BWE Sacramento Cadre Sep 17
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 11:20 pm
BillP hosted the western faction meeting last nighting, and an eclectic collection of wines were represented, along with some BDX.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FMI7DrMvmV9uN1bp1
There was a lot of food!
Starters: shrimp, olives, crackers, truffle salumi, fresh baked ciabatta, Caesar salad
Dinner: prime beef brisket smoked for 12+ hours over oak, leg of goat crusted with fennel/lavendar, potato galette, green beans & mushrooms in butter
Afterwards: 5 kinds of artisanal cheeses and Acme bread, and a chocolate torte with ice cream and raspberries
People started with
06 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne [Champagne] Jenn had some but I passed/missed this. The bottle shape is crazy awkward, and apparently has always been that way.
06 Von Schubert Abtsberg Kabinett By the time I got to this it was pretty warm.
Then we had two blind wines
The first was very pale, almost rose in color, very delicate and watery. It had a little sweetness to it. People guessed it to be old Bordeaux, with estimates of it being a 60's era Medoc. When unveiled it was the 70 Lafite Rothschild [Pauillac]. One can see why critics were harsh on that era of Lafite.
The second was wildly different. It had a nervous edge to it, a prickle on the tongue and an aroma of unripe raspberries. I guessed it was a Gamay blend, which was just a lucky guess. It turned out to be 14 Ganevat 'Tout de Beaune Nature' [Vin de France] which is a gamay and friends blend made by the cult Jura producer Ganevat. They can't label it as anything other than VdF because the cepage is not approved for that AOC. It's interesting to try, but it is genuinely strange, and I don't think I'd want to drink a whole bottle of this by myself.
We sat down for dinner and had pseudo flights to go with the food. By luck, things paired up well in natural/interesting contrasts for our stems.
I started with the Rhone duo
97 Marc Sorrel 'La Greal' [Hermitage] 12.8% abv. A leaner, more iodine driven Northern Rhone. Its a blend of two flagship vineyards - Greffieux and Meal - so gets a fantasy name. It's nice, but starts fading as the night goes on, but is a good wine for the fennel goat.
00 Brunel 'Cuvee Centanaire' [CNDP] This is a very small production tete du cuvee that ones sees infrequently. I think I last had a 1990 maybe 10-12 years ago. It's very powerful, rich, and dense. The wife likes it. I know this is just selfish, but my main objection to this category of wine is simply that I'm unlikely to purchase them, so I'd rather the best barrels and grapes simply go into the base blend, improving that, and keeping the prices sane.
I then moved on to the brisket to go with a Sonoma vs. Napa cab pair
05 Dehlinger 'Cabernet Sauvignon' [Russian River Valley] One doesn't see this much/ever. I think it's 14.9% abv. Maybe the last time I had one was perhaps the 90's when I got one as a gift from someone on their list. (or maybe that was a Martinelli CS, another oddball rarity, these things get blurry). It's a big wine, lots of oomph. I pick up licorice here, but that could be aftertaste from the fennelly goat.
06 Dunn 'Howell Mountain' [Napa] This has a wax closure, which is supposed to assure the integrity of the contents. One winemaker participant said that it doesn't actually take any more labor to do that kind of seal compared to a typical lead foil. The wine was pretty good. I was expecting something tannic, backwards and generally tough, but perhaps this got decanted, or their winemaking has modernized. But this was good with the meat. I've not had any Dunn's in a long time but he makes two bottlings and this is supposedly his bigger one.
There were actually cuts of the brisket - both the point and the plate. So now we moved on to the right bank versus the left bank.
03 Pontet Canet [Pauillac] Big ripe strong wine. It doesn't taste like Bordeaux - it's more like the young California wines we had before. This continues to be delicious, and I suspect will drink well over a long plateau of maturity, surprisingly people decades from now, when other 2003's have slunk away, not having acidity to last.
98 Certan de May [Pomerol] This example showed a slug of pyrazines to me. A strong bell pepper element. Others didn't seem to get that, but it seemed out of place to me. Most good ripe 98's have nutty, chocolate merlot notes to me, but this didn't have that. I thought it was better younger.
We moved on to a New Wave Spanish wine
01 Numanthia [Toro] 15% abv I think. These were very trendy maybe 10-15 years ago and I remember buying various vintages, although generally drinking them up by age 10. They are big extracted wines. This was the most concentrated wine of the night to me. Still I think these are better in panel tastings, than in consumption by itself over a meal. Good wine to bring to a tasting to show people the top echelon of modern Spanish quality though. I can't remember if this a Jorge Ordonez or Eric Solomon import, but they tend to have a similar feel to their portfolios, so if one likes it, other wines from the same agent might be similar.
Then with the cheeses (I hope someone can fill in the precise kinds, I heard them but didn't write them down, but there were sheeps, goats, cows milk, raw ones etc.) we had:
03 La Tour Blanche [Sauternes] Orange gold. Glaceed apricots. Viscous palate. Very delicious, and I think the first bottle totally drunk up over the evening, other than the bubbly. Personally I quite like the 03 Sauternes, they are like (long gone) 1990 vintage to me.
