WTN: great wines in wrong bottles- SOBER at Dans

Last night SOBER was meeting at Dan's in Pound Ridge. I managed to work in a stop by a friend/accountant and by Wine Connection, but managed to forget my stems- luckily Dan had plenty.

Several people were running very late, so John and I chatted with Dan as he cooked. We also sampled the cooking wine, the 2005 Chave "Silene" Crozes-Hermitage. Fleshy, ripe, not very long. Blackberries and a little herb. OK example of Crozes, but why pay the Chave premium? B-

As people arrived, Dan poured the 1988 Pol Roger Brut Champagne. This had the room a bit divided, I was in the middle. Very mature, deep dish apple cobbler with cinnamon, quite bready, quite pleasant if not compelling. B

NV Camille Saves "Carte d'Or" Brut Champagne
Brought out because some were disappointed with the PR. Big but not ungainly, crisp acids, medium mousse, delightful. A-

Then we moved to table for the blind portion of the evening. Dan likes to throw some twists in, so rather than numbered decanters, he used empty bottles he had in the house, which is how bottles appear in my notes. I'll mess up names a tad so these containers won't show up in searches

White Flight
LavileHB bottle- Acids, white fruits, not very long. A bit awkward. Someone got white Burg quickly, but it took several guesses (I went with Corton-Charlemagne) before anyone got Beaune. 2005 Drouhin Clos des Mouches blanc. B-

Moosigny bottle- OK, I guessed 2003 white Burg. Very ripe tropical fruit, a little heat (some felt a lot), but I didn't actually find it particularly buttery at least. I thought it had an interesting nose, with the ripe fruit, some flint, and flowers. Quite big. 2007 Kongsgaard "The Judge" Chardonnay B/B-

61Beych bottle- this had a floral/perfumey scent I couldn't identify at first (jasmine?) but seemed to blow off in favor of some gooseberry./catpee (Craig jumped in early with Sauvignon Blanc). Citrus, grass, nice length. White Bordeaux was settled on early, then Pessac, but it took lots of guesses to get estate. I did get 2001 on first guess, because I thought it had both nice acids and ripe fruit. Some others thought soft, I disagreed. 2001 de Fieuzal A-/B+

First Red Flight
61PopeClem bottle - medium bodied, sweet, easy, elegant. Someone (Mark?) got Northern Rhone early. One of my favorites. 1999 Texier Hermitage A-

55HB bottle. Someone guessed south of France (Mouvedre?), when Dan said no we went to Italy. I got Campania, but then blew it by guessing one of Mastrobernardino's more international wines. Big, sweet/raisiny, dense. Quite clumsy. As Cathleen noted, many people would love this. 2000 Feudi di San Gregorio "Sirica" B-/C+

Second Red Flight
Decanter #1
This seemed way off- sour, volatile, old. But after I dumped my glass it made a surprising 15 minute turn around- smelling a repour showed red fruit and flowers. 1986 Coudelet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone. C at first, B-? later.

Decanter #2
Some debate about whether this was corked, I didn't get any TCA. Some funk, midbodied with raspberry fruit, pleasant finish. I believe Craig got older CdP. 1986 Ch. Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape. B

Decanter #3
I thought this was clearly Burg, guessing Chambolle of some sort. Red and black fruits, earth, spice, mushrooms. I was shocked it was US, but once we were there Cathleen got W-S. 1991 Williams-Selyem "Olivet Lane" Pinot Noir B+/A-

Third Red Flight

HankyJBru bottle
Some found this too green/stemmy, but I found very nice. Spice, red cherry, smoke, a touch exotic. John called Dujac right away. I was guessing 1998, but it turns out to be very nice '97.My #2 red of night.
1997 Dujac Les Gruenchers Chambolle-Musigny 1er. A-

HankyJEch bottle
A little more subdued, has something in reserve. Darker fruit, lots of spice, some earth. A few found it lacking as a Musigny, but I liked a lot (maybe because I drink a lot less Musigny than they do). 1997 Drouhin Musigny B+/A-

Fourth Red Flight
DujBM bottle
Someone guessed CalCabs, I said 1990 Bordeaux. Both wrong. Once Franco went with Aussie Syrah, John went quickly to Grange. Balanced, ripe, mature but not at all fading. 1982 Penfolds Grange B+/A-

99Tex bottle
Ripe, floral, meat, smoke. Dan threw us by noting it was a blend, but John recovered to get La Mouline. 1991 Guigal "La Mouline" Cote Rotie. A-

(somewhere in here we had a delightful broth with porcini stuffed pasta, and then lamb with haricots verts. My notes got even briefer and harder to read as I went to back page of form I was writing on, an already printed page so I was writing in margins).

