WTN: Lafon Montus, Lehmann, Guiraud, Suduiraut

2001 Geysler ‘Bundle of Scheu’ Sekt – a German bubbly, obviously made from Scheurebe, light in colour with a lime nose nicely perfumed, good mousse, no yeast, clean

2002 Balthasar Ress Hettenheimer Nussbrunnen Auslese – petrol nose, fairly sweet and somewhat too low in acidity for my taste, to carry off the level of RS, but decent

2004 Niepoort Redoma Branco – dry with a slight almond flavour, soft, smooth, balanced, but wouldn’t be on my buy list at $60.

2000 Montus Pacherenc de Vi-bilh Sec – rare white from Madiran, made from arrufiac and gros and petit manseng in varying amounts this showed a green gold colour, a very interesting nose, quite full flavoured with a lingering finish.

2005 Dom. de Comtes de Lafon Volnay – the village wine made from young vines, this had a medium colour very nice nose with sweet cherry and a whiff of pepper, and on palate, lots of acidity. With time the nose segued into more raspberry than cherry.

2006 Dom. de Cristia Cotes du Rhone – this was produced by mistake thinking it was the next wine, so it caused some confusion. Might as well note it though, as it was quite decent, with youthful colour sweet ripe nose, slightly hot, good fruit and still lots of tannin.

1985 Dom. de Comtes de Lafon Volnay-Santenots du Milieu – old mature pale colour, mature pinot nose, very smooth on palate with a nice sweetness at the end. Delightful mature Burgundy.

1996 Hillebrand Estates Cabernet Merlot (Niagara) – the colour of this seemed about 10 years older than the wine turned out to be. Some mint in the nose, and green pepper, not much left on palate.

1992 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz – this producer’s top shiraz, and much more restrained than most Barossa shiraz. Dark with lightening edges, very mellow vanilla mint nose, sweet fruit in the mouth with nice balance and good acidity. ready to roll now.

1997 Ch. Lafon Rochet – dark clear wine with a funky nose to start with coca and a green component. Not enough fruit in midpalate, but pleasant drinking now.

1988 Ch. Guiraud – lemon colour, nice Sauternes nose although no real botrytis evident, some stuffing in the middle, fair balance with god acidity and time left.

1988 Ch. Suduiraut – quite a bit darker with a hotter nose with botrytis, mellows on palate, but lower acid than the Guiraud and not as fresh.

PS - I would like it known that the 'Bundle of Scheu' was perpetrated by none other than Jenise, who will have to swear off giving me a hard time for any word play for at least a year (the name caused winces but the wine was very good)

[David M. Bueker]

Put blame where it is deserved - Terry Theise was the unfortunate pun-master for the Bundle of Scheu. It was named to celebrate the birth of Alexander Gysler's child (who was born in 2001 - the BoS is 2001 juice).

[Jenise]

Put blame where it is deserved - Terry Theise was the unfortunate pun-master for the Bundle of Scheu. It was named to celebrate the birth of Alexander Gysler's child (who was born in 2001 - the BoS is 2001 juice).

Cool thing was watching these guys try to figure out what in the world this was. They started out ruling out champagne, and then chardonnay and maybe another grape or two, then switched over to country in which they named just about every place, including Chile, before someone thought to suggest Germany, and then only guessed scheurebe when I answered that yes it's a native grape and scheurebe turned out to be about the only grape not yet put in play. It's a very good day at Bill's lunch when one makes everybody work that hard.

Yeah, the wine just didn't quite fit into any commonly known slots. It COULD have been any number of things (including South African or Chilean) but Germany certainly wasn't the first one to leap to mind as it didn't really have any particular varietal signature, unlike some other sekts like the Deinhard Lila Imperial which is instantly recognizable as Riesling.

But after perpetrating that oenological punnishment on us, Jenise, you can just keep on trocken the next time you give me a hard time about my puns!

[Jenise]

My comments:

2001 Geysler ‘Bundle of Scheu’ Sekt – Obviously made from scheurebe? You must have been laying low in the weeds, because as I recall it quite a bit of time passed before anyone mentioned this grape. In fact, early on the two Davids mentioned it in discussion but thought the idea so far-fetched they didn't even put it into a question. Good description.

2002 Balthasar Ress Hettenheimer Nussbrunnen Auslese – Normally quick to complain about RS vs. acidity, I didn't find this one quite so imbalanced as you did. Rather, I just thought it a fairly plush package, and quite lovely.

2004 Niepoort Redoma Branco – what you said.

2000 Montus Pacherenc de Vi-bilh Sec – Loved this one. A truly intense and assertive wine, very dry, full bodied and meaty.

2005 Dom. de Comtes de Lafon Volnay – Actually, I found this all raspberry from the very beginning, which sent my mind to Italy. I didn't expect it to be pinot noir at all, though after it was unveiled I set my glass aside and toward the end of the meal the pinosity and sweet 05 fruit showed very well.

2006 Dom. de Cristia Cotes du Rhone – It's worth mentioning that the wine's owner was the most confused of all--he just couldn't imagine how his '85 was showing THAT young. Considering that the first guesses went to Rhone, in retrospect it's rather surprising that it took him so long to figure out that he'd supplied not the wine he meant to serve but a bottle he'd picked up for later on his way over to lunch!

1985 Dom. de Comtes de Lafon Volnay-Santenots du Milieu – old mature pale colour, mature pinot nose, very smooth on palate with a nice sweetness at the end. Delightful mature Burgundy.

1996 Hillebrand Estates Cabernet Merlot (Niagara) – No, not much in the palate, and what little there was dropped out very quickly. Lovely nose though, and fun to guess at--it was so light in color, and it showed more merlot than cab.

1992 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz – Perfect and delicious example of an aged Oz shiraz. Very toned and elegant. I apologize for not seeming to have paid attention during this wine's service, but Rob was regaling me with stories of drinking cheap La Tache every night in Anchorage which he'd returned from only the day before--and that was just a little too amazing to turn away.

1997 Ch. Lafon Rochet – What you said. I'll add that it was so atypical that even after the previous wines, it didn't present as clearly Bordeaux and it took a few guesses to pin that down.

1988 Ch. Guiraud – Your description of this wine is spot-on, and that's exactly what I love about non-botrytis Sauternes. It reminded me a lot of the '94 Guiraud which is similarly dry and lemony by comparison to most. I realize that it's not what most people are looking for, though.

1988 Ch. Suduiraut – What you said.

Yeah, the Scheurebe wasn't obvious until we were already pretty much all the way there. Only when we got the fact that it was a non-Rielsing based German Sekt did it seem likely that Scheurebe was the only answer.

I wish it HAD been obvious right off the bat - it would have saved us floundering around decidiing what else it couldn't have been.

[Jenise]

But after perpetrating that oenological punnishment on us, Jenise, you can just keep on trocken the next time you give me a hard time about my puns!

You are placing a bahn on me? Oh, sir, you are the wurst!