Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Sundry drinks:
Baudry 2014 Chinon Rouge - Day 1: nice wine, nose full of flowers and peppers, but there is some shoe-polish brett in here; Day 4: wine has freshened up quite a bit, the brett is now well in the background, seems more cab than franc now
Turley 2017 Zinfandel "Juvenile" - bought for my brother, who likes his wine big; strangely, the wine has fairly restrained zinnish blueberry flavors and it's rather savory, but the proofage on this beast (15.5%) knocks me out... I got home and was fog-bound for a couple of hours
Prop. Sperino 2015 Coste della Sesion "Uvaggio" - fine tannins, even slightly grippy; medium-weight; the mid-palate resolves into roses and cranberry, the florals making up for a rather austere wine otherwise; great at the table with beef and I'm enjoying it afterwards too
Scott Paul 2011 Pinot Noir "The Long Run" - screwcap; raspberry and roses (maybe rose hips), very Oregon or maybe just very Kelley Fox... fragrant, medium-weight, perhaps a whiff of autolysis but no earth, still it's not a bad moment to drink it
Kelley Fox 2015 Momtazi Vineyard "Tir" - another year in bottle and this wine has shed most of its high-toned treble and is moving to an earthier and fruitier mezzo-soprano; still crisp and pure; gosh, I really need to stop drinking these KF wines so young
Cave de Tain 2017 Cotes du Rhone - yup
Bereche 2015 Champagne Brut Reserve "Rive Gauche" - gorgeous, meunier that isn't very funky, clean, just crisp enough, 3% rs
Grand Puy Lacoste 1995 Pauillac - dry, taut, only modestly tobacco, totally dry, rather more sticks and twigs than fruit, balanced and pleasing
Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo 2006 Ghemme "Breclemae" - Day 1: hard on opening but starts to blossom after a few minutes, sweet, gently tannic, orthodox nebbiolo that is somehow both luscious and limited; Day 2: this has really come on, now youthful and vigorous with a good helping of nebbiolo spice and a little funk, yum
Dom. Cheze 2013 St-Joseph "Cuvee Anges" - like it was bottled yesterday, like being hit with a phenolic locomotive, comes across as dense as grenache, hold ye gods
Villadoria 1955 Barolo - on opening there is a powerful blast of blue/black fruit; as it sits, the nose recedes and gets oxidatey/sour, the palate remains fresh and firm, peculiar, maybe it needed a day to open up?
Filliatreau 2016 Saumur-Champigny "La Grande Vignolle" - definitely franc but no more pyrazinic than the sausge & pepper pizza it was served with, lightweight, medium crisp, Baudry is moreso more but this is very pure and gulpable, I will never be able to age this
Mas Foulaquier 2013 Pic Saint Loup "Gran’ Tonillieres" - medicinal at first, so severe I thought it was brett!, with air - and food - it becomes intense bitter cherry, fruity and desert dry, it has the same illusory quality as a sable cookie
--
At a business event hosted by my company. Eben Lillie presenting!:
Landron, Jo 2017 Muscadet "Les Houx" - formerly "Hermine d'Or"; good muscadet, not especially bright but kinda dense, I'll take it now and later
Grandes Vignes 2018 VdF Bulle Nature Petillant Naturel - chardonnay and chenin and no there there
Meinklang 2018 Burgenland Weisser "Mulatschak" - an orange wine from a white blend that includes gewurztraminer, so many ways this could go wrong but the folks at Meinklang have got it in hand: the orangeing adds weight and texture (and a little color) but does not overwhelm the grapes; ditto the gewurztraminer, which is certainly prominent, but allows the others to sing harmony
Partida Creus 2018 Catalunya Massis de Bonastre VN (Vinel-Lo) Tinto - magnum; brought as an example of glou-glou and it sure is
Jonc Blanc 2016 VdF "Pure M" - malbec; this is appealing: a wine that smells of structure and earth but is racy and fairly lightweight in the mouth, I like this quite a bit
What did the room full of non-geeks do? They ignored the muscadet and the fizz, drank the orange and malbec till gone, and wound down with the glou.
