WTN: French, Italian & German with Dan Fredman

Dan Fredman was in town last week with some friends in tow, as was Scott Kraft, so a couple of us locals got together for a nice night of food and wine at Il Corso. Joining in the festivities were Ray Isle, Jon Bonné and his friend Christina, Manuel Camblor and his better half, Josie, and yours truly

Wines are in the order tasted.

Cheers,

Brad.


2004 Emrich-Schönleber- Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken, Monzinger Halenberg, Nahe
Warning! Warning! A Lyle Fass selection! Love the guy, but we really have divergent tastes in wine. Doesn’t help that the label says halbtrocken, as I find them to be a waste of good Riesling. Stinky as hell as it’s sulfured up the wazoo. A powdered pez candy note does fight its way through, though. Taut and crisp with the usual stripped halbtrocken mouthfeel I don’t like. There’s some upfront sweetness and guava notes of no particular interest. A big hole in the middle followed by citrus pith and Bayer aspirin flavors on the finish. Not quite a winner. C.

1997 Girolamo Dorigo- Ribolla Gialla, Vigneto Ronc di Juri
Shows an intriguing and complex mélange of hay, yellow plums and powdered stones/talc on the nose. Quite surprising on the palate as it has vivacious acidity and is stuffed to the gills with interesting things. Nicely layered with brilliant minerality and like flavors as aromas. Nine years old from a hot vintage and it’s still fresh and lively. Really intense wine. Low A-.

2002 Mascarello- Barbera d’Alba
A gift to Josie from Giusseppe Mascarello when she and Manuel were at the estate this past fall. Much to Manuel’s chagrin, Josie answered that she liked the unreleased Barbera the best of the wines they tasted that day. Manuel is now teaching her how to say “Monprivato.” Anyhoo, lots of Brett on the nose, with sweet, perfumed fruit trying to fight for air. Soft and uncomplicated on the palate. The fruit is a bit stemmy and dilute. Shows the vintage, but given how bad it was, it’s a good effort for it. B-.

1990 André Iché- Minervois, “Nobilis”
Nice ‘n funky, with ripe, roasted black fruit and spice on the nose. Really lovely aromas. Ripe and bursting with black fruit, spice and a touch of garrigue on the palate. It shows some of that nice, aged softness, but still has backbone. Not the most complex wine, but it’s pure slurpalicious pleasure. A-/B+.

1985 Emidio Pepe- Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
A thermonuclear explosion of volatile acidity explodes from the glass and devastates nostrils and manicures alike. There’s a touch of mushroom and tart cherry on the palate, but the VA is tongue-stripping. Dan says to give it time, but we all agreed it only got worse. I’ve heard there’s bottle variation with this wine, with some showing really well. Good thing this wasn’t Russian roulette. D.

1999 Pegau- Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cuvée Réservée
A bottle from the first release, not the more recent one. Light Band-Aid aromas with herbs, sweet red fruit and light spice. Beautiful raspberry fruit dominates the palate and is rounded out by garrigue and spice flavors. It shows a little of the ’99 coarseness, but that just adds character. The wine really grew and filled-in with air. Delicious. A-.

2001 Franz Haas- Moscato Rosa
An absolutely delightful nose that I could smell all day. Rosehip preserves, Christmas fruitcake and allspice. On release, I find they tend to show a less complex, but equally enjoyable aroma profile of roses, fresh crushed berries with a touch of honey. On the palate, though, I have to say I prefer my Moscato Rosas on the younger side. Sweet, yet balanced, with like flavors as aromas. It really starts to fall off on the finish and I do prefer the fresher fruit from younger bottles. Low B+.

[Jenise]

Brad, good to see you again. And how cool that you show up and get right down to biz with a TN. Way to go.

A question about the Pegau: I have some of the 99s. But I had no idea there were various releases--is there any way to tell from the bottle?

[David M. Bueker]

I would suggest other Halbtrockens that you might like more, but I know from experience you are a lost cause you sugar freak!

2004 Emrich-Schönleber- Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken, Monzinger Halenberg, Nahe
Warning! Warning! A Lyle Fass selection! Love the guy, but we really have divergent tastes in wine. Doesn’t help that the label says halbtrocken, as I find them to be a waste of good Riesling. Stinky as hell as it’s sulfured up the wazoo. A powdered pez candy note does fight its way through, though. Taut and crisp with the usual stripped halbtrocken mouthfeel I don’t like. There’s some upfront sweetness and guava notes of no particular interest. A big hole in the middle followed by citrus pith and Bayer aspirin flavors on the finish. Not quite a winner. C.

1997 Girolamo Dorigo- Ribolla Gialla, Vigneto Ronc di Juri
Shows an intriguing and complex mélange of hay, yellow plums and powdered stones/talc on the nose. Quite surprising on the palate as it has vivacious acidity and is stuffed to the gills with interesting things. Nicely layered with brilliant minerality and like flavors as aromas. Nine years old from a hot vintage and it’s still fresh and lively. Really intense wine. Low A-.


1985 Emidio Pepe- Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
A thermonuclear explosion of volatile acidity explodes from the glass and devastates nostrils and manicures alike. There’s a touch of mushroom and tart cherry on the palate, but the VA is tongue-stripping. Dan says to give it time, but we all agreed it only got worse. I’ve heard there’s bottle variation with this wine, with some showing really well. Good thing this wasn’t Russian roulette. D.

