Dinner out

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
A little visiting and dining with Lou and Betty Lou Kessler last night. The Fish House in St. Helena serves some very nice dishes and the miso black cod was superb.

Two wines:

1997 Nigl, Riesling Privat:
Started a little angry about being woken up but by the time the meal was closing down this had opened up to a full, captivating nose and some really wonderful and complex flavors. Simply lovely.

2007 V. Dauvissat, Chablis Le Fret:
Young, acidic and never got open but shows promise and is not in the least bit big, over-ripe or ponderous (as I have heard some 2007 Chablis are). Tough tonight, better tomorrow.

Best, Jim
 
Jim,

You have drunk a bit of the Piri over the yrs-what do you think is a sweet spot for drinking them-I have some of the 99. I seem to recall most of your TN seem to say they are still not really ready for drinking.

mark
 
Mark,
I haven't had a lot of really old ones (a recent post here by SFJoe and others indicates that many Austrian whites can take quite a few years of aging) but this bottle was so developed and complete that I have confidence that 12-15 years from vintage will do good things. Surely, at that point, there will be vintage and bottle variation but that's pretty much what I'm going to do with mine - that is, if I can maintain the discipline needed to get them there.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
'97 and '99 were unusually ageworthy vintages, as you all know.
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The 97 Austrians I have remaining at this point are too few. I'm sure you remember that 97 was the Austrian vintage you introduced me to in SF. Now I eventually owned practically all the 97s that I ordered for our store, as you well know. My only regret is that I didn't get stuck with more of them.
The closeout bin did runneth over but not far enough.
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
Sf Joe's Influence Nation wide
originally posted by SFJoe:
'97 and '99 were unusually ageworthy vintages, as you all know.
Click to expand...
The 97 Austrians I have remaining at this point are too few. I'm sure you remember that 97 was the Austrian vintage you introduced me to in SF. Now I eventually owned practically all the 97s that I ordered for our store, as you well know. My only regret is that I didn't get stuck with more of them.
The closeout bin did runneth over but not far enough.
Click to expand...

I still have quite a few, you'll have to visit NYC more often.
 
And rather than merely contradict, I could add that such a broad vintage brush is an uncharacteristically blunt tool for you.

There are some big wines from some of the usual suspects--Brundlmayer's GV Alte Reben, FX Pichler, and so on. But nothing blundering about Nikolaihof Steiner Hund, Prager Achleiten, and the like.
 
Oh, I was getting back to my Pict roots.

Seems I've had 97 Steiner Hund from magnum, perchance also Prager Achleiten. I had kept an overall impression of a robust-style deal.
 
A ripe vintage, sure. And it's Austria. But detectably leaner than quite a few subsequent vintages on the relative scale.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
And rather than merely contradict, I could add that such a broad vintage brush is an uncharacteristically blunt tool for you.

There are some big wines from some of the usual suspects--Brundlmayer's GV Alte Reben, FX Pichler, and so on. But nothing blundering about Nikolaihof Steiner Hund, Prager Achleiten, and the like.
Click to expand...

Not me. 1997 is awesome. I wish I had bought more, but I was in grad school.
 
It's worth noting that I believe there to be a geek consensus that Nigl's recent vintages are not on a par with what he was doing in the mid-'90s. For those who might be Nigl-curious.
 
originally posted by mark meyer:
Jim,

You have drunk a bit of the Piri over the yrs-what do you think is a sweet spot for drinking them-I have some of the 99. I seem to recall most of your TN seem to say they are still not really ready for drinking.

mark
Click to expand...
FWIW, I had a bunch of the 98, and it seemed to me to have peaked over the past couple of years.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by mark meyer:
Jim,

You have drunk a bit of the Piri over the yrs-what do you think is a sweet spot for drinking them-I have some of the 99. I seem to recall most of your TN seem to say they are still not really ready for drinking.

mark
Click to expand...
FWIW, I had a bunch of the 98, and it seemed to me to have peaked over the past couple of years.
Click to expand...
The 98 vintage was on the ripe side and most of the wines were not long keepers.
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by mark meyer:
Jim,

You have drunk a bit of the Piri over the yrs-what do you think is a sweet spot for drinking them-I have some of the 99. I seem to recall most of your TN seem to say they are still not really ready for drinking.

mark
Click to expand...
FWIW, I had a bunch of the 98, and it seemed to me to have peaked over the past couple of years.
Click to expand...
The 98 vintage was on the ripe side and most of the wines were not long keepers.
Click to expand...
Not to mention the botrytis in many wines.

They are definitely on the downslope. I gave a bunch to my sister last year at Christmas because I feared I wouldn't get to them quickly enough.
 
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