'96 Taluau - St-Nicolas-de-Bourgeil, Vieilles Vignes

In honor of Gary Vaynerchuk's request for WBW 44, I chose a cab franc from a region I have not tried before, at a higher price point than I'm used to, and with more age on it than any wine I've had before.

1996 Jöel Taluau St.-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil AOC, Vieilles Vignes, 12.5%, $35 at the Princeton Corkscrew.

This is an extraordinary wine.

When the longish cork was halfway out, I caught a whiff of vinegar and panicked. Fortunately there was no such smell after the cork was out. An unmistakeable green pyrazine tone wafted from the neck of the bottle, giving me pause. The green bell-pepper tone was not something I enjoyed in the two Cab Francs I've had before, and I was hoping that this wine would be pyrazine-free.

Anyhow, I went ahead with double-decanting, observing a nice ring of fine sediment around the bottom of the bottle. Some hints of Salvadorean tamales and stewed bell peppers emerged. Even with the greenness, it smelled delicious. Like a delicate stew broth. I was torn: On one hand, I didn't like the green tones. On the other - my mouth was watering!

First Tasting, 40 minutes after decanting:

The color is a lovely peachy-orange-purple, which shows textbook signs of age at the rim and in the body. Very much what I'd expect from Michael Broadbent's color charts.

(Aside: N1-N4 refer to four different ways of smelling ("nosing") the wine. N1 is gentle, extended sniff of the still wine surface. N2 is a deep inhalation above the still surface. N3 is a gentle sniff after a swirl. N4 is a deep inhalation after a swirl. )

N1 evokes mint, cut wood, bell-peppers, and hints of tobacco, all with an undertone of ripe fruit. N2 suggests olives and wood, with some fruit. N3 mostly reveals pyrazine, with some menthol tones. Although there are earthy tones in the nose, there is no "barnyard" - this is a clean wine.

This wine completely captivated my palate. Dry and medium-bodied with beautiful, refreshing acidity and a gripping tannin structure that suggests several more years of life. The midpalate has spicy suggestions of sweet jalapeno candy, which transitions into a somewhat bitter finish, all the while framed with flutterings of unmistakeably ripe fruit. A 91-point wine.

As I tasted again, the nose revealed cinnamon and herbal tones, with woody strawberries and raspberries.

Second Tasting, 80 minutes after decanting:

The aromas have bloomed into a bouquet of finely stewed bell peppers/candied jalapenos seamlessly interwoven with black raspberries (N1). Some volatile acidity is present, with hints of BBQ-sauce sweetness, and slight carmelization (N2). Such RIPENESS! Yet with none of the raisiny characteristics that bother me about over-ripened wines. It is ripened to such perfection that the pyrazines don't bother me. N3: I’m salivating. Lusciously gentle yet crystal clear, focused fruit blooms voluminously on the midpalate. Unique yet... strangely comforting. Reminds me of the first time I played an ivory-keyed piano - it seemed warmer to the touch, immediately set my fingertips at ease. The feel was so beautiful, novel yet instantly comfortable, like this wine. There are also hints of dusty earth, but still with cleanness and clarity! Grass, pomegranates, warm hillsides drenched in sunlight, clear tones of black raspberry, plum, warm rocks in the sun. I don't want to stop smelling this. N4: A little earth, some charred/tobacco tones.

Palate: SO MUCH FRUIT! Charming cassis acidity, rich green, brown wood tones, hints of malt on the midpalate (but still totally dry). The acidity has many shades to it – it’s not so much a razor (as Gary has described crisp whites in the past), as a multifaceted gem rolling around on the tongue! In context of the wine's flavor structure, the acidity is the bridge between initially warmer fruit tones (strawberries, black raspberries) and a brief but crytal-clear cassis tone in the midpalate. Suggestions of orange and spice, a little bitterness on the finish, but I LOVE it! It’s like bitter cinnamon tea, or bitter green tea – a rich bitterness. Perfectly elegant tannins. True finesse. Hard not to swallow this - like imbibing a deep-blue petaled flower of exquisite beauty and aroma. Mild tertiary scents of roasting chicken skins, basil, cloves. On the latter part of the midpalate - a soft but distinct spiciness.

This wine is focused and intense. After opening up for a bit, it has completely won me over. Extraordinary. 97-RA. Pairing: I feel it would be a crime to pair anything with this wine except some clean water and neutral bread. The wine is a complete experience in itself.

