WTN: Vacation and after

Took a week off for the first time in who knows how long -- an actual week off, with my email client disconnected from my Cornell account and everything -- and headed for the Catskills. At the restaurant at the Deer Mountain Inn in Tannersville (which has a really nice wine list on top of everything else), we went for a Morgen Long 2020 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay. Given my other recent experiences with Chardonnays from this AVA I was surprised that this showed almost tropical on the nose behind some light reductive aromas, which fade away pretty quickly. Not unpleasant, but not exactly what I expected. Still, on the palate it’s focused and lithe citrus and minerality, and turned out to be a versatile food wine for a meal that wanted a little richness without a ton of weight. A first from this label for me; I look forward to exploring more.

The rest of the trip was not especially wine-focused, though we also ate at the Kitchen Sink Supper Club in Beacon, where the best dish for me was a herbed melon gazpacho with goat cheese (but it was good all the way through); that paired nicely with a Fjord Vineyards 2022 Hudson River Region Dry Riesling by the glass. Andrea's wine pairing also included a Keuka Lake Vineyards 2021 Finger Lakes Vignoles that was aggressively tropical-tart but worked well with a dish that involved cured fluke, as well as some Brookyln cider, a Paul Brady Pet-Nat of some sort and a Whitecliff Vineyard 2022 Non-Intervention Pinot Noir, also Hudson River Region, I think, which tasted carbonic; decent match with a very good duck dish.

I also learned that Leitz Eins Zwei Zero (shouldn't that be Eins Zwei Null? eh, macht nichts) Nonalcoholic Sparkling Riesling is terrible; so far the only worthwhile NA substitutes I've found are beer (Athletic, in particular), St. Agrestis's Phony Negroni, Lapo's aperitivo, and Lucano Amaro Zero; seems like bitterness on the finish is what masks the lack of ETOH.

Back home and back to wine:

Tenuta delle Terre Nerre 2014 Etna Rosso, PrePhylloxera, La Vigna di Don Peppino. Ruby with browning at the edge, but no other signs of advanced age. Beautifully aromatic, shifting over a couple of hours among floral, earthy, and grilled-meat notes. A lot of depth of flavor in the mouth, though with slightly obtrusive alcohol on the finish, as well as significant fine tannins that could use more time to resolve. On the first night, my guess was that there would be a pretty short window to catch this in its full glory before it falls out of balance, but I finished the last 125ml or so of this two nights later, after it had been closed with a Repour and left at cellar temp, and it was even better than the first night, which makes me more optimistic about the length of that peak window. I have three more and will try another in 2-3 years.

Idlewild 2022 Mendocino County Rosé, Flora & Fauna. Rich, round fruit (for a dry rosé) turning nicely lean and dry on the finish, which lends this a fine balance of summery expansiveness and focus. I think this must be the effect of the combination of Dolcetto and Nebbiolo. Excellent.

Porter Creek 2013 Russian River Valley Zinfandel. Not bad but past its prime: slightly fading fruit that hasn’t gone anywhere especially interesting in terms of tertiary aromas. If this were braising season, I'd use it for that. I guess the other two bottles (argh) will go into the Drink Up/OTH bin. Or I'll plant gardenias.

Sabelli-Frisch 2022 Molekumne River Riesling, Molekumne Glen Vineyard, "Bund." I bought one of these as part of a mixed case, with one eyebrow raised at the prospect of Lodi Riesling. No skepticism was necessary. This is laser-focused but also layered, with citrus pith and minerals at the front end, citrus oil on the finish, and some tree fruit in between. Has enough substance to age. I live in the Finger Lakes, but this might be the best North American Riesling I’ve tasted? I really, really wish I'd gotten more.

Ridge 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel, Jimsomare Vineyard. Very good young Zin. Concentrated, relatively high-toned berry fruit and a moderate ABV give this density without heaviness, as an old vine mountain Zinfandel should. Barrel treatment is evident but harmonious. I can’t recall if the last young Jimso I opened was a 20 or a 21; by memory, that bottle was more effusive on the nose than this, so if it was a 20, it might now be shutting down a little. Either way, I’m glad to have more of both. (I didn't taste anything that made me think of smoke taint, but I also have no first-person point of reference for smoke-tainted wine.)

