TN: The Annual Birthday Bash Jeebus (June 11, 2011)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
attendees: Brad, Jeff, Don, Eden+Scott+Pierce, Chris, Chris, Jay, Christine, Greg, Michel, Sarah, Marty

The annual "do" to celebrate the nascences of several of our vinous comrades. This is the second of these events that I've been able to attend and the quality of wine, victuals, and conversation remains high.

Among the comestibles: Christine's famous bo ssam, a couple sides of baked Copper River salmon, some crispy briny crab cakes, a selection of quiches, an excellent chopped salad, 3/4 of a plate of wonderful cheeses (Landaff, Winnemere, Monte Enebro), and some incredibly dense, rich dulce de leche brownies.

While the '60s, '70s, and '80s music mix played in the background, we pulled a few corks:

Prager 1996 Durnsteiner Hollerin Riesling Smaragd - tangy, tingly, I get all green grapes and bergamot while Eden is craving the salmon because she gets dill and herbs, this is just excellent

Moreau 2008 Chablis GC "Les Clos" - minerally, lemony, and just a hint of cream, not too ripe, a clean finish, this is also a good drink (and most folks are pleased to find another drinkable Chablis house beside the usual suspects)

Huet 2009 Vouvray Sec "Le Mont" - citrussy but it takes so much coaxing, this wine does not want to come out and play

Thomas-Labaille 2005 Sancerre "Les Monts Damnees" "Cuvee Buster" - another closed-up white

Pinon 2010 Miel d'Ete - This is honey that Don obtains direct from Francois Pinon. This vintage is very, very thick. Not really sweet, with a slight whiff of citrus in it. Love. We are all just slathering this on chunks of the Monte Enebro and exclaiming in glee. Don says that Francois says that the bees do not collect from the vines because the flowers are too small. The hives are kept partway up a hillside that abuts a forest so it's probably wildflower honey.

Dom. de la Charmoise 2010 Touraine Gamay - really lactic nose, the wine has a nice cherry crispness but almost no one can stand it long enough to find that out

Montevertine 1996 IGT "Pergole Torte" - complex, austere (in a good way), very cherry, very long finish, tannins are fine, a good bottle

Bottex NV Bugey-Cerdon "La Cueille" - not as intense as others make, perhaps, a bit soft and raspberry soda, but it's always a happy wine

CVNE 2009 Rioja Blanco - glug, glug, this goes down very easily, no complications just cool and a bit peachy and a bit tangy

Palari 2001 IGT "Rossa del Soprano" - magnum; faintly corked

Edmunds St John 1994 Zinfandel, Amador County - this wine divides the audience... some find it mature and just barely sweet (like a mild nostalgia) while others find it too old and faded towards generic red

Foreau 2009 Vouvray Demi-Sec - shapely enough but seems ponderous

Lapierre 2009 Morgon - another wine in the OK-but-fat-and-sweet mode

Vieux Telegraphe 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "La Crau" - lots of 'school paste' brett which interferes with an otherwise lovely dark red-berried wine

Vietti 1981 Barolo "Rocche" - no amount of air or wishing will make the tinny taste go away

Belle Pente 2008 Pinot Noir "Murto" - extracted to the point of being silty, actively unpleasant

Ciro Biondi 2003 Etna Rosso "Outis Nessuno" - fine tannins but maybe also on the down-slope, "A pizza wine"-Sarah

Talty 2007 Zinfandel - not a geek wine but pretty good: clean, not too sweet, a little tartness, OK!

Bod. Murrieta 1970 Rioja GR "Castillo Ygay", Etiqueta Blanca - sound, nice enough, but old even by my necro-ish standards

Dom. Chave 1997 Hermitage Rouge - red red red fruits and a whiff of school paste

Jaboulet 1967 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Les Cedres" - gorgeous, mature but steady as a rock, ask Brad for the back-story someday

Munzinger Berg 1967 Kaiserstuhl-Tuniberg Rulander Auslese - earthy, red plums (yes, I know it's white but the mature pinot gris flavors are multi-hued), love it

Savoye 2007 Morgon, Cote du Py - tart and another slightly lactic nose

Weegmuller 2004 Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Auslese - 5 174 103 011 05, Lemon Pledge (in a good way); with time, this goes all grapefruity (yum!)

