Browse Month

June 2008

Gulls, guests, & gewürztraminer

[tahunanui beach]Something I’ve noticed about long trips: there’s time for parallels and patterns. On a short jaunt, there’s only the headlong rush of moving and doing. The luxury of stepping back and considering is an expensive one at a clip, but relatively inexpensive when there’s nothing but time. Here, on Tahunanui Beach, our thoughts return to Onetangi. It seems so long ago…everything was laid out before us, all was possibility, and it was impossible to know what might happen, or how things might turn out. Now, very close to leaving these shores, the possibilities are now memories. We know what’s happened, and we know how things turned out. Nearly everything is behind us.

…continued here.

KJ, no way

[label]Kendall-Jackson 2005 Chardonnay “Vintner’s Reserve” (California) – The wine: massively inoffensive, and thus among its peers (mass-market chardonnay for people who want “a glass of chardonnay”) it’s actually decent, and lacks the clumsy flaws of many of its competitors. Big, yellow doofus fruit is pretty much all there is, but it’s probably enough. The label: well, that’s a different story. First, there’s the long-ridiculous “Vintner’s Reserve,” which never meant anything (there’s no non-reserve) and is now, amusingly, copyrighted. Good luck with that one, Mr. Jackson. And then there’s the wildly insulting “Jackson Estates Grown,” of which much is made on both the front and rear labels. I get a kick out of Jess Jackson’s definition of “estate grown”: “[…] this indicates that my family either owns or controls the vineyards […]”. That’s right: “estate,” chez KJ, now means vineyards that they don’t own. Vineyards from which they buy fruit. You know, the thing a négociant does, the opposite of which the concept of “estate” fruit was invented to indicate. If Jackson and his crew weren’t so damned litigious, I’d use the word that comes immediately to mind here. (6/08)

Meet me in

[logo]Barton & Guestier 1999 Beaujolais “Saint-Louis” “Tradition” (Beaujolais) – Wretchedly dead, with spiky acidity and the gross remnants of its makeup smudged all over its face and decomposing body. (6/08)

To the left, to the left

[vineyards]Plouzeau 2006 Chinon “Rive Gauche” (Loire) – Straddles some sort of middle ground between the bistro-style Chinon of yore and the more serious, earthier, complex kind of which wine geeks are enamored. I’m unsure if the middle ground works here. It’s not light enough for chilly glugging, but it doesn’t stand up to intense scrutiny either. Overall, it’s a pretty drinkable wine, with black fruit residue, a bit of black rock, perhaps an herb or ten, and no lack of crispness. But it will require the right mood. (6/08)

Ahab

[label]Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” “Steve Stewart’s Firth of Forth” Ale (Massachusetts) – Apparently a Scottish-style ale, but it’s lighter and more refreshing than anything I’ve tried in that idiom…and lower-alcohol, as well. Taken on its own merits, it’s an excellent beer, with waves of flavor and decent complexity, but never losing its balance. (6/08)

[label]Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” “Old Rusty’s” Red Rye Ale (Massachusetts) – Toasty, almost bready, with crispness and a good deal of force. Sort of like drinking a silo, but in a good way. I like this beer. (6/08)

The Hess-ians are coming

Hess Collection “Hess Select” 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (California) – This used to be a fairly un-screwed-with cabernet, not complex or all that interesting, but quite emblematic of what the fruit tastes like before some misguided soul tries to give it “points.” And I guess it still is. Dark fruit, some cedar, some leaves, a supple structure (that, at least, indicates some effort towards mass-marketing), and a generally pleasant finish. Nothing that will rock your world, but at the right price, this is quaffable. (6/08)

Optima illusion

[grapes]Nobilo “Vinoptima” 2003 Gewurztraminer “Reserve” (Ormond) – “Welcome to Vinoptima, the world’s best Gewurztraminer,” says the web site. Uh-huh. It’s certainly priced as if it is. It’s served blind, and the reaction from my dining companions, including at least one certified gewürztraminer fetishist, is…indifference. There are fields of roses, honey-covered (but raw, not roasted) almonds and hazelnuts, but these fields are choked with rank weeds. Vegetal and green throughout. The finish is blessedly short. This wine is grossly overpriced, and not even good. The Nobilo family should be embarrassed…by both the wine and the hubris. (4/08)

Cherry liqueur

Dönnhoff 2004 Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese 13 05 (Nahe) – Hugely aromatic and bright. Dried apple skins, dried white flower petals. Very precise, with great acidity. Clear and clean. The finish is lengthy and well-supported. This is why one drinks German riesling. (4/08)

Samuel Morse

Brunier “Vieux Télégraphe” 1994 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Crau” (Rhône) – Sweat and leather, with a guillotine of hard-edged blackberry. Tight and highly ungenerous. A long series of brooding minor keys, without the promise of resolution or light. (4/08)

Maugiron business

[vineyard]Delas Frères 1997 Côte-Rôtie “Seigneur de Maugiron” (Rhône) – Silky, though a bit obvious in its play for affection, with meat powder and a big, somewhat bewildering spike in the middle. The finish is short. And is that wood, or just syrah’s famous faux-oakiness? Whatever it is, it grows more prominent with air. (4/08)