The drooling started yesterday when Theresa
told me that the egg salad was done.
I just finished making the finger sandwiches
and my stomach is growling.
I decided to dust off the Riedel white wine
glass for this one. I’m waiting for the glass
to chill.
First sip…
This is the driest and most austere R that I
have ever had.
First bite…
This might not be PERFECT, but it will do.
The egg salad wins the flavor battle, but the
wine wins the beauty contest and leads the
cheering squad.
It’s really hard not to shovel and gulp.
Give me an “A”, Apple of my Eye.
Give me a little “h”, honey.
Give me another “h”, honey.
…
What’s that spell?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Brunch is over and now I get to enjoy
a bit more of the wine without all that
“flavor distraction”.
Boiled eggs CAN BE real stinkers.
Maybe deviled ham WOULD BE better. That’s
easy enough to figure out.
“As The Grape Ripens”…
In this episode, our wine slush contemplates
which food might be best to have for a “wine
brunch” so he can keep having experimental brunches
until he can’t contemplate anymore.
Biscuits and Gravy
Liver and Onions
Gizzards, Gonads, and Geodes
…
The follow-on sips reveal a wine with subtle
flavors of honeycomb and softer, less citrusy
fruit than I’m used to in R. Not quite
pear, but getting there.
And there’s an “earthy” quality that I can’t
yet pin down.
Or maybe something “stemmy”.
No. It’s minerals. “Clean Slate”.
Now I can match the taste and smell. Very nice.
Judge: You have been accused of mixing food
and drink in “an unseemly fashion”. How do you
plead?
Wine Slush: Aggressively.
J: The court finds you guilty of violating
Wine Enjoyment Ordinance #337. You must pay $500
OR do “corrective” community service. Which
do you chose?
WS: Community service. What is it?
Court Order:
Prepare the palate.
Eat the sandwiches.
Clear the palate.
WS: What kind of sandwiches?
J: Court adjourned, it’s time to obey WEO #1.
Day Two…
I “preparing my palate” this morning.
The subtle things are becoming more evident, but
I need more time to prepare. For what, I don’t
know.
I actually got the impression of Semillon. How
can that be? Please tell me I don’t have MORE
brain damage.
Please read ALL of the comments and then answer the following
question.
What “musically significant thing” happens at exactly 4:19
in this “particular video”?
I keep looking at the neck of the wine bottle which is
exposed above the wine bib to see it the spelling has been
changed to “Sturm”.
Alas, it is static and I’m forced to investigate Stirm’s web
page.
Hmmm.
For a minute there I got a little “geographically confused”,
but after figuring out that the “Kick-on” vineyard was near
Santa Barbara I felt a little better.
As you know, I consider the Solvang/Los Olivos/Santa Ynez
“triangle” to be oenologically endowed by GOD, so when I
connected this wine to Los Alamos, I was “relieved”.
Maybe I need to add Los Alamos and Buelton to create a
parallelogram of sorts.
And the verdict is…
The bottle is empty and the wine will be sorely missed.
But school is still in session…
Campo de Borja/Calatayud/Cariñena is another “triangle”
that haunts me.
Someday I will have a wine from from this area that is
“light and elegant”. I can wait…
The BOTTLE color is magenta (or something) and
is 95% opaque.
Screw caps are music to my ears. (I “celebrate”
when I see one…)
(I counted six “key changes” or whatever they are called.
I can’t believe that they got THAT excited about a
wine bottle enclosure technique.)
This wine deserves my Riedel PN glass, so I cleaned
it and put it inside one of those frozen stone wine
chiller things.
I’m hoping the glass gives this wine a fighting chance.
The INTERESTING thing is that the “stuff” on the
bottle indicates that this is a German PN.
Qualitätswein, Rheinhessen.
This HAS TO BE GOOD. R-I-G-H-T?
The first gush of wine into the glass reveals a
pale, brick-like color that causes me to start drooling.
INSTANTLY.
AND THAT SMELL. PN Perfume.
Can I just stop here and get on with life?
I guess not.
I can’t wait to be disappointed.
But Noooo, this wine is wonderful.
So pale and delicately fruity.
A nice feeling in the mouth but not acidic
or tannic.
At 12% ALC, I figured it was going to be
really pale or sweet.
Russian (or vacinity) wine quality roulette
(can this be played with a semi-automatic dispenser?)
with a PINKish spin-the-bottle “device”.
