This past Saturday marked the occasion of our annual Saturnalia, masquerading as a Christmas party for our research groups. Having shipped Andrew over to his Godmother's house for the evening, we prepared a spread of sushi, tamales, smoked salmon, hot roast beef sandwiches, bread, cheese, assorted vegetables and fruits. With this feast we opened a few bottles:
NV Mumm Cuvée Napa Blanc de Noirs (750 mL) ($16) nose: bright strawberry fruit, a touch of toast palate: soft entry, richly fruity, mildly toasty, coarse mousse
NV Gruet Brut Reserve (magnum) ($31) n: apples, lemons, minerals, toast p: crisp entry, fine mousse, subdued leesy toast, apples
We normally try to get 3-4 magnums of the Mumm BdN, but this year none of our local sources could get it. Instead, I picked up the magnum of the Gruet Reserve at Sam's the last time we were in Chicago and got the
750s of Mumm locally. Overall, the Gruet was the QPR winner, but the Mumm was a crowd pleaser.
2006 Loimer Grüner Veltliner ($15) n: perfumed, minerals, white pepper, green peas p: crisp, medium body, good minerality, lots of fruit, great balance
Another winner from the '06 vintage in Austria. This wasn't the "Lois" bottling, but rather Loimer's entry level GV and it was a winner.
2000 Sociando-Mallet n: medicinal, pencil lead, plummy fruit, earth p: tannic, big, deep fruit, cedar
At some point in the evening, Jean can be relied upon to head down to the cellar and pull up something "good," which is usually also too young. Such was the case with this wine, which was so, so young but also so promising. Still quite primary with just a hint of what's to come. Not terribly shut down, but Jean did give it a decant prior to serving.
Mark Lipton