Salil Benegal
Salil Benegal
I was back on the east coast during the holidays, and Brad Kane invited me to join the NYE festivities at his place. A great group of people - Melissa and Don Rice, Lisa and Chris Coad, Jayson Cohen, Arnold and Jay Miller, and Cliff Rosenberg were all there, along with a lot of excellent food and wine. Fun way to end the year/bring in 2017, and great to catch up with the NY disorderlies after a few months in the midwest.
1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut
This was opened along with another Huet Pétillant (I didn't catch the vintage on that but I recall either 97 or 98?). I enjoyed both but wasn't focusing on the wines enough to really pay attention to distinctions. Both had pretty citrus and quince fruit with some gentle yeasty and wooly accents, understated sweetness and good acidity, though I felt a bit more energy and cut in the '95.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu
Found this somewhat advanced. Not yet into oxidation territory, but the color's darker than I expect (a bright gold, and deeper than a bottle of '85 Moelleux I recently opened) and the flavours are quite advanced with a lightly burnished and honeyed tinge to the fruit.
N.V. François Pinon Touraine Brut Rosé
It's not especially complex, but there's such brightness and joie de vivre here - exuberant strawberry and cranberry fruit with yeasty and mineral accents and lively acidity balancing the light sweetness. Very nice.
1997 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett
Yum! So light on its feet with an array of red apple, citrus, and other classic Mosel fruit flavours, and more savoury stony, lemon cream, and maturing smoky elements framing the fruit. Very fragrant and complex, impeccably balanced, and a glass disappeared far too quickly.
2015 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Spätlese
Takes some time to open up - my first impression of this was clouded by some sponti yeast funk and faintly reductive notes but a couple of hours of air helped a LOT, allowing an array of bright citrus, green apple, and riper tropical fruit to emerge with some of those high toned Grunhaus herbal accents. Really nice, though right now it's almost painfully young and all about potential.
2006 Marc Plouzeau Touraine Ante Phylloxera Clos de Maulevrier
A wonderful bottle that kept opening up with air. Rich, sappy dark berried fruit at its core, framed by more savoury earthy, tree bark, and green forest/herbal notes. The palate presence is remarkable - light and very polished with the tannin quite fine grained, and a lot of the structure here seems to come from the bright spine of acidity.
1998 Domaine Gourt de Mautens Rasteau
Wasn't a fan of this - found it one-note and clunky with rather dense red fruit and the alcohol sticking out a bit on the back end.
1976 Chateau de Chenonceau Touraine
Still drinkable, but at this stage it's tired and showing only tertiary dustiness and earthy notes over faded red fruit, without any character or distinctiveness beyond "generic old red wine".
2004 Domaine du Gros Noré Bandol
Nice pairing with Brad's pork tenderloin - lots of rich red and dark berried fruit, herbs, and earth - still rather youthful and a bit primary with a fair bit of grainy tannin on the back, but having it with meat certainly helps tame the structure.
2013 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux
Liked this a lot (though there was some debate about this and not everyone was as enthused as I). Very stemmy and a touch closed right now - at first it just shows a lot of high toned stemmy, herbal, and pine needle notes, but over a few hours of air it opens up aromatically to show pretty red berried fruit, saline/olive notes, and more low toned earthiness as the stemmy flavours integrate with the rest of the wine. Light on its feet with bright acids, and I'm glad I have a few of these in my cellar.
2001 Ch. Coutet
Delicious! This sat in a decanter a few hours and showed wonderfully when served with apricot marmalade, vanilla cream, honey, and plenty of botrytis spice flavours, and more than enough acidity to balance the sweetness and intensity on the palate.
1989 Baumard Quarts de Chaume (I think?)
Thought this was pleasant but not exciting with plenty of ripe, sweet orchard fruit, mandarin orange peel, and honeyed notes, but not the depth or intensity of some of the other dessert wines around it.
1997 Pierre Bise Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu
A mass of botrytis - layers of honey, apricot marmalade, and botrytis spice with intense sweetness on the palate, but also impressively balanced with decent acidity and a really polished, almost glossy texture on the palate.
1996 Pierre Bise Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu
Thought this was lightly corked.
2012 Kruger Rumpf Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Eiswein
A great showing. Amazing intensity to the guava, pear, honey, and citrus fruit flavours here, high toned ginger and other spicy notes accenting the core of ripe fruit, and powerful acidity balancing the sweetness perfectly and keeping it incredibly light on its feet. My favorite of the dessert wines, but then again I'm somewhat biased with Riesling...