--
At an in-store tasting:
All Papras Bio Wines wines are made from scarce autochthonous Greek grapes, picked rather early to preserve freshness, 10 days on the skins, ambient yeasts, then bottled as-is with a small sulfur dose.
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Pleiades" - varietal roditis, a semi-aromatic grape, this wine reminds me of Alsatian pinot gris (or something like that), there is a delicate sense of pineapple and herbs; not exciting but interesting
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Naiads" - varietal badiki, this wine is a bit darker orange with an apricot/redfruit-tinged flavor profile, too; less shapely than the roditis however
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Oreads" - varietal black muscat of Tyrnavos, fermented to dry, this does not suit me, it is weird to taste muscatty florality with no sugar to buoy it up (I feel similarly about brachetto d'acqui)
Stilianou 2019 "Great Mother" Red - varietal mandilari, the tannat of random Greek grapes, this red wine sat on its skins for a single day (otherwise it would be darkest purple), even at just one day this is quite tannic and, alas, not particularly charming
Chais du Vieux Bourg 2012 Cotes du Jura "B.B.1" - Bindernagel and Eigenschenck are now calling themselves "Lulu" so middlemen are blowing out the old label; hard to tell on one sip whether this is an off-bottle or just Jura tweakiness; anybody had this lately?
Viña Maitia 2018 Maule Valley Carignan "Weon" - varietal carignan, 60-year-old vines, spicy, grippy, texture is lightweight so it's probably not a keeper but what a great quaffing wine, yum
--
With Mark and Jean at Racines:
Hudelot-Noellat 2014 Bourgogne Rouge - after just a few minutes this starts to open nicely... fruit/floral nose is friendly, not too outgoing, but the palate is more meaty and very pinot, nice
Dom. l'Anglore (Eric Pfifferling) 2017 Tavel Rose - ah, that's the ticket: a rose about as dark as any Jura red and some Burgundies, racy and fresh (and proof that you can make good wine with grenache!)
Baudry 2014 Chinon Rouge - Day 1: nice wine, nose full of flowers and peppers, but there is some shoe-polish brett in here; Day 4: wine has freshened up quite a bit, the brett is now well in the background, seems more cab than franc now
Turley 2017 Zinfandel "Juvenile" - bought for my brother, who likes his wine big; strangely, the wine has fairly restrained zinnish blueberry flavors and it's rather savory, but the proofage on this beast (15.5%) knocks me out... I got home and was fog-bound for a couple of hours
Prop. Sperino 2015 Coste della Sesion "Uvaggio" - fine tannins, even slightly grippy; medium-weight; the mid-palate resolves into roses and cranberry, the florals making up for a rather austere wine otherwise; great at the table with beef and I'm enjoying it afterwards too
Scott Paul 2011 Pinot Noir "The Long Run" - screwcap; raspberry and roses (maybe rose hips), very Oregon or maybe just very Kelley Fox... fragrant, medium-weight, perhaps a whiff of autolysis but no earth, still it's not a bad moment to drink it
Kelley Fox 2015 Momtazi Vineyard "Tir" - another year in bottle and this wine has shed most of its high-toned treble and is moving to an earthier and fruitier mezzo-soprano; still crisp and pure; gosh, I really need to stop drinking these KF wines so young
Cave de Tain 2017 Cotes du Rhone - yup
Bereche 2015 Champagne Brut Reserve "Rive Gauche" - gorgeous, meunier that isn't very funky, clean, just crisp enough, 3% rs
Grand Puy Lacoste 1995 Pauillac - dry, taut, only modestly tobacco, totally dry, rather more sticks and twigs than fruit, balanced and pleasing
Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo 2006 Ghemme "Breclemae" - Day 1: hard on opening but starts to blossom after a few minutes, sweet, gently tannic, orthodox nebbiolo that is somehow both luscious and limited; Day 2: this has really come on, now youthful and vigorous with a good helping of nebbiolo spice and a little funk, yum
Dom. Cheze 2013 St-Joseph "Cuvee Anges" - like it was bottled yesterday, like being hit with a phenolic locomotive, comes across as dense as grenache, hold ye gods
Villadoria 1955 Barolo - on opening there is a powerful blast of blue/black fruit; as it sits, the nose recedes and gets oxidatey/sour, the palate remains fresh and firm, peculiar, maybe it needed a day to open up?
