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Nate Glissmeyer's Journal
Just a quick couple of notes on things I've learned lately. Stuff that is changing in my habits, also.
1) Stop paying so much for wine. Really. I have retreated to Germany and Spain out of a committment to high quality wines and getting my buck to go further, but you can drink in any part of the world at almost any price level and it's only getting more so. For me it's kind of like, "smart kid at Tufts vs. smart kid at Yale." Yale opens more doors and impresses more dinner party guests, but who gets a better B.S. in Finance? Stop buying Yale.
2) Decant. Everyone makes it too hard. Decant doesn't mean (always) finely remove particulate or warm wine or release undesirable compounds. Too much mystery is put into wine decanting. Look, you smell stuff when it is aerosol. Why not help a more complete and representative sample come into the nose? Also, many long aged reds or cold climate whites are sulfur-laden. For me, sulfur is most notable as the abscence of the ability to smell. Decanting goes a long way in letting this blow off.
3) Drink Champagne. Seriously. There are so very many permutations of different Champagnes out there and, by and large, there is not a bad wine in the bunch. Set a reasonable limit of say $25/bottle and don't do it every day (see comment #1), but look at how sweetness, spice, mouthfeel, and acid are all balanced, played with, etc.. I guarantee it will change your views on reds.
4) Case wise fewer wines is better than mega-find single wines. In general, this is the way to go. Buy 6, drink one after a year, one after two, etc.. on down the line. You learn more and enjoy more. Plus, when you get it right and then drink your way blindly down to your last bottle, you get the scarcity thing in spades. Sometimes you only get one 1999 Jamet Côte-Rotie, but you can buy all of the La Rosine.
4) Share. This is nothing new, but make a wine buddy and call them or email them every time you have a glass of wine. You need the back-and-forth to see what people observe. Never drink alone and when you are forced to, take excellent notes.
To whit:
2000 Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Waachauer Riesling Spätlese Trocken, pd. 32 EUR in a restaurant in Munich
Had it for dinner last night. Served about 5 degrees C too cold and without decanting. After insisting on decanting and swirling vigorously for about 15 minutes, it really came alive.
High acidity and medium sugar notable upon visual inspection. Wine was quite yellow/gold, given the youth and the "Lesung"-level.
Dominated by light granite, lemongrass, hints of clove and some unripe nectarine on the nose.
Attack was very bright; pineapple, banana, orange, with round, heavy-for-Spätlese mid-palate.
Long, mercurial, exciting finish that only grew more so with the evening. Sexy and accessible, with lots and lots of acid to keep the experience fresh. Somewhat higher alcohol content than one expects in Spätlese Trockens.
All in all, given color and alcohol level, closer to Auslese Trocken, my favorite. Highly recommend.
Current mood: determined.
Current music: techno beat.
Sorry. Also, apologies to Edward Tufte for the formatting. It is a lot of data. Cruise ahead to the Summary and Lessons Learned, if you haven't got the will to see the whole thing through.
OK. The work continues unabated here, however. This last week I hosted a tasting of some of Seattle's best noses in Bordeaux, or at least some of the ones I know.
The Goal: Find '98 and '99 Bordeaux from well-established, easy-to-find producers. Rate these wines on their overall sexiness as wine to the consumer today, for their ability to grow through cellaring, and their unrepentant value. I set $25.00 as the mean price; we only really varied off course a little bit.
The Team (real names; I'll take 'em down if someone squeals):
David Bird: Long time collector of Bordeaux from back when it was affordable. Good judge of value, typicity, and historical performance of many of these wines. Keen palate for naming typical notes.
Bill Owen: Salesman, merchandiser, wine maker extraordinaire! Owen Sullivan wine is made by him and he works for a local distributor, ensuring he's up on most of the new things out there. Also, hates expensive wine.
Tony and Kathy Lyon: Brewer turned winemaker turned wine chemist and his thoughtful, honest wine wife (real wife, too). When this couple isn't busy booking classes in Italian wine, they're travelling around OR and WA and, soon, Tuscany looking for values and "didja knows."
Wes Pinney: Drinks wine like it's going out of style. He probably represents the largest category of potential readers; wes buys sexy wines from CA and Australia that he collects for 2-3 years before drinking down with homemade pasta sauce or steaks. He's not afraid to spend $30 on a bottle of wine, but he has enough experience to know roughly what else he could get for that money from the aforementioned locales.
Me: 'nuff said.
