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Stringent
Dec 22, 2004


image text goes here

Kasumeat posted:

This is very, very, very wrong. They're both important, if you have to rank importance, it's definitely temperature first.

Don't gently caress around with any wine storage devices unless you have a ton of old wines you plan on preserving. Any young wine of good quality will keep for at least a day in the fridge, most three or more. The vacuum based ones will prevent oxidation, but they will also pull volatile molecules from the wine, muting some aromas. The argon ones work a little better but I find they also mute aromas as well. The best thing is what idiotsavant suggested. Just get some smaller bottles and pour your wines in there. Screwcaps are great for this. Most wines will keep over a week if there's very little headspace, and really, how much longer do you need?

long term storage of course temperature matters, but for an open bottle of table wine it really doesn't. the best solution is to just drink the bottle after you open it.

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PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
I think the question has a distinctly different character when you're talking about a very good bottle versus an average bottle of wine. If you're drinking a fairly average bottle of wine with dinner some night and you don't want to catch a massive buzz, it's okay to drink half a bottle and then stick the remainder in the fridge for a few days. It ain't gonna be perfect, but it will not suffer a great deal and you can casually drink the rest on some other day. If you have a very special bottle and you want every nuance and subtlety to remain, wait until you can finish the bottle in one sitting -- either a day when you don't mind taking a whole bottle of wine down by yourself, or a day when you're sharing it with company.

I mean, practically speaking, I don't want to drink an entire bottle of wine every time I want to drink some wine at home. There's no perfect method to solve this problem, but frankly all the various "systems" are too much work for too little effect. Just drink wine of average quality when you don't intend on finishing the bottle, stopper it, and stick in the fridge, and it'll be good enough that it doesn't really matter.

Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED
Wine quality is one of the biggest determinants as to how long it will keep once open. A cheap bottle will deteriorate very quickly, and a quality wine will hold for a long time.

Stringent posted:

long term storage of course temperature matters, but for an open bottle of table wine it really doesn't. the best solution is to just drink the bottle after you open it.

Again, you're just plain wrong. I see this all the time at my work. If you really don't believe me, test it out for yourself with some wine split between the fridge and room temperature.

Kasumeat fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Dec 10, 2018

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Kasumeat posted:

Wine quality is one of the biggest determinants as to how long it will keep once open. A cheap bottle will deteriorate very quickly, and a quality wine will hold for a long time.

Yes, but with some excpetions I think. Mugnier Clos de la Maréchale 2007 is a pretty good wine, but it died on me with 1/3rd left, cork in, in the fridge. Lesson learned, drink up! Most other wines survive this no problem, champagnes even keep most of their fizz. Last wine I did this with was a 2010 Musar, just put the decanter straight in the fridge, no cover. It was even better the next day, after getting up to temp of course.

Kasumeat posted:

Again, you're just plain wrong. I see this all the time at my work. If you really don't believe me, test it out for yourself with some wine split between the fridge and room temperature.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious, easy to test and backed by science basics.

taco show
Oct 6, 2011

motherforker


Biomute posted:

If I wanted to get a book on wine, what should I get? The main contenders seem to be: The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and The Wine Bible.

Does anyone have any experience with these books? I like reading about stuff, but in the digital age can these books compete with the likes of wine-searcher/wine-folly etc?

I’m self-studying for my level 1 CMS (any tips appreciated!!!!) and so far my books are

- wine bible- Karen MacNeil is super knowledgeable but can be hard to extract info quickly bc it’s a little more narrative and she’s sneakily opinionated lol. Lots of info about the history of a region, poo poo like how sherry is made, producers to look for, etc.
- windows on the world - CHARTS!! I think it’s a little quicker to find reference info in here but there’s not as much color. I usually read this and wine bible together
- world atlas - dope and I like maps and once you start studying more it makes a big difference to know the geography of where a thing comes from so it’s a good thing to have on hand
- wine folly - pretty charts but I find her online material a little more thorough than the book. It’s nice for showing my friends who are a little newer to wine or if I need a grid of things I should be “expecting” to taste or smell