(Note: Props to Laurent Chapuis of the Corkscrew for getting this straight from the Chateau!)

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Wine is about Loss

I really have nothing to say today, except to thank Ms. Bowman for allowing me to link to her singular post:

You Can Never Drink It Again
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A Plethora of Pairings

Food and Wine pairing is a scam. Just ask Alder Yarrow over at Vinography. And yet I could not resist diving in for the first time. Over three nights, I tasted the same 5 cheeses with three different wines. Here are my findings.


The Cheeses:

1. Petite Basque
One of my favorite cheeses. A very nice, delicately perfumed aroma of wood and earth, with hints of apples. Medium-firm, with a sublimely smooth texture.
2. Pyrenees Brebis
Similar to Ossau-Iraty, a beautiful, delicate, elusive flavor. The texture on this cheese wasn't that great - a little grainy.
3. Pecorino Ginepro Stelvio
Dry without being sharp, lovely sheepsmilk aromas reminiscent of oil-aged manchego, but without the oily sharpness, and with greater clarity. An excellent cheese.
4. Gruyere, Cave Aged
Lovely deep flavors of nuts, creamy honey, and crushed rocks. Notable burnt/charred flavors. Creamy and quite hard, with small crystals similar to XO Beemster.
5. Blue Cheese soaked in Sauternes
Soft, smooth, rich, and impressively flavorful, with explosive fruit overtones. A riot of intense color in the mouth, with a beautiful lingering finish. The sauternes really smooths out and sweetens this cheese.

The Wines:

1) 2006 Bodegas Ostatu Rioja - (White Rioja) $14

NOSE: Hints of apple and raw pear, with tones of fresh bread.

PALATE: Slightly off-dry. Good acidity, not razor-sharp. Slight nuttiness on the midpalate, with hints of champagne. Bitter finish, but not too bad - slightly piney, like good hops. 84-RA.


2) 2005 III Somms Amitie - (Napa) $19.5

NOSE: Somewhat dusty, with hints of menthol and a clear note of stinkiness - Brett? Definitely a little old-world funk in there, but not really "barnyard." Some black raspberries, hints of cassis.

PALATE: Medium bodied with soft tannins on back end. A pretty wine. Good finish. Nice Bordeaux style on the midpalate. A little more black raspberries and cassis as the wine opens up. Good overall. Not as much fruit or tannins as I'd like, but the Brett is interesting. Pretty neat old-world wine from CA. A little hot on the alcohol (14.5%). 86-RA.


3) 2007 Corte Gardoni Bardolino Chiaretto - (Rose) $14

NOSE: A little apple, nice light strawberry notes. A little dry hay.

PALATE: Slightly off-dry. Good acidity, though not razor-sharp. Light-body. A little nuttiness on the midpalate. Faint suggestions of honey. Finish is a litte bitter, but the acidity takes over after a bit and cleans the palate. 79-RA.


Pairing Scale:

The scale ranges from -2 to +2, with -2 being an inedible pairing, and +2 being a sublime one. For excellent pairings I'm looking for new flavors to emerge, for existing flavors to intensify, and for the individual flavors of the wine and cheese to complement each other. Indifferent pairings are scored 0.


Summary of the Pairings:

Chris at the Corkscrew knows his stuff. He suggested the Ostatu to pair with the Blue Sauternes, and sure enough, they formed an outstanding pairing (+1). The cheese carried the wine and extended the finish on and on for perhaps 2 minutes. The wine didn't magnify the flavors, but clarified and extended them. His second suggestion, the III Somms, paired phenomenally with the Pecorino, as he had predicted (+1). It's hard to articulate all the nuances of what happened, but put simply, the earthiness of the wine greatly complemented and enhanced the earthiness of the cheese. The Ostatu also went beautifully with the Pecorino, enhancing the earthy sheepsmilk flavors, and evoking a completely new tone of blackcurrant! (+1). Chris's third suggestion was a Rose, which he thought would go nicely with all the cheeses. He was right - all the pairings were good, though none was stellar (+.5 all round).