5th Red Flight
#1 Mark quickly called Chave, and several people got '91 I think. Dark berries, smoke, bacon, earth. Long and elegant. 1991 Chave Hermitage A

#2 - initial impression was all brett. I'm pretty brett- tolerant, but this was pushing it for me. A bit brutish, redder fruit, still a bit of tannin. Solid, but poopy. 1993 Clape Cornas (magnum) B-

6th Red Flight
85BartMBar bottle
Everyone got Bordeaux, but I was thinking 83 or 85. Some tannins, dark cassis fruit, medium bodied, tobacco. 1966 Ausone B+/A-

LePin bottle
Cigarbox was only thing I wrote. Lovely middleweight. 1966 Magdelaine B+

Very fun night, great crowd, great wine, great food. Thanks Dan

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.  

Awesome tasting, thanks for the notes! Amazing how good some of those guesses were. Humbling.

Amazing how good some of those guesses were. Humbling.

Oswaldo,
some great tasters (not me!), and some calls were both quick and delivered with certainty (John's Dujac, Mark's Chave). But we also named about every white Burg appellation before we got to Beaune, someone guessed the Beaucastel was Piemonte before Craig said CdP, etc. But it's all fun.

I realized this AM I also forgot a bonus bottle, opened after I had put away my notes, a 1978 Jaboulet "Les Cedres" CdP. No notes, but I thought it a bit sharp and a bit tired, ok but I wasn't really a fan.

Thanks for the notes on a terrific line-up. Those 1991 Northern Rhones looked to have held up well. I just wished that they're easy to come around ... in terms of availability and, more importantly, price-wise.

Amazing how good some of those guesses were. Humbling.

Oswaldo,
some great tasters (not me!), and some calls were both quick and delivered with certainty (John's Dujac, Mark's Chave). But we also named about every white Burg appellation before we got to Beaune, someone guessed the Beaucastel was Piemonte before Craig said CdP, etc. But it's all fun.

I realized this AM I also forgot a bonus bottle, opened after I had put away my notes, a 1978 Jaboulet "Les Cedres" CdP. No notes, but I thought it a bit sharp and a bit tired, ok but I wasn't really a fan.

Yeah, I made some nice guesses and some MUCH less nice ones. I figured out that they were Coudoulet and Beaucastel relatively early, once Piedmont was shot down--I thought it was from there also; I got that the Mouline was 91 and that the Bordeaux were 1966 on my 1st tries, but I was also 100% convinced that the Olivet Lane was Burgundy, and like Dale, and unlike the rest of the group (they thought Gevrey), I was in Chambolle on it. I also put the Chave in Burgundy, which is pretty bad considering how typical, and great, it was.

What a night, I'm glad I don't have to follow Dan! It's always been a strong group but it seems like the last couple of go-rounds have been incredibly good. I have a few good flights planned but it's really intimidating to have to live up to a tasting like this one.

Anyone who is willing to guess consistently in a double blind* situation is going to make some big misses, you did better than I did!

Agreed another tough act to follow.

* I define double blind in the usual wine sense- no knowledge of what any of the wines are. This comment is to forestall those who are going to say it's not double blind because Dan knew what wine was, that's not how it's used in winegeekdom.

This seemed way off- sour, volatile, old. But after I dumped my glass it made a surprising 15 minute turn around- smelling a repour showed red fruit and flowers. 1986 Coudelet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone. C at first, B-? later.

My hero! I found a bottle of the 1995 Coudoulet lurking in the cellar and was inclined to relegate it to the stew pot, but you give me confidence to give it a taste. It used to be a very nice wine, but having lost fruit might be a disappointment.

So Dan said last night he erred, when he put bottles in recycling the 1993 Cornas was Verset.

The 91 Chave has been drinking very, very well for a long time now. A wine that was seriously underrated by RP (and other critics, too, IIRC).