I also read a TON of free articles from wine publications but it can be hit or miss if they have the level of detail I’m looking for. Also, many top regions (Spain in particular is amazing at this) have websites where they explain their methods or terroir or have links to the wine maker’s websites to dig up technical notes.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
I like Jancis Robinson's website, personally. She seems to curate stuff from a lot of different sources, feature a lot of different and surprisingly in-depth articles written by people who seem to know their poo poo, and the tasting notes are fairly reliable for me. It's a bit spendy, though, but, wine, am I right?

Crimson
Nov 7, 2002

Kasumeat posted:

Wine quality is one of the biggest determinants as to how long it will keep once open. A cheap bottle will deteriorate very quickly, and a quality wine will hold for a long time.

That's very misleading. Older, higher quality Burgundy will die quicker than a bottle of cheap, new Cabernet.

Also, to taco show, I highly recommend joining Guildsomm and using their study guides. They're fantastic, and speak to the material that will be tested very well.

prayer group
May 31, 2011

$#$%^&@@*!!!
Level one is easy as hell. Just pay attention during the lectures and you’ll do fine. I’m a lazy fuckup who never learned how to study and I passed just fine. It’s mostly just the Six Hundred American Dollars that they want from you.

Kalenden
Oct 30, 2012
Hi,

For New Year, we are doing a take-away easy to prepare gastronomic menu and now I’m looking to combine some beverages with it, for two persons. What would you recommend? We have a fairly varied cellar (though some notable wines are lacking) and willing to be adventurous. I’ll propose my own idea but I’d definitely like to hear specific recommendations! Pictures are here: The courses are as follows (with each course divided by a line and posted as the menu is online with my additions in brackets since it is translated from Dutch)):

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Lobster salad

grapefruit - fregula - apple - candied tomato - cocktail sauce

////////////////////////////////

‘Cappuccino’ of ground chicory - scallops - chive cream

Toast of chicory, bacon and Reypenaer [type of cheese]

////////////////////////////////

Brill [Fish, similar to Turbot] 'à la nage' with Zeeland mussels, gray shrimps and chestnut mushrooms

Foamy crustacean sauce

////////////////////////////////

Crispy fried veal cheek and thymus [ also known as neck sweetbread ; veal sweetbread]

Mousselines of celeriac and parsnip - croquettes of polenta -

spring rolls of forest mushrooms - sauce of Porto

////////////////////////////////

Apple pie from the oven with figs, raisins and pistachios

'Globe' of bitter chocolate with speculaas ice cream

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I was thinking of starting of with a Champagne, taking that with the lobster as well. Could you suggest multiple good options in this area?
After, for the scallops and Brill I am guessing a good dry mineraly white, type Bourgogne, type Meursault, Puligny Montrachet. What do you think? Could you give other and/or more specific suggestions?
For the veal cheek, I was thinking a more powerful wine, type St Joseph, Chateauneuf du Pape or even Spanish Roda I, Pintia… For the dessert, we are open to anything. Would Madeira be a good fit?

Again, I am open for all suggestions from your side, since I'm not 100% sure what my cellar still has and hasn't. Also, any advice on what to do with the open bottles? We are unlikely to finish all of them!

Addendum:
To clarify, I would like a single white wine to go with both the scallops and the brill. In that sense - what would be the best match?

Since it is just us two it will be a huge excess of wine already, opening a champagne, white and red.

I'm guessing we'll have (in total with 2) 4 glasses champagne, 4 glasses of white and 2 of red. Any good suggestions on how best to manage what is left over?

Kalenden fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Dec 12, 2018

Furious Lobster
Jun 17, 2006

Soiled Meat

Kalenden posted:


I was thinking of starting of with a Champagne, taking that with the lobster as well. Could you suggest multiple good options in this area? After, for the scallops and Brill I am guessing a good dry mineraly white, type Bourgogne, type Meursault, Puligny Montrachet. What do you think? Could you give other and/or more specific suggestions? For the veal cheek, I was thinking a more powerful wine, type St Joseph, Chateauneuf du Pape or even Spanish Roda I, Pintia… For the dessert, we are open to anything. Would Madeira be a good fit?

