Steven Spielmann
Steven Spielmann
Five of us (Cory, Em, Sandy, Larry, and myself) met at the Los Altos Grill for a delightful evening of wine and conversation. Some notes of mine follow; hopefully others will chime in as well.
The Los Altos Grill gets a thumbs up from me. It is not the sort of restaurant that experimental gastronomes would seek out, rather providing a sort of upscale but reasonably priced comfort food with lots of fresh ingredients and pleasant but not imposing spicing. This sort of food is excellent when the focus is on the wine, though, and combined with the no corkage policy I think the LAG is an excellent candidate for offlines. If I lived in the area and was well-off I would probably eat here every week or two.
We started off with a Jean-Charles Milan, NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuve de Rserve, Cte des Blancs, which was an interesting champagne. I thought it was quite rich in the mouth with an appealing rotting citrus aspect. Plenty of yeast on the nose and something vaguely sauvignon-like in the mouth. A lot going on here for an NV bottle and I suspect it could take a little age.
This was followed by a Cascina Degli Ulivi Gavi 2007, which was very good indeed and probably my wine of the night. The depth and interest of this wine completely outmatched any other Gavi/Cortese I have consumed. It was served at room temperature and this was appropriate; there is no reason to chill this bottle. Great balanced richness and acid in the mouth and a big floral nose. Cory pointed out some soapy and moscato-like notes in the aromatics. I know this producer has a Barbera as well I will be checking out whatever I can find from them.
The proceedings continued as follows:
1990 Hochheimer Holle Kabinett, Rheingau, Domdechant Werner'sches; 1998 Scharzhofberger Kabinett, MSR, Egon Muller. Both of these wines had aged well and were nicely balanced. The 1990 had some richer honeyed notes and some tertiary development, while the 1998 had really beautiful petrol and an oddly leafy acidity.
Clos de la Roilette Fleurie, 2002 & 2005. Fascinating, ageworthy Gamay. The 05 had a big nose with pretty sweet red fruits and iris; on the palate it was completely shut down and aggressive. I would not check in with this again until 2013 or later. The 02 on the other hand had a dominant poop element on the nose which I found somewhat offputting, which diminishes my wine geek cred I suppose, but there it is. On the other hand the palate had beautiful rocks and fruit with a strong raspberry element and good grip on the finish the tannins are in a good place here. If I recall correctly this latter might have been one of the contenders in Sandys three-way-tie for her WotN.
1997 Teobaldo Cappellano Barolo Serrlunga Otin Fiorin Pie Franco. This wine was surprising on a number of levels. First, the tannins have years and years to go to resolve themselves, and there was no bricking: 1997 for me in Barolo is an impossible year to judge (Ive had roasted, excellent, average, thin; Decanter gives it five stars but others rate it a vintage to avoid: if you have any of this particular bottle it will hold up for the long haul IMO). Second, it was highly atypical. The nose had absolutely beautiful roses but no tar at all, while the palate was pushing in an almost gamay-like direction, with beautiful, pure red fruits not resembling any other nebbiolo Ive drunk. The finish was recognizably barolo, though, with drying, precise tannins. Larry had it as a delicious red wine that didnt have much to do with what Barolo is all about, which is fair, but for me it raised the usual worries about how important typicity is in the first place. I suppose my current view is that typicity is very important for the epistemology of wine evaluation but irrelevant or nearly so to the actual quality of wine. As usual in cases where metaphysics and epistemology come apart there are difficulties to be met here though.
Cory said that this was a bottle hed like to spend more time with and I agree. In this setting it was somewhat two-dimensional, all those beautiful roses leading into the red fruits up front and then the nebbiolo tannins on the back end. I kept thinking there were greater depths in there to be unlocked, but we werent going to get to them that night. This was better drunk in 2022 or so over the course of a long afternoon by one or two people with a good book to read as they went. Bottles like this deserve to be shared and experienced, but this is not the first time Ive felt like a subtler wine got lost at a tasting. Still, this wine was also part of Sandys 3-way tie for WotN.
Charles Joguet Chinon, Clos de la Dioterie, 1996 & 1998. Bigger, redder (though only 12.5 alcohol, as opposed to the 14 degrees in the 05). Larry got no bell pepper at all; I got a solid whiff of it on first nosing that disappeared subsequently. The 98 was ready to pop and pour, with lots of fresh flowers on the nose and palate. The 96 had a lot more stuff and enough acid and fruit that all of us thought it could age positively for a long time to come. When uncorked it was tougher, a little tight and less expressive than the 98, but as the evening went on it definitely opened up with air to a more delicious and complete realization of its fruit and terroir also a good winey element if that makes any sense (it cant possibly, I suppose, but there was something slightly rich and viscous that helped it all hang together which I associate with certain red wines and nothing else I drink ah well). The 1996 was an impressive wine and Cory, Em, and Larrys WotN, as well as a member of Sandys winning trio.
