What We Drank (September 21, 2010)

 This is what our editors and contributors were drinking last week....

 
Lenn Thompson: Wolffer Estate 2005 Reserve Chardonnay (Hamptons)

If you have any of this knocking around in your cellar, chill it only lightly and open it tonight. It's nearly impossible to know if it's truly peaking (and this was my last one) but it's tasting so delicous right now, that I don't want you to miss it.

I've been a vocal advocate for less (okay, usually no) oak in Long Island chardonnay, but Wolffer's winemaker, Roman Roth, has been crafting well-balanced chardonnays of varying styles for years. He truly does make most of his wines with aging in mind -- this wine is a fine example.

Any raw oak flavors have faded away, leaving lovely roasted nuts, soft vanilla and an intriguing juniper berry character, all supporting a still-lively core of pear and citrus fruit.

The acidity is still fresh, balancing the rich creamy mouthfeel on the mid-palate, and making it damn near perfect with our pasta tossed with roasted squash, roasted garlic and sauteed kale.

I'm not saying that you should hold onto barrel aged chardonnay from any ole Long Island producer, but with the best, five years in the cellar will clearly be rewarded.

Evan Dawson: Paumanok Vineyards 2004 Grand Vintage Merlot (North Fork)

This is an excellent example of why wine needs time to show off the evolution of its character.

We opened this bottle in solidarity with my wife's parents, who are staying at Shinn Estate this week for their first trip to Long Island wine country.

They loved their visit to Paumanok, so we thought we'd connect to their experience.

This wine opens as pure, rich soil. I mean that in a wonderful sense. It's like rich loamy earth pockmarked with dark cherry notes. Full and long, but also showing the kind of acidity that has kept it so remarkably fresh. It was a huge hit on the first night.

In a reversal of a more typical pattern, the second night saw the wine shed much of the earth in favor of voluptous primary fruit. If you could somehow pour a glass of night one and a glass of night two, and taste them side-by-side, you'd not possibly declare them to be the same wine. If you were me, you would dig them both for showing unique sides without ever showing much oak. We've got one more bottle left of this, and I'm going to hold it for quite a while to see what else develops.

Julia Burke: Thomas Coyne 2004 Mourvedre, Contra Costa County

I'm a firm believer that when done right, mourvedre is one of the sexiest of all grapes. This is mourvedre done right, and though I typically have to be sold hard on Californian wines, I couldn't ignore the raw sex appeal of this baby.

With a nose of bitter baker's chocolate with a hint of chili pepper and sweaty, horse barn-y musk, the nose on this wine only suggests what the palate has in store: an explosion I could only describe to my co-workers as Javier Bardem in a glass.

It's full-throttle testosterone tangoing with rustic European charm, dirty and lusty with tannin and earth, and oh, that finish...flashes of everything from Cheerios-esque minerality to sweaty sex musk in the backseat of a leather car make for a length that was akin to my life flashing before my eyes.

Ladies and gentlemen, this may be the most rapturously I've ever spoken about a California wine.

Pair it with the Solomon Burke song "Flesh and Blood" and plan on staying in.

David Flaherty: Pêche Mel Scaldis, Brasserie Dubuisson, Belgium

Scaldis (the original version) is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale that clocks in at a whopping 12% abv -- that's a boatload of malt to hilt you over the head and a virtual rocket to the moon. Drink a few of these while dancing in Brugges one night and you'll be sure to kiss the next morning goodbye.

 

After noticing that local Belgian students were mixing it with Peach Geuze Lambic to take the bite out of its malty bite -- but in no way lessening its alcoholic vise grip -- the brewery (Brasserie Dubuisson) decided to take the clever combination of the students' recipe and brew their own version.  

What they came up with is the Pêche Mel. Brewing the regular version of Scaldis, they've altered the recipe a bit, adding peach puree to the mix and bring the beer down to 8.5% abv.

 

They call it the "Pêche Mel Bush" in Europe, but when they tried to come to the shores of the U.S., Anheuser-Busch put up a stink -- I mean, a Bud Light drinker may just confused when he sees this on the shelf -- so they changed the name to Pêche Mel Scaldis for the U.S. market.

 

It is a beast of a beer. In all honesty, I felt a bit like I was being held down and force-fed a handful of fresh peaches covered in Vermont maple syrup.  

Delicious?  Hmmm...don't know if I'd go there. I did drink the whole beer, though, and rather quickly. It was strangely terrifying and titillating at the same time. A raging bull in a velvet jacket.

Comments

[Jay Schneider]

We just opened the Paumanok 2001 Assemblage, and glad we waited this long. We have a few 04's lying around, hoping to let them age a few more years.

[Evan Dawson]

Jay - Good idea. I think a bit more time would bring it into peak form. But I can tell you it's drinking beautifully now, should you experience a weak moment!

[Sasha]

Julia -- had some of the Thomas Coyne over 4th of July weekend with some friends and it was a huge hit. Thanks for doing justice to it here!

[Jay Schneider]

How did that last post get here?