And a few more Greek wines worth mentioning....

Coincidentally, my recent group tasting featuring Greek wines preceeded a tasting including a few Greek wines at work. 2005 Tsantali Rapsanis (xinomavro, krassato, stavroto) had a nose of blackberry and tar - again there is that nebbiolo similarity. Fresh, nervy, stylish, well-made wine. I like the cut of this wine's jib. And at under $20 it's a deal. Next up, a Peloponnesian sparkler. Tselepos makes a sparkling wine from Moschofilero named 'Amalia.' Though some, no, all, of the muscat-like floral qualities are inexplicably lost in this bottle, it is still undeniably fresh, chalky, appley methode- champ sparkling wine. It tastes good. Finally, a little something sweet courtesy of the most successful Greek co-op. Muscat of Samos was all bitter-sweet, orange marmalade with a pine resin quality to the finish. Not my cup. Though after a big meal and before an espresso, it could work.

The Group meets again for a double blind tasting

A few weeks ago, Mario of the PMW tasting group selected a theme, told us nothing, and selected eight wines for us to run through and discuss. Unfortunately, I could not help but notice one of the wine's turquoise capsules poking out of the bag. Without so much as a sniff, I had a fairly strong hunch what we would be tasting. My first job in the business was selling wines imported from this country, and even though it has been four years since I have regularly tasted these wines, they have left their indelible mark on my palate and career trajectory in the wine business. So while I knew what the theme of the evening would be, and was feeling nostalgic for my years working for a fledgling import company, I of course kept my mouth shut. It would be fun, I thought, to see how many wines I could guess, as there is still a fairly small number of wines imported from this country into the states. Well, fellas, we were to be tasting the wines from Hellas (ok, that's Greece to us Americans).

FLIGHT 1, THE WHITES

Tselepos Moschofilero Mantinia 2006

I nailed this one. As well I should have - I used to rep the wine and it is very distinctive. Mantinia is an appellation situated on a moderately high plateau in the Peloponessos (southern Greece). In Tselepos' hands, the wine is simultaneously aromatic, floral, tense and nervy. White peach, tarragon-chervil notes on the nose lead to a crisp palate that lacks a bit in the middle, but is super clean and finishes well. It's like a Greek answer to the ubiquitous (and, I would say, fairly well done) Crios Torrontes, but less fruity, drier, and more mineral.

Moraiti Sillogi Moraiti Paros 2006

An interesting organic, Macedonian blend of the fleshy, Viognier like Malagousia and the more chalky, tensely structured Assyrtiko. I guessed that this was another Peloponnesian specialty, Roditis, given the mineral and citrus character. I was also thinking maybe Santorini, but it didn't have the explosive minerality.

Sigalas Santorini 2006

A top producer, though I still prefer Argyros, whose Santorini wines I find to be cleaner, more crystalline and simply better. Not to slight the Sigalas rendition, though, which is still chalky, fresh, and perhaps a bit more aromatically expressive and melon inflected. Maybe there is more Athiri and Aidani added to this wine, which adds some heft to the leaner Assyrtiko.

Kir-Yiann Petra 2006

Formerly known as Samaropetra. As a five syllable, white Greek field blend of Roditis, Gewurz and a few others, this wine surprisingly never sold well for me. Now the name has been shortened, and it consists of 100% chardonnay (??). Or so I was told. It was fresh and clean enough, with fleshy stone fruit and good persistence. Yeah, I suppose unoaked chard would make sense given how the wine tasted.

FLIGHT 2, THE REDS

Tselepos Agiorghitiko Nemea 2005

As much as I liked his Mantinia, I did not much care for this 100% Agiorghitiko wine. It was a correct wine. Fruit was just dark enough, the French oak elevage just the right time to appeal to critics. A real boring wine though, and a shame, as I'd love to see what could be done with his grapes vinified and aged in concrete, or inox.

Chateau Halaftis Athanassiadi Nemea 2005

Now this one went to the other extreme. Our previous wine was reductive, oaky and contrived in a new school sort of way. This example of aghiortiko was a bit rancio, not at all fresh, thin and astringent on the finish.

