How many fields can you work in where it's your JOB to drink great wine? Here you'll find tasting notes and comments about all the wines we open on the job - a pretty spectacular array of collectibles and geek wines. We're working around the clock!

July 16, 2009

Coconut Water Comparison via Blind Tasting

When he's not tasting wine or making deals, you can find Crush GM Tom Stephenson running or biking around NYC for exercise. When he's thirsty and he needs something even more crisp than muscadet, he goes for clean and refreshing coconut water to replenish his electrolytes and stay hydrated.

Recently while shopping for sports drinks, Tom noticed that his favorite brand of coconut water, O.N.E., was priced significantly higher than some other brands available on the market. Was O.N.E. really worth the higher premium? As the leader of a crew of sharp palates, the solution was simple:

The Coconut Water Blind Tasting at Crush

Bounding into the store earlier this week, Tom announced his plan to the tasting room denizens, but Molly Sider, the laid-back West Coaster advised that the cheapest and freshest coconut water comes straight from the coconut, not some package. And so the stage was set: a blind tasting of coconut water from brown coconuts, young coconuts and four different kinds of packaged juice.

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Posted by McRae Petrey at 12:11 PM | TrackBack

February 24, 2009

Random Germans + Austrians at Seasonal

What can I say, I LOVE Austrian wine. Just such a whacky lineup of really profound, kooky wines, everything showing great. We were hosted by Wolfgang and Eddie at Seasonal, a new Austrian restaurant on 58th Street in Midtown that deserves some serious attention. Sophisticated, pure food with contrasting yet integrated flavors. Really worth visiting NYCers - I can't say enough good things about this restaurant.

We had a lot of wines, but I'm only posting on a few because I'm lazy and I didn't take good enough notes and honestly the great wines were just so, so compelling that they sort of overwhelmed the just plain old good wines.

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Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 10:06 AM | TrackBack

June 18, 2008

Gaja and Bartolo 1971s

Exhausted and hungry after a 12 hour retail day, Maslow's hierarchy of needs often moves drinking great wine to the end of my immediate priority list. Last Friday evening, basic human needs caused Stephen to head for home at 8pm and almost convinced me to follow the same path.

Lucky for me (and unlucky for him) Crush Managing Partner Bob Schagrin was ready to throwdown and had stood up two 1971's from Piemonte to enjoy...

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Posted by Tom Stephenson at 11:08 AM | TrackBack

April 22, 2008

FX Pichler's Riesling Unendlich - The Coolest Label Ever?

I love Austrian wine labels - they so often have this strange, playful modernist thing that I find really kooky and charming. Like the Bauhaus meets Playskool. Coming way out of left field then, is the label for FX Pichler's Riesling "Unendlich" - a super-rare bottling the Master puts together in great years. For those of you who know FX's pretty staid dark green labels, nothing prepares you for the Unendlich...

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Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 10:04 PM | TrackBack

March 23, 2008

Unanswerable Wine Question #364: Vintage Krug: 1982 v. 1988

Over the last few years, I've been in the lucky position of trying a number of great champagnes.

My weakness, however, continues to be for great Krug.

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Posted by Tom Stephenson at 2:43 AM | TrackBack

February 20, 2008

2004 Chave Hermitage Rouge

On Friday night Ian came into the back office and declared "I'm going to open my '04 Chave Hermitage Rouge" I advised against opening the bottle arguing that it would be a waste. The wine was way too young and would probably be shut down. I have had examples of mature Chave and patience is definitely rewarded. The bottle was a gift and for those of us who are lucky enough to work in the industry if you don't pay for the bottle you rarely feel guilt about cracking the bottle. Ian shrugged off my pleas for him to not make any rash moves. It was popped, poured into a decanter and off we went.

I could not wait to be cynical and jaded. I knew the wine would be closed and I could say "see I told you so, you should have waited" with great satisfaction. I can be a childish about these sort of things. At least I thought we could have opened it, given it more air time and maybe had it with a giant lamb shank.

