TN: What to drink

[jrufusj]

WHAT TO DRINK WHEN YOUR WIFE COMES HOME WITH CRABS - Home in Tokyo (1/7/2006)

On a recent shopping venture, Cathryn found soft shell crab, one of our favorites but practically unknown in Japanese markets. What a great surprise!! The ever game Richard, Naoko, and kids agreed to join us for dinner.

Warming Up

With brie de meux and salame (one red pepper crusted and one black pepper crusted)

• 2002 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Privat - Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal
  Light and bright but rich yellow. Great minerally nose straight out of the bottle blossoms over a couple of hours to encompass gentle asparagus, white pepper, grapefruit, and peach. Awesome complexity combined with piercing density. On the palate, dense and bright at the same time with grapefruit, white pepper, sweet green peas, some lemon, and pear. Enough already --like a laundry list of complexity even though this is a baby that is all primary. Stunning value in the mid-high 30's, this would be a buy at $100. Oh yeah, nice finish too. Best wine I've tasted this year, but I'm "waiting for the clampdown" © so try it fast or leave it alone for ten. (Seemed appropriate to give props to one of the greatest rock albums ever made in a note for what may the best-value wine I've ever tasted.)
  

At Dinner

With soft shell crab meunier and green salad with walnut oil dressing

• 2003 Weingut Erich und Brigitte Polz Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Trocken - Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
  Slightly fuzzy but very light yellow with a bit of visible spritz. Nose shows big dose of not too sweet canned fruit cocktail as well as some mineral in the background. On the palate, the combination of spritz and with mineral makes me think of bath salts. Other than some mushy lentils, not much GrüVe typicality, but pleasing nonetheless. Ripe side of vintage shows in sweetish tropical fruit and a lack of acid that makes everything seem a little bit muted, but the mineral and spritz keep it a little interesting. I know Ploz from Südsteiermark, but not from Wachau, so I did a little research. This is about $9-$10 ex-domaine, which would be good value. By the time it's marked up in Tokyo, not so good. I'd like to try the Federspiel, as it may be better balanced in this vintage.
  
• 1990 Henry Brochard Sancerre - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
  Bought this for a song from a shop that (1) knows I'm a necrophile and (2) generally doesn't sell crap so it was worth a flier. Still looks youthful and bright with a light straw color. No oxydation on nose, but not a ton of fruit either. A little grass, a little gooseberry, and a little simple very ripe white fruit. On the palate, enough acid still to have life, but not enough to be the sustain pedal it needs. However, while it never becomes bright and young, a little more time in glass brings out a rich, leesy roundness and some more ripe apple. Even picks up a touch of body and finish. I think I'll still opt to take my Loire SB young and crisp, but another great example of what a little time and air can do for a wine that seems tired. Had enough life left that it made a good match for a was improved by the crab. As Mssr. Audonze says, "the older wines are younger than we think." (Though this wasn't that old.)
  

Dessert

With home-made sandwich cookies -- gaufrette wafers spread with cassis-flavored overwhipped cream and topped with sliced strawberry and balsamic glaze

• 1995 Château La Tour Blanche - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Medium gold with good density, but not the kind of glass-hugging viscosity one gets from a bigger year. Nose immediately shows a shot of botrytis, along with ripe peach-flavored custard and some honey. Palate is in balance and has the botrytis flavor, but not the zingy botrytis acidity that the nose seemed to promise. Fairly light-textured but flavorsome with cling peaches, honey, and lemon cream. Decent finish brings out a little of the missing zing. Still young with unevolved flavors. Will never be a blockbuster but may pick up complexity with some more time in bottle. Light, bright, and versatile enough to pair well with not too sweet dessert.
  

Someone needs to take the cellar key from me

With reckless abandon!

• 1995 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Campolongo di Torbe - Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico
  Plummy red turning to brickish at edge. The kind of plummy red that always leads me to expect somewhat roasted fruit. Nose doesn't show too hot, despite the 16% alcohol, but it does show a bit of prune and raisin along with the plum and cherry. On the palate, tastes very tired and perhaps cooked. Having reason to believe it may indeed be heat damaged, I dump my glass and put the bottle aside. Well, I never throw anything away without one last taste. The next afternoon, it has picked up a bit of leather and spice on the nose, along with the alcohol being a little more pronounced. On the palate -- wow!! It still has fruit that has some roasted (not just raisined) character, but also has some cherry acid brightness and some more typical bitter almond/peach kernel, a little smooth mocha, and some resin. A completely different wine, it really needed tons of air! I've got another bottle that I'll give a few years to see what happens. I'm still a little concerned by the way the alcohol began to stick out, but with 18 hours of air, it moved from presumed cooked to something I might not buy would be very happy to drink.
  
• 1996 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay Champans 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay
  What's that cheesy Eric Segal line that Matt Kramer quotes? "What can you say about a girl who died?" Well, what can you say about a wine I killed in the promise of its youth? Richard and I had been talking about how Volnay has a higher percentage of good growers than any other village and we just couldn't help checking in on this. It's that bright cherry color that tells you the Burg you're about to drink has plenty of healthy acidity. That color just makes my mouth water. The nose has vibrant fruit of red berry and sour cherry, along with some mushroom and minerally earth. On the palate, the acid is very bright and very much visibly present, enough so that one only notices the tannins in the front of the mouth after swallowing. While the acid is bright, the fruit on the palate is darker -- wonderfully sapid deep berry and black cherry. Nice body from entry to exit. Terrific balance and concentration, as well as tremendous focus and purity. Of course, all of this took vigorous swirling and air sucking and was still only a series of brief flashes from a shut-down wine. Hands off and it'll become a treasure!
  

Lots of wines way too young (and one a bit too old) but all in the name of science. The Nigl and the Champans are gonna be great!

Posted from CellarTracker