TN: A Good Tuesday, Vol III: The MixTape (Billecart, Rayas, ESJ (x2), Kalin, Shafer-Frolich GG, Noble Wine)

Got together with some of the usual suspects last night for an eclectic mix of bottles. No theme, we all just showed up with bottles. Still 95 degrees here everyday, perhaps that influenced the number of whites that showed up. Several blind wines, always fun.
A good night, some excellent bottles. Thanks, guys.

Once again, I scribbled some notes on my phone from comments I heard around the table.

Brad brought the wine revelation of the year in a wine from two hours up the road in Clayton, GA in the Blue Ridge Mtns. Best GA wine I’ve ever tasted.

A GOOD TUESDAY, VOL III: THE MIXTAPE (BILLECART, RAYAS, ESJ, KALIN, SHAFER-FROELICH) - The Gerneral Muir (10/2/2019)

• 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne
  This was really terrific with apple pie, lemon, creamy mouthfeel. A richness to the fruit (reminded of '06 Comtes). Becomes bready (yeasty) and heady with some air. Very good showing.
• 2011 Edmunds St. John Heart of Gold - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County
  This was uncharacteristically uninteresting for a Steve Edmunds wine and it seemed tired out like its best days had passed. Wasn’t really off, just never came into anything other than seeming waxy slightly oxidative.
• 2007 Schäfer-Fröhlich Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  Yow. Intensity. Fresh nose that is more earthy, not entirely riesling-like with a grassy and herbal thing, some peach. Really powerful, I noted the extract that just lingers on the palate. Chewy. Long…Will probably outlive us all.
• 1995 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée W - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Livermore Valley
  What to say about these 90s Kalins? Another great bottle. Amazing concentration still. Slightly oxidative, but there is an acidity that adds freshness. Brown butter and butterscotch notes, some hints of bitters and honeyed flavors. Becomes more honeyed with air. Really interesting. Very good.
• 2017 Noble Wine Cellar Petit Manseng - USA, Georgia
  Revelation of the Year! Thanks Brad! The best Georgia (state) wine I have ever tasted! Blind it was called old world. Almost Sauv blanc-like. Highly aromatic, peach and apricot and a really lively acidic spine. Crisp and fresh, almost seems it can age a bit and stretch its legs. Highly drinkable and one to follow. From vineyard in NC, bottled in Clayton, GA.
  
  
  
• 2005 Edmunds St. John Syrah Bassetti Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, San Luis Obispo County
  Terrific northern Rhone-like nose that is meaty and peppery, slightly funky. Palate was rather tight, like the wine had closed down hard, or was just in an awkward phase. A+ nose. Not sure after that. Having many of Steve’s Syrahs over the years, was expecting more, and this was not a great showing. Others liked it more than I did. Maybe its me.
• 2005 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  Awesome Rayas sauce. Garrigue and pepper. Kirsch. Super duper sexy. Palate is like silk. Long. Burgundian. Intense presence without weight. Elegant. Still youthful, the palate hasn’t totally fleshed out. Love it.

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Great lineup and great notes.

It’s been several years since I’ve had a Kalin chardonnay. They’re a fun experience, though my recollection is they are pretty rich and off-dry, almost more like a dessert style wine, so not something for every occasion. But fun. I think maybe I liked their aged semillon and sauvignon blanc a little more?

Thanks, Chris. Agree on your Kalin take. This group has had several nice bottles of the '90s Chards the past couple years, but the '01 Sauvignon Blanc was the one that first turned heads a few years back. The Chardonnay last night wasn’t too rich, it read more like aged Jura Chardonnay, so that was cool.

Btw, a note on the Noble Wine Petit Manseng - the vineyard is technically in North Carolina, within a mile or so of the GA-NC border, in an AVA (Upper Hiawassee Highlands) which spans the two… and the winemaker is based in Georgia and produced the wine in Georgia. For Atlanta peeps, I first tried this at Empire State South - Grubbs is a fan.

Do you get any tobacco notes in the wine?

Well, not exactly tobacco, but that’s a whole other story.

Not mine, counselor. Had the 95 Cuvee D a couple weeks ago and it was splendidly balanced, with the only sweetness being a kind of dried plantain accent, but mostly just long and meditative. There isn’t anything like it out there. Mind, I’m with you in loving the Sem and Sauv Blanc even more than the Chards.

I like your call of an aged Jura Chard, Dennis—that definitely resonates with what I tasted in mine.

I should get a few of those Kalin whites and revisit, it’s been a few years now.

Bumping this as Brad did a nice piece on Noble Wine Cellar for the AJC.