Our newest member Franco hosted SOBER in Chelsea last night. Lovely loft space, great food, fun lineup of wines, great company.
We arrived to find a nice spread with cheeses, rabbit pate, cured meats. Opening wine was a Dosnon and Lepage Champagne that I liked but didn't love, no notes taken.
To table for the blind wines White Flight #1- Beautiful Riesling, light petrol, plenty of slate, complex, long, fresh. I'm delighted to find out its the 1983 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Goldkapsel Auslese as I still have one bottle, hope mine shows as well. A-/A
#2 - ok, thank God I didn't blurt out first thing I thought. I got this before #1, and took a whiff. Big herbal nose, loaded with mint. I almost said "Ramonet" without tasting. OK, but one taste made clear it wasn't white Burg! Solid delicious Riesling, without the complexity of the '83 GKA.1983 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Auslese B+
Red Flight #1 (with excellent lamb rib chops, homemade pita chips, tzatiki, and baba ganoush) #1 - Meaty, perfumed, good complexity. Someone had called it Northern Rhone before I even smelled. Bacon, herbs, and black raspberries. Nice texture. Someone suggested it might have been better couple years ago, but mostly holding VERY well. 1990 Graillot "La Guiraude" Crozes- Hermitage B+/A-
#2 - this I really didn't like at first. Red stewed fruit, some VA, a little dirty, seemed clipped. But while I was concentrating on the Graillot it really turned around. Fresher red fruit with a little kirsch note, leather, cigarbox. Still prefer the Crozes, but while I initially was in C territory this moved way up. 1964 Marques de Murrieta "Ygay" Rioja Gran Reserva B/B+
Red Flight #2 (great chicken and mushroom stew ) #1- People quickly centered on Piedmont. Beautiful red fruit, clean and vibrant acidity, the sweet fruit has a brown sugar edge to it, along with orange zest, rose petals,and just a hint of tar. Once Franco said not Barolo John quickly said Barbaresco and then '64. Lovely lovely lovely. My WOTN (and WOTY so far). 1964 Gaja Barbaresco. A
#2 -softer, a bit animal, seems a little tired but holds on ok. Outclassed by its flightmate, my guess of old CdP is wrong. Someone guesses Algerian (joking?) and the light dawns- John says Lebanon. Actually I think if it hadn't been next to the Gaja I would have liked more, but this was good in any case. 1964 Chateau Musar.B/B-
Red Flight # 3 just putting my notes here, comments below #1 - my favorite, bright, raspberry.cranberry fruit, herby, good body.
1985 Bourdy Cotes du Jura .B+ #2 - high acids, raspberry, a bit lifted. Tasty. 1953 Bourdy Cotes du Jura. B #3 - ripe, red, full, soft, nice but with a little caramel.maderization edge, I liked others better. 1947 Bourdy Cotes du Jura B/B-
OK, so it took forever to get this. I thought Piedmont, but someone else guessed and was told no. Rioja? No. I thought maybe pre-1975 CalCab? No. Finally I think Cliff got Jura. I've had a few Jura reds, but never more than 5 years from vintage. These were unusual and tasty wines. The '47 surely deserves a better score than I gave, 60+ year old Pinot blends should have a little caramel/madeira edge!
Really fun tasting. I liked all the wines, and loved some. I was fighting a cold and was feeling like a wasted trip on way end, but ended up having a ball. Oldest Musar I've had, oldest Juras by huge factor, oldest Gaja, oldest Graillot. Thanks Franco for a great evening (and John for ride home).
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.