Good friends are friends that host a little dinner party once in a while. Great friends used to work at a world-class winery and were gifted bottles of experimental wines that they held onto for years, waiting for the perfect opportunity to uncork and enjoy.
So it was that two friends, about to give up on New York for a ’round-the-world adventure, had a few noted snobs and budding wine enthusiasts — and me — over for a night of indulging. E worked at Ridge Winery when she and S lived in the Bay area, and as a gift from the winery several years ago, she received three special bottles of 2003 Zinfandel.
The neat thing about these three Zins? Cuttings were taken in each of the three regions noted on the bottles, and grafted onto root stock in Geyserville. The wines produced are a product of the terroir, then, of the original location of the grafts. The experiment taught a lesson in how different the same grapes could be even when each of the original three vines were then grown in identical conditions.
Before we got to that, though, there were other treats in which to partake. First up, S&E shared some of their stash of Bender, a 5%ish “oatmeal brown ale” from Surly Brewing, picked up from a recent trip to Minnesota: tasty, in balance between the somewhat sweet maltiness and a little background bitterness, the edge on the darker malts “rounded off” by the addition of oats, and reasonably low in alcohol. Plus, cans! The draft lines are everywhere in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and rightfully so. The good news is that the brewery is pretty much at capacity, and don’t really embrace the ticker mentality of constant new, strange, high-alcohol releases. And when they have done something different, such as the Coffee Bender, it’s almost assuredly a winner. Highly recommended, as are pretty much all the beers Surly brews.
Next, a bottle of 2002 Ridge Chardonnay was opened. While I thought it was a little past its prime — go figure — and I’m not a big fan of oaked Chardonnay to begin with, this bottle didn’t overwhelm with butter. Much of the acidity and “brightness” was gone to my palate, but it remained an easy drinker, and wasn’t displaying any real flaws, staying fruity and maybe a little thicker mouthfeel than I expected.
E also whipped up a couple of delicious dishes for eating with the wines. The onion tart was excellent; each bite was packed pretty much entirely with sweet onions. I think even the binder was laden with onions. The lamb, slow-cooked much of the day, was tender and retained much of its juiciness, and how do you go wrong with stew staples like potatoes and carrots?
The three wines were poured, after easily an hour of breathing. All were stored carefully in wine refrigerators for the length of their existence in similar conditions, so any differences could be isolated to the vines carrying different code for how to develop its fruit. I drank them right to left; by appearance, there simply was not a difference I could see.
The Pronsolino was up first. Pronsolino has a moderate climate; the mountains allow for warm days and cool nights, which will allow acidity to build in the grapes. The wine made from these vines was, to my palate, bordering on astringent. It was rather sharp and alcoholic in the nose; particularly dry, it didn’t quench so much as it made me pucker a little. Sure, there was a little fruit in there, but it was nearly consumed by the cloud of alcohol.
Moving on, the Hearts Desire vines proved to hold up better, with “jammy” fruit leading the charge and an accommodating nose allowing me to breathe it in without thinking of alcohol vapor. This, too, finished quite dry, but the residual sugars seemed a bit greater in this expression of the grapes.
Last, and best, Picchetti most resembled more “prime” Ridge zins, with a powerful fruity punch right up front, big cherry, plum, floral flavors largely masking the potent alcohol content — all three wines likely crested 15% alcohol by the time they were opened. The Picchetti, unsurprisingly, proved the best match for the food as well, though the relative dryness of Hearts Desire sometimes seemed the one to reach for with the tart.
I wouldn’t say a couple of these had peaked too long ago, but they had certainly developed a profile and structure that I wasn’t completely sold on. But knowing me, had these been in my possession they would have been opened years ago. I’m amazed my friends could sit on these for so long. E preferred Pronsolino, actually, while the rest of us seemed firmly in Picchetti’s camp. I can understand the love for Pronsolino, though, as I thought it more closely resembled a reasonable Malbec than Zin at this point and, well, sometimes you want a Malbec, right?
While we compared the wines, we also compared two very different olive oils from the same producer, McEvoy Ranch. The standard extra-virgin olive oil, at left, was a tasty, slightly herbal and grassy treat; but the Olio Nuovo, at right, is something else, as evidenced by the oil levels in the bottles. Bright green and pungent, the Olio Nuovo just intensified all the flavors I’ve come to expect in olive oil, and tasting these side by side, I can see why McEvoy commands $22 for these small (375ml) bottles – when they can keep them in stock, that is.
Now that we’d finished the taste test, it was of course time for… more aged wine, this time a 1997 Montebello. While I figured this to be less than prime, it still retained some interesting purple fruit and raspberry flavor to offset the dryness and what seemed to be a beastly amount of alcohol. It’s a Bordeaux blend (85% cab sauv), I’m told, and I’ve never had red Ridge wine that wasn’t Zinfandel or Petit Syrah, so it was a new experience for me. We made understandably short work of this bottle.
