Morgan Harris
Morgan Harris
Michel Loirot Brut Reserve - Unknown disgorgement date. 100% Pinot Munier -
Bought it at Astor on staff recommendation. This stuff was pretty incredible. Expansive chalky minerality, with honeycomb, pears and green apple. Not mind-blowingly complex, but so incredibly well-structured. Not an ambitious champagne, but its somewhat sparse elements are very intense and flawlessly integrated. I loved it, and at $35 bucks, I can't get over what a good deal it is. Would definitely be my first choice for a case of "cheap" Champagne. They have a 2004 vintage bottling of similar grape makeup for about $75 that will almost certainly be my next celebration-grade champagne.
Tenuta Sant'Antonio "Capitello" Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 from Magnum -
Levi, cross-reference this for me, but I'm fairly certain they're a well-known Amarone producer as well. I was a little worried about this baby, because it spent the summer in my (not wine) refrigerator, and wines I've tried of similar composition and age from the Veneto were a little over the hill. I believe the grapes were raisinated, as with their Amarones, but I can't confirm this.
Alcohol was a demure 13.5% (this is key). The fruit and varietal intensity of this wine were considerable. Very ripe (but not jammy) black and red currants, plum, and blackberry were at the center of the fruit. A slight autumn leaf hazyness had developed, but the wine was by no means in decline. I'm not sure it would have been better in 3-5 years, but I don't think it would be a risk to take it that far. I caught it at a very nice stage of its development. There was certainly a raisin-y overtone to the fruit, and secondary elements of fresh tilled soil. The tanins were velvety as well, and there was noticeable, chunky sediment at the bottom of the bottle. For those who like intense purity fruit, this is a wine for you. There were not many rocks in the glass, but for me, the epitome of what I like my Amarone-style wines to be: generous with the fruit, balanced and present with the acid and tannins (but not overwhelming), sort of a well-engineered skyscraper of fruit. Oak was very appropriately integrated.
I had it with Thanksgiving, and it was a surprisingly good pairing. Sort of like drinking cranberry sauce. It dealt really well with gravy and my two-sticks-of-butter-and-a-pint-of-cream garlic mashed potatoes.
Catillion Lambic Framboise, bottled spring 2009 -
This is the platonic ideal of fruit lambic. Bone dry. A blasting acidity pairs up with a generous dollop of fresh raspberry and an underlying goat-butt, fresh hay brett aroma brings the funk to an explosive combination on the nose and palate. I love lambic and I'm not sure anyone besides Drei Frontinien does it better, although honorable mentions go to t'Graverhopke, Hanssens, De Dolle, Rodenbach, and Boon. It's funny to hear everyone on here complain about brett in their wine. Since I grew up drinking lambics and gueuze, I just have a much higher tolerance (you might even say "welcoming attitude") towards brett.
Bought it at Astor on staff recommendation. This stuff was pretty incredible. Expansive chalky minerality, with honeycomb, pears and green apple. Not mind-blowingly complex, but so incredibly well-structured. Not an ambitious champagne, but its somewhat sparse elements are very intense and flawlessly integrated. I loved it, and at $35 bucks, I can't get over what a good deal it is. Would definitely be my first choice for a case of "cheap" Champagne. They have a 2004 vintage bottling of similar grape makeup for about $75 that will almost certainly be my next celebration-grade champagne.
Tenuta Sant'Antonio "Capitello" Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 from Magnum -
Levi, cross-reference this for me, but I'm fairly certain they're a well-known Amarone producer as well. I was a little worried about this baby, because it spent the summer in my (not wine) refrigerator, and wines I've tried of similar composition and age from the Veneto were a little over the hill. I believe the grapes were raisinated, as with their Amarones, but I can't confirm this.
Alcohol was a demure 13.5% (this is key). The fruit and varietal intensity of this wine were considerable. Very ripe (but not jammy) black and red currants, plum, and blackberry were at the center of the fruit. A slight autumn leaf hazyness had developed, but the wine was by no means in decline. I'm not sure it would have been better in 3-5 years, but I don't think it would be a risk to take it that far. I caught it at a very nice stage of its development. There was certainly a raisin-y overtone to the fruit, and secondary elements of fresh tilled soil. The tanins were velvety as well, and there was noticeable, chunky sediment at the bottom of the bottle. For those who like intense purity fruit, this is a wine for you. There were not many rocks in the glass, but for me, the epitome of what I like my Amarone-style wines to be: generous with the fruit, balanced and present with the acid and tannins (but not overwhelming), sort of a well-engineered skyscraper of fruit. Oak was very appropriately integrated.
I had it with Thanksgiving, and it was a surprisingly good pairing. Sort of like drinking cranberry sauce. It dealt really well with gravy and my two-sticks-of-butter-and-a-pint-of-cream garlic mashed potatoes.
Catillion Lambic Framboise, bottled spring 2009 -
This is the platonic ideal of fruit lambic. Bone dry. A blasting acidity pairs up with a generous dollop of fresh raspberry and an underlying goat-butt, fresh hay brett aroma brings the funk to an explosive combination on the nose and palate. I love lambic and I'm not sure anyone besides Drei Frontinien does it better, although honorable mentions go to t'Graverhopke, Hanssens, De Dolle, Rodenbach, and Boon. It's funny to hear everyone on here complain about brett in their wine. Since I grew up drinking lambics and gueuze, I just have a much higher tolerance (you might even say "welcoming attitude") towards brett.