Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Ira, Ed, and me (and let me tell you, Ed put out quite a spread... three cured meats, three cheeses, two breads)
Just a few bottles tonight but curious, every one of them:
Sine Qua Non 2009 "On the Lam" - Ira did advise me not to drink it, nor even to look at it directly with the unprotected eye. On a quick taste it is foully oaky and reminiscent of soft cheese that one has kept too long in the fridge. Feh. What is amusing is that it admits to an ABV considerably higher (15.5%) than the Chateauneuf (14%) that follows it. Oh, and also, no indication of cepage.
Dom. Lafond 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Roc-Epine" - very youthful, assertive even; quite ripe, like strawberry candy; a little spirity but overall pretty decent
Mystery Wine - Ira suggests that I have never had wine from this region, to which Ed replies that he has already tried it and he has no idea where it's from or even what it is. It is medium-bodied, rather generic and/or too under-ripe to display any varietal typicity, a bit of old barrel in the nose, it's wearing its age a little too obviously so maybe it should have been drunk a few years ago. Unobjectionable but, as they say, there isn't any there there. Eventually, Ed settles on a guess of some indigenous grape from a previous East Bloc nation while I plunk for montepulciano from Illinois. (Ira's last mystery wine was from Ohio.) We are wrong, of course, and the wine is Delicata 2002 Cabernet-Merlot "Gran Cavalier", Malta
ESJ 2005 Syrah "Parmelee-Hill" - OK, enough of this, let's try a wine that actually has a shot at being enjoyable; and it is... youthful, crisp, pure, enough plummy fruit and a whiff of pork that we know where this is going to go and we're happy to come along for the ride
Just a few bottles tonight but curious, every one of them:
Sine Qua Non 2009 "On the Lam" - Ira did advise me not to drink it, nor even to look at it directly with the unprotected eye. On a quick taste it is foully oaky and reminiscent of soft cheese that one has kept too long in the fridge. Feh. What is amusing is that it admits to an ABV considerably higher (15.5%) than the Chateauneuf (14%) that follows it. Oh, and also, no indication of cepage.
Dom. Lafond 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Roc-Epine" - very youthful, assertive even; quite ripe, like strawberry candy; a little spirity but overall pretty decent
Mystery Wine - Ira suggests that I have never had wine from this region, to which Ed replies that he has already tried it and he has no idea where it's from or even what it is. It is medium-bodied, rather generic and/or too under-ripe to display any varietal typicity, a bit of old barrel in the nose, it's wearing its age a little too obviously so maybe it should have been drunk a few years ago. Unobjectionable but, as they say, there isn't any there there. Eventually, Ed settles on a guess of some indigenous grape from a previous East Bloc nation while I plunk for montepulciano from Illinois. (Ira's last mystery wine was from Ohio.) We are wrong, of course, and the wine is Delicata 2002 Cabernet-Merlot "Gran Cavalier", Malta
ESJ 2005 Syrah "Parmelee-Hill" - OK, enough of this, let's try a wine that actually has a shot at being enjoyable; and it is... youthful, crisp, pure, enough plummy fruit and a whiff of pork that we know where this is going to go and we're happy to come along for the ride
