Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don, Jay, Jeff, Lisa, Scott & Anne-Marie, Seth, Victor; and Jayson
First order of business... Happy Birthday to Melissa! Twenty-eight years young.
The logistics for this sitting were quite troublesome to pin down... this one can't make that day, that one can't make this day, she doesn't have enough bottles, he doesn't have a car. We made it work by having half the group converge on Victor's place for the initial bottle-swap, then one stop down in the Wall Street district, and then some asynchronous distribution on the Far Eastern (=> Brooklyn) and Far Western (=> Jersey City) frontiers.
There was no special internet foofery this time. It's too hot and sticky to be so clever. We'll try to fire a few neurons for #4, in a couple weeks.
Some of us prepared dinner for the event, some of us had eaten before. Jayson dialed-in from his Florida retreat, just to hang with the peeps (though, of course, he had to drink his own libations).
Our libations were all served blind from little labeled bottles:
Bottle "A" - Begin at the beginning: terrific acidity, looks rather dark but taste is more red than purple, knowing Scott + Anne-Marie's penchant for Italian wine, I ask if it is frappato? (no.); by contrast, Don thinks it is rather light in color but dense in flavor; Victor says it is becoming herbal; after a few more unusccessful guesses, we end up in Burgundy, Jay pokes around Morey for a while until he hits upon it: Jouan 1996 "Clos St. Denis"
Bottle "B" - This wine provokes strong reactions immediately: "VA!" -Seth, "Oak!" -Jeff, "Black pepper!" -Melissa, "Tannic!" -Don; Don also thinks this is super-extracted and came from a warm place, he ventures Cahors? (no.); the more I taste this, the more I think I would pass on it if I just got handed it at a restaurant; Jay is on a streak tonight and connects the oversize wine to aglianico; the reveal: Terre Di Lavoro 2007 Aglianico
Bottle "Dragon Blood" - The fine print reads, "Artisan wild Romanian Horntail blood. Drawn with a silver needle point and immediately imbibed with a ageing charm to keep it viable." Perhaps a literacy charm would also improve it? Anyway: This is a tannic but balanced wine, good shape and cut; several of us are struck by the dark color and apparent pyrazines so we start calling out Loire red-wine appellations, Chinon, Saumur, Bourgueil (no.); we are told it's Bordeaux and quickly zoom in on Pauillac; Jay connects the tannic wine to 1995 (yes.) but that's as far as we get, when we start rattling off the names of all Pauillac makers - there aren't all that many, you know - Lisa cuts the game short with the reveal: Ch. d'Armailhac 1995 Pauillac
Bottle "VL" - There's an initial hit of VA and something else off-putting (chlorine? cork?) but the wine pulls itself together in a minute. The palate is ripe and luscious, with scents of tobacco and red fruit. Victor tells us to follow the tobacco road... which quickly leads us to Graves. We fumble around for the year a bit then Victor does the reveal: Ch. La Mission Haut Brion 1981 Graves
Bottle "C" - A whiff of celery, then spicy, not much fruit, and definitely some barriques were used here, sound acids so I ask if it is barbera? (no, but a tell is offered). Hm, it doesn't taste like nebbiolo to anyone so we start poking around... dolcetto? (no.), grignolino? (no.), ruche? (no.), and so on, until there's nothing left but nebbiolo; with that in hand, Seth guesses Sandrone (no.) and I guess Roberto Voerzio (yes.) and so the reveal: R. Voerzio 1996 Barolo "La Serra". This provokes the most discussion of the evening because the wine puts its finger right onto all the big questions: Will 1996s ever come around? Did the 'modern' handling spoil the wine's typicity? Is the wine from this cru strong enough to assimilate the oak influence? I've had Voerzio wines over the years, some really good and some inscrutable; overall, though, I'm not persuaded.
Bottle "Felix Felicis" - The fine print reads, "Use with caution." Unfortunately, this is the last bottle so we seem not to have any caution left to mix in; we'll just have to try it as it is: A white wine in name only, this is aged to a medium golden-brown color, nose is incredibly sweet but composed; in the mouth there is a burst of sweet, floral and juicy fruit right up front, then it flows onto a very honeyed and silky palate with an endless finish, wow; Jay essays Tokaji (no.) and then we all know it is chenin (yes.). But it's not Vouvray, it just doesn't taste like it. We try the likely candidates (Quarts de Chaume (no.), Coteaux du Layon (no.), and it's no, no, no, until in desperation we say Savennieres (yes.). *blink* Savennieres Doux is practically unknown but Dressner occasionally brought in the other side of Pierre Bise's portfolio and indeed: Papin-Chevalier 1997 Savennieres Doux "La Pierre de Coulaine"
A tumultuous tasting.
