Wines of our Times

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Rahsaan

Rahsaan
I started election night at a Watch Party in a downtown DC synagogue. One of the organizers was a French think tank so they shipped in wine from Paris. Unfortunately they overlooked the fact that only kosher products could be served in the synagogue so those of us who elected to drink the wine were forced into the attic for sipping our sweet flaccid glasses of NV Mot & Chandon White Star. Has this stuff always been so boring?

Downstairs the actual party was also boring and frighteningly crowded (I couldnt even hear the beloved pundits spew) so I called Jonathan Loesberg and zipped over to his house where the Wine Geek Watch Party was well underway with Gail, Bob Semon, Maureen Nelson, and Craig and Elizabeth Potts. I missed an 87 Margaux blanc and whoknowswhatelse. I was encouraged to immediately begin drinking the 1962 Chateau Gruaud-Larose before it all disappeared. I had no complaints about drinking this perfectly resolved bit of maturity, especially while watching the young whippersnapper collect more electoral college votes.

Then, I was ready for some sweetness and took a good dose of the 2001 Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Sptlese which was crisp and herbal yet of course still rounded out with sugar. Nothing profound but fine enough drinking. Bob found the funky vegetal note a bit off-putting although I was slightly less troubled, but mainly because of all the good news on the television!

The 1995 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape was a beautifully confident, well-framed and well-proportioned glass of sunny Southern wine. I found this very compelling and Jonathan insisted that with exposure to the right wines even I could be persuaded of Southern Glory. Perhaps. And Ive liked these Clos des Papes folks in the past. Although I went right back to Northern Glory with the delightful 2005 Conterno Cascina Francia Barbera that was also beautifully confident and well-framed but with a different more Northern expression.

There was also NV Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut for bubbly toasts and it was very very adequate. Dare I say even delicious. Much more so than my initial White Star.

But we were thirsty and the bottles were empty (technically Bobs bitter Dornfelder remained, but I never got around to it what with all the positive news on the television!) and to calm the troops Jonathan dug into his cellar for the 1996 Godineau Coteaux-du-Layon Faye. This was exactly my speed and showed some calming maturing earthy sweet chenin fruit. Elizabeth seemed to find it lacking in comparison to Sauternes, so I quickly retorted that there was no oaky taste in these pure Loire wines. But, before things escalated further we calmed ourselves with wonderful biscotti that Jonathan swore he baked himself (although nobody believed him).

There was also a delicious Passito from somewhere in Italy that Bob Semon offered but for some reason those names just dont seem to stick in my head!!

Later in the night (in yet another scene of spontaneous DC streetside dancing, singing and celebrating) I found myself drinking Samuel Adams Oktoberfest and some tap version of De Koninck. Neither of which was delicious. But believe you me I was not at all troubled by this and in fact was very very happy.

Rounding out the notes is tonights 2005 JJ Confuron Chambolle-Musigny which has lots of seductive baked dark cherry raspberry pie flavors and hints at a silky palate but for the most part is too thin, short, and loses me on impact. I dont know if that is a stage in development or just what one gets at this level from Confuron, but I probably wouldnt pay $50 for a repeat performance of tonight. That said, those flavors are Seductive!
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Boring would be an uptick.
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I must have been in such a good mood from the impending election returns because it really was not offensive at all.

But, I'll live a happy life never drinking from those waters again.
 
Nice. There was lots of streetside partying here in our little blue island as well. Good times. And yes, the White Star has been boring as long as I've been coerced to drink it. Really though, all furrin' wines? Buncha beltway elitists.
 
The Richter was intended to represent a wine with a big personality and a long finish in honor of our VP-elect. The Conterno was brought as something young and fresh but sophisticated and - for me as I usually bring burgundy - a change, in honor of our President-elect. I think Craig brought the 87 Pavillon Blanc as an old whitey in honor of you-know-who and the Gruaud - well, he expected it to be decrepit and stinky but it fooled him by being alive and lovely so I don't know who that honors.
 
