Salil rallied the troops to welcome Todd to NYC. A small group gathered on a frigid night at Grand Sichuan on St Marks. Lots of food: soup dumplings, cucumber with scallion sauce, duck, chong qing chicken,lamb with cumin, shredded beef with green peppers, and more.
Reds
2004 Truchot Charmes-Chambertin
Lovely, raspberries and mineral notes, a pleasant herbiness (which Jay calls “pine”, and that might be more accurate) but no greenie meanies, elegant, leafy. lovely. A-
1985 Olga Raffault “Picasses” Chinon
When I uncorked this there was a whiff of VA and pruniness, but to me (but not everyone) that blew off. A bit of horsiness, but on the Olga scale it’s well in check. Red fruit and pepper, a little bit of tannin remaining, pretty enough. B+/B
A Gruner Veltliner interlude
1998 Knoll Loibenberg Gruner Veltliner Federspiel
In a pretty place, yellow fruits, citrus peel, a saline minerality. Fresh, fun, great match with the cukes in scallion sauce. Buy more. A-
2013 Aigner “Sandgrube” ( Kremstal
new producer to me, light, hint of spritz, easy to like. B
Sherry, anyone?
Equipo Navazos #46 ( I think Jay said this was Oloroso)
Very nutty, dry, complex, with orange peel notes. But for me, this is more interesting than tasty. I’d call it as good as any sherry I’ve had, just not my fave category. B
A lone Loire white
2010 Les Cailloux du Paradis Romorantin
I expected to like this more. Softer and nuttier than I expected, ok but I’ll stick with Cour-Cheverny B-
Rieslings, the main feature
1976 Schloss Johannisberg “Grunlack” Spatlese
This still as plenty of life, pretty brassy color, moderate sweetness, some light caramel. Good, quite youthful, but I didn’t think as interesting as some others. B
1985 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Spatlese (Auction, #8)
corked, damn!
2003 Egon Muller Braune Kupp Auslese.
This might be from 2003, but there’s no shortage of acidity. Bright, rich, with tea and citrus over
white pit fruits, honied. A-
2010 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Auslese
Mineral, electric acidity, citrus, intense. A-/A
2002 Merkelbach Erdener Treppchen Spatlese
Balanced acids, modest sweetness, apple and petrol. B+
There was a Loosen Blue Slate (2013?) as well but I didn’t write anything down, good value though
1995 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Beerenauslese (375)
Intense, fantastic acids, honied, long. A-/B+
Nice night with nice people!
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.
