(I’m sure others will chime in who were there,but I like to get my notes out early, so I can’t second guess myself)
So I rarely have lunch away from desk, but today was too good to pass up. Daniel Posner at Grapes in N. White Plains invited me to join a group of geeks for lunch and a blind tasting, with the only knowledge that it would include the 2005 Sierra Carche. If anyone isn’t familiar with this story, this was a “brand” wine that got a very high score from Dr Jay Miller at WA, and subsequently has led to some major disappointment among a lot (though not all) buyers. There has been some controversy and confusion re lot numbers, production figures, and what the wine actually is.
Lunch was hamburgers for appetizers and steak for main course, a real guy lunch (there was potato salad, vegetables, and cheese too). Lineup was 14 wines (a 15th, the 2005 Pico Madama, was corked). Daniel knew the lineup, but had employees blind the bottles, so single blind for him, for the rest of us it was double blind (though we knew there was at least one 2005 Sierra Carche). About a dozen foks attended, some ITB, a couple consumers who had bought SC, and a few interested observer winegeeks.
As a disclaimer, I don’t drink much Spanish wine except some Rioja, so maybe not the best judge.
Flight One - Not an auspicious start
#1 Menthol, slightly weedy, tired. Not good. C-
#2 Grenachey, jammy/hot B-/C+
#3 Porty slightly lifted nose , alcoholic, heavy in mouth but thin flavors C
Ugly flight
Flight Two
#4 Light, cherry fruit, a touch of frizzante at first, some people really hated, I thought a simple quaffer but not awful B-/C+
#5 Horrible nose, VA meets turpentine meets weedy greenness, really terrible, Kenney (who has had Sierra Carche a number of times) says “this is it!” D/F
#6 Ripe, jammy, dark red fruit, sweeter than my preferred style but at least not flawed. B-
Some talk of stoning Dan and raiding the store downstairs for something to drink
Flight Three
#7 Green , some VA/shoe polish, not quite as bad as 5, but similar nose makes us think we found a second Sierra Carche. D
#8 Jammy, sweet, rich, low low acid, a charred oak component. Not my style, but at least not flawed. Actually a bit of a relieft after #5 & 7 B-/B
#9 Muted fruit, a little burnt rubber, I come around to agreeing it’s corked.
NR
We’re beginning to resemble the villagers in Frankenstein, luckily the upstairs of Grapes is devoid of torches.
Flight Four
#10 A bit of black fruit, a little brett, but comparatively straightforward and not flawed by my standards. C+/B+
#11 OK, I thought #5 was bad, till I tasted this. Burnt rubber and sewagey brett. Horrible wine, we tried to one-up each other with descriptors. “tires leaving skid marks as the car slides off road into the waste pond at the pig farm” was my contribution (Tyler informed me the wastepond is called the “lagoon”, I’ll use that next time). Fatally flawed wine. F
#12 Red berries, a bit plain but clean, one of my faves of the lunch (admittedly a bit of faint praise). It’s a rare tasting where “it’s clean” is one of the top superlatives of the event. B
Flight Five
#13 Red fruit, very sweet, but some balancing acids, one of the best of the day (again, faint praise). I thought this or maybe #12 was an 01 Embruix I expected to be in lineup. B/B-
#14 Hot, disjointed, off nose (I think Adam nails it with"rotting hay." ) C-
Thank God, it’s over!
Then we sent in our votes for top 3 faves, and Howard totalled while Daniel unveiled.
#1 2005 Sierra Carche (lot 8114)
#2 2005 Espectacle (Monsant) - Dan says $150
#3 2004 Pico Madama
#4 The Pepper Pot (South Africa) missed vintage, $14
#5 2005 Sierra Carche (lot 8114)
#6 2005 Pasanau (El Vell Coster) Priorat
#7 2005 Sierra Carche (lot 8114)
#8 2005 Mollydooker Carnival of Love
#9 2007 Resalso (Ribera del Duero)
#10 2007 A1 Mouvedre $12
#11 2007 Panarroz (Jumilla)
#12 2008 Oriol (Emporda) $12
#13 2001 Clos Fonta (Priorat)
#14 2005 Sierra Carche (lot 8113)
Vote totals
#2 1 1st Place Vote
#6 1 1st Place Vote, 1 2nd Place Vote, 2 Third Place Votes
#8 4 1st Place Votes, 6 2nd Place Votes, 1 Third Place Votes
#12 4 1st Place Votes, 2 2nd Place Vote, 3 Third Place Votes
#13 2 1st Place Votes, 3 2nd Place Vote, 6 Third Place Votes
OK, so #11 wasn’t Sierra Carche (this was a terrible bottle, but a couple of people who know the Panarroz said bottle wasn’t representative).
I’m surprised that Carnival of Love was one of my top wines, but it was a relief to have something that seemed to be what the winemaker intended.
There may be some 96 point Sierra Carches out there, but these four were sub-80 in my mental conversion
I may not be much of a judge of Spanish wines, and not the biggest fan of grenache etc, but even folks better disposed towards those wines seemed to be in agreement that the Sierra Carches were all terrible, and I didn’t hear one person say “I’d buy this” about any of the wines. I could see maybe #12.
I can’t say it was my favorite lineup, but the good news was since I was driving and going back to work I had no trouble spitting!
Fun time, nice group, good food, “interesting” wines, good to see some old acquaintances and meet some new people.
Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.