There may be a touch of sweet. If so, it’s not distracting
to me.
As I snuggle up to this one, it occurs to me that
I should be on the lookout for rosé of PN from disparate places.
Terroir, s’il vous plaît.
The problem is that there are TOO MANY wines to be on the
lookout for.
Due to the bottle construction, I can’t tell how much I’m
drinking without a 1,000,000+ candlepower spotlight, so I am
resolved to DRINK THE WHOLE BOTTLE in one sitting.
I COULD ask for MORE of EVERYTHING in a PN wine, but
this wine makes a compelling case for oenological asceticism.
(Apparently it has NEVER occurred to ANYBODY that this
is even a “concept”.)
When the mind is a gentle stream of clear and pure
flowing waters, the slightest hint of flavor or aroma
can alter the tranquility balance and initiate endless
daydreaming.
On the other hand, most of us are addlepated and require
Napa CABs (or such) to “align” with our
schizophrenic sensibilities.
I’m not prejudiced against CS. I just don’t like it unless
it’s hiding in an uncorked fine Bordeaux wine bottle.
THE PN PERFUME. Where does it come from? Why can’t I
enjoy it EVERY day.
I’ll start singing (or something) in a minute…
The wine is gone and the forecast this afternoon
is for rain.
I guess I can just RELAX…
Gee, you can take your pick as to which “moody”
song suits your fancy.
I can’t decide which is worse…
Perhaps a deep breath will help. (How EXACTLY
does that help whatever it’s supposed to help?)
Patient: Doctor, I have a tendency to breathe
in a shallow fashion.
Doctor: Take deep breaths.
Patient: Will that REALLY help?
Doctor: The receptionist will help you make
an appointment with the shrink.
And eschew the semi-automatic dispensers after lunch.
I’m going to try to avoid opaque bottles
in the future.
I’m going to guess that there was a “rough” oak treatment.
(Squirm.)
Let’s consult the WWW…
Amazing. I can’t find ANYTHING. The Ayres site doesn’t
even claim this one.
I wish I had a marketing department to sell them.
On the other hand, maybe their wine sells itself.
Manager: When will the wine be ready?
Winemaker (her makeup cracking as she smiles): We’re bottling it today.
M: Great, I’ll call the distributors so we can get some sales rolling.
W: Say what? My fashion consultant already bought the entire vintage.
M: Did we make any money on the deal?
W: Who’s WE, blondie. And tell that flyover dude to stop snooping around
MY winery.
Apparently this wine is SO GOOD that you can use it to
loosen compacted soil or as a blood substitute in the opening
scene of Blade.
Surprised?
Why are wine reviews so BORING?
Maybe I should hire out to AA.
Reporter: It looks like you’ve been sober for two weeks.
Wino: That’s right.
R: What happened.
W: I read one of HIS reviews.
Or how about a description of the “IMAGINED oaking” technique?
The old French oak barrels are disassembled and the staves are
planed down to reveal “fresher” wood.
3/8 inch holes are drilled in the wood, 2 inches apart,
to a depth of 1/4 inch and a 1 inch segment of grape vine
is inserted into the hole and secured by a drop of pine resin.
This is done in the spring to give the resin time to harden.
The barrels are re-assembled at harvest time.
After initial fermentation, the wine is poured into the modified
barrels which are spun/rotated at a rate of 120 RPM.
The time in spinning barrel can be from three to six months
depending upon which sin the wine has committed.
Careful filtration must be done in order to remove the loosened
grape vine segments and rosin. (This is prescient if I do say
so myself because I wrote this way before I got to the bottom
of the bottle.)
After use, barrels modified in this fashion are donated to
hair transplant victims as a needed tax write-off for the winery.
The result will be a wine that lulls you to sleep and
makes YOUR head spin.
I wouldn’t SWEAR that THEY used THIS technique, but they did
SOMETHING to make the wine REALLY GOOD.
This is getting too easy.
I need to branch out. Tibetan Malbec comes to mind.
And JUST MAYBE, this “rough oak treatment” is what it takes
to bring out the tannins I THOUGHT I was looking for in PN.
It tames some of that acidity. It’s all in the balance.
SMOOTH, ACIDY, NOT-TOO-OAKY TANNINS. Why is that so hard?
PN may be the only (or most popular) grape that presents
this challenge to the Elvira-and-kit-shicker-wine-making wannabes.
I DON’T KNOW.
