Some wines at Sally and Joel's on Friday (Mo'Cool pre-party)

I didn't take notes at the party but wrote down some of the wines in my memo book after I got back to the Best Western at Whitmore Lake. Bob Stark reminded me of some I had forgotten to write down the next morning.

One of the revelations was a 1970 Beaulieu Vineyard (California) "Burgundy" red wine that Joel still had from a previous Mo'Cool. Over 40 years and still a pleasure to drink. Consensus was that the grape might have been Gamay, not Pinot Noir. Who knew Gamay could hold up that long? Not me!

I took a 1999 Domaine Georges Mugneret Nuits-St-Georges "Les Chaignots" Premier Cru. Light to medium body. Cherry fragrance and flavors, mellow, in a good drinking place. Jim Grow thought it might be closed down and was looking for the more mushroomy, earthy elements frequently found in N-S-G wines. I think this was just a different style of N-S-G that comes across as more refined or elegant than earthy. Opinions on CellarTracker have a similar deviation. Two postings speak of a muted nose and one other posting says "beautiful spiced perfume...a really civilized style of Nuits, nuanced, elegant and defined." Personally, I like both styles of N-S-G--earthy and mushroomy or more elegant fruits.

David Guimond brought a 1988 Trapet & Fils Latriciere Chambertin. I enjoyed tasting my first from this vineyard.

I also sampled a 2003 Sauternes with a long name with which I was not familiar. I still have two unopened bottles of the 2003 Suduiraud (opened one at an offline in San Francisco last October.)

Another revelation was the Shirocco, a Shiraz from Morocco. I'm not sure who brought it bought it seemed to be universally popular. I sampled three of Howie Hart's homemade wines--the dry Riesling was nice but I thought the Cabernet Franc/Merlot was really special!

Lorenzo, a Delta pilot and winemaker, brought a Bordeaux-type blend from his Chateau Aeronautique Winery located between Jackson and Lansing Michigan. Another interesting wine. Nice labels too. See http://www.michiganwines.com/page.php?page_id=479

Edmunds St. John Bone Jolly (Gamay grape) was another nice tasting wine. I didn't note the vintage.

I missed out on the Banyuls and the Tignanello (sigh) but did have some Bandol wine with chocolate cake and brownie.

P.S. I'm on a library computer and may run out of time before I post on the Saturday picnic wines or the wine flight of red wines I had at VinoVolo at the Detroit Metro Airport before my flight home. Will post later this week if I'm booted off in three minutes.

The "Gamay" in the old BV Burgundy is not really Gamay, but Valdiguie. The other component, as I recall, with plenty of staying power, is Mondeuse.

The BV "Burgundy" was quite the surprise, wasn't it? I thoroughly enjoyed your 99 Domaine Georges Mugneret Nuits-St-Georges, JC. I was glad that I brought a Pegau CdP 2000, since I didn't get to the table when they opened the similar bottle brought by OW. My wine of the night may well have been the Banyuls, even without the chocolate cake, it was a heavenly dessert in a glass! I am trying to recall what was poured into my glass just as I sat down to eat the brisket; it was the perfect food match. Perhaps someone will report the same.

Thanks for posting this, the Friday pre-party more than appeased those who wanted an Old World theme!

Good to see you, JC. Let's do it again next year!

JB

Thanks for the notes JC,

The wine food match of the night for me was the Banyuls (1994, I think) and the chocolate brownie. It was just explosions of chocolate in my mouth. This was truly a match made in heaven .