Thanks to all of you for coming out! It was a real treat to meet you and this dinner was one of the highlights of my visit to CA.
The Los Altos Grill gets a thumbs up from me. It is not the sort of restaurant that experimental gastronomes would seek out, rather providing a sort of upscale but reasonably priced comfort food with lots of fresh ingredients and pleasant but not imposing spicing. This sort of food is excellent when the focus is on the wine, though, and combined with the no corkage policy I think the LAG is an excellent candidate for offlines. If I lived in the area and was well-off I would probably eat here every week or two.
We started off with a Jean-Charles Milan, NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuve de Rserve, Cte des Blancs, which was an interesting champagne. I thought it was quite rich in the mouth with an appealing rotting citrus aspect. Plenty of yeast on the nose and something vaguely sauvignon-like in the mouth. A lot going on here for an NV bottle and I suspect it could take a little age.
This was followed by a Cascina Degli Ulivi Gavi 2007, which was very good indeed and probably my wine of the night. The depth and interest of this wine completely outmatched any other Gavi/Cortese I have consumed. It was served at room temperature and this was appropriate; there is no reason to chill this bottle. Great balanced richness and acid in the mouth and a big floral nose. Cory pointed out some soapy and moscato-like notes in the aromatics. I know this producer has a Barbera as well I will be checking out whatever I can find from them.
The proceedings continued as follows:
1990 Hochheimer Holle Kabinett, Rheingau, Domdechant Werner'sches; 1998 Scharzhofberger Kabinett, MSR, Egon Muller. Both of these wines had aged well and were nicely balanced. The 1990 had some richer honeyed notes and some tertiary development, while the 1998 had really beautiful petrol and an oddly leafy acidity.
Clos de la Roilette Fleurie, 2002 & 2005. Fascinating, ageworthy Gamay. The 05 had a big nose with pretty sweet red fruits and iris; on the palate it was completely shut down and aggressive. I would not check in with this again until 2013 or later. The 02 on the other hand had a dominant poop element on the nose which I found somewhat offputting, which diminishes my wine geek cred I suppose, but there it is. On the other hand the palate had beautiful rocks and fruit with a strong raspberry element and good grip on the finish the tannins are in a good place here. If I recall correctly this latter might have been one of the contenders in Sandys three-way-tie for her WotN.
1997 Teobaldo Cappellano Barolo Serrlunga Otin Fiorin Pie Franco. This wine was surprising on a number of levels. First, the tannins have years and years to go to resolve themselves, and there was no bricking: 1997 for me in Barolo is an impossible year to judge (Ive had roasted, excellent, average, thin; Decanter gives it five stars but others rate it a vintage to avoid: if you have any of this particular bottle it will hold up for the long haul IMO). Second, it was highly atypical. The nose had absolutely beautiful roses but no tar at all, while the palate was pushing in an almost gamay-like direction, with beautiful, pure red fruits not resembling any other nebbiolo Ive drunk. The finish was recognizably barolo, though, with drying, precise tannins. Larry had it as a delicious red wine that didnt have much to do with what Barolo is all about, which is fair, but for me it raised the usual worries about how important typicity is in the first place. I suppose my current view is that typicity is very important for the epistemology of wine evaluation but irrelevant or nearly so to the actual quality of wine. As usual in cases where metaphysics and epistemology come apart there are difficulties to be met here though.
Cory said that this was a bottle hed like to spend more time with and I agree. In this setting it was somewhat two-dimensional, all those beautiful roses leading into the red fruits up front and then the nebbiolo tannins on the back end. I kept thinking there were greater depths in there to be unlocked, but we werent going to get to them that night. This was better drunk in 2022 or so over the course of a long afternoon by one or two people with a good book to read as they went. Bottles like this deserve to be shared and experienced, but this is not the first time Ive felt like a subtler wine got lost at a tasting. Still, this wine was also part of Sandys 3-way tie for WotN.
Charles Joguet Chinon, Clos de la Dioterie, 1996 & 1998. Bigger, redder (though only 12.5 alcohol, as opposed to the 14 degrees in the 05). Larry got no bell pepper at all; I got a solid whiff of it on first nosing that disappeared subsequently. The 98 was ready to pop and pour, with lots of fresh flowers on the nose and palate. The 96 had a lot more stuff and enough acid and fruit that all of us thought it could age positively for a long time to come. When uncorked it was tougher, a little tight and less expressive than the 98, but as the evening went on it definitely opened up with air to a more delicious and complete realization of its fruit and terroir also a good winey element if that makes any sense (it cant possibly, I suppose, but there was something slightly rich and viscous that helped it all hang together which I associate with certain red wines and nothing else I drink ah well). The 1996 was an impressive wine and Cory, Em, and Larrys WotN, as well as a member of Sandys winning trio.
Thanks to all of you for coming out! It was a real treat to meet you and this dinner was one of the highlights of my visit to CA.