As has happened in the past a storage client treated the MWC wine storage employees to dinner at Northern New Jersey Italian restaurant Rezza. The owner John is a wine lover and also participated. Wines provided by all attendees. Food was great as always. We had three official flights, served semi-blindly (not uniformly wrapped). First off was a starter white…
2002 Domaine Macle Château-Chalon Jura. Offers a flat yellow coloration, watery rims, all but devoid of shine. Semi-Sherried nose, very high-toned with smokiness and salted/cured meats, only fruit is green apple, seems to want to come off as more savory than sweet. In the mouth it’s light to medium-bodied, tannic and freshly yeasty. Borderline fruity for what it is, the green apple joined by apricot and orange peel. No lack of saline and crushed seashells either. Turns more to that salami aspect towards the finish and as an aftertaste. Pretty much hitting it. 620 ml bottle.
Flight of whites served with mostly seafood appetizers.
2014 Beneduce Vineyards Chardonnay “Barrel Fermented” New Jersey. Clean light straw yellow, transparent with green flecks. Hint of coconut flakes to the nose, lemon meringue, not especially stony and doesn’t offer a “sense of place,” clean melon, apricot, pear fruit scents. Medium-bodied, spicy and here the oak cream is more obvious. Apricot, red apple, melon to poached pear fruit. The acidity is moderate at best leaving it with a gentle mouth feel. While not complex very easy to drink.
1998 Trimbach Riesling “Cuvée Frédéric Émile” Alsace. Color getting onto amber and showing age, not dull but not shiny either. The nose is curiously subdued and close to laconic, oil/grease slick, orange marmalade, pear and other orchard fruits, good overall fullness, almost prettier than expected. Medium-bodied, muscular with dry extract, very erect bearing. Full mix of orange marmalade, rubber with savory herbs. Takes a tropical turn with pineapple and papaya flavors next to the base peach. Somewhat astringent finish but that’s a quibble. This bottle shows a wine on the back half of its maturity plateau.
2001 López de Heredia “Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva” Rioja. Maturing gold color, decent clarity but visually lifeless. Smoky nose, somewhat flat rather than penetrating, splash of naval orange zest, hint of rubber, medicinal moments, the oak toast drying out and knitting in, good persistence. Medium-bodied, very tactile and grippy. Pressed flowers, lavender, vanilla bean with a prick of sour lemon. Shows signs of becoming more savory. Really stays on you, forces you to pay attention to it, no shaking it off the palate. More oily through the finish. As it warmed remained steady and didn’t change much. Suspect it’s heading towards maturation peak. 90% Viura, 10% Malvasia.
2017 Château de la Roche-Aux-Moines (Nicolas Joly) Savennières “Coulée de Serrant Clos de la Coulée de Serrant”. Clean gold hue, decent shine, strong rims. Lightly honeyed nose which accentuates the rich peach to apricot fruit scents, some stone dust but smells like a newborn, all happy and engaging with no sense of where it’s going. Medium-bodied with good firmness and showing minimal, if any, oak. At times close to chalky. It’s the primary fruit in control right now, maraschino cherry on top of ripe orchard fruit. Easy drinking but tends to sweetness, not heavy per se, just sweet. Which leaves one with an impression of simplicity where there’s likely more happening under the fruit, you just can’t get to it yet.
Much to everyone’s surprise the Beneduce got the most votes in a very close race. There wasn’t much qualitative spread in the flight.
Flight of “pasta reds” up next…
Wine #1 was flawed and over the hill. Perhaps “cooked” at some stage in its life.
1964 Francesco Rinaldi Barbaresco. Crystal clear and unblemished liquid, dark purple core running to rust red rims with a hint of yellow. Nose leans towards barnyard floor, black smoke and mushroom, the fruit all but entirely overshadowed by tertiary elements, add in some shoe polish and finding it too volatile for my liking. Medium to light-bodied, feels like it shed a lot weight over time. Here the dried fruit nature concentrates the cherry, plum, prune and gets it closer to the fore. Nutty, with clove like spice, fried orange peels, floral in a medicinal cast. Nice long finish if it’s also clearly tiring. Good aged profile.
2009 Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino. Bright ruby-violet hue, highly buffed shine with fine clarity. The nose is a little leathery, fills in with licorice and a floral mist, cocoa, very pleasant but oddly not much length, more easygoing than anything else. Light-bodied, displays sinewy tannin as well as nice fluidity until the semi-astringent finish. Candied cherry, raspberry to almost blueberry fruit. Comes up with a floral swirl through the finish. Might be faulted for lack of complexity, however, very user friendly and agreeable wine.
2016 Piemaggio Chianti Classico “Le Fioraie”. Violet to bright cranberry red in hue, clean with excellent brilliance. Great swirling action to the nose, yet gets close to angular, fresh leather, herbs, red fruited, really direct to the point of terseness. Light to medium-bodied, nicely acidic with some tannic kick to boot. The liveliness of the mixed berry fruit an attractive selling point. Crushed roses. Youthfully direct with a well-mannered rusticity. Can’t see it changing a great deal with bottle age but it should accentuate what’s already there.
I am pretty sure this ended up in a tie between the Rinaldi and Ciacci with maybe the latter by a nose. Very different wines so tough comparison.
Then flight of “steak wines”…
Wine #1 was corked, turned out to be 1996 Léoville-Barton which was a shame of course. During the hubbub a bottle of 2003 of the same was substituted but I somehow didn’t capture it in a note. It drank well, not particularly mature and didn’t seem roasted to me. Just got lost in the shuffle of subbing out the corked bottle.
2010 Congruence Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville “Reserve”. Opaque black core, trim and glowing, thin magenta rims. Youthful nose of coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa as well s ripe cassis, plum, cherry scents, trace leather and hint of green pepper, strong overall lift if not very giving and open. Full-bodied, thick and juicy black fruits get balanced out by a deft tannic punch. Very floral yet not especially pretty. Chewiness wins out in the end. Unevolved and remains pretty oaky to boot. Fruit should last should anyone decide to age further.
1995 Calon-Ségur Saint-Estèphe Bordeaux. Youthful garnet to violet coloration, thin rimmed. Graphite, slate and general stone predominate in the nose, damp leather, licorice, steady red currant, cherry to plum fruit scents, has a relaxed sort of complexity. Medium-bodied and veering to light, still darn tannic leading into a drying finish. Yet, in turn it’s floral and citrusy with pleasing slate and cedar nuances. Lots of black fruits, ripe through to the end. Overall has some tanginess, does relax a little by the finish. To me doesn’t need a decant, shows well as-is and arguably lost some aromatics due to decanting. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc.
1966 Château de Sales Pomerol Bordeaux. Purple core, filmy sort of opacity, broad light ruby rims, while it looks older not necessarily its age. Medicinal nose, witch hazel, leather, dried cherries to raspberry fruit scents, possesses good nostril fullness if short. Full-bodied, sluggish and on the flat side even if there’s plenty of plum, cherry fruit left. Wildflowers, leather, mild smokiness. Speaks more of well-aged Bordeaux than any particular house style. Sour finish, to me in keeping with where it is on the maturation curve. Unspecified percentages of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc.
Another flight where all the wines were of quality. In the end the Calon-Ségur emerged the victor.
At this stage I was very full but dessert was on the way. An older (2001?) Togni “Ca’ Togni” dessert Cabernet accompanied the food and was very ripe and fruity as you’d expect, enjoyably close to over the top. So after about four hours the curtains came down on another fun night at Rezza.