Dirty South Wine

Blind Tasting: Character Shines and Spoofy Juice Gets The Hook

The East Lake Tasting Table recently got together for its  third round of blind tasting. 

Though a serious mix of professionals from the wine and restaurant industry, ol' Dirty sneaks in with a press pass.

The goal is simple-  Sharpen your skills.  Some are doing it for study, for work, and others just for the challenge.

Whether you are an occasional consumer or a serious collector, blind tasting exercises are a great way to develop your skills, knowledge, and most importantly to learn to appreciate what lies behind the label. 

In this round, we had eight Wines-  4 whites, 4 reds, all bagged and numbered.

As we worked through wines, what stood out to a lot of tasters-  the Spoof Juice.  The lab made, concentrated, heavily extracted, crazy oaked, high alcohol wines that were built purely for murder!  The wines came across as offensive to the senses-- power, but no redeeming character...  They stopped everyone in their tracks and elicited statements of WTF is that?!?!?!?!


Whites:

1.  2007 Burgans Albariño 
(Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas) Albariño variety
I thought it was CA Chard.  It seemed rich, heavy (someone mentioned residual sugar).  I should have gone back to this one, because it settled down, and showed some nice tree fruits.

2.  2007 Domaine Menard-Gaborit Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur lie Cuveé Prestige
(France Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine) Melon de Bourgogne variety
Crazy perfume-  floral, medium- bodied, crisp acidity.  Much more expressive than a typical Muscadet.  I happily nailed this one-  It helps that I brought it.

3.  2002 Domaine Guy Amiot et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Baudines
(France, Burgundy,  Côte d Beaune Chassagne-Montrachet 1er CruPouilly-Fuissé) Chardonnay variety
Character.  Just a touch of smoke, distant lemon, and rock.  I pegged it as White Burg, but Puligny-Montrachet instead of the Chassagne...
4.  2006 Catherine et Pascal Rollet Pouilly-Fuissé Dom. de la Chapelle
(France, Burgundy Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé) Chardonnay variety
Ripe, far more tropical on the nose than most other PF's I've had before.  Lean PF structure-  I brought it and that helped a lot to nail it.

Reds:

1.  2002 Boekenhoutskloof Syrah
(South Africa, Coasta Region, Paarl, Franschhoek Valley) Syrah variety
1st glimpse-  Med. red w/ orange rim.  Looks like old Châteauneuf du Pape.    Nose of Syrah (meaty, dark berry) vs Grenache-  Thoughts of Côte Rôtie for a moment, but too heavy on the palate for the color.  I guessed 1999 Central Coast Syrah.  (I'll take the grape!)

2.  2003 J. Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon Hilltop Vineyard
(USA, CA, Central Coast, Paso Robles)  Cabernet Sauvignon variety
Weird, stewy, almost animal (but not bretty)-  rich and heavy on the palate--  I guessed some freaker Mourvedre or spoofy Priorat. Shocker to see this as Cab Sav--- no clue how this can be...

3.  2003 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Cannubi
(Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo) Nebbiolo variety
Semi-floral, cherry nose that make me write Italy on my pad.  First thoughts are Nebbiolo or Dolcetto d'alba-- but then the palate.... MONSTER Tannins... ridiculously huge- Defying all laws of the universe... My thoughts of ITA go ou the door, and I just scribbled "weird-a**, Spanish sh**!

4. 1999 Château Léoville Poyferré
(France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien) Bordeaux Blend
Menthol, blackcurrant, a little pencil lead- but still some pure fruit.  Napa Cab hits my page in 2 seconds.  Color looks like around 1999....  Close.  This was a very pretty wine.  The fruit on it made me think older CA, but easily Wine of the Night! (Thanks Michael!!!!)

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Again, a fun excercise in humility, doubt, and intuition.

Huge thanks to Matt Olson from the finalanalysis blog and Cayce for hosting us, and feeding us once again!

