May 5, 2007

2006 Rudi Wiest “Riesling Preview” Barrel Tasting at Grand Sichuan

Joe Salamone and I were lucky enough to attend this excellent lunch in February which highlighted barrel samples from a medium swath of Rudi’s producers. Here are our long overdue notes:

We are reticent to provide any definitive conclusions based on this modest (but fun) selection of barrel samples, the most impressive wines seemed to fall within two camps :

1) Vineyard sites that offered some protection against the fast developing botrytis that resulted from an August filled with nearly continuous rain.

2) Growers who had enough resources and sincerity to practice ridiculously rigorous selection. (Rudi told us that the yield at Rebholz’s Kastanienbusch vineyard in the Pfalz were only 12ha/hl.). Unfortunately their sacrifice may result in some pretty crazy prices.

Other important notes:

Though September was generally dry and warm, hail and rain were also present in late September/early October which hastened the harvest for most if not all estates. Conditions were extremely challenging: the fruit was ripening quicker than predicted and botrytis was beginning to rage so the harvest was done at lightening speed.

To us, the wines that seemed to miss the mark shared a penchant for their exotic flavors becoming unfocused with a prevalence of overripe tropical fruit. Those that were spot-on had unparalleled concentration and structure.

It’s seems clear that dry wines, lower pradikat levels, and QbA wines will be minefields in 2006 – not only was production down by 35-50% in general (due to harsh selection) but few if any true “Kabinett” wines exist as many grapes were harvested near 130 Ochsle!. Moreover, growers that believe in adhering staunchly to traditional style (like Manfred Prum) actually made zero QbA and Kabinett wines and only a bit of Spatlese.

Posted by Tom Stephenson at 6:21 PM

November 10, 2006

1990 Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant

Here are my (short) tasting notes:

Color: Mid->Dark apple juice yellow/brown.

Warmed up beautifully and needed the decant (the man knows what he's doing with those paper inserts that say "serve at X celsius and decant for a long time.")

Lovely sweet herbal aromatics and that classic Joly green-tea on the attack.

Excellent mid-palate of surprising freshness and acidity. While fun up-front, the real treat was the finish. LONG. Rich. Would have with a steak with it even at this age, or just enjoy on a cool November night with a lawn chair. Not for the faint of heart.

Posted by Tom Stephenson at 1:48 AM

March 26, 2006

Drink Wine. Not Soup.

"Ahhh, perfect temperature," my boyfriend and I said at the same time after tasting the slightly cool Côtes du Rhône the waiter brought to our table. Our friends, knowing we both work in the wine business, stopped talking and looked at us curiously. "So is that some sort of wine speak? Should I say 'perfect temperature' next time I taste wine to impress people?" one friend asked.

It wasn't supposed to be a wine geek comment at all, but it seems few people know to serve red wine cooler than split pea soup. We've experienced wine temperature offences at all levels of establishments – from a casual pizza place in Brooklyn to an elegant restaurant near Union Square. When red wine tastes like it was stored too close to the kitchen, we usually ask a server to put the bottle over ice for a few minutes. After this chill time, our casual wine-drinking friends always admit they like the wines better.

Warm red wine reveals too much scathing alcohol which obscures the fruit and other flavors. Bring the wine down a few degrees, and suddenly the fruit seems fresh and bright, the alcohol more nicely integrated. Serve red wine too cold, however, and the fruit becomes dull and the mouth-drying tannins too evident. Wines with fewer tannins, like Beaujolais and some Pinot Noir quaff easily around 55 degrees F. For your strapping young cabernets and shirazes with aggressive tannins as well as older wines with loads of nuance to divulge, think more like 60 to 62 degrees F.

Wine temperature should not be a concern exclusive to wine geeks. Why? Wine is supposed to be enjoyed, and the unofficial poll shows that even occasional wine drinkers find slightly cool red wine more pleasant. Next time life serves you soupy red wine, impress your friends. Ask for an ice bucket. Then you, too, can say, “Ahhh, perfect temperature.” —Kristin Donnelly

Posted by at 7:31 PM