What did you drink tonight?

An amazing variety of wines with soft shell crab and Peking duck and most of the usual suspects gathering at the call of Pmac 2 nights ago. Sandlands 2013 Trousseau showed tremendous beauty and finesse both then and the next night, Ganevat Les Grand Teppes Vieilles Vignes Sous la Roche 2010 was a precise symphony of fruit, and other standouts included Rostaing 2000 Cote-Rotie, Ayer Kupp Riesling-Spatlese 1989 (in a bottle the hue of a Rolling Rock bottle), a beautiful 2009 Paolo Bea from Mr. Coffee, and too many others to mention. 2013 Pif was closed but opened substantially the next evening. 1997 Huet Clos de Bourg Trie Speciale was not p'oxed and was singing. CRB 2014 Pinot d'Aunis was shy on opening but gorgeous with time.

... Dates fixed on edit.
 
Chemex is indeed the bomb, but PMac's repurposed old style wide mouth Mr. Coffee decanter has served as home to countless WOTNs that need exposure before enjoyment. Irreplaceable.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2009 Foillard Côte du Py disappointed last night. The aromatics showed some "fine producer" seriousness, but were not stirring. The spices were not ecclesiatic, as they usually are, so there was no sailing to Byzantium. The fruit was, if anything, slender, as if the warmth of 2009, here, showed through the unelectric acidity rather than, as expected, any surfeit of fruit lipidity. Structurally, I suppose it was mostly a tale of expectations unmet, as seen from the number of nots.
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I had a nice bottle actually, this week. It wasn't thrilling by my most recent standards (we all know The Gang of One defeats the Gang of Four on any day), but I was pleasantly surprised to find improvement overnight - berries tasted "smaller", and the whole thing seemed more tart and earthy.
 
A bunch of old guard wines.

2010 Joseph Drouhin, Rully is actually kind of elegant. Appealing nose, delicate in the mouth, honest and kitchen clean. With air tannins creep in making it work even better with the grilled chicken.

1999 Leoville Barton, Saint-Julian--have had better bottles, Bordeaux on the nose but lacks zip. With a mouthful of five spice powder tinged duck it is a disaster, veering towards cough syrup. Nice enough to sip on its own but overall this bottle is coming across flat.

2004 Muller-Catoir Riesling, Gimmelbinger Manbelgarten Kabinett, found in a temperature controlled room in an out of the way Catskill shop. This wine has been embalmed with sulfite. Five days open and still it burns. There are some herbs, a little more sugar than expected, some honied lime but every sip cooks my brain. If you have some hold for fifty more years, at least.
 
2013 CRB Pineau d'Aunis Rose, which, even a bit too warm and without enough air, is still delightful. The remnants will be better tomorrow.
 
The past week I've been coming back to a case of 2013 Beurer rieslings. Other folks here probably know better than I do how these are showing relative to other vintages. But, what I do know is that they are damned delicious.

Naturally the Gipskeuper is the easiest and the one that most easily pleased my in-laws, with its effusive charms (and I mean that in a verve-y nerve-y taut riesling way).

Schilfsandstein caused the in-laws a bit more confusion. Deeper but also more piercing mineral. Reminded me the most of Muscadet and makes me want further study.

Even more so for Kieselsandstein which shows broader depth and was certainly pleasant for me to drink, but I'm guessing the best days are ahead.

Junges Schwaben was perhaps deceptively delicious. I was so taken with the elegance and the finesse that it took me a while to notice that the structure was probably too tightly wound and would be better with age.

Of course what do I know.

I'll have to drink more to find out.
 
Last note, a 2010 Baudry Domaine was closer to bawdy domination. Rid of a metric tonne of sediment, it exaled enough leather to embarass a biker gang or S&M wholesaler. Also some premonitory herbs. Decent balance and acidity, mildly obtrusive grainy tannins, and enough kick-ass bitterness on the finish to make the Hatfields and McCoys seem like buddies (I am extremely sensitive to bitterness, so take this with a grain of olives). Food dampened this bitterness to more tolerable levels, allowing an intense herbaceousness (brutes herbes?) to come to the fore. All in all, an experience disappointingly lacking in finesse.
 
