TN: Party at Leo's for the Gelbs. Saxum, Pegau, Jaboulet "La Chapelle," Usseglio, Marcassin and more

Marshall and Diana Gelb graced our city recently and Leo and Connie Frokic offered up their comfy Westchester hideaway as a venue. Having met the Gelbs at a wonderful dinner at Lou and BettyLu Kessler’s two years ago, I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to catch up, so with the promise of pulled pork and grilled goodies on arrival and playing chauffeur to Abood and Veronica, I braved traffic on the Hutchinson River Parkway and headed north.

I can’t complain about the traffic. Made it there in 25 minutes. However, Mother Nature didn’t quite cooperate. It was quite a rainy day and though it had stopped by the time of Leo’s party, a bunch of us were left wondering if the low barometric pressure was tamping down the wines as for the most part, they showed poorly. While there certainly were style issues with regard to the wine, even wines I normally like showed poorly. Yet despite a rather dismal showing for the wines, one cannot help but have fun with Leo around and many thanks go to him and Connie for being such terrific hosts.

Wines are in the order I tasted them. There were a bunch of wines I didn’t get to taste. In attendance were Leo & Connie Frokic, Brent Clayton, Michel Abood and Veronica Moreno, Jay Hack and Rebecca Shenk, Kenny Shusterman and Suzzanne Camhi, Chris Kravitz, Paul & Sandy Jaouen, Gary & Cindy Alweiss and I think I’m forgetting one or two winos. Anyone else want to chime in?

Cheers,

Brad

2006 Saxum- James Berry Vineyard, Paso Robles
A blend of 45% Syrah, 38% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre.
Until my recent encounter with a Sine Qua Non Rosé, this was the front running candidate for my worst wine of the year. I mean, I guess I was a little forewarned when I saw the label listing the alcohol at 16.6%. Yet, I really was unprepared for the full assault of the alcohol shockwave that hit me when my nose approached the glass. I literally sneezed. Then, clever and snarky guy that I am, I had a bunch of my friends just put their mouths over the glass and breathe in. Almost to a person they felt like they were inhaling the fumes from a glass of bourbon, as to go along with the alcohol there’s a wicked blast of spicy oak. Is this stuff made from grapes? Jay Hack, who brought this unique, um, beverage, says there’s lots of berry fruit, but it needs time. I’m not convinced. “More rocket fuel for me,” Jay says. Rocket fuel, indeed. It seems to me that if your fruit is giving you alcohol levels like this, it’s time to plant walnuts, or start exploring the use of old, neutral barrels so the fruit has a chance. DNPIM (Do Not Put In Mouth.)

2004 Neiman- Napa Valley Red Wine, Napa Valley
220 cases produced and a blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. I’ve never heard of this producer before. I was told it was expensive. The nose shows some black currant fruit, dusty earth, some dried sage and a bit of heat. A bit non-descript and lackluster on the palate. Perhaps served a little too warm at room temperature, which was accentuating the alcohol, but the wine seems under fruited. Lots of dried herb with some wood showing, but really not too bad. The wine just really needs some fruit to help balance out some of the structure. B/B-.

2006 Carlisle- Syrah, Pelkan Ranch, Knights Valley
Sports rich aromatics of black fruit, slight funk, smoke and mocha. On the palate the wine is richly textured with plenty of red and black fruit, light spice and a strong, slightly bitter coffee note. Integrated, with good length though maybe a bit too plump. A little more acidity and a bit less oak would make it better, but this is pleasant. B.

2000 Marcassin- Pinot Noir, Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
Most folks were poo-pooing this wine, but I found it strangely compelling and liked it more and more as the evening went on. It has an intriguing blend of cola flavors and aromas with an oddly attractive celery/green note, red cherries and slight pepperiness. It shows fairly lean and high acid with a strong green streak, yet surreptitiously maintains length across the palate and on the finish. I don’t love the wine and I had to laugh when I heard what this goes for these days, but I like it and find it nicely intriguing. I’m not at all a fan of their Chardonnays, fwiw. Solid B+.

2002 Marquis D’Angerville- Volnay Champans
Showing a bit of a stern personality. There’s nice autumnal aromas of decomposing leaves, earth and cherry. The structure is a bit imposing at this stage and is dominating the fruit a bit. Nice cherry, bark and underbrush flavors. Give it some time. B+/B.

1989 Paul Jaboulet- Hermitage “La Chapelle”
I always mention that when it comes to La Chapelle, I always find these wines promise more on the nose than they deliver on the palate and this wine fits that bill. On the nose it shows just what I like about Syrah from the Northern Rhone, red cherries and raspberries, olives, pepper with just a hint of game/funkiness in a perfumed and elegant manner. Yet on the palate, while pleasant, I find these wines invariably fall a little short. With a few notable exceptions, they always seem to need a bit more fruit, but more importantly, they seem to lack a spark. I guess I find them technically well made, but maybe a bit soulless and that I see that here, even though this is showing pretty nicely. It’s feminine and perky with plenty of acidity and bright red fruit, but I wish it had the depth and personality it showed aromatically. A-/B+.