Dreamtime is over. I get to have some of this one
for brunch tomorrow.
(The songs make more sense of you imagine that
all those little round things are fermenting grapes.)
————————————-
Day Two…
I didn’t save ENOUGH of this one.
I’m having MORE of the STALKY GREEN STUFF for
brunch.
All I can say is…
There’s SOMETHING about this wine.
It’s beauty is “singular” and edgy.
It’s rough and seductive.
I’m imagining an Oregon PN “shootout”.
Winemakers instead of quick draw artists. Bottles
instead of guns.
Hopefully, this bottle-slinger wasn’t a good winemaker…
I KNEW IT!!!
The last pour produced the most “compelling” bunch
of sludge that I can possibly imagine in a PN.
NOW I know what I’m looking for.
Wine Merchant: How can I help you?
Wine Slush: I want Pinot Noir.
WM: We have this wonderful wine from the “Central Valley”.
WS: No.
WM: Perhaps something MORE fruity?
WS: No.
WM: How about something rich and full-bodied?
WS: No.
WM: We have an oaky one from Mozambique.
WS: No.
WM: What exactly DO you want?
WS: Sludge. I want sludge.
WM: In a PN?
WS: Oh yeah.
Put the juice in steel containers and hang pictures of
oak barrels on the outer walls to scare up some softness.
Very light and fresh. Yum.
Last night when I was deciding upon which wine to
dream about Sangiovese came to mind just because
I haven’t had one for a while. I didn’t know I had
THIS ONE and I certainly didn’t know I would be drinking
it today.
This is better than a dream.
Lunch will be cheese/onion/black olive enchiladas, but it can
wait.
I’ll have the Black Cow made with cherry cola while I wait
for hunger to ensue.
I would like to taste test this one against a “similarly prepared”
Nebbiolo; to see if I could tell which is which.
This is REALLY GOOD.
I just did a “cursory review” of MLF (again) to see if I can
imagine how this wine got its “smoothness”.
TMI…
The wee bit of oak might have done it. I’ll go with that
unless informed otherwise.
I assume the beautiful ruby color is a testament to the
minimal oak treatment.
I would normally expect a “washed out brick” color from
S, but that might just be my imagination. It knows no
restraint.
Finally, lunch happened and I’m trying to creep up on
the 375ml mark as slowly as I can.
Did I say that I REALLY LIKE THIS ONE? Sheesh.
What is it???
The color in the glass continues to mesmerize.
Do wines have beauty contests?
I’m going to put the screwcap under my pillow tonight.
I suppose I should hammer it flat first…
Wife: Why are you ears bleeding this morning?
Husband: I had a great Tuscan wine yesterday.
W: That makes your ears bleed?
H: Yes, but it doesn’t happen very often.
W: Maybe you should quit drinking wine.
H: I do!
W: When?
H: Every day after lunch.
W: I mean for good.
H: Define “good”. Where’s that jar of alum?
Day Two…
Not so milky/oily today. I suspect the original
sensation was a knee jerk response to that glass etching
B-Villages.
I’m just having MORE sauteed asparagus today so the wine
will be “challenged”.
This seems to “scare up” a different set of taste
sensations in the wine.
I still feel some tannins, but there is a flavor that
is eluding me.
I have a few more glorious sips left so we’ll see
if I can come up with something.
Maybe TJ (the pres.) wasn’t off base. The “state dinner menu”
should consist simply of a list of AOCs and vintages.
If you’re hungry, stop at Jimmy John’s on the way over.
Macron’s driving the forklift down Pennsylvania Blvd
to deliver desert.
I give up. The wine is just plain good. I can’t stop
daydreaming.
Is wine getting better, or am I just an easy mark?
Now I’m imagining a Tuscan Merlot that fits MY palate.
Maybe a blend. Maybe I’m ready to try a “super Tuscan”
if I can afford a good one and it’s not too “heavy”.
Since the drool spigot is fully open, what about Maremma?
There’s a big question mark in my brain for this area and
as I read about it (to refresh my memory), it seems
VERY INTERESTING.
My concern is that Maremma wines might pack some serious heat
or be “leaf challenged”.
Just a few sips left of the PA Sangiovese. The milky smoothness
is back. Just a “soft touch” sort of thing.
I would normally taste strawberries in a Chianti/Sangiovese wine.
Not so much with this one. That’s a surprise given the 90% SS treatment.
The fruit is darker, but I’m still having a problem pinning it down.
