Virtual Tasting Series XVIII - WBer Peter Tryba needs a Kidney Transplant - Post a TN in support

WINE TALK
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Glad to see the fantastic WB participation. My wife and I just donated to the cause Peter. Here’s a write up from last night with pictures.

BOOK CLUB - OLD WORLD - Maro Grill, Laguna Beach (3/27/2014)

All the wines were served blind and no hints as to the theme. Well, it did slip out “there’s no California in here.” That statement wasn’t completely accurate and was intended to throw us off the trail for the final wine. It succeeded.
Empanadas and Bubbles

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Pale yellow color with very fine bubbles and a good fizz in the mouth. Served cold so the nose was muted. Could not detect and bread notes. Vibrate acidity leads to a young wine and green Granny Smith apple fruit with lemon and lemon rind. Medium plus acidity medium finish.

Light yellow and green color. Nose was sweet ripe tree fruit. Palate shows pineapple initially and then green apple. Medium plus acidity and a surprisingly silky mouthfeel. Finish has a little pear.

Peppers and Edemame

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Looks like a tawny port, muted garnet color. Nose is plummy but not sweet. Palate is amazing in its complexity, the wine changed profiles every 10 minutes. Really cool. Tannins are fine and still showing with a solid cherry core. Leather and anise hide in the background. Slightly drying finish. Awesome wine.

Very dark color, nearly black in the restaurant lighting. There’s a little brett on the nose showing as barnyard but not distracting. Tannins immediately go in the attack with dark ripe fruit, tar, and fresh cut cedar. Lots of oak on this one. Big powerful wine that needs more time to integrated and settle down.

Skirt Steak & burgers

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  • 2005 Château Branon - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Blind - guessed right bank merlot. Oh so close… Got the merlot and thought there might be some Cabernet franc so I turned right instead of left.

Excellent nose. I was dried shiitake mushrooms and moss, loved playing with it. Very dark color. Licorice and anise notes and edgy tannins. Long sweet oak finish.

Great nose. Tannins are fairly resolved and there’s a touch of coffee and dark fruit with cassis. Medium plus weight and a coating mouthfeel. Finish leads me to a more mature wine and a bit of caramel.

Banana Bread Pudding

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Amber color with dried apricot nose and palate. Silky, sweet and delicious. Nice glycerin mouthfeel on the finish.

Posted from CellarTracker

22

Donation made, and tasting notes coming. Peter, I’m so sorry and hope for the best for you - would even give a kidney as I know we don’t need both, but I’m the wrong blood type (Type O Pos - would that work?)

Seriously, what else can I do to help, on behalf of this community???

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Thank you, again, everyone!

I have received a few PMs with that question, Todd. Since I’m blood type A+, I (theoretically) could accept a donated kidney from any type A or type O donor. The blood type is the first hurdle. Second is tissue matching where the transplant team tests my blood and a potential donor’s blood together to see if they “fight” or “play nice” with each other. If they’re compatible, the next hurdle is convincing a perfectly healthy person to be cut open and have one of their fully functioning organs removed. It’s a pretty big hurdle! hahahahah!

I’m still waiting for special tasting note requests from people. I’m itching to write up some Spectonio Tanker reviews with big scores hahahah!

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They can transplant heads now, amazing. So what’s wrong with the one you have now. neener

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Ha Todd, you are a universal donor with that blood type (actually O neg is the “best”). That is only the first step. You also have to have a match against 6 antigens (I had 2 of 6 with my wife) and the cross match has to show that the recipient’s antibodies do not attack the donor’s cells.

Shall I send you a Vacutainer? neener.

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A Vacutainer sucks out my kidney into a sealed compartment in which I FedEx to Peter? Let’s freakin’ DO THIS!

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Actually, they can take the kidney using laprascopic techniques now and that makes it wayyy easier on the donor with much shorter recovery times. Mine was the full magilla with a large hockey stick shaped incision. The problem with mine was I had a lot of scar tissue aound the kidney due to sports and military body abuse, so even if they started laprascope, they would have had to do the full incision.

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How about the 96 Mouton?

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Peter -

How is the '97 Harlan?

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Two requests for two donations! THANK YOU!

