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Wine thread - what are you enjoying?

Thomas_A

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A pinot battle where the french one was best. Perfectly blended with the duck and orange sauce.

Later had 2015 Icona with some beef. A very nice Cabernet.

Had some others as well but the French Pinot and the Australian Cabernet were the best.
 

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SIY

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Pernand-Vergelesses is one of my favorites in Bourgogne. Aloxe is more glamorous, but P-V delivers the goods.
 

Old Listener

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For Xmas eve, we opened a bottle of 2004 Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard cabernet to drink with a meal of lamb chops. It was a it disappointing. We didn't finish the bottle so we drank the wine with a Xmas dinner meal of beef (chateaubriand), roast potatoes and parsnips. The wine was much better on night two. Fully up to the level we expect for Martha's Vineyard vintages.
 
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SIY

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For Xmas eve, we opened a bottle of 2004 Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard cabernet to drink with a meal of lamb chops. It was a it disappointing. We didn't finish the bottle so we drank the wine with a Xmas dinner meal of beef (chateaubriand), roast potatoes and parsnips. The wine was much better on night two. Fully up to the level we expect for Martha's Vineyard vintages.
Heitz went through a long period where the Martha's always smelled musty. So much so that when our team nailed it in a blind tasting competition, our answer was, "It's a corked Cabernet, or if it's a Heitz Martha's, it's the 1984." Which it was.
 

Old Listener

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Heitz went through a long period where the Martha's always smelled musty. So much so that when our team nailed it in a blind tasting competition, our answer was, "It's a corked Cabernet, or if it's a Heitz Martha's, it's the 1984." Which it was.
Our first Martha's was a 1973. I can remember a very good 1974 and a 1978. I have no memory of 1980s vintages. For years, my wife had migraines so we drank little and bought even less.

We started buying 1 or 2 bottles a year again in the mid-late 90s. Nothing wrong with those bottles. We stopped buying Martha's when the price of a fifth went over $ 200.

Last time I looked, their Napa valley cab was $ 65 a bottle. Also too pricey for us.

We enjoyed their Ink Grade Port for years too but they became uncompetitive on price with Port from Portugal.
 
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Happy new year to my fellow winos.

We're not likely to get through all of this tonight but here's what we have at the ready.

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SIY

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How did you like the Bellows?

I’ll post our group of bottles tomorrow when we’re sober.
 

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Tonight, we finished the 2004 Heitz Cellar Martha's Vineyard cabernet (two small glasses left) open on Xmas eve and started a bottle of 2005 Heitz Bella Oaks Cab. The Martha's was still fine and the Bella Oaks suffered by comparison.

In years past, we'd visit the Heitz tasting room in February to taste the Martha's cab just released. While we were there, we'd also taste the Napa Valley cab and the Bella Oaks cab. The 2005 Bella Oaks was the only vintage that we liked well enough to buy.
 

Thomas_A

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Had a 2013 Amarone Tommasi with the meat yesterday. It was actually not anything special. The 2018 Cruino was more tasteful in comparison (middle one) Pol Roger Csmpagne later on. Nice!
 

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SIY

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We might have overdone it a bit. And god help me, this wasn't all of them. Food was great as well. My longtime (30 years) cooking/drinking partner was here for the holiday, and he, my wife, and I spent all day cooking and drinking. The last one ('99 Clusel-Roch Grandes Places) is a real rarity, only two barrels made.

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LTig

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Our take for silvester evening:
  • Calidus Mons 2009, from Franzen winery in Bremm (Mosel/Germany). Riesling grapes from Bremmer Calmont, the steepest wineyard on this planet (up to 68 degree).
    We bought it in June 2010, 2 weeks later the winemaker was killed in a horrible accident while driving a tractor in a flat wineyard opposite of the Calmont (Neefer Frauenberg). His son took over together with his (then) girl friend, and both had to terminate studying onologie. Nevertheless the winery is prospering with very good wine. They married and got a daughter. We visit them once per year.
  • Cremant by Martin Heim

calidus-mons+cremant.jpg
 
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How did you like the Bellows?

I’ll post our group of bottles tomorrow when we’re sober.
The Forge Bellows was really quite good. It seemed a bit young but showed very well nonetheless. I'd love to try some of their stuff with a few more years on them.
 

LTig

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@LTig I’m very curious about this Franzen winery. Looks really great.
Yep. They make a very good really dry Riesling (Franzero) which is rather uncommon for Mosel wine, although I've got the impression that most wines had gotten a bit sweeter within the last 3 to 5 years (not only them, it seems to be a current trend here, customers seen to prefer it). Riesling Zeit is an interesting wine (more than one year on the yeast, until the process stopped by itself). And Bremmer Calmont of course.

I've no idea whether they sell to the US but you can drop a mail and ask.
 

TulseLuper

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Yep. They make a very good really dry Riesling (Franzero) which is rather uncommon for Mosel wine, although I've got the impression that most wines had gotten a bit sweeter within the last 3 to 5 years (not only them, it seems to be a current trend here, customers seen to prefer it). Riesling Zeit is an interesting wine (more than one year on the yeast, until the process stopped by itself). And Bremmer Calmont of course.

I've no idea whether they sell to the US but you can drop a mail and ask.

I'll have a look out. I used to be stubborn about my Riesling being dry. Lately I don't care what the sugar levels are. Some sweetness can be great, especially with food. Or sometimes wines with 40g/l of sugar have so much acid you'd have no idea there was so much sugar. And some wines are so light and ethereal that a little sugar goes a long way. I say make the right wine for the fruit, place, and time.

People will argue endlessly about what is and what has been fashionable. This, from Lars Carlberg responding to a Terry Thiese article in 2015, is relevant: https://www.larscarlberg.com/terry-theise-dry-german-riesling/

Speaking of two of my favorite producers, Ulli Stein and Peter Lauer:
"Ulli Stein of Weingut Stein specializes in traditional light-bodied, extra-dry to off-dry Mosels....Yet he says that most of his private German clients in cities such as Cologne, Hamburg, and Berlin prefer less sharp dry wines and more off-dry. In fact, his basic Estate Riesling, called Blauschiefer (blue slate), is feinherb in the German market, whereas his US importer vom Boden selects a custom-made bottling of Blauschiefer trocken.

Peter Lauer told me that their private clientele tends to buy more feinherb nowadays. He says that the light-bodied, high-acid, bone-dry Saar Rieslings that he once made—before his eldest son, Florian, took over in 2005—are out of fashion. The Lauers and other Saar growers claim that most modern German drinkers don't want tart wines."
 
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