I need more of this wine to do a proper evaluation.
I just woke up inside a giant green pepper and
have to lick my way out.
Was that a nightmare or a wine tasting note?
I’ll sip on it a while to see how it tastes
when I can breathe again.
This is very strange.
The nose doesn’t betray the goofy character.
The internet is not much help on this one.
The importer’s web page is under construction
and the producer’s web page doesn’t show this
exact label.
I’m hoping that the chicken picatta (yes, again,
but it is delicious) can tame the green monster.
After the opening nibbles it’s Capers: 2, Capsicum: 2.
Behind the “costuming” there appears to be a light
and friendly wine that I can enjoy.
Capers: 4, Ogre: 2.
I ASSUME that I can taste the tannins that MIGHT
come from an UNFILTERED wine.
And the nose is rotten eggs. Fetching.
(This was fleeting and not a distraction.)
Still, there’s something to be said for “confusion”.
This would be a good wine for the cats to review.
At the half…
Capers: 4, Ogre: 144.
Maybe Pepper Steak or Veal Vesuvius would work with
this wine.
I declare this wine to be “out of balance” and not to
my liking.
Today anyway. I’ll have half of this one to drink tomorrow.
I can’t wait.
And if I’m not redeemed, I’ll be screaming to the Foris man to
make me holy again…
What did you think this song was about?
Day Two Battle Plan…
1: Feint with little green olives and
cheese sandwiches to draw fire.
2: Assault head-on with rosemary smashed potatoes.
3: Raise a victory flag or retreat.
The monster slipped on the olives, fell to the ground and
ripped of his Shrek suit as the olives started creeping
up his legs.
He should be an easy mark with his shield down.
I might not make it to the taters.
While the monster squirms in the dust, I start
daydreaming that I’m munching on raw cowpeas in
the hull. (The peas are in the hull, not me. That
would be silly.)
Something a little less peppery than yesterday and
a bit more earthy. BUT STILL GREEN.
I called off the olives and the monster is smiling now.
The acidity reminds me of my first Cru Beaujolais. I’m “learning”
that this is a hallmark of Beaujolais. I asked for it,
but it takes some getting used to.
Then there is the issue of “location”. Why am I drinking
Beaujolais-Villages vs. Cru Beaujolais?
If price is the reason, then this is another case
(Chablis coming to mind) where I would want to seriously
consider the higher pedigree when choosing a wine from the area.
I’m just not THAT “educated” about Beaujolais YET. I might
have to go to school again so that I can become more “particular”
when shopping for Beaujolais.
This wine was challenging, but still, I enjoyed it.
I would not have enjoyed any other wine as much as I enjoyed
this wine, on this day. It was just a harder mountain to climb.
My Wine Appreciation Number jumped another notch higher.
If I’m going to drink more of this
kind of elixir, then I’m going to have to alter
my “style”.
That’s not a problem.
I can start drinking around 8:30am. That part
is easy.
The challenge is deciding what to have for “brunch”.
A totally perverse thought just entered my mind…
Deviled ham (canned) finger sandwiches.
Or ANY kind of light sandwich, like tuna, chicken or
egg salad.
Ah yes. Egg salad finger sandwiches.
I have another R in the cooler, so that’s the
plan for that one.
I’m drooling again.
I hesitate trying to describe the wine for fear of
insulting it.
Such a delicate flower.
The nose is tropical maybe. Or pear???
Although “acidy enough” for me, it’s not overbearing.
Gentle on the tongue for a dry Mosel R, I imagine.
If I had to work hard for a living, I would opt for
picking grapes along the Mosel.
Wine Picker: I’m home.
Wife: How was your day at the office.
WP: Excruciating.
W: Why don’t you look for another job?
WP: I like the benefits. What’s for supper.
W: Egg salad sandwiches and this Goldtröpfchen stuff you keep bringing home.
WP: Sehr gut.
I’m daydreaming so much that I haven’t cracked
the books on this wine.
I think I get the picture.
And the honey is subtle. I find that “compelling”.
This IS the first wine that I have ever thought of slapping
the “compelling” word on but that’s what happened.
Let’s not stop with “compelling”, how about “evocative”.
Even my empty glass is “seductive”.
I’ve totally lost it.
Is this wine REALLY GOOD or am I just in an altered
state of mind?
Day Two…
I saved a LITTLE BIT of this one for
“brunch” today.
Option Trader's Wine Notes 