BerserkerFest Part 1 - Thursday

BerserkerFest got off to a great start last night as Todd French, Leo Frokic, Father Saxon and his friend Diane, Izzy Nosnik, Veronica Castro, and Rick Smith gathered at my place for pizza and wines before heading out into the dark, cold NYC night. Jorge Henriquez managed a heroic fight against some wicked acid reflux and nasty jet lag (from his trip uptown) to join us for a bite and a drink.

After demolishing 14 bottles at my place, a few hearty souls ventured down to Pata Negra, where 2 more wines were polished off with some sinfully delicious Jamon Iberico and yummy cheeses. Wandering about after, we ended up at Ten Bells, where we closed the bar down at 3am after 2 more bottles.

As you can imagine, these are more impressions than notes…

-NV Ganevat Oh! Cremant du Jura - yummy, flowery, lemony, super tart, really a lovely non-Champagne bubbly.
-1999 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee Champagne- oooh, absolutely delicious but WAY too young, with secondary aspects just starting to appear.
-1999 Claude Carre et Fils Cuvee Passion Brut Champagne- much younger but also less complex than the Vilmart but delicious as well.
-1995 Feuillatte Cuvee Speciale 1er Cru Champagne- off/cooked. Damn.
-1997 Jadot Vosne-Romanee les Petits Monts- stewey, though the wine was trying to fight for its life but was also off. This might have more to do with the vintage than storage. Whatever, I poured it out.
-2002 Verget Corton Charlemagne- good at first, with nice fruit and minerality, but as it warmed up the oak became overbearing to me.
-1976 Oppenheimer Kreuz Beerenauslese- apple cider-y, with a tart mouthfeel and no finish. DOA.
-2005 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Spatlese- Also off. QQF?
-1989 Gardine Cuvee des Generations Gaston Philippe Chateauneuf du Pape- also DOA.
-2003 Pio Cesare Barolo- finally, something delicious, with exuberant rose petals, cherries and tar, a real winner of a Barolo and perfect as the pizza arrived. It certainly did not taste of the vintage.
-2007 Foillard Morgon Clos de Py- flowery with strawberries on the nose but the palate took a while to fatten out and offer similar aspects. Once it did, even Todd, who claimed to hate Beaujolais, liked this.
-1982 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon- why oh why can’t they make wine like this in CA anymore??? Beautiful, elegant, with bright fruit and nice acidity, though the back did have a sour, slightly clipped finish that shows this wine is heading downhill.
-2006 Raphet Bourgogne Rouge- funky, cherry, a bit on the lean side at first but also fleshes out with some air.
-2005 Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape- always a winner, this was deep, dark, but also full of bright, exuberant fruit on a heavier frame.

At Pata Negra, we had a bottle of Txakolina from a producer who’s name I forget (Deniene?). If someone remembers, post away, but it was lively and crisp and perfect to shock the palate back to consciousness at midnight.
-2001/1996 Muriel Tempranillo- funky fruit with a bit more oak and slightly unabalanced. The vintages were printed one on top of the other, so we’re not sure if we got 2001 or 1996 or some blend of both.

We hit Ten Bells as it was closing and managed to keep them open until 3am. We ordered 2 bottles of this, as it was a great way to keep us alert.
-2007 Thierry Puzelat Clos du Tue Boeuf Frileuse Cheverny- always a delight, this was fresh, vivacious, flowery full of bright lemony but also grassy fruit, with a long, excited finish, and very perky acidity.

Along the way we made some (cute) friends, made numerous drunken calls and TXTs, had a LOT of laughs, and pretty much demolished the suspension on some poor guy’s taxi. It was great seeing everyone and I’m really looking forward to Saturday!
Cheers!

Nicely done.

9 people, 18 bottles… why, the math practically solves itself! Excellent work.

Mmmmmm…Vilmmmmmart. Nice easy night of pre-gaming. Good work kids. Can’t wait to see the real lineups.

Hold off on more Vilmart til I get there please! I’m bringing the 98 Cuvee Creation as part of my parcel of btls.

I still dream about the 93 Coeur mag I bought from Astor a ways back, popped it New Years Eve -sooo good.

Great news about the 82 Monty, I believe that’s Bo Barrett’s first vintage, no?

Had one some from one of those '93 Mags. Damn good.

Missed the '82 Montelena note. I have one compliments of Mr Krueger. Looks like I won’t hold it a lot longer.

I think this was 82…

The ‘8’ and the ‘9’ keys are right next to one another!

Frenchie and VC… NOW I understand…

A lot of bad bottles… but that Vilmart… nice…

That Vilmart was fantastic (thanks Diane!) and the 1982 Monty was delicious even if to me it’s starting to slide down.

You did?

Maybe? I seem to recall using my phone quite a bit late that night…

Michel, thank you for hosting and showing us such a fun time. Leo, Jorge, Izzy, Diane, Rick, great meeting all of you. Ten Bells was fantastic.
As much as I love Vilmart, my wotn was the Cremant de Jura. Such a delightful wine with flowers and pears on the nose. Still aching from that eve and cab ride home but totally worth it. Cheers!

VC…if you source some of that somehow, I would love a couple of bottles…

But did you have a safe word?

Hopefully you saw the video…