Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Marc, Ira, Don, Tse Wei + Diana, Halt, Jeff
The remnants of a Pacific Coast hurricane are blowing through town so of course this is the day we gather again at MWC's far-flung Manhattan digs.
Last time we had not enough bread; this time, every person brought bread. Tse Wei and Diana actually made theirs! Anyway, all is good, most of us are eating carbs and the breads are good.
Alas, without access to Dickson's we have very little fancy charcuterie on the table (though Halt brought a nice rustic saucisson) but we do have lots of cheese choices: bufala gorgonzola, La Tur, and two more open, and two more we didn't breach).
Add a pound of pistachio-infused "Almond Craze" and there were enough victuals to support a large assortment of wines:
Dauvissat 2007 Chablis GC "Les Preuses" - by far the most troublesome wine on the table: the nose is right but not nearly the volume and intensity it should have, the palate is hollow and flat for a while but with occasional flashes of seashell and chalk
Guiberteau 2012 Saumur Blanc "Clos de Guichaux" - chenin, very honeyed on the nose, wound-up tight and even slightly sour in the mouth, the question at the table is whether this will this ever unclench? (consensus: no); Don says that Saumur blanc, as a category, is in flux: long ago, they made sec, then switched to sweet, then gave up on white altogether (except vineyard Breze), and now are moving back, rediscovering the white vineyards and reinventing the sec techniques.
Prager 2001 Durnstein Kaiserberg Riesling Smaragd - wow, vivid, intense, long and golden, tastes like a wine half its age, da shizz (as some say)
Ganevat 2011 Cotes du Jura Chardonnay "Les Chalasses" VV - zingy acidity, very pretty cool-climate chardonnay (meaning, pear, not mango), only the barest hint of Jura twang, vibrant stuff
Hexamer 2003 Riesling Spatlese Sobernheimer Marbach - 7 745 028 005 04, late arrival at the table, clean and midweight, nice enough but rockin' no boats
Voge 2006 Cornas "Les Vieille Fontaines" - hand carry; youthfully exuberant but dead-on flavors of blue fruit and earth and a bit of spice, excellent bottle, drinking like it should
Breton 1997 Bourgueil "Les Perrieres" - another pretty wine whose only nod to its age is slightly rounded corners on its formerly bright acidity, the pyrazines are beautifully integrated, the wine is light-medium weight and supple, thank you to whoever brought this
Borgogno 1995 Barolo Riserva - hmm... nothing wrong but nothing right, either; slightly old barolo, occasional distracting whiff of tin can, either a lackluster bottle or not enough time to wake up
Dom. Diochon 2002 Moulin-a-Vent "Cuvee Vieille Vignes" - several of us comment that nobody seems to talk about this estate anymore... is it just not brought in on a regular basis?; anyway, this bottle has gone all pinote, transparently light and evanescent, beautiful but drink now
Foillard 2013 Morgon "3.14" - much chatter about this cuvee ("Is he still making it?") and this bottle: the nose is very stinky (like the sort of open sewer thing you can get in old Burgundy) but that blows off with some air, the wine underneath is medium-heavy weight, quite tactile, still robust and youthful cherry-berry, happy to drink
Dom. Bertheau 2010 Bourgogne Rouge - yup (outclassed at this table)
Dom. Lignier 2012 Bourgogne Rouge - yup (also outclassed)
Clos du Mont-Olivet 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - earthy, low-ish acidity, some late-arriving pomegranate-plum fruit saves it from "yup"; looking forward to an upcoming jeebus, I will offer that I used to drink a lot of Clos Mont-Olivet (but not anymore)
Peyre Rose 2002 Coteaux du Languedoc "Clos Syrah Leone" - hand carry; beautiful, pure and typical syrah (almost N Rhone-ish), prominent aroma of nut skins wih sotto voce floral support; more, please
Foreau 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec - Don says Foreau did not make his super-selection cuvee in 2008 hence extra goodness tumbled down into the other bottlings; rich, ripe, glyceral chenin, burbling along sweetly, counterpointed by crisp acidity; a very good bottle
Many thanks to MWC for allowing us to use their tasting venue for an occasional gathering.
