WTN: Hokus Pokus

Seven of us gathered at Washington's ur-fashionable Dino to lubricate Hoke Harden for a full day of SWE excitement. The Hoke was his typical self, quivering and stammering in the corner most of the night. The following wines were panned:

Jacquesson Extra Brut Signature 1995: Stunning, with bread dough and flowers, but plenty of fruit as well. Not panned due to insufficient warm-up on the part of most of the guests (I'm telling you, a little aperitif bourbon gets the panning juices flowing!).

Venica Sauvignon Collo "Ronco del Something-or-Other" 2004--Typical Venica lushness, with sage bits under the tropicality. A long-time fave, but is this some kind of heritage massale like the Buisson Poilleux? Is it the same one? Panned gently, with elegance.

Mastroberardino Radici 1993: Yum. Fleshy, high-toned, iron filings, cherries, flowers, the whole bit. Now I know why my Mastroberardino grappa di Taurasi smells the way it does. Panned, but only for the size of the bottle (a magnum would have been nice).

Eric Texier Cote-Rotie "Vielles Vignes" 2000--The tasting note for this wine is a check-mark. It's in a very happy place right now. Panned for its unpronounceability.

Ada Nada Barbaresco Valeirano 2000--The wine list says "Traditional," but this one seems a bit more "transitional," with some vanilla and thickness near the back. But an absence of wood tannin keeps it from full Beaver status. For awhile, it was hard to tell which of this and the Radici was aglianico and which was nebbiolo. Panned for all the obvious reasons.

Bob Semon brought some crazy moscato half-passito half-botrytis thing that I could not remember. It firmed up with air, with lots of spices. A phase, sayeth The Hoke.

Orsolani Erbaluce Passito "Sule" 1995: Maybe a touch past its prime, but pretty interesting. Like what would happen if you made a medium-sweet sherry from torrontes. Panned for being difficult to explain.

JP Bredell "Cape Vintage Reserve" 1998--The locals in SA proclaim this the best SA "port" ever made, and it's competent. Black fruit, supple tannins, a bit of alcohol poking out (20%--not sure if this was by choice, necessary to stop fermentation of grapes picked at 36 Balling, or what), supple texture. SA "Ports" always show a lot of minerality, but this one subsumes it a bit, which argues for further development. Not a producer I represent (and only available in SA AFAIK). Panned for supreme poseurhood.

Willett "Estate Bottled Single Barrel Rye" 22yo--I'll let Hoke comment on it. I am organizing another barrel from the same stash, if people want to get in on some. (That also means I'll be headed Bardstown-way, hopefully in January).

[Robin Garr]

Seven of us gathered at Washington's ur-fashionable Dino to lubricate Hoke Harden for a full day of SWE excitement. The Hoke was his typical self, quivering and stammering in the corner most of the night.

Thanks for the details, Jake, and good to see you! That Hoke, he's such a shy and modest Southern boy. I hope we can match those bottles at Tuesday's NYC tasting, when this shy and modest Southern boy hits Gotham.

(That also means I'll be headed Bardstown-way, hopefully in January).

Assuming you'll pass through Louisville, give us a yell ... perhaps we can organize a mini-offline here, or larger than mini if we get the Louisville Restaurants Forum geeks involved.

[James Roscoe]

Jake,
Thank you for organizing this. It was a fabulous night. I will work on my pronouniation of "Cote Rotie" for the next occassion in hope that some of that stuff shows up. I was a Cote Rotie "virgin" before last night. Alas, I am now taken with the stuff. Yikes was it good. However, it was the company that made the evening. Thanks again!
Cheers!
James

Thanks for the recap of the evening, Jake.

Capital (capitol?) idea to get the group together in D.C.

Liked Dino's (and liked Bourbon---the place---as well). Good selection of wines, great selection of people, nice restaurant, balmy evening in D.C.---a lovely combination.

And we got the car out of the parking lot three minutes before it closed!

The Willet 22 Year Old Kentucky Rye was a true standout. Marvellous stuff indeed. Any real whiskey fancier should angle to get some of that stuff, I'm telling you. If anyone in the Bay Area wants to get in on a bottle or three, let me know and I'll consolidate with Jake.

ROBIN: You need to get a bottle of this for your stash. It's worth it, for sure, for sure. HH