Again, I am open for all suggestions from your side, since I'm not 100% sure what my cellar still has and hasn't. Also, any advice on what to do with the open bottles? We are unlikely to finish all of them!

What's your price range?

Kalenden
Oct 30, 2012

Furious Lobster posted:

What's your price range?

I'll be sourcing it from my cellar which is fairly varied. So no price range - any bottle goes as long as I have it.

Crimson
Nov 7, 2002
Here's where I'd go, based on your flavors:

Lobster salad - This sound undoubtedly like Sauvignon Blanc territory. SB goes really well with grapefruit and tomato. Depending on the perceived sweetness on the dish, I'd go Sancerre for very fresh/raw flavors, and maybe California or Bordeaux if the "candied" thing is prominent.

Cappucino - Meursault here. They typically have that nutty/bacon fatty thing in the mid palate that should work nicely here.

Brille - I could go a few ways here. Personally I'd do Champagne here, and yes Champagne doesn't need to be at the beginning of a meal. Barring that, perhaps an Italian white like Vermentino.

Veal - I think your idea of CdP or Rioja is great here. Personally I'd stick with the lighter in color reds like those over the darker St. Joseph, but that really depends on how much Porto sauce is swimming around on the dish. If that's prominent and super rich, Northern Rhone could be the way to go.

Dessert - Madeira could be good, but tends to be overwhelming for some people due to high alcohol. Do you have any Tokaji? I think that'd be killer with that setup, and everyone loves Tokaji, even if they don't know it yet.

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Tokaji is awesome, probably my favorite straight up sweet dessert wine (I also like half-dry Riesling for some stuff).

Unrelated, but I went and had a sad lonely meal at a restaurant in Germany after a conference recently and they gave me a german quince sloe gin with the cheese. Very unusual pairing, but I enjoyed it a lot.

got off on a technicality
Feb 7, 2007

oh dear

Kalenden posted:

Lobster salad

grapefruit - fregula - apple - candied tomato - cocktail sauce
This may seem off the wall, but I quite like Sauternes as an aperitif. It goes well with lobster, not to mention the fruity accompaniments you've selected. It is also, to Crimson's point, partially Sauvignon Blanc :)

taco show
Oct 6, 2011

motherforker


I mean you could probably pair an older Sauternes with the lobster, brill, AND that apple pie if you don't want to open more than one white.

Also, the CMS finally posted intro exam dates for Chicago and it's in SIX WEEKS. I literally just started studying and I don't know how much I can realistically cram before then??

Kalenden
Oct 30, 2012
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
More are welcome!

I forgot the pictures, they are here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/restaurantarenberg/photos/?ref=page_internal

To clarify, I would like a single white wine to go with both the scallops and the brill. In that sense - what would be the best match?

Since it is just us two it will be a huge excess of wine already, opening a champagne, white and red.

I'm guessing we'll have (in total with 2) 4 glasses champagne, 4 glasses of white and 2 of red. Any good suggestions on how best to manage what is left over?

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Kalenden posted:



I'm guessing we'll have (in total with 2) 4 glasses champagne, 4 glasses of white and 2 of red. Any good suggestions on how best to manage what is left over?

Finish the champagne and the white, recork the red, put it in the fridge and drink it for lunch the next day or cook a stew with it.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
Alternatively, if you don't already have the wines you want to drink, try to find something in a half-bottle.

taco show
Oct 6, 2011

motherforker


Kalenden posted:

To clarify, I would like a single white wine to go with both the scallops and the brill. In that sense - what would be the best match?

Maybe a nice Chablis?

