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TNs: Eclectic bunch

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Saina

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TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Saina » Sat Sep 07, 2013 3:01 pm

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A wine-loving visitor from New York came to Helsinki for a brief visit so the logical thing to do was to go to Carelia for some entrecote and wine.

Bodegas Franco-Españolas Viña Soledad Tête de Cuvée Gran Reserva 1981
White wine but otherwise served blind. My initial reaction was that it must be oldish LdH, I guessed 1976. An ex-oaky smell, oxidative; rich, almost oily palate but bright acidity. A very LdH-like wine. Lovely.

Fruitiere Vinicole d'Arbois Béthanie 1998
Served blind: A blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin. A really lovely Sherry (Manzanilla) smell; oxidative, rich, racy and quite similar to the Rioja though more obviously Sherry-like aromas. Lovely.

Antonio Vallana e Figlio Spanna Cantina del Camino 1958
My bottle, so it was blind only to the others. I had stood this up for a couple weeks to make sure the sediment would settle. This was a superb example of old Nebbiolo IMO. It seemed amazingly young in comparison to some others from roughly this period I have had. Sweet, floral, slightly shitty (in the good way) perfume; mature but still vigorous. Knowing what it was I wouldn't have thought of this but others felt it was like a '70s Musar albeit not quite so volatile (it's hard to say if they were reading me more than the bottle since that actually was a pretty accurate description of the wine, but they were still all expecting me to open Musar for some strange reason).

Prieler Goldberg Blaufränkisch 2006
Blind from magnum. I have tried a few of these Burgenland Prielers before but never this "top" range wine. I thought this was quite reductive (seems typical for Prieler - I don't normally mind reductiveness too much, but sometimes his wines need two days open and that's a bit excessive). But vigorous swirling did open it up somewhat, but it is still a VERY primary wine, purple in colour, but with attractive cherry aromas. A polished style but still reminiscent of Sangiovese so I thought this was a Chianti. Nice wine, but really needed air and/or age.

Edmunds St. John Bassetti Vineyard Syrah 2005
Jeff kindly brought this over from the US. I love ESJ, but haven't tasted any vintages post 1998 since that was the last vintage imported here. I thought this was a fantastic, unmanipulated Syrah in a relatively cool climate -style for California. There's a bit of blueberry on the nose, but otherwise it as a very pretty Syrah-fruit (and knowing what ESJ goes for, I guess the blueberry isn't anything to do with oak but perhaps with slight reduction?). Savoury, nicely structured, refreshing and moreish. Fantastic stuff and I'd love to have a case of this ageing in my cellar.

Clape Cornas 2001
Blind. This was a bit of a disappointment. I was geographically challenged when asked where this came from. Eventually I ended up in the southern parts of France and was thinking of Chateauneuf du Pape. This was sweetly fruity/super-ripe, with a slight dried fruit character on the nose; quite soft in both acidity and tannins and therefore seemed more like Grenache than Syrah to me. Since I was thinking it was a perfectly nice wine until I heard it was Clape; because I really expected Clape to be much more typical to N. Rhone despite being a slightly polished style of Cornas.

Ch. Rauzan-Gassies 2004
A non-blind Margaux. This was not a very good wine yesterday: it smelled of bacon and oak and bananas. I took the remains with me and finished the bottle tonight and it seems much better. R-G's reputation seems to be that it is a fairly traditional Bordeaux and tonight that seems right. It has a nice savoury scent of baked bean and a nice savoury palate with adequate structure and it actually became quite moreish overnight. Yesterday: meh. Tonight: yeah, ok! But not 60€ ok! But I guess it only costs 60€ in Finland. Normally it will only be 25-35€ elsewhere if this is the price here. :(

Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2007
A nice Mosel Auslese; rich and a bit lower in acidity than I ideally prefer (hot year!).

Crushpad Töövi Marsanne Saralee's Vineyeard 2010
A Californian example of this grape. Aromatic and expressive for this often reticent grape. Rich, fat, but with good levels of acidity. Nice!
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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Mark S » Sat Sep 07, 2013 5:49 pm

That sure Is an eccletic lineup! When I saw the Toovi, I thought 'Otto is finally drinking a Finnish wine'...I've never heard of them before, but the name sounds Finnish to me.
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David M. Bueker

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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by David M. Bueker » Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm

That blueberry in the ESJ is an odd thing called fruit.
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Anders Källberg

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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Anders Källberg » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:52 am

David M. Bueker wrote:That blueberry in the ESJ is an odd thing called fruit.

:shock: :D Well stated, David! /A
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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Anders Källberg » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:54 am

Otto wrote: they were still all expecting me to open Musar for some strange reason).

How strange! :shock:

I hope to meet them tonight, since they've now moved on to Stockholm, will be fun!
/A
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Saina

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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Saina » Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:33 am

Fruit - the most overrated component of wine. :D

Anders, do you have a dinner planned with them? Where will you be eating?
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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Anders Källberg » Tue Sep 10, 2013 2:14 am

Otto, we met yesterday evening and went to two wine bars, 19 glas and Corvina Enoteca, and had a little something to eat in both places. It was great to meet Jeff and Jim and we had a very pleasant evening. The most spectacular wine of the evening was a Pineau d'Aunis by Robinot, Concerto, something, that Jeff chose at 19 glas. I'm sure it would have suited you, very funky and with more than just a touch of a glue-like volatility plus some red fruit (sic!)and peppercorns behind that unmistakeably "Vin de nature" touch that dominated the nose. Quite an experience!

Cheers,
/Anders
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Re: TNs: Eclectic bunch

by Andrew Bair » Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:31 pm

Thanks for the notes, Otto. Both the Arbois and the Spanna sound very nice!

Prieler's wines are quite good in my experience, though I've never had an opportunity to try their Goldberg.

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