Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
12/14/08
Fabio Piccolo Fiore is an Italian restaurant nearby to Grand Central Station in NYC. It is tucked away in a bland East Side-looking street, but, upon entering, I find the room and the staff are both warm and inviting.
They seat us wine geeks at a big table in the front room. On request, the waiter provides dump buckets and allocates a two-top for us to offload bottles, bread baskets, leads & corks, etc. from the main table.
The menu offers typical upscale Italian restaurant fare but encourages everyone to order whatever they like and the kitchen will accommodate. In fact, about half of us order from the list of daily specials -- that veal chop -- and the rest of us order lamb chops. There's burrata first, and a pasta sampler plate second.
And we order roast meats because the theme tonight is Rhone wines, North and South.
Participants: Patrick & Brendan Martin, Ian Amstad, Dale Williams, Ramon C, Jeff Grossman, Jay Miller, Richard Lin
::: Starter :::
Chave 1997 Hermitage Blanc - rich, viscous, even a bit waxy; all honeyed apricots at first then a long finish with an interesting touch of apricot-pit bitterness; quite lush, not minerally at all; a wine that is easy to like, if not at all thought-provoking
::: Flight 1 :::
These wines were all singing and I enjoyed them a lot. The extra thrill, of course, was watching Jay's face whenever he tried one: "The flavor profile they all have in common is rotting plum."
Beaucastel 1995 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - this bottle seems quite open and friendly tonight: rich red fruits and red meat, velvety texture, reminiscent of an Hermitage (not that I can afford those much anymore)
Pegau 1995 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Reservee" - black pepper, iodine, lots of meat, a whiff of something vinegary, and lots of dark red fruit flavors; the nose is a bit sweeter
Les Callioux (Brunel) 1988 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - others thought this wine was on the decline (Dale said the finish was "thinning") but I would say it was a perfect Ch9: strawberry grenache flavors, clean of biological defects, acidity just bright enough to light the way, alcohol unobtrusive
::: Flight 2 :::
These wines, on the other hand, appealed very little to me. Did the wine-making change over the intervening years, or is it just their youth?
Sabon 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Prestige" - a lovely nose of raspberries and ladies' face powder, but virtually tasteless and the alcohol sticks out
Charbonnire 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Les Hautes Brusquires" "Cuvee Speciale" - generic and flat
Charvin 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - less tannic than the others in this flight so it's easier to drink but it still offers no discernible flavor
::: Flight 3 :::
I was eagerly anticipating this flight as I've not had so much simultaneous Cornas in a while.
Chapoutier 1996 Cornas - So, here's a wine that I am all ready to dislike but more fool me: what a pretty nose of subtle herbs and blue fruit, the wine is rich and full, but it does finish short
Allemand 1996 Cornas "Reynard" - pork fat (I call mortadella, Dale calls smoked ham), kalamata olives, and gunpowder; great material here but the nose is funky and hard to pin down so we all think it is unwise to open any more bottles of this for a few years yet
Voge 1999 Cornas VV - nose is slightly sickly-sweet, perhaps the result of a touch of wood?, anyway the wine is bright and unchallenging; others like it more than I
Verset 1998 Cornas - this is wow stuff: juicy, acidy, rich texture and full of olives and dark dark berries, Ian calls "cinders and green olive", Brandon calls it "briny", a great bottle
::: Flight 4 :::
A mixed flight but promising.
Saint Cosme 1998 Cote Rotie - yup (that's my shorthand for "it tastes exactly as you think a Cote Rotie might, neither great nor mediocre")
Jamet 1998 Cote Rotie - bright and balanced, leather, roast fowl, this bottle is not as good as one that I had earlier this year (which I had decanted for several hours) but it's still great wine
Gerin 1998 Cote Rotie "Les Grandes Places" - perhaps they were good grapes but this wine is tired from its oak treatment (i.e., it's a little sweet and a little porky but it's also low acid and generic red-winey)
Chave 1986 Hermitage Rouge - austere, lots of dirt, I enjoyed this wine but, as it is the man of the flight, I won't compare it directly to the rest of the pretty girls
::: Closer :::
Coutet 2003 Barsac - my only note, in my most drunken handwriting, reads, "good balance"
Fabio Piccolo Fiore is an Italian restaurant nearby to Grand Central Station in NYC. It is tucked away in a bland East Side-looking street, but, upon entering, I find the room and the staff are both warm and inviting.