The “cappuccino” was confusing until I saw the pics; I thought you were having chicory coffee with fish which sounded legit gross but it’s just a chicory foam.

prayer group
May 31, 2011

$#$%^&@@*!!!

taco show posted:

I mean you could probably pair an older Sauternes with the lobster, brill, AND that apple pie if you don't want to open more than one white.

Also, the CMS finally posted intro exam dates for Chicago and it's in SIX WEEKS. I literally just started studying and I don't know how much I can realistically cram before then??

As I said, the first level Somm is really easy. As long as you're capable of paying attention to the lectures that cover literally everything on the test and storing it in your short term memory reasonably well, it's not hard at all. You're given samples of all the important wines to remember so that you can link a sense memory to them as well. They really do it all for you, you just have to show up and be willing to listen and learn.

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Ola posted:

I find that taste in most Cab I drink, it's just not as pronounced or as green in ripe ones. Fresh rolling tobacco is a classic note, but not very common knowledge these days. Perhaps it's gone completely in very jammy ones.

I take this back, sort of. I'll certainly give Kasumeat right in that it isn't ubiquitous.

My local shop got some various vintages of a Haut Medoc in, Ch. Bertrand Braneyre. Tried a 2001 last weekend, very nice Bordeaux with a bit of leaf and earth. Tried a 2000 today, corked. Not super badly, or perhaps I'm not that sensitive to TCA. Life hack: Open the bottle before the wine shop closes. I let a glass air an hour, but it still wasn't gone, took it back and they agreed. Apparently more 2000s had been faulty so I swapped for a 2009 instead, although it was a different cuvée. Famously hot vintage, this bottle too. Lots of chocolate and mocha on opening, the fruit was more towards cherry than blackberry, hardly any tannins but nice acid and no boozy alcohol, so it's not a Parker bomb or anything like that. But all the bushy earthy stuff I like in Bordeaux is absent. If I got it blind I would have guessed Italy, maybe a Chianti Classico. It just tastes like dense red wine, with no particular character.

So I'm not very happy about that bottle, but very happy about learning some more about what I like in wine, which is exactly what drinking different vintages can teach you. The shop recommended 2010s, but they were sold out. Perhaps that would have been more to my liking, but I'll be happy to try some more 2001s.

Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED
2010 was just a magical vintage for almost all of Europe, the likes of which we'll probably never see again thanks to climate change. The wines have this nearly-impossible combination of full phenolic ripeness—the aromatics are intense, with whites tropical, and reds showing very little greenness—but minimal physiological ripeness. Many winemakers who decide their harvest date on lab specs lamented that their wines never reached acceptable ripeness, yet once in the glass, nobody would deny the resulting wines were more than sufficiently ripe. That unreal combination of rich, almost-candied aromatics on a frame that's delicate, lively, and low alcohol, is pure magic.

Kasumeat fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Dec 21, 2018

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Is the focus on minerality in white wines a new thing? I sort of feel like I'm just hearing about it the last couple of years, but of course that's probably just me; still I understand that the focus on acidity was a relatively recent trend (now being threatened by climate change) so has there been a similar thing with minerality?

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Today I'm drinking a Les Grands Champs Sancerre from Domaine Fouassier. It's the 2016 and it seems quite ripe, there are fruity aromas, not overtly citric or tropical like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but it's bordering on that territory. I guess you could call it a ripe gooseberry kind of thing. There's some green herbaceous notes mixed with a spicy aniseed smell, which I gather from the literature might be what people call "green pepper"? For me, it reads more like minerality mixed with oak expression. :shrug:

A lot of people seem to describe this wine as buttery, but I get none of that. There's a bit of body to the wine, maybe even a touch of bitterness, and a medium long finish. I miss more acidity to this wine. I'd want it to be sharper, and while the body might work well with the proper food pairing I'd rather have something more austere and snappy.

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Biomute posted:

Is the focus on minerality in white wines a new thing? I sort of feel like I'm just hearing about it the last couple of years, but of course that's probably just me; still I understand that the focus on acidity was a relatively recent trend (now being threatened by climate change) so has there been a similar thing with minerality?