The worst pairing was the Blue Sauternes with the III Somms (-1). Because of the low acidity, the sweetness of the cheese was enhanced by the wine, and both cheese and wine seemed to become cloying. The wine devolved to resemble a cheap, flabby cabernet. Other unfortunate pairings included Gruyere with III Somms (-.5, the charred aromas of the former were incongruous next to the earthiness of the latter), and the Petite Basque with the Ostatu (-.5, the wine enhanced the bitterness of the cheese).


Complete Pairing Notes:

'06 Bod. Ostatu White Rioja:

Petite Basque: -.5 increased bitterness
Pyrenees Brebis: 0 meh
Pecorino: +1 fleshes out the sheep aromas. Faint cassis emerges!
Gruyere: +.5 enhances smoked/charred flavor a bit more than the others
Blue Sauternes: +1 Excellent pairing. The cheese carries the wine and extends the finish on and on and on. Perhaps 2-3 minutes. Doesn't magnify the flavors, but slightly clarifies and extends the sweet finish.


'05 III Somms Amitie:

Petite Basque: +.5 Enhances flavors all round.
Pyrenees Brebis: +.5 Enhances sweet and salty flavors.
Pecorino: +1 Earthiness of the wine complements earthiness of the sheepsmilk flavors.
Gruyere: -.5 The sweet, creamy, bitter, burnt/charred flavors of the gruyere are incongruous with the wine's earthiness.
Blue Sauternes: -1 Not enough acidity. The wine ends up tasting flabby - like a cheap, over-sugared cabernet. Funny that the sweet, flavorful cheese enhances the sweetness of the wine.


'07 Corte Gardoni Bardolino Chiaretto Rose (tasted at cellar temperature):

Petite Basque: +.5 Enhances flavors all round.
Pyrenees Brebis: +.5 Enhances flavors all round.
Pecorino: +.5 Just a nice contrast: fruit+acid vs. earthy dryness.
Gruyere: +.5 Enhances smoky/charred flavors a little.
Blue Sauternes: +.5 Enhances fruit component of the cheese flavor.
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A Tragic Varietal

I was in love with the bouquet as soon as it touched my memory. Lychees, rose petals, saffron - some of my childhood memories of the flavors and scents of India. However when I first tasted the wine, I nearly cried. Cloying sweetness rode on top of an ugly bitterness that I could not stomach. I've tasted several Gewurztraminers since, including one from Canada, but always with similar misfortune. As it turns out, not everyone can taste the bitterness in Gewurz- the ability is most likely genetic. If you know of another wine that smells like India, please let me know.
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Four Critics - One Wine

Here are reviews and scores by four respected critics on the same wine - 2003 Leoville-Poyferre.

Robert M. Parker, Jr. – 98 points
I have had this wine three times out of bottle, rating it 97 once and 98 twice. It is a colossal success and a potential legend in the making. Its saturated, dense inky/blue/purple color offers up notes of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, blueberries, black raspberries, and crème de cassis. A synthesis of power and elegance, this multi-layered wine has spectacular concentration, sweet but high tannin, and low acidity A stunning effort that showcases this legendary terroir, it is a brilliant, brilliant success. The quintessential Leoville Poyferré? Anticipated maturity: 2009-2030.

James Suckling – 95
Pure cassis on the nose. Impressive. Full-bodied, thick and powerful, with loads of fruit and big, velvety tannins. Goes on for minutes on the palate. Huge wine. Very, very impressive. This is one of the big surprises of the vintage. Best after 2012.

Stephen Tanzer – 92
Medium ruby-red. Extravagant aromas of currant, loam, leather and graphite; like the 1990 in its roasted character. Then sweet and dense but with surprising aromatic lift in the mouth, not to mention considerable power. Liqueur-like black fruit, licorice and mineral flavors really stain the palate. Cuvelier maintained that this vintage was not acidified. The cabernet acidity, he said, was healthy and the grape skins gave up their acidity slowly during the vinification. A very impressive showing, and built to last.