Seghesio 2007 Zinfandel "El Armadillo" - Brad's Cuvee, a marvel of cingulata-ness

Ch. Rieussec 1988 Sauternes - orange marmalade and chalk but with enough acidity to hold it together, very intense and very consistent from sip to swallow, some folks engage in the common sport of Sauternes-bashing but not yours truly

Huet 1995 Vouvray Moelleux "Cuvee Constance" - very pretty, wool and white peaches, tends to go all feathery/watery towards the end

O. Raffault 1990 Chinon - I did not taste this one but Chris was heard to say, "stinky and dirty."

J. J. Christoffel 2001 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese** - quite sweet but quite simple

Huet 1989 Vouvray Moelleux "Le Haut Lieu", 1er Trie - very intense, apricot, rich and fruity; quite a lot of conversation about whether the little chemical off-note, way into the finish, is a soupcon of TCA or just the way chenin is (Greg, Brad, and I eventually settle on the latter); additional conversation comparing the CC to the Rieussec

Many thanks to Brad for hosting the party and for all the work that entails!
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Tastes like armadillo?
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I find it to be a typical blah-CA zin: too sweet, too oaky, the wallop of extra petit syrah sits like an unchanging lump.

But it's Brad's Cuvee so I don't want to sound ungrateful.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Tastes like armadillo?
Click to expand...
I find it to be a typical blah-CA zin: too sweet, too oaky, the wallop of extra petit syrah sits like an unchanging lump.

But it's Brad's Cuvee so I don't want to sound ungrateful.
Click to expand...

I won a sales trip via Seghesio in '08 and at the winery I was able to make my own cuvee based on wine from four specific sites. Unfortunately, they didn't make my blend then and there, but waited until they were bottling. As a result, the wine got a bit oakier than it was, or as I wanted. Still, it was a fun experience and I'm holding out hope that eventually the wood will integrate.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Munzinger Berg 1967 Kaiserstuhl-Tuniberg Rulander Auslese - earthy, red plums (yes, I know it's white but the mature riesling flavors are multi-hued), love it
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Mature Pinot Gris in this case.

J. J. Christoffel 2001 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese** - quite sweet but quite simple
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Doesn't sound like any of the '01 Christoffels I've had (which are among my favourite 01 Germans). Shame, as this wine can be spectacular - the bottle at Grand Sichuan last month certainly was.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
How many of them do you have?
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I've got one bottle of it here in California that we'll be able to see if wine ages differently on the west coast than on the other one. Interesting to note that the Seghesio family sold out to recently for what was reputed to be a couple of million bucks.

I'm also becoming a fan of Talty. Good stuff from the Dry Creek Valley, but worth the effort to find. Sort of a Sonoma analogue to Napa Valley's Sky Vineyard.

FWIW I had a bottle of the Thomas-Labaille Sancerre "Cuvée Buster" a few weeks ago and it showed really nicely after about 30 minutes in a decanter.

-Eden (the young sommelier and maitre'd thought we were crazy for decanting the Sancerre and putting the 09 Lapierre in the ice bucket, but fuck 'em, both wines were better for the extra attention, even if we weren't exactly pleased by it)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
How many of them do you have?
Click to expand...

I've got one bottle of it here in California that we'll be able to see if wine ages differently on the west coast than on the other one.
Click to expand...

Hold onto it. It may be worth something on ebay someday.

Here's the breakdown of the wine, btw: The El Armadillo blend is 88% Zin, 12% Petite Sirah, all from the 2007 vintage. The Zin portion is comprised of 60% Home Ranch, 20% Benchlands, 12% Cortina. You can also read about it in Bree's original note posted here: El Armadillo.

A fun gathering as always. Somehow my apartment held 13 people. A big thank you to Christine who brought an amazing Bo Ssam and Eden, who made brownies with salted caramel tops that were denser than a neutron star in a most delicious way. Also to everyone else that brought some tasty treats. For the record, Coad makes the best chopped salad in NYC. Period.

I have to say, I think the low barometric pressure affected a lot of the wines as I thought most of them, especially the reds, underperformed. My favorites of the night were all the Huets. The '89 was indeed controversial, but really only to two folks. It was pretty clear to the rest of us that this was just Chenin being Chenin. I really like the '09 Foreau Demi-Sec. Sure, it's no '08 and it's rather large framed, but there's enough structure there to support it. The '95 Constance, from a 750, was glorious, but also painfully young.

The '67 Jaboulet CDP was a pleasant surprise. Still fresh upfront, but a bit fragile on the back end. The story behind it is that a fellow called me out of the blue while I was driving from Napa to LA last summer and introduced himself as the country's largest collector of Vouvray. It didn't sound like Dougherty, but I thought somebody had to be putting me on. Turns out, the guy is legit and folks like David Lillie and Josh Raynolds know him. So, this guy invited me to his house for dinner here in NY. Says we'll drink some Foreau. So, I brought a bottle of '89 Foreau Moelleux to share, but he has his own agenda and wines he wants to try, so, much to my dismay, he keeps mine as a gift. Some months later, he organizes another dinner and at that dinner, when hearing '67 was my birth year, he hands me the Jaboulet on my way out.