The Line Up (in tasting sequence):
2000 Pomerol La Croix du Casse
1994 Le Gay
1995 Dominique
2000 Puygueraud
2001 Owen-Sullivan Champoux Cabernet Franc(barrel) ! Owen, is this right? !
1998 Clos du Marquis
1998 Grand Puy Lacoste
1998 Clerc Milon
1999 Pape Clément
OK. Here's the breakdown from all of the members in order of preference and with the amounts of their individual orders for their own cellars. You've got respect the power of the dollar being spent on it. I'll provide an "executive briefing" list of the lessons I learned from this valuable tasting.
Afterward follows my own, very raw, taste along with Nate notes on the evening. Sometimes it's nice to look behind the curtain. Sometimes it's just messy.
David Bird:
Wine * Overall Preference * Made for the Cellar
Pape Clement * 1 * 1 *
Clos du Marquis * 2 * 5 *
Grand Puy Lacoste * 3 * 2 *
La Dominique * 4 * *
Puygueraud * 5 * 4 *
Clerc Milon * * 3 *
Bill Owen:
Wine * Overall Preference * Made for the Cellar
(Owen only ranked them all in order of preference, since he doesn't believe in aging wine. His well-worn adage runs, "Younger wine and older women are always better than the reverse.)
In order of preference:
Pape Clement
1995 Chateau du Fieuzal (the ringer I threw in as a reference; one of my favorite buy and hold Bordeaux experiences)
Puygueraud
Clos du Marquis
Owen-Sullivan
Clerc Milon
Croix du Casse
Dominique
Le Gay
Tony & Kathy:
Wine * Tony * Pref * Age * Kathy * Pref * Age *
Clos du Marquis * Tony * 1 * 3 * Kathy * 2 * 3 *
GPL * Tony * 2 * 5 * Kathy * 6 * *
Pape Clément * Tony * 3 * 1 * Kathy * 1 * 1 *
La Dominique * Tony * 4 * 6 * Kathy * 8 * *
Le Gay * Tony * 5 * 2 * Kathy * 10 * *
La Croix du Casse * Tony * 6 * 4 * Kathy * 7 * *
Peygueraud * Tony * 7 * * Kathy * 3 * 2 *
Clerc Milon * Tony * 10 * * Kathy * 9 * *
Wesley:
Wine * Pref * Age *
GPL * 4 * 1 *
Dominique * 6 * 5 *
Clos du Marquis * 1 * 3 *
Clerc Milon * 2 * 2 *
Pape Clément * 3 * 4 *
Croix du Casse * 5 * 6 *
Nate:
Wines by Pref: Clos du Marquis, Pape Clément, Dominique, GPL, Clerc Milon, Croix du Casse, Puygueraud, Le Gay
Wines by Age: Pape Clément, Clerc Milon, Clos du Marquis, GPL, Puygueraud, Dominique
Buying:
(NB: Owen doesn't buy wine, as a rule and he doesn't cellar it, either; Wes made no official statements, Tony and Kathy's order is missing--sorry kids!)
Wine David Nate:
Pape Clément * 6 * 6 *
Clos du Marquis * 8 * 12 *
GPL * 2 * 4 *
Clerc Milon * * 6 *
Puygueraud * 4 * *
Ok. Lessons learned.
1994 Le Gay is dead, dead, dead. Gone from light merlot with nice structure to soaking wet cardboard or construction paper in 35 minutes. Dead.
1995 Dominique not worth the money or fuss.
1995 De Fieuzal awesome.
GPL comes alive after some air. Trust in the backward nose of young Pauillac.
Pape Clément blew the doors off all of our expectations and mixed metaphors. Outstanding depth and fruit waking up.
1998 Clos du Marquis not as good, but still an excellent value. You can follow the market trend on pricing for either of those and do very well. '99 has more depth, probably.
I just don't get it re: Puygueraud. Everyone likes it but me. Maybe that's why I buy Beycheville, too. Who knows.
2000 Clinet not worth the effort, based on Croix du Casse. And that coming from a huge Clinet biggot (still buying '93s, if you can believe it.)
Most important lesson, do this! These types of tastings are some work to organize and more work to chronicle, but damnit, they yield more wine knowledge than 20 classes and 15 books. They are wonderful. Do it! Change your habits.
Raw Notes Follow:
2000 La Croix du Casse
The color is deep ruby. Dark color, lots of blueberry, black currants, on the nose barbequed toast, nuts, charcoal.; attack of high acid, light blueberry, un-merlot tight finish and grip.
