Homemade tortas
Salil pulled together a decent torta with a few nice ingredients from a local Mexican grocery.
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2007 Grosset Riesling Polish Hill Clare Valley - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley (4/21/2017)
This is a fairly good dry riesling, with a massive dose of reduction on the nose. This has a bit of popcorn on the nose, as well as a lot of flinty minerality. The palate isn’t waxy or heavy, but it is primarily driven by fleshy ripe fruit and a fair bit of acidity. Quite novel, this is nothing like a dry Austrian, Alsatian, or German – quite unique and speaks well of its origins. (90 pts.) -
1981 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/21/2017)
The nose of this opened off with a bit of stewed fruit, but then with some air, this did improve significantly. The nose on this has a bit of vegetal quality, as well as a bit of leather and a slight dose of American oak. The palate is quite full, with some very blatant American oak, as well as tart plums and leather. It’s not a superlative wine, but this is still as solid a Californian cabernet as they come. (90 pts.) -
1985 Maison Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Corvées - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (4/21/2017)
Stewy and possibly heat-damaged. NR (flawed) -
1979 Domaine de Chevalier - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (4/21/2017)
Ever so slightly corked. NR (flawed) -
2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (4/21/2017)
The nose on this is light and airy, with some beautiful light black fruits. There’s a touch of strawberry, coupled with a lovely dose of herbaceousness. The palate is silky and lithe, but there’s the density and power of old-vine fruit. Certainly this is ripe, but it is still very restrained with a lovely acidity. (Addendum: the vines apparently aren’t that old. Shows you what I know.) (93 pts.)
Hanging out at Andy’s
Andy invited Salil, Pat, and i over for some roast chicken and Salil’s famous daal. Great friends and food, but we were all a bit pained by the number of duds.
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1994 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Mont - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (4/22/2017)
A very surprising wine – I had really no idea what to expect going into this. The nose shows a surprising amount of sweet stone fruit, as well as a hint of spice that seems to have come from botrytis. The palate shows a very nice vein of acidity, which is the driver of this wine. The fruit is fairly dense and opulent and this is much fuller than I would have expected from a sec. (90 pts.) -
2010 Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Grandes Ruchottes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (4/22/2017)
This is a massive and fat white Burgundy. A whole lot of oak with just a slight bit of reduction. The palate seems a little advanced, with fruit that is surprisingly yellow-inflected. The acidity is there, but doesn’t seem to integrate well with the big fruit. Not bad, but not exciting either, and the slight advancement on the palate would have me worried. Despite this, it’s certainly too early to call premox on this. (88 pts.) -
2001 Coche-Dury Meursault - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (4/22/2017)
Hideously oxidized. NR (flawed) -
1974 Burgess Petite Sirah Napa Valley - USA, California, Napa Valley (4/22/2017)
Served double blind. This was in excellent condition. The nose on this seemed to have a bit of a vegetal character. We were told this was older than 1978, so given that information, and coupled with the amount of fruit on the palate, this had me thinking California cabernet blend. There’s just a soft bit of tannin here, but it is indeed still present. (93 pts.) -
1985 Noël Verset Cornas - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (4/22/2017)
We discussed at length what makes a wine perfect – in my mind, it’s a wine where you can’t imagine any change that could make it better. This was one of those bottles. The nose upon opening showed perfectly ripe fruit, mostly red-inflected, balanced with some light meatiness and a slight touch of olive brine, all in perfect counterplay with one another. The palate follows through on this promise, with just the right amount of feral character (this is far less feral than the younger Verset wines I’ve had). Sweet, but not too sweet; savoury, briny, and meaty, but not overwhelmingly so. A simultaneously powerful and elegant syrah. (100 pts.) -
2001 Domaine Dujac Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru (4/22/2017)
Opened a few hours ahead of dinner, which was necessary for all the brown spice to be released. This is a significant improvement on the 2001 Charmes that I had a few weeks ago. The nose shows some tart red fruit, as well as tons of classic Dujac spice. The palate is certainly a bit acidic, but the sweet fruit does help balance it out. Air also smooths out the palate; the tannins are still a little bit grainy as well. (93 pts.) -
1990 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (4/22/2017)
The nose and palate were quite stripped, not showing much fruit and instead showing a bit of woodiness. NR (flawed) -
1990 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (4/22/2017)
A second bottle of this was much, much more convincing. The nose on this was simply explosive, with lots of sweet black fruit. The palate is very full-bodied. It’s certainly full-throttled with a crazy amount of sweet and powerful fruit, and it’s never shy about it. Not much oak showing here – this is big Bordeaux showing in a great way. (95 pts.) -
1990 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (4/22/2017)
#25-91, 7.5% abv. Slightly corked. But underneath that bit of TCA, there is an obviously amazing wine. Quite honeyed and sweet, with tons of beautiful florals and yellow fruit. It’s a shame this was blanketed with a bit of wet cardboard. NR (flawed) -
2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Eiswein - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (4/22/2017)
#15-04, 7.5% abv. From half bottle. I think I’ve harped on long enough about the brilliance that is the 2003 vintage in Germany, so I’ll stop from this note forward (or not). This is an insanely fresh and compelling bottle of eiswein. The nose shows a huge amount of white florals, as well as some fresh green herbs and beautiful honeyed notes that are incredibly enticing. The fruit here is ripe, but there’s no roastedness at all. Extremely sweet, with a honeyed white fruit character, and absolutely surprising acidity. The perfect pick-me-up. (95 pts.) -
1972 La Pousse d’Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (4/22/2017)
#8942. The nose and palate of this wine show amazing freshness for its age. Initially, there were some light aromas of cranberries and other tart red fruits on the nose, as well as a fair bit of earth, but no weird funkiness at all. The palate is mostly acid-driven. It’s fairly light, and there is still a touch of tannin. This does feel slightly thin at the end of the day, but it is still nonetheless a lovely example of aged Burgundy. (90 pts.) -
1981 La Pousse d’Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (4/22/2017)
#263. The nose on this started off a little bit vegetally, but TCA started to bloom after a while. The palate at this point was mostly acid anyway – while this bottle seems to have held up, regardless of the TCA, it’s doubtful that this had very much life, if any, left. NR (flawed)