Aside from the beer, we managed to put a pretty good dent in out hosts’ Ridge supplies for the evening, which I’m pretty sure was exactly the point. While no more wine was to be consumed that evening, do you really think we were done? Of course not.
Like any good alcohol appreciation collective, we kept drinking, ending the evening, more or less, with a homebrewed Black IPA, a newish style that has become one of the biggest “I must brew this type of beer” for seemingly every single brewery in the past year or so. And Ben’s version failed to disappoint — the citrusy hops managed to coexist peacefully with judicious use of roasted barley and its attendant bitterness. While it might have been a bit on the thin side, it was overall a very good beer, and one that likely would have scored quite well at the last New York City Homebrewers Guild homebrew competition, Homebrew Alley 5, except that he failed to enter it on time. His loss.
Plus, I really, really enjoyed a side trip made to Duluth specifically for Fitger’s a year and a half ago, so I wanted its pint glass to be immortalized on this site.
In all, a very special evening was planned and executed to perfection, and I count myself lucky to know such interesting, generous people. I can only hope to return the favor in the near future.
Feisty Foodie says
I seriously thought that was pizza, not an onion tart.
How do I know, when I buy wine, if it’s the kind that will benefit from aging, or the kind that will just turn gross?
BeerBoor says
Research, research, research. As my friend pointed out on Facebook, certain of the Ridge blends are known for lasting decades if properly cellared. Bordeaux are the stereotypical candidates for long-term aging, but it really takes a trained professional (the winemakers count in this category usually) to understand if the structure of the wine will allow it a long life.
David says
The first rule of thumb is that most wines are not meant for long aging.
The second, though just as important, is that if you don’t have proper storage (dark, cool (52f-65f), consistent, reasonably humid, and low vibration) conditions, don’t waste your time or money trying to do any serious aging. Chances are when you open that special bottle 10-20 years down the road, it won’t be very good.
Next, make sure you like the flavors of aged wine of the category that you are going to age. Many people don’t enjoy older wine as much as young wine as it loses primary fruit flavors. If you don’t like aged wine as much, no point in aging wine to seem more sophisticated. You’ll just be dissapointed.
From their, the best way (and there is definitely no certain way) of telling if a wine ages, is experience. If you’ve been into wine for a few decades, you might have the chance to taste various wines along their aging curves. In doing so, you build up a mental database of what various wines were like in their youths, and how that curve progressed over time. That’s not very useful if you’re just getting into wine.
So if that is the case, best to
1) Check out the track records of the wines that you are looking to age and cross reference various vintage characteristics (ripeness (sugar and phenolic) of the fruit, tannin levels, acid levels etc). Chances are, if you buy an 09 Mouton or 07 Monte Bello (both extraordinary wines and vintages; wines with excellent track records for aging) and store the wine properly, in 10-30 years, you’re going to have an awesome bottle!
2) Talk to people who do have some experiencing with aging and get some advice. What is important here, however, is to try to get a good understanding of their preferences and how well they map onto yours. There is plenty of debate over older wines and vintages (and lots of consensus too), much of that is down to what the drinker likes
Here are a few VERY general things to keep in mind. Note these are NOT rules, just generalizations with some good backing
A) Bordeaux (particularly, Left Bank, Cab based wines), from tannic vintages, which are built to age (not all are), will taste pretty damn good just after bottling for about 2-3 years. After that, they shut down, for another 8-10 years, depending on vintage. After that there is a curve of improvement which will vary greatly depending on wine style, vintage, storage etc
B) California Cabernet CAN age very well, but you need to be very careful of what style the wine was made in. In general, the superripe sorts (high alcohol, virtually no pyrizine (bell pepper) aromas, low acidity) do not age very well, regardless of cost. However, wines make with a bit more restraint in ripeness (Montebello, Corison, Stag’s Leap, etc) do age very well in top vintages. I can’t afford the likes of Screaming Eagle or Harlan, so I have no idea, other than reading, how those do
C) German Riesling (QmpP, not QbA) with ripeness over Spätlese tend to age VERY well, despite the notion that white wines don’t really age well
D) Red Burgundy, from great producers, and great sites, in great vintages age very well. Typically not as well as Bordeaux and Cab based wines (though some can go for ages). Additionally, they tend not to go into an awkward stage like bordeaux
E) Super Ripe Cali Pinot (Loring, Kosta Browne, Brewer Clifton etc), don’t age for shit. Elegant Cali Pinot (Littorai, Copain post 2006, Au Bon Climat, etc) seem to age quite well, similar to red burgundy; but there isn’t as much data as with Burg.
There’s lots more, but I’m late in getting ready
Hungry says
So this is how adults like to party.
BeerBoor says
It’s either this or a weekend potluck, I guess!
Tania says
Inspiring notes and write up – thank you for sharing. Perhaps it is time to open my bottle of ’03 Heart’s Desire afterall. Tania (co-worker with Emma at Ridge)
BeerBoor says
I heartily encourage this behavior. I believe David (above) is doing the same tonight, or really soon. It’s apparently the month for Hearts Desire 2003 tastings!