The Ygay was a Gran Reserva and it was a label I'd never seen before, but I'm used to seeing the Gran Reserva Especial label with the script. I found the wine a little tired.

The Raffault was typically Bretty and a little more leafy and less fruity than other bottles I've had. The '98 VT was a big disappointment. A Brett bomb, with way too much sulfur showing with a strong burnt rubber component.

Greg brought the '81 Vietti and said it's stuff he normally drinks when he's alone. He should keep it that way. He also brought the '01 Christoffel and I think he liked it best. Personally, I didn't find it all that sweet. In fact, I've had plenty of Kabinetts that have shown sweeter, to be honest. The wine showed pleasant passion fruit, but it was surprisingly devoid of character. Quite boring, really.

The '05 Labaille Cuvee Buster showed like the last bottle I opened. Disjointed with ripe fruit upfront, but the whole second half was too dominated by alcohol and it never came together throughout the night. In fact, it became more disjointed.

Greg was keen on knowing my thoughts on the Talty. I thought it was pleasant enough. Honestly made, but I knew why he liked it and it was why I didn't like it that much. It's really rustic in character with relatively high acidity and a chunky, somewhat abrasive finish, much like the Italian wines that Greg likes.

It was nice of Chris Kravitz to bring that birth year German. One of the pleasant surprised of the night. Certainly showing its age, but it was still very much alive and a delight to drink.

Oh, I should mention the Prager as it was one of the wines of the night. Gorgeous aromatically and though it could've used some sugar, the fruit was ripe and long and the wine showed terrific length and balance.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
I have to say, I think the low barometric pressure affected a lot of the wines.
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I've wondered about this sort of thing since a Frenchman who lives in Santa Fe told me that the altitude affected the taste of the wines he drank there because there is less oxygen and the atmospheric pressure is different. He said it particularly affects bubblies, which doesn't seem completely voodoo. There's so much we don't know that maybe it's just another semi-empirical supposition that rush in to fill the vacuum. But it's definitely interesting.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Brad Kane:
I have to say, I think the low barometric pressure affected a lot of the wines.
Click to expand...

I've wondered about this sort of thing since a Frenchman who lives in Santa Fe told me that the altitude affected the taste of the wines he drank there because there is less oxygen and the atmospheric pressure is different. He said it particularly affects bubblies, which doesn't seem completely voodoo. There's so much we don't know that maybe it's just another semi-empirical supposition that rush in to fill the vacuum. But it's definitely interesting.
Click to expand...

to make the point with hyperbole, it has always been known that wines tasted at sea level and in a plane are decidedly different, so it would make sense that smaller differences in atmospheric pressure would make smaller, but noticeable, differences...
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Hmmm, I thot airplane cabins were pressurized to sea levels...
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I'm pretty sure that's not the case. As I recall, it's more like a *********** in Aspen. If the pressure were kept constant, no one would have trouble with their sinuses.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Hmmm, I thot airplane cabins were pressurized to sea levels...
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Nope.

"At a cruising altitude of 12,000 metres (39,000 ft), a Boeing 767's cabin will be pressurized to an altitude of 2,100 metres (6,900 ft)." From Wikipedia, of course.

It's definitely an issue at the tropics - much warmer (26-30 celsius) and more humid environment (70-100% RH) here, with consistently high barometric pressure (above 1010 millibars).

But a bottle of 2000 Drouhin Beaune-Epenots (I think there's an accent missing somewhere) tonight isn't doing badly as I crunch numbers. A bit too much VA (where did that come from? I've gone through about a case of this and none have showed any), but lovely aromatics, slightly hard on the palate, but otherwise very charming, more Beaune than Epenots if that makes sense. This was my airport duty-free wine for a long, long time when I was shuttling between Bangkok and Singapore.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Hmmm, I thot airplane cabins were pressurized to sea levels...
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as said above, nope. but, modern planes, like the new double decker airbus, are using new materials and technology allowing lower cabin pressures.
 
The heat and humidity are similar in Brazil, but I had never thought about barometric pressure... I mean, we're all somewhat attuned to "correct" serving temperature, but not to correct humidity and pressure. Perhaps these explain a good deal of what we blithely attribute to bottle variation. In any case, I wonder what higher or lower levels of these two variables would do to a wine, other things equal.
 
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