1994 Le Gay – dead in an hour!
deep color for its age. 100% new for 20 months. nose of sour plum, new cherries, medium alcohol, butterscotch; attack of light fruit fading to hyacinth, lilac, nice mellow floral notes.
1995 Dominique
elegant dark fruit, with the little cab notes coming through; nose of roasted apple, roses, nice structure, full plum; super structured, select nice plum and excellent structured fruit, black tea and minerality on the finish.
2000 Puygueraud
30,30.30 M, CF, Malbec;
inky color, liquid pencil, nice cherry and black current; cloves and black plums with lots of spice, baked pie; medium finish with lots of structure
MysterY Wine
light ellerding, pontin 80% cab, 10 CF, 10 M, 25% new wood
zingy citrus nose,
1998 Clos du Marquis
more toasted bread, hash browns; nose is intricate plum, cherry, black fruit; finish is full of light glycol, long, balanced finish
1998 Grand Puy Lacoste
medium color; lush plum nose, deep sweetness, summer camp fire on the nose; tremendously tight tannin, some spruce, some grilled meats
1998 Clerc Milon
grilled lamb, tons of tannic structure; owen claims no guts, but lots of structure and the finish turns more glycerin, vanilla developing; tight; too soon to call
1999 Pape Clement
black pepper nose with unmistakeable black fruit and grape tannins, lots of oak tannin and heavy pencil, granite; improved dramatically with air, put on roast beef, cocoa, and red fruit weightiness. Acid dropped back a little bit as the tannin opened.
Current mood:
crushed.Current music: Look Who's Bombing! -- GW and the Wellers.
I know that the Burgundy trip notes are long overdue. I *am* working on them.
For now, I thought I'd try to induce some discussion on an intersting twist for an old question. Namely, as a friend recently wrote to me, "[What is the b]est white wine for under $20 a bottle?"
A very reasonable and thoughtful question. One that deserves a better list than I provided. Chime in, y'all!
My response:
> Germans for sure. The Prüm wines are awesome values. Did you try both of
> the Selbachs? Also, be sure to look at the whole line of Grunhauser wines,
> particularly the Trockens. Dr. Loosen has a couple of cheapies, too.
>
> I guess those Verget Meursault are amazing deals for $14/each, if they are
> still around. Remind me you haven't tried them next time I see you and I'll
> sell you a bottle out of my collection. Great deal.
>
> Mason Sauv Blanc is very pretty at $12.00 or so. I like the Chatter Creek
> Pinot Gris, which we'll go barrel taste soon and which will probably get
> bottled in March, so you could conceivably work that bottling and take some
> home for gratis. You can sometimes find $20-$22/bottle Chablis that is
> quite good to very, very good.
>
> If you can get a deal on them, there are some Santa Cruz and Carneros whites
> that are decent and inexpensive, but you really have to know the producer
> and they have to be all lees aged, even if they are modestly oaked.
>
> It's a hard game. There is a lot of wine at $10/bottle that is good, but
> not great. I would also recommend you find the driest wine Columbia makes,
> since David Lake is a very capable winemaker and often has lots of good
> choices.
>
> Viognier is another way to go. Ole had some declassified Condrieu for
> $14/bottle that was quite nice and very typical of Condrieu. It's a totally
> different style of flavors and bouquet, but totally pleasing.
>
> I'll keep noodling on it. There are lots of oddball wines I don't like,
> like Vinho Verde and Raixas Baixas and other Spanish stuff. Good whites
> with Spanish hygiene is hard, though, and you can get stung.
>
> Sorry. Soave. Lots of great Soave in that range. The Anselmi is a nice
> place to start, though it's a little less ripe than I like my Soave. Those
> Pra blends are very nice, as are the single vineyards, except the latter
> costs real money (~$40).
>
> Enough ranting.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nate
> ---
> P.S. With your permission, I think I'll put this thread up on livejournal
> for more discussion. You ok with that?
Current mood: artistic.
Current music: The Lady Is A Tramp-Tony Bennett-Perfectly Frank.
I guess the only way you can overcome my laziness in posting these articles in a timely way is to threaten to upstage the storyteller's captive audience with spoilers. Bruce has done just that with his most recent post, so here's a little tidbit. I am working on the full chapter and verse of our trip, to be serialized at an lj near you.
Le Train Bleu
Taking a nod from Paris Notes, I booked a table at this Gare de Lyon monument for lunch, thinking it a trois etoiles meal at half the price. It definitely wasn't that, but it also wasn't unworthy of notice, so here's a little low down.