And a final note from Matt---

An Insipid, Nauseating Hermitage that Turns into Supernatural, ET, Bacon Juice!

There's freaker juice and then there's tweaker juice....  The 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle is a one way  ticket to Tweaktown...  Never have I had a juice that has changed so radically-- from pure filth to oh sooo stankiliscious!

 
Tweaktown ex. 1.  Strangely, it is a great place

I've had the 1996 twice in the past year or so, and though almost 13 years old, it is easily argued that it is still far too young to drink today.  (Also-  1996 is an atypical vintage for La Chapelle---  HUGE ACIDITY here)

Upon carefully pouring (there was about an 1/8 inch of sediment)- this wine stank of mud.  Not good earthy aromas, but total hogs at the trough...  After about an hour in the decanter, I revisited it for a test---  Insipid, acidic, poison dart frog!  Spit out into the sink and could not get it past the gums...

As said earlier, I had another bottle of this about a year back, and had a similar experience (so I knew it would eventually come around)...  Running short on time before dinner, I decided it was time to try and accelerate the juice into drinkability-  Out came the "Vitilator", another decanter, and some Tom Cruise "Cocktail" style showtending.  Improvements?  Yes-  some meaty aromas, a touch of herbs, but still ruddy, muddy , pirate juice.

After about another 3hrs of being open...  This "b" came alive....  BIG Bacon, Smoked meat, still, aggressive acidity, but crazy Hermitage goodness. 

Never have I seen another wine go from super-dooper-pooper-scooper to something so crazy good...

Moral of the story:  Before you dump out something for being plonk, let it sit for awhile, overnight if you have to....

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Mid-90's Stone Cold Savennieres: Like a Freak Without Warning

There is something about the aging, speed freak, Karate choppin', Elvis-  It's the incredible energy combined with quick circular hand motions, an occasional kick, a bedazzled cape, and a runaway train of a band just burning down the track.  It gets you charged and riled up.  But now imagine something challenging, perhaps a little bizarre, and stankingly awesome (like Glen Velez and Lori Cotler) that transports your inner Cornholio to the same place.  This is Savennières.  The stony, freak show, of a delicious wine that unapologetically meets more foes than friends.

If you are unfamiliar with Savennières- Slate wrote a decent piece a while back.

1994, 1995, 1996

This past Sunday, in honor of a special guest coming down from Chi-Town, and as recovery for some who blew it out the previous night, we met at Big Toe's for some grilled sausage and wine w/ a mini-Savennières flight. 

(Though these are older bottles, current vintages of all of these wines are available- and the 2004 Clos du Papillon is the Dirty South Wine pick at Ansley Wine Merchants)

1994 Domaine aux Moines Savennières Roche aux Moines
(France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières Roche aux Moines) Chenin Blanc
Deep gold, the deepest of the three.  A tingling nose of wax, honey, and rock.  Medium bodied, and bone dry.  Feels like liquid porcelain.  Some nut and light dried fruit, heavy tingling minerals, and lingering stone and stomachy finish.

This needed time- about 90min or more to come alive, at first is almost smelled like stomach acid and gravel pit.  Sounds great, huh?  It was.  This is a wine that is alive, and in emotion (not in flavor) it reminds me of great, stop you in your tracks Champagne.

1995 Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos du Papillon
(France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières) Chenin Blanc
Medium straw colored, and touches of gold. A fat nose of dried pineapple, apricot, and smooth rock.  Almost spicy.  Medium bodied, baby butt smooth,with snappy acidity, and a long crisp finish.

So stony smooth.  This was the most balanced of the three (mixing rock and fruit).  Truly great stuff that is just smackin', and a bottomless pit of interesting character.  This is truth.

1996 Château d'Epiré Savennières Cuvée Spéciale
(France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières) Chenin Blanc. Kermit Lynch Import
Gold, with a tightly wound nose of intense honey, dried orange, and dried flowers.  Rich in body, but still so dry... My notes wandered from the page and all I can read is "Crazed Madness", "Uplifting", and "WTF Delicious!"