Gary Vaynerchuk – 97+
Dark color. Classic bell pepper on the nose. V8 juice, black cassis, black currant, musty (like an attic). On the palate, incredibly silky from the attack through the finish. This is a polished Old World wine with beautiful extracted New World fruit (2003 was a hot vintage), perfect balance & harmony, extremely good, black currant & cassis, red cherries, beautiful raspberries, secondary layers of smoked tobacco, really ripe candied flavors on the finish, smooth as a wine gets, this is Ultimate Bordeaux

Observations:

Here are some groups of similar flavors:

• crushed rocks (RP) mineral, graphite (ST) musty (GV)
• crème de cassis (RP) pure cassis (JS) currant, liqueur-like black fruit (ST) cassis, black currant (GV)
• roasted character (ST) smoked tobacco (GV)

All of the critics felt the wine was “big”:

dense (color), power, multi-layered (RP)
full-bodied, thick, powerful, huge wine (JS)
dense, considerable power, stains the palate (ST)

Three of the four critics noted the wine’s sweetness:

sweet (RP)
sweet and dense (ST)
ripe candied flavors (GV)

However when it comes to acidity and color, the critics don’t quite agree:

strong acidity (inferred from comment about cuvelier) (ST)
low acidity (RP)

saturated, dense, inky/blue/purple (RP)
medium ruby-red (ST)
dark color (GV) – the most recent review.

It is hard to draw any strong conclusions from the reviews about this wine – after all, it’s just one wine, and one that is incontrovertibly an excellent effort (contrast with the infamous Chateau Pavie!). However it is clear that while the critics largely agree, it is very difficult for any single critic to claim objective truth. For example, the Wine Spectator maintains that their numeric scores are extra-accurate because during each tasting they “calibrate” their palates with a previously-rated wine. Is this implied accuracy truly warranted? My gut feeling, from reading these reviews, is no. More on this soon.
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Blind Tasting and Bayes' Theorem

Critics and wine gurus often recommend blind tasting as the best way to train one's palate. In addition, the major critics (Parker, Wine Spectator, Tanzer) taste blind to reassure us of their unwavering objectivity. However objectivity is not always the same as accuracy (for more on this, see an article by Eric Asimov), and it is not at all clear to me why blind tasting is a useful form of training. Here I will cast the act of blind tasting into a Bayesian decision model, and discuss possible implications.

First, I want to be clear on this point: I am not discussing the act of blind tasting with intent to subjectively evaluate. If your goal is to identify which wines give you most pleasure to drink, taste them as you drink them. If you drink them blind, taste them blind - otherwise, don't bother. Here I am concerned with the act of blind tasting to determine objective truths about the wine. I am taking the objectivity of tastes and tasting for granted. (For a discussion of this assumption, see Barry Smith's article in the book, Questions of Taste)

Given a set of objective statements A, and a set of observations B, we can consider the act of blind tasting as the informed decision whether to believe statements in A based on which observations in B we percieve. In sparser, mathematical terms, A and B are two disjunct sets of events. By Bayes' Theorem, the conditional probability of an event A (in the set A) given an observation B (in the set B), can be calculated by:

P(AB) = P(BA) * P(A) / P(B)

Where P(B) and P(A) are the a priori probabilities of A and B, and P(BA) is the conditional probability of B, given A. This equation articulates the truism that in order to assign a conditional probability of A based on information about B, you have to allow a non-zero probability for A in the first place. For example: to conclude that the wine has Shiraz characteristics, all the Shiraz smells in the world are insufficient if we do not first allow for the possibility that the wine contains Shiraz. The strength of our decision depends on the specificity and accuracy of our knowledge of each of the three terms on the right-hand side of the equation. Why then would would we choose to taste blind, and eliminate some of this information?

By tasting blind we aim to weaken our ability to determine P(A), and so we unconsciously "retreat" toward the default of least information: that all A's are equally possible. For example: not knowing the varietal, we would hopefully consider all varietals equally. In reality, we fail: naturally we expect Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Riesling more that Duras, Gruner Veltliner, or Xarrello.

By reducing the distinguishing power of the set of P(A)'s, we tilt the equation to depend primarily on P(BA), which is directly derived from experience, and on P(B) - i.e. how unique our observation is. Naturally this reduces the strength of the decision, which is a mathematical reflection on our increased uncertainty when blind tasting. Unconsciously we try to compensate by seizing any scrap of information to make a particular P(A) stand out.

Mathematically, tasting blind reduces the precision of our decision-making (or to be slightly more correct, makes for a less favorable precision-recall curve). However it quite possibly increases our accuracy. If we wine tasters have a shared tendency to exaggerate unwarranted differences in P(A), blind tasting would improve our accuracy. As Emile Peynaud cautioned bluntly in his famous book, Le Gout de Vin (The Taste of Wine), "the wine taster is easily influenced."