But I couldn't be cynical, even with the depressingly bad weather of February. I poured myself a healthy glass and hide in the back office. The perfume was instantly satisfying and I knew that my tail would be between my legs for ever protesting. The nose within ten minutes was appealing and had all the signs of being terrific Syrah. Notes of cassis, black olive, anise, white pepper and minerals. The fruit was very pretty and elegant with great balancing acidity. I was shocked how lovely it was. This wine really should have been backward and austere. It had great balance and concentration, some said almost Cali like but I think it was more retrained then most Cali Syrahs. The structure was certainly present but it was integrated with the fruit quite well for being so young. And oh the minerals. An extremely well put together wine and a great example of why Chave is the king of Hermitage. The only question is, how much better will this get? Probably a lot, but who cares, it was darn tasty Friday night. Thanks Ian for sharing the bottle with all of us.

If cracking bottles '04 Chave for no reason seems a bit silly and frivolous you can always pick up a bottle Texier CDR or Edmunds St. John Syrah. Both are delicious, elegant examples of what highly perfumed Syrah can be like. And both are around the $30 price point so no guilty feeling or angry partner in the morning. Cheers all!

Posted by Chris Cottrell at 2:44 PM | TrackBack

February 9, 2008

Bruno Clair Chambertin Clos de Beze '04

With all the hype around 05 Burgundy and the troubles of the 04 growing season it's very easy to overlook the vintage. However if you have any regard for putting the kids through college or paying NYC rent, 2004 suddenly becomes more appealing. You have to tread carefully while exploring 04 Burgundy because many of the wines are showing poorly now and some may never come into their own. I have been disappointed with many Grand Cru wines from 04, even with the vintage's pricing considered.

So when Ian asked me if we should open this bottle I was not surprisingly jaded and cynical saying "sure" but assumed it would be another 04 that was dilute, green and out of whack. But in classic Burgundy style just when you think you understand the wines of a vintage a wine will slap you in the face and say, "You don't know me!" The wine was opened and poured into a decanter and drank over about an hour.

The nose was very perfumed and expressive right from the start. There was that 04 greenness but it was more herbal and peppercorn rather then bell pepper, which I can not stand in red Burgundy. The nose continued to open up with more spiciness and some wonderful tart red fruit and lead notes. On the palate there is no doubt that this is a Grand Cru wine as it had great weight and wonderful acidity. This was showing quite well for its age however I think in around six to twelve years the wine will be peaking. The balance is quite impressive especially when you consider that Bruno Clair commented about how difficult the summer and vintage overall was saying, "There was oidium, hail and wet, damp weather with limited luminosity. You had to be very vigilant because otherwise, you had serious problems. And you absolutely had to harvest late because if not, your levels of phenolic ripeness were just too limited to make really good wines."

After all that you would think it would be hard to produce jug wine let alone a respectable Grand Cru. Making great wine in 05 was easy, making simply good wine in 04 took sweat and tears. While I love my 05 burgundies and all their glory, I appreciate all the long days and hard work that had to be done in the vineyard to make this very good 04 Clos de Beze. Cheers Bruno!

Posted by Chris Cottrell at 3:54 PM | TrackBack

February 2, 2008

1990 Joguet Chinon Clos de la Dioterie

On the nose, the white ash of a burned-out fire, with green raspberry fruit, and herbal and slight barnyard notes, and a breath of florality.

It is a lovely light-medium weight in the mouth and on the palate the wine has a beautiful warmth and an elegant, soft silkiness. Any tannins that were once present have softened completely.

The wine starts with a mouthful of wet white ash earthyness, but the midpalate is where the wine stars, with fruit reminiscent of older burgundy and an earthy sweetness that kicks in leading to a finish leaves no doubt its Cabernet Franc - a perfect partner to a falafel tabouleh sandwich.

Drink now!

Posted by Tom Stephenson at 7:26 PM | TrackBack

January 15, 2008

Maniacal Austrian 2006 Dinner at Trestle on Tenth

It was a lot to chew... eh, swallow, but we lined up for it anyway. As comprehensive an overview of the 2006 Austrian Gruner Veltliner vintage as a few weary mortals could put together with the idea of keeping our pocket books, and livers, in some form of reasonable health. It was considered enough that the big boys were collected together to guarantee some form of authoritative stamp: FX Pichler's Kellerberg, Hirtzberger's Honivogl and Knoll's Vinothekfullung. At the same time, a rationed dose of chaos was heartily welcome - young Michael Moosbrugger's Schloss Gobelsburg, wiley Wachau legionaire Jamek, under-the-radar Holzapfel and even the esoteric Setzter, unabashedly seeking top quality in the otherwise maligned Weinviertel. Trestle on Tenth kindly hosted us and did a great job of putting together a thoughtful menu; a great group of people were in attendance, and many thanks go out to all for helping to make the night what it was.

