WTN: Viva la France, Noland Brothers tasting

Viva la France Tasting January 1, 2009
This tasting was conducted blind with three wines with the following rules:
1. Best wine is the wine that goes best with food.
2. Second best wine is the best drinking wine.
Wine A:
Deep dark violet wine. Wonderful fruit on the nose with blueberries, blackberries and black cherries. Luscious midpalate of silky tannins, dark fruit (especially black cherries and black raspberries) and nice refreshing acidity. Medium to long finish of fruit and a nice touch of bitter tannins. This is a medium bodied wine that is seamless and a great sipper.
Evolution: some meatiness shows up with time especially smoked hamhocks.
With food: Very nice match with the pork tenderloin smothered in gorgonzola sauce with German spatzles.
Wine B:
Deep violet wine. Interesting nose of vegetables (sundried tomatoes), minerals, and dark fruit. A intriguing midpalate of minerals dark fruit, wild game and smooth tannins. Tastes like venison with a blueberry sauce. Medium to long finish of fruit and elderberry bitterness. This medium bodied wine probably has the best complexity of the wines and was the most interesting wine. Needs some time to age.
With food: Good with the pork tenderloin but great with dark chocolate that brings out the sweet blueberries in the wine.
Wine C:
Another deep violet wine. Interesting nose of earthiness and a bit of bretty funk. Minerals (especially iron), dark fruit, and big tannins on the midpalate. Unripe blueberries show up on the long flinty mineral finish. (Vaynerchuk might describe the finish on this wine as it tastes like licking a flint arrowhead that had just been shot through a heavily fruited blueberry bush). This is the biggest of the three wines. Full bodied wine that seems to need quite a bit more time in the bottle to see its full potential. However, with time this might be the best of the three wines. Tom thought this was a CdP.
With food: Good with the pork but does not like salty crackers.
Guesses:
James: all Rhone/southern France, especially vacqueyras, all Grenache based
Bob: South France/Rhone possibly
Tom: All Rhone
Best wine with food: A – unanimous choice, although James chose B a close second
Wines rated overall: all agreed A > B > C, but all wines were fine.
Wines revealed:
Wine A. Montirius, Le Clos, Vacqueyras, 2005 14% abv, 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah Tom’s wine
Wine B. Coume Del Mas 2005 Schistes 14.5% abv, mostly Grenache with some Carignan. James’ wine (Languedoc-Rousillon)
Wine C. Saint Cosme 2006 “Les Deux Alban” Cotes du Rhone 14.5% abv, 50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, and the rest Mourvedre and Carignan. Bob’s wine

Evolution or most changed wines with air time C > B > A James and Bob, B > C > A Tom

Note: Three rhone type wines that were very different in style yet similar in composition. One of the most interesting tastings we have ever done .

[David M. Bueker]

It's actually very interesting that you opened 3 bottles and two of them had 50% Syrah. Given how much Cotes du Rhone and/or Southern Rhone wine is dominated by Grenache I would have expected to see that grape dominate the blends.

That's a menu I could love. I often put Gorgonzola on top of pork chops and I love the German spatzle too. I would add a creamy celery root or cucumber salad as a side dish or first course.

It's actually very interesting that you opened 3 bottles and two of them had 50% Syrah. Given how much Cotes du Rhone and/or Southern Rhone wine is dominated by Grenache I would have expected to see that grape dominate the blends.

David,

Even more interesting is that the one wine that was mostly grenache was not even technically a rhone, although it was from southern France and very rhone-like to our tastebuds.

That's a menu I could love. I often put Gorgonzola on top of pork chops and I love the German spatzle too. I would add a creamy celery root or cucumber salad as a side dish or first course.

JC,

This was a dish that Bob deconstructed from his travels in Poland. It was definitely a great recipe although it is a bit tricky to match with red wine according to Bob. I think we had some nice wines that try to go with about any food so the wine-food match was good to very good . We had it with broiled asparagus and a caesar salad.

It is a shame that you the other two Noland brothers always recognize Bob's wine on sheer size (it is BIG, has to be Bob's wine!) Next time I am going to open my wine a lot sooner and decant it. I just did not expect a CDR to be so big and tight that it was going to need this treatment. Live and learn.