Train Bleu was newly renovated at great expense and with great care. The ceiling features wonderfully inviting scenes of languid moments in all of Francophonia--Antibes, Marseille, Tahiti. Each one is painted by different and, supposedly, noteworthy painter of the early 20th Century, all of them unknown to me. The murals are set between gilded columns and ornate windows, covered in chintz, and facing out onto the boring r Henri Diderot and into the classic departure hall of the Gare de Lyon.
They also seem to be spending lunches training new staff, perhaps to meet with the large scale demand you can imagine at dinner. Or perhaps it was my bad luck. However, the place is enormous -- figure 200-250 seats per seating and maybe one and a half turns at lunch and two at dinner. Their menu is also more in line with this large scale production--easily prepped and reproduced classic, or innovative turns on classic, French dishes with some strong regionality to them: foie gras du Perigord with a glass of doux Bergerac (1995, I forget the producer) and moules frîtes as appetizers. I had the foie gras. The wine list had been the refuge of my great hope for excess. I was picturing some beautiful Corton Bressandes or the like from the early sixties or maybe a good '82 St.-Estephe. But, alas, it was not to be. The large scale mentality needed a simple wine list with less fuss. I ended up picking a nice 1997 Meursault Charmes, which was decent enough, as that goes, but not worth noting the producer or making particular notes on how it differed, etc.. The Bar Grillée was served for two. The whole roasted fish came out on a bed of dried dill stalks. Our waiter doused the cooked fish in marc, then lit it, the dill wood grilling in front of you, suggesting the smells it must have given off in the kitchen. I have to applaud this clever device: it's easy to reproduce and it makes a nice impact on the diner. The best apperitif is often a show.
Desert was a nice smattering of cheeses for me, including a little Chabichou and some Brie de Meaux. Who can pass up those guys? They helped finish out the wine and, as the service was winding down notably, were served with plenty of time for reflection.
On the way to the restroom, I made the best discovery of all. More than half of the square footage of this cavernous den of sensibly priced posh was devoted to the bar. Here seemingly dozens of little alcoves broke off of the main runway, housing a den's worth of foxes and hares in various states of travel fatigue and inebriation. Good whiskey was in evidence at the counter, as well as a wide variety of eau-du-vie. A coffee and a whiskey could last you until your train the next day when taken with a healthy dollop of Parisian resignation and joie de vívre!
Current mood: prodded.
Current music: No. 6 in E major, Two-Part Invention-Johann Sebastian Bach-T.
OK. Let's talk Turkey.
Basically, I think you have to set out with a clear strategy. Here are three that I can think of.
Traditional meal, single wine
Traditional meal served as courses, paired with wines
Non-traditional meal with classic wine pairing
Let's answer the first one first, as it is likely the most common route. Some good tips (which you can read anywhere) are to avoid wines that are very high in alcohol or so extracted that they don't suit bland or more mild foods. I just heard Jancis Robinson say that this was hooey, but I think that's not totally true. The other thing that no one will dispute is that you shouldn't serve the pearls of your collection with a turkey dinner. Half a teaspoon of ground sage does not enhance the bouquet of your '85 Monte Bello. It obscures it.
So what works.
- Grenache that is vinified for early drinking, like the 2001 St. Cosme Gigondas or Charles Cimicky Gnarled Vines Grenache when it's a little older. '97s are a good match. Spain will often offer some lighter stuff, but the Languedoc is king. There are so many nice ones, you really have to look and see what's out there at the time you buy.
- Beaujoulais. Cru Beaujolais, that is. Not the nouveau plonk. I really like Fleurie with sweet potatoes and with poultry of all kinds. Morgon is a nice bet if you have a giblet gravy or something with a little more iron taste to it. Moulin-a-vent is always very nice, too. Debouef makes very acceptable Cru Beaujoulais, so don't be afraid to try them. My 2000s are just starting to show a little. It's also quite interesting to tell your guests all about carbonic maceration.
- Tavel. Yeah, it's kind of a cop-out, since it is renowned for being very flexible with foods, but hey, you're preparing 20 dishes of disparate origin and flavors. What other wine goes nice with Oysters, fatty gravy, and biscuits?
