Moved into my new apartment - opened some celebratory bottles.
2008 Schramsberg Vineyards Brut Rosé- USA, California
A nice rose with lithe strawberry and rose tones on the palate. It had nice energy with a fine bubble and great acidity - thought this was a great sub-$40 rose. (91 pts.)
2006 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Hohereck- Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
This was awesome - far superior to the other two bottles I had. Much more mineral and acidity to this one, it really had great cut and complexity. Great floral and pear tones on the palate with some nice tropical fruit too. (93 pts.)
2010 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Probably the best sub $30 bottle of syrah in the world. Love its floral and meaty character - packaged together in a mid-weight style. Wasn’t as overtly exotic as the 2009 cuvee, but this has more elegance and acidity. Great stuff…6 bottles won’t be enough. (92 pts.)
Yummo, Tooch. Ditto on the 2010 Gonon, with the stemmy spice a wonderful compliment to the fruit.
Hope that you settle in well in your new abode.
Cheers.
2010 Gonon just kicks ass. Nice to see a good note on the 06 Hohereck too, I may open one of my bottles this summer. Tried any of the more recent vintages of Hohereck btw?
Hope that Keller showed better than the one you opened at Grand Sich last year. Good drinking and notes as always.
That was my last bottle of Alzinger - sad in a lot of ways. Despite having a good deal of familiarity with FX Pichler (in my mind) I’ve neglected exploring the other great Austrian producers - Alzinger included. Feel like I have to buy some 2010s…maybe a Steinertal horizontal (Pichler, Hirtzberger, Alzinger)?
I actually didn’t drink any of the Keller back at Grand Sich due to my nausea (note to self - avoid crab cakes on Amtrak) - but I liked this one a lot. Certainly a plusher style, no surprise there, but thought the acidity gave it nice cut. The prices of these Keller’s is ridiculous though…won’t be buying them if the prices don’t come back to earth.
Based on a bottle of the Absterde consumed a couple of weeks ago, I think your note is spot on–with two caveats. First, I was surprised at how well this was drinking, but it was still very young and I believe it has much more to show with several more years in the bottle. Second, I think I liked it more than you did.
Having some more of the Gonon from last night, tonight. Lots more iodine and anise tonight compared to the more floral profile from yesterday - another great showing. If I can control myself, I’ll save some for day 3.
rick - with the 10% case discount at Chambers, my bottles fell under $30. should have mentioned that earlier, my bad…think it was $32 and change before.
Yep, $32 prediscount at Chambers.
NYC is the one market (for the moment) that doesn’t flow through Kermit, so the pricing is “different” than through the glorious three-tier system.
Nice to see you drinking well, Matt! Totally agree with you on the comparison of 2010 to 2009. It should really be fun to drink side by side in another 5-10 years (if we have the patience).
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Still not bad for a very good St Joseph…