Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Marc, Ira, Jay, Jayson, Dave, Marty, Jeff
This visit to the Great Western Street-Level Cellar took place on a Sunday, in an effort to gather some folks who can never make Saturdays. We succeeded a bit though we lost a few candidates to sick children, family visits, erratic work conditions, and so on.
The table was loaded with breads and cheeses and very little charcuterie this time: a single smoked duck breast and one tin of fancy sardines but there were four breads (olive, fig/hazelnut, Tuscan, seeded) and half a dozen cheeses (I remember Bonne Bouche, Landaff, and gruyere). Conversation was lively, of course.
I brought a blind wine tasting kit. This was a gift from Santa, a few years ago, but I never put two and two together that the Cellar is a great place to use it. The kit consists of six numbered burlap bags, some green and some beige, with satin ties. It also includes a pad of pre-printed tasting note sheets but that got left home. I took #1 and #2, handed #3 and #4 to Marc, and the last two to Marty. And Ira brought a wine in a paper bag, which could mean almost anything. We made no effort to coordinate or even to taste them first but this added a bit of fun, as it turned out that #1 was much harder to identify than anybody would have thought, and #2/3/paper and #4/6 were neighbors.
Or does that just mean we're dull and predictable victims of group-think? (Baaa. Baaa.)
I usually list wines in the order tasted but I'll shift all the blind bottles to the top for this one:
Dom. de la Pepiere 2010 Muscadet "Chateau Thebaud" - blind bottle #1: gently tangy, aromatic, a bit of capsicum?, long finish; nobody guessed it; coming back to it later, it seems so quiet and small around other more exuberant cepages
Dom. Baudry 2010 Chinon Rouge "La Croix Boissee" - blind bottle #2: wow, cassis and green pepper in exquisite balance, crisp and just-so ripe, outstanding; I think Jay got this on the second try
Breton 2002 Bourgueil "Les Perrieres" - blind bottle #3: sturdy pyrazines rule my mouth, the wine is rough and ready, I like it but there is little doubt that #2 is more stylish
Foillard 2002 Morgon "Cote du Py" - blind bottle #4: obviously gamay, medium-weight, black raspberry and blue plums, vivid, wow bottle
Josef Walter 2005 Burgstadter Centgrafenberg Fruhburgunder "J" trocken - blind bottle #5: an open sewer, must be several novel kinds of spoilage going on in there
Clos de la Roilette (Coudert) 2005 Fleurie "Cuvee Tardive" - blind bottle #6: also clearly gamay, youthful but complex and well-made, a tad ripe but never mind me, great... and we were all surprised when the vintage was revealed
Clos Rougeard 2012 Saumur-Champigny "Clos" - blind bottle in a paper bag: tannic, almost gritty texture, clearly franc and clearly a good one (lots of material, clean, substantial), I think Jay guessed this one, too
Peter Lauer 1992 Saar Riesling Sekt Brut Reserve - disg. Sept 2016, "Nature", 11.5% alcohol, strangely put together: old riesling flavors, disjointed acidity, the barest petillance (I can count the bubbles), not my thing at all
Dom. Bonneau du Martray 2000 Corton-Charlemagne GC - caramelly nose, oxidized palate, me no grok white burgundy, meh
Dom. Roulot 2014 Bourgogne Aligote - fiercely matchsticky nose, there's some bright and clean wine down there somewhere but so reduced, meh
Alexis Lichine (Dom. Jean Meo, Proprietaire) 1972 Clos Vougeot GC - 375ml; third bottle; tea, twigs, almost but not quite dried out, most of us are enjoying the bottle and we started joking about a Burgundy-scented car air freshener... Marty said this wine would be marketed as Old Burgundy
Maria and Sepp Muster 2015 "Erde", Sudsteiermark - in a ceramic bottle, orange (of course), fairly delicate, good acidity, works well against the oily sardines; later research says this is sauvignon blanc and the local cultivar of chardonnay, half-destemmed then fermented 6-12 months on the skins and stems and another 20 months in old 1200-liter ovals
Falkenstein 2018 Krettnacher Altenberg Riesling Spatlese feinherb - not a very distinctive wine yet, I think it's slightly too sweet but there is a long finish
Karl Lawrence 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon - 14.2% alcohol, The Ghost of Corked Wines Present glanced this way but decided not to strike; alas, rather indifferent bottle, scalped?
Dom. Lafouge 2017 Auxey-Duresses 1er "La Chapelle" - excessively floral/face-powder nose and lactic in the mouth, others insist I'm missing it
Dirty & Rowdy 2018 "The Legends", Rosewood Vineyard - made in anecdotal quantities (there were 39 cases), 55% mourvedre / 45% carignan, vines were ripped-out after this vintage, Jayson calls boysenberry while I call lactic acid, what a day
Marc Morey 2013 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er "En Virondot" - for a while we play 'Guess the Morey!' but we know Jayson likes to buy from Marc; reduced at first but this relaxes with some air: the nose expands with yellow fruits while the palate tightens up, even getting somewhat austere; good, I guess
Arnot-Roberts 2013 Syrah, Que Syrah Vineyard - made in anecdotal quantities (there were 8 barrels), very herbal, medium-weight, stylish, clean, good if not terribly exciting
Sine Qua Non 2017 "Tectumque" - 15.2% alcohol, the remaining 84.8% is oak, DNPIM
Falkenstein 2016 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Auslese - dessert already?, shivery-good acidity (we're way past just "tangy" here), pretty wine, green grapes (which is interesting because you'd think auslese grapes are reasonably ripe and that should taste more like peach), done just-so all the way around, glad to drink this
Once again, thanks to Marc and MWC for hosting us. And thanks to all participants for a delightful afternoon away from that very annoying Real Life thing.