- Sparklers. Don't overlook 'em. People presume that champagne and its brothers can't be consumed with a meal. This aperatif only outlook is vexing. It finishes dry, seems light, has a tremendously baked, yeasty nose in some cases and does really well with greasy or oily foods. See the inaugural issue of WD for some recommends there across lots of price points. Or buy Triolet. ;-)
- Riesling. Cheap, universally suitable to food, and people will have to change their outlooks. I wouldn't serve anything bone dry, but there are some nice off-dry ones (1.5% -2.0% residual sugar) that are great. And they are screaming deals. 2001 Selbach Kabinett for $8. Gebrüder Loosen 2001 for a similar amount.
I guess none of this is iconoclastic, so I'll introduce one more entry to shake things up: St.-Joesph. The 2000 Chave Offerus is light due to the rainy, sun-free summer they had over there (I know, I was in the ardêche). Go head and try it, though, because the acidity is reasonably high, the overall tone is light, and the characteristic bouquet of syrah and St.-Joseph is there. It's a beautifully made wine, even in this otherwise off year.
So, let's go back to the other options.
A nice appetizer of something from the Pacific Northwest might be nice while your guests arrive. Let's try that Selbach Kabinett with some smoked salmon mousse on toast points or a cold bottle of Quincy or Sancerre (or New Zealand approximations of those) with oytsers is always a favorite.
Dinner could be accompanied by a nice Beaujoulais and maybe a Chambers Muscat or Tokay (now labelled Muscadelle) to eat with your pumpkin pie or in place of dessert.
For myself, we're going to have a cheese plate with some off-dry Riesling from Basserman-Jordan or maybe one of my Albert Mann Grand Cru Riesling Schlossberg. Turkey with either 1997 Charles Cimicky Gnarled Vines Grenache from the Barossa Valley or a nice 2000 Morey-St.Denis that is Ole's turkey wine pick this year. Dessert is ice cream and two types of pies, Pecan and Pumpkin, so it'll be a toss up between some 1988 Rocha Colheita or maybe a bottle of 77 Warre's Vintage Port, if people are in the mood.
In any event, eat, drink, and be merry at your Thanksgiving feast!!
Current mood: fowl.
Current music: Momma Cried-Alison Krauss & Union Station-Krauss, Alison (Ne.
This is a shameless plug for Harold McGee and his wonderful balance of physical science and metaphysical panache. Check it out.
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Current mood:
thankful.Current music: Who Let The Dogs Out-Baha Men-Promo Only Mainstream June.
I'll tell ya What's Drinkin'! Lots!!
Spain.
I overheard someone today say that the best values in wine from Europe come out of Spain. I'm sure he's wrong, (it's actually Germany), but he's not far wrong. Let's get busy.
1999 Condada de Haza $18.00
Easy pick, really. Alejandro Fernandez makes the stuff and Richard Kinssies is telling the whole city about it. Oh well, it's worth talking about again.
Exceptionally black fruit, with lots of blackberry and brambly flavors. The classic leather and oxidized flavors are there, as is a decent amount of new wood, but the whole effect is very tight and well balanced. The finish is quite long and smooth, the tannins are fully present, but also quite easy to drink. It's wonderful now and will only get better and you can't beat that price with a stick.
2000 Propriedad Remondo $20.00
It's almost a guilty pleasure to recommend this wine. It's basically a very "New World" style wine with heaps of new American oak and very ripe fruit. The flavors tend more towards cab-style red plums and black cherries, but the mouthfeel is so unctuous that this wine is all about one thing: sex. It's easily the sexiest and fastest movin' wine I've ever had from Iberia. I put away 3 of them to age that oak off and open up the nose some.
Other stuff out there is the 1995 Muga Riserva, a wonderful performer year over year and very reasonable. I think under $20.00. Their 1991 is really opening up with tremendous floral notes on the nose and lots of very tea and smoke flavors among the unfaded fruit. I can also speculate (I'm aging mine, not tasting them) that the Marques de Caçeres 1999s are going to be great.
Last rant. 1999 is *the* year for Chianti Classico, from what I can tell. Rocca di Montegrosso 1999 Classico is delicious, but very traditional Chianti. It's funny, but I actually also enjoy drinking them when they are this tight--so much force of tannin behind the pie cherry flavors and woodsy, but not earthy character. Of course, when they've got 15 years on them and smell like a perfumer's wonderland of lilac and fresia they don't suck either. And value! 1996 Selvapiana Bucherchiale for all of you Rufina fans at $15.00, the '99 for $25.00.
OK. Now the cellar.