I think I like that one- a lot.  The d'Epiré was the most accessible out of the shoot.  It had huge concentration, nice balance, and delivered a little more pleasure at first.  I think the d'Epiré still has a long life ahead of it.

I can't declare any of these wines less than other-  All three were killer examples of what can be done with Savennières and show what all the fuss is about.  The levels of complexity here were staggering, and the flavor profiles completely mind-bending.  To top it off, you can probably find many of these wines on the open market for under $40.

These aren't popular wines for a reason- they run counter to almost everything else out there.  They have little fruit, are unrelenting, are not made for cocktail hour, and posses little glamor.  What they have instead is the ability to give you more depth and interest than any other wines at this price point.

This was a great day.

3 Great things-- Burgundy, Dynamic Dish, and Tasty China!

 

After waiting five hours to vote last Friday, I needed to unwind. I grabbed a half bottle of 20th Century Burgundy and had a wind down night at Dynamic Dish.

1999 Mommessin Beaune 1er Cru Clos du Roi 

(France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru)

This was an ultra-relaxing bottle- Nothing screaming, nothing sharp, just medium cherry-colored goodness.  Earthy, with some truffle and a puff of mixed berry yogurt (who doesn't need a puff of that?!).  Thin and silky on the the palate, with just enough acid that asks for food-  This isn't crazy complex, but for the ridiculously low $20 I paid (on closeout), it is made me as happy as I could be.  

I actually split this bottle over two nights at two of Atlanta's best BYO restaurants- Tasty China and Dynamic Dish.

Though not cut out for Tasty China's most fiery dishes, this wine worked great with their Black Pepper Beef, and some sort of Chicken and Mushroom dish.

Without time for full write ups-  Two of the other wines we opened at Tasty China (thanks Peter & Sil!) were both very good and worth seeking out (I don't know where either are available in ATL)

2004 Domaine Weinbach Gewürztraminer Altenbourg Cuvée Laurence

(France, Alsace, Kientzheim & Sigolsheim, Alsace AOC)

A SPECTACULAR off-dry Gewurz that screams for the heat of Tasty China.  This wine deserves its own post....  So much aroma, a nose like "a maze of twisty little passages".  Domaine Weinbach is a favorite.  

2005 Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay Alta

(Argentina, Mendoza)

I haven't had a lot of great Argentina white wines, many good little chuggers, but nothing that really said "yo!"  This was different-  Initially, tight on the nose with just a punch of fruit and oak.  We all said "eh?"-  After about 15min in the glass, this became a rich, buttery, glass of interesting fruit, rocks, and yeast.  A nice tweener of CA Chard and Burgundy.  I'd love to put this in a blind tasting.

On another note-  A few people have been asking about the birds at the Dirty South Wine Bird Sanctuary.  Here is a quick clip from some early AM activity on Sun.

Going Low to Get High: 1er Cru Mercurey and a Change of Shorts

Sometimes you've got to low to get high.

Mercurey is not one of Burgundy's most fashionable regions.  In fact, the entire Côte Chalonnaise (which Mercurey is part of) is fairly gauche.

Where there is gauche (gauche-ness, gauche-icity, or a full blown gauche-travaganza) you'll find one of two things-- Plonk or Value.

Last week, I walked into my happiest of happy places-  The bar at Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, FL.  As previously mentioned, Bern's has the largest wine list in world, and it is priced ridiculously well.  Yes, you'll pay out the nose for your Grand Cru's, First Growths, and primo Napa names,  but the amount of mature, untapped treasures that fill their cellar is unfathomable.  To think that you can drink spectacular, pristine, mature bottles for the price of an entree or two  is unheard of in the world of 200-300% restaurant wine markups (and that's for current releases).

With help from our sommelier, we narrowed our search down to mature, value, white Burgundy.  Without much thought-  Côte Chalonnaise was uttered, and we started looking through the available juice.  (To keep the wine out of searches, and hopefully leaving some available for my next visit, I'll just post a photo.)  Though we settled on this particular bottle, there were plenty of others that we could have also tried in the same range.