1996 Paul Jaboulet- Hermitage “La Chapelle” (from magnum)
Pretty muted aromatically, though it does show darker fruit than the '89. Higher acid with less fruit on the palate than the '89. Elegant and juicy, but it really needs some stuffing. B+/B.

2001 Pierre Usseglio- Chateauneuf du Pape, Cuvée du Mon Aïeul
My favorite wine of the night. The nose is powerful and fragrant and exhibits rich black fruit, licorice, game and hot rocks. Dense and extracted with great length, the fruit is sweet, but not jammy, but some fruit-a-phobes I know might beg to differ with that assessment. While the wine only sees old foudres and tank, there’s a dusty cocoa note that seems to manifest itself a little like new wood. Pretty tannic at this stage, so while there’s enough fruit to make it enjoyable now, I’d like to see further development and softening. I should note that a touch of heat was showing, though again, most of the wines were a little to warm. Solid A-, though I’ve had a little better showing in the past and it should get better with age.

1995 Pegau- Chateauneuf du Pape, Cuvée Réservée (from magnum)
My last bottle of this wine. I have not been pleased at all with its development as it’s really been drying up and falling apart the past five or so years from 750. I had hopes that it would show better from magnum, but it was not to be. It shows a peculiar and not pleasant rotting onion and spoiled meat aroma on the nose. On the palate, much of the fruit is gone, though there are traces of cherry and raspberry to be found. Very small traces. There’s leather, earth and some rot notes. The wine is just gone. Fwiw, I purchased this magnum on release and it’s been stored well since. A big fan of the winery and these wines were great on release, but this vintage has really taken a nosedive. C-.

1999 - Chateauneuf du Pape, Cuvée Réservée (from magnum)
What’s going on here? This wine has always shown well. It’s always been lighter than its brethren from '98, '00, '01, '03, '04, '05 and '06, but I’ve never had a problem with this wine. While it shows a touch more fruit than the '95, this too is dried out, but more importantly, is completely overwhelmed by Brett. Now, I enjoy a healthy amount of Brett, but this is like a bully version of Farmer Brown grabbing you by the scruff of your neck and plunging your head fully into the collected dung heap of all the animals on his farm. Really. It was that bad and made the wine undrinkable. Having never had a bad bottle of this before, I can only assume that something bacterial happened with this bottle. NR.

1990 Elio Altare- Barolo
I’m not a fan of spoofed Barolo and this is spoofed Barolo. It’s ripe and sweet with plenty of cherry and licorice, but then all the chocolate and oak hits. A shame as there’s nice content underneath all that wood, but the oak is drying the wine out. Drink up now while there’s still some fruit showing. B-.

2004 Roda- Rioja Reserva (from magnum)
81% Tempranillo, 14% Graciano, 5% Garnacha.
I’m friendly with a fellow that works there, but I have to confess, I’ve never been a big fan of these wines. Again, the issue is wood and spoofiness. The wine has that telltale rich and polished texture with no hard edges and plenty of sweet wood. Lots of plump and sweet red fruit with almost a cocoa butter hand cream note to it. It’s not that bad, truthfully, but it’s just a little too oaky and played with for my tastes. B.

1997 Heitz Cellar- Cabernet Sauvignon, Trailside Vineyard, Napa Valley (from magnum)
Aromatically it’s rather nice with its black cherry, cedar, herb, mint and cocoa notes. However, it doesn’t really follow through on the palate. Initially it shows pleasant enough, with similar flavors as aromas, but is rather lifeless. It’s sort of a red, inoffensive liquid. With air, however, the fruit receded and the wine thinned out and got a bit bitter. B/B-.


Some pictures from the evening:


Brent sports a new t-shirt. I hope part of the donation drive is to hire new t-shirt models.

Marshall has a “what’d I do” look as Chet and Chris look on.

Who knew Chris and Paul were such fashionistas?

Marshall likes pulled pork.

Chris enjoys a glass.

Chris, Michel, Brent and Veronica say cheese.

I shoot Leo before he shoots me.

Kenny & Gary.

Kenny & Sandy.

There be hobbits around.

Marshall & Brent.

Marshall, Brent & Diana.

Michel, Veronica, Leo & Paul.

Paul & Suzanne

Thanks for the notes.

Was Marshall wearing that hideous Giants’ “Hawaiian” shirt? Man that is worse than anything Squires has been seen in… neener

Yeah, the consensus was that all of the wines didn’t show very well due to the heat and humidity, so that’s why no one was in a big rush to post notes about this one.

I wish I had a picture of Paul’s face as he was running to the kitchen to spit out the Neiman! Hilarious.