1998 Raspail-Ay Gigondas
Gigondas is best drunk young. I can hear that phrase echoing again and again across the wine press and wine appreciation classes. Let's not forget, though, that class of wines that rely on the structure of properly raised Grenache and what incredible power there is. This wine is just beginning to come into its own. Lots of cedar and tobacco notes from the wood, as well as decent vanilla, but wow! what kind of fruit is there. It's dark, stewed red plums and even some pear flavors with a very long and velvety finish. Orange peel and cinnamon nose. Awesome. Pick up some 2000s and hang on to them. The Pesquier and the Montmirius are also good bets.
1995 Ridge Paso Robles
This wine is no longer available. Not from Ridge, whom I called today, nor from my cellar. So it would be incredibly unfair to tell you it is drinking like a 10 yr. old Pommard. To use this wine to refute the notion that Zinfandel doesn't age and that '95 was easily the peer of '97 for this wine and that you can't believe the flavors that develop over time. That would be too cruel. Seriously, lots of fade on the intense black fruit of its youth, but it was still fruity. Cherries and cranberry notes were sweetened by a honey mid-palate and lots of vanilla and even a little mocha. The finish is delicate and, again, sweet. Really, it's hard to describe this wine, but easy to recognize. The '85 Lytton Springs I tried last year had all of the similar flavors.
All I've got for now. What's Drinkin', Gobble, Gobble is due out tomorrow.
Current mood:
thankful.Current music: Who Let The Dogs Out-Baha Men-Promo Only Mainstream June.
As a very good friend pointed out, this has not been a weekly column. I shall endeavor to do better and make it up to you with a What's Drinkin', Santa? column this weekend. For now, left over notes on Vol 2 and a promise to post Vol 3 tomorrow.
------
More of What’s Drinkin.
I know I committed the cardinal error of saying this would be a weekly column. That’s still my goal, but obviously not always my practice. I hope the patient listener will indulge me and that the wine advice week over week makes it worth the wait.
Lots to tell. Mostly a large week in the cellar.
1998 Dashe Cellars Todd Brothers Ranch Zinfandel
Tremendous. Lots of prototypical (for me) Zinfandel flavors, with the red fruit being plumy enough to make you think of black fruit, but without the jamminess so many people shoot for. Lots of pepper, coffee, and molasses and the alcohol was still high, but had integrated. And, though I’m loathe to say it, a delicious, though healthy, serving of American oak with some age on it—all cedar and cigar box and toasted coconut. Very nice pleasure wine, even if it was kind of cliché.
and out of the same camp…
1997 Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel
Very much a huge wine. High altitude vineyard means longer hang times and much riper fruit flavors. Here you get almost all black plums and even prunes. The alcohol level is quite high and I’d guess even at that there is probably a full 1% residual sugar. The wine has lots of mouthfeel and the oak is settling down into more classic cedar styling, but in general, I’d say this wine is not yet drinking. It’s a little too hot still for my taste and I’d like to see some of the rich fruit give way to more varied spices with a little age.
1998 Selvapiana Chianti Rufina Riserva Bucherchiale
Nice, nice Rufina. Bill Owen says its one of the best wines on the market for Chianti in his opinion. More on that statement in next week’s WD, but for now, let’s give a run down. 1998 is another of these lush, pleaser years in Tuscany and the regular Selvapiana Rufina is a good value with lots of smooth tannins and high acidity framing in cherry and red currant fruit, minerality, and some sous bois. This wine, like the ‘97s, are drinking now, but will expand and turn more and more feminine and complex with a little age. The Bucherchiale is all that and terroir squared. The same flavor profile is richer and spicier, with noticeable pepper and even a little ginger. The finish is long and smooth, aided in clarity by the low Ph finish. Definite keeper.
BTW, 1995 and 1996 Bucherchiale on sale at the Ballard Market on reduction for $15.00.
Current mood:
rushed.Current music: Sonata No. 10, Op. 14, No.2 in G, Allegro-Ludwig van Beethoven-Beethoven Piano Sonatas Volume VII.
This is the first in a hopefully weekly series on the topic: What's drinkin'?
My goal is to develop a log of the things I'm drinking and hopefully get some comments out there from you guys about those wines and maybe, maybe a couple of people will want to post similar columns.
Essentially, the problem I always run into with wine knowledge and enjoyment is how little people rely on their neighbors for information. A shelf talker with some excerpation from Parker will sell more wine than the guy who works there or the next door neighbor's recycling bin. Shouldn't be so.
What follows is a list of wines I drank (or tasted) this last week and what I thought of them. Your mileage may vary. (This issue is actually a week or two late, so I'll post two weeks one after another today.)
