Salil Benegal
Salil Benegal
Jay Miller got a small group together for dinner at Soul Flavors in Jersey City yesterday evening. An awesome evening with great company, some seriously good wines (when they weren't corked) and wow, that fried chicken.
N.V. Agrapart & Fils Champagne Les 7 Crus Blancs de Blancs Brut
Great stuff with bright white fruits, biscuit and toasty notes over yeasty and creamy elements with bright acidity giving it real freshness and energy, and a long, savoury finish.
2002 Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler
Starts out with a lovely fragrance combining pear, grapefruit, smoke and touches of minerals and petrol - but in the mouth it's even better with the minerality so intense it's easy to imagine this being carved from a slab of rock and the pear/citrus fruit flavours very bright and precise.
1996 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Riesling Sptlese
Wild stuff. On the first sip, the intensity's almost like getting a shock on the tongue - the flavours are incredibly vivid and piercing; an essence of lemon at first, but then it opens with some air to show other bright citrus and yellow fruited notes with accents of honey, smoky and floral elements. Blazing acidity underneath keeping it razor sharp and very precise, finishing very long and leaving the gums itching a bit (not that I was complaining) with all that acidity.
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling 'Rotlay'
A knockout from the first sip, and one of my favourites of the evening. A spectrum of incredibly bright Mosel fruit; apples, citrus and yellow plums with a vivid slatey minerality beneath, with the '08 acidity keeping it so light on its feet and easy to drink. Goes really nicely with the fried chicken.
2001 Mller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Sptlese
Phenomenal. Hard to do this justice in words, with the wild, exotic tropical profile bursting with mango, pink grapefruit, sage and a kaleidoscope of other flavours, a perfect combination of sweetness and bright acidity making it incredibly refreshing. And remarkably, the fried plantains Paul ordered actually work very nicely with the wine!
1992 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Durif
Corked. Bah.
1975 Sonoma Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander's Crown Vineyard
Corked as well. Hello again, f-ing Portuguese menace!
1975 Chteau Pichon-Longueville Baron
Fruit? What's that? All developed, dusty earthy and leathery flavours over tobacco and gravelly notes with the barest hints of red fruit, very polished and elegant in the mouth with a nice spine of acidity; I really liked this, especially the developed, leathery aromatic profile that kept getting more complex with air.
1982 Chteau La Lagune
Really delicious with still-fresh red fruits and cassis combining with developed leather, cedar, cigar smoke and dusty earthy elements. Seamless with the tannins feeling fully integrated and a really finessed, polished texture.
1990 Chteau La Lagune
Much richer and deeper in its fruit profile than the '82 with ripe plum and cassis flavours beneath savoury earthy, leathery and faintly balsamic notes - though this also doesn't have the polish and seamlessness of the '82, and feels a little awkward in the mouth.
2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boisse
After the '75 Sonoma Vyds Cabernet was corked, Jay opened this as a backup. High toned red fruits, olives and herbal/tobacco notes over a gravelly and mineral base with a spine of bright acids and grainy tannins. Incredibly young, but already has so much to offer with an elegance and lightness I wish I could find in more reds.
1998 Ojai Roll Ranch Vineyard Central Coast Syrah
Immense, dense stuff - or at least it feels that way following the Baudry and the old Bordeaux. Heavy dark, plummy fruit with touches of spice and cocoa and a touch of nailpolish on the nose. Didn't enjoy this.
2003 Weingut Jakob Schneider Niederhuser Hermannshhle Riesling Auslese Junior
Incredibly pure, bright fruit - an essence of peaches, cherries and pineapples with faint touches of honey - very forward and sweet, but there's not much acidity here and it starts to feel rather heavy after half a glass.
N.V. Agrapart & Fils Champagne Les 7 Crus Blancs de Blancs Brut
Great stuff with bright white fruits, biscuit and toasty notes over yeasty and creamy elements with bright acidity giving it real freshness and energy, and a long, savoury finish.
2002 Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler
Starts out with a lovely fragrance combining pear, grapefruit, smoke and touches of minerals and petrol - but in the mouth it's even better with the minerality so intense it's easy to imagine this being carved from a slab of rock and the pear/citrus fruit flavours very bright and precise.
1996 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Riesling Sptlese
Wild stuff. On the first sip, the intensity's almost like getting a shock on the tongue - the flavours are incredibly vivid and piercing; an essence of lemon at first, but then it opens with some air to show other bright citrus and yellow fruited notes with accents of honey, smoky and floral elements. Blazing acidity underneath keeping it razor sharp and very precise, finishing very long and leaving the gums itching a bit (not that I was complaining) with all that acidity.
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling 'Rotlay'
A knockout from the first sip, and one of my favourites of the evening. A spectrum of incredibly bright Mosel fruit; apples, citrus and yellow plums with a vivid slatey minerality beneath, with the '08 acidity keeping it so light on its feet and easy to drink. Goes really nicely with the fried chicken.
2001 Mller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Sptlese
Phenomenal. Hard to do this justice in words, with the wild, exotic tropical profile bursting with mango, pink grapefruit, sage and a kaleidoscope of other flavours, a perfect combination of sweetness and bright acidity making it incredibly refreshing. And remarkably, the fried plantains Paul ordered actually work very nicely with the wine!
1992 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Durif
Corked. Bah.
1975 Sonoma Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander's Crown Vineyard
Corked as well. Hello again, f-ing Portuguese menace!
1975 Chteau Pichon-Longueville Baron
Fruit? What's that? All developed, dusty earthy and leathery flavours over tobacco and gravelly notes with the barest hints of red fruit, very polished and elegant in the mouth with a nice spine of acidity; I really liked this, especially the developed, leathery aromatic profile that kept getting more complex with air.
1982 Chteau La Lagune
Really delicious with still-fresh red fruits and cassis combining with developed leather, cedar, cigar smoke and dusty earthy elements. Seamless with the tannins feeling fully integrated and a really finessed, polished texture.
1990 Chteau La Lagune
Much richer and deeper in its fruit profile than the '82 with ripe plum and cassis flavours beneath savoury earthy, leathery and faintly balsamic notes - though this also doesn't have the polish and seamlessness of the '82, and feels a little awkward in the mouth.
2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boisse
After the '75 Sonoma Vyds Cabernet was corked, Jay opened this as a backup. High toned red fruits, olives and herbal/tobacco notes over a gravelly and mineral base with a spine of bright acids and grainy tannins. Incredibly young, but already has so much to offer with an elegance and lightness I wish I could find in more reds.
1998 Ojai Roll Ranch Vineyard Central Coast Syrah
Immense, dense stuff - or at least it feels that way following the Baudry and the old Bordeaux. Heavy dark, plummy fruit with touches of spice and cocoa and a touch of nailpolish on the nose. Didn't enjoy this.
2003 Weingut Jakob Schneider Niederhuser Hermannshhle Riesling Auslese Junior
Incredibly pure, bright fruit - an essence of peaches, cherries and pineapples with faint touches of honey - very forward and sweet, but there's not much acidity here and it starts to feel rather heavy after half a glass.