Originally posted 12/22/00
Got together Monday night with Asher Rubinstein, Mike Cohen and Yaacov Barseleh for an order in dinner and a few wines. While a relatively light evening by usual NY standards, there being only 4 bottles for 4 people, all the wines showed very nicely. That, combined with the company and the surprisingly tasty take out, made for a lovely evening.
1995 Domaine Font de Michelle- Chteauneuf du Pape, Cuve Etienne Gonnet
Deep ruby in color with a rich, yet elegantly perfumed nose of spicy cedar, leather and sweet cherries and raspberries. Wow! What a lovely surprise we have here! Its starts off in an elegant Burgundian style, but it picks up richness and tannin structure with air. Nicely integrated and balanced with like flavors as aromas with the addition of light meat notes. Tannins start fairly soft, but become a lot firmer, chewy and dusty on the finish. Drinks pretty well now, but can certainly use further aging. Just lovely stuff that one can still find around if one looks hard for $25-$30. Solid A- to A/A-.
1998 Vieux Donjon- Chteauneuf du Pape
Deep ruby color. Nose is closed up pretty tight and is a bit disjointed, showing a touch of alcohol. Tight as hell on the palate, but theres a brooding monster under that massive wall of tannins. Theres lots of intensely rich black fruit, tar, animal and spice in there, but this baby has closed up shop in a hurry. Much, much tighter than when I had it during the summer. Methinks its time to let this 98 slumber. If one wants to give it a go now, several hours of decanting, at least, is recommended. Terrific wine with great potential. A.
Next up came a wine served blind.
1994 Alban Vineyards- Syrah, Edna Valley
Old world aromas of sun baked black fruit, spice, violets and slight poop. Seems very much like a Languedoc on the palate. Its coarse and rustic, quite dry with similar flavors as the nose. Fruit seems a little hollow due to the very drying tannins. Quite enjoyable, though. Of course, I dont think its worth the $25 price tag that Asher quoted. I thought it was a pretty good $10-$12 Languedoc. B+.
As a side note, there may have been a vineyard designation on the label that I missed. Perhaps one of the other fellows can comment on that?
1992 Disznk- Tokaji Asz, 5 Puttyonos
Deep gold color with an alluring nose of ripe apricots, hazelnuts and golden raisins. Sweet, yet balanced on the palate by intense, almost tannic-like acidity. Apricots, light honey, white raisins and nutty flavors abound. Really nice stuff. Drink it now or lose a few in the cellar for a while. A-.
Got together Monday night with Asher Rubinstein, Mike Cohen and Yaacov Barseleh for an order in dinner and a few wines. While a relatively light evening by usual NY standards, there being only 4 bottles for 4 people, all the wines showed very nicely. That, combined with the company and the surprisingly tasty take out, made for a lovely evening.
1995 Domaine Font de Michelle- Chteauneuf du Pape, Cuve Etienne Gonnet
Deep ruby in color with a rich, yet elegantly perfumed nose of spicy cedar, leather and sweet cherries and raspberries. Wow! What a lovely surprise we have here! Its starts off in an elegant Burgundian style, but it picks up richness and tannin structure with air. Nicely integrated and balanced with like flavors as aromas with the addition of light meat notes. Tannins start fairly soft, but become a lot firmer, chewy and dusty on the finish. Drinks pretty well now, but can certainly use further aging. Just lovely stuff that one can still find around if one looks hard for $25-$30. Solid A- to A/A-.
1998 Vieux Donjon- Chteauneuf du Pape
Deep ruby color. Nose is closed up pretty tight and is a bit disjointed, showing a touch of alcohol. Tight as hell on the palate, but theres a brooding monster under that massive wall of tannins. Theres lots of intensely rich black fruit, tar, animal and spice in there, but this baby has closed up shop in a hurry. Much, much tighter than when I had it during the summer. Methinks its time to let this 98 slumber. If one wants to give it a go now, several hours of decanting, at least, is recommended. Terrific wine with great potential. A.
Next up came a wine served blind.
1994 Alban Vineyards- Syrah, Edna Valley
Old world aromas of sun baked black fruit, spice, violets and slight poop. Seems very much like a Languedoc on the palate. Its coarse and rustic, quite dry with similar flavors as the nose. Fruit seems a little hollow due to the very drying tannins. Quite enjoyable, though. Of course, I dont think its worth the $25 price tag that Asher quoted. I thought it was a pretty good $10-$12 Languedoc. B+.
As a side note, there may have been a vineyard designation on the label that I missed. Perhaps one of the other fellows can comment on that?
1992 Disznk- Tokaji Asz, 5 Puttyonos
Deep gold color with an alluring nose of ripe apricots, hazelnuts and golden raisins. Sweet, yet balanced on the palate by intense, almost tannic-like acidity. Apricots, light honey, white raisins and nutty flavors abound. Really nice stuff. Drink it now or lose a few in the cellar for a while. A-.