The following are much-delayed notes from a really fun and filling evening at Mike and Carla’s house the Sunday after Thanksgiving—touted as a chance to enjoy somewhat more of a “Foodie Thanksgiving” than what many of us are able to get away with when having the holiday meal with our families. It was also an excuse to open even more bottles of wine over the long weekend! For food, there were tons of artisinal cheeses, quail with foie gras, pate two ways, wild mushroom crostini, roasted beet and goat cheese salad, butternut squash risotto, a locally-raised turkey, prosciutto bread stuffing, parsnips, Zinfandel steak tips, all kinds of tarts and pies and I know I’m forgetting many other delicacies.
Champagne with starters:
1996 Pierre Peters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Millesime. Lovely aromas of ginger, nectarine, lemon ball, chalk and peach pit lift out of the glass with this classy-smelling Champagne. In the mouth, it is rather precise, with fine-honed acidity and incredible energy. It is tangy with citrus and apple flavors but seems like it is only showing the top layer of its flavor depth right now. I love the drive and liveliness, but I’d give this a few more years in the cellar to fan out.
N.V. Cedric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs. I kind of struggled with this for reasons I can’t really fully explain. It smells of sulfur, purple berry fruit and toasted citrus peel. In the mouth, it is very unique—with a rather vinous set of qualities to it. It features dark flavors of white currants, plums, earth and wet chalk. It has an oddly grounded sense to it, without the airiness I just naturally expect from sparkling wine. It has a slippery texture to it and finishes long and distinctive. It does grow on me the more I sit and contemplate it, but I prefer the Pierre Peters style.
Whites:
2008 Francois Chidaine Montluis-sur-Loire Les Tuffeaux. This wine is a real beauty, showing well already but bound to continue to improve over the next several years. Right now, it offers up a lusciously-layered aromatic profile of lemon peel, candle wax, lemon sourball, spun sugar and limestone. In the mouth it has a lovely slick texture, with wooly, pithy flavors of lemon peel, quince, mineral and peach pit that take on slivers of sweetness as the wine warms. The soft acidity suits the wine’s overall texture and density and carries it along to a nicely-balanced finish that pairs beautifully with the comte cheese.
2009 Kiralyudvar Tokaji Furmint Sec. This wine features a kind of yeasty, malty nose of beer foam and apple skins allied to airy scents of waxy lemon, river rocks, copper and iron notes—coming across as light and tight but interesting and different. It is rounder on the palate than the nose might suggest, again coming across as yeasty and full of browned apple and poached pear sorts of flavors and a little streak of dark beer underneath. It is kind of quirky and I think still working itself out, but showing some good length and persistence. I’d be curious to follow its progression over the next few years.
Reds:
2009 Jean-Yves Peron Mondeuse Noir Vin de Pays d’Allobrogie Champ Levat. This is a bit of a crazy ride. The nose is kind of challenging at times but intriguing nonetheless—hitting one upside the head with strong racetrack scents of horse hair, stable muck and stale cigars to go along with a big blast of rather sweet blackberry and blueberry fruit, chalk and toasted grape stems. In the mouth, it is extremely earthy and savory, with a leathery, furry texture to the smoky flavors of peat moss, iodine, charcoal and more of those funky, sweaty animal tones. At the same time, the acidity is rather bitter and metallic but the purple berry fruit decidedly sweet and primary. So, while there is a whole lot going on, I don’t find it particularly holistic or well-balanced at this time. And I see this as a wine likely to continue to be a challenge in the years ahead, but your mileage may vary.
2007 Gerard Schueller Pinot Noir Bildstoeckle Alsace. In a much more toned-down way, this wine also smells kind of sweaty and funky, nicely balancing out the plethora of spiced blue and purple berry fruit that one also finds here. In the mouth, it shows sour cherry and mixed berry fruit in a funky, earthen, charcoal-tinged flavor profile that is interesting but somehow a bit too flat in the mid-palate and a tad attenuated on the finish. I think that maybe this just needs more time in the cellar, though I haven’t really got the experience with Alsatian Pinot Noir to say for sure.
