Wine of Merit: ****Alois Kracher, TBA #12, Weinlaubenhof, Burgenland, Austria, scheurebe, 1998: Ok…I cannot resist…it is the last flight of the night and given the wine’s considerable heft…this fat lady sings! Wow. If the Huet is light hearted, this wine really is the Viking helmeted, big bosomed diva, powerfully belting out the final aria in full voice. Huge, thick, orange blossom, honeyed tobacco, minerals, canned peaches…so good, so lush, so concentrated – so balanced! - …it is sensory overload and I just love it. I cannot discern any real grape varietal nuances to this…it is simply heavily botrytised dessert wine. And I am glad for it. Dare I say it? What the heck: Schweet.
***+Huet, Le Haut Lieu, Moelleux, Vouvray, chenin blanc, 1947: Much fanfare and anticipation accompanies this wine. I know some who have said it is the best white wine they have ever had the opportunity to taste. In that context I am left second guessing. The wine was in fact lovely. Amber in color, I was particularly impressed by how light hearted this wine was. I mean given the heavy residual sugar (by the way…what makes this wine “sec”? makes no sense to me) I would think this wine would easily tend to the overtly romantic, perhaps even the cloyingly heavy handed. Instead the wine dances and sings, maybe even skates, gliding effortlessly across the palate, while perhaps even humming a tune. But the aromatics were well beyond mature. Burnt sugar, dried white/yellow stone fruit, a slight herbaceous quality…none of this beyond what might have been hoped for. Very nice but lacking the sophistication and elegance one might have presumed a wine of this pedigree should possess. Middling finish. I have a feeling provenance of wines like these is especially important and would expect significant bottle variation. I can imagine this, if perhaps a bit more lively up front, to be an important wine. I should point out that others had this wine in their top 3 wines of the evening, so perhaps I was just fatigued at this point.
***Huet, Le Haut Lieu, Moelleux, Vouvray, chenin blanc, 1921: As serendipity would have it, Roy had a bottle of the 1921 Le Haut Lieu hanging out in the cellar, awaiting just such an occasion! Lucky us! Caramel toffee in color, my notes reflect the 1947…just less so. Perhaps a more pronounced minerality and an interesting smoky, toasted marshmallow and graham cracker sandwich, toasted on a campfire in the outdoors element. A $1000 s’more (without the chocolate)?! A fun experiment and experience…when else will I be able to duplicate this kind of vertical tasting? I think this is where a long evening with 20 bottles is probably paying a disservice to my ability to describe these wines. Still…this wine did not stand out in the flight for reasons other than its age and maturity.
**++Domaine des Baumard, Quarts de Chaume, chenin blanc, Loire Valley, 1971: I admit to being a big Quarts de Chaume fan. I enjoy how the folks at Baumard typically balance the sweet, unctuous nature of this wine with the vibrant fruited elements and lively mouth feel. That said, I was a bit let down by this wine. It didn’t really speak to me, or I should say that if it did speak to me I couldn’t make out very much of what it was saying. Typically focused elements of apricot, honeyed peach and petrol were at best a bit fuzzy; I found the wine a bit astringent on the palate and muted on the finish. I am not sure if this just wasn’t a great bottle, if the wine was a bit upstaged by the others in the flight or if 30 some odd years are just too many for a Quarts de Chaume. Pleasant and enjoyable for what it is (an old dessert wine) but not up to the standards other vintages have set.
***+Huet, Le Haut Lieu, Moelleux, Vouvray, chenin blanc, 1947: Much fanfare and anticipation accompanies this wine. I know some who have said it is the best white wine they have ever had the opportunity to taste. In that context I am left second guessing. The wine was in fact lovely. Amber in color, I was particularly impressed by how light hearted this wine was. I mean given the heavy residual sugar (by the way…what makes this wine “sec”? makes no sense to me) I would think this wine would easily tend to the overtly romantic, perhaps even the cloyingly heavy handed. Instead the wine dances and sings, maybe even skates, gliding effortlessly across the palate, while perhaps even humming a tune. But the aromatics were well beyond mature. Burnt sugar, dried white/yellow stone fruit, a slight herbaceous quality…none of this beyond what might have been hoped for. Very nice but lacking the sophistication and elegance one might have presumed a wine of this pedigree should possess. Middling finish. I have a feeling provenance of wines like these is especially important and would expect significant bottle variation. I can imagine this, if perhaps a bit more lively up front, to be an important wine. I should point out that others had this wine in their top 3 wines of the evening, so perhaps I was just fatigued at this point.