Honey colored, with a wash of stones, lemon cream, and a heady floral scent.  FULL bodied, rich, oily, and sliding off your palate like melted butter mixed with teflon spray.  Great acidity-  Stand up and pee your pants acidity, and then a finish that I still remember 7 days later.

A screaming value.  This stuff worked so well with an order of scallops, and swordfish.  The acidity just sliced the scallop apart (pleasantly, like Champagne and popcorn).  "Wow" type stuff.

This is not close to the greatest white wine I've had this year, but it is one of the best white wine values I've ever had.  It was about the price of a medium sized steak.

For dessert, I washed down a piece of apple pie with a simple, but mature, 1978 Rayne Vigneau Sauternes (poured by the glass).  That'll run you about what it costs to valet your car...  crazy.

If you are into in wine, or simply curious, Bern's alone is worth a trip to Tampa.  But regardless of what you know about wine, don't attempt the list on your own-  their 3 sommeliers are crazy-good.  Their cellar is cold, their wines drink younger than you'd think, and there are just too many gems to go with what you know. 

I am a fan of the food. It is simple, fresh, and wine friendly, but it isn't why you'd make a trip.  There is simply no place in America that you can drink this well for so little scratch (and you can do it in a bar!!!)...  

Road trip?

Dirty South Wine- New Video: October FUNKS

Dirty South Wine October Funks!!!

Who Stole the Soul? Châteauneuf-du-Pape (and Soul Plane)

This past weekend, I convinced my self that a quiet night at home watching Soul Plane would be a great idea. In hindsight, funneling 2 Buck Chuck / Charles Shaw Shiraz while lighting my underpants on fire would have been a superior activity.  I have nothing else to say about it. 

And somehow this brings me to last weekend's Châteauneuf-du-Pape (CDP) Freak-A-Thon...

I like CDP-  Often it's gamey, herbal, and known to have a bit-o'-funk- It pairs well with lamb, pork, and all the dishes I don't crave in hot months.  And though 13 varieties can make up CDP- In the Southern Rhone, Grenache rules the roost.

Toulouse did another great job of hosting our group.  Serving a table of 9 BYO folks, providing stems, service, and spacing out food isn't an easy task and they always exceed expectations.  Plus- their food is affordable and I dig their art and space.

Twelve wines were assembled-  Nine CDP's from 1994-2004 and then three other wines (non CDP, but from similar varieties) thrown in the mix.  All wines were served blind and presented in three flights of four wines.  

I won't bore everyone with full notes of the twelve wines, but just some highlights and impressions

Flight I:

1994 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

Light Crimson with an orange rim.  Holiday aromas of roasted turkey skin, cranberry sauce, earthy & herbal.  Gentle tannins, pleasant acidity, and a long, delicate finish.    A subtle wine.  Voted wine of the night (WOTN) by the crew. 

1998 Domaine La Bouissiere Gigondas

Deep purple (looks really young).  Ripe juicy berry and a strong smell of mashed potato.  Tight, long finish.  This is little weird, a little rustic. (Non CDP)

1998 Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée

Medium cherry color- initial aromas of diapers, petting zoo, and “old curry kitchen".  Alive and chewy on the palate.  And even though it has curry and diapers, I see "pretty" scribbled next to my notes...  Don't ask...  But brett aside, the palate on this was superb.  

1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

An aroma of primer, nail polish remover, and a huge bummer...  Flawed bottle.  

Flight II:

1996 Clos du Mont Olivet Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Deep and herbal-  Really Fresh.  Some cherry and leather, and just general balance.  Wine of the Flight (WOTF)

2001 Domaine Paul Autard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée La Cote Ronde

Concentrated, thick nose of cherry and raspberry.  Tight, dark, and still showing potential.  Tasting more New-World vs Old.  Needs more time.