Tasting notes on champagnes:
- Martinolles Blanqette de Limoux Brut NV $10.00
What a blast of fresh, tart fruit. Lots of green apple and citrus and a very sparkly, high note finish. Extremely nice wine for large gatherings.
- Larmandier-Bernier Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru NV $30.00
Beautiful balance of again tart fruit and a yeasty/biscuity finish. Like pippin on sourdough toast.
- Thierry Triolet Grande Reserve Brut NV $25.00
For those of you that want pure yeast and lees in your sparklers (and there are only a few of us), this is the bomb. The new release is just as milky flavored with clear, bright bubbles and a small meniscus, which show the high craft of this work. Beautiful grower-vintner Champagne.
- Gaston-Chiquet Special Club '96 $45.00
Wow. Lots of power and refinement. We're starting to get into the better grape selection and blending of a variety of brix levels and vine conditions. Nice age, too.
- Vilmart Grand Cellier d'Or '97 $45.00
I don't know why the Vilmart wines never really spoke to me before. This one was making up for lost time, though, with really elegant balance and great bubbles. Lots of fresh, energetic flavors and a decently rich mouthfeel made this a winner.
- Pierre Peters Cuvée Speciale '97
Very, very nice. At this point, I wasn't taking notes so much as enjoying. As Ole says, it was a swallower.
So, with the holidays coming, pick out some nice sparkling for you and your friends. Anyone who replies "I don't really like Champagne" should buy a bottle of that Vilmart. You'll correct your future statements to what I always say, "I don't really like bad Champagne."
Some interesting stuff in the value column.
- Alain Gautheron Chablis 1er Cru Forneaux '00 $20.00
Not a wonderful Chablis, but decent and better than any domestic Chard at that price point. Does it ever amaze anyone else that you can grow Chardonnay in one of the worst climates and on one of the most real estate poor areas of the world at union labor wages, make wine from it, and ship it across two oceans and through the canal and it's *still* cheaper than Willamette Chard?!
- Bellevue La Foret Frontonnais Rouge '99 $7.00
'99 Bordeaux isn't great, we're told. Frontonnais is no Bordeaux, even. It's whatever they drink in Toulouse. I mean, look at the damn price. Everything about this wine tells the snob to look elsewhere for quality, but it's well made, the fruit is judiciously balanced with oak, and there is a great deal of food options to suit it.
Back out of value and into "you get what you pay for":
Three '97 gorgeous Brunellos in order of preference:
La Serena $48.00
Fanti "La Palazzetta" $52.00
Le Presi $45.00
All beautiful, tight, yet long-tannin chain wines with tons of aging potential and a host of flavors in the finish that need time to emerge. A great 20 year wine for your cellar that will be highly repaid. They're also extremely limited.
- Sineann Merlot Haake's Hillside '01 $29.00
Wow. Great fruit, nice balance for a wine of this high extraction/hang time and from Oregon. Very much the kind of wine you want to serve the person who says, "I like Merlot." They'll really live by that adage after these. BTW, Sineann wines sell out every year (witness notes in the spring in the Willamette Wine Country mag saying not to visit the winery because they are out). So, buy now and buy deep enough for the year.
- Sineann Reed and Reynolds Pinot Noir '01 $35.00
I'll go ahead and say Oregon's best for 2001. I'm sure I'll be put to the test trying some other stuff, but I had this wine shortly before the 2000 Beaux Freres and it blew BF away. And at half of the cost. You cannot go wrong here -- a decent amount of cola nut and chocolate in the modest sous bois and strong red fruit of this vineyard. Should age like a nice off-shoot of a Mercury or an Aloxe-Corton.
- Dr. Loosen Wehlehner Sonnenuhr Riseling Spätlese '01 $21.00
Decent, even good. The other Loosen wines were a bit off, with some of the Riesling fruit typicity missing or masked. I'm not sure how young the bottling was either, but I expect they'll all improve some. Of the batch, the Spätlese was the most luscious with apricot and even a little pear evident at the outset.
Wonderful sake line-up, which I was happy to later confirm was also a cast of the better regulars at Chiso. Two are especially noteworthy.
- Rihaku "Dreamy Clouds" Nigori $20.00
Wild. The sake is aged on milled rice, so that it appears milky and retains a good deal of sweetness. Without being cloying, it's very satisfying and very buttery, even unctous. I had it with a piece of black cod brushed in butter and sea salt and it was out of this world.