***Huet, Le Haut Lieu, Moelleux, Vouvray, chenin blanc, 1921: As serendipity would have it, Roy had a bottle of the 1921 Le Haut Lieu hanging out in the cellar, awaiting just such an occasion! Lucky us! Caramel toffee in color, my notes reflect the 1947…just less so. Perhaps a more pronounced minerality and an interesting smoky, toasted marshmallow and graham cracker sandwich, toasted on a campfire in the outdoors element. A $1000 s’more (without the chocolate)?! A fun experiment and experience…when else will I be able to duplicate this kind of vertical tasting? I think this is where a long evening with 20 bottles is probably paying a disservice to my ability to describe these wines. Still…this wine did not stand out in the flight for reasons other than its age and maturity.
**++Domaine des Baumard, Quarts de Chaume, chenin blanc, Loire Valley, 1971: I admit to being a big Quarts de Chaume fan. I enjoy how the folks at Baumard typically balance the sweet, unctuous nature of this wine with the vibrant fruited elements and lively mouth feel. That said, I was a bit let down by this wine. It didn’t really speak to me, or I should say that if it did speak to me I couldn’t make out very much of what it was saying. Typically focused elements of apricot, honeyed peach and petrol were at best a bit fuzzy; I found the wine a bit astringent on the palate and muted on the finish. I am not sure if this just wasn’t a great bottle, if the wine was a bit upstaged by the others in the flight or if 30 some odd years are just too many for a Quarts de Chaume. Pleasant and enjoyable for what it is (an old dessert wine) but not up to the standards other vintages have set.
In the end, I would say that the Jayer burg, the Trimach rieseling and the chablis were my top 3 wines of the evening. Those were followed in a second peleton made up of the Sine Qua Non, the Chinon, the Kracher TBA and the Margaux. What an experience. Thanks to one and all (espcially Roy and the Cru Crew) for making this an event not soon if ever forgotten. FIN.
1 comment:
Don Rice comments:
Admirable work with the tasting notes Loren. Enjoyed the read. Lots of great wines there.
I tended to like the leaner profiles in general (my taste buds get overloaded easily) but our palates were well calibrated on much of the French stuff. My favorites from each flight were
-88 Bollinger. It’s freshness was eye-opening.
-Clos St Hune. This might have been the wine of the night for me- It was for Melissa.
- Chablis – A beaut. I just don’t get Cal Chards – tho the Kongs had a nice finish that boded well for it.
- Vosne-Romanee (great great stuff, still needs more time) Why anyone would want to put the Aubert in their mouth is beyond me.
- 90 Joguet Chinon - The best drinking red of the night, simply, beautifully en point. That’s not saying it was the best red of the night though. 83 Margaux still tightish, beginning to drink well, should eventually blossom.
- Sine qua non (loved its complexity, would like to see what it is like in 5 yrs).
- 47 Huet -I favored this over the riesling, which was too young for my taste. The 47 was a good bottle. I found rather muscular, still developing. The 71 Quarts was lost in the shuffle and lighter comparatively, as you say.
- The 21 Huet, an old cowboy riding into the sunset, mellow and softly subtle. Showing more raisiny fruit than the 47 (peaches) which had my wondering if the 21 was more of a passerillage vintage and the 47’s botrytis; we’ll probably never know. I thought the 21 was even sweeter than the 47, which surprised me, since these old sweeties in my experience taste less sweet the older they get.
Right up there with the all-time great wine dinners. Thanks again. Robb, I hope we still get to cross paths from time to time it is always a pleasure. Next time I’ll be sure to get a seat down where you guys are sitting.
Don
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