This is going to be an insanely long post, covering both some big-picture issues but also delving into the fine points of the 18 wines encountered. Click below to read the entire post at your own risk.

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Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 10:17 PM | TrackBack

January 11, 2008

Drinking in the Cube: Foreau, Gagnard, Bachelet and F.X. Pichler

When you're in retail, November and December are nothing short of manic. The store is constantly flooded with people, deliveries are being shot out the door machine-gun style and the phones ring with such constant abandon that the noise almost begins to feel a soundtrack for the holidays.

January, however, is a much different season; the phones grow quiet, the staff collectively exhales. Then - housecleaning. This week has been inventory week - counting all the bottles in the store, making sure that the computer's inventory is at least as close to accurate as possible - an impossible task it seems, but necessary nonetheless.

With the "wall wines" inventoried last Sunday (these are the wines in the front 2/3s of the store - the ones not in our temperature-controlled room), Tom, Ian, Dan and I (Stephen) took to the cube last night to do the inventory; naturally one does not work till 3am+ without cracking open a few bottles. Here's the lineup:

1989 Foreau Vouvray Moelleux Reserve
Though the wine started out slow and decidedly funky, with dark, syrupy and confusing fruit skins, earth and an undeniable scent of wetness that flirted with the idea of TCA, over the course of maybe two hours the wine came into its own - it cleaned up its act, gained focus and poise, and was nothing short of very, very good. Chenin Blanc is just miraculous in the cellar - big, burly and clunky when young, with a decade or so behind it the wine really becomes so elegant, with a sort of dainty tip-toeing step to it, though in the hands of a producer like Foreau, in a vintage like 1989, the concentration is immense - as if every molecule of the wine has been stained with flowers, dark figs and honey. Great stuff.

2005 Jean-Noel Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Caillerets
Undeniably closed down - even after being dumped into a decanter for an hour or more. That said, the raw material is there: A concentrated entrance, full of flair and plenty of green apple and flowers, very powerful stuff. Over the midpalate the wine tightens up, though it remains broad and gushing, a core of sea shell minerality pushing itself forcefully across the palate - great salinity and a mineral-dried-herb finish that clamps down so strongly, it leaves reverberations that echo on an on. An excellent use of wood - totally integrated into the wine. The verdict? Very, very good Cailleret, though it will be most rewarding for those with patience.

1990 Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin
Eighteen year-old village wine showing such class and charm! To my palate, this was the wine of the night, even though the Foreau was probably the better wine - it's just that Burgundy is so precocious, and visits with it always seem to be too early, too late, too this or too that... Well, it's memorable when the stars align and you visit a bottle when it's in the mood to be visited, as this Bachelet certainly was. Right out of the bottle it was just glowing with great top soil, moist earth, truffles, saw dust, a river bed minerality of rocks and pebbles, all peppered with dark red fruit skins and a lively perfumed strawberry note - the soprano to the bass of earth and truffles. At once delicate, supple, absolutely open for business, though with a lazy and friendly finesse, a soft embrace not at all too aggressive and forced, or too tired. Great length and purity.

2002 F.X. Pichler Sauvignon Blanc
This one just showed up at the store and it was probably a mistake to open, simply because the bottle was definitely shut down and probably a bit shocked from its travels. That said, any time an F.X. Pichler shows up at the store, my first inclination is to open it, and to open it quickly. Though closed down, wrapped in all sorts of bees wax, lanolin, mashed up stones and the like, the wine, as Ian said, definitely shows class and breed; it's linear, very suave, the concentration is evident even if it was inward-turned this night... Good length. My guess is this wine will come out to play in the next year or so, and when it does, it will be just gorgeously minerally and cutting, lithe and elegant... Fans of Pichler should grab some 'cause we don't have much!

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 10:19 AM | TrackBack