Idlewild 2022 Mendocino County Erbaluce, Rancho Coda. Crisp and rich citrus and apple flavors with a mouth-wateringly herbaceous finish. With air and after 2 nights in a topped-off 375ml bottle, the second half is still fresh-tasting but bigger and broader, even a little oily. Excellent.

Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! 2023 Amador County Mourvedre Rosé, Shake Ridge Ranch, "Summer Salters III." Pale black raspberry thunderstorm-colored. Layers of juicy, deep fruit that lead you into a thick, rocky bramble. This is an utterly different wine from the last two vintages, but no less delicious than the '21, which had been my favorite of the two so far. Sorry I didn't get more (I think I have one more bottle), but I was up to my gills in new purchases this spring.

Corison 2015 St. Helena Cabernet Franc, Helios, Sunbasket Vineyard. On first opening, this is dominated by surprisingly bright and tart cranberry fruit, not entirely unpleasant, but odd, like some unexpected hybrid of a CF and a Mendocino Pinot. But after half an hour in the glass, the rest of the profile wakes up and comes forward. The tartness unfolds into a top note of heady florality, while deeper and darker fruit keeps the wine better anchored to the ground than it had been. I’ll be very interested to see what the second half of this bottle (it's now in an Eto decanter) will do tonight, but I'm provisionally planning to hold the remaining bottle another 5+ years.

Man, we need to get back to the European side of the cellar!

[David M. Bueker]

Did you hear that Sam Bilbro sold Idlewild?

I also learned that Leitz Eins Zwei Zero (shouldn't that be Eins Zwei Null? eh, macht nichts) Nonalcoholic Sparkling Riesling is terrible; so far the only worthwhile NA substitutes I've found are beer (Athletic, in particular), St. Agrestis's Phony Negroni, Lapo's aperitivo, and Lucano Amaro Zero; seems like bitterness on the finish is what masks the lack of ETOH.

Interesting. I love wine, beer, spirits, etc, but I never felt the urge to drink non-alcoholic versions of them. God gave us water for that purpose. Not to mention all the things you can do with juices to make drinks that are delicious on their own, without mimicking something else.

David: nope, that's news to me, though I'd already bailed on the club; just drinking through what I have. I do like the whites. Do you know who bought it?

Rahsaan: I drink plenty of water (tap, mineral, flavored and unflavored sparkling). I also really like beer, spirits, and amari. But I'm limiting my drinking for health reasons. (Hence, too, the experiments with new preservation technologies like the Eto decanter, which I've found very effective so far, and Repour closures, about which the jury's still out, and old-fashioned empty 375ml and 250ml bottles with screw-on or swingtop lids, which work very well.) Most of the time, I plan to use my "budget" on wine, which is what I really love; thus the interest in substitutes, especially for those moments when I want the bitter flavor profile of beer or ale or a digestivo, which is hard to reproduce with a juice drink.

And while I basically agree with you that I prefer to drink things that are "delicious on their own, without mimicking something else," I've also been surprised by how much movement there seems to be in the "craft" NA world, and I'm pretty well persuaded that at least a few of these products, especially nonalcoholic beer, shouldn't be thought of as mimicking something else: they're like beer because they ARE beer, but with the alcohol removed. At that point, at least for me, the criterion becomes: does it taste good? And for the best NA beer I've tried, the answer is yes, to the point that, even if alcoholic content weren't a consideration, I'd choose an Athletic "Hop Wild" non-alcoholic IPA over a lot of mediocre or even fair-to-middling regular beer.

All that said, there may also be a juicer in my future.

