TN: Brief impressions on the week passed: Update

2006 Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage - Decidedly old-school in approach and execution. A rustic, earthy, funky bottle of wine with, at present, a bit too much acidity to drink alone. I enjoy the flavors and tannins, but the acid is difficult. That said, I could see it pairing very nicely with some French “country” cuisine. If anyone has experience with these wines, will the acidity calm down over time?

2007 Weingut Hirsch Riesling Heiligenstein Zobring/Kamtal - Gorgeous bottle of riesling. Intensely flavored, well-balanced and laser-like, long finish. Jorge posted on this a while back and I’m glad he did - because it led me to open the first of my case of this wine.

2006 Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon Javernieres - A great example of what the gamay grape is capable of in the right climat and hands. Deep, complex, earthy wine that has the stuffing to age for quite a while. If people scoff at Beaujolais, serve them this wine.

2002 Merus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - Last time I had a bottle of this wine, I was disappointed and had to hope it was in a bad stage. I think it was. This one was great. Settling into a long period of integration and balance, I think, it was big and bold but yet suave and polished. A delight.

2005 Kobalt Napa Valley (Coombsville non-AVA) Cabernet Sauvignon - This one surprised me because it seems to be shut down. Lots of tannic bite on the finish and the nose and palate are quite tight. If you have these, wait a couple of years - they seemed to have passed their brash, bold youth and are in an awkward adolescence. But the stuffing is there for a promising adulthood.

Drink Dard & Ribo young as the low to no sulfur program ensures they are best drink young.

Desvignes is great and they age astonishingly well. I loaded up on the '05’s.

I wish I had loaded up on '05 Beaujolais. Now it’s all gone. I prefer the '07 vintage to the '06 and will be on the look out for the Desvignes. How are the '07s from them, Lyle?

Steve-how much was the Dard & Ribo and can you still get it anywhere?

Hey Steve!
The no-sulfur thing about Dard & Ribo definitely makes aging them chancey (and also I guess kind of makes them half old-school, half hipster new-school), but I’m rolling the dice on a few of them. If you see the Crozes-Hermitage Les Rouges des Baties bottling, I think it’s a big upgrade over the basic Crozes and in '06 was just a notch below the Hermitage.
Loved that Hirsch. Wine Library’s price on it almost felt like stealing.

Hey, Keith, good to see you here. I just pimped you on Twitter and hour or so ago:

Complexity in wine is GOOD, right? Another opinion: http://bit.ly/TgXuk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; #wine #purity #ketchup

“2006 Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage - Decidedly old-school in approach and execution. A rustic, earthy, funky bottle of wine with, at present, a bit too much acidity to drink alone. I enjoy the flavors and tannins, but the acid is difficult. That said, I could see it pairing very nicely with some French “country” cuisine. If anyone has experience with these wines, will the acidity calm down over time?”

Steve, is ANY self respecting Crozes really meant for drinking alone? It’s like the tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park: “He doesn’t want to be fed…he wants to HUNT!”. Those wines are not only made for but DESERVE some great rustic cuisine be it French, Oaxacan or Mongolian Hot Pot Yak Stew.

Welcome to the board Keith, hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us.

Cool! I’m still trying to figure out twitterspeak.
As it happens I learned about the book referenced in that post from Thomas P.

Thanks Steve!

“Cool! I’m still trying to figure out twitterspeak.”

Follow me @WineExpo and learn from my mistakes, grasshopper…

Sorry for the thread drift but we need to greet every new guy like the Scots did the defecting Irish in Braveheart…

Hey Keith. Now that you have joined us, I will make it a point to add the word “Spoofalated” in any tasting note that I post of a wine I am sure you would hate. That will save you the trouble of reading them. The good thing about this site, is that when you get a apologist poster really pissed off, neither Squires nor Parker are there to save him and nuke you. [gheyfight.gif]

“Hey Keith. Now that you have joined us, I will make it a point to add the word “Spoofalated” in any tasting note that I post of a wine I am sure you would hate. That will save you the trouble of reading them. The good thing about this site, is that when you get a apologist poster really pissed off, neither Squires nor Parker are there to save him and nuke you.”

I would appreciate the heads up too, Jack. Reminds me of a shop in Milano where the guy had lots of the best old school stuff on shelves marked “I Migliori Vini Italiani” and then had Syrupico and Barhinoresco and other such travesties on a shelf with the condiments and labeled “Vini Marmellati”…

Is ‘spoofalated’ similar to what I call ‘engineered’, like Quilceda Creek or Monbousquet?

Yes.

Then I shall adopt that term in honor of one of our newest members!

‘Spoofalated’ it is! Sounds better than ‘engineered’ anyway.

Steve, great notes on the Merus and Kobalt. The rest I have zero clue…

Spoofalated Todd is the term that Keith and others have used to describe the style of wines of Michel Rolland and others who some believe do engineer their wines like Dr. Frankenstein. Yes, Monbousquet that Keith once posted a CT note (98 Monbo) that was one of the funniest I have ever read is in the spoofalated camp.
My first Michel Rolland spoofalated wine review was tonight
2005 La Vieille Cure although it did not taste engineered to me but actually very pretty.

Keith! Glad you made it over to the bright side. I hoped you would.

Ben - I think I paid in the mid-20s for the Dard & Ribo. I don’t think it’s around anymore. Wine Searcher shows a place in Sparks, NV and one if Virginia that have it presently. But we can pop one sometime.

Roberto - I just wanted to warn people so they wouldn’t be needlessly disappointed.

Hey, I hate spoof wines as much as the next guy (okay, somewhat more than the next guy), but I’m far from an early adopter of the term.
Here’s Dressner on the etymology - http://www.datamantic.com/joedressner/comment/1788/" onclick=“window.open(this.href);return false;
It’s frequently misspelled as “spoofilated” which has actually struck me as a superior form, since it parallels “mutilated” – which is the essence of spoofulation.
I’ll plug my own contribution to the lore here. Rockss and Fruit: The Evolution of Spoofilation” onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;