- Sudo Honke "Sato No Homare (Pride of the Village)" Junmai Ginjo $35.00
Wow. I really have never had a sake with that range and variety of distinct flavors. At one point, it was like a flower garden on the first days of Spring, then it was like a perfumists wheel, and finally it was full of high alcohol and fresh grain that you see in the purest sake. The water is from Mt. Fuji's springs, the brewmaster is 55th generation. It's wild that you can get something this rare and beautifully made for $35.00. Drink it whenever you can.
Out of the cellar I've been having some good luck, too. In particular, some of the stuff aging has been doing very well.
- 1991 El Coto Gran Riserva "Coto de Imaz"
Awesome. I was really not ready for that wine to be as good as it was. Clear cherry and plum flavors classic to aged Tempranillo was really the entrée for a dozen great flavors: vanilla and smoke; flinty, tobacco-rich finish with lots of mild pepper and Asian spices. It had enough acidity to age for another few years, for sure, but it was drinking so beautifully now. Makes me very excited for my '97s.
- 1996 Alain Voge Cornas "Vielles Vignes"
Such a great wine. The tar and blackberry elements had smoothed out into this really amazing sage, tarragon, and mint theme with all of the jammy, concentrated fruit. A certain amount of 'sauvage' for sure, but not so much so. I really do think Alain Voge does a great and underrated job of taking his small vineyard and producing a wine, cradle to grave, that he has thought about. Aged entirely in cement foudres, it has a decent amount of brett. For the truly curious, me standing next to the '97 Vielles Fontaines in barrels.
- 1997 Ravenswood Zinfandel Zodi
Such a big year for California Zin and Lodi was in high demand. I think, all things considered, that I probably paid too much for these wines. The consolation is that they are aging beautifully. The ripe fruit is still very much fresh in the bottle, but it has mellowed and the alcohol is not as present as when they were young. Lodi is Pepper + Raspberries, I've decided. People must be drawn to the cab like notes in this wine. Highly recommend it, if you see it out in restaurants.
Current mood:
thirsty.Current music: Yesterday-The Beatles-1.
Tempus fugit and all that. The song that just came on is totally appropriate to my recent eating.
So, I went and rode on Cycle Oregon. It was a total blast and food was very welcome whenever they gave it to us and in nearly any form, but it wasn't fantastic. In fact, sometimes it really sucked. However, it never sucked as bad as cooking for 2,000 people does. I hate banquet format and all of the ridiculous compromises that entails.
In fact, the best large scale FOOD (all caps for emphasis, don't you know) I've ever had was in Chicago at a Latino wedding. The bride is a friend of my wife and we sat through the entire 4+ hour bi-lingual, community-interactive ceremony. Damn, I didn't know how or what they were going to feed that lot, but food on that scale and wedding food on top of it?! I wasn't looking forward to it.
The trick: pick dishes that do well cold and that are always kinda cooking in a stabilized environment. It's like that trick of poaching fish in liquid at the temperature you want the fish to be, so you can cook it for a damn long time without hurting it. The main dish at the wedding was Mole. Chicken that had been braised or stewed, as the case may be, until the collagen was viscous, chocolate spice and the brown sauce was half browning reaction and half time int the cask.
Cycle O had mass-produced eggs that were no good and short supply of oatmeal at breakfast. The other meals passed my mouth without perception--caloric content was all that counted. Then there was the phenomenon of the V8. Almost a gram of sodium and an equal amount of potassium. Biking food. Add some green tea at dinner and you were totally anti-oxidant, metabolizing super-fly.
So, upon my return, I, of course, went to Salumi. On the first day, I had an oxtail sandwich and forgot to get the aged Provolone. I didn't really notice as I breathlessly downed the first half of the sandwich. On the second half, a more contemplative mood moved me to swear I'd get it right later that week. However, drinks and hors d'ouevre at Lori and Julie's that week made me rethink the meatloaf sandwich. So, on my Friday return (thanks for standing me up, Wes!), I was geared up. Smoked mozzarella in what I took to be grape leaves ran down the middle of the meatloaf. I took it over to the Waterfall Park, as I am want, and proceeded to really not enjoy it. Too much going on--dyspeptic amounts of black pepper and some allspice type notes that added weight to a thunderously large slice of salami-enriched meatloaf. Yikes.
Tongue is supposedly back this week and Elizabeth has decided that she loves the salumi salami, so maybe it's a pizza weekend. Still, a journalist has to call the good with the bad. Salumi's record ain't unbroken, but it's the best in town.
Current mood: uplifted.
Current music: O Fortuna-Carl Orff-Carmina Burana.