Rahsaan: I drink plenty of water (tap, mineral, flavored and unflavored sparkling). I also really like beer, spirits, and amari. But I'm limiting my drinking for health reasons...I'm pretty well persuaded that at least a few of these products, especially nonalcoholic beer, shouldn't be thought of as mimicking something else: they're like beer because they ARE beer, but with the alcohol removed. At that point, at least for me, the criterion becomes: does it taste good? And for the best NA beer I've tried, the answer is yes, to the point that, even if alcoholic content weren't a consideration, I'd choose an Athletic "Hop Wild" non-alcoholic IPA over a lot of mediocre or even fair-to-middling regular beer.

Fair enough. Maybe the non-alcoholic beer folks have been at it longer, to do it better. Or maybe it's an easier product to make. Who knows. But good to hear the quality is there.

And I'm with you on the health front. I don't drink as much wine as I did in the past, although for the most part I'm happy to just drink water all day, eat tons of fruit after meals, and then enjoy wine on the weekends. But now we're digressing...

I have had some delicious mocktail concoctions from here: https://curiouselixirs.com/collections/cocktails, which were certainly very interesting. Although not something that I need to do regularly.

eat tons of fruit after meals

Having just had my first truly profound red and golden raspberries of the summer, I'm with you on that, though it's easier in the summer than the winter...

And thanks for the link, I'll check it out!

[David M. Bueker]

It’s blueberry season here. As a retired guy I can go pick them on weekday mornings!

As for Idlewild, it was bought by a former Google exec who has been on a bit of a buying spree. Sam is staying on. But like the Massican sale to Gallo, it dulls my interest.

eat tons of fruit after meals

Having just had my first truly profound red and golden raspberries of the summer, I'm with you on that, though it's easier in the summer than the winter...

Ithaca does get tough for fruits and vegetables in the winter. Although I go crazy on citrus, which is so delicious and lively and refreshing, a perfect counterpoint to the season.

Right now Berlin's summer berry bounty is underway, cherries, sour cherries, great raspberries and blueberries and blackberries, all better than what I get in Nyc. Although the local melons and peaches are of course better in Nyc...

Always something to eat!

We've had blueberries for a couple of weeks but they're not yet at peak. The raspberries are at that stage where the taste of one berry can lift a 200-lb. man six inches in the air. And Ithaca's black raspberries are outstanding, better than Chicago's. Winter citrus is iffier than I expected here, or maybe I just haven't found the right source, but I have a feeling that, as with wine, most of the best stuff goes to NYC. (I'm a committed enough locavore not to buy asparagus in February, but I need *some* fruit in the winter!)

[David M. Bueker]

Maybe a local apple orchard might do winter storage. That's what our local farm does, and certain varieties keep really well. Last year was tough due to bad frost so almost no crop, but the prior winter we were eating local apples, fresh as if off the tree into March!

Winter citrus is iffier than I expected here, or maybe I just haven't found the right source, but I have a feeling that, as with wine, most of the best stuff goes to NYC. (I'm a committed enough locavore not to buy asparagus in February, but I need *some* fruit in the winter!)

My mother's been in Ithaca for over 30 years and she hasn't found that source either! Whenever I visit during the winter, citrus doesn't seem to be as good as Nyc..

I'm also a big locavore but make exceptions for fruit, especially in the winter.

Cost becomes an issue but you can also order direct from FL. I haven't found a great source for shipping FL citrus because my grocery stores in Nyc (and before that NC) always had good enough options.

But, I have been ordering tropical FL fruit from here https://www.robertishere.com/. Am a very satisfied customer, although prices have been creeping up (as with everything) so the slight splurge now feels like a too-big splurge, at least for some of the fruits. But they have some interesting options.

Indeed, David, it's not hard to get cellared apples (not to mention root vegetables and cabbage), including at the Ithaca Farmers Market's "winter market," held indoors about three minutes from my house! I haven't even felt the need to do a winter farm share, as we did in Chicago (which inevitably resulted in an annual mid-March reality check about whether we were or were not going to use that one weird giant black radish that had been in the fridge for months).

And thanks, Rahsaan, for that link -- on the one hand, yes, I see how it could get pricey (mangos start at $72 for 1/4 bushel); on the other hand, compared to the price of Burgundy... glad to have the recommendation!