We claimed our bags, grabbed a van to car rental, and picked up a barge-size Chevy Impala (no Japanese cars for rent in the Motor City!) It got us over to Ann Arbor in good time, despite an irritating, intermittent (and apparently lying) low oil warning, and pretty soon I was in my room checking E-mail.
Pretty soon I heard a banging on ... the door? I went and opened it. No one there! I looked down to see if pranksters had left something burning on my porch, but nope! All was well. Weird. Then I got a phone call. Julia B was in the next room, and she was banging on the <i>wall</i> to invite me over to join other early arrivals for a tasting. Awwright!
<b>Hotel room tasting</b>, Hawthorne Suites, Friday afternoon
I walked next door, and there were Julia B, the Noland brothers, BobH and John Fiola. She handed me an O glass (I like them!) full of a pink fluid. I sniffed it and wasn't particularly impressed. Something sour and acidic, just a whiff of salad dressing and something herbaceous. Hmm. It turned out to be a Sangiovese pink from California. A South African Pinotage rosé didn't particularly ring my chimes either - stinky with sulfury reductiveness. I didn't give it time to blow off, but moved on to a 2006 Lancyre pink from Languedoc that was much more attractive, berrylike, tart and dry.
McManis Petite Sirah from California (didn't catch the vintage, but current release; a Gallo property, I believe) reminded me surprisingly of the 2001 Grange I had the other day: Loaded with raw new oak on the nose; deep black plums and more oak on the palate, but lots of body and structure. I expect the Grange has more potential, though.
Joseph Drouhin 2005 Savigny-Les-Beaune was young and primary but much to my liking, with good, not overwrought Burgundy sour cherries, nicely structured and plenty of tannin. I think some in the room liked it less, but I think it's just fine now and will be even better in three to five years.
<B>Friday evening dinner at The Earle</b>, 121 W. Washington St., Ann Arbor.
This is an attractive restaurant and wine bar, located downstairs from street level, with an excellent wine list and very large cellar. The SemiCook group was given a private room with two long tables, just enough to seat the 18 of us in friendly proximity, but tight enough to deter walking around. I'd call the food good to excellent, not great - I had a fine delmonico steak somewhat diminished by being cooked medium-well (I had asked for medium-rare). Others reported similar issues with tuna, although those who had the duck or scallop options put two thumbs up. Red potatoes were still half-raw, and green beans were a bit underdone, too. A Mediterranean salad with arugula, grape tomatoes, grilled eggplant and feta was outstanding, only slightly offset by a little too much oily vinaigrette. The dessert tray offered a lot of tempting selections, and I rapidly devoured my choice, homemade mocha-cognac ice cream topped with slivers of bittersweet chocolate. Overall, not a bad meal at all, but I'm spoiled by constant exposures to the hot spots in my home town, and would have rated this maybe in the upper 70s on a 100-point scale, especially with price taken into consideration.
The wines were interesting and well selected. Applause to the organizers for their picks.
I didn't take notes and didn't even write down the label info, so all this is from memory and subject to correction.
<b>Gruet New Mexico Blanc de Noirs</b> - John F and I toasted Chat Princess Cynthia by starting with a New Mexico bubbly, and a nice one it is. A little less body than I'm accustomed to in a Pinot-based sparkler, but good, steely acidity and clean fruit places it well above average in the sparkly department. I didn't taste the other aperitif, a bubbly from <b>Domaine Chandon</b>.
Four wines were poured with dinner, and most of us chose the pink and the white with the salad course and the two reds with the main.
<b>Domaine Lafond 2006 Roc-Epine Tavel Rosé</b> - Nice pink, berrylike and dry. I didn't really focus on it, but it was surprisingly good with the Mediterranean salad, even with its vinaigrette.
<b>Vincent Girardin 2000 Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot 1er Cru</b> - Great stuff, I think several of those who chose the scallops and had it as their main-course wine declared it WOTN. Golden, rich, lots of fruit remaining, some tropical fruit, with gentle, appropriate hazelnut notes showing its maturity. Not great with the salad - I sipped it as another aperitif - but I liked it. I'm curious that Wine-Searcher shows no 2000s in the open market, while every other vintage since 1998 (plus 1995) is still on the street. Anyone know if 2000 was highly rated and blew out, or what?
<b>Chateau Coufran 2000 Haut-Medoc</b> - A bit of an oddity from the Medoc, with mostly (80%) Merlot in the blend. No matter ... I might not have guessed that from its structured, tannic body. Good Bordeaux, characteristic cassis and subtle earth. Very fine with the steak (even medium-well, snort), which "wiped" the remaining tannins. Plenty of time left for further cellaring, I'd say.
<b>Vincent Girardin 2000 Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Peuillets 1er Cru</b> - Okay, I'm a sucker for Burgundy, even relatively modest villages Burgs like this one, but this was one of the evening's favorites for me. Velvety, tart cherries and earth, excellent mouth-watering acidity, tannins soft if not resolved, maybe a whiff more of oak than I really love in a Burg, but still. Fine with the steak. Only glass I finished.
Later, some generous people (Mike H? OW?) bought a couple more reds off the list and passed them around the table.
<b>Penner-Ash Willamette Pinot Noir</b> - I didn't catch the vintage, alas. Good Oregon Pinot, full and ripe, lots of that West Coast character that reads as cherry cola to me. On its own, I would have liked it a lot. Next to the Savigny-Les-Beaune, it was a no-brainer for me, based on my personal preferences. I pushed the Oregon Pinot back and got another little taste of Burgundy.
<b>Edmunds St. John 2001 (?) Los Robles Viejos Paso Robles Red</b> - Okay, we all know and love Steve, and we're all predisposed to like his wines. But doggone it, I'm absolutely certain that I would love this wine if it was thrown at me in a double-blind tasting. Such a great balance of fruit and earth, balance and texture. I could have sworn I was sitting there swirling, sniffing and tasting a really good Southern Rhone, one of the better villages (Vacqueyras?) or maybe even a maturing Chateauneuf-du-Pape. A dead heat with the Burg, closely trailed by the Coufran, as WOTN for me, although the white Burg wasn't too shabby either.
Soon it'll be time for a remarkable 1998 Chateauneuf tasteoff, followed by the mostly indoor "picnic."
We always said that if the MoCool organizers ever called one off, we'd still be there all the same, and sure enough, this wacky prediction seems to have come to pass. Aren't we glad?