1997 Michel & Stephane Ogier Cote-Rotie. Man, this wine is absolutely laden with aromas of dried blood, iron, raw meat, black leather, black olives, dried bacon fat and wintergreen on the nose. Following through on that, it is quite dark and very serious in the mouth--featuring blackberry, raspberry, black olive, cool stone and scorched earth flavors riding atop an excellent vein of acidic lift and draped across a rigid backbone of structure. It is a tensile, stand-up-straight sort of wine that is intense and genuinely raw. It is still youthful, with its tannins a definite factor, but I very much like the purity, structure and energy it puts out.
2000 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot. Man, do I ever dig the old-fashioned aromas inherent in this wine--dark and dense, with lots of iron and rust notes atop a core of leather, animal fur, cigar ash, hardened bacon fat, white pepper and blackberry fruit. In terms of drinking, I actually was surprised at just how accessible and enjoyable this is right now. Yes, it is aggressive, intense and feral, but is also just loaded with delicious flavors of blackberry, tar and ash accompanied by freshening acidity in excellent harmony. Yeah, holding it is a good idea, but I don’t by any means think it is a mistake to open and enjoy this now.
2001 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. There’s apparently a good deal of bottle variation with this wine, but judging by this bottle alone, I have to say that this is just an outstanding and delicious wine that I need to find more of. The nose is broad and engaging, full of wonderfully spicy leather and rawhide aromas to go along with notes of persimmon, horse saddle, spiced plums and wild blueberries. In the mouth, the first thing I notice is how expansive the wine is, how it flows out and fills the mouth with flavor and inner mouth perfume. The texture can be a tad leathery at times, but it fits in with the overall personality of the wine, which is one of rich dark fruit and earth tone flavors accented by hints of leather. Tannins come on strong after a while in the glass, but this is still killer stuff that really has a fun kick to it and a certain uniqueness to it that is hard to put into words. I just know that I like it a lot.
1994 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia. This wine sports lovely aromas of meaty red currant paste, toasted orange peel, suede leather, fine baking spices, forest greenery and little hints of smoky peat moss. It is also quite good in the mouth, where it has a creamy and layered feel to the plush and expansive red currant and cherry fruit that deliver a lot of packed flavor. For all that, I do think the tannins and acids are in play more than I expect or recall from a bottle a few years back and the structure still seems pretty tight despite the push the fruit puts on. All in all, though, I think it is a delicious wine I’d be happy to drink anytime.
1994 Ridge Lytton Springs Dry Creek Valley. I absolutely love the nose of this wine, with its fleshy, almost creamy aromas of leather, mud, damson and dark cherry. In the mouth, I’m afraid it isn’t quite as exciting, not really showing the depth or concentration one might wish for. Still, I do enjoy the fine black and blue berry fruit profile and the cool-toned quality of the earthy notes. I just wish it didn’t feel quite so diffuse at times through the mid-palate.
Sweet wines:
1997 Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ere Trie Le Mont. There is a nice gold-orange tint to this wine that features aromas of peach, nectarine, hardened caramel strands, wet river rocks and copper kettle that are just a bit sweet but also rather minerally. In the mouth, it has a moderately sweet core of peach, nectarine and caramel balanced against tensile acidity and fine minerality. It has great depth of flavor and doesn’t seem cloying at all, and though it might not have quite the length I’d hope for, it is delicious just the same.
1998 Domaine Weinbach Tokay Pinot Gris Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles. Wow, this is right in the pleasure zone for me. It features gorgeous aromatics of botrytis spices, clotted cream, lychee fruit, peach cobbler and orange blossoms that are delightful to sit and sniff with our dessert. On the palate, I adore the creamy, dense, thick and luscious texture that pulls you in and caresses the senses with flavors of botrytis cream, caramel, peach and lychee. The length and staying power of this wine are very impressive, but it is the entire luscious and soothing palate journey that does it for me. What a way to end a fabulous meal!
-Michael