Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Brad, Jay & Arnold, SFJoe, Cliff, Levi, Greg, Don & Melissa, Manuel & Josie, Cesar, Lou & BettyLu, Chris & Lisa, Jayson & Laura, Sharon, Denyse, Jeff G
It has been a year since Joe Dressner passed on. There are many beautiful remembrances of him up on the LDM website; worth a look if you have not seen it already.
The NYC-based friends and customers gathered for a dinner and to swap stories. We have heard many of them before... dropping off bottles at Minetta but not staying for the meal, refilling a Burgundy bottle with wine by Brian Loring, visits with winemakers, urgent nonsense on various wine boards, always the bicycle, and Buster... and more.
There were lots of eats, both store-bought and homemade:
- breads & cheeses & charcuterie
- chopped salad, quinoa salad, wild rice salad
- broiled pork, tea-smoked duck, beef stew
- mushroom soup, mushroom bread pudding, creamy morels
- key lime pie, pear tart, apple tart
And, lots of LD/LDM wine, of course:
Pepiere 2004 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - a slight whiff of cheese at first but that blows off; lemon and tangerine and granite; long finish; yum
Brun NV Vin Mousseux Aromatique de Qualite Medium Dry "FRV100" - its usual self: a bit sweet, rose syrup and cherry juice
Robert Denis 1995 Touraine-Azay-le-Rideau Demi-Sec "Vignes de la Gaillarderie" - The story told about Denis is that he made really, really old-style wine which was often unapproachable when young. He famously told SFJoe(?) not to drink a particular bottle for 30 years and, if he didn't like it, to bring it back. This is not that bottle but you get the idea. Don decanted this one two days ago because we only waited 17 years to open it: complex, youthful, talc and multi-fruit, sweet flowers, a rich mouthfeel but also tingly acidity, wow
Pinon NV Touraine Brut Rose - Jayson does not recall exactly which vintage this wine is from... "It's been in my 'drink next' box for 2 or 3 years."; there's something vaguely pink-berry about it but it's basically shut down, hold longer
Pepiere 2002 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - much the same wine as the '04 but this is more lemony and less minerally
Pepiere 1997 Muscadet "Cuvee Buster" - the early form of the Clisson; full-on clementine (by which I mean, sweeter and broader flavor than lemon), incredibly intense and vivid, the finish is very long and bright and veers towards red-fruited, amazing wine, Thunderbird award
Pepiere 1997 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - damaged, several people who should know vet it, though SFJoe observes that this wine is botrytised and won't smell like the others
Dom du Closel 2004 Savennieres "Clos du Papillon" - a pristine bottle with very little of that common oxidative funk, acidity good, chalk?
Cazin 2001 Cheverny - sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, zippy, lots of mixed rocks-ness (chalk, granite, slate) in here, a slight metallic tang, too
Cazin 2006 Cour-Cheverny - not the Cuvee Renaissance; this is a whopping huge grapefruit with a bit of fatty weight in my glass!, yum
Luneau-Papin 1989 Muscadet "Le L d'Or" - young cheese and grain and green grapes, soft velvet feel, more interesting than exciting
Chidaine 2005 Montlouis "Les Tuffeaux" - a note of bitter orange pith underlines an otherwise not very interesting chalky chenin
Baudry 2011 Chinon Blanc - glou-glou, good zing
Belliviere 2010 Coteaux du Loir "Rouge Gorge" - white pepper, strawberry, iodine, we like this!
Occhipinti 2010 Frappato - lush texture, fragrance of overripe strawberries and wet driveway, we like this, too!
Ch Sainte-Anne 1998 Bandol "Cuvee Collection" - tannic, pretty in a "wild cherry" cough drop kind of way, wee touch of shoe polish, likable
Marechal 2005 Savigny-les-Beaunes 1er "Les Lavieres" - crisp and bright, flavors of deep-dark currant, very pure, very ripe, I think I could be jealous of folks who have some of this stored away
Pepiere 2002 Muscadet "Cuvee Eden" - more tutti-frutti than lemon, a tad sweeter than the others, too
Clos Roches Blanches 2008 Touraine "Cuvee Gamay" - typique!
Mayr-Nusser 2000 Lagrein Riserva - structure has softened a lot, tastes of red fruit leather and violets, late meaty notes revive the cooked fruit flavors back up towards freshness
Filliatreau 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Cuvee Buster" - oh, that's pretty wine! quite a bit of bell pepper on top of a sturdy cabernet wine
Clos Rougeard 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - more earth and less green than the Filliatreau, strong black tea and good acid, yum
Farou 1989 Chinon "Clos du Parc" - very red-fruity, and strongly nutty, no 'green' at all, and quite soft
Clos Rougeard 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Le Bourg" - really just like the Poyeux but 'bigger' all the way round (by which I mean that the flavors are more vivid)
Clos de la Roilette 2006 Fleurie - a noticeable difference from the recent few as this is a medium-weight wine, not so heavy; typical gamay red-fruitiness; still way young and not showing all it has
Brun 2010 Morgon - beautiful, rocks and a whiff of tarragon, silky texture; I am gratified to have some of this in storage
Breton 1989 Bourgueil "Grandmont" - all my note says is: "perfect" (but my private little scoring system 'only' ranks it with '04 Pepiere, Occhipinti, and Poyeux which is below Denis, '97 Buster, and Bourg)
O. Raffault 1998 Chinon "Les Picasses" - magnum; lean (by which I mean less ripe and less sweet than usual), just acquiring its earthy secondary characteristics, yum
Petits Quarts 1996 Bonnezeaux 1ere Trie "Le Malabe" - black label; nicely done, good balance of acid and sweet
Dom du Closel 1997 Savennieres Moelleux "Cuvee Isa" - much more gentle and subtle than the Bonnezeaux, this is meant more for talking with friends than for slinging sugar
It has been a year since Joe Dressner passed on. There are many beautiful remembrances of him up on the LDM website; worth a look if you have not seen it already.
