WTN: Ben Rotter Samples, Tokaji Szamorodny '90, Graham's '77

I met up with a couple good friends of mine to hear about my friend's recent trip to Iran and Yemen and the Gulf. We of course had a couple blind wines:

Ben Rotter Sample B 85 A #2

I've no idea what this is, but thanks Ben for sending it. The wine is nice. It is a bit cloudy in colour, light yellow. The nose reminds me a little of Sauv Bl in its black currant-leaf aromatics. It is fairly light bodied but with a bit of sweetness (some RS?) and balanced acidity. The aftertaste has some salty/mineral notes. A nice, fresh wine.

Ben Rotter Sample B 86 B #2

Aka cuvée dashed annoying cork! No matter what I tried, I couldn't extract the cork so I had to chip it into little bits and then push part of the cork in the bottle. Grrrr. Well, again the colour is a bit cloudy and light yellow. The nose is more earthy than the previous, with a more limpid white fruit character than the previous more pungent wine. It has a very delectable sea-breeze/ozone scent. The palate has more forward acidity (always positive! ) than the previous, again with slightly sweet fruit (again a touch of RS?), and a more structured aftertaste. Nice and fresh and light!

Thanks Ben, you seem to make cuvées that cater to my tastes! But what are they?

Vinarium Hungaricum Tokaji Szamorodny 1990

Nutty, spicy and floral nose - oily even! Fascinating and quite unique and very fresh despite all these heavy elements. The palate is spicy and fruity but very dry and acidic. Lovely stuff.

Graham's Vintage Port 1977

This seems to be a hotly debated Port: some saying it's great, others saying it's a miserable failure because of alcohol which hasn't integrated and fruit which has dropped of suddenly (and ever the contrarian, I stand in the middle!). Since I recently managed to get a bottle for a very fair price, I decided to see for myself:

Upon decanting: alarmingly advanced colour. The nose is however quite nice: a bit spirity, red toned and strawberry-like - very true Graham's style.

12 hours: the alcohol has not integrated. Everything underneath the alcohol is absolutely lovely however. It is a more elegant type of port, very typical style of the producer in sweetness and its red toned aromatics. The palate is on the sweeter end of the spectrum, and has much of the elegant, slightly earthy aromas I hope to see in aging Graham's. Unfortunately the alcohol is very intrusive.

15 hours: The alcohol still hasn't integrated. A shame, as I like the elegant Port underneath the alcohol, but the heat is prominent and harsh enought to be called a flaw.

-O-

Glad you enjoyed them Otto! Both are Rhubarb wines, and an unusual style even for what they are. Drier than is typical, and more understated/restrained whilst maintaining some complexity. I think they show an interesting balance between "sweet" fruit and vegetal notes (so I totally agree with your Sauv Blanc and sweetly fruity comments), and certainly display their terroir and a more "pure expression" of what they are (as we discussed).

Interestingly, both wines are made from exactly the same "fruit" (leaf petiole) and vinified almost identically (very similar must handling, same yeast, same fermentation regime, etc). I think it's interesting to see how different they are. I think most wine drinkers don't realise how much influence the vinification can impact the resulting wine (even wines vinified the same way, in as far as is controllable, can end up being quite different).

Ben, thanks. I've suddenly become a fan of Rhubarb wines. Cheese is on its way as a more material way saying thanks!

-O-