Tried these two w/ Ryan last week up in Atchison:
1. Strohmeier Rot#6 Trauben,Liebe und Zeit (25% Blauer Wildbacher/75% Zweigelt; 12.0%; www.JennyAndFrancois.com; a MonikaCaha Slctn) WestSteirmark/Austria NV: Very dark color; slightly funky that clears strong boysenberry/blackberry/Zweigelt some earthy/loamy bit coarse/sauvage/rustic slightly spicy rather interesting unusual nose; very sour rather coarse/rustic/almost hybridy strong Zweigelt/boysenberry/blackberry quite earthy/loamy flavor w/ some hard/coarse tannins; long quite sour quite coarse/rustic/almost hybridy earthy/loamy some boysenberry/blackberry/ripe/Zweigelt finish w/ some coarse/rough/hard tannins; quite sour and the coarseness of the Wildbacher raelly comes thru; actually pretty decent w/ the beef liver pate Ray's wife genned up. $26.00 (Gomers/MT)
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2. Kindzmarauli (Saperavi from Kindzmarauli/Kavareli/Kakheti/Georgia; Dozortsev & Sons Enterprises/Brooklyn; 12.0%) T.Kouchoshvili) 2017: Very dark/near black color; very strong grapey/boysenberry/chocolatey/black cherry cola somewhat earthy/bit loamy interesting very ripe nose; quite sweet underacid overripe/boysenberry/chocolaty/grapey fairly coarse/earthy/bit loamy interesting flavor w/ light gentle/overripe tannins; very long very ripe/boysenberry/chocolaty/black cherry cola quite sweet rather earthy/loamy/coarse finish w/ light ripe/coarse tannins; fairly typical sweet Georgian red w/ lots of earthy/coarse character; this is the kind of Saperavi that PhillipeCombie would make in Chateaunef du Pape if he could; actually pretty tasty w/ the liver pate. $24.00 (Gomers/MT)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I've known Ryan Maderak for a fair number of yrs on various wine boards. He's heads the Astronomy section in the Physics Dept at BenedictineCollege up in Atchison/KS. I read pretty much everything he posts on the wine boards. I've long wanted to meet him and share some wine with him. Last Fall, they dedicated a new astronomy observatory at Benedictine that I was interested in visiting. So on my last trip to KansasCity, I made arrangements w/ Ryan for a tour & a visit. Obviously, there was to be wine involved.
So I made a visit to JimColey's Gomer's Mid-Town and picked up a few things I wanted to try w/ him. In addition to these two, we also had the Harrington Misteri,an ElDorado red from SumuKaw vnyd made from a grape Bryan thought to be NerelloMascalese, but DNA testing indicated it had no match in the over 28,000 varieties in the DNA database. And the Violet Byrrh, an aromatized sweet/fortified wine made w/ a quinine addition plus aromatic herbs from the Catalan region of France. Both of these I've posted TN's on.
I bought the Strohmeier because it had Blauer Wildbacher in the blend. This is an ancient variety that is a speciality in the WestSteirmark. It dates back to Celtic times and comes from a GouaisBlanc seedling and is related to Blaufrankisch. Its primary use is the make Schilcher rose, a fizzy/sweet rose that can take the enamel off your teeth. It is very much an acquired taste which, against my better judgement, I've acquired. It's exactly the perfect foil for Griebenschmaltz. The wine spoke mostly of Zweigelt, but the Wildbacher gave it a sort of rustic/coarse touch. Needs food with it.
The Kindzmarauli is a Georgian sweet red that I bought because it came in this beautiful clay crock that I couldn't resist. I am such a wuss. Clay crocks are apparently a tradition for bttling Georgian wines long ago. Makes no economic sense save to suck in customers like me who are into packaging. The wine was pretty typical of the sweet Georgian Saperavis that I've had before. The few dry versions I've had have been pretty rough & coarse. Saperavi is an interesting indigeneous grape of Georgia they should be planting all up&down the coast of California.
Ryan & I spent almost 2 hrs in the Daglen obsevatory talking astronomy. Well out of my area of expertise, I learned quite a lt about modern astronomy. In the days of Hubble & other large observatories around the World, I was struck by the contributions to Science that small observatories like Daglen can make. After a brief walk-thru of his remodeled Physics dept, we adjourned to Ryan's home for wine and a few apps & a delicious ruhbarb upside-down cake. But the high point of the day was getting to play w/ Ryan's two youngest kids. Isaac and I were doing some fencing with tinkertoy (didn't know they still made TinkerToy Kits) sticks. I, of course, won big time. That old age & treachery thing can still beat youth & skill. Things got pretty goofy, one of my specialities.
Anyway, it was a delightful afternoon and great to meet Ryan & his Family in person.
Tom