The remnants of a Pacific Coast hurricane are blowing through town so of course this is the day we gather again at MWC's far-flung Manhattan digs.
Last time we had not enough bread; this time, every person brought bread. Tse Wei and Diana actually made theirs! Anyway, all is good, most of us are eating carbs and the breads are good.
Alas, without access to Dickson's we have very little fancy charcuterie on the table (though Halt brought a nice rustic saucisson) but we do have lots of cheese choices: bufala gorgonzola, La Tur, and two more open, and two more we didn't breach).
Add a pound of pistachio-infused "Almond Craze" and there were enough victuals to support a large assortment of wines:
Dauvissat 2007 Chablis GC "Les Preuses" - by far the most troublesome wine on the table: the nose is right but not nearly the volume and intensity it should have, the palate is hollow and flat for a while but with occasional flashes of seashell and chalk
Guiberteau 2012 Saumur Blanc "Clos de Guichaux" - chenin, very honeyed on the nose, wound-up tight and even slightly sour in the mouth, the question at the table is whether this will this ever unclench? (consensus: no); Don says that Saumur blanc, as a category, is in flux: long ago, they made sec, then switched to sweet, then gave up on white altogether (except vineyard Breze), and now are moving back, rediscovering the white vineyards and reinventing the sec techniques.
Prager 2001 Durnstein Kaiserberg Riesling Smaragd - wow, vivid, intense, long and golden, tastes like a wine half its age, da shizz (as some say)
Ganevat 2011 Cotes du Jura Chardonnay "Les Chalasses" VV - zingy acidity, very pretty cool-climate chardonnay (meaning, pear, not mango), only the barest hint of Jura twang, vibrant stuff
Hexamer 2003 Riesling Spatlese Sobernheimer Marbach - 7 745 028 005 04, late arrival at the table, clean and midweight, nice enough but rockin' no boats
Voge 2006 Cornas "Les Vieille Fontaines" - hand carry; youthfully exuberant but dead-on flavors of blue fruit and earth and a bit of spice, excellent bottle, drinking like it should
Breton 1997 Bourgueil "Les Perrieres" - another pretty wine whose only nod to its age is slightly rounded corners on its formerly bright acidity, the pyrazines are beautifully integrated, the wine is light-medium weight and supple, thank you to whoever brought this
Borgogno 1995 Barolo Riserva - hmm... nothing wrong but nothing right, either; slightly old barolo, occasional distracting whiff of tin can, either a lackluster bottle or not enough time to wake up
Dom. Diochon 2002 Moulin-a-Vent "Cuvee Vieille Vignes" - several of us comment that nobody seems to talk about this estate anymore... is it just not brought in on a regular basis?; anyway, this bottle has gone all pinote, transparently light and evanescent, beautiful but drink now
Foillard 2013 Morgon "3.14" - much chatter about this cuvee ("Is he still making it?") and this bottle: the nose is very stinky (like the sort of open sewer thing you can get in old Burgundy) but that blows off with some air, the wine underneath is medium-heavy weight, quite tactile, still robust and youthful cherry-berry, happy to drink
Dom. Bertheau 2010 Bourgogne Rouge - yup (outclassed at this table)
Dom. Lignier 2012 Bourgogne Rouge - yup (also outclassed)
Clos du Mont-Olivet 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - earthy, low-ish acidity, some late-arriving pomegranate-plum fruit saves it from "yup"; looking forward to an upcoming jeebus, I will offer that I used to drink a lot of Clos Mont-Olivet (but not anymore)
Peyre Rose 2002 Coteaux du Languedoc "Clos Syrah Leone" - hand carry; beautiful, pure and typical syrah (almost N Rhone-ish), prominent aroma of nut skins wih sotto voce floral support; more, please
Foreau 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec - Don says Foreau did not make his super-selection cuvee in 2008 hence extra goodness tumbled down into the other bottlings; rich, ripe, glyceral chenin, burbling along sweetly, counterpointed by crisp acidity; a very good bottle
Many thanks to MWC for allowing us to use their tasting venue for an occasional gathering.