2001 Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard

WTF?  Chalky, crappy nose, burning alcohol, really CA / Knotts berry farm on the palate-  POS (piece of sh*# is scribble on my notes)  Perhaps this was flawed, but I brought it and it was a major dissapointment.  ugh...

2004 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve

Dark, peppery, and some minerals.  Deep, dark, concentrated fruit-really young.    But again- really ripe.  Needs to be re-tasted in 5 or so years.

Flight III:

2003 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Dense, and wound up like an 8 year old on energy drinks. Showing traits of CDP, but just too much going on right now.  Needs a lot of time.

2004 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

I can't type my notes on this one.  The best thing I wrote was "shi*@ty".  Another head scratcher.  Overly insane ripeness and could be from anywhere.

2005 Copain Les Copains James Berry Vineyard

Residual Sugar and mixed berry preserves.  Has to be CA.  Needs a long long time.  (Not as ripe and sugary as the 2004 I had a few weeks back)

2005 L'Aventure Côte-à-Côte

My notes only say- "Not CDP.  Needs time." (Voted Wine of the Flight by the group)

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A lot of wine, but nothing that really haunted me.  The 1994 Rayas was beautiful and delightful, but I probably won't wake up in the middle of the night calling its name.

What struck me was how un-CDP a lot of these young wines were.  Hot, ripe, fruity, concentrated.  As if someone stripped out their best characteristics and replaced them with what “people like” –- Sweet cherry and vanilla.  Many of these were super-star wines, rated insanely high by Robert Parker, Wine Spectator, and Stephen Tanzer. Sure, some need more cellar time, but I couldn’t see how they could get there. (Maybe I’m just missing something…) Not alone, many of us left the table scratching our heads with where some of these wines were going. 

Focused blind tastings like this are just such a great way to objectively taste and experience wine. There is no label bias, score, price or any of that to influence opinion-- Though not the best showing, this was still a great evening and educational.  

I'll take a couple of disappointing wines with great people over a magnum of Cristal and Soul Plane any day.  In fact, I'll take a couple of horrid wines, with disappointing people, and my u-trows on fire, over anything to do with Soul Plane...

Public Enemy:  Who Stole the Soul?

Dinner with an Ex-Con, a Ride w/ a Sheep, and Major Improvements at The Globe

Celebrating a friend's new job, street-team Dirty and A & S hit the town for some snacks and juice.

It had been about 8 months since we last ate at The Globe.  Our last meal was ok, but didn't leave us with a desire to rush back.  I recently heard buzz about major changes going on there, and thought it was worth another shot.

I made a reservation and double-checked their corkage policy- a reasonable $15 per bottle (Always call ahead to confirm corkage)  Corkage aside, they have totally revamped their wine list and have done an excellent job.  It is heavily European with lots of Loire, Rhone, Italian, and Spanish selections.  I think that this may be more in line with what Besha from Creative Loafing was hoping for last week when she was discussing another wine list.

Before getting into wine, the food and service at The Globe were greatly improved.  Thumbs up for the Tandoori Duck!  Tim, our server, did a great job managing our table and keeping us in good spirits.  We will happily return.

2002 Damien Laureau Savennières Le Bel Ouvrage 

(France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières)  Approx $27 at Ansley Wine Merchants

The color is a blend of orange / gold metallic paint  If we were to turn Lady Dirty's 95 Civic into a street racer (a la el Fast and el Furious) we'd paint it this color.  Just for giggles I googled "95 Civic" and I found THIS-  Wow, almost the exact color! 

Street racers aside-  This is not a delicate wine, not a fast or flash wine.  This wine uses no product in his hair, no body spray, and would never wear decorative leather wristbands... But rather this wine eats fruit and cheese off the tip off a dirty knife, has a prison tattoo of his mom's name on his knuckles, and if he had a van, it would surely  be parked down by the river.