Ch Mouton Rothschild 1996 Pauillac
Tasted on more than one occasion, so I’ll put the nicest version up:
I tasted this wine soon upon release with one of my friends visiting Boston from Philly. He insisted on opening each of the First Growths and Super Seconds from 1996 out of the sealed cases he had purchased and I did not put up much of a fight to stop him.
“Gu Gan label is distinctive yet evocative of the Francis Bacon 1990. The wine is also evocative of an earlier rendition: the 1986. Aromatically, the 96 is denser with more black fruits blending with cedar box and dried herbs, but the body seems almost sere. It’s a lean, mean Mouton, very much like the 86 in its youth, yet lacks the penetrating quality of its predecessor. In the mouth, the 96 is a shadow of the 86, so the analogy ends here. The fruit is red and pure with plenty of ‘classic’ Pauillac graphite-y earth and will likely survive a few decades without issue. I sense this will be viewed as a better wine through hindsight rather than foresight.”


Harlan 1997 Proprietary Red
Also tasted on more than one occasion, so I’ll put up both Peter and Spectonio’s reviews:
I tasted this soon after release at an all-Napa vintage 1997 party.
Peter: “‘Purple Drank’ mixed with burnt coffee beans and turds.”
Spectonio Tanker: “This utterly unctuous and superbly extracted super beast of a Napa Cab keeps other wines up at night, worrying. If the Bordelais used to send off to Hermitage or Morocco for juice to add stamina to their wines, Harlan would be the steroidal additive of choice today. With a wave of concentrated fruit flavor, the 97 Harlan obliterates all other sensory inputs, so it’s best to simply drink this on its own. Or with a second bottle. 100 points.”

31

Peter,

I learned about your health issue a few weeks ago in PMs. I did not know about these two threads. Thanks for giving me a heads up.

Since my wine buying has dried up, I poured a drink from my box of Vina Borgia. [wink.gif] Not much of a TN writer, but I do know how to care about people in need. Drank my glass of wine, and made a donation.

Please let us know if time is becoming a major factor. I’ve been through so much in the last 5 years or so. What’s a kidney here and there? [whistle.gif]

32

I cannot in any way live up to the greatness of Senor Spectonio, but had to post a note on the following wine that was served blind to our tasting group last night:

2008 Saxum Broken Stones
What new devilry is this? RUN!!! I would honestly rather face the Balrog of Moria than drink this wine. I am not even sure it can be called wine. It is the single most overwrought, overextracted, overstuffed, overripe and over-the-top wine I have ever tasted. One sip is heavier than a white dwarf star. There are no Earthly fruits that can be used for comparison. It could only have been created by a faulty replicator on the holodeck of the star ship Enterprise. It is the Borg of wine and must be destroyed. We must go back in time to when the winemaker was born and set him upon a more righteous path. The Broken Stones was served alongside a 2008 Sine Qua Non The Line Grenache which resembled Lapierre Morgon in comparison to the Saxum!

My palate is scarred (and scared) for life. I’m going on a Muscadet purge.

33

I would love to see a note on one of my favorite wines…1996 Chateau Margaux.

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Paul, here’s my note from tasting it the very first time, way back in 1995.
I was new to the business, having only started the previous Autumn, and wanted to taste a First Growth. Of course, I chose the '86 Margaux as I suspected it would be the most “ready” to drink. I was wrong (and wrote terrible notes).
“Odd aromas of dirt and soot mingle with red berries. Very dry and tannic. Why did I open this?”

I know, not the greatest note ever, so here’s an updated version from our friend Spectonio Tanker, Super Critic! He tasted it more recently:
“Sneaking in our own bottles of First Growths to restaurants with shabby wine lists seems to be the new normal for the wine cognoscenti. So, when I was dragged along for sushi night, I brought an '86 Margaux, denying my first instinct to pull a magnum of 2007 Usseglio Mon Aieul. The Margaux performed admirably with plenty of smoked earth and bright cedar-tinged cherry aromas pouring from the glass. Once on the palate, the wine shone with more dark-hued fruits competing with woodruff and dry tannins for attention. This is still ages away from full maturity, yet still a very enjoyable drink now. 100 points.”

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Peter time for the eye transplant also, he asked for the 96 Margaux neener

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I see several more Berserkers (Mark Kaplan, Paul Jaouen, Chris Tuttle) donated since I sent mine in - there’s another PAGE of donations which is great news for Peter! Please share on Facebook as well, as perhaps there are your friends who may not know Peter who might be drawn to help.

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The first line threw me off when I was thinking he said he tasted the '96 in '95. [cheers.gif]

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NINETY six? Who’s drinking that crap anyway?

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I just bought some '86 Mouton for the store, so I had that vintage fresh in my mind. I’ll find my '96 notes and post them tonight.
Any other requests from $100+ donors?

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Peter the Great,

Please favor me with your most recent note on the 1990 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese.
Charles