This visit to the Great Western Street-Level Cellar took place on a Sunday, in an effort to gather some folks who can never make Saturdays. We succeeded a bit though we lost a few candidates to sick children, family visits, erratic work conditions, and so on.
The table was loaded with breads and cheeses and very little charcuterie this time: a single smoked duck breast and one tin of fancy sardines but there were four breads (olive, fig/hazelnut, Tuscan, seeded) and half a dozen cheeses (I remember Bonne Bouche, Landaff, and gruyere). Conversation was lively, of course.
I brought a blind wine tasting kit. This was a gift from Santa, a few years ago, but I never put two and two together that the Cellar is a great place to use it. The kit consists of six numbered burlap bags, some green and some beige, with satin ties. It also includes a pad of pre-printed tasting note sheets but that got left home. I took #1 and #2, handed #3 and #4 to Marc, and the last two to Marty. And Ira brought a wine in a paper bag, which could mean almost anything. We made no effort to coordinate or even to taste them first but this added a bit of fun, as it turned out that #1 was much harder to identify than anybody would have thought, and #2/3/paper and #4/6 were neighbors.
Or does that just mean we're dull and predictable victims of group-think? (Baaa. Baaa.)
I usually list wines in the order tasted but I'll shift all the blind bottles to the top for this one:
Dom. de la Pepiere 2010 Muscadet "Chateau Thebaud" - blind bottle #1: gently tangy, aromatic, a bit of capsicum?, long finish; nobody guessed it; coming back to it later, it seems so quiet and small around other more exuberant cepages
Dom. Baudry 2010 Chinon Rouge "La Croix Boissee" - blind bottle #2: wow, cassis and green pepper in exquisite balance, crisp and just-so ripe, outstanding; I think Jay got this on the second try
Breton 2002 Bourgueil "Les Perrieres" - blind bottle #3: sturdy pyrazines rule my mouth, the wine is rough and ready, I like it but there is little doubt that #2 is more stylish
Foillard 2002 Morgon "Cote du Py" - blind bottle #4: obviously gamay, medium-weight, black raspberry and blue plums, vivid, wow bottle
Josef Walter 2005 Burgstadter Centgrafenberg Fruhburgunder "J" trocken - blind bottle #5: an open sewer, must be several novel kinds of spoilage going on in there
Clos de la Roilette (Coudert) 2005 Fleurie "Cuvee Tardive" - blind bottle #6: also clearly gamay, youthful but complex and well-made, a tad ripe but never mind me, great... and we were all surprised when the vintage was revealed
Clos Rougeard 2012 Saumur-Champigny "Clos" - blind bottle in a paper bag: tannic, almost gritty texture, clearly franc and clearly a good one (lots of material, clean, substantial), I think Jay guessed this one, too
Peter Lauer 1992 Saar Riesling Sekt Brut Reserve - disg. Sept 2016, "Nature", 11.5% alcohol, strangely put together: old riesling flavors, disjointed acidity, the barest petillance (I can count the bubbles), not my thing at all
Dom. Bonneau du Martray 2000 Corton-Charlemagne GC - caramelly nose, oxidized palate, me no grok white burgundy, meh
Dom. Roulot 2014 Bourgogne Aligote - fiercely matchsticky nose, there's some bright and clean wine down there somewhere but so reduced, meh
Alexis Lichine (Dom. Jean Meo, Proprietaire) 1972 Clos Vougeot GC - 375ml; third bottle; tea, twigs, almost but not quite dried out, most of us are enjoying the bottle and we started joking about a Burgundy-scented car air freshener... Marty said this wine would be marketed as Old Burgundy
Maria and Sepp Muster 2015 "Erde", Sudsteiermark - in a ceramic bottle, orange (of course), fairly delicate, good acidity, works well against the oily sardines; later research says this is sauvignon blanc and the local cultivar of chardonnay, half-destemmed then fermented 6-12 months on the skins and stems and another 20 months in old 1200-liter ovals
Falkenstein 2018 Krettnacher Altenberg Riesling Spatlese feinherb - not a very distinctive wine yet, I think it's slightly too sweet but there is a long finish
Karl Lawrence 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon - 14.2% alcohol, The Ghost of Corked Wines Present glanced this way but decided not to strike; alas, rather indifferent bottle, scalped?
Dom. Lafouge 2017 Auxey-Duresses 1er "La Chapelle" - excessively floral/face-powder nose and lactic in the mouth, others insist I'm missing it
Dirty & Rowdy 2018 "The Legends", Rosewood Vineyard - made in anecdotal quantities (there were 39 cases), 55% mourvedre / 45% carignan, vines were ripped-out after this vintage, Jayson calls boysenberry while I call lactic acid, what a day
Marc Morey 2013 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er "En Virondot" - for a while we play 'Guess the Morey!' but we know Jayson likes to buy from Marc; reduced at first but this relaxes with some air: the nose expands with yellow fruits while the palate tightens up, even getting somewhat austere; good, I guess
Arnot-Roberts 2013 Syrah, Que Syrah Vineyard - made in anecdotal quantities (there were 8 barrels), very herbal, medium-weight, stylish, clean, good if not terribly exciting
Sine Qua Non 2017 "Tectumque" - 15.2% alcohol, the remaining 84.8% is oak, DNPIM
Falkenstein 2016 Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Auslese - dessert already?, shivery-good acidity (we're way past just "tangy" here), pretty wine, green grapes (which is interesting because you'd think auslese grapes are reasonably ripe and that should taste more like peach), done just-so all the way around, glad to drink this
Once again, thanks to Marc and MWC for hosting us. And thanks to all participants for a delightful afternoon away from that very annoying Real Life thing.