Kir-Yianni Ramnista Naoussa 2003

Yes, a return to good wine! Though this was a bit more generous, ripe and fruity than usual (leading me to think that it was a xinomavro based blend with international varietals thrown in). The funky, red fruited nose, though, and pure red berry fruits on the palate, with dry finishing tannins, screams Naoussa. This is what they drink in the Macedonian region of Greece, with lamb. Think Nebbiolo, with a bit more rusticity but every bit as much character and very similar tannin structure.

Dalamaras Paliokalias Naoussa 2004

More of a dark fruited, black cherry nose led to darker fruits on the palate as well, with great acidity and very dry tannins. I like this one quite a bit - should be interesting to re-visit in five years. I later learned that this bottling is produced from 40-60 year old, organically farmed xinomavro vines. At $35 it's not cheap, but it shows the enormous potential of xinomavro based wines - which appear to only be getting better with each successive vintage.

Dramatic Lemur

I couldn't resist. There is no denying this lemur's star power.

What's 1976 village Savigny les beaunes taste like?

Before I tackle the question above, I'd like to thank you all for patiently waiting a few days for a new post - I needed the rest. The Cold came back, except this time it progressed beyond my throat, and brought some fever along with it. I actually did try to post a few youtubes, but as sometimes is the case the site wasn't working. I guess it was not meant to be. Basically you missed a video of a lemur, and of John Medeski trading organ licks with a guitarist (forget his name) with an organ effects rig hooked up to his guitar.

Briefly, in other wine blog news I added a few links to the bottom of the page: Spume by Wolfgang Weber and Besotted Ramblings and other Drivel by Peter Liem. Many of you are probably familiar with their work both online and in Wine & Spirits magazine. Wolfgang's blog is wine focused, of course, but shows the wide array of other interests which I love in a blog. Peter's 'Besotted...' has already made me salivate by describing and posting photos of a hearty bowl of ramen in Tokyo, and has detailed tasting koshu, or aged sake, in Nigata. Very interesting and well-written. Check both of these blogs out, you'll be glad you did.

Now on to the '76 Chateau de Meursault Savigny les Beaune. It is a wine for which I had low expectations, but I bought it anyway because of the year (my brother's birth year). Though it was a good vintage in Burgundy (a hot one, though), and many of the better wines have apparently aged quite well, this is merely village wine from the cotes de beaune. From my understanding that is two strikes as far as extended bottle aging is concerned. I have limited experience with 30+ year old burgundy, though another wine from '76 was one of the most compelling, complete and satisfying wines I have ever tasted. This bottle tonight was not that. The color was light brick, with a touch of an amber glint towards the rim, in other words spot-on for mature burgundy. Black truffles, dark cocoa and berries on the nose preceeded a snappy palate of tangy cherries. At first the wine was a bit one-dimensional, but still obviously hanging in with fruit and some life yet. This humble, village savigny gained some intensity and heft as the meal went on, with the fruit turning a bit more assertive and darker. The pairing was with boneless leg of lamb (one day I'll venture outside of lamb for my mature burgundy food pairings) and herbed whole wheat orzo. It was fine, but the real pairing was the savigny and track 4 off Boredom's Vision Creation Newsun.

PRIMAL, TRIBAL NOISE IN THE ROUND: Boredoms at The Fillmore, Tuesday March 18th (a concert review in 4 parts)

Lacking background knowledge or experience listening to Boredoms, I headed to the legendary Fillmore to take in the bizarre sounds and sights of one of the more well respected experimental rock groups of the era. To be perfectly honest, the performance was not immediately enjoyable. I would venture to say that by saying so I am in the minority of the roughly 700 concert attendees. Where the show did succeed though was in its lasting impression, which I will lay out in the slightly unconventional review which follows:

Chapter 1: INCANTATIONS OF THE CRAZED, DREADED FRONT-MAN

As the lights in the ballroom dim, two voices, one male and one female can be heard chanting in harmony. A distant, shaken tambourine sounds in the background. Slowly, the group approaches the stage, set in the middle of the crowd as is de riguer in this renaissance of noise rock. A thin, mustachioed Japanese man, roughly forty years of age, with one rather thick dread falling down the middle of his back, a healthy sized dread that has comfortably outgrown its thinner, frayed, rag tag cohorts, begins to loudly recite something. It's not in English, but it may not be in Japanese, either. Tough to say, as the mind quickly is drawn to the aural and visual spectacle out on full display, in the round. Loudly amplified, crackling static, and distorted rock guitar struggle for supremacy with floor tom drums and large, crash cymbals. As he continues to loudly chant, no, he is shouting by now, the man rocks back and forth as he displays what appear to be votives set in amber glass holders, one in each of his outstretched arms. He holds one arm up high while the other hangs low, and while continuing the ritual, he welcomes his audience in moderately accented English, "Hellooo. Hello-hello-hello-hello. Hellooooooooo!"

Chapter 2: THE THREE DRUMMERS

Spread throughout the front half of the stage, in a pyramid formation, are three drummers. In the center is a thin, attractive young woman who occasionally abandons her drumkit to make noise on a keyboard. Yoshimi, I later discover. She also sings. Stage right is a slightly thinner and more androgynous looking type, hair parted in the middle, somehow keeping up with the furious rhythms of the other two drummers. This is no conventional band, and there is no conventional, steady backing beat which the drummers play. Rather, their rhythm is a collage of fill-ins, each making good use of their entire drum kit. Holding everything together is the drum leader, a bookish, slender guy dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and an adjustable black baseball cap. His assault on the drums is focused, methodical, and full of brute force. Together, the drummers set the tone - fractured, frenetic, insistent, loud.


Chapter 3: STRAT'S TOWER

Standing at about seven feet, on the back of the stage, an assemblage of seven, two tone purple and green Fender stratocaster style guitars, each joined to one another, their necks and fret boards facing in alternating, opposing directions. Frequently the dreaded man will bang on this shrine to the rock guitar, using thick, glowing pink drum sticks, or what appears to be a broom handle. Each guitar produces a single chord, the character of which depends on the man standing behind the tower, tuning and making adjustments after the dreaded man finishes his striking of the guitars. Sometimes micro-adjustments are made while the dreaded man continues playing. The bursts of distorted guitar serve merely to season the extended pieces, adding additional bombast when needed rather than adding structure.

Chapter 4: TWELVE LAPS AND TWO ENCORES

Towards the end of the performance, I notice that one concert-goer, a twenty something year old man, with closely cropped brown hair and an intense demeanor, is walking laps around the stage. Repeatedly. He sets a brisk pace, occasionally clasping his hands together in varying formations, holding them out in front at eye level. Some others in the crowd patronizingly offer high-fives each time the man returns from his lap around the perimeter of the room. I wonder to myself, what could be the motivation for such odd behavior? Does the guy want attention, or does he have have some sort of behavioral issues? Maybe he is genuinely moved by the performance and this is how he chooses to express it?

After a brief rest, the band returns to the stage for an encore. The music is noticeably more mellow, more of a slowly churning, deliberate, peaceful reconciliation of the entire show which preceeded this particular piece. While the second encore continues in a similarly laid-back vein, the music slowly intensifies, increasing in volume and expanding texturally, building up to where everything was prior to the encores.

EPILOGUE

When the music ends and the band has been ushered off the stage and whisked away to the green room, I join others in checking out the stage, taking in the various effects pedals, samplers, synths, drum triggers, a hammond bass pedal console.

Not quite sure what to make of the show, I tell my brother that I was not impressed. That the show mimicked the effect of a five-year old continually tapping your shoulder, repeatedly asking the same question. Nonetheless, I must admit that there was something penetrating and meaningful about the spectacle I had witnessed. Creativity towards which to strive. Energy to be harnessed.

