Back in mid-October, Blair, Gerry and I joined my friend Matt for a Patriots game against the Ravens. Matt supplied the tickets and the rest of us supplied the wine for the tailgating. Gerry cooked up his usual feast and the rest of us kicked in at times, as well. The weather was perfect, we met some interesting characters, shared some good wines and enjoyed a well-fought overtime victory.
2007 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Alsace. We started things off with this wine that sports a clear, clean nose of lime zest, pineapple, wet stones and diesel fuel. In the mouth, it feels clean, stony and citrusy in a lighter-bodied package that is a bit simple but finely-balanced and drinking easy.
2005 Vollenweider Riesling Wolfer Goldgrube Kabinett Mosel Saar Ruwer. The Vollenweider features a bouquet of honey, kiwi, peach pit and white flowers that is giving and expressive. It is fairly sweet in the mouth and somewhat large-framed for a Kabinett, but really well-fruited and expressive in its flavor profile of peach, cherry and petrol. It has a moderately oily texture and a nicely fanned-out finish that leaves a lasting impression.
2004 Donnhoff Riesling Norheimer Kirschheck Spatlese Nahe. The nose on this Riesling feels rather tight to me, whith some peach, apricot, smoke and slate aromas slowly unfolding with time in the glass. In the mouth, it has good heft and plenty of rich honeyed bass notes to counterbalance airier top notes of mineral and soft chalk. In the middle, it sports plenty of marashcino cherry, fruitcup and peach pit flavors that are creamy-textured and finely-driven. This is a really lovely wine.
2002 Maurice Ecard Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Narbantons. Unlike he 1999 version of this--which is drinking great now--this wine is way too young. The nose is nice enough, with tight aromas of smoked cherries, cranberries, potting soil and suede on display. In the mouth, though, it is tannic and tough and palate-bruisingly young. The flavors are dominated by the earth tones of leather, smoke and soil, along with dark cherries. It is easy to sense that it has good body, density and intensity for future development, but the structure and acidity are really rigid and tough right now. Give this one at least 4 or 5 years.
2006 David Duband Nuits St. Georges. This wine has a surprisingly expressive bouquet for such a young village wine—showing off aromas of sweet cherries, blue and red berries, vanilla bean and balsa wood. It is creamy and soft on the palate, without a lot of cut but with plenty of cherry pie, balsa wood, vanilla and brown spice flavors. I think it is pretty much ready to drink now.
2001 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. With the ribs, we ratcheted things up a bit, starting with this Cab that has an excellent bouquet redolent of cassis, cherry paste, blackberry jam, barbecue sauce, sandalwood and incense aromas. In the mouth, it is rather intense and driven, with a good deal of pasty extracted fruit and a firmly pliant texture. It is a big and structured drink with a lot of flavor to give.
2002 Shafer Relentless Napa Valley. The bouquet here is just full-blown, immediate and sexy, with dense aromas of kirsch, blackberries, baking spices and sweet oak that are rather appealing without being overdone at all. In the mouth, it is rich and thick but very easy-flowing and just full of sexy fruit flavors. There is no heat, only a smooth, corpulent wine full of juicy flavor. The bottle was empty in about 10 minutes.
2004 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. After the game, we opened more wine, of course, while we waited (and waited and waited) for the stadium parking lots to empty and for the traffic to relent even a tiny bit (which turned out to be impossible even after several more hours). Anyway, this wine displays a nice nose of lemon peel, herbs, chalk, wet rocks, pears and yellow pixie stick dust. In the mouth, it demonstrates solid grip to the clean yet full flavors of apple, pear and lemon zest flavors. The solid acidic cut is like a palate cleanser after the earlier red wine flight.
2003 Bodega Numanthia Termes Toro Numanthia. Here we have a wine that smells rich and treacled, with aromas of cooked figs, baked cherries, spiced plums, chocolate paste, vanilla and oak aromas in full flight. In the mouth it is full of spice flavors to go along with the rich elements of baked plums, cherry paste, figs and abundant oak and toasted barrel spices. It absolutely coats the palate, but also has a good deal of sticky tannin that one has to contend with. For my tastes at least, this needs at least 3 to 5 more years to see if it can better integrate those wood and tannin levels.
-Michael
