Leo's Blind Wine Dinner at Txikito - Abbatucci, Rhys, etc.

2005 Huet Petillant
this is showing much better than the 2002 currently. Bright delicate fruit, soft, pleasant mousse, altogether a delight.

2011 Abbatucci Ajaccio Blanc Faustine - Vermentino, Granite
uninteresting, bordering on unpleasant at first, with air it became rather nice, though not in the same class as the next three wines
2010 Abbatucci Barbarossa (Barbarossa, Granite)
served too cold at first (my bad), after warming up it it was its usual beautiful spicy self. delicious
2010 Abbatucci Diplomate d’Empire Blanc - 37%Vermentinu, 20% Rossata bianca, 19% Biancu Gentile, 14% Genovese, 10% Brustiano, Granite
most people’s favorite, supple, complex, excellent
2010 Abbatucci General de la Revolution Blanc - 25% Carcajolu Biancu; 25% Paga Debbiti; 20% Riminese; 15% Rossola Brandica, 10% Biancone and 5% Vermentinu, Granite
despite a double decant this wasn’t showing much on first pour. by the end of the evening it had opened up dramatically. while perhaps still not as interesting as the Diplomat its weightless power was very attractive

1995 Scherrer OMV Zinfandel
lovely, pure, elegant zin. I’d drink this any day, though I’d also say there’s no reason to hold the 1995 any longer.
1995 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel
this on the other hand could stand another few years. earthy, tasty, good zin (I preferred the Scherrer)
1995 Turley Zinfandel Duarte
a hot, alcoholic confected mess. And when I tell you that was Jay Hack’s opinion you can just imagine what I thought. When I saw this on winebid I couldn’t resist adding it to the 1995 Zinfandel flight.

2004 Rhys Home Pinot
gorgeous complete wine. If my other Rhys pinots turn into something like this I’ll be very, very happy. Everyone at the table except for Leo loved it. No worries about holding longer but there’s also no worries about drinking now. A wow wine.
2004 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle Musigny Amoureuses
This was an interesting wine to serve blind. Knowing what it was I noticed the green right away and expected people to start guessing “2004 Burgundy”. But no one picked it out and almost everyone enjoyed it, with a few people preferring it to the Home. I liked it, elegant, lithe, but found the green prominent enough to be distracting. I wonder what I would have thought of it blind?

2010 Rhys Bearwallow
Very good wine, I find the Bearwallow continues to improve each year.
2007 Scherrer Platt (Goldridge soils series - soils formed in material weathered from weakly consolidated sandstone)
Disappointing. I greatly preferred the 2006 of this.
2006 Copain Kiser En Haut
Surprisingly (as I have very fond memories of the last time I had this wine) this somewhat of a non-entitiy. The point of this flight was to have both the Bearwallow and the Kiser En Haut together as they have the same soil

2010 Abbatucci Ministre Imperial Rouge (22% Sciaccarellu, 18% Niellucciu, 15% Carcajolu-Neru, 15% Montanccia, 12% Morescono, 10% Morescola, 8% Aleatico, Granite)
Beautiful, gorgeous wine. Complex, loaded with flavor and complexity, rich without being heavy.
1998 Chateau Magdelaine
horribly, horriby corked

Equipo Navazos La Bota #12 PX
Rich, complex, loaded with dates and figs. Sweet but not cloying. Along with the #11 one of my 2 all time favorite PXs. Some more information available here: http://www.equiponavazos.com/en/12en.htm


A word must now be said about the food at Txikito. And that word is “Go!” Some wonderful, wonderful food along with charming service.

Thanks for the Txikito mention. Yep, we have a small family dinner at Txikito tomorrow night. I liked pretty much everything that I had there before. Anything that stood out for you during your dinner?

Thanks for the notes Jay. Gotta have those Abbatucci wines when blind tasting.

If they still have the dry aged steak (a special they got in yesterday) order that. Great stuff. And of course no meal is complete without the Kroketas. Several people asked if we could have the meal consist entirely of those. The foie gras terrine and the Láminas de Setas were other standouts.

Jay,

Very interesting lineup! I had no clue on the Corsican wines, having never had any before. My favorites of the night were the 04 Rhys Home and the 04 Drouhin Amoureuses. The Rhys was a very complete and even youthful wine at age 9. A strong showing. I did not find the Drouhin nearly as green as you did so it did not scream 04 Burgundy to me. I even found it to have a fair amount of sweetness to the fruit. perhaps not the best vintage for Amoureuses, but a very pretty wine.

Thanks again,

Josh

I tried the Barbarossa about 9-12 months? ago on a recommendation from the sommellier at Marea. That sparked my interest so I’ve been sampling some the less expensive bottlings since then (the Rouge Frais is a favorite at around $20) and this was my chance to try the more expensive ones.

I finished my last bottle of 04 home this year. I agree, if the rest of the Rhys wines turn out like this, there are going to many happy people around here.

Thanks for the notes. Sounds like a great time.

The 1st bottle I opened at the end of 2011 was also an awesome wine for me. My last 2 bottles opened in 2012 and this past August were just not the same wine. I very much hope more recent vintages do not behave in a similar fashion.

Anyone have experience with the Abbatucci Le General or Ministre Imperial?? I have a couple of each of the '10s on order and although I love the rose, if not a bit pricey, I have no experience with any of the other wines. I’m guessing these probably need patience.

Well, as mentioned above the Ministre is drinking wonderfully right now. The General needed a fair amount of time to open up.

The General Revolution nor the Ministre Rouge are the same wines. I’m guessing these are a cousin to the wines I’m asking about, but thanks for trying to be helpful.

Jay - I opened a 1995 Scherrer OMV a few months ago, and found a good amount of fruit along with black pepper and earth as well as bright acidity. When I saw Fred in July and told him I had a bottle at home, he advised drinking it. It was the best and most haunting Zin I’ve had.

One can really see the improvement in the Rhys Bearwallow vineyard over the years. The first vintage was with the original vines and viticulture. Newer vintages have had all sorts of changes done, and the resulting tannins, stem profile, mouth feel, in the finished wine have been refined each vintage as the Rhys team learns about the site.

Every one talks about the magic of the 2004 Home, I need to find a bottle of this.

Then it’s my fault for not realizing that there was more than one red with the word Ministre in the title. This was the Ministre Imperial, I was just being lazy in typing the complete name. I’ll fix it above.

I’ve never seen an Abbatucci named Le General as opposed to General de la Revolution. Is it imported to the US?

Hmm, the Kermit Lynch website doesn’t show a Le General nor does it show any other wine with Ministre in the title:

Check out CT. The naming conventions used by this winery are confusing as hell. Mine are the Cuvée Collection series and as you mentioned these are not cheap, so I’m hoping for the best.

I was not a fan of the '04 Rhys home (along with Leo). To me, it tasted concocted, much like a Williams Selyem, although no one else agreed with me. I had no idea the Burgundy was a 2004. It wasn’t great, and was a bit green, but was ok and enjoyable, unlike most '04s.

Steve,

2004 Home was my WOTN,

Jay,

I loved 2004 Rhys and was disappointed by Drouhin Amoureuses considering its pedigree. Blind, I thought of it as good Bourgogne.

Jay - I love the fact that you included the Scherrer OMV in that company. Love the fact that the 1995 was still a beauty. Love the fact that the OMV held her own!

Sorry Leo, I ws going on Jay’s notes above. My favorite was the Ridge zin, followed by the 2010 Abbatucci Diplomate d’Empire Blanc and the Drouhin 2004 Amoureuses, which I like better than you did.