Filliatreau 2016 Saumur-Champigny "La Grande Vignolle" - definitely franc but no more pyrazinic than the sausge & pepper pizza it was served with, lightweight, medium crisp, Baudry is moreso more but this is very pure and gulpable, I will never be able to age this
Mas Foulaquier 2013 Pic Saint Loup "Gran’ Tonillieres" - medicinal at first, so severe I thought it was brett!, with air - and food - it becomes intense bitter cherry, fruity and desert dry, it has the same illusory quality as a sable cookie
--
At a business event hosted by my company. Eben Lillie presenting!:
Landron, Jo 2017 Muscadet "Les Houx" - formerly "Hermine d'Or"; good muscadet, not especially bright but kinda dense, I'll take it now and later
Grandes Vignes 2018 VdF Bulle Nature Petillant Naturel - chardonnay and chenin and no there there
Meinklang 2018 Burgenland Weisser "Mulatschak" - an orange wine from a white blend that includes gewurztraminer, so many ways this could go wrong but the folks at Meinklang have got it in hand: the orangeing adds weight and texture (and a little color) but does not overwhelm the grapes; ditto the gewurztraminer, which is certainly prominent, but allows the others to sing harmony
Partida Creus 2018 Catalunya Massis de Bonastre VN (Vinel-Lo) Tinto - magnum; brought as an example of glou-glou and it sure is
Jonc Blanc 2016 VdF "Pure M" - malbec; this is appealing: a wine that smells of structure and earth but is racy and fairly lightweight in the mouth, I like this quite a bit
What did the room full of non-geeks do? They ignored the muscadet and the fizz, drank the orange and malbec till gone, and wound down with the glou.
--
At an in-store tasting:
All Papras Bio Wines wines are made from scarce autochthonous Greek grapes, picked rather early to preserve freshness, 10 days on the skins, ambient yeasts, then bottled as-is with a small sulfur dose.
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Pleiades" - varietal roditis, a semi-aromatic grape, this wine reminds me of Alsatian pinot gris (or something like that), there is a delicate sense of pineapple and herbs; not exciting but interesting
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Naiads" - varietal badiki, this wine is a bit darker orange with an apricot/redfruit-tinged flavor profile, too; less shapely than the roditis however
Papras Bio Wines 2019 "Oreads" - varietal black muscat of Tyrnavos, fermented to dry, this does not suit me, it is weird to taste muscatty florality with no sugar to buoy it up (I feel similarly about brachetto d'acqui)
Stilianou 2019 "Great Mother" Red - varietal mandilari, the tannat of random Greek grapes, this red wine sat on its skins for a single day (otherwise it would be darkest purple), even at just one day this is quite tannic and, alas, not particularly charming
Chais du Vieux Bourg 2012 Cotes du Jura "B.B.1" - Bindernagel and Eigenschenck are now calling themselves "Lulu" so middlemen are blowing out the old label; hard to tell on one sip whether this is an off-bottle or just Jura tweakiness; anybody had this lately?
Viña Maitia 2018 Maule Valley Carignan "Weon" - varietal carignan, 60-year-old vines, spicy, grippy, texture is lightweight so it's probably not a keeper but what a great quaffing wine, yum
--
With Mark and Jean at Racines:
Hudelot-Noellat 2014 Bourgogne Rouge - after just a few minutes this starts to open nicely... fruit/floral nose is friendly, not too outgoing, but the palate is more meaty and very pinot, nice
Dom. l'Anglore (Eric Pfifferling) 2017 Tavel Rose - ah, that's the ticket: a rose about as dark as any Jura red and some Burgundies, racy and fresh (and proof that you can make good wine with grenache!)