When we had a charity dinner in November, we were a bit oversubscribed.
So we asked some friends who were a tad too late signing up to join us
for dinner Sunday night. After a balmy week (for January in NY) it had
turned bitterly cold, but hot food, cool wine, and good friendship
warmed up everyone.

As folks arrived, we had the NV Francois Pinon Vouvray Petillant. Nice
appley Chenin fruit, a light hint of Parker House rolls, fine mousse. A
little light, but nice as an apertif. B

As we were seated, we started with an amuse bouche of Yukon Gold Potato
with American Sturgeon Caviar and Crème Fraiche (yes, we had done same
thing last Wednesday, this was using up the caviar I bought for New
Years Eve since we went to bed at 10 NYE jetlagged). Wine was the 1999
Vincent Girardin"Le Champ Gain" Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru. Served
WAY too cold (I was using the time-honored "back steps" refrigerator
method, and forgot to bring it in when I intended). As it warmed it
showed lots of that Girardin toasty oak over a body of pear fruit. Good
acids and some minerality on the finish made it more Burgundy than
California Chardonnay. Nice wine, and a good value for a 1er Cru. B+

The primi course was linguine fini with assorted mushrooms (morels,
cepes, cremini) in Madiera. We had two wines :

1995 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino
Double-decanted two hours before serving. Clean cherry fruit. Not a lot
of concentration- if it wasn't for the slightly scratchy tannins, one
might mistake for a so-so Chianti Classico Riserva. Not awful, but not
sorry this is last one. At least two others liked better than I did.
B-/C+

1993 Bouchard "Clos de la Mousse" Beaune 1er Cru
Opened three hours before serving, this was surprisingly fruit-driven
for a '93 at opening. At service the raspberry and black cherry fruit
was still clear without being overwhelming; it supported a Burgundian
nose of earth and mushrooms. Wine showed good acidity without being
the least harsh, an excellent match for the pasta. This was not just a
favorite for me and my idiosyncratic taste- popular around the table.
So it's not only the Grand Cru '93s that are showing well. A-/B+

A short intermezzo of a Meyer lemon sorbet, then we moved to the
main course, lamb shanks with French lentils accompanied by Brussels
sprouts with pancetta (I missed the opportunity to ask our Belgian
guest if they call them Brussels sprouts in Belgium).

1990 Lagrange (St Julien)
I expected this to be WOTN, and for me it was. Slightly more advanced
than bottle at 1990 horizontal a couple months ago, with deep
concentrated blackcurrant fruit, some cedary oak, and beautiful tobacco
and leadpencil notes. Ripe tannins, long finish. A-

1970 de Pez (St. Estephe)
Uh oh, this cork is pure sawdust. Dry, crumbles to nothingness with
each touch. I punch a hole through and pour through a funnel with mesh.
Hey, not so bad. Fruit profile is more red than black, there's some
leather and smoke. Fully resolved tannins, soft acidity. Not quite as
good as bottle Mark Golodetz brought to a Midnight Run benefit (along
with all the components of the blend), but decent for a 35 year old. B

A short break for a green salad with asparagus/strawberry/hazelnut
vinaigrette, then we moved to the cheese course- Stilton, Delice de
Bourgogne, and Mimolette.

Along with the reds, we had a bottle of the 1987 Martinez Vintage
Port. Bottles of this have been highly variable (and highly volatile-
some unattractive due to high VA). This one probably shows best of the
lot- medium bodied, light tannins, with a deep base of blackberry fruit
with some chocolate notes. Quite nice, B+

Annabelle had brought a delicious series of desserts- citrus fruit with
mint, almond madeleines, and tarte tatin. I opened a bottle of the 1998
Heiss Trockenbeerenauslese . I went back and forth for a moment - the
botrytis was making it hard to make a clear determination, but
eventually I threw the yellow flag and gave it a 15-yard penalty for
TCA. Some of the others detected no problem, and enjoyed it (and I
can't complain, as it was a gift from Emily at www.winemonger.com). In
meantime Referee Dale opened the 2001 Heiss "Akazien Barrique Sauvignon
Blanc" Beerenauslese. Heady floral and honey nose, sweet pineapple and
peach fruit. This is apparently aged in acacia barrels, but I don't
have enough experience (well, zero) with acacia barrels to know if it
imparts something unique. This is a nice dessert wine with plenty of
body, however, and gets the nod at A-

Nice evening, nice folks, nice wines, great food,

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

DAMN THOSE CORKS!

kills me. just kills me.