No surprise, you being you, some disagreement over here.

You call the Emrich-Schönleber "not a winner"? I call it an out-and-out loser. Sulfured to death, is what I say. All the rest really becomes irrelevant. I went back ot it at the end of the evening to see if it couldredeem itself on a second go-round, but no such miracle. Truly offensive, in my book.

The Dorigo Ribolla was a beautiful wine. I'm very surprised, given the language of your note, at the low "grade" you give it. But then again, you fancy yourself a hard grader, don't you? At any rate, that's one wine on which we can agree.

But what's with this "we all agreed [the Pepe] only got worse"? Along with Dan, I thought there was some interesting action underneath the eye-searing waves of VA... Hell, for a couple of minutes the turpentine-nail-polish-remover thing even subsided a bit. That one would want to brave the pain involved in discerning what good there is in this stuff is another kettle of fish altogether.

Didn't get all that much brett from the Mascarello Barbera. The green notes, though, did bother me a bit. But it's a lovely effort for the vintage.They didn't make much wine in 2002. I think it was this barbera and the Toetto Freisa. One of these days I'll get around to typing up the notebook-full of notes from that trip. One of these days...

It was much fun meeting Dan, a man whose wit is as fine as his taste in hats. Also Ray Isle. And it was great to see Scott again.

[David M. Bueker]

Brad, good to see you again. And how cool that you show up and get right down to biz with a TN. Way to go.

A question about the Pegau: I have some of the 99s. But I had no idea there were various releases--is there any way to tell from the bottle?

Jenise,

There is a lot number under the capsule, but there is an easier way if you have access to any of the 2001 Pegau. The late release has a subtly different label (updated typeface, etc.) that looks like the 2001, where the original looks like the prior vintages. Of course that's for the "Hand-Picked Selecitons" imports. If i can get pictures to post I will try to get label shots up.

Brad, good to see you again.

Thanks, Jenise. Good to be back.

As for the Pegau, there's a lot number printed on the neck (under the capsule) in small print, L030624. Also, what David said about the label.

The wine in the second release normally would've gone into the Laurence, but didn't. It didn't see any time in barrique, but extra time in foudre.

Cheers,

Brad

A question about the Pegau: I have some of the 99s. But I had no idea there were various releases--is there any way to tell from the bottle?

If you picked these up from the Garage sale last year they were the 2nd release.

Best,
Marc

Dan Fredman was in town last week

That wouldn't be the same Dan from the old AOL days would it?

[Robin Garr]

That wouldn't be the same Dan from the old AOL days would it?

I assumed it was the same guy who worked for ... Kermit Lynch? Didn't he move to Grateful Palate or something? I know I used to get E-mail from him on occasion, and it seems he was on WLDG for a while in the old days, but after he changed jobs, he kind of dropped out of sight. There's a spare bar stool around here for him somewhere, though, if he's still around.

That wouldn't be the same Dan from the old AOL days would it?

I assumed it was the same guy who worked for ... Kermit Lynch? Didn't he move to Grateful Palate or something? I know I used to get E-mail from him on occasion, and it seems he was on WLDG for a while in the old days, but after he changed jobs, he kind of dropped out of sight. There's a spare bar stool around here for him somewhere, though, if he's still around.

Yes, that would be Dan... Like I said, a man whose wit is as genial as his choice of hats...

[Jenise]

That wouldn't be the same Dan from the old AOL days would it?

I assumed it was the same guy who worked for ... Kermit Lynch? Didn't he move to Grateful Palate or something? I know I used to get E-mail from him on occasion, and it seems he was on WLDG for a while in the old days, but after he changed jobs, he kind of dropped out of sight. There's a spare bar stool around here for him somewhere, though, if he's still around.

Yes, he worked at the Grateful Palate. Now works (or did two years ago) at the same wine store that Rogness works for.

I assumed it was the same guy who worked for ... Kermit Lynch? Didn't he move to Grateful Palate or something? I know I used to get E-mail from him on occasion, and it seems he was on WLDG for a while in the old days, but after he changed jobs, he kind of dropped out of sight. There's a spare bar stool around here for him somewhere, though, if he's still around.

Yes, he worked at the Grateful Palate. Now works (or did two years ago) at the same wine store that Rogness works for.

Yes, he worked at Kermit Lynch; yes, he worked for Grateful Palate. Now, AFAIK, he's a self-employed wine consultant with his own website. I expect that he might turn up here sooner or later...

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

Now works (or did two years ago) at the same wine store that Rogness works for.

Wine Expo! I like that store, generally check it out any time I'm within range of Santa Monica (which has been way too long). I thought Roberto was the owner, though. No?

[Robin Garr]

he's a self-employed wine consultant with his own website.

Thanks, Mark! I really have been out of the loop with Dan. It would be great if he popped up here.

Edit: Hmm ... I see a couple of Grateful Palate names on his client list.

[Jenise]

Now works (or did two years ago) at the same wine store that Rogness works for.

Wine Expo! I like that store, generally check it out any time I'm within range of Santa Monica (which has been way too long). I thought Roberto was the owner, though. No?

Dunno, but you would have thought he was the sole employee there, too.