Two 2003s

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
The assumption that wines from hot vintages like 2003 are going to turn out ripe and New Worldy is a puzzlingly persistent myth... as you've noticed with the Leroy, the opposite tends to be true: the heat shuts down the vine and the result, rather than overripe fruit, is clearly underripe. This has described a good number of '03 Burgundies and tons of '03 Bordeaux.
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Keith,
While I grant you the exception, I suspect that more 2003's are less appealing because of the heat and the overripe fruit then the exception you mention indicates.
At least, that has been my experience.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
The assumption that wines from hot vintages like 2003 are going to turn out ripe and New Worldy is a puzzlingly persistent myth... as you've noticed with the Leroy, the opposite tends to be true: the heat shuts down the vine and the result, rather than overripe fruit, is clearly underripe. This has described a good number of '03 Burgundies and tons of '03 Bordeaux.
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There are two kinds of "ripe" at work here. Many of these "underripe" wines have plenty of alcohol.
 
I opened a 2003 Jakot tonight just to check in and see how it was doing.

It's funny because about six months ago I had a bottle and found it tired, suffering the effects of the vintage, I presumed.

So I moved on to the 2004 edition, which is less enjoyable at the moment.

But then I tried the 2003 at the LDM tasting in April and it was showing so well that I have gone back to this vintage as a result.

It showed so lovely tonight amidst a line-up of wines that should have otherwise been a knock-out bunch. (A corked bottle of Panevino Tankadeddu was an inordinately big bitch slap to the face.)

Two french wine makers were present and had two very different reactions. One loved it. The other poured it into the dump bucket after one sip and tried something else.

It was exuberant.

But maybe not for everyone.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
There's an expression in Arabic "the time of apricots," referring to the brief moment when this fruit is just ripe, used for anything of fleeting duration. In the inane trivia department.
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There is that "ephemeral" word, too, for those who love the concept of editing. So aptly applied to mayflies, such as Ephemerella subvaria. But is anything more perfect than a ripe plum?
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Fi al-mishmish is the expression I had in mind. I understood it to mean what I said, but your interpretation is much better. My experience is in Egypt.
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Ok. The reason I asked is that I've only studied classical and standard literary Arabic, so have almost zero experience with the spoken languages and their expressions. Fun to see someone else interested in Arabic. So you speak Egyptian Arabic?
 
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Fi al-mishmish is the expression I had in mind. I understood it to mean what I said, but your interpretation is much better. My experience is in Egypt.
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Ok. The reason I asked is that I've only studied classical and standard literary Arabic, so have almost zero experience with the spoken languages and their expressions. Fun to see someone else interested in Arabic. So you speak Egyptian Arabic?
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Sabah Al-kair!

My wife and I worked in Egypt for two years. She studied the language seriously with a tutor; I just picked up the bits and pieces my colleagues at work had the patience to teach me. So my knowledge is limited to a few phrases. The written language is beautiful, and the religious calligraphy movingly so.

I enjoy your wine notes a lot, by the way.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by SFJoe:
There are two kinds of "ripe" at work here. Many of these "underripe" wines have plenty of alcohol.
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Would this have to do with 03 having relatively more heat than light?
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More heat than water, I think. Lots of alcohol and green tannins are the worries of the reds for me. There are exceptions, of course.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Wine as a living thing is a challenging concept.
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Especially when opening bottles for guests!
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Yes, I have the same problem with plums. You just never know how one will show. Too hard, too soft, bruised, exceptionally juicy, not juicy enough.

I am still trying to figure out whether I should stop serving plums to my house guests.

I'll let you know what I end up deciding!
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Hilarious.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
The assumption that wines from hot vintages like 2003 are going to turn out ripe and New Worldy is a puzzlingly persistent myth... as you've noticed with the Leroy, the opposite tends to be true: the heat shuts down the vine and the result, rather than overripe fruit, is clearly underripe. This has described a good number of '03 Burgundies and tons of '03 Bordeaux.
Click to expand...
There are two kinds of "ripe" at work here. Many of these "underripe" wines have plenty of alcohol.
Click to expand...
Right, but also plenty of green/vegetal characteristics, very different from the raisined/figgy/porty flavors one tends to associate with overripeness.
 
I opened a 2003 Jakot for my birthday a couple weeks ago. I found it quite lovely and very put together. Definitely not 'challenging' in any way. In fact we had a guest who is not a wine geek at all over and she couldn't stop drinking it (much to my chagrin). She couldn't place it or wrap her head around it really, but she found it very enjoyable. As did I. Though it wasn't as good to me as the '02 Radikon Ribolla I opened in early May.
 
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