A taste of MOB from '83

Here is the second on what will be three Mission of Burma posts (the third will be the concert review of their September 27th show at The Independent in San Francisco). The video below is from the companion DVD to the re-issued Vs. album. For those of you not familiar with their history, Boston's Mission of Burma recorded two records, the Signals, Calls and Marches EP (1981) and Vs. (1982), and then called it quits primarily due to guitarist and vocalist Roger Miller's tinnitus. They have clearly influenced dozens of bands, from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Husker Du, to Fugazi, REM and Pearl Jam, who released their own record titled Vs as a tribute to Mission of Burma. Mission of Burma re-united in 2002 and have gone on to produce two solid, well received albums of new material. The clip below is the post-punk band showing their mid-tempo, melodic side.

Best $25 spent so far this year? Tickets to Mission of Burma

Last night I went to see Mission of Burma perform their seminal classic Vs. at The Independent, one of the better run, more intimate venues for live music in San Francisco. I hope to publish a full show review this week. Allow me to say though, that the show was phenomenal. Those guys really rocked it. Bass, drums, guitar, a few effects pedals, that's it. Oh yes, and the tape delay loop guy hidden offstage around the soundboard. Good shows entertain, great shows transport and lodge themselves in the memory. This show was great.

Royal Dessert Wine

Forget about Sauternes. SGN, no thanks. Eiswein, BA and TbA? Now we're getting closer, but not on my dime, thank you very much. Yesterday, I tasted through a terrific line-up of wines with Ben Howkins from the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Let's just say that the Russian tsars and assorted other monarchs of the day, who bought tokaji by the cart-load, knew their stuff. The combination of naturally high acidity, high residual sugar and moderate alcohol makes for a finely balanced elixir to finish a meal. While I do have a sweet tooth, I am generally not much of a dessert wine fan, mainly due to the excess of alcohol and lack of acid balance in many of them. After tasting through much of the current Royal Tokaji Wine Company line-up, though, I was reminded of how delicious these wines are.

The Royal Tokaji Company is a collaboration between wine writer/living legend Hugh Johnson, author and port authority Ben Howkins and winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers. The wines (with the exception of the dry furmint) are a blend of late harvested, naturally botrytized Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat.

Ben Howkins was on hand to guide customers and co-workers through the wines.

2006 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Furmint

A typically creamy peach and apricot Furmint nose leads to a fully dry wine, with yellow pitted fruit flavors, good richness and mouth-watering acidity. Nice soft texture as well. Persistent.

2003 Royal Tokaji Wine Company 5 Puttonyos

Orange and peach marmelade on the nose, with some honeyed botrytis notes. Candied orange flavors on the palate, more plush and lower acid than the terrific 2000 vintage of this wine (which I prefer slightly to this one) but the acidity is still apparent and remarkably in balance given the warm vintage conditions.

2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Betsek 6 Puttonyos

Now we are getting to the individual vineyard bottlings, which are site specific and contain higher amounts of residual sugar, due to the extra 'puttonyo,' or container of trampled, late harvested grapes. Betsek is the largest of their vineyards, located on a lower portion of the hills composed of a top layer of black volcanic soil. More creamy and complex aromas lead to a rich, sweeter and higher acidity wine (remember, while the higher number of puttonyos leads to more RS, the measurement of acidity often times goes up with these wines as well, so they don't necessarily seem a whole lot sweeter). The flavors bring to mind an intense, spicy reduced grapefruit syrup.

1999 Royal Tokaji Wine Company 'Nyulaszo'

One of my favorites of the line-up. According to Mr. Howkins, the nyulaszo vineyard contributes the most to the house style of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Another step up in aromatic intensity, with orange and toffee candy scents. Amazingly high acidity (I'd love to get the technical specs here, I'm going to guess at least 9g/liter) combined with ridiculous length and intensity. Apparently, this wine is often times a favorite amongst Burgundy fans. I can see why.

1999 Royal Tokaji Wine Company St Tomas

This wine is a return to a gentler and rounder profile. Historically, grapes from this vineyard have the highest amount of residual sugar compared to the company's other sites. Delicious, intense stone fruit jam with a bit less acidity on the palate.

1996 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Mezes Maly

There is a prominent reddish glint in this amber colored wine from what literally translates as the 'honey pot' vineyard. Wow, what a nose on this one! Hugely intense, volcanic spicy nose. Almost like horseradish. Hints of red fruits emerge as well. The palate is accordingly spicy, a bit cidery even. Hints of dried cranberry fruit. Extraordinarily well chiseled and defined. Amazing intensity, acidity and length. This is one of the most memorable wines I have ever tasted. Awesome.

1995 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Aszu Essencia

I was thinking that after the previous wine, it would take quite the wine to match the experience. Not that the aszu essencia was a downer, but man the Mezes Maly was a real game changer. The essencia is a blend of Nyulaszo and St Tomas fruit. 180g/l residual sugar. It surprisingly shows the most savory aromas, a blend of brown sugar sweetness and a good bit more maturity as well. Less of the orange/peach/apricot marmelade characteristics. On the palate the flavors are also extraordinarily concentrated with high acidity as well. The texture is butter soft and luxurious. Really compelling stuff, but tough to describe. Even tougher after the extraordinary mezes maly.