The NYC-based friends and customers gathered for a dinner and to swap stories. We have heard many of them before... dropping off bottles at Minetta but not staying for the meal, refilling a Burgundy bottle with wine by Brian Loring, visits with winemakers, urgent nonsense on various wine boards, always the bicycle, and Buster... and more.
There were lots of eats, both store-bought and homemade:
- breads & cheeses & charcuterie
- chopped salad, quinoa salad, wild rice salad
- broiled pork, tea-smoked duck, beef stew
- mushroom soup, mushroom bread pudding, creamy morels
- key lime pie, pear tart, apple tart
And, lots of LD/LDM wine, of course:
Pepiere 2004 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - a slight whiff of cheese at first but that blows off; lemon and tangerine and granite; long finish; yum
Brun NV Vin Mousseux Aromatique de Qualite Medium Dry "FRV100" - its usual self: a bit sweet, rose syrup and cherry juice
Robert Denis 1995 Touraine-Azay-le-Rideau Demi-Sec "Vignes de la Gaillarderie" - The story told about Denis is that he made really, really old-style wine which was often unapproachable when young. He famously told SFJoe(?) not to drink a particular bottle for 30 years and, if he didn't like it, to bring it back. This is not that bottle but you get the idea. Don decanted this one two days ago because we only waited 17 years to open it: complex, youthful, talc and multi-fruit, sweet flowers, a rich mouthfeel but also tingly acidity, wow
Pinon NV Touraine Brut Rose - Jayson does not recall exactly which vintage this wine is from... "It's been in my 'drink next' box for 2 or 3 years."; there's something vaguely pink-berry about it but it's basically shut down, hold longer
Pepiere 2002 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - much the same wine as the '04 but this is more lemony and less minerally
Pepiere 1997 Muscadet "Cuvee Buster" - the early form of the Clisson; full-on clementine (by which I mean, sweeter and broader flavor than lemon), incredibly intense and vivid, the finish is very long and bright and veers towards red-fruited, amazing wine, Thunderbird award
Pepiere 1997 Muscadet "Clos des Briords" - damaged, several people who should know vet it, though SFJoe observes that this wine is botrytised and won't smell like the others
Dom du Closel 2004 Savennieres "Clos du Papillon" - a pristine bottle with very little of that common oxidative funk, acidity good, chalk?
Cazin 2001 Cheverny - sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, zippy, lots of mixed rocks-ness (chalk, granite, slate) in here, a slight metallic tang, too
Cazin 2006 Cour-Cheverny - not the Cuvee Renaissance; this is a whopping huge grapefruit with a bit of fatty weight in my glass!, yum
Luneau-Papin 1989 Muscadet "Le L d'Or" - young cheese and grain and green grapes, soft velvet feel, more interesting than exciting
Chidaine 2005 Montlouis "Les Tuffeaux" - a note of bitter orange pith underlines an otherwise not very interesting chalky chenin
Baudry 2011 Chinon Blanc - glou-glou, good zing
Belliviere 2010 Coteaux du Loir "Rouge Gorge" - white pepper, strawberry, iodine, we like this!
Occhipinti 2010 Frappato - lush texture, fragrance of overripe strawberries and wet driveway, we like this, too!
Ch Sainte-Anne 1998 Bandol "Cuvee Collection" - tannic, pretty in a "wild cherry" cough drop kind of way, wee touch of shoe polish, likable
Marechal 2005 Savigny-les-Beaunes 1er "Les Lavieres" - crisp and bright, flavors of deep-dark currant, very pure, very ripe, I think I could be jealous of folks who have some of this stored away
Pepiere 2002 Muscadet "Cuvee Eden" - more tutti-frutti than lemon, a tad sweeter than the others, too
Clos Roches Blanches 2008 Touraine "Cuvee Gamay" - typique!
Mayr-Nusser 2000 Lagrein Riserva - structure has softened a lot, tastes of red fruit leather and violets, late meaty notes revive the cooked fruit flavors back up towards freshness
Filliatreau 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Cuvee Buster" - oh, that's pretty wine! quite a bit of bell pepper on top of a sturdy cabernet wine
Clos Rougeard 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - more earth and less green than the Filliatreau, strong black tea and good acid, yum
Farou 1989 Chinon "Clos du Parc" - very red-fruity, and strongly nutty, no 'green' at all, and quite soft
Clos Rougeard 1997 Saumur-Champigny "Le Bourg" - really just like the Poyeux but 'bigger' all the way round (by which I mean that the flavors are more vivid)
Clos de la Roilette 2006 Fleurie - a noticeable difference from the recent few as this is a medium-weight wine, not so heavy; typical gamay red-fruitiness; still way young and not showing all it has
Brun 2010 Morgon - beautiful, rocks and a whiff of tarragon, silky texture; I am gratified to have some of this in storage
Breton 1989 Bourgueil "Grandmont" - all my note says is: "perfect" (but my private little scoring system 'only' ranks it with '04 Pepiere, Occhipinti, and Poyeux which is below Denis, '97 Buster, and Bourg)
O. Raffault 1998 Chinon "Les Picasses" - magnum; lean (by which I mean less ripe and less sweet than usual), just acquiring its earthy secondary characteristics, yum
Petits Quarts 1996 Bonnezeaux 1ere Trie "Le Malabe" - black label; nicely done, good balance of acid and sweet
Dom du Closel 1997 Savennieres Moelleux "Cuvee Isa" - much more gentle and subtle than the Bonnezeaux, this is meant more for talking with friends than for slinging sugar
