WTN: Wines with Dinner

[Brad Ballinger]

Dinner with a couple of couples last night. We all like to cook. The men are more wine geeky than the women.

2002 William Fevre Chablis. I didn't take any notes for this wine. It was the glass handed out as we walked in the door. It was incredibly dry, crisp, acidic, and tart. It was also a bit too cold. Warming up, it's "bite" withdrew a little.

2002 Dr. Deinhard Deidesheimer Maushohle Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken, Pfalz. AP 510632702103. Not very forthcoming on the nose. A stony, chalky mineral character on the nose. Some apple skin and lime in the background. On the palate, the wine is very well balanced. There is a mineral core that is accented with some lime and carambola flavors. The wine is mouthfilling, but delicately so. Not much sweetness at all. Clean, long finish. Nicely parie with zwiebelkuchen.

2004 James & Nicholas Paget Touraine Azay-le-Rideau Rose. This wine is 95% mineral and 5% fruit. So rockheads like me dig it. Initially, there was an off-putting aroma that I could only describe as spit valve. Those of you who've ever played a brass musical instrument will know what I mean. This did blow off, however, after about 10-15 minutes. Again, there is a strong mineral profile here -- copper, iron. What fruit one might find is on the tart side, perhaps cranberry-like. Very earthy, almost moreso than the green lentil soup it was served with. (Before someone calls me hypccritical for having wine with soup, let me disclaim that I was a guest, and not the host).

1997 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg Turckheim Pinot Gris. And my "I just don't get, nor do I like Z-H" trend continues. Smoky and soapy on the nose, with a burnt sugar component. In the mouth, I found the wine thin and linear showing an initial sugar-based attack, which quickly gives way to a lean, flat, dead liquid. There's little acidity here to carry the wine from attack to finish. Hell, it never even reaches the midpalate. The only thing that constitutes a "finish" is that I could lick a film of sugar off my teeth after swallowing. There was some discussiong that maybe it would show better once we were served the Thai shrimp bisque. It didn't. Well, not for me at any rate.

1997 Camus Latricieres-Chambertin. The initial whiff of this wine was all oak. Fortunately, the subsequents whiffs detected less of it. In the oak's place were pleasing aromas of plums, some smoke, allspice. In the mouth, the wine is fairly straightforward spice accented black cherry, and a little weak in the acid department. As with the Zind Humbrecht, there's some abuptness and shortness of finish, but not as severe. Burned a tiny bit.

1995 Teofilo Reyes Ribera del Duero. One of our dining party commented that he didn't think he'd ever had this wine. I told him to close his eyes, take another sip, and he would conclude that he has indeed had this wine more times than he may like to admit. Although the nose had an intriguing "crawl space" aroma to it, on the palate the wine was pretty modern-tasting and nondescript. Extracted dark fruits, some tobacco, soft tannin, vanilla, oak. A tiny bit of smoke to keep it interesting. It's a fine enough wine, but also a forgettable one.