On Tuesday, October 16, 2012 9:09:56 AM UTC-6, DaleW wrote:
> Mark hosted SOBER on a drizzly night last night. He started off greeting us with a beautiful bubbly, the 1996 Phillipponat "Clos de Goisses" Brut Champagne. Big but not ungainly, with baked bread, apples. Meyer lemon, and orange zest. Good acidity, fine mousse. Very nice. A-
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> Dinner was delicious, a delicious chicken/orzo soup, then grilled kebabs (chicken, zucchini, peppers, tomato, etc), followed by assorted cheeses and a lemon cake. The wine flights were blind except one bonus flight added by Craig.
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> White White Flight
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> We flailed a bit on this (I guessed Godello on #2) before Mark took pity on us and told us they were both Kerner from Alte Adige, which I think we would have really taken a while to get to. Nice wines.
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> #1) good acids, floral, citrusy fruits, good wine. 2010 Manni Nössing Kerner Südtirol Eisacktaler. B+
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> #2) this was exotic, with a pineapple and melon nose, but great acidity. Really good stuff, 2011 Koferhof Kerner. A-/B+
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> Flight 2 (reds)
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> Craig called Bdx 1995-1998, then Dan 1998, which made it pretty obvious RB, Mark confirmed all 1998 Pomerol. Great flight, all on upswing, but already delicious and with long futures.
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> #1 - herby, elegant but with power, my guess was Certan de May but it was 1998 La Conseillante. A-
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> #2 - this one had a constantly evolving nose: licorice, sweet fruits, vanilla, but seemed less exuberant than others. 1998 Ch. La Fleur de *** B
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> #3- more cassis, full and giving, great body and length, delicious, when Mark said “you should be able to guess based on variety” made VCC easy to guess. 1998 Ch. Vieux Chateau Certan. A-
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> #4- lovely, full, elegant, beautiful with a long future. 1998 Ch. Trotanoy. A-/A
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> Flight 3
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> Piedmont wasn’t too hard, but hard to believe these were both 1982 Barolo
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> #1- ok, I was thinking maybe 50s, madierized notes with some tar and sweet fruit underneath, not what one would expect from a good bottle. 1982 Marcarini “Brunate” Barolo NR
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> #2- fresh, vigorous, red fruits and spice, tar. 1982 Scavino “Bric del Fiasc” Barolo. B+/A-
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> Non-blind Intermezzo (Craig had samples from a trade tasting that afternoon). These had been opened a while. I thought these rather pleasant, apparently very old vines in Rias Baizas (where I’d only had whites), but at reported price tags probably not for me.
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> 2009 Goliardo Loureiro
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> wild hot nose , but rather cool and balanced on palate. Crunchy red fruits. B
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> 2009 Goliardo Espadeiro
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> wild melange of flowers and red fruits on nose, good acids, I liked. B+/B
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> Final Blind Flight
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> I think (with a hint about a birthyear) this was pegged as 1972 Burgundy quickly.
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> #1 - high almost sharp acids, bright red fruits, flowers, lovely. 1972 Grivot “Les Beaumonts” Vosne Romanee 1er. A-/B+
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> #2=fuller, earthy, very long, no hurry on this one. I’m a better social engineer than taster, but since Mark said the CdN was 1er, which made the CdB either village or GC, easy to guess Corton. #2 1972 Tollot-Beaut Corton A-
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> Since he had opened birthyear wines for Craig, Mark also opened one for me, the 1960 Burmeister Port . Not sure I’ve ever had a Burmeister before, but this was quite convincing. Like most ‘60s not a powerhouse, but this is a lovely lighter elegant port, nutty aromas over light red fruits, caramel, flowers. A-/B+
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> Very fun, delicious, and informative night, thanks Mark!
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> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Well Kerner is quite distinct. Had my first Italian version Saturday and thought it was quite distinct. The producer Kofererhof also produces a lot of other German grapes. Excellent Kerner and Sylvaner from 2006.