood. Didn't find this to be austere at all - in fact it was a richer and more full-bodied style than I'd expected. Very nice as long as you're down with the style.
2003 Brgerspital zum hl. Geist Wrzburger Pfaffenberg Riesling Kabinett
No. Flabby, with insufficient structure for the sweetness. 2003itis, alas.
2006 Frederic Gueguen Chablis 1er Cru Cte de Lchet
Tight nose but a nicely mineral-driven palate with some palate sweetness per the vintage and good weight. I like the restrained style here. Not bad for 2006 Chablis, which has not often been to my liking.
2002 Franois Cazin (Le Petit Chambord) Cour-Cheverny
Bracingly citric, slightly nutty, with musty minerality. Nearly dry and a little punishing. Love it. No great depth but who cares. I could have drank the entire bottle if there wasn't so much other stuff on the table.
Next up were a bunch of Tercero wines Larry Schaffer had generously brought. The Rhone-variety reds didn't grab me (though nothing was gravely amiss), but his GSM ros was okay and the grenache blanc was nice.
2007 Tercero Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre Ros
Simple fresh strawberry and melon flavors with crisp acids, if not much persistence on the palate. Uncomplicated and easy to drink.
2007 Tercero Grenache Blanc Camp 4 Vineyard
Aromatic and rich, with a nice mouthfeel. Just enough acid to refresh the palate. Good.
1997 Von Schubert Maximin Grnhauser Abtsberg Riesling Kabinett
Hello, this was in a simply beautiful place. Perfect balance of sweetness and fruit, acid, richness. No real notes as I had to put the pen down and just savor it. What a head turner. Thanks Larry.
1999 ric Texier Hermitage
Classic Northern Rhone nose of aged meat, tobacco. Wow, this is surprisingly soft and ready to drink, with red fruits, bacon fat, smoke and firm but friendly acids. Perhaps a bit lean for '99; I doubt this will make old bones but it's freaking delicious now. Thanks skraft. I shake my head as Mr Schaffer to my right grimaces, complains that it's underripe and dumps his glass. My wine of the night, it continued to improve until there was none left.
2005 Orin Swift Papillon
Arjun and I had a mutual head-scratching over this one, the gist of which was that the 'chocolate' label is thrown about too often with wine. How many wines truly taste anything like milk or dark chocolate? Well this does, for one. In fact, it's like sweet milk chocolate filled with raspberry and currant preserves. Stop. This is less wine than it is red liquid dessert.
Yet perhaps unsurprisingly this wine split the group along the aforementioned lines, as folks were inclined to either love its explosive yumminess, or abhor its horrific fakeness. But according to the winery, this is supposed to be a Bordeaux blend. Folks, it shouldn't taste like Cadbury.
2005 Bevan Cellars Syrah Dry Stack Vineyard
Dark and concentrated; round in the mouth, young but rather plush; far more distinguished than the Swift, but still too much yummy for my palate, especially after the Hermitage.
2001 Giacomo Brezza Barolo
Red and blue fruits and good acid and weight, but this is super primary and mostly shut down. Snake eyes; no Barolo love tonight.
2000 Dunham Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon VI (Columbia Valley)
No idea. I mean I wrote "tobacco, super concentrated, nice." but I have no recollection of tasting this.
2005 Colgin IX Estate Red Wine
Another yummy coalition contribution. Huge, thick, sweet, structured. Thoroughly palate-coating, with tannins that have been polished down like a grain of rice destined for daiginjō-shu. Probably very expensive, but not my thing and I quickly moved on.
1994 Dehlinger Syrah Estate
Still quite alive with good concentration and baked red fruits and tobacco. Not quite special, but pretty good for 15 year old California syrah.
2007 Bevan Cellars Red Wine (barrel sample)
60-20-20 cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot. No notes on this, I suspect I had turned back to the Hermitage at this point.
2006 Melville Pinot Noir Terraces
Quite dark. Good acidity but lots of icky vanilla/mocha oak, dumped this in a hurry.
1989 Champalou Vouvray Moelleux Cuve CC
Very primary with citric flavors, apricot, honey. Nice balance between sweetness and acidity but this bottle was tight and seemed to need lots more time. Other bottles have shown quite differently.
At this point about half the group relocated to Terroir, because obviously we'd not had enough wine to drink. Terroir had unfortunately closed early because of poor business due to the Pride parade a few blocks over. After some discussion we rocketed back across town to Nopa. Here a few more bottles were bought from the list:
2007 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis
Kind of a curious choice at this point in the evening for which I take full responsibility. But no apologies - this was its usual fresh and zingy self and definitely helped reinvigorate the palate. Russell was not at all a fan, unfortunately.
There was an somewhat argumentative and intoxicated discussion over what to order next. While a bit expensive I thought a Quintarelli Valpo might please both sides of the divide, but then skraft started bitching about volatile acidity. I should note that I've since seen skraft gleefully throw back Quintarelli with friends, so I can only conclude that he simply didn't want to drink Quintarelli with us.
Finally I identified a core constituency of three or so like-minded folks and we ordered the:
2005 Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny La Grande Vignolle
Jon's significant other was delighted when I suggested ordering this Saumur-Champigny. And it was its usual rich, concentrated '05 Loire cabernet franc self. A bit brooding and could have used some air, but we dove right in nonetheless.
Some of the yummy camp had a small taste of the Saumur-Champigny, grimaced, and ordered a Gigondas or Vacqueyras. I didn't note the name, or drink any, so you'll have to ask Brad what it was as he seemed to be delighted with it.
At the conclusion of these bottles we parted company, although I think Russell was game to keep going. And you know what - despite our lack of palate symmetry I was really coming to like his cowboy social dynamic.
I wholeheartedly tried to rally a few others, but the truth was I was starting to lose consciousness, and so when people started to sneak out I eventually followed suit and stumbled home.
Thank you Brad for an interesting, but most fine evening. I'll try to get this year's notes posted before another year passes.
I think it was clear from my slanted prose, but my favorite wines of the night were the Von Schubert and the Texier Hermitage.