It was an incredible tasting, and a strong reminder of where my vinous sweet tooth resides: the hills of northeastern Hungary. Thanks to Mr. Ben Howkins, Wilson Daniels and our local distributor rep Greg Schuessler for sharing these amazing wines.

The Old Chardonnay continues: Chalone vs…Chalone?

Things have really been heating up in the store closeout bin. As I mentioned earlier, we recently acquired two cellars. Anything of significant perceived market value goes on to the old and rare racks, which leaves some other stuff destined for the closeout bin. Yesterday I saw a large selection of Chalone Chardonnay from the 1980’s, and picked up a few bottles, as well as a bottle of 1988 Roger Lassserat 'Clos de France' Pouilly Fuisse, with a tag stating that it was shipped by Kermit Lynch and imported by – Chalone Inc. I will always have fond memories of Chalone, since the 1986 Chalone Pinot Blanc is the first quality wine I remember sipping as a youngin’, the first wine that left a detailed mark in my tasting memory bank.

So the comparison yesterday was between a 1985 Chalone Chardonnay and the aforementioned 1988 Lasserat Pouilly Fuisse. The former had something between an 18k and 24k gold color, a baked apple and werthers original nose and flavors that, while mature, still showed life, as well as its ripe, central coastal California ubringing. The Pouilly Fuisse smelled of wet clay and chalk (one co-worker likened the nose to Kraft Mac & Cheese, which was actually a good call) and showed lots of creamy minerality, though not much else on the mid-palate. Disjointed, weird acidity on the finish. Later on with dinner, the wine showed better, while the Chalone became tiresome to drink. Both wines weren’t without their merits, but for the most part this was more of an academic exercise rather than one in pleasure. I’ll consider this head to head, France vs US, Chalone the winery vs Chalone the importer/distributor battle, a draw.

The New New Yorker

An admission - I'm not a particularly literate person. There are times when I am not reading a book. My intellectual curiosity sometimes does not extend beyond my comfort zone of topics: music, food, wine, politics, language, travel, life in the Bay Area. If a co-worker mentions an article read in The New Yorker, I may be interested but chances are that I have not read said article. It's just one of those things, I have never religiously read The New Yorker. That may change though, based on what I have read so far from the September 22nd issue. It was lying on the coffee table, with its eye catching cover cartoon, an allegory of the everyman tortoise descending down the subway, while the financial exec hare hails a cab. In the issue, there appears to be some terrific Sarah P satire, a wonderful article on an influential independent Russian radio station, and an entertaining piece on Spike Lee (if a bit long-winded, meandering and superficial). All in all, though, some quality magazine reading. I'm into it.

Next up. more time reading novels and visiting museums, perhaps. Maybe it would help if I commit to the occasional literary or art post?

We apologize for the technical difficulties

Several of you have recently brought to my attention that this blog does not show up-to-date posts on google reader or the new 'follower' widget. While I have been trying to figure this out independently, I have had no luck. Admittedly I am not incredibly savvy on the interweb and do not know how to get a straight ahead answer on blogger's help board. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to comment. In the meantime, I'm sorry if you would prefer to read this blog via google reader or 'following' (what exactly does that mean, anyway?) and are currently unable to do so. At least if you want to read material from 2008. Thanks for your patience. I am sure that I will resolve this issue before several more large financial services companies go bankrupt or are bailed out by the US Treasury.

Old Californians: 1992 Mount Eden Pinot Noir Edna Valley, 1983 Scharffenberger Brut Mendocino

I continue to be surprised by the slow aging trajectory of California wines, or at least the ones from good producers made in or prior to the early 1990's. I'm not talking about Cabernet here, which of course has the capacity to age well for a few decades, but about Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and even Chardonnay. Incidentally, I had three bottles of Cronin Chardonnay a few weeks ago: an '85 Napa which was dead, an '85 Alex Valley (probably Stuhlmuller vineyard) which still had rich, tasty golden fruit and plenty of life, and an '84 Santa Cruz Mtn that also was lively and bright, with lovely acidity. Well in the past few days I have had some more old California wine, one which I expected a lot from and one of which I expected little, if anything, of interest.

Let's start with high expectations first. The '92 Mount Eden Edna Valley Pinot was part of a cellar recently purchased by K&L. Since it was not produced from the venerable estate's prized Santa Cruz Mountain fruit, we were retailing the wine for a modest $19.99. The color showed relatively young, with just a touch of bricking. Deep aromas of plum, dark cherries and spice carried over to the palate, but fruit was all there was. Ripe, bordering on sweet Edna Valley fruit. Definitely still there, but without any complexity or the amount of acidity I enjoy in Pinot Noir. A bit of heat on the finish (13.6% abv). It tasted better with sauteed chicken breasts, but still a bit of a disappointment. I guess that's what you get for expecting a lot from a Pinot Noir grown from grapes at a lattitude similar to that of Sevilla.

Now for the surprise showing. The 1983 Scharffenberger Brut was pretty good! I imagine the grapes came from the Anderson Valley. Some funky, impure, elmer's glue type aromas eventually blew off to reveal spicy apple pie notes, with some toffee and lemon curd as well. On the palate the wine had a soft bead, but still with enough effervescence to refresh. Decent attack, lacking a good bit in the mid-palate, but with a very cleansing, lemony, acidity on the finish. Simple but rather tasty. Well worth the $10 closeout bin price tag. Am I going crazy here or does moderately priced California sparkling wine from long ago actually age well?