Tuesdays in the City

Was invited by a friend to attend a trade tasting in New York yesterday, focus was on Champagne, Germany, Austria and Spain. A great scene, some interesting wines, and a chance to meet more than a handful of (mostly Austrian) winemakers. Even better was being invited to join the hosts and winemakers for dinner at Braeburn in the Village. A tremendous afternoon/night out.


CHAMPAGNE

THE standout wine for me here was the N.V. Pehu-Simonet Selection Brut, savoury nose, dry but wildly exotic, carnivalesque palate. Other wines I enjoyed were the N.V. Henri Goutorbe Rosé from Aÿ (bright red fruit, silky but well structured and balanced), the 2003 Pierre Gimonnet Cuvée Paraodoxe (intriguing notes of cinnamon and vanilla, but zero oak), and the Marc Hébrart wines.

There were three "blanc des blancs" with particular verve - the N.V. Marc Hébrart (surprising body), the N.V. Jean Milan Spéciale Brut (juicier), and especially the N.V. René Geoffroy Cuvée Voluptée, which had an alluringly sexy and musky palate to spite its completely restrained nose.


HUNGARY (yeah, a couple, and it all used to be part of Austria, right?)

Pannonhalmi Apatsagi - the Tricollis white reminded me a bit of Heidi Schröck's furmint wines. The rosé is also very decent, both are under $100/cs wholesale. Will have to see if I can figure out what the standard retail markup is.

Kreinbacher - organic, aged in Hungarian oak. The Oreg Tökék is a blend of Welschriesling, Furmint, and Hárslevelű, which again reminds me of Schröck - waxy, woolen, and lanolin, dry, with interesting spicy/gingery elements.


GERMANY - I tried a couple of things in the closing minutes, but mostly drank these at dinner when I had ceased taking notes... Donnhoffs, Reuscher-Haart, Meulenhof, Geil, Kruger-Rumpf... not my speed, at all. The only wine that I enjoyed was the '08 Schlossgut Diel Goldloch Kabinett.


AUSTRIA - overall impression, the '08 rieslings/g.v.'s are very much all over the place. Don't know if it is simply youth or what, but there was a lot of "cidery" action going on, especially for Lower Austria (Wachau/Kamptal), not always the most pleasant thing. Case in point, the '07 Hiedler Thal, which I think is just about everything G.V. should be... for me, the '08 isn't even a pale shadow of it...

Heidi Schröck - The '08's are intriguing. The Weissburgunder was nutty, musty, weissbier-ish, soft but bitter. The Furmint was more astringent, quinine, stony, lemon jelly, shrimp shells, and woolen. But the Muscat was the winner for me... toasted caraway on the nose, not at all sweet, savoury and delicious.

Prieler - The Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay were both too fat and sweet for me. The Blaufränkisch was very reasonable, done in a juicy, lighter, non-inky style which is appealing, had a touch of broth and pepper. Not a hugely characterful wine, but tasty.

Lehrner - 3 '07 Blaufränkisch's presented, and I think each well done, in a very approachable, easy style. The St. Laurent was also in a very light style, but also an '08, so not quite sure what to make of it. It actually reminded me a lot of the Prieler Blaufränkisch. Given the stylistic approach of the latter, it kind of makes sense.

Sattler - Erich Sattler told me that he goes for "soft" wines, and that is exactly what he's made. Not a fan. For me, only the '06 St. Laurent "Reserve" had redeeming qualities.

Glatzer - sadly, didn't make it to his table in time.

Ecker - ditto

Schwarzböck - from the Weinvierttel, for me probably the most consistent '08 G.V.'s - I would buy/drink any of these, especially the Kirchberg - bitter and angry, earthy yet creamy and staunch acidity. The '08 Riesling Pöcken was also good, dry, well-fruited and balanced, with only a touch of cider (I'm hearing that this is a result of a wet, but not hot season, which led to more botrytis, but not so much concentration).

Setzer - Another successful batch of '08 G.V.s from the Weinviertel, and a nice, clean, restrained '08 Riesling as well, but I think his Roter Veltliner was the best in class.

Berger - yet another table I couldn't get to.

Nigl - found their sekt to be too grapey for my tastes. The '08 Kremser Freiheit G.V. had classical proportions, but a touch of the cider bringing it down. The Privat also seemed a bit off to me, and the prices have really climbed. I thought the two '08 rieslings in a better, cleaner place.

Salomon - friendly husband and wife team here, I think I just like Austrian winemakers. An excellent lineup of '08's, across the board. I would totally buy Salomon Undhof in 2008.

Willi Bründlmayer - I did skip over this table, Willi wasn't there and I figured I'd just had most of these. Now I'm slightly kicking myself, I should have checked out the '08's, and I'm hearing after the fact that his Zweigelt Rosé was excellent.