This is surly son of a bitch.  An interesting nose of minerals, toffee, nuts, and brine.  Not pretty, but therapeutic, engaging, high pitched.  Not everyone will like this.

On the palate- thick, fatty, oily, filled with rock and tang.  Rich like an Alsace Pinot Gris.  A long finish that throws stones at you while shouting all crochety - "Get the f*$k out!!!!"

Man, I really think I like this ol' SOB!

1999 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne

(France, Burgundy, Bourgogne)  Approx $30 at Ansley Wine Merchants (still available)

Light red.  It looked soft and seemed to glow faintly at the bottom of the glass like it contained ET's submerged, beating heart.  

Upon opening- the initial whiff chained you up in the holding tank of the local petting zoo.  Sheep droppings, old musk, and the goat trying to get his old & friendly all up on you.  But set aside for about five minutes, the wildness on this wine blew off, and we were rewarded with a bucolic CSA basket of mushrooms, rose, a pint of mixed berries, and a sample of dirt.  Light bodied, nice acids, and a medium, silky finish.  This sheep morphed into a sexy lady, and was up for a scenic ride through the country.

This drank beautifully for about an hour and complemented the Tandoori duck nicely.

About 60 min into our country ride, the barnyard started to reappear in the distance, and we knew if we didn't finish it quick, we'd be back to the petting zoo, and our forbidden barnyard love.  

This wine requires some patience, but when showing well, it provides a touch of mature Burgundy, for a fraction of the price. 

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Overall-  A great meal, some highly entertaining wines, and good company.  

As a parting gift, and in congratulations for her new job, lady Dirty and I presented S with a bottle to start her cellar with.  An age-worthy Arbor Mist "Sangria" Zinfandel.  

 

Dirty Birds w/ 12 Great Bottles

The past few weeks have been a little hectic.  I still need to finish typing up notes from "The Lunch Supreme" and have a whole slew of other bottles to write up too.

I wanted to get this one done before the rest-  A great friend, home cook, and dining enthusiast, opened his home to a number of juice-freaks and rocked out with a ridiculous multi-course meal.  Way above and beyond, this was one of the most fun meals I've had all year.  The pizza, hen, chickens, salad, and fried pizza dough doughnuts were killer.  The wines, were pretty good too.

2005 Bastianich Tocai Friulano Plus 

(Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

Nectarines, herbs, full bodied, viscous, slightly bitter on the finish.  

Very good, but for $50+, it needs a little more get up and go.  I kept smelling the wine and thinking it was too cold (and holding something back), but then I'd taste it, and it was at a perfect temp.  If this were $30, it would be a great bottle.  

2004 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc 

(USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles)

I've had this Rhone Ranger several times over the past year, and I like it.  It smells like white wash, slapping that shizz on a fence, and then getting kicked in the head and landing in flower bed (next to a couple of old apricots).  I like this stuff.  Medium bodied, medium finish, good juice.   This one is about $35, but their lower end Cotes Du Tabla Blanc is a great deal for under $20.

2001 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Te Koko 

(New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough)

Almost orange, feral, good dose of tiger-piss (not as much as the Scholium, but close).  Some burnt grapefruit too.  Medium bodied, decent acidity, medium finish.  Perhaps it would have shown better a few years back- but anything that is described as feral, wins some respect from me. (Fear the Te KOKO!)

2005 Chasseur Chardonnay Lorenzo 

(USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley)

Chasseur is becoming one of my favorite producers of CA Chardonnay.  This has a touch of butterscotch, a wafer thin dose of "electric-oak" (whatever that means), it is full bodied, with great acidity, but a little too heavy on the oak on the finish.  I think this could round out in a few years- It has the fruit, the acidity to age.

1998 Domaine de la Côte de l'Ange Châteauneuf-du-Pape 

(France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape)

Good aromas of dried herbs, smoked chicken, medium bodied, dark cherry, killer velvety bod, and a nice slightly chewy finish. Nice Chateauneuf.