Saying "acidity" is a new thing, but actual acidity isn't. I think it's a change in language, culture and ideas more than a change in wine. If "focus" means the beginning of discussion using the particular word, then the discussion of acidity is certainly much younger than acidity in wines. Older wines didn't lack acidity, people just used different words when talking about it. (Although the word acid probably comes from vinegar made from wine, vinegar is aceto in Italian).

Minerality is a useful adjective in my opinion, but after it became an important positive reviewer adjective and subsequently a money making word, it became controversial. I think it ties in with other cultural changes where it's not enough that a foodstuff is of a certain category or from a particular place, it has to have a certain terroir magic about it as well. People can't really agree on what minerality is. To me, minerality is a taste sensation like drinking mineral water or licking a stone (haven't done that in a while) or any sensation which reminds me of those. It's very close to acidity, but not quite the same. "Licking a 9V battery" is a classic comparison. Also been a while since that. You can smell it as well, and you can smell the same thing from breaking rocks. You get gunpowder smells in some wines as well, I feel those two overlap in smell sensation. One of the stoniest wines I've had was an '88 riesling, so the taste is definitely not new.

Chablis is perhaps the most striking example: https://vinepair.com/articles/what-makes-chablis-so-special/ But I've definitely had a few bottles lately where the oyster didn't jump out.

I don't know if my idea is correct, or even close. I've seen some very respected wine makers express concepts of "minerality" that doesn't fit my view on it. There's been some research debunking it and some confirming it, depending on how they set it up. I don't think the vine sucks up the stone and then you taste the actual stone, but any plant definitely sucks up something from the soil by its roots, and is affected by it, otherwise you wouldn't need soil to plant anything.

tl;dr minerality is definitely real, whatever it is

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Gunpowder is a pretty apt description for the anisy, herbal, stoney thing I was referring to actually.

I was thinking more of the popularity of wine with high acidity. I think I read somewhere that enamel-stripping wines was a relatively recent sommelier obsession, although yeah, I'm sure you're right that it's always been a factor in wine, and the enjoyment of said wine.

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Biomute posted:

Gunpowder is a pretty apt description for the anisy, herbal, stoney thing I was referring to actually.

I was thinking more of the popularity of wine with high acidity. I think I read somewhere that enamel-stripping wines was a relatively recent sommelier obsession, although yeah, I'm sure you're right that it's always been a factor in wine, and the enjoyment of said wine.

I think the enamel-strpping thing is a bit overstated, there are no wines that change your teeth in any way, short term at least. Even young Keller ones. There used to be a thing where sweetness was much more important than today, and thick texture too, which used to be a super hard quality to get in your wine, so that's why some people put bad chemicals in their 1980s Rieslings. I think, because sugar was rarer before than now, styles like kabinett etc were much more appreciated. A wine that tasted sweet was amazing, now we don't respect it. Now we think sweetness is badness. Conclusion: If anything, it's the prevalence of sugar in all other foods which has devalued a perfectly good way of making wine, more than acid which has become popular.

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Yeah, the enamel-stripping thing is a bit of hyperbole common in the sour beer circles, where extremely tart beers are actually starting to go out of fashion.

I see what you mean. It feels like today people mostly seek out the extremes. You've got pastry stouts in beer, and brut nature champagne in wine. I kind of dig that myself though, sweetness is everywhere, and while it can be great when paired properly the novelty of something drying and austere is just so nice. Maybe we're overstimulated and can't really enjoy balance most of the time I dunno.

thotsky fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Dec 22, 2018

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Yes, I think you're right. There's a constant hunt for the next big thing, in wine, beer, food etc, and elegance and balance doesn't really fit with that story. But they are still important qualities in the most famous and highest priced wines. I think I fall in with the masses here, I'm always looking for new things to try and I appreciate lots of character and flavor. I guess I'm just not a very balanced and elegant man. :v:

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Ola posted:

Yes, I think you're right. There's a constant hunt for the next big thing, in wine, beer, food etc, and elegance and balance doesn't really fit with that story. But they are still important qualities in the most famous and highest priced wines. I think I fall in with the masses here, I'm always looking for new things to try and I appreciate lots of character and flavor. I guess I'm just not a very balanced and elegant man. :v:

I don't necessarily see it that way. I don't think balance and elegance refer to a wine without strong, expressive qualities; rather, balance/elegance is what allows a wine's unique character and flavour to truly shine through. If you have a wine where the acid, sugars, tannins, etc. are all out of whack, whatever unique qualities the wine is going to display are going to be overwhelmed. That's not to say that balance is considered outside the context of style, though. A well-balanced Barolo is still going to have a shitton of tannin compared to a Beaujolais, and a well-balanced Sauternes is still going to be almost off the chart for residual sugar and acid.

If you were to take a photo of something, you have to consider lighting, composition, exposure time, etc. even though the thing you're most probably interested in taking the photo of is clear and in the foreground. You don't need to make sure these elements are the same for every photo, you have to make sure they support the primary focus of the photo.

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

PT6A posted:

I don't necessarily see it that way. I don't think balance and elegance refer to a wine without strong, expressive qualities; rather, balance/elegance is what allows a wine's unique character and flavour to truly shine through. If you have a wine where the acid, sugars, tannins, etc. are all out of whack, whatever unique qualities the wine is going to display are going to be overwhelmed. That's not to say that balance is considered outside the context of style, though. A well-balanced Barolo is still going to have a shitton of tannin compared to a Beaujolais, and a well-balanced Sauternes is still going to be almost off the chart for residual sugar and acid.

If you were to take a photo of something, you have to consider lighting, composition, exposure time, etc. even though the thing you're most probably interested in taking the photo of is clear and in the foreground. You don't need to make sure these elements are the same for every photo, you have to make sure they support the primary focus of the photo.

You're absolutely right about the wines themselves, but the popular conversation about wines, or craft beer etc, tends to focus on their particularities, not so much the classic qualities. I feel it too, when a producer or region says their wines are balanced and elegant, my eyes glaze over. Yawn, everybody says that! It's not a great attitude of course. It also leads to poor imitation. What defines white Burgundy? Chardonnay + oak and nothing more? Great, lets imitate that by growing Chardonnay in Spain, California and Australia, oak it to hell, charge Burgundy prices and swim in money! (to be fair, they're getting better at it now).

Kalenden
Oct 30, 2012
Hi,

I asked for recommendations for pairing food/wine for a New Years menu and got many excellent suggestions in. I listed the suggestions with the courses and am now looking to pair things from my cellar. I was wondering if you guys could be so kind as to have a look at my cellar and help pair things from there.

The available cellar is this one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zw-1eeu3jry_PDirR3oETZOPF-Pf4fCk/view

Since it is New Year: no price range. The best match and oldest wines prefered!

The Menu and my thoughts:

///////////////////////////////
*Lobster salad *

*Grapefruit - fregula - apple - candied tomato - cocktail sauce *

Suggestions from you guys:

Champagne: type

Blanc de Blancs

Taittinger Comtes

Pierre Peters Grand Cru BdB Cuvée de Reserve

Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs

Pierre Peters Chetillons

Ruinart Blanc de Blanc

From my Cellar: Unsure. Many available options. The Ruinart Blanc de Blancs might work?

///////////////////////////////

*‘Cappuccino’ of ground chicory - scallops - chive cream *

*Toast of chicory, bacon and Reypenaer [type of cheese] *

Suggestions from you guys(also with next course)

White Burgundy

Girardin 1er Vineyard designate Meursaults , richer

Corton Charlemagne is awesome. (C-C Quintessence .

Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey 1er Cru single vineyard St Aubins are excellent

Comtes Lafon Meursault les Charmes.

Kumeu River Chardonnay Hunting Hill. (Mate’s and even the basic Estate “Chardonnay Kumeu” are also good.)