Thanks everyone for the awesome food and wines. A great time was had by all!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FMI7DrMvmV9uN1bp1
There was a lot of food!
Starters: shrimp, olives, crackers, truffle salumi, fresh baked ciabatta, Caesar salad
Dinner: prime beef brisket smoked for 12+ hours over oak, leg of goat crusted with fennel/lavendar, potato galette, green beans & mushrooms in butter
Afterwards: 5 kinds of artisanal cheeses and Acme bread, and a chocolate torte with ice cream and raspberries
People started with
06 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne [Champagne] Jenn had some but I passed/missed this. The bottle shape is crazy awkward, and apparently has always been that way.
06 Von Schubert Abtsberg Kabinett By the time I got to this it was pretty warm.
Then we had two blind wines
The first was very pale, almost rose in color, very delicate and watery. It had a little sweetness to it. People guessed it to be old Bordeaux, with estimates of it being a 60's era Medoc. When unveiled it was the 70 Lafite Rothschild [Pauillac]. One can see why critics were harsh on that era of Lafite.
The second was wildly different. It had a nervous edge to it, a prickle on the tongue and an aroma of unripe raspberries. I guessed it was a Gamay blend, which was just a lucky guess. It turned out to be 14 Ganevat 'Tout de Beaune Nature' [Vin de France] which is a gamay and friends blend made by the cult Jura producer Ganevat. They can't label it as anything other than VdF because the cepage is not approved for that AOC. It's interesting to try, but it is genuinely strange, and I don't think I'd want to drink a whole bottle of this by myself.
We sat down for dinner and had pseudo flights to go with the food. By luck, things paired up well in natural/interesting contrasts for our stems.
I started with the Rhone duo
97 Marc Sorrel 'La Greal' [Hermitage] 12.8% abv. A leaner, more iodine driven Northern Rhone. Its a blend of two flagship vineyards - Greffieux and Meal - so gets a fantasy name. It's nice, but starts fading as the night goes on, but is a good wine for the fennel goat.
00 Brunel 'Cuvee Centanaire' [CNDP] This is a very small production tete du cuvee that ones sees infrequently. I think I last had a 1990 maybe 10-12 years ago. It's very powerful, rich, and dense. The wife likes it. I know this is just selfish, but my main objection to this category of wine is simply that I'm unlikely to purchase them, so I'd rather the best barrels and grapes simply go into the base blend, improving that, and keeping the prices sane.
I then moved on to the brisket to go with a Sonoma vs. Napa cab pair
05 Dehlinger 'Cabernet Sauvignon' [Russian River Valley] One doesn't see this much/ever. I think it's 14.9% abv. Maybe the last time I had one was perhaps the 90's when I got one as a gift from someone on their list. (or maybe that was a Martinelli CS, another oddball rarity, these things get blurry). It's a big wine, lots of oomph. I pick up licorice here, but that could be aftertaste from the fennelly goat.
06 Dunn 'Howell Mountain' [Napa] This has a wax closure, which is supposed to assure the integrity of the contents. One winemaker participant said that it doesn't actually take any more labor to do that kind of seal compared to a typical lead foil. The wine was pretty good. I was expecting something tannic, backwards and generally tough, but perhaps this got decanted, or their winemaking has modernized. But this was good with the meat. I've not had any Dunn's in a long time but he makes two bottlings and this is supposedly his bigger one.
There were actually cuts of the brisket - both the point and the plate. So now we moved on to the right bank versus the left bank.
03 Pontet Canet [Pauillac] Big ripe strong wine. It doesn't taste like Bordeaux - it's more like the young California wines we had before. This continues to be delicious, and I suspect will drink well over a long plateau of maturity, surprisingly people decades from now, when other 2003's have slunk away, not having acidity to last.
98 Certan de May [Pomerol] This example showed a slug of pyrazines to me. A strong bell pepper element. Others didn't seem to get that, but it seemed out of place to me. Most good ripe 98's have nutty, chocolate merlot notes to me, but this didn't have that. I thought it was better younger.
We moved on to a New Wave Spanish wine
01 Numanthia [Toro] 15% abv I think. These were very trendy maybe 10-15 years ago and I remember buying various vintages, although generally drinking them up by age 10. They are big extracted wines. This was the most concentrated wine of the night to me. Still I think these are better in panel tastings, than in consumption by itself over a meal. Good wine to bring to a tasting to show people the top echelon of modern Spanish quality though. I can't remember if this a Jorge Ordonez or Eric Solomon import, but they tend to have a similar feel to their portfolios, so if one likes it, other wines from the same agent might be similar.
Then with the cheeses (I hope someone can fill in the precise kinds, I heard them but didn't write them down, but there were sheeps, goats, cows milk, raw ones etc.) we had:
03 La Tour Blanche [Sauternes] Orange gold. Glaceed apricots. Viscous palate. Very delicious, and I think the first bottle totally drunk up over the evening, other than the bubbly. Personally I quite like the 03 Sauternes, they are like (long gone) 1990 vintage to me.
Thanks everyone for the awesome food and wines. A great time was had by all!