They seat us wine geeks at a big table in the front room. On request, the waiter provides dump buckets and allocates a two-top for us to offload bottles, bread baskets, leads & corks, etc. from the main table.
The menu offers typical upscale Italian restaurant fare but encourages everyone to order whatever they like and the kitchen will accommodate. In fact, about half of us order from the list of daily specials -- that veal chop -- and the rest of us order lamb chops. There's burrata first, and a pasta sampler plate second.
And we order roast meats because the theme tonight is Rhone wines, North and South.
Participants: Patrick & Brendan Martin, Ian Amstad, Dale Williams, Ramon C, Jeff Grossman, Jay Miller, Richard Lin
::: Starter :::
Chave 1997 Hermitage Blanc - rich, viscous, even a bit waxy; all honeyed apricots at first then a long finish with an interesting touch of apricot-pit bitterness; quite lush, not minerally at all; a wine that is easy to like, if not at all thought-provoking
::: Flight 1 :::
These wines were all singing and I enjoyed them a lot. The extra thrill, of course, was watching Jay's face whenever he tried one: "The flavor profile they all have in common is rotting plum."
Beaucastel 1995 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - this bottle seems quite open and friendly tonight: rich red fruits and red meat, velvety texture, reminiscent of an Hermitage (not that I can afford those much anymore)
Pegau 1995 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Reservee" - black pepper, iodine, lots of meat, a whiff of something vinegary, and lots of dark red fruit flavors; the nose is a bit sweeter
Les Callioux (Brunel) 1988 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - others thought this wine was on the decline (Dale said the finish was "thinning") but I would say it was a perfect Ch9: strawberry grenache flavors, clean of biological defects, acidity just bright enough to light the way, alcohol unobtrusive
::: Flight 2 :::
These wines, on the other hand, appealed very little to me. Did the wine-making change over the intervening years, or is it just their youth?
Sabon 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Prestige" - a lovely nose of raspberries and ladies' face powder, but virtually tasteless and the alcohol sticks out
Charbonnire 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Les Hautes Brusquires" "Cuvee Speciale" - generic and flat
Charvin 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - less tannic than the others in this flight so it's easier to drink but it still offers no discernible flavor
::: Flight 3 :::
I was eagerly anticipating this flight as I've not had so much simultaneous Cornas in a while.
Chapoutier 1996 Cornas - So, here's a wine that I am all ready to dislike but more fool me: what a pretty nose of subtle herbs and blue fruit, the wine is rich and full, but it does finish short
Allemand 1996 Cornas "Reynard" - pork fat (I call mortadella, Dale calls smoked ham), kalamata olives, and gunpowder; great material here but the nose is funky and hard to pin down so we all think it is unwise to open any more bottles of this for a few years yet
Voge 1999 Cornas VV - nose is slightly sickly-sweet, perhaps the result of a touch of wood?, anyway the wine is bright and unchallenging; others like it more than I
Verset 1998 Cornas - this is wow stuff: juicy, acidy, rich texture and full of olives and dark dark berries, Ian calls "cinders and green olive", Brandon calls it "briny", a great bottle
::: Flight 4 :::
A mixed flight but promising.
Saint Cosme 1998 Cote Rotie - yup (that's my shorthand for "it tastes exactly as you think a Cote Rotie might, neither great nor mediocre")
Jamet 1998 Cote Rotie - bright and balanced, leather, roast fowl, this bottle is not as good as one that I had earlier this year (which I had decanted for several hours) but it's still great wine
Gerin 1998 Cote Rotie "Les Grandes Places" - perhaps they were good grapes but this wine is tired from its oak treatment (i.e., it's a little sweet and a little porky but it's also low acid and generic red-winey)
Chave 1986 Hermitage Rouge - austere, lots of dirt, I enjoyed this wine but, as it is the man of the flight, I won't compare it directly to the rest of the pretty girls
::: Closer :::
Coutet 2003 Barsac - my only note, in my most drunken handwriting, reads, "good balance"