Brad summed it up pretty well.

I brought the Nieman, thought it might impress this crowd, but no luck. Frankly I didn’t like it much either. I also brought the d’Angerville, which I still think was slightly cooked.

The 99 Pegau was Brett central and I think maybe one glass total of that bottle was consumed. The 95 was ok, but drying.

The Saxum and the Carlisle were just nasty. Totally disjointed, and probably the two wines most affected by the weather.

I really liked the Mon Aieul, and the Altare as well though I understand Brad’s point about the style.

The Marcassin was really nice but in that CA Pinot sort of way.

The Heitz was my WOTN, and I think even Paul liked it! There was also a great Bonnezaux? or something (I’m holding it in the tshirt pic) that was really spicy and flinty and a great wine to wind down with.

There was also a really nice Sinskey rose and a mag of Taittinger Comte Rose that was pretty damn good. I brought some von Kesselstat Josephshofer Kab but not sure it was ever opened.

As far as the attendees, Brad got all the recognizable board names and I believe Leo invited over a few local friends as well to mop up all the extra wine! It was great to meet Marshall & Diana and catch up with a bunch of old friends.

Nice notes Brad. Brent, I did like the Heitz. I think we pretty much agreed on wines except I thought the Carlisle was OK. It had a lot of up front fruit and good balance. Like Brad said I would have liked to see more acidity.

Party at Leo’s is always fun and I appreciate the work that Leo and Connie put in. Also thanks to the Hackster for some great pulled pork.

I had a lot of fun, though as you guys mentioned, the wines were a little drab. I liked the magnum of 2001 Bouchard l’Enfant Jesus that I brought, though it did take a while to open up. That Saxum was undrinkable, frankly. The 2000 Comtes de Champagnes was fantastic, though.

Thanks to Leo and Connie, what a great event!

Check out the pictures!!! neener


Cheers!
Marshall [wink.gif]

Marshall, it was great to finally meet you and Diana. I hope you come back soon.

Marshall - I see you had the good sense to leave that shirt at home…

Yes, many others came prepared but I had no clue it was also an Ugly Shirt OL…I am still the reigning champ from the Squires board!

[shock.gif] That is ONE bold statement my friend. I’m going to need proof there.

On a serious (semi) note, it was interesting to taste such a wide range of wines and to see such disparate reactions to some of the bottles. Some of the folks attending were more in the “old world” camp and others were more firmly “new world.” Among the more controversial wines were the Saxum, Marcassin, Altare and Pegau’s. The Saxum was the absolute lightening rod as some found it totally undrinkable while others absolutely loved it. My personal favorites were the Mon Aieul, Marcassin, and '89 La Chapelle.


As usual for me, the wines paled in comparison to the company…I finally got to meet Paul, Brent, Michel, and Jay. One thing for sure, never a lack of conversation and opinions when you get a bunch of “beserkers” together. Thanks again to Leo and Connie as well. [welldone.gif]


Cheers!
Marshall [thankyou.gif]

I’m sorry I missed out, if not to see all those awful shirts being worn :wink:

Sorry I missed guys (although many were happy)

Flight delay from vacation.

Maybe Paul has pics, it was a beautiful vertical 2" wide striped shirt with purple and lime green stripes I picked up at a thrift store…I think it was Jeff Mazen who objected that I was thrift store shopping for a ringer instead of just picking a typically ugly something out of my closet…

I’m sorry I missed this too. Hopefully, I’ll meet you Marshall on your next visit to NYC.

Connie and Leo, thank you for the invitation! I hear you are wonderful hosts!

Too bad about the wines…count me as one who still enjoys Marcassins though. Taittinger Comte Rose…yummmm that sounds very good!

I have a question about couture…it’s those ugly shirts…are they worn because they are “wine geek” wear? Or because one has no guilt disposing of them if they become stained with wine? I know your wives didn’t pick them out. [scratch.gif] [wink.gif]

I can vouch for Brent. Heck, I voted for him when he won.

It’s what passes as fashion in the suburbs, Bill. They just don’t know any better.

Looks like we were in sync that night, Marshall, as those were my top three for the night.

so sorry I missed the company. I sounds like I missed a great time but vacation was to be had and Newport was a total bust for weather, Cape Cod however was great and we extended our stay a day.

Off Topic HIGHLY reco the Chatham Bars Inn in Cape Cod, we had an awesome time it is a premier property and super kid friendly, I cannot think of a hotel with the facilities of this quality outside a city in the Northeast.

I am toying with a Kegger and wine tasting at the house on Halloween so stay tuned.

Sounds like you guys had a great time despite the weather. I’m sorry I missed it, but had several inches of water in my basement due to a blocked up curtain drain. My wife and I spent hours trying to dry everything out.

Marshall, hope to see you in January again, give me a shout so I can plan it again.