Four of us were supposed to dine at & Sons in Brooklyn and buy aged American wines off of their list. So seven of us dined at Uncle Lou in Chinatown and BYOB’d 12 bottles, 11 of which ranged from good to great (one was corked).
Thanks to Victor Hong for recommending the restaurant and ordering the food. The service and food were both outstanding. While some brought their own stems, the restaurant provided decent quality extras as needed.
We had five board members there, I ask the others to please also post. Besides myself and Eileen, the contributing members were Joe and Julie Grassa, Victor Hong, Jeff Grossman and Jay Miller.
Notes in random order; we passed everything around after the lazy susan became too overloaded to spin. Brief imprecise notes. I am not sure of a few of the vintages, please correct me!
1994 Liparita Cabernet Sauvignon - Classic Napa Cab. Refined black currant, plummy fruit, tannins resolved, polite, New-World friendly, clearly Napa despite a nice hint of tobacco. Rated 92.
2015 Selbach Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Feinherb Ur Alte Reben - Decanted 2½ hours ahead. Lovely fragrant aromas with a faint hint of petrol the only thing showing age. Flowery, mature, moderately sweet. Fine. Rated 91.
2006 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino - I think opinions were very divided on three excellent Italians. This offered nice balance and density, some pronounced licorice, a tiny bit acescent, but still very good. Rated 90.
2003 Elena Fucci Aglianico del Vulture Titolo - Kudos here to the producer for a very credible wine in a blazing vintage. There are black cherries behind prunes, this amazingly retains some freshness, but finishes a little dry. I think others liked it better. Rated 88.
1998 San Giusto a Rentennano Percarlo - A brilliant wine, youngest and best of the 3 Italians. The flavor profile is almost Nebbiolo-like; lots of roses, but tobacco instead of tar. The heft and solidity are pure Sangiovese, echoes of fine Bordeaux in the structure. Rated 94.
2011 Carlisle Zinfandel Russian River Valley ‘Martinelli Road’ -
Surprisingly this opened stolid as much as solid, with all of the fruit and components, but shut down. This opened over time, it’s fine but just wasn’t in a very good mood. Rated 89.
1993 Ravenswood Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ‘Old Hill Vineyard’ -
The aromas were fully secondary, no hint of excess age. The palate offered roses, brambles, then currants. This bottle did the Zinfandel to Claret trick exceptionally well. Not just polite, but elegant. Rated 93.
2012? Scherrer Zin Alexander Valley - This was a pleasant glass, but closed and rather simple. I don’t think it was corked, but it was muted. Rated 85?
2020? Raul Perez Bierzo ‘Vizcaina de la Vitoriana’ - This had lovely aromatics, rather delicate and floral. Almost contradicted by considerable heft in the palate, some serious weight I don’t associate with Galician red. A bit disjointed today, still a pleasure to drink and should have years of improvement ahead. Rated 90, up to 4 points of improvement possible. I do not understand this wine.
2004 Moreau Chablis Grand Cru ‘Les Clos, Clos des Hospices’ - Stunning fresh aromas of flint, cactus and other flowers, sage, straw. The palate was rich and weightless, the balance unreal, the finish almost eternal. There is both sinuosity and simplicity. Very great wine at peak. Rated 98.
2019? Voge Cornas - [I am uncertain of both vintage and any further designation] - The aromas were lovely, already showing some secondary character. The palate was rich with black cherry fruit, not showing the development of the aromas. Rich and satisfying, but clearly will develop nuance. Rated 91, will improve 3 - 5 points in 10 years.
WOTN: Chablis, hands down.
Runners-up (in order):
Percarlo
Ravenswood
Liparita
Thanks to everybody for a wonderful evening.
Dan Kravitz
Rare enough perhaps in a Ries?