DaleW wrote:

> Saturday we had some good friends over for dinner. Betsy made a James
> Boyce recipe for tomato/lobster/corn salad as first course, and we had
> the 2002 Donabaum "Spitzer Point" Gruner Veltliner Smaragd. Much more
> open than previous bottle of this, there's broad yellow plum fruit
> with a touch of green pea. Some pepper and ginger notes, there's a
> mineral/flinty base, but more fruity than earlier bottles. Good
> acidity stands up to the tomato and citrus zest in the salad, but the
> texture is broad enough for the lobster. B+

It's been a few years since I've had this wine, Dale, but it sounds like
it's really rounded into form. Nice notes!

>
> Main course was grilled strip steaks over an arugula/caper/horseradish
> salad, with a side of "zucchini carpaccio' (mandolined strips of
> zucchini in a marinade with avocado and pistachios). With the wine
> internet contretemps re ESJ this week, I thought it a good time to
> open the 2001 Edmunds St. John "Wylie-Fenaughty" Syrah. A bit tight
> (and a bit light) when first opened, luckily I had allowed a couple of
> hours before serving time for aeration. Perfect for the steaks and the
> piquant salad. Dark berry and cherry fruit, some smoke and earth, a
> little herb. Medium-framed, but mouthfilling. Good acidity, the fruit
> balances it out nicely. Tannins are present, but ripe and supple. I
> really enjoyed this (as did others). But then I've always been a bit
> low brow (I like the Rocks and Gravel, too). Fantastic deal at $16. A-

Thanks for this note, also, Dale. I have three bottles of this in the
cellar, having first tasted it in '06 with Rahsaan and Max H. in
Berkeley. It's fair to say that I severely underestimated it then, as
it is still quite unready. Thanks for the update -- I think that I'll
hold onto mine for a while longer (also a screaming deal at $16).

Your fellow low-brow[1],
Mark Lipton

[1] For those confused by this: In the latest issue of the Wine
Advocate, RMP slammed the wines of ESJ, calling one of them "low-brow"
and adding the remark "Where's the beef?" It has become a cause celebre
on the wine Internet.
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