I was pleased to sit at table again with Tran, our friend and BBer Jay Shampur and friend Michael Wright for another lively evening of talk and delicious food to go with some fun and interesting wines.
2009 Rolly Gassman Sylvaner
Bouquet has a sense of sweet corn puree, hay a little, a touch of must and truffle. Very different dans la bouche, this is definitely the sweetest Sylvaner I’ve ever tried. It has, as Michael notes, a clean, slightly bitter finish. Wintergreen is a very good catch, in fact. What I’d like is more lift in the middle. With various food, this didn’t change too much, though it went well with some spicier dishes
2009 Le Clos Jordanne le Grand Clos Pinot Noir
This is the top-end Pinot from this Ontario producer. Tart berry–raspberry and cranberry–waft up the glass. A little rose petal/potpourri for me. A good chunk of pepper on the tongue and the smoked fruit/burnt leaves aftertaste. This coruscates in and out of fruit showing through the dishes, but is always short—more a victim of the vintage than anything else, I think. Regardless, just OK.
2009 Sonkin Cellars Persona Syrah
Smells voluptuous–plush plum and pomegranate, with glints of meat. Big and juicy at first, pure, pure cherry centre is buttressed by cloves and herbs. It does have side heat, but only a little (14.5%). It went very well with a chicken empanada in green asada sauce and it loves the touch of hot sauce, envelops the spicy heat. This continued to open in the glass and be more generous. It is showing very well now, but would still benefit at this stage from an hour’s decant. It does need the food as well–brilliant with the brisket and sweet corn bread dish near the end of the night. Bravo, Loren. WOTN for me tonight.
2012 Birichino Malvasia
With a 7 course tasting menu, we were kinda running short on wine, so Jay passed me the list and I fixed upon this curiosity, from Monterey peninsula. Jay rightly picks up floral aromatics—hibiscus and honeysuckle, I think, with pear and lemon combo underneath. It’s rounder than I’m used to in this grape, with an opening tart apple core, but that changes to orange blossom and Tran catches exactly—it behaves very, very much like an Alsatian Muscat. There is, though, the mustard tick at the back that I have found with the grape in the past. Not world-beating, but fresh.
2009 Nittnaus Chardonnay TBA
One guess as to who brought this sweet contribution (not me!). Sexy honeycomb and spiced figs (Jay gets dates) and apricots in the nuzzie. Palate has richness aplenty, lots of apricot and honey and maybe a slash of orange marmalade. But…for me…I think it’s a very little bit corked—not anywhere on the nose, and the 33 RS may have helped hold it together, but in the way that its muted and just giving me something that shouldn’t be there. There is a baked maple syrup component later at the back. I would be very interested in trying another halfsie of this sometime to compare.
Maluhia,
Mike