My sweet-smell-of-success wine was the 89 Gautier Vouvray Cuvee Arnauld. Alas, just as at Il Corso a couple of weeks ago, this bottle was corked. (Is Yixin in the country?) Fortunately, the backup 2000 Orsolani Erbaluce di Caluso was its usual crowd-pleasing self. The bitter-taste-of-defeat wine was the off-dry, Spatlese-ish 2002 Knobloch Dornfelder (from somewhere in the Rheinhessen, I forget the vineyard). So, I suppose I was cheating a little. The wine was not that bitter. On the other hand, it wasn't that interesting, either.
 
originally posted by Bob Semon:
[...] off-dry, Spatlese-ish 2002 Knobloch Dornfelder (from somewhere in the Rheinhessen, I forget the vineyard). So, I suppose I was cheating a little. The wine was not that bitter. On the other hand, it wasn't that interesting, either.
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That wine sold a case a week at the where I used to work. Nothing like a sweet, low-acid, low-tannin red wine for under $20 to keep people coming back, I guess.
 
Last night I tasted a low alcohol dornfelder. It was not something I would purchase for more than novelty.

Are there serious wines made from this grape or does it mostly go into cheap stuff for the domestic market?
 
originally posted by maureen:
The Richter was intended to represent a wine with a big personality and a long finish...
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Big personality? Interesting. Not the words I might have chosen. At least by the time I arrived it seemed kind of middle-of-the-road.

the backup 2000 Orsolani Erbaluce di Caluso was its usual crowd-pleasing self.
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That's the one. Tasty.
 
originally posted by Chris Coad:
Really though, all furrin' wines?
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I had some Samuel Adams later in the evening, although mainly because it was the only beer left in the refrigerator at the office.

I've never been one to drink American wines for symbolic reasons, but please do tell about your All-American Fizz party.. I'm sure the notes will arrive in due time :)
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:

I had some Samuel Adams later in the evening, although mainly because it was the only beer left in the refrigerator at the office.
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Rahsaan your office allows beer!?! I want to work where you work!
 
originally posted by Ruben Ramos:
Rahsaan your office allows beer!?! I want to work where you work!
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It was the only beer left from our Oktoberfest party.

There are still tons of bottles of bad German riesling, but I figured those were less handy for strolling in the celebratory streets.
 
I don't remember an election watch that has gone by so fast. With all that wine, it was probably a half an hour after Obama had reached 209 electoral votes that I realized he had it in the bag.

You seem to have missed the Cortese 97 Barbaresco I brought up. A nice wine, though not in the class of the 95 Clos des Papes. I remember that wine back when almost nobody had heard of it and it was relatively inexpensive.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Chris Coad:
Really though, all furrin' wines?
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I had some Samuel Adams later in the evening, although mainly because it was the only beer left in the refrigerator at the office.

I've never been one to drink American wines for symbolic reasons, but please do tell about your All-American Fizz party.. I'm sure the notes will arrive in due time :)
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I admit a fondness for clumsy symbolic gestures. But I'm afraid no notes were taken on Tuesday. It was not a night for wine analysis.
 
Drinking only American wines at American holidays or days of moment is so last Monday. It's a new era. In addition to the pro-American parts of America, there is now a pro-American world.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
I don't remember an election watch that has gone by so fast. With all that wine, it was probably a half an hour after Obama had reached 209 electoral votes that I realized he had it in the bag.
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I knew he had it in the bag when I turned on the election coverage at 7 pm EST and saw that my state of residence hadn't gone red yet (and, as later events revealed, would not at all). After that, it was just waiting for the other pieces to come into place. Ohio was the icing on the cake and the signal to relax and celebrate.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Chris Coad:
It was not a night for wine analysis.
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Who said you need wine analysis to post notes :)
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Easy enough for you to say. This is why since Rahsaan moved to DC, we finally have wine notes coming out of our jeebi. The rest of us, alas, just sit around and drink the stuff.It's like when Callahan used to live here, come to an event an hour or two late, go through all the wines in 20 minutes while talking to everybody, and then post detailed notes the next day.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
You seem to have missed the Cortese 97 Barbaresco I brought up. A nice wine, though not in the class of the 95 Clos des Papes. I remember that wine back when almost nobody had heard of it and it was relatively inexpensive.
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I may not have given it enough time or may have caught it in a strange moment but it really didn't taste like Barbaresco or Nebbiolo to me. Maybe that was the warm year that robbed it of the delicate aromatics or more classic Nebbiolo structure?

Or maybe I just drank too quickly!
 
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