WTN: Wine with Friends ('58 Vallana, '85 Gresser, '01 Clos de Beze) img

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Some wine and food with friends...

2000 Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Loire, FR
Imp: Robert Chadderdon Selections, NY. , 12%abv.
Wonderful chenin nose. Lightly sparkling with lots of white fruit and mineral. This is a great way to start a meal.

2002 Meulenhof Erdener Trepchen Riesling Kabinett Mosel, GE
#01 03 Imp: Theise/Skurnik, 8.5% abv.
Good nose of petrol mixed with ripe pears, off-dry with plenty of fruit and just starting to develop some creaminess and heft. I wish I had more of these to age a bit longer as it’s still very primary but they were too good to hold on to.

1985 André & Rémy Gresser Moenchberg Riesling Vieilles Vignes Alsace Grand Cru Andlau, FR
13% abv.
Too cold at first but after some swirling and warming this wine was quite nice. Soft, creamy texture with good minerality. The mid-palate filled out the following day. Theresa didn’t think it was the best example of an aged Alsatian riesling but once again my inexperience pays off as I liked it quite a bit.

1996 Château La Louvière Pessac-Léognan Bordeaux Blanc
Stinky stankonia. Whew doggie. After a few whiffs, Joe recorks it. Surprisingly, he reports back that after two days in the decanter the putrid smell cleared and the wine was pretty damned good.

<table border="0" align="left" valign="top"><tr><td><img src="http://www.myspeakerscorner.com/forum/user_images/spanna_crop.jpg" border="1" align="left"></td></tr></table>1958 Antonio Vallana & Figlio Spanna del Piemonte Vino da Tavola Maggiora, IT
Imp: Vieux Vins, Vineburg, CA., 12%abv.
OMG. I certainly don’t have the longest track record for this wine passion we all share but this is the best wine I’ve ever had. You know that “I’ll have what she’s having” scene from When Harry Met Sally? Well, that describes the noises coming from Joe and Thor when they get their noses in a bowl of this stuff. An enormous dose of the usual nebbiolo suspects (truffles, tar, dried roses, and orange peel) but ramped up a few dozen notches all just oozing from the bottle and exploding once the wine hits the glass. No sign of bricking at all. The taste is just so rich and it is perfectly integrated and seemless. Captivating and showing plenty of life. The only minor negative is that taste profile and finish didn’t meet the heights of the nose, but that bar was set pretty high. By the way, the fill was low neck and the cork was only 1/3 saturated so I’m assuming it was recorked (and maybe topped off?) at some point in its nearly 50 year life. Lill says “You need to order more of this”. Life is good.

2001 Vincent Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru, Burgundy, FR.
Really nice, young, modern burgundy. Beautiful nose, lots of ripe fruit and earth with a good touch of wood. Nice full palate with plenty of tannins. I’m enjoying this even though it shows a bit heavy after the Spanna.


1993 Domaine Michel Juillot Clos des Barraults Mercurey 1er Cru, Burgundy, FR.
Imp: Dressner, 13.5%abv.
Nice nose but fairly thin in the middle. Good mature pinot.

1996 Jean-Michel Renaud Clos Jus Givry 1er Cru, Burgundy, FR
13%abv.
I didn’t try this as Joe and Thor pronounced it DOA.

1997 La Cappuccina Arzimo Recioto di Soave Veneto, IT
Imp: Premium Brands, NY. 14%abv, 100% garganega.
Really nice baked apple, butterscotch nose and good dried fruit and hazelnut flavors. The mid-palate isn’t as full as, say, I Capitelli, in fact, it’s fairly thin. A nice touch of acidity keeps the sugar in check and the finish is pleasant albeit medium length. Decent enough for the price.

Hee hee! Having a few problems there Bill!! Hey thats strange, when I reply the pic comes up. Better get Lil to see whats up there Bill. LOL

What's up there Bob? Are you seeing code instead of pics?

[Robin Garr]

What's up there Bob? Are you seeing code instead of pics?

I'll take a peek at Bob's profile and see if there's anything obvious that I can reset for him.

Bill, nice notes.

Robin, I just see code in Bill's post too- but I'm able to see the pics by hitting reply and looking at "topic review" .

I've had the '58 Vallana Spanna as well as a couple of ones from the 60s (I think one or two were single vineyard, but just regular in '58) - they were around NY about 10 years ago at very reasonable prices. Remarkable wines all. I bought a '55 for my in-laws 50th anniversary last year- I was sick, but enjoyed my tastes before spitting.

