Topic: TN: A quiet dinner
Author: Thor Iverson (Boston, MA)
Date: Mon Feb 4 12:19:55 2002
Since Robin''s posted his notes already, these will be fairly brief (for me). I''m probably going to work backwards on this weekend''s various bacchanalias.

J&C Binner 1994 Riesling Kaefferkopf "Millésime Distingué" (Alsace) - Before the Kaefferkopf was finally allowed its long-overdue grand cru designation. This wine was angry and sullen, and smelled awful enough that I couldn''t bring myself to serve it to anyone else. The next day, however, the funk has cleared a bit. That said, it''s still bitter and ungenerous, and while there''s a fierce streak of limestone the faint, almost brett-like aroma and a hard finish aren''t exactly pleasant. Robert Jones said that he thought this wine smelled like the wine leftover from cooking choucroute, and I can''t really disagree with him. It certainly needs food, in any case.

Bernard Schwach "Domaine du Moulin de Dusenbach" 1995 Riesling Schoenenbourg "Grand Cru" (Alsace) - A lesser producer, and fading to thin greeness. But there''s still that classic salted lime note with some dried citrus flowers, a Schoenenbourg giveaway, and some streaky minerality through an acidic finish. Drink up.

Pierre Sparr 1993 Gewurztraminer Mambourg "Grand Cru" (Alsace) - Formerly ripe and massive, this has fallen on hard times. Light and thin when first opened, showing some weedy varietal character, this waits about a half-hour to blossom in the glass. It''s still light and fading a bit, but there''s solid pork fat and dried lychee here, with good balance and a lingering iron finish.

Gravner 1997 Ribolla Collio (Friuli) - Without my notes, I can''t say if this is my first ribolla or not. But I can say this unequivocally: this is the best wine I''ve tasted so far this year, and one of the best young wines I''ve ever tasted. Cloudy, but not opaque, showing spicy blended grapefruit and lemon rinds, fleur de sel (a nice match with the actual salt on our seafood course), and a truly incredible vivid nervosity that carries it through a long, mineral-and-spice dominated finish. As I said to Luca in another thread, this is a mind-blowing wine. Very, very little anywhere in the world reaches this level of quality and purity. All this despite it being an essentially unsaleable wine, thanks to the extreme cloudiness. Well, that''s everyone else''s loss.

Ridge 1994 Zinfandel Jimsomare California - Tons of Draper perfume, that sweet potpourri-filled jewelry box aroma that marks nearly every zin-based wine Draper makes. It''s clearly on the downslope these days, with good roasted fruit fading underneath the somewhat jerky tannin, and is a lovely sniffing wine more than it is an enjoyable drink. Still, a wine like this from such a difficult site for zin is remarkable in itself, and as there aren''t many 100% zins from Ridge, this is an interesting thing to taste. But if you have any, drink it quickly.

Husch 1998 Gewürztraminer "Late Harvest" Anderson Valley (California) - Full of CO₂, sweet and pure peach syrup with some orange zest. Totally devoid of varietal character, and so I can''t get too enthusiastic about it, but it''s a very nice sweet wine, even if it is also devoid of acidity. Drink soon, obviously.

1925 Kirsch Eau-de-Vie (Alsace) - Moonshine from Theresa''s cousins in Lorraine. It''s taken on the smooth, earthy, armpit-sweat note that I find most of these sorts of beverages do when they get this old. But there''s a crispness to the acidity that supports somewhat funky cooked cherries (think the canned kind one uses for pies), and a persistant buzzing character to the alcohol that warms and entices rather than offends. But no one would mistake it for anything other than rough, no matter how age has mellowed it.