Saturday night Laura and I got together with friends Thor & Theresa Iverson & david Cornwell for copious quantities of cheese and wine. I am not sure I can eat more raclette than I did Saturday night.
We went through many bottles, although we only finished four of them. We have slipped from our former stature.
With appetizers:
2001 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
No AP number required, as there was only one fuder of this wine produced in 2001. The 2001s are definitely coming out to play. The Selbach has some primary fruit, but also full secondary smoke and dried leaf aromatics. The baby fat is all gone, and now the vibrant structure is fully evident. The sugar has backed off, leaving a perfectly balanced, light bodied but full flavored mature wine. This is very mineral driven and just delicious right now.
We also had one of those Alsatian blended grand crus in here. I do not recall the producer, but the wine was pleasing but not as good as it would have been had it possessed a finish. For casual sipping I liked it a lot, but I was feeling much too geeky Saturday night.
NV Roger Pouillon Rosé Champagne
This initially smelled like fresh strawberries, but then the VA came out. On the palate the VA was fully evident and unpleasant. I have not had this experience before, so for now judgment reserved presuming bad bottle.
1998 Argyle Brut (I think there was a vineyard designation)
Served blind this had us guessing all over the place. Very soft and a bit sweet, the wine was pleasant but not earth shattering. I guessed Cremant d’Alsace. Enjoyable wine, but ultimately forgettable.
Moving to the table for copious quantities of cheese, we set into the reds (and some more whites).
2002 Bachelet Cotes de Nuits Villages
Bright, ripe cherry fruited nose, with a slight woodsy undertone suggesting the very beginnings of development. Sweet fruit on the palate is well balanced by acidity and again the beginnings of earthier elements. Very tasty wine in the making, but ultimately still in need of a couple more years of age.
1989 Pegau
Thanks to David Cornwell for providing this. I think sumptuous sums it up nicely. The wine was simultaneously mature but youthfully full of fruit, perfectly integrated and just beguiling to smell. Earth, dark fruit, smoke, tea – the list could go on forever. There’s still so much stuffing (and the tannin core to go with it) that even though this is lovely now it could go on and perhaps even improve for years to come. It must be a great red, as Laura even enjoyed smelling it (though it was ultimately too tannic for her white wine palate – ah well, more for the rest of us). The one flaw of this wine was the bottle size. We needed at least a liter, and more likely a magnum. I buy a few magnums and always wonder what to do with them, but this wine (as well as two others this night) defines the purpose for me. Buy great wine in magnum, age it to maturity, and there will be no problem drinking it.
1998 Muller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spatlese
Well the Scheu has finally come out to play. This is no longer tropical, but very, very Scheurebe. The grassy tones have come out, and the acids are more evident. It seems like a rather abrupt change, so with a few more bottles in the cellar I will be sure to check in to see if this is truly in decline. It’s still a very good drink, but not the tropical fruit riot it once was. I will also check in on the 2001, as I would hate to lose the exuberant fruit in that one.
1998 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive
We had three wines of the night: the Selbach, the Pegau (the ultimate wine of the night), and this Trimbach. Alsace VT is so often goopy to my palate these days, but this was precise, focused and an essence of roses packed into a wine bottle. The lychee, nut and pineapple characteristics were pushed well into the background in favor of a riot of florality, with perceptible but gentle sweetness. A wonderful, elegant expression of Gewurztraminer, ever so welcome in a world where ham-fisted Gewurz rules the day. Thanks ever so much Thor & Theresa for this experience.
After a break, Thor, David and I went after one final wine. We shouldn’t have.
2005 J. P. Brun Beaujolais Fleurie
This is all promise right now. It’s tight, ungiving, packed with fruit but also lots of structure. The structure is what’s evident. Leave alone for a few years.
What a privilege it is to drink fine wine with good friends while sharing a lovely meal. To drink the Selbach, Pegau and Trimbach together in one night was a memorable experience, indeed one that I will remember for a long time to come.
The longevity that Trimbach manages to achieve (most years) with their three late-picked whites can be simply awesome. IMHO, most need a minimum of ten years before being opened. Their 1988's, 1989's and 1990's are just humming along beautifully at the moment.
