Yesterday Wade Hostler was visiting Finland once again. We met up to share a couple interesting wines.
We started with a Clouet Brut NV which is a blanc de noirs though it doesn't say so on the lable. It was a very nice fizz with a fresh fruitiness, very figgy and floral, but still with a hint of white nuts that doesn't fit the profile of a BdN - but who cares, it's really nice.
Then we tasted the wine that our host, Asko Kassinen, made at Crush: Töövi 2005 is a Pinot Noir made entirely from the Brousseau vineyard. It weighs in at a hefty 14,8% abv and is made so that every other stave of the barrel is new wood, every other old (but how old? forgot to ask...). I think it's a very fair first effort and even if it were a commercial venture, I would have no hesitation in recommending it to those who like Californian Pinot.
The nose was true Pinot, if rather oaky, with some delightful salty and earthy notes. The fruit is very sweet and is like strawberries. The palate is very full bodied, too low in acidity yet oddly enough it stays together and the aftertaste is fresh - even a touch mineral. Wade thought the alcohol fully integrated; I didn't. But neither did it stick out too badly. A fascinating taste, and a good wine and true to type - honestly. I'm not saying this just because it is made by a friend of mine.
I brought along as a blind taste a wine that I've been itching to try since I received it: Kees-Kieren Spätburgunder Trocken 2003. I have loved K-K's Rieslings and they also made a really lovable Kestener Herrenberg Kerner Auslese ** 2001. They're a winery I'm keen to follow.
The nose was quite lovely: earthy, beetrooty, mineral and salty and was truly Pinot-like and even had a slight touch of dung (yum!). I like the nose very much. The palate was frankly awful, though. Flat, fat, acidless, flabby, sweet. It's difficult to believe that such a structureless wine could be made in M-S-R!
Wade then served the Ponzi Reserve 1995 from Oregon's Willamette valley. He had brought it over because he believed it would be to my taste. He was right. It rocked! Served blind, I thought it was Pinot that about 12-15 age on it, but wasn't quite sure where to go.
I thought at first it would be Burgundy from a warm vintage (1990 came to mind) because it had lovely earthiness and the bright red toned fruit that promises nice acidity on the palate and there wasn't enough oak to make me think of the stereotypical New World style.
On being told it wasn't Burgundy, I went to Alto-Adige because the palate had a delightful metallic note to it that I've had in many A-A's. The fruit was ripe but not over done, the acidity was fair, and the whole was resolved and at a very lovable stage right now. But I had forgotten that I had found that metallic note in all the few Oregon Pinots I've tried, but I didn't guess that. I suck at blind tastings.
I felt like drinking more minerals so I opened a Biffar Deidesheimer Grainhübel Riesling Spätlese Trocken 1996. It was quite a delight. An adolescent, yet lovable nose of the most pure and unadulturated Rieslingfruit TM, with a touch of petrol and plentiful minerality. The palate was fully dry, rather full bodied, weighty and mineral but not at all cumbersome as Trockens so often are. Quite a delight.
With some Racklette-cheese and varied charcuterie we had a couple interesting whites. Firstly a Fruitières Vinicole d'Arbois Arbois Cuvée Bethane 1998 was lovely! It was funky and appley and was quintessentially Jurassic. It had lovely high acidity and funk, but was also abundantly fruity - a very nice wine, and not IMO from the more difficult spectrum of the Jurassic wines.
We also had a Bernard Gripa St. Péray "Les Figuiers" 2004 which apparently wasn't made by a winemaker but a lumberjack. Oak. Oak. Oak. It did have fair acidity for a Rhone white, but I still couldn't smell nor taste past the oak.
With the cheese we also had a great beer: De Ranke XX Bitter which was stunning. Supremely hoppy, yet friendly and floral. Stunning.
What a nice evening!
-Otto-