TN: Dinner out with the Riesling clan

D

David from Switzerland

David Plattner
Had a very nice (and fun!) dinner out with the folks I met at the Riesling arrivage tasting. All the following wines were ordered from the restaurant wine list (or served for free).

Clos Saint Jean Chteauneuf-du-Pape Deus Ex Machina 2007
From 60- to over 100-year-old vines, a blend of 60% Grenache aged in tank, and 40% Mourvdre aged in small oak barrels (in part new, in part one-year-old). Believe it or not, yours truly ordered this (one of the most fairly priced wines on the list, if an excuse were needed, and: curiosity killed the cat), even though I found the standard 2007 CdP perplexing. Was happy to find I liked it much better than the 2004 and 2005. Virtually opaque purple-ruby-black. Roast lamb (or beef). Roasted herbs (for once hard to tell if Provenal or other). Oriental-spiced, big and superripe jammy blood pudding fruit. The old-vininess shows to some extent. Not the ultimate in tannin depth, with touches of coffee, marzipan and malt. Soft and a bit blood-orangey acidity. Quite long on the finish. Faint viscosity. Meat-juicier with airing. Balanced in the modern sense of the term, by which I mean, a quantitative there is no telling if a wine like this can achieve anything like harmony with bottle age (Nick and I strongly doubt it, and would recommend drinking this while it gives so much up-front, mindless pleasure). Happen to find consultant Pilippe Cambies style weirdly reminiscent of a Stphane Derenoncourt to Michel Rolland styled Bordeaux, in this particular case a bit like the CdP version of Canon La Gaffelire. Be that as it may, the wine has its undeniable qualities. Glad to have had a chance to taste it in this context (everyone liked it for what it is, no less, no more), leisurely and from fine stemware. Rating: ~94(-?)

Podere San Luigi Fidenzio 2004
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Opaque purple-black, faint watery rim. Coconut oak, faint lead pencil, a bit medicinal with quinine and iodine and a faint salty volatility. Soft peppery fruit. In great part oak-induced, dusty but relatively ripe, relatively grainy tannin. Tobacco with airing, increasingly ashtray-like, as well as more volatile. Heard whispers to the effect that whoever ordered this (shared cost) should get muzzled next time. Rating: 88-/87(-?)

Boekenhoutskloof Stellenbosch Syrah 2004
Thanks to the restaurant owner. Served blind, mistook this for Minervois. Dark ruby. Virtually opaque, lightly purple ruby-black. Hay, bacon fat, soft roasted herbs, lightly macerated cherry, medium-plus body, good length. Medium freshness only, but nice complexity and meatiness. Integrated marzipan oak. Quite pretty tannin. Profited from a little airing, seemed more harmonious. Quite lovely. Rating: 92-/91

Hastae Barbera dAsti Quorum 1999
Thanks to the restaurant owner. A wine I had not re-tasted in eight years. Served blind. Lightly evolved, still virtually opaque ruby-black. Quite pretty tobacco, vine and tree bark smoke. Even the minerality is smoky. Some nutty oak, somewhat reminiscent of charcoaled tree bark. Some black cherry, partly dried. Best on the nose by far, where this showed a little more subtlety and finesse. Light tannin, a bit dry. Quite short on the high-acid finish. Past its peak. Rating: 88-/87(-?)

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Thank you, David. Your partiality to the Stellenbosch Syrah is interesting.
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Must admit I lack experience with Stellenbosch Syrah (wouldn't bet on how well - in contrast to how long - this will age, for example). Served blind, mistook it for a Minervois, such as from Domaine Ancly, in other words, something I tend to like, if not buy occasionally.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
Re: the Boukenhoutskloof, while I admit I find confusing it for a Minervois kinda baffling (and a physical encounter with the bottle, which must weigh 50 pounds and barely fits in a car, much less wine racking, would put any lingering doubts to rest), it's a good wine in a style I don't often like. It can be really, really, really [insert a few hundred comma-delimited repetitions] big at times, less so at others. But it's not out of balance for what it is.

Here's a quick note from my visit to the winery, on what was then the most recent release (and which appears to have included more than just Stellenbosch fruit):

Boukenhoutskloof 2006 Syrah (Coastal) -- Round and lush. Blueberry with light pepper dust. Full-bodied and rich without being confected. Nicely balanced. One of the best syrahs I've tasted in South Africa.

That last comment needs context: despite the widespread enthusiasm for South African syrah in the country and in some of their export markets, I didn't think most of it was particularly good. As a generalization, their Bordeaux-style blends tend to be better...and with two or three exceptions, all the best red wines I tasted in the country were indeed Bordeaux-style blends.

Oh...and re: the Deus Ex Machina, I agree with Joe. It's like a very expensive horror film, except without the mitigating pleasure of gratuitous nudity before the beheadings start.
 