(I'm sure there are a couple of other wines I'm missing, including an old Rubesco that I only recall as faded old red wine.)
1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut
This was opened along with another Huet Pétillant (I didn't catch the vintage on that but I recall either 97 or 98?). I enjoyed both but wasn't focusing on the wines enough to really pay attention to distinctions. Both had pretty citrus and quince fruit with some gentle yeasty and wooly accents, understated sweetness and good acidity, though I felt a bit more energy and cut in the '95.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu
Found this somewhat advanced. Not yet into oxidation territory, but the color's darker than I expect (a bright gold, and deeper than a bottle of '85 Moelleux I recently opened) and the flavours are quite advanced with a lightly burnished and honeyed tinge to the fruit.
N.V. François Pinon Touraine Brut Rosé
It's not especially complex, but there's such brightness and joie de vivre here - exuberant strawberry and cranberry fruit with yeasty and mineral accents and lively acidity balancing the light sweetness. Very nice.
1997 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett
Yum! So light on its feet with an array of red apple, citrus, and other classic Mosel fruit flavours, and more savoury stony, lemon cream, and maturing smoky elements framing the fruit. Very fragrant and complex, impeccably balanced, and a glass disappeared far too quickly.
2015 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Spätlese
Takes some time to open up - my first impression of this was clouded by some sponti yeast funk and faintly reductive notes but a couple of hours of air helped a LOT, allowing an array of bright citrus, green apple, and riper tropical fruit to emerge with some of those high toned Grunhaus herbal accents. Really nice, though right now it's almost painfully young and all about potential.
2006 Marc Plouzeau Touraine Ante Phylloxera Clos de Maulevrier
A wonderful bottle that kept opening up with air. Rich, sappy dark berried fruit at its core, framed by more savoury earthy, tree bark, and green forest/herbal notes. The palate presence is remarkable - light and very polished with the tannin quite fine grained, and a lot of the structure here seems to come from the bright spine of acidity.
1998 Domaine Gourt de Mautens Rasteau
Wasn't a fan of this - found it one-note and clunky with rather dense red fruit and the alcohol sticking out a bit on the back end.
1976 Chateau de Chenonceau Touraine
Still drinkable, but at this stage it's tired and showing only tertiary dustiness and earthy notes over faded red fruit, without any character or distinctiveness beyond "generic old red wine".
2004 Domaine du Gros Noré Bandol
Nice pairing with Brad's pork tenderloin - lots of rich red and dark berried fruit, herbs, and earth - still rather youthful and a bit primary with a fair bit of grainy tannin on the back, but having it with meat certainly helps tame the structure.
2013 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux
Liked this a lot (though there was some debate about this and not everyone was as enthused as I). Very stemmy and a touch closed right now - at first it just shows a lot of high toned stemmy, herbal, and pine needle notes, but over a few hours of air it opens up aromatically to show pretty red berried fruit, saline/olive notes, and more low toned earthiness as the stemmy flavours integrate with the rest of the wine. Light on its feet with bright acids, and I'm glad I have a few of these in my cellar.
2001 Ch. Coutet
Delicious! This sat in a decanter a few hours and showed wonderfully when served with apricot marmalade, vanilla cream, honey, and plenty of botrytis spice flavours, and more than enough acidity to balance the sweetness and intensity on the palate.
1989 Baumard Quarts de Chaume (I think?)
Thought this was pleasant but not exciting with plenty of ripe, sweet orchard fruit, mandarin orange peel, and honeyed notes, but not the depth or intensity of some of the other dessert wines around it.
1997 Pierre Bise Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu
A mass of botrytis - layers of honey, apricot marmalade, and botrytis spice with intense sweetness on the palate, but also impressively balanced with decent acidity and a really polished, almost glossy texture on the palate.
1996 Pierre Bise Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu
Thought this was lightly corked.
2012 Kruger Rumpf Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Eiswein
A great showing. Amazing intensity to the guava, pear, honey, and citrus fruit flavours here, high toned ginger and other spicy notes accenting the core of ripe fruit, and powerful acidity balancing the sweetness perfectly and keeping it incredibly light on its feet. My favorite of the dessert wines, but then again I'm somewhat biased with Riesling...
(I'm sure there are a couple of other wines I'm missing, including an old Rubesco that I only recall as faded old red wine.)