1998 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 

(France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie)

I smelled this and thought- blood of small game birds squeezed into my glass.  It smelled like the official beverage of Satanic offerings- and I loved it!  Along with journey into hell- it packed in some cherry and smokey flavors.  Medium bodied, silky, and a really nice dose of acid.  This wine was rocking.  Perfect, tiny, tannins

1999 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Beaux Frères Vineyard 

(USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley)

I misplaced the notes on this juice.  I liked it, and remember some tight earthy flavors, still solid fruit, but I wanted to have more time for this to really open up.  I haven't been drinking a lot of young OR Pinot Noir that I like, but some of this 90's stuff turns me on.

2004 Walter Hansel Winery Pinot Noir The North Slope 

(USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley)

Another one without notes-  Young, big fruit- but starting to loosen up.  A touch of dirty on it, but has the power that begs for more air or more time.  I'd love to try this in a few years.

2007 Dry Stack Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Rosemary's Block Dry Stack Vineyard 

(USA, California, North Coast, Bennett Valley)

One of my favorite white wines of the year-   Another sick, freak of nature Sauvignon Blanc- this is as fruity and intoxicating as the Te Koko was feral.  (original write up here)

1997 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain 

(France, Alsace, Thann, Alsace Grand Cru AOC)

Endless gas. Wait that doesn't sound good.  Layers of cascading petrol-  lemon custard, and the Washington Monument.  Great Riesling.  Thick, rich, off-dry, acidic, and gone.

1999 Rene Leclerc Gevery-Ghambertin Combe aux Moines

(France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru)

I wrote magic on a piece of paper, and wasn't sure if I meant the wine, or that after all of the previous bottles, that I had seemingly obtained super-powers.  Light cherry colored, mushrooms, fresh raspberries, great earthy funk, delicate on the palate, balanced acids, resolved tannins, this is what I long for in Burgundy, and have yet to find in CA.  

1958 d'Oliviera Bual Madeira

(Portugal, Madeira)

Wow- This was special.  Thank you DC!

(photo to prove the presence of DA, "the mysterious one!")

A Chardonnay-Freak-A-Thon (Tasting at Toulouse)

What seems to becoming an almost monthly tradition, the crew got together for a varietal based blind tasting at Toulouse. This month we tasted the grape people love to hate.... CHARDONNAY! Bottles upon bottles of flowing, tasty, yellow, Chardonnay!

I almost expected the ABC club (Anything But Chardonnay) to be blocking the front doors, brandishing dump buckets, and exclaiming to our crowd how Chardonnay is boring, mass market, over-produced, white wine's equivalent of milk-toast, and worst of all--- passé. To these misled fanatics, I'd deliver multiple roundhouse kicks while demanding that they show me equal depth and complexity from their beloved Picpoul (though I do enjoy some of that Picpoul shizz)

Sure- Our friend Chardonnay has some problems-

1. The biggest problem- The one that most stem from.
It is / was popular. Insanely popular. To the point that it is synonymous with "white wine" on the American table. Anything this popular will have tons of crap mass produced and thrown into the market. It is easier to find bad Chard than good Chard (though this could be said about most juice). Most people may have never even had great Chard (or even good).

2. Balance. Because it is so malleable, Chardonnay is one of the most knee-jerk varietals out there. Years back, big "oaky" CA Chards were all the rage- woody to the point that most bottles felt like a private journey into Paul Bunyan's happy place. So with people freaking out and over-oaking to the point of nausea- now oak is deemed a fashionable enemy. Any use of oak is evil. Labels scream "unoaked" and stainless tank fermented bottles dot the shelves and many are filled with over-ripe, wine cooler-like, fruit cocktails... Ugh... The solution is balance- just very few people seem to remember how to get there.

3. Quality Control. The great Chards from Burgundy have had insane issues with premature oxidation (Premox). The premature aging / spoiling of what should be a long-lived wine. Opening a pricey 1er Cru or Grand Cru burg from the late 90's to early 2000's raises most drinkers level of anxiety, buying them--- even more so. Many fans and collectors of White Burgundy have been burnt too much and can't take the pain of opening any more ruined bottles.