Riesling 101: a guided tasting for Germanic Studies enthusiasts

(image courtesy of University of Maryland)

Last Sunday, my good friend and holder of an M.A. in German, David D., hosted an introductory tasting of German rieslings for a former German professor, grad school classmate and their respective spouses. Like myself, David D. is relatively new to wine geekdom, though his enthusiasm for all things wine is both genuine and contagious. With some hearty appetizers and a delicious, large, caterer's size pan of Kaesespaetzle (egg noodles, melted swiss cheese and onions), we tasted and discussed the following rieslings:

2006 Bassermann-Jordan Probus Riesling Trocken (Pfalz)

Personal Notes - Very clean on the nose. Direct, yellow stone fruits on the palate are at first simple and primary. Upon further review, some mouthfuls reveal themselves to be a bit leesy and savory in a very slightly woodsy way. This will probably be at its best in 2-3 years.
Official notes - "The vines for the Basserman-Jordan Riesling are planted on the slopes of the Haardt mountains, the hills that form the western brim of hte Rhine valley. The slopes are southeast facing and contain a lot of sandstone in the soil."

2005 Weingut Burgerspital Wurzburger Stein Riesling Trocken (Franken)
Personal Notes - Fruit cocktail and ripe tangerine scents leap out of the glass. Very clean and persistent on the palate, with a fuller and more mineral tactile impression. This wine is quite Ital to me. Ital meaning Italianate and similar to the Alto Adige, Collio or Isonzo (not 'Ital' as in the preferred vegan diet of Rastafarians).
Official notes - Quite possibly the oldest wine estate in all of Germany, founded in 1319, there is just a bit of tradition and knowledge floating around. This Franconian estate produces some of the best dry wines of this dry wine region -pure, firmly acidic, built for aging and showing the mineral elegance that Wurzburger, and in particular Stein, are known for.

2006 Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay Kabinett (Rheingau)
Personal Notes - A bit shy and muted on the nose, the palate is uber fruity, a veritable fruit cocktail. Though it's a bit tutti fruity for my taste, the wine goes admirably well with the kaesespaetzle.
No official notes available....

1994 Hauth-Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese (Mosel)
Personal notes - My more Teutonically inclined readers may recall this wine from my Top 10 rieslings of 2007 post This one right here was the consensus WOTN. A nose of orange soda and peach, with much slate. On the palate there is an array of rich, complex, shifting flavors, of which tangy naval oranges and strong, but not overpowering, herbal aspects (marjoram?) started to assert themselves. One of my current favorites.
Official notes - This happens to be the cousin and neighbor of Martin Kerpen of Heribert Kerpen. This is an old style Mosel wine from a vintage not shy on acid.

2006 Schloss Saarstein Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner Auslese (Saar)
Personal notes - Pure, crystalline nose. Spiced poached pear flavors, that are somehow intense and powerful while retaining clarity and delicacy.
Official notes - The Saarstein estate owns the oldest vineyards in the village of Serrig. At the beginning of the 19th century they were bought by an industrialist whose descendants built the imposing Schloss (castle) above the vineyards around 1900. Dieter Ebert purchased the estate in 1956 and established the foundation for its successful development. Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of the husband-and-wife team, Schloss Saarstein now ranks among the leading producers of the Saar valley.

Thanks to everyone for attending and for indulging me and David, allowing each of us to get on our riesling soap boxes. Thanks to David for picking a great line-up and to Cecilia and David for hosting. It was fun and worthwhile for me, and hopefully for everyone else who learned what we in the business already know:

GERMAN RIESLING IS THE GREATEST WINE VALUE OF ALL TIMES! IF YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT BUYING ENOUGH GERMAN RIESLING, THEN YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT.

Now go buy some German rieslings, alright?

Coming Soon: Review of Boredoms at The Fillmore

I can say with much certainty that this was unlike any other concert I've attended (after all they should all be that way, right?) Highly unusual, avante noise rock. Innovative and enlightening, or self indulgent and overbearing? Stay tuned....