Goodbye Lebron. Hello Frank.

Here's my commentary and note from the last bottle I opened, along with the wine's chemistry:

So I'm a big fan of less interventionist / more natural methods both in the vineyard and in the winery. Without opening the can of worms regarding what that means, let me say, though, that less is not always more, as evinced by a wine I opened today.

The nose was best characterized as hot pickle juice celery candy. Did I mention the pickles? Can you say wicked VA? Spritzy, thin, green and weedy on the palate. Comments from three experienced tasters at the table included "some terrible 5-10 year old CA whole cluster pinot disaster that is going off in the bottle," "god this is awful, it's so hot and stewed it's gotta be from CA," "maybe it's some f*cked up super ancient winemaking disaster from Italy or Croatia," "maybe there is some version of that disaster in Spain?"

The wine in question:
- 2006 Frank Cornelissen Etna Contadino 4Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC (9/1/2009)
This isn't natural winemaking, this is a trainwreck. The amount of sediment isn't "the product of natural methods" it's a product of "not racking clean." This wine is hot, stewed, weedy, and features the most VA of any wine I've ever had. And that is before you taste it. On the palate it is tart, pickled and super green, while maintaining the heat. Hurts to swallow. One of the worst wines I've ever purchased, this shouldn't be considered a commercially acceptable product. (50 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker

FWIW, Here are the numbers on this beauty:

EtOH: 15.1%
pH: 3.89
TA: 8.10
Malic: .51
gluc/fruc: 3.34 (g/L)
VA: 1.81 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Boo-yah.
 
originally posted by Bwood:
originally posted by Lyle Fass:
Lillie is for sure underrated. The other part I'm not so sure . . .
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Ok, the guy can play. Most domiinating player in the regular season. Should win many championships, but championship rings so far? Ohio state 4A high school ring? I am not mistaking him for Magic, Bird, or Jordan just yet.
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Bird never won a championship without McHale & Parrish. Jordan never wone a championship without Pippin. Magic was never, ever alone on those Lakers teams. Lebron was never going to win a championship with Mo Williams and a shadow-of-himself Shaq as his sidekicks.
 
originally posted by Josh Beck:
threadshit ++Here's my commentary and note from the last bottle I opened, along with the wine's chemistry:

So I'm a big fan of less interventionist / more natural methods both in the vineyard and in the winery. Without opening the can of worms regarding what that means, let me say, though, that less is not always more, as evinced by a wine I opened today.

The nose was best characterized as hot pickle juice celery candy. Did I mention the pickles? Can you say wicked VA? Spritzy, thin, green and weedy on the palate. Comments from three experienced tasters at the table included "some terrible 5-10 year old CA whole cluster pinot disaster that is going off in the bottle," "god this is awful, it's so hot and stewed it's gotta be from CA," "maybe it's some f*cked up super ancient winemaking disaster from Italy or Croatia," "maybe there is some version of that disaster in Spain?"

The wine in question:
- 2006 Frank Cornelissen Etna Contadino 4Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC (9/1/2009)
This isn't natural winemaking, this is a trainwreck. The amount of sediment isn't "the product of natural methods" it's a product of "not racking clean." This wine is hot, stewed, weedy, and features the most VA of any wine I've ever had. And that is before you taste it. On the palate it is tart, pickled and super green, while maintaining the heat. Hurts to swallow. One of the worst wines I've ever purchased, this shouldn't be considered a commercially acceptable product. (50 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker

FWIW, Here are the numbers on this beauty:

EtOH: 15.1%
pH: 3.89
TA: 8.10
Malic: .51
gluc/fruc: 3.34 (g/L)
VA: 1.81 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Boo-yah.
Click to expand...

Wow. I am impressed. Are you this vindictive for any reason other than not finding the wine worthy of imbibing?
 
James, Wade and Bosh won't win a title on their own. Right now, the rest of the Heat lineup is a joke. We'll see.
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
originally posted by Josh Beck:
threadshit ++Here's my commentary and note from the last bottle I opened, along with the wine's chemistry:

So I'm a big fan of less interventionist / more natural methods both in the vineyard and in the winery. Without opening the can of worms regarding what that means, let me say, though, that less is not always more, as evinced by a wine I opened today.

The nose was best characterized as hot pickle juice celery candy. Did I mention the pickles? Can you say wicked VA? Spritzy, thin, green and weedy on the palate. Comments from three experienced tasters at the table included "some terrible 5-10 year old CA whole cluster pinot disaster that is going off in the bottle," "god this is awful, it's so hot and stewed it's gotta be from CA," "maybe it's some f*cked up super ancient winemaking disaster from Italy or Croatia," "maybe there is some version of that disaster in Spain?"