Glad you enjoyed the Heiss BA, though. I'll bet it went well with the
tarte tatin (my favorite dessert of all time). I think it would be
interesting to do a tasting of wines aged in acacia barrels- different
varietals, different styles, and then see what there is to be seen.
Anyone out there have some other examples to put on the list?

e.

I'd be interested in that list too. I just don't have enough acacia
experience to know what of what I was tasting was attributable to the
wood. Nice wine in any case!

wrote:

> DAMN THOSE CORKS!
>
> kills me. just kills me.
>
> Glad you enjoyed the Heiss BA,

Tell Heiss to switch to Stelvin. Feler-Artinger in Rust makes 375ml
Beerebauslese under Stelvin.

M.

wrote:

> DAMN THOSE CORKS!
>
> kills me. just kills me.
>
> Glad you enjoyed the Heiss BA,

Ask Heiss to switch to Stelvin. Feiler-Artinger in Rust bottles
Beerenauslese in 375ml under Stelvin.

M.

Well, as we work with both Kurt Feiler and Franz Heiss, I guess it
wouldn't surprise you to hear that Kurt is a little more open to trying
new things! But we encourage all of our vintners to try alternate
closures on their wines such as the Classics, BA, Federspiels, etc.

Just had a Chardonnay Classic from Tement that was under Stelvin, and I
think the overall "look" is quite good. The bottle came direct from
Austria, though, so I don't know if Tement is exporting them.

I am sure you have written at least one article on the subject- I would
love to read it. Could I dig it up in the archives online somewhere?

e.

wrote:

> I am sure you have written at least one article on the subject-
> I would love to read it. Could I dig it up in the archives
> online somewhere?

Here is a list of screw-cap and alternative closure links:

> My first screw-cap article in VINARIA (summer 2003):
>
> <http://www.vinaria.at/sub11_vi.asp>
>
>
> Der Link zu meinem Artikel über die alternativ verschließenden
> Winzer:
>
> http://www.austrian.wine.co.at/frisc...arte200501.htm
>
>
> Der Link zur letzten australischen Studie (14 Seiten abstracts),
> dass Wein keinen Sauerstoff zur Reifung benötigt:
>
> http://snipurl.com/cwf7
>
>
> Der Link zur NZ-Schraubverschluss-10-Jahres-Garantie (vorletzter
> Absatz):
>
> http://xtramsn.co.nz/businessandmone...949423,00.html
>
>
> Zu Tyson Stelzers Schraubverschluss-Handbuch "Taming the Screw":
>
> www.winepress.com.au
>
>
> Das witzige Video "Vive le Screwcap" ("le cork est mort!"):
>
> http://snipurl.com/ezfx

HTH,

M.

wrote:

> Well, as we work with both Kurt Feiler and Franz Heiss, I guess
> it wouldn't surprise you to hear that Kurt is a little more open
> to trying new things! But we encourage all of our vintners to
> try alternate closures on their wines such as the Classics, BA,
> Federspiels, etc.

A "little more open"?! He's the one with some of the best reds in
Austria under screw-cap: Both Solitaire and 1009 Cabernet!

Another very good guy that offers every wine under screw-cap is
Karl Fritsch in Oberstockstall (both white and red, amongst the
latter an excellent pinot noir).

Btw, there a new guy, Reinhard Waldschütz, little known, but of
impeccaple quality recently, and, as he calls himself, "an
excellent QPR guy". I would underline the latter. He was at my
place two days ago, we tasted 10 wines, and I really liked 8 of
them (which is a huge effort imho). Take a look:

<http://www.weingut-waldschuetz.at/>

M.

>A "little more open"?! He's the one with some of the best reds in
Austria under screw-cap: Both Solitaire and 1009 Cabernet! <

Couldn't you see my tongue jammed squarely in my cheek?
But that said, we do have the Solitaire with cork for the US. It is one
of my primary jobs to show folks over here the quality of the Austrian
reds, which they may not yet know as well as the whites and dessert
wines. We try to remove any other obstacles. (Of course that said, one
could easily argue that a corked bottle is always a greater obstacle
than a screw-cap! So the battle rages on....)

Waldschütz looks interesting. Will he be at VieVinum?

e.

wrote:

> Waldschütz looks interesting. Will he be at VieVinum?

Just rang him up: Yes, he will be at VieVinum (and also at
ProWein, if you happen to come to Düsseldorf). Just mention
my name in case he might have forgotten yours (he was in the
cellar for racking, without pen at hand).

M.