However Bayes' equation makes the importance of P(BA) absolutely clear: tasting blind will only improve your ability to objectively analyze, if you possess accurate knowledge of the reverse probabilities. An example of this type of knowledge might be: "9 out of 10 Gewurztraminers have the taste of lychees." Note the distinction between this and P(AB): "9 out of 10 wines with the taste of lychees are made from Gewurztraminer." This type of knowledge only comes from experience. Tasting only a few Gewurztraminers is statistically insignificant, and thus for a wine novice, tasting blind is rather useless as a tool to improve accuracy. Instead, taste with prior knowledge of what the wine should taste like, and see how well your perceptions match up. As the esteemed Vayniac Joe G. wrote:

Once you can give an accurate tasting note of what a bottle should taste like from a region without tasting it, that is when blind tasting can be educational.
- WLTV forum discussion

It's like Jazz, folks. You gotta learn the notes before you improvise.

(Note: Thanks to all the Vayniacs who helped me crystallize my thoughts in the forum discussion of this topic.)
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The Chateau d'Yquem of beers?

First a brief profile of my palate when it comes to beer. I am a hop-head. Some of my favorite brews are Stone's Ruination, IPA, and Arrogant Bastard. I'm no fan of sweetness (in wine or beer), which is what keeps me from listing Dogfish Head's 90-minute IPA among my favorites, despite its beautiful aromatic complexity. I see beers as relaxing entertainment, with their clear-cut, bold, easy-to-identify aromas. When I'm looking for something serious, I go for the vino.

Last Saturday I popped a beer I'd been keeping for some time, the Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA. I was expecting an extremely hoppy, bitter brew, with more malt than suits my preference (from experience with Dogfish Head). Instead, I discovered a viscous, intense, fiery liquid that cannot be said to remotely resemble beer.

AROMATICS: This is when I knew it was going to be good, or at least interesting. Layers of caramel, wood, smoke, malt ovaltine, coffee, and the interior of a Pan de Coco (a Filipino bread). Also some dried oranges and apple cider (dried oranges in apple cider? That's how we do it at home). You can dive into this nose, layer by layer, and never come out of the bright, intense kaleidoscope of flavors. Don't get me wrong - this is nothing like a good wine. It is not subtle. The non-fruit flavors are many orders of magnitude more pronounced. But there is fruit, and it is WILD. Hints of lanzones.

FLAVOR PROFILE: Sweeeeeeet. Unctuous. Jammy. Honeyed. Syrupy. Luscious. So sweet, it osmotically burns your mucus membranes. We're talking dessert wine levels. Smoky caramel, spicy orange (even some acidity, unusual for a beer). Fine bubbles. Powerful hops finish that isn't naked like Stone's Ruination, but intermingled with layers of fruit and caramel. Holy $#!T this is good! A little lemon on the finish, along with figs, dates, and the top of a nice creme brulee. Explosive and creamy on the midpalate. The hops bear a striking resemblence to the liquor bitterness in creme brulee! The finish lasts years. Ok I exaggerate. Months. The finish lasts forever. The hops stay, the caramel stays, the orange and spice stays. At least 2 minutes on the finish.

PILLOW: One of the things I like to do when tasting beer is emulsify with air, like I would wine, and observe the "pillow" that fluffs up in the mouth. I've had some good pillows - Arrogant Bastard stands out in particular. This left them all behind. I didn't feel like a big pillow appeared in my mouth - I felt like I physically landed in a HUGE pillow. You could jump off the Empire State Building and land safely in this pillow.


This is indulgence. This is someone giving you a massage all day long. This is off the charts. If I found a 400-year-old Sauternes made by a crazed vintner and hopped like mad - this is what I might expect.

I'm no fan of dessert wines, but this dessert beer won me over completely. It blew the 2001 Filhot (Sauternes) and the 2005 Tablas Creek Vin de Paille out of the water. I recommend having it by itself as dessert - shared with two other friends as it's too sweet to finish on your own. Serve it very chilled and the nose will still be explosive. Too warm and the alcohol tears through, ripping it apart.

Warning: At $10/12 oz, 20% ABV (no that's not a typo), and 120 IBU's (International Bitter Units) this is not for everyone. Dogfish Head makes this only very rarely. If you see it in a store, buy it. It will age for many years.


(Note: Tasted a second time on 3/16/08 with consistent, if less detailed, notes!)

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