4. Pricing. With the emerging palates and economic growth in Russia and the Far East, the prices for great Chardonnay (primarily Burgundy) are going up faster than gas prices.

These aren't small issues (and there are more)- but Chardonnay when done right has no rival in the world of dry white wines. Full bodied, ridiculously complex... There are still plenty of mind-blowing bottles out there.

So back to Toulouse-- Eleven of us gathered twelve quality Chardonnay wines. Along with a majority from CA, we had some white Burgundies, an Aussie, and also a Canadian Chard thrown in the mix. All bottles were served blind and arranged in three flights of four wines. To add in some drama and to encourage quality, the taster that brought WOTN (wine of the night), would dine for free and walk away as a true champion of the hated grape..

Flight One

1996 Remi Jobard Meursault Les Chevalieres
(France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault)
Rowdy nailed this- It smelled exactly like green beans simmering in chicken stock. Not exactly what I was looking for in my wine.

1996 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay (runner up for WOTF- wine of the flight)
(Australia, South Australia)

1999 Jadot Meursault 1er Perrieres
(France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru)

2002 Newton Unfiltered (WOTF- both group and my vote)
(USA, California, Napa Valley)
Aromas of sweet lemons, some burnt butter, and a hit of oak (a little too much to be labeled as vanilla). Full bodied, rich and a bit of a hard finish. Very CA in style. WOTF.

Almost all of the Burg lovers at our table all picked the 96 Penfolds at WOTF.

Flight Two

2005 Rhys Alpine
(USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains)
Flawed- It smelled like a tomato plant surrounded by burning cats.... Too bad. I really wanted to try this one.

2005 Le Clos Jordanne Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard
(Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA)
Not a close candidate for WOTF, but I brought it, so I feel I need to defend it. Good solid Chardonnay. Nothing remarkable, but deep, lemon and tropical fruit, not as acidic as the others, but I felt Canada was hanging in there. (my personal WOTF. I thought it was the most balanced)

2005 DuMol Clare Hyde
(USA, California, Sonoma County, Carneros) 
Voted WOTF, and also WOTN Brought by "Knocka"
Beautiful fruit, some vanilla, edgy acidity, burning finish. To much burn for ol' Dirty. Overwhelming votes for this one.

2004 Varner Bee Block
(USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains)
Smelled and tasted like butterscotch...

Flight Three

2002 Leroy Meursault
(France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault)
Clear, bright, minerals- like soft, white, light. Medium bodied, huge balanced finish. Won WOTF and my personal WOTN. I loved this stuff and for my palate was far beyond anything on the table.

2005 Littorai Theirot
(USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast)
Something off with this one. We had this a few weeks back at Dynamic Dish and it was perfect. Some not-good stank on this.

2005 Kistler Durrell
(USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast) 
Another semi-off bottle. Stank that wouldn't blow off.

2003 Kistler McCrea
(USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain)
Runner up for WOTF.
-----------------

So with the tasting completed, we congratulated "Knocka" on bringing a great bottle, and discussed our pleasant surprises and some surprising disappointments. This was a great time. Huge thanks to Peter & Dennis for putting this together, and thanks to Toulouse for being so accommodating with our crew.

Knocka reveling in the glow of victory!

After the Chardonnay we opened a few other bottles brought by Bill.

1993 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir (from magnum)
(USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley)
Holy mother of OR Pinot Noir. This shizz is 15yrs old and screamingly young! Beautiful juice. It still had so much fruit, a silky palate, and wonderful acids. It rocked with the roasted chicken.

Photo borrowed from Raul D

And then a flight of superb Sauternes.

1988 Raymond Lafon Sauternes
(France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes) 
1989 Raymond Lafon Sauternes
1990 Raymond Lafon Sauternes

Man- wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.