The wine in question:
- 2006 Frank Cornelissen Etna Contadino 4Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC (9/1/2009)
This isn't natural winemaking, this is a trainwreck. The amount of sediment isn't "the product of natural methods" it's a product of "not racking clean." This wine is hot, stewed, weedy, and features the most VA of any wine I've ever had. And that is before you taste it. On the palate it is tart, pickled and super green, while maintaining the heat. Hurts to swallow. One of the worst wines I've ever purchased, this shouldn't be considered a commercially acceptable product. (50 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker

FWIW, Here are the numbers on this beauty:

EtOH: 15.1%
pH: 3.89
TA: 8.10
Malic: .51
gluc/fruc: 3.34 (g/L)
VA: 1.81 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Boo-yah.
Click to expand...

Wow. I am impressed. Are you this vindictive for any reason other than not finding the wine worthy of imbibing?
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Given the level of vindictiveness often displayed here towards wines less fundamentally flawed, yet deemed less worthy of geek acceptance for stylistic reasons, I find this all rather mild.
 
Josh,

My first one so I can't comment. But I have heard from a number of sources there is bottle variation. If I were you, I'd not pay for more Cornelissen, but I'd certainly try more. Tasted like an uber-natural Occhipinti.

Victor,

I hear they are Lebron, D-Wade, Bosh and Riley are having auditions to fill the rest of the team at nursing homes in Dade county.
 
originally posted by Lyle Fass:
Josh,

My first one so I can't comment. But I have heard from a number of sources there is bottle variation. If I were you, I'd not pay for more Cornelissen, but I'd certainly try more. Tasted like an uber-natural Occhipinti.
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Not to discount the bottle variation theory. If I've read various reviews correctly, it seems that over the last couple years Cornelissen may have cleaned up his act/wines a bit (even maybe *gasp* using some sulfur) from what he was producing early on. I can't comment with any actual hard evidence (as I've only had the recent Contadino and Susucaru releases), but it sure seems that notes such as Josh's (and others) on Frank's wines from a few years ago sure don't sound anything like the bottles I've had.
 
If everyone were magicians, David Lillie would be Ricky Jay and Lebron James would be David Copperfield. Both of them put together probably couldn't construct enough mojo to turn a Cornelissen wine into something consistent enough to bet sizable amounts of money on. At least David makes some vig serving as a conduit that allows us to experience this first-hand.

-Eden (not that I've got sizable amounts of money to blow on follies the magnitude of either James or Cornelissen)
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:

Wow. I am impressed. Are you this vindictive for any reason other than not finding the wine worthy of imbibing?
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Vindictive? In what way? For expressing an impression forcefully, with some numbers to back up his opinions? What he says sounds a lot like what others have said about e.g. Coturri wines or Yaniger's famous screed about the '93 Overnoy Pupillin.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Josh Beck:

FWIW, Here are the numbers on this beauty:

EtOH: 15.1%
pH: 3.89
TA: 8.10
Malic: .51
gluc/fruc: 3.34 (g/L)
VA: 1.81 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Click to expand...

Thanks so much, very interesting.
 
Let's revisit our history, shall we?

Nathan pulls out an odd-looking bottle, the infamous '93 Overnoy Arbois Pupillin. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, but at the same time, no need to stick your face in its butt. Lightish color, showing plenty of signs of oxidation, despite the huge sulfur content, both free and bound, not to mention an interesting mix of mercaptans. Imagine, if you will, shoving an M-80 up the hind parts of a skunk, shoving the skunk up the hind parts of a sweaty shepherdess with a yeast infection and on her period. Now the explosion ensues- catch her week-old thong (a gift from Brad Kane) as it flies by. Give it a good hard sniff and contemplate the layers of aroma. Voila! You have the Overnoy. It was all I could do to actually taste it. And I'm (gag!) pleased to report that (gag!) the flavor was consistent with the aroma. Well, at least if you mix in some battery acid. A wine too dirty for me to enjoy -- contemplate that and be very, very afraid. -- Stuart Yaniger
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The Cornelissen wines, when good, are fascinating. When bad, it's offensive that money is asked for them. But if he's happy, then I'm happy. Doesn't mean I'll spend my own money on them, but I certainly don't begrudge him his fun.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:

Wow. I am impressed. Are you this vindictive for any reason other than not finding the wine worthy of imbibing?
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Vindictive? In what way? For expressing an impression forcefully, with some numbers to back up his opinions? What he says sounds a lot like what others have said about e.g. Coturri wines or Yaniger's famous screed about the '93 Overnoy Pupillin.

Mark Lipton
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In the way the dictionary defines it. Some common synonyms include: cruel, malicious, merciless, rancorous, resentful.

Which is what I take away from Josh's diatribe.

I don't know how else to interpret the following statement:

One of the worst wines I've ever purchased, this shouldn't be considered a commercially acceptable product.
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Josh, who supplied the chemical analysis of the wine?
 
Yaniger's description of the 1993 Poulsard is hilarious, BTW and corroborates my own experience with that wine, though I wouldn't have been able to come up with quite the same descriptors.
 
originally posted by Cory Cartwright:
Texier tells me that the last time he tested Cornelissen he found readings of 106mg! of sulfur.
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Thanks for this Cory, it's what I was alluding to in my post above; didn't know the exact number. I take it 106mg is a lot? Is there a point of reference with other producers bottlings?
 
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