Tonight I gave the 2012 Folk Machine A Simple Machine a try with grilled pork rib chops. Brambly fruit, with a few herbs and spices, and a little leather, it's sleek and well-structured, which calls out for food. You can pick out both the red fruited brightness of the Grenache and the blackberries and leather of the Syrah, reminding me of a good, traditional Cairanne. Well-done and a very good value.
 
Brundlmayer Riesling Heiligenstein 2013. Tight, intense and focused. Apples and citrus, some vegetal notes. Outstanding finish and focus. Brundlmayer seems to have hit it out of the ballpark in 2013 (I've also had his Loiser Berg Gruve 2013).
 
Some chenin. 2013 Mosse, Anjou blanc tastes of Anjou, I think. Open for a week now, really thought it would fall apart but it does not. It just gains depth. Great texture and length, with food or without it is a pleasure.

2014 Pinon, Vouvray Les trois argiles--is this what used to be called Cuvee Tradition? Already notes of mushroom and marzipan in the quince. Just off-dry with perfect balance and a long finish. Vouvray. Hold for a few years while it digests the sulfites. It's like what, $22 US, stock up.

It's been a long time . . . 2011 Domaine Le Couroulu, Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes, a wine we used to drink quite often many years ago. Pretty good with paprika slathered roast chicken. Goes back and forth from structured grenache to slutty syrah over the evening. Sometimes lactic and full of menthol, other times tannic with barely a hint of tart raspberry. A nostalgic treat.
 
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
2014 Pinon, Vouvray Les trois argiles--is this what used to be called Cuvee Tradition? Already notes of mushroom and marzipan in the quince. Just off-dry with perfect balance and a long finish. Vouvray. Hold for a few years while it digests the sulfites. It's like what, $22 US, stock up.
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The handy-dandy search engine finds these itty-bitty tidbits on this merry-derry topic in selected threads right hereabouts:

(early 2014) Julien Pinon brought one bottle of the 2013 cuvee to the Attack. There is not enough wine for separate bottlings. It is young and zingy, of course. He was pouring the 2011s for the crowd; the "Argiles" has nearly twice the RS of the "Silex".

(early 2012) Pinon is going to change the name of "Cuvee Tradition" to "Trois Argiles". I think he said this matches what he does for France and, anyway, makes more sense as he will now call-out the two terroirs on their respective labels. He also commented that I should wait 3-5 years before drinking the Brut Non-Dose.
 
2010 Vin De Pays de Franche-Comte rouge, Dom. des Cavarodes. A little prickly and "natural" for the first hour. Then it rounded out into a lovely, red-fruited wine. Nice texture and balance.
 
2002 egon muller schartzhofberger kabinett - i think maybe this should have been drunk a couple of years ago. Not that there was no fruit left but it was mature and the sugars receded just enough to make me think i was drinking something else - not sure what, Italian white? - when i was in the mood for kabinett.

2011 A. Jobard meursault la barre - with an absolutely killer fresh pasta dish with a mix of chanterelles and hen of the woods mushrooms i bought at the farmers market. Opened up and put on some weight with air but still bright and unoaky - a fine (to me) white burg.

1998 carmes haut brion - yes i sometimes open a bordeaux. And i usually wish i had opened burgundy or something italian. Good fruit left and very graves on the nose (which is why i chose it for the steaks). But i wished i were drinking burg.

And my host read my mind and pulled an 06 meo camuzet vosne villages. Tannins totally resolved or nonexistant. Round, a bit oaky and soft but still tasty. Burgundy. Ah.
 
originally posted by maureen:

an absolutely killer fresh pasta dish with a mix of chanterelles and hen of the woods mushrooms i bought at the farmers market..
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Nice haul. Our farmers market has excellent oysters and shiitakes, but nothing else.
 
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