Random Thoughts & Rumblings, part 4

I'll defer to David's expertise, but I have had both Christoffel's 2002 UW Spatlese and Erderner Treppchen Spatlese in last couple of months, both seemed fairly open and giving. Not in a hurry to open my remaining UW, but not really planning on burying.
One minor caveat- do we know for sure it's natural cork? Some of my '02 Christoffel Kabinetts (the Theise imports, not the grey market) had artificial corks, and those did seem to be sinking fast last year. Unsure if any Spatlesen were bottling with plastic. If I didn't know, I'd take off capsule.

[David M. Bueker]

I'm virtually certain the spatlesen were cork.

Maybe that's another rumbling - the number of producers still using synthetics on good wines, despite the fact that they don't hold up.

The grey market Kabs came in with plastic, too.

[David M. Bueker]

The 2003 Christoffels had plastic in the kabs and spats from what I recall & the 2004 kabs were also plastic. 2005 brought screwcaps.

Living by myself, leftover wine is a consistent occurrence. I've found that a lot more than expected hold up for a day or four in the fridge. Not to say that I haven't dumped my fair share down the sink, but especially rieslings and other whites have surprised me in how long they stick around.

Also, back to the original post: I don't subscribe, but I read the reports on the 2007 Bordeaux report. I am with David on this one, a report on an entire vintage with only scores and no notes?? Sorry if I'm stirring the pot on this one....

[David M. Bueker]

Lizbeth,

Feel free to stir the pot. I think it's a terrible practice. I think I understand why Parker did it: it completely takes the wind out of the sails of Bordeaux en primeur. It's still bad precedent. And he didn't publish notes on 2005 Sauternes, a fantastic set of wines if you believe his point scores. I actually think that's worse.

The grey market Kabs came in with plastic, too.

Really? I thought I checked and the Thiese bottles had plastic, and the PC ones natural. CT says I have one left, but will take some digging out.

Some thoughts of some red grapes:
Nebbiolo- good Nebbiolo seems almost impervious to aeration. Tannins seem to integrate, but fruit holds and builds over couple days. Of course, most of these age well too.

Cabernet and Merlot- lower acid versions tend to turn pruney quickly. I don't think that is neccessarily true of how they age, they seem to age on tannins not acids, as lots of ripe vntage Bordeaux age just fine.

Pinot Noir- the least predictable. High acid, low acid, hi/lo tannins, doesn't matter- I can never predict what will be undrinkable and what will be delicious on night 2. Unsure if that performance has ANY relevance to aging.

Cab Franc- this is one where I do think the way they hold might be a good predictor of how they'll age. Good structured CF seems to hold well, lower acid ones seem to fall off a cliff.

Tempranillo, Syrah, Gamay- closer to CF.

Sangiovese- overnight performance seems to have no correlation to aging ability, as almost all fall apart overnight (yet we know lots of Sangiovese wines age well). A well structured Fontodi was horrible on day 2 Saturday. I can think of one Pergole Torte where I found a Sangiovese good on day 2.

This is of course a set of gross generalizations. Would love to hear disagreements.

These seem to jibe pretty well with my own experience, especially sangiovese. Even a Brunello will head south overnight. Bizarre. And here's an odd one: We opened a Coenobium (basically an Orvieto left a very long time on the lees, made by Cistercian nuns...) and after gassing and refrigeration it barely lost a step over a three-day span. I was impressed (and quite possibly just very lucky...)

These seem to jibe pretty well with my own experience, especially sangiovese. Even a Brunello will head south overnight. Bizarre. )

It was actually a Brunello that made me notice, several years ago. I had a good Brunello, fairly traditional styled with good acidity and rather firm tannins. About a 1/3 was left after a dinner, when I tried the next day it seemed flat, pruney, and oxidized. I was a bit surprised, as the other young leftover wines had held up well overnight (a Bordeaux and a Barolo, I think). A couple of posters I respected on WLDG (I'm pretty sure one was the Non-Gobby Jay Miller) said that they never felt Sangiovese seemed to do well. I started paying attention, and that seemed to be my experience (save one Pergole Torte). Others here obviously have had different experiences.

Sure we can moan and groan about the state of the US dollar, but fantastic wine can still be had for under $20

Absolutely. All you need to do as have your wine merchant paste $300 price stickers on the bottles you buy (cf today's NYT).

[David M. Bueker]

Sure we can moan and groan about the state of the US dollar, but fantastic wine can still be had for under $20

Absolutely. All you need to do as have your wine merchant paste $300 price stickers on the bottles you buy (cf today's NYT).