Extended Phenotype

I sort of hesitate to categorize this under "wine," given the normally serious tone with which we treat wine here at Extended Phenotype, but what the heck.  Steve, at The Sneeze, actually tried out the wine recipe from Hogshire’s book "You Are Going to Prison" and documented the whole process.  Apparently, Scruffy on Futurama is right – you can make sangria in the terlet! 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Well, the new vintage of Tempier rose (from 2004) is here, and it’s unbelievably tasty! The wine is deep salmon pink, much darker in color than the pale 2003, and powerful like the 2001. In fact, the latter vintage is probably the best comparison at the moment: savory, powerful, good acid, and a delicate finish with a bit of citrus. I have a feeling this will age as well as the 2001 or better, so I’m going to try to stock up a bit on the 2004. If you don’t have a wine store nearby that stocks the Tempier, I’d recommend ordering a few bottles directly from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants in Berkeley…you won’t be sorry.

 

Last night, I hosted what is becoming an annual tradition: a late spring rose tasting, accompanied by a vertical selection of the rose from Domaine Tempier in Bandol. 

The tasting incorporated rose wines from the United States, France, and Spain, many of which (like the Syncline Grenache Rose or the Toad Hollow) were quite good.  Others, made in too "American" a style (i.e., either with new oak or juicy over-extracted fruit), didn’t thrill me but had their fans among the group.

Early on, we tasted a mini-vertical of Chinook’s Cabernet Franc rose, with wines from 1998 (fabulous, and gaining real maturity much like a red wine), the 2002 (good), and the new 2004 (nice, needs time to overcome the first blast of juiciness and gain deeper character). 

For the Tempier vertical, I served 1999-2003 (pictured here).  The 2004, sadly, hadn’t hit the market yet, at least anywhere I could easily snag a bottle in time.  The 1999 and 2000 are definitely showing signs of losing their  herbaceous edginess and sliding into a smooth maturity.  Both were nice wines, but are lacking the tangy saltiness that accompanies these wines in youth and middle age.  The 2001 was unambiguously the star of the show, as it has been since release.  I believe it’s the best vintage of rose since the 1998 (of which I have no more in the cellar).  The 2002 continues to be very nice but "lesser" in all respects.  By itself it’s a terrific glass of wine with olives, but in comparison it doesn’t stack up.  Finally, the 2003 continues to be the "pale cousin" of the other vintages, but what it lacks in color it makes up for in tangy crispness. 

We followed these wines with a blueberry cheesecake, made by Wayland (our dessert virtuoso) and served with a Chapoutier Muscat Rivesaltes 1998, brought by Bill and Laura. 

The evening finished with a comparison of young Madeira with "vintage" Madeira, brought on by a question within the group.  The young Madeira was Barbeito’s 10 year Christopher Columbus, and the vintage was the D’Oliveras 1903 Bual. Night and day, naturally, the 1903 is an amazing lemony nutty acid bomb.  Phenomenal.  Paling in comparison was the L’Ecole 41 1983 Faux Pax sherry, which I always try to get people to taste, just for a unique Washington wine experience.  A terrific evening overall.

I’m catching up a bit, finally, so I thought I’d write about a few of the notable wines I’ve tried lately.

Earlier this month at our regular tasting group, several white burgundies really caught everyone’s attention. Ramonet’s 1988 Morgeots was gorgeous, presenting a lush, spicy nose and terrific weight and depth on the palate. Even more surprising, however, was the Ramonet 1987 Ruchottes. This was a bit oxidized, with a hint of apple and botyrtis on the nose, but since this was the only good 1987 white burgundy any of us had ever tried (the vintage sucked across the board), we were pretty impressed.

This was followed by a nearly-perfect bottle of Niellon 1990 Chevalier-Montrachet, brought back from – of all places – Gillette, Wyoming by Chuck Miller. The wine was massive (for a white), with an incredibly long finish and presence on the palate. The wine held up well for several hours in the glass and stood up well to the various reds on the table. It was that kind of white wine. Sadly, this wine is incredibly rare, but it was terrific to get a chance to try it.

Also that evening, a Cos D’Estournel 1979 was wonderful, though still quite primary and leaving us to wonder if it will actually change much in the years ahead. We always wonder that, however, and the wines always mature. Except the 1986′s, of course…

My friend Bryan was in town recently, so we dug out Tempier Bandol and went to Cafe Campagne. I brought the 1993 Migoua to match up with his 1993 Cabassaou. Vinny brought a terrific 89 Tourtine, which was much more ready than either of the 93′s, of course. We started with a half-bottle of 1990 Clos Ste. Hune, which was slightly corked and not showing anything interesting. Fortunately, Campagne had a half-bottle of the 1987 Frederic Emile on the list, and we tried another 1987 white wine. Still very much alive, but with definite oxidation, it was simply nice to try it. The 1989 Tourtine was a classic maturing Tempier, with a spicy sweet nose with “tree bark” (as we’ve come to call the aroma), and a brown sugar sweetness on the palate with plenty of minerals and fruit. This was followed by the 1993 Migoua, which was pretty young and primary still (hold ‘em!) with an abundance of the wild blackberry aroma, hints of blood and herbs on the palate, but mostly still tannic and unformed. The 93 Cabassaou, in contrast, was much tamer, with a restrained and somewhat delicate nose, but immense depth on the palate. Dark and almost beef-like, the minerals and tree bark really came out only on the finish. A terrific evening.

Most recently, a couple of us met at Seattle Wine Storage for a casual Sunday tasting, and ended up following a California cab tasting that had happened the night before. So we got to try a good number of 2001 “cult” cabs that had been opened the night before, and a couple of Washington counterparts. As usual, my impressions of the Leonetti Reserve were strongly negative – Figgins is a talented winemaker aiming at a vision which I simply don’t share. The wine is oaky to the point of being unpleasant in my book, a characteristic shared among the California “cult” cabs by the Pride Mountain Reserve, the Blanket Estate Paradise Hills, and especially the Harlan Estate. I’m glad somebody likes these wines, because it’s money they’re not spending on French and Italian wine. The Colgin was much more balanced and was a very nice wine, but my favorite was the Bryant Family. Of the “cult” cabs, Bryant has been my favorite along with Phelps, simply because they achieve a good balance between fruit, tannin, and oak, and the wine is pleasurable along all of its dimensions. Oh, and I almost forgot the Bond St. Eden, which was pretty good, along the lines of the Colgin but not as good as the Bryant Family. After this, we moved onto a few of our own wines; notables included the Robert Arnoux 2000 Suchots, the Quilceda Creek 1982 (which was mature and terrific), and the nearly immortal 1983 Quilceda Creek. The latter is still inky black and primary, and is either a quirk which will never mature or will be the first Washington wine to achieve Bordeaux-level aging potential. I’m betting on the latter. We finished up with the remains of the Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich 2001 Eiswein “Junior” (from magnum!) from the night before, still bright and very tart, like eiswein should be.