TN: White Wines: Ygec, Pur Sang, Heidsieck BdB, Morlet and a bunch more.

WHITE WINE DINNER OUTSIDE DC - Wilds of Gaithersburg - outside DC (6/22/2019)

A group of 8 of us got together outside DC in the Gaithersburg. Brian and David generously offered up their beautiful house for a dinner and tasting focusing on “noble” white grapes. Again, huge thanks to Brian and Dave who really went over the top on making a great dinner for all.

Starter wines

The Moscato was a nice wine for an aperitif. The Heidsieck is a great Champagne. One of my favs. We had these with a bunch of fantastic appetizers. The pickled leeks (homemade!) were my fav.

2016 Vietti Moscato d’Asti Cascinetta Vietti - Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Moscato d’Asti
Sugar can strawberry, raspberry on the nose. Very pretty. Tasty, lighter, but definite sweetness with the hallmark light red fruits. nice opener. (87 pts.)

1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires - France, Champagne
From the recent bottling (stickers not paper label) This is has aged well in the 4 years since my last one. Very complex and toasty with great fruit with a bit more mature notes. Rich, but fresh and creamy with a great mineraility/saline aspect. Heavier bodied wine, for those that love that style. (94 pts.)

A lot of white wines

These were a bunch opened over about an hour. The Pur sang and Huet were really disappointing showings. The Ygrec was really interesting as it changed dramatically over 3-4 hours. The Weinbach was probably the best young version of this wine I’ve ever had. The Condrieu had tons of potential but was quite nice now. The chards and the Morlet just aren’t my style. The Weimar reisling was interesting as I’ve never had a finger lakes riesling this old. It was quite nice.

My favorites of the flight however were the Willm pinot gris and the Ygrec.

2010 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
This was a disappointing showing. This was just not showing well, so I’m not scoring it. Nose was very closed. Taste was mostly minerality and neutral with some lime/lemon citrus notes trying to poke though. Light/medium body. In a close/awkward phase? I dunno.

2012 Y de Yquem - France, Bordeaux
Super sulfury nose. Reminds me of heavy lube oil. Did start to get some light apricot on the nose as the night went on, but the sulfur smell never blew off. The taste changed alot as the night went on. It gained weight, viscosity and interesting flavors as it sat. Alcohol is a tad noticeable, medium heavy body near the end with sugary notes. Fruit profile of peaches, quince, and apricot was quite nice. This needs 5+years and alot of air. (94 pts.)

2013 Morlet Family Vineyards La Proportion Doree - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Strong fruit, oak oak oak on nose. This is a big wine, both on the nose and the palate. Its heavy, strong fruit, vanilla, melon, with a light bitterness. Someone below got right with toasted marshmellow. Not my style. (88 pts.)

1996 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Le Mont - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Great nose, but a touch disappointing. Good fruit and moderate brown sugar and acidity. A touch sour though. I just felt this never really hit its stride. It was a bit lost in the line-up, I think. (88 pts.)

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Lightly mature nose which was at odds with its youthful taste profile, with strong dose of oak and vanilla. Heavy body, still had solid acidity. Seemed young, needs time for (hopefully) oak integration. Well made though not my style. (92 pts.)

2013 Peter Michael Chardonnay La Carrière - USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley
Pretty typical chard nose with some light oak and vanilla, a bit of heat though. Palate was oaky, with some light white/yellow fruits. Maybe some light coffee taste?? med/heavy body with good acid. (90 pts.)

1989 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Great nose of petrol, apricot, brown sugar and a hint of mint. Rich taste, brown sugar, mature apple, great acidity. The sugar perception is very low, tastes pretty dry. Quite mature and starting to dry out at the end of the night. (92 pts.)

2017 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Cuvée Ste. Catherine - France, Alsace
Very young, bright and energetic nose. Pretty. Still very young, but very powerful and vibrant with strong fruit flavors, and an interesting bitter note. Strong acid bite. Lots of upside. (93 pts.)

2000 Fitz-Ritter Dürkheimer Abtsfronhof Gewürztraminer Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
Rather closed nose, weird for a gewrurtz. Medium body, gorgeous mature fruits. A bit of percetible sugar, mostly perceived as brown sugar. Hint of mint or herb. Quite nice (92 pts.)

2015 Vincent Cluzel Condrieu - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Sweet fruity nose with apricot and cream. Medium body, good fruit, with a nice creamy mouthfeel. Appears to have good acidity for a viognier. Very drinkable and worked well with the food. Nice wine, but I am partial to viognier. (90 pts.)

2002 Hermann J. Wiemer Johannisberg Riesling Dry - USA, New York, Finger Lakes
Classic mature reisling nose. Petrol brown apple, etc. Not super complex, but with its good acid this was maturing well! Bone dry. Felt it may have not shown as well as there were several other richer and sweeter wines in the lineup. Nice bottle of wine. Don’t be afraid to age finger lakes’ Rieslings! (90 pts.)

1999 Willm Pinot Gris Cuvée Emile Willm Reserve - France, Alsace
Beautiful mature nose. Taste was all brown sugar, apricot, mint, cinammon. Medium body, seemed to have less perception of acidity. Really really beautiful mature flavors. (94 pts.)


Dessert

Served with home made ice cream and grilled apricots. Yummy. Quite a nice dessert wine, but lacked some complexity.

1979 Klosterkeller Siegendorf Pinot Blanc Trockenbeerenauslese - Austria, Burgenland
Nose was very red fruited, with only light mature hints. Taste has sweetness and red fruit front and center with some light oxidiative notes like a banyuls or port. Some light herbal quality and some tannic dryness.
A pleasure, but no hurry to drink this. Seemed young! (92 pts.)


Alot of wines, but again, thanks to Brian and Dave for hosting a great dinner. Overall… I have to say the most impactful wines for me were the Ygrec, the Heidsieck Champagne (always a fav) and the '99 Willm pinot gris. If anyone in the DC is interested in joining us for a future dinner, message me and I’ll put you on the list!
Posted from CellarTracker

That’s quite impressive for a first post.

Nice notes.

The Huet was definitely an off-bottle. (It’s too bad as a good bottle probably would have been your WOTN. It’s a stunning wine.)

Glad to see the bottle of Wiemer included!

Huh??

Thanks for pointing that out about FL rieslings!

Yeah, I’ve been looking for older Finger Lakes rieslings for a while. They are hard to find. I was happy to find one a while back. I’ll keep looking for more. It was a pretty solid wine. I generally think rieslings need a bit of body and sweetness to really sing, but it was really nice.