Dinner at Vinnie's again - a great glass list

Dinner at Vinnie’s – the new glass list

Conundrum Wine Bistro in Freeport. Vinnie serves truly outstanding food from a very eclectic menu, reasonably priced. He has 40 wines btg and half g. His bottle list hasn’t changed (except for the vintages) in ~15 years, far from everything is there, and the only way to get his sensational values in bottles and old bottles is to go into the temp-controlled wine room with him, browse and discuss. This is always an extremely rewarding experience. I go there with everybody from beer-swilling friends and family to extremely finicky wine professionals. Everybody always leaves happy.

No visit to the wine room last night; Sally and I split five half-glasses (well, actually I drank most of everything). We were happy. Teetotal son Matt drove home.

The wines (very abbreviated notes; I was paying more attention to family than food and wine):

2016 Santa Duc Gigondas ‘Lieux-Dits’ – Fresh, tender, ripe, lush, opulent, deeply classic southern Rhone at a high level. Rated 90, drink now through 2030, could improve a point, but so good right now.

2016 Arneis Bruno Giacosa – Whoa! The aromas are perfectly ripe, full of casaba melon, ginger and flowers. The palate is surprisingly opulent, lush with enough acidity for excellent balance. This is extremely fine, perfectly mature, offering a long finish and enough intricacy for an Escher drawing. Rated 92.5. I was tempted to get a 2nd half-glass, but f*cked up instead.

2017 Tement Sauvignon Blanc Sudsteiermark – This smells like grapefruit juice, tastes like grapefruit juice and offers nothing but searing acidity with a touch of alcohol to add to the burn. Reminds me of NZ SB. Rated PS (Putrid Swill). Please note that this wine is not flawed, it is just made in a style that I find better than death but worse than water. I don’t send back unflawed wine because it is putrid swill, so took a sip and left the glass sitting there.

2016 Piloto Touriga Nacional – This is from Portugal (duhh), sorry I didn’t catch the region or anything else. But glad I ordered it. The aromas offer vivid red fruit, mostly wild strawberry with hints of cherry. The palate is lively, almost crackling with acidity, but restrained and harmonious. Vivacity and conviviality are the impressions, with exuberant fruit under control. If a little juvenile and simplistic, still a pleasure to hang with for 15 – 20 minutes. Rated 91.5, drink up young.

2016 Aglianico Terradora di Paolo – Bright red cherries in the aromas, with both floral and earthy hints; a little musty, but not in a bad way, adding depth. The finish is somewhat foresquare. This is a little richer than the previous, but lacks its impetuous friendliness. I should have had the other one first, but had no idea what I was ordering. This is still really good, rated 87.5, could improve slightly in a year or two.

I think I’ve finally finalized my rating system:
F = Flawed
PS = Putrid Swill – no formal flaws but unpleasant; undrinkable to me.
80 – 84 [judged by full points] - good wine
85 – 89.5 [judged by half points] – very good wine
90 – 94.5 [judged by half points] – fine wine
95 – 100 [judged by full points] – great wine

Dan Kravitz

Kudos, I can honestly say I have never rated a BTG wine.

#commitment

PS. I prefer DNPIM to PS …must be the East Coast vs. West Coast.

For me, “better than death but worse than water” really resonated. Fun read.

Love the 2016 Arneis from Giacosa. A great value for $25 at retail.

Ed

+1 re the Giacosa Arneis tho it is kinda hard to find at retail and have never seen it on a BTG list in a resto

to Kris,

You’ve never rated a btg wine? There are hundreds of restaurants in this country with great lists, and many if not most of them pay equal attention to their btg. Going almost as far as you can go diagonally, the legendary Bern’s has been offering (commercial post: I import this) Domaine du Pegau Cuvee Reservee btg. Within the past year I’ve had a '99 Savennieres at a Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan wine bar and a 10 year old Chablis at Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua, NY. Closer to your home, I know that Wild Ginger is sometimes dissed by locals, but I remember it when there was one location below the Market. Lately they pour Chaleur Blanc btg, IMO one of the world’s very great white wines.
As far as tasting terms, I don’t think this is East Coast-West Coast, this is Brooklyn-Seattle (I’m of Brooklynese origin). If we were talking Los Angeles - Burlington, YMWV (your mileage would vary [snort.gif] ).

The Giacosa Arneis was $7 half-glass, $13 glass (2.5 or 5 ounces, definitely generous pour on my half glass). Yes, thank you very much, I’ll be back.

Dan Kravitz

Honestly, I mentally catalog places with nice wine by the glass lists and frequent them, but I have never taken a note, I have never really thought about it frankly (nor been to Bern’s). As to Wild Ginger, still one of my favorite places, food and wine, but I usually shop their bottle list.

Kris,

I guess it may be an ITB thing. I rarely taste anything in a restaurant without scribbling a brief note. Of course I love the wines I sell, but have a basement that, frankly, is depressingly full of my own stuff with not enough of OPW (other people’s wine). Path of least resistance, cost, etc. So I really enjoy and take note of the wines I drink in restaurants that have fine lists, both glass and bottle. No, I do not post on the KJ Chardonnay I had a glass of in an airport restaurant.

Dan Kravitz

Guess I may do the same, albeit not thru notes, as I take a mental note of wines and may buy a few past vintages to see if its consistent as a producer…how I got into Mocagatta, Produttori, Negly, among others.

It sure did. Made me laugh, Dan. You really liked the 16 Giacosa Roero, eh? OK, I’ll see if I can find it somewhere.

All best,

Mike

Thanks for the notes. I think I have a couple of those exact same bottles of Gigondas in the cellar. Gotta pop one soon.