Schloss Gobelsburg - a slight consolation is that I tasted heavily on S.G., so if WilliB's imprint is here, then, ok, good. I think the '08' Rieslings and G.V.'s here are for the most part clean and classical, especially the rieslings. I especially liked the Riesling "Gobelsburger". I found the G.V. Steinsetz a touch sweet/flabby, and even the regular G.V. "Gobelsburger" a touch exotic, but still pretty nice. The Zweigelt was...

Hiedler - I thought the '08 G.V. Loess superior to the Thal (cider was distracting), though it too was a bit sweet. Both rieslings had the cider, with the Urgestein also being on the soft side. The Heiligenstein Reserve was a better drop, easily. The '07 Weissburgunder was intriguing, apply and bitter, but the level of complexity was not Schröcking.

Hirsch - Didn't much care for the wines, I though the G.V.'s a let down. The '07 Lamm has been classified as half-dry, the '08 Heiligenstein was flabby. So was the '08 Riesling Zöbing, and the '07 Riesling Heiligenstein was so sweet, that it's been classified as somewhere between halbtrocken and auslese (something called "lieblich", approximately equivalent to molleux). She also poured the '06 and '07 Riesling Gaisberg, which I thought were both far superior to anything else on the table. Given the choice, I'd go with the drier, crisper '06.

Alzinger - oof... too much cider on the '08 G.V.'s, the '08 Riesling Hollerin Smaragd was soft. Not this time, thank you.

Nikolaihof - These guys, biodynamic, don't produce anything in the lower reaches of the price scale (just like our BD friends at Prager). The G.V. Hefeabzug has a very nice petrichor note along with smoky savoury grilled squid notes, which is just very interesting. Not for everyone. The more expensive wines were, well, more expensive, but not better, to my taste. I though the '08 Riesling Vom Stein Federspiel very pretty to smell, but a bit flabby.

Reisetbauer - an Austrian maker of eau du vie, or as they call them in Austria, obstbrand - distinguished from schnapps in that it must be distilled from 100% fruit (or vegetable). We have a couple of bottles at home from Freihof, a marillen (Austrian apricot) and a raspberry, so this was a fun tasting.

- carrot - not the garden carrots, but the less sweet animal feed carrots. The right choice I think, this was a really great spirit, carrot greens and vegetal sweetness.

- wild cherry - flavour and aroma was right on, but maybe too right on, felt so correct as to be impossibly so.

- blue gin - complex, and an amaxing note of nutmeg fruit (not the seed, not the fibrous netting around the seed (mace), but the actual fruit)

- rowanberry - these are apparently toxic raw, but quite ok when cooked or distilled. It really drank well, in full 3-D - tasted like you could feel berry flesh and little seed textures. Interesting stuff, very expensive (about $100 for a 375ml bottle). It was flowing like water at the end of dinner.

- ginger - wow! This was like a Thai curry in a glass. Galangal (that thick, not so strong Thai/Malaysian ginger, but apparently this is actually some Chinese ginger which is flown from China at exorbitent cost). With lemongrass and coconut milk highlights. Yum!


SPAIN - I wasn't planning on tasting any of the Spanish wines, but I was getting fatigued and I did need a break. It was short, I promise. Most of these came my way at dinner anyways... if only I'd known, I'd have finished off the Austrians.

La Rioja Alta - the '04 Viña Alberdi was nicely lifted, a bit of funk, and quite elegant. The 2000 Viña Ardanza was a bit smokier and bigger, but very tight and tannic. Needs some cuddling and naps. The '97 Gran Reserva 904 was very delicious indeed, elegant. The '94 Gran Reserva 890 was a touch more savoury, nice soy and umami notes, I liked this even better.

2005 Clos Martinet Priorat - strange paint smells, like shellac, with broth and mud. Bretty and something vaguely chemical. Weird.

2006 Clos Mogador Priorat - nice nose, smoky, funk, brett, red fruit and a splash of vanilla, on the palate good umami and spice to go with the fruit. Of the CM's I've had, I'm liking this one best right now.

2003 & 2004 Mauro Tudela del Duero Terreus - big and full and plush, with some spice and so on. Very in your face.

2006 Pintia Toro - interesting nose, red fruit with that barbecued red Chinese sausage and vanilla notes. Very tannic right now, can't see the forest for the trees, but tasty fruit lurking about and nice acidity, dark elements and alcohol well contained. Or beaten with sticks.

2005 Alion - everything you'd expect - red/black fruit and oak, medium bodied, nice structure, tasty, but I wasn't overwhelmed. U.S. prices for this are absurd

1999 Vega Sicilia Unica - had this at dinner, elegant perfume, silky mouthfeel, minerality, plush dark fruit, but light and elegant. Very delicious. For $400, it ought to be.

There were a few others that also came round at dinner which for the life of my I can't place a note for... the '06 Finca Torremilanos Cyclo, for example... I know it was there in front of me...