Thunderbolt

[Don Rice]

Sweet Jesus I was not expecting this.

At a reunion dinner of old Compuserve folks last night in NYC, this was a total, total surprise. Gifted to our table by the restaurant proprietor, who I didn't even know before last night, this was first served blind, as we were getting ready to depart. I knew it was old, thinking tawny port as a glass was set down before me, but there were no aromas of oxidation or of fortification. It was just excellent, soft, nuanced stuff, looked old, tasted old-but-good. Confused and looking for guidance I asked the sommelier what was up. He said "It's chenin" and then he showed the bottle: oh God the earth moved

21 Huet (Mass-Viollet domaine du Haut-Lieu)- medium tawny color, not at all oxidized, beautiful state of preservation, rich, raisony fruit, black tea, still quite sweet though gentle, lower acid and with less intensity than the 47 (a fine bottle of which was also opened), long pleasant aftertaste. Going gently into the night, but in no hurry either.

I thought I had missed my chance to ever taste this wine, much less an excellent bottle like this. It was an emotional moment.

 

[Chris Coad]

Guh.

 

[Bwood]

originally posted by Chris Coad:
Guh.

I think he means, "had it lost all it's sweetness?"

I do like that photo. I've never had the '47 or the '21.

 

[Chris Coad]

Buh.

 

[Don Rice]

originally posted by Chris Coad:
Buh.

I wish you could have been there Chris. That's exactly what happened " b uh b uh w ha h g g gg ah"

 

[Chris Coad]

Please, a moment. I am attempting to use my rather rusty Stanislavski training to manufacture a sense memory of this event for myself.

It happened to me, you know. I must believe it.

 

[Eden Mylunsch]

I recently bought some 1998 and 1999 Huet bottles, and given the time frame that your bottle took to reach the ZOUNDS!!! point, I suppose I'll have to wait until around 2070 or 2080 to get the full Huet experience.

Anyone up for a jeebus around then?

-Eden (i might be in a cryogenic tank by then, but maybe the bottles will be in there with me)

 

[Chris Coad]

originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
I recently bought some 1998 and 1999 Huet bottles, and given the time frame that your bottle took to reach the ZOUNDS!!! point, I suppose I'll have to wait until around 2070 or 2080 to get the full Huet experience.

Anyone up for a jeebus around then?

-Eden (i might be in a cryogenic tank by then, but maybe the bottles will be in there with me)

You'll never get the full Huet experience from '98s and '99s, no matter how long you wait.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

Rats, I thought this was going to be a tasting note on Thunderbolt wine, spearheading a whole new category within the forum, in which we could track the relative vintage-to-vintage variations of such co-genrees as Wild Irish Rose and Mad Dog 20 20. After all, this would be a natural development, building on Chris's immortal 'Boatloads of Crap' series.

Wish I had some '21 Huet with which to salve my disappointment.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
I recently bought some 1998 and 1999 Huet bottles, and given the time frame that your bottle took to reach the ZOUNDS!!! point, I suppose I'll have to wait until around 2070 or 2080 to get the full Huet experience.

Anyone up for a jeebus around then?

-Eden (i might be in a cryogenic tank by then, but maybe the bottles will be in there with me)

Count me in, Eden. We'll also bring SFJoe's ashes along and seance with him to find out if they're as good as his previous encounters. Of course, since the Big One of '54 will have caused the long-awaited subsidence of the Pacific plate, the jeebus will be held at an elevation of -100 meters.

Mark Lipton

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by Don Rice:
Thunderbolt
I thought I had missed my chance to ever taste this wine, much less an excellent bottle like this.

Oh, don't think that.

 

[SFJoe]

Don, any guesses at when this was released from the Domaine, and where it had been since?

 

[Don Rice]

We ate at Cru. I took the bottle home with about an ounce for Melissa. I'll look for clues as to provenance tonight.

The Sommelier thought it was recently ex-domaine (in the last 5 yrs).

Looking at the online winelist, they have quite a Huet selection:

Loading…

www.cru-nyc.com

 

[Thor]

I think Chris sums up my reaction well.

Also: wuh.

 

[Don Rice]

originally posted by Bwood:

I do like that photo.

Makes me thirsty

 

[Levi Dalton]

Sounds like chickens have come home to roost, in the best sense. I believe that the team at Cru was made aware of the Huet / Masse-Viollet connection due your own, earlier posted efforts.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Sounds like chickens have come home to roost, in the best sense. I believe that the team at Cru was made aware of the Huet / Masse-Viollet connection due your own, earlier posted efforts.

Exactly. Having the postcard is the icing on the cake. Total vino-gastro-historic coolness.

 

[Marshall Manning]

originally posted by Don Rice:
At a reunion dinner of old Compuserve folks last night in NYC, this was a total, total surprise.

Don, who was there from the old CS wine board? I always wonder what happened to guys like Dave Sit and Bob Spector, guys who helped turn me on to interesting wines before the internet was invented by Al Gore.

 

[Thor]

[No message]

 

[Brad Kane]

originally posted by SFJoe:

originally posted by Don Rice:
Thunderbolt
I thought I had missed my chance to ever taste this wine, much less an excellent bottle like this.

Oh, don't think that.

You tease. I know should you ever open a '21 with some of us locals, it'll probably be a Sec.