Mike Lawton (aka Tom Sawyer) somehow got me, Joe Perry and Charles Weiss (the collective Huck Finns) out to his house to help him with something really fun! No, not paint a fence, but rather catalogue his wine cellar into CellarTracker! Of course, we were wined and dined in fine style while we worked, so it was a win-win all around.
Here were the wines we imbibed to help us survive the ordeal:
2003 Reinhard und Beate Knebel Riesling Spatlese Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Winninger Rottgen. This is pale straw colored, with a nose offering spritzy minerality to go along with soft peaches, grapefruit, orange blossom and faint rosewater aromas. It is medium-bodied, with peaches and pear tart flavors. It is a bit sugar grainy in both texture and sweetness at times, and the finish may sport a bit too much sugar bowl and not quite enough acidity to make it outstanding. Nice, but not excellent.
1994 Schloss Saarstein Riesling Auslese Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner. Now, this was excellent. Deep dark yellow in color, this wine opens right away with an appealing nose of minerals, lime rind, nectarine and pear. In the mouth, there is a nice intensity of stoniness allied to pit fruits, pear and fresh apple. It fans out nicely in the mouth with plenty of broad, balanced sweetness and broad, balanced acidity. The finish ratchets everything up another notch, and adds in some exotic spices for good measure. I enjoyed this a great deal and it went well with the roast pork we dined on to keep up our strength.
1990 E. Guigal Hermitage Blanc. Served from a 375 ml bottle. This was a bit of a magical mystery tour for me. It opens with aromas of burnt matchstick and diesel, countering a good dose of musk and some roasted nuts. But there is also something that I considered to be an oxidized note, but it was hard to pin down exactly. It is very oily in the mouth with tangy lime dregs (yes, this is what my notes say), beeswax and dark wood, but it seems to lack a certain amount of acidity. Steely minerality comes on strong at the finish, but the overall impression is of a wine that is a bit jumbled up and doesn’t seem to have a central thesis. It is a wine that is interesting to analyze, but in the end my analysis was that I did not care a lot for it. And whatever you do, do not try to drink it after a bite of Elmo cake…
1988 H. Sorrel Hermitage. This wine reminded me a bit of a minor symphony. It opens slowly, stating its primary theme in a quiet but forceful way, and then it gains and gains and gains in depth, complexity and expression of its theme, eventually hitting its crescendo before inevitably tailing off to an unwinding coda. The color is a cloudy deep ruby with some clearing at the rim. The nose is very nice, with clean saddle leather, dark cherry and red berries, soy, and clean turned earth. It is medium to full-bodied in the mouth, with juicy dark cherry, earth and meaty notes that deepen over the course of the evening and really flesh out across the palate. The tannins are well-resolved and there is plenty of tangy acidity. It is clean and persistent on the finish. Late in the night, some eventual fading hits the fruit, as it turns a bit sour, but overall it is a delightful wine that is probably best to enjoy soon.
We only got part way through the process, but I think we helped get Mike well on his way. At least these 4 bottles didn’t have to get recorded!
Michael