Puligny-Montrachet

Chablis

Sancerre

South African SB

Sauvignon Blanc with a bit of Semillon

Sec or Demi-Sec Vouvray

From my Cellar: Unsure. Many available options. Is there a good solid older white that would work in your opinion?

///////////////////////////////

*Brill [Fish, similar to Turbot] 'à la nage' with Zeeland mussels, gray shrimps and chestnut mushrooms *

*Foamy crustacean sauce *

Suggestions (see previous course)

*Crispy fried veal cheek and thymus [ also known as neck sweetbread ; veal sweetbread] *

*Mousselines of celeriac and parsnip - croquettes of polenta - spring rolls of forest mushrooms - sauce of Porto *

Suggestions from you guys:

red Burgundy

Burgundy from Beaune

Chambolle-Musigny

*morey or Gevrey

Bourdeaux

Cru Beaujolais

rustic Rhone (north or south),

St Joseph (Strong)
rustic Barolo.

Rioja Roda I would be great, though Spanish wines didn’t really come to mind.

Burlotto Monvigliero
Jamet Cote-Rotie

Nebbiolo

Chateau-neuf-du-pape

Pegau, Donjon, etc. I love Pegau.
Pintia

Domaine des Lambrays CdL with a little age or Bachelet Corbeaux with a little age or de Montille 1er Cru Volnays or Foillard Morgon Cote du Py

From my Cellar: Again Unsure. Many available options. I'd prefer something on the stronger side, I guess.

///////////////////////////////

*Apple pie from the oven with figs, raisins and pistachios * *'Globe' of bitter chocolate with speculaas ice cream *

Here I know: D'Oliveira Verdelho Madeira 1966

///////////////////////////////

Any help is much appreciated! Looking forward to suggestions.

taco show
Oct 6, 2011

motherforker


Just drank a cool biodynamic wine from Piedmont. 100% Cortese (this but 2014)

Super weird and barnyardy, tiny bit of cleaning-liquid lemony ness on the nose. Tastes like a cider- bright acidity, crisp apples. Idk if I could crush a bottle by myself but it was pretty fun.

Also I generally don’t like Italian wines that much so a nice surprise!

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot
Drinking a Niepoort Redoma Branco 2017. It's a blend of grapes, but to me it seems it smells a lot like Sauvignon Blanc. In the aroma there's lime, peach/gooseberry, some florals/herbs, but what differentiates it from something like a Sancerre is a hint of oak. The flavor is more overtly fruity than the aroma, losing the lime note and instead offering up a ripe impression of sweetness despite the dry nature of the wine and its relatively high acidity. There's minerality too, and a slight bitterness makes the wine tingle on the tongue. The oak is present here as well, and reads as smoky/aniseed to me, but is very subtle and does not detract from the freshness of the wine. There is a bit of body to the wine, with an impressively long finish.

I paired this with gnocchi and broccoli in fried butter with tarragon and garlic. It worked well. I will buy this again, but I also want to try the Niepoort Redoma Reserva.

Comb Your Beard
Sep 28, 2007

Chillin' like a villian.
I'm kind of a traditionalist with NYE, gotta have some sparkling wine. What bottles y'all popping?

For me:
NV Bourrasque Vin Mousseux. My all time favorite budget sparkler. Loire Chenin Blanc, delivers some of that luscious round texture. I ordered a lot of this out of state just to get some.
NV G.D. Vajra N.S. della Neve. Extra Brut Rosé from Piedmont. 50% Nebbiolo, 50% Pinot Nero. Should be cool, had it at a wine dinner a while back but just now getting a single bottle.

PatMarshall
Apr 6, 2009

Comb Your Beard posted:

I'm kind of a traditionalist with NYE, gotta have some sparkling wine. What bottles y'all popping?

For me:
NV Bourrasque Vin Mousseux. My all time favorite budget sparkler. Loire Chenin Blanc, delivers some of that luscious round texture. I ordered a lot of this out of state just to get some.
NV G.D. Vajra N.S. della Neve. Extra Brut Rosé from Piedmont. 50% Nebbiolo, 50% Pinot Nero. Should be cool, had it at a wine dinner a while back but just now getting a single bottle.