This time, no restaurant snap and no Zoom snap, just my place at the table, ready for pandemic company:
Postscript: I finished Bottle "B" the next day. The wine had opened up a bit, much less stinging, there is now some blue fruit in a big rustic package. Better... but it's already 13 years old and, at this pace, it won't plateau till it's 30.
First order of business... Happy Birthday to Melissa! Twenty-eight years young.
The logistics for this sitting were quite troublesome to pin down... this one can't make that day, that one can't make this day, she doesn't have enough bottles, he doesn't have a car. We made it work by having half the group converge on Victor's place for the initial bottle-swap, then one stop down in the Wall Street district, and then some asynchronous distribution on the Far Eastern (=> Brooklyn) and Far Western (=> Jersey City) frontiers.
There was no special internet foofery this time. It's too hot and sticky to be so clever. We'll try to fire a few neurons for #4, in a couple weeks.
Some of us prepared dinner for the event, some of us had eaten before. Jayson dialed-in from his Florida retreat, just to hang with the peeps (though, of course, he had to drink his own libations).
Our libations were all served blind from little labeled bottles:
Bottle "A" - Begin at the beginning: terrific acidity, looks rather dark but taste is more red than purple, knowing Scott + Anne-Marie's penchant for Italian wine, I ask if it is frappato? (no.); by contrast, Don thinks it is rather light in color but dense in flavor; Victor says it is becoming herbal; after a few more unusccessful guesses, we end up in Burgundy, Jay pokes around Morey for a while until he hits upon it: Jouan 1996 "Clos St. Denis"
Bottle "B" - This wine provokes strong reactions immediately: "VA!" -Seth, "Oak!" -Jeff, "Black pepper!" -Melissa, "Tannic!" -Don; Don also thinks this is super-extracted and came from a warm place, he ventures Cahors? (no.); the more I taste this, the more I think I would pass on it if I just got handed it at a restaurant; Jay is on a streak tonight and connects the oversize wine to aglianico; the reveal: Terre Di Lavoro 2007 Aglianico
Bottle "Dragon Blood" - The fine print reads, "Artisan wild Romanian Horntail blood. Drawn with a silver needle point and immediately imbibed with a ageing charm to keep it viable." Perhaps a literacy charm would also improve it? Anyway: This is a tannic but balanced wine, good shape and cut; several of us are struck by the dark color and apparent pyrazines so we start calling out Loire red-wine appellations, Chinon, Saumur, Bourgueil (no.); we are told it's Bordeaux and quickly zoom in on Pauillac; Jay connects the tannic wine to 1995 (yes.) but that's as far as we get, when we start rattling off the names of all Pauillac makers - there aren't all that many, you know - Lisa cuts the game short with the reveal: Ch. d'Armailhac 1995 Pauillac
Bottle "VL" - There's an initial hit of VA and something else off-putting (chlorine? cork?) but the wine pulls itself together in a minute. The palate is ripe and luscious, with scents of tobacco and red fruit. Victor tells us to follow the tobacco road... which quickly leads us to Graves. We fumble around for the year a bit then Victor does the reveal: Ch. La Mission Haut Brion 1981 Graves
Bottle "C" - A whiff of celery, then spicy, not much fruit, and definitely some barriques were used here, sound acids so I ask if it is barbera? (no, but a tell is offered). Hm, it doesn't taste like nebbiolo to anyone so we start poking around... dolcetto? (no.), grignolino? (no.), ruche? (no.), and so on, until there's nothing left but nebbiolo; with that in hand, Seth guesses Sandrone (no.) and I guess Roberto Voerzio (yes.) and so the reveal: R. Voerzio 1996 Barolo "La Serra". This provokes the most discussion of the evening because the wine puts its finger right onto all the big questions: Will 1996s ever come around? Did the 'modern' handling spoil the wine's typicity? Is the wine from this cru strong enough to assimilate the oak influence? I've had Voerzio wines over the years, some really good and some inscrutable; overall, though, I'm not persuaded.
Bottle "Felix Felicis" - The fine print reads, "Use with caution." Unfortunately, this is the last bottle so we seem not to have any caution left to mix in; we'll just have to try it as it is: A white wine in name only, this is aged to a medium golden-brown color, nose is incredibly sweet but composed; in the mouth there is a burst of sweet, floral and juicy fruit right up front, then it flows onto a very honeyed and silky palate with an endless finish, wow; Jay essays Tokaji (no.) and then we all know it is chenin (yes.). But it's not Vouvray, it just doesn't taste like it. We try the likely candidates (Quarts de Chaume (no.), Coteaux du Layon (no.), and it's no, no, no, until in desperation we say Savennieres (yes.). *blink* Savennieres Doux is practically unknown but Dressner occasionally brought in the other side of Pierre Bise's portfolio and indeed: Papin-Chevalier 1997 Savennieres Doux "La Pierre de Coulaine"
A tumultuous tasting.
This time, no restaurant snap and no Zoom snap, just my place at the table, ready for pandemic company: