Berserkers,
Board members and native Torontonians Mike Grammer, Jay Shampur and myself ventured off into the United States to do our part to help along the Free Trade negotiations between the US and Canada by enabling the free exchange of wines between Americans and Canadians. Our long weekend included a two day stay at fellow board member Humberto Dorta’s in Saegertown, Pennsylvania for our fourth DortaFest followed by a special visit to Cleveland, Ohio for fellow board member Loren Sonkin’s 60th birthday celebration.
The weekend began with a drive across the Queenston bridge into Buffalo, New York and a stop at our favorite wine store, Premier Wines, to pick up some goodies we just can’t find here in Canada. I scored with a couple of Barolo Chinatos and a liter of Chartreuse V.E.P. Then it was off to Saegertown and Humberto’s beautiful homestead where he, his daughter Eden and fellow board member Nick Christie who had driven up from North Carolina were waiting for us. After greetings and settling in and making dinner plans, it was off to the wines:
BOLLINGER 2005 LA GRANDE ANNEE ROSE CHAMPAGNE — Pale salmon color. Biscuit flavors and surprisingly deep rancio notes I only have ever found previously in 1997 Champagnes. Finishes with light cranberry, watermelon and strawberry flavors which alleviate my fears that this might just be a yeast shake. Really well done.
DOMAINE HUET 2011 VOUVRAY LE HAUT-LIEU SEC – Very light lemon blossom aromas that are misleading, as this has huge lemon and spice flavors. A very juicy palate far outweighs the nose. The power took me by surprise.
CHATEAU SUDUIRAUT 1975 SAUTERNES – This was treacle brown in color, buckwheat honey and smoke on the nose, and grilled tropical fruit on the palate. Gorgeous stuff.
POMMERY 2002 CUVEE LOUISE CHAMPAGNE – Very rich and powerful champagne. Chock full of baked apples, biscuit, and rich rancio. Berto called this young and brash while Mike said it finishes like a cider. I’m with him on that.
With our appetites properly whetted, we then made our way to Cannon’s Chophouse for dinner. The restaurant is a mainstay of the Meadville area and was packed with families on a busy Friday night starting their weekends. We brought some more wines to open here.
TRIMBACH 2001 RESERVE PERSONNELLE PINOT GRIS – This bottle was unfortunately off from previous ones we’ve had. The trademark crystalline body and highly perceptible flavors were done in by some corkiness when first opened. This blew off in the glass and then the smoke, honey and Crenshaw melon came out. Unfortunately, this was clearly lacking some freshness which had an undeniable negative effect. Sadness.
CAYUSE 2012 PETITE SYRAH – From the Cailloux Vineyard in Walla Walla Valley. My first ever Washington wine. A saline nose and very smooth texture to the wine’s body. Rich red fruit. Has a little bit of a hot entry but then pulls back to allow the salinity and fruit through. Finish is a little short. Overall, really well balanced wine. Not as overwhelming as a Cali Syrah but more structured and flavorful than a Niagara one. This was excellent with my chicken gumbo soup but didn’t go well with my medium-rare lamb chops.
RIDGE 1994 CALIFORNIA GEYSERVILLE – A blend of 68% Zinfandel, 20% Carignan, 8% Petite Syrah and 4% Mataro. Strong nail polish nose. Super smooth texture. Huge black cherry and plum flavors. Tobacco and dill accents. Long finish. Humberto says its’ erfect. Still quite powerful if missing a bit of freshness, this clashed a bit with the food but went lovely with a few specific things like the calamari.
CONCHA Y TORO DON MELCHOR 2005 CABERNET SAUVIGNON – The flagship wine of this Chilean winery done in a Super Tuscan style. Strong lacquer nose. Hugely powerful red fruit flavors with a bit of a hot finish. This was flavorful and really powerful. Maybe even bigger than a Cali Cab Sauv. This was just great with the lamb.
For dinner, we had some Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Calamari as our starters:
I followed this with a bowl of the house Chicken Gumbo Soup:
For our mains we got the Lamb Chops and the Ahi Tuna:
After that delicious meal, we got a couple of desserts to go and then headed back to Berto’s for a couple of nightcaps:
DIDIER DAGUENAU 2006 SILEX POUILLY-FUME – This insanely good barrel fermented and aged French Sauvignon Blanc is far more than a cut above the rest. A smoky nose leads into a palate of baked grapefruit and fresh gooseberry and passion fruit flavors. There’s herbaciousness here but it’s smoothed out by the oak and serves as an accent to the silky wine and not the main player. Structurally, easily as good as a Dog Point or Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and then kicked up levels higher in finesse. Amazing wine.
EGON MULLER 2016 SCHARZHOFBERGER KABINETT – Lots of petrol and lemon-lime on the nose along with high acidity and a ton of herbaciousness. At first, I thought I had left some Silex in my glass and they were blending so I finished my glass, rinsed it out with water, and had another pour. Same thing. This is the only time I’ve gotten an herbacious note from a German Riesling and I’ve gotta be honest, it was so fascinating it literally has me thinking about blending my own NZ SB and German Riesling Kabinett together just to see if I can match this. Absolutely delicious and eye-opening for me. Might be really hard to go back to a regular German Riesling after this.
JOSEPH MAGNUS TRIPLE CASK FINISHED STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY – This Bourbon whiskey is finished in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry and Cognac casks. No age statement but Internet says it’s rumored to be 8 to 9 years of age. Rich brown color in the glass, deeper and more vibrant than the translucent dark brown or regular bourbons. Sweet fruit immediately hits on first sip followed by typical caramel corn flavors. A bit of a hard bite on the finish. This seems really young with the casking being used to smooth out the edges that long aging would and should normally do. Flavors are great, the casking seems to benefit bourbon even better than it does Scotch whisky. I’d love to see this with a lot more age on it. And I’d really love to see more cask finished Bourbons. It is overdue that the stuff be given the same prestige treatment as Scotch.
And that amazing lineup concluded the first day of DortaFest IV. One sleep later and we’d crack open some more bottles.