Pol Roger. I go back and forth with that one and Bolly. Not too pricey, but feels special.

Trimson Grondag 3
Jul 1, 2007

Clapping Larry

Comb Your Beard posted:

I'm kind of a traditionalist with NYE, gotta have some sparkling wine. What bottles y'all popping?

For me:
NV Bourrasque Vin Mousseux. My all time favorite budget sparkler. Loire Chenin Blanc, delivers some of that luscious round texture. I ordered a lot of this out of state just to get some.
NV G.D. Vajra N.S. della Neve. Extra Brut Rosé from Piedmont. 50% Nebbiolo, 50% Pinot Nero. Should be cool, had it at a wine dinner a while back but just now getting a single bottle.

Speaking from the future where it’s NYD already:

NV Louis Roederer Premier Brut - I know it’s probably very boring but it’s consistently very drinkable and goes with food.

NV Andre Clouet Grand Cru - this was very good, dry and toasty, quite rich after the one before

2018 Brave New Wine Sunshine and Hercules Riesling - Cloudy hipster riesling but I loved it.

2005 Magnum Hentley Farm The Beauty - this was okay but actually kind of a let down. It wasn’t the giant Barossa fruit bomb style but it was still berry focussed with some interesting tannins. Again not bad, just kinda boring.

thotsky
Jun 7, 2005

hot to trot

Comb Your Beard posted:

I'm kind of a traditionalist with NYE, gotta have some sparkling wine. What bottles y'all popping?

For me:
NV Bourrasque Vin Mousseux. My all time favorite budget sparkler. Loire Chenin Blanc, delivers some of that luscious round texture. I ordered a lot of this out of state just to get some.
NV G.D. Vajra N.S. della Neve. Extra Brut Rosé from Piedmont. 50% Nebbiolo, 50% Pinot Nero. Should be cool, had it at a wine dinner a while back but just now getting a single bottle.

I had 10 guests over, and asked those who felt like it to bring Champagne, but I would be serving my own with the menu me and my girlfriend had come up with:

Starter: Pan-fried scallops with lemon, on celeriac purée.
Wine: Pierre Gimonnet Oenophile Non Dose 2008


This champagne was amazing, really dry and acidic of course, which is what I wanted for the scallops, but up front it had some butter to it that went great with the celeriac purée. Really long finish.

Main: White ragu of rabbit with fennel and tarragon.
Wine: Taittinger Brut Réserve


Sort of a classic champagne. It was good, but not that special. I could have done better with this pairing, but maybe I'm just biased because I prefer champagnes with more obvious fermentation characteristics.

Pre-dessert / palate-cleanser: Physalis dipped in caramel and encrusted with candied ginger and lemon zest.
Wine: More of the same, I was gonna do a Pol Roger Rich Demi-Sec, but people were still enjoying the last one.

It was a really good good pairing, the sweet/sour combination really hit the spot.

Dessert: Mascarpone trifle with chocolate, coffee-infused cream, cherries and caramelized hazelnuts
Wine: Calem Vintage Port 1985


Pretty darn good. I've had this bottle for a while looking for an occasion where I could pop it. I should have decanted it yesterday, as I feel like there was still plenty of room for it to breathe. Lots of raisin, some coffee and chocolate.

During the evening we consumed most of the bottles people brought, there was:

Alexandre Bonnet Brut
De Monet Brut
A. D. Coutelas 'Louis Victor' Fut de Chene Brut
Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut


Of these, only the Pierre Peters really stood out to me, although Champagne is always nice; it had a nice bready/yeasty thing going on and it was intensely acidic. Will try to get a bottle or two of that.

Furious Lobster
Jun 17, 2006

Soiled Meat
02Krug was fantastic, totally blew Dom out of the water.

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PatMarshall
Apr 6, 2009

Krug loving rules.

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