TN: SOBER does Champagne, Austria, Rioja, Rhone, Burg, Tuscany, Bdx, Port

We had vegetarian tacos for meatless Monday, and the 2007 Donnhoff Riesling QbA was it's usual friendly self. B/B+

Cathleen hosted SOBER last night. All wines were blind. As we gathered, we enjoyed proscuitto, great salami, and 2 Champagnes

Bubbly #1 Lithe, elegant, pear and lemon with a little yeast/doughy note. Nice mousse, excellent length, when revealed I was surprised at age (I've had before but this was best bottle I've had). A-/B+

1985 Charles Heidsieck "Champagne Charlie"

Bubbly #2 Green apple, ginger, more acidity, thin in comparison, but a nice wine. Cathleen said it was NV grower and I guessed Clouet, though this was a different label (silver rather than dark blue and gold) that I had seen before. B+/B NV Andre Clouet Brut.

White flight, with a delicious soup (white and green asparagus with I believe speck). This took a lot of guesses

White #1 Melon and white fruits, with an odd occasional whiff of lemon pledge. Broadbeamed on palate, holding on fine, floral. If not for the hint of cleaning supplies I would have liked more. B/B-

1997 Rudi Pichler Weissburgunder Smaragd

White #2 Big, structured, ripe with good acidity. I thought this was white Burgundy at first. White fruits (especially pear), citrus, nice long minerally finish. Once revealed as GV it seemed typical, but I did not spot at all originally. B+

2002 FX Pichler Terrasen Gruner Veltliner Smaragd

First red flight, with some delicious meatballs. Craig deserves credit for almost immediately saying "I think this is the same wine, with the first 15 years younger." I think everyone was in Northern Rhone, though someone suspected one (the second?) could be Southern.

Wine #1 Lots of grilled meat, burly but with definition and elegance, young. Very good. B+, with upside potential. 1999 Chave Hermitage

Wine # 2 Beautiful, perfumed, complete. A bit of bacon, a hint of barnyard, fully mature but not tired. Really nice. Mark guesses Chave, then1983 or 1982 - he's 2 for 2 A- 1983 Chave Hermitage

Second Red Flight, with a great dish of rabbit ragu over cheese ravioli

Wine # 1 Sweet, ripe, fresh acids, sandalwood, red fruits. Dan gets Rioja quickly. A-/B+

1981 Lopez de Heredia, Bosconia, Rioja Gran Reserva

Wine #2 This is unfortunately madeirized. 1982 Giuseppe Mascarello Monprivato Barolo

Wine #3 Medium fruit, mature but with tannins, red fruit, flowers, eucalyptus/ menthol. I'm thinking old Cali but she say old World, as soon as we are in Bordeaux Craig guesses 1975. I guess Margaux- nope. B+/B 1975 Cos d'Estournel (Saint Estephe)

Wine #4 I think this was to be in next flight, but she wanted to make sure we had wine for the rabbit once Barolo was off. Earthy, ripe, rich, good length and structure. Mark calls it as Gevrey, we start off younger before getting vintage. A-, with potential

1993 Jadot "Clos St Jacques" Gevrey-Chambertin

Third Red Flight, with cheese plate (lovely French cheeses from fromage.com- Camembert, Lingot, Pont L'eveque, Brie, an especially good Comte, and a chevre).

Wine #1 Good fruit, some light tannins, nice if a bit anonymous, I had no idea Rioja. I've had some 94s that were showing age, but this is fine. B.

1994 Roda 1 Rioja

Wine #2 Powerful, Cab fruit, cassis and a bit of vanilla and leather. Someone guesses Bordeaux, then Mark guesses SuperTuscan, and Andy guesses Sassacaia. A-/B+1989 Sassicaia (Bolgheri) from magnum

Lemon Tart Dessert Wine: One thought of Madeira, but we're quickly in Port. Craig says colhieta with age, no but it is a tawny. Toffee, raisins, a little caramel, Nice. B+

40 Year Old Taylor Tawny

Really fine night. Great selection of wines, great company, excellent food. Thanks to Cathleen and Steve for hosting.

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.

Reply to
DaleW
Loading thread data ...

Great lineup of wines, Dale, and fun notes to read. As the owner of a single bottle of the '99 Chave, I am grateful for the status report, as it were. As usual, I am continually impressed with ability of your group (Mark and Craig, this time; John usually, too) as blind tasters. This certainly strains the credibility of those who proclaim that "experts" can't identify vineyards and producers and years blind. I'd also not realized that there was a woman in SOBER until now.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.