Tried to upload photos but I got the old “images cannnot be larger than 1024 pixels high” even though I resized them all to 800x600 when I uploaded them to my image hosting site. Oh well.
We met up at Will BYOB on E Passyunk. Benjamin did a special 5 course meal just for our group. Food was very very good and they put up with 10 noisy winos. I’m 98pts on that.
Bubbles:
2016 Under the Wire Bedrock - This one was mislabeled, it said Bedrock Zin on the label but it had Chalone Chardonnay in the botttle. I’m surprised nobody called it out.
Egly-Ouriet VP Vieillissement Prolongé - July 2018 disgorgement - lots of popcorn and caramel notes - will 6yrs in lees do that?
Villmart & Cie Grand Cellier - I think that there was one more bubbly, if not then this was the one that had a mousse that exploded in the mouth.
White:
2001 JJ Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese - This was lovely but I only had a small taste lest get my hand bit off by Windy
Reds were a plenty and I couldn’t keep track of what was what as it was double blind and informal. There were more than I listed but somehow I didn’t get pics of them. A couple of the Bordeaux were a bit too funky for my taste but the others were doing well. I think the right bank outshined the left in that lineup. Others may disagree but they were hogging it all on the other end of the table so…
2005 Château Beau Séjour Bécot Saint-Émilion
2004 Château Angelus Saint-Émilion
2011 Château le Tertre Rôteboeuf Saint-Émilion
Cali Cab and Blends - no disappointments here although the W&M could have been decanted 24hrs rather than slow ox’d as it was still in diapers.
2014 Carter The Three King’s ToKalon
1994 Arrowood Sonoma County Merlot en Magnum - Yum
2007 Ghost Horse Shadow
2011 Calluna Estate - a sleeper that some called Bdx
2016 William & Mary Proprietary Red
Dessert wines
1986 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Gewürztraminer - burnt caramel, not for me, past prime or storage issue.
2005 SQN MrK Noble Man
2014 RYME Aglianico Passito
Perhaps others can chime in with their thoughts and other wines. Was a really great time, thanks to all who attended.
Nice notes of cedar, leather and tar. The first time I tasted it was alongside the 2016 W&M Caband it was a lean and mean in comparison. On this night being up against some wines with more age on them it showed a sweet ripe fruit core which gave away its infancy. Really nice wine though that at this stage would enjoy 12-24 in a decanter rather than simply the 12hrs with the cork out slow oxing I gave it.
I am a fan as well of what Will is doing with W&M. The wines are very assured in their style and awfully good. Glad you got treated so well by the Philly crew, Rat. Sante!
Another reason why I love Berserkers. Wines that I’ve never heard of that are getting some love. It’s notes like these that have turned me on to certain wines over the years. Becklkyn, EMH, Rivers-Marie, MacDonald and Maybach come to mind. Thanks for the continued education.
Thanks again Brian for organizing. Quite an embarassment of riches. Really tough to pick favorites. The biggest surprise may have been the 94 Arrowood Merlot out of mag. Still tasted fresh and could easily age longer. Also thought the Calluna was superb and glad to try as I have never had their wines. Had so much leftovers we were able to leave plenty of wine for staff, and I brought the remaining Merlot and Tertre Rotreboeuf to the next offline the night after in Jersey. We had so many selections, that Chris didn’t even open his '88 Suduiraut ! First world problems…
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