More interesting stuff. Along with Argentinian and Chilean wines, I've tasted South African ones whenever there's been an opportunity over the past few years. But haven't gotten into them. So these notes are good encouragement to keep trying.
 
And I think I liked the Hastae more than David:

Hastae 1999 Barbera dAsti Quorum (Piedmont) Graphite tannin, succulent red fruit, and style. Great acidity. Hearkens back to an older idea of barbera, with a little more verve.
 
originally posted by Thor:
Oh...and re: the Deus Ex Machina, I agree with Joe. It's like a very expensive horror film, without the gratuitous nudity before the beheadings start.
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Thanks! This was the first wine from Boekenhoutskloof I tasted. I remember the restaurant owner looked a bit baffled and murmured something to the extent that the wine used to be almost undrinkably big, but then recovered immediately and said he always believed it would turn out "special". Sounds like it may have been evolving rather quickly in bottle?

As to the Deus Ex Machina: at roughly 150 USD (may also have been less than that), it was one of the most fairly priced wines on a somewhat expensive price list (not sure the Fidenzio cost less), but more to the point, remember what Hannibal Lecter says: "Have you seen blood in the moonlight? It appears quite black."

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by David from Switzerland:


Clos Saint Jean Chteauneuf-du-Pape Deus Ex Machina 2007
....
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Appreciate the detailed note, but better you than me, bro.
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You're welcome! I don't mind making a martyr of myself... ;^)

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
More interesting stuff. Along with Argentinian and Chilean wines, I've tasted South African ones whenever there's been an opportunity over the past few years. But haven't gotten into them. So these notes are good encouragement to keep trying.
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Yes, well... I keep trying, and still haven't bought a single bottle (or wait, maybe one...). But it's more of a "saturation" problem with me. I have a much easier time sharing a bottle of (whenever possible mature) Burgundy. I won't buy wine I tend to sample in small portions only, except to bring along to offlines/gatherings (i.e. the kind of wines I refer to as "admission tickets").

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
originally posted by Thor:
And I think I liked the Hastae more than David:

Hastae 1999 Barbera dAsti Quorum (Piedmont) Graphite tannin, succulent red fruit, and style. Great acidity. Hearkens back to an older idea of barbera, with a little more verve.
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Remember when this was? A bottle back in April 2002 was certainly a bit more like that.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
This was the first wine from Boekenhoutskloof I tasted. I remember the restaurant owner looked a bit baffled and murmured something to the extent that the wine used to be almost undrinkably big, but then recovered immediately and said he always believed it would turn out "special". Sounds like it may have been evolving rather quickly in bottle?
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I've been told by many that there is a dearth of good clonal material in South Africa that is impossible to overcome, and while I haven't investigated the truth of that, it would explain a lot of the results. Certainly, however, winemakers' aging predictions for wines that seem quite promising in their youth are shockingly short, and mostly the wines bear this out; a lot of early decrepitude, a lot of premature demise. So whatever the reason, they're right.

The folks at Boukenhoutskloof are quite serious about what they do, and they get a lot of recognition (awards, points, low availability, high prices) as a result. They're also pretty focused, putting out a couple lower-cost labels (Porcupine Ridge, The Wolftrap) to satisfy the mass-market and narrowing their high-quality efforts to just a few wines, which I'd say range from New World (the syrah, the semillon) to extravagantly New World (the cabernet sauvignon, "The Chocolate Block"). They have, like pretty much everyone else in the region, a beautiful and lavish winery/tasting room (though it's very small, as befits an appointment-only winery, which is kind of rare in the area), but I really get the impression that they're trying to stand aside from the general interest and spend their time and money on the wines. They certainly get more concentration (without falling into the trap of over-concentration) than many of their neighbors. But I imagine they also have the same clones as everyone else, so there may be a natural limitation on what they can accomplish, at least at the moment.

If you ever see their dessert wine, buy it; it's extraordinary (and extraordinarily sweet, which I know you like), and way, way, way better than the massively overrated Klein Constantia.
 
originally posted by Thor:
If you ever see their dessert wine, buy it; it's extraordinary (and extraordinarily sweet, which I know you like), and way, way, way better than the massively overrated Klein Constantia.
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Thanks, given the opportunity, I will!

As to the Vin de Constance, it's always been a secret dream of mine to taste the classic Klein Constancia - those who've had it say it was justly regard as among the greatest sweet wines made on Planet Earth. Of course the Cloete family only made it until 1840, and I'm not sure about the Abraham Brunt era up to the phylloxera epidemic, when (both Groot and Klein?) Constantia went bankrupt and was (= were?) sold to the Cape government.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

J'ai gch vingt ans de mes plus belles annes au billard. Si c'tait refaire, je recommencerais. Roger Conti
 
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