[Robin Garr]

I just see code in Bill's post too-

Log out now and log back in, Dale ... I found something funky in your user settings and fixed it for you, I think. (I suspect you were one of the fairly early registrants who joined before the Forum Administrator and I had fully solved the mysteries of this system.

Got it, pix are there now. Thanks!

Thanks for the notes, Bill. I see the Rare Wine Company has the 1958 Antonio Vallana & Figlio Spanna del Piemonte. Where did you find yours?

Based on that review, I've got to try a bottle.

Regards, Bob

Where did you find yours?

That would be the place, Bob.

[Jenise]

Robin, I see only code, too. (Using aluminoid, btw.)

Jenine, go to your profiles and make sure Always Allow HTML is checked Yes in your Preferences.

[Robin Garr]

Robin, I see only code, too.

Fixed! Bill told you right, by the way ... anyone who does not see pictures in posts of that type can most likely cure it by going into Profile and ticking "Yes" next to "Always allow HTML"

"That would be the place, Bob."

That is the place, Bill. They are shipping both the '55 and the '58 to arrive Monday. The '55 will be the first wine I've had from the year I graduated high school!

Thanks for the tasting note.

Regards, Bob

That is the place, Bill. They are shipping both the '55 and the '58 to arrive Monday

Thats great, Bob! Enjoy!

[Jenise]

Jenise, go to your profiles and make sure Always Allow HTML is checked Yes in your Preferences.

Hmmm...I didn't have to do that, because after I responded the pictures showed up. Weird.

1996 Château La Louvière Pessac-Léognan Bordeaux Blanc
Stinky stankonia. Whew doggie. After a few whiffs, Joe recorks it. Surprisingly, he reports back that after two days in the decanter the putrid smell cleared and the wine was pretty damned good.

Bill, as I said in e-mail, of the top five worst smelling white wines, three of them have been white Bordeaux (89 Ygrec, 95 Lynch Bages, and this one). All of them shared the same animal musk, roadkill and compost notes. However, the 1973 Tondonia was similarly animal and nasty. The infamous .Sasha gave me the thumbs up and told me it would be great with some decanting - and it was. This wine took two days to resolve the funk, but it was very nice, not stellar, but very nice. Based on my other experiences, I think this must be true of these traditional white Bordeaux. Anyone know? Where's Alex?

1958 Antonio Vallana & Figlio Spanna del Piemonte Vino da Tavola Maggiora, IT
Imp: Vieux Vins, Vineburg, CA., 12%abv.
OMG. I certainly don’t have the longest track record for this wine passion we all share but this is the best wine I’ve ever had. You know that “I’ll have what she’s having” scene from When Harry Met Sally? Well, that describes the noises coming from Joe and Thor when they get their noses in a bowl of this stuff. An enormous dose of the usual nebbiolo suspects (truffles, tar, dried roses, and orange peel) but ramped up a few dozen notches all just oozing from the bottle and exploding once the wine hits the glass. No sign of bricking at all. The taste is just so rich and it is perfectly integrated and seemless. Captivating and showing plenty of life. The only minor negative is that taste profile and finish didn’t meet the heights of the nose, but that bar was set pretty high. By the way, the fill was low neck and the cork was only 1/3 saturated so I’m assuming it was recorked (and maybe topped off?) at some point in its nearly 50 year life. Lill says “You need to order more of this”. Life is good.

That wine kicked serious ass. I don't care if a wine is topped up as long as it can achieve that aromatic prescience. Boo-Ya!

2001 Vincent Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru, Burgundy, FR.
Really nice, young, modern burgundy. Beautiful nose, lots of ripe fruit and earth with a good touch of wood. Nice full palate with plenty of tannins. I’m enjoying this even though it shows a bit heavy after the Spanna.

Definitely should have gone before the Spanna, and too primary now to be anything other than "Pinot". Time will tell if Clos de Beze comes out (doubt it).

1996 Jean-Michel Renaud Clos Jus Givry 1er Cru, Burgundy, FR
13%abv.
I didn’t try this as Joe and Thor pronounced it DOA.

DOA is the kindest way to describe the putrescence of this wine.


Great notes, Bill! The only injustice you did was not to mention what a great job of hosting and cooking you and Lill did.

Best,
Joe

[Robin Garr]

[I didn't have to do that, because after I responded the pictures showed up. Weird.

That's because I fixed it for you ... thought I posted to the thread that I had done that, but maybe not. In fact, I did a batch change and fixed *everyone* who had HTML turned off.

I had a similar problem with the post PaulB made about my Cayuga. In the post I only saw code, but in the reply I saw a picture of the wine bottle.