Tasting with Da Knurd

With the breakup of the NC Cindy group, WineKnurd and I decided to get together on our own at Six Plates Wine Bar.

• 2011 Le Rocher des Violettes Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Borderies 79 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire

  Poured into the glass, this is absolutely gorgeous, with a nice golden hay color and a fair amount of viscosity. The nose has very little to it, with mostly crushed rock. There is also the barest hint of apple and honeydew or star fruit. It was poured cold, but as the wine warmed an unpleasant, mold-like character crept in. On the palate, there was bright lime, mango, and other citrus on the front palate, which is full and quite delicious. The mid-palate, however, has some of that mold character that strongly detracts from the fruit. The finish has stone and a good bit of minerality, and while the moldiness tones down, it is still there enough to make the experience...unfortunate. Like the nose, the moldiness gets worse as the wine warms. I had asked the wine bar proprietor to make a recommendation, and watched him open this bottle, so I know it was fresh. I also asked him to taste it to see if it was flawed, and he declared it was not. I asked the WineKnurd to taste it, as well, and he also did not think it was flawed, and further argued that it was highly unlikely that mold had affected the flavor in any way. Accordingly, I am not marking this as flawed. Instead, I am marking it as lousy. Just to be clear, though, I like a lot of what this wine has to offer, so I can't just give 50 points and call it awful. Most of the flavors, I really liked. I just couldn't enjoy them. Perhaps others can.

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• 2011 Tegernseerhof Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Bergdistel 84 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  The color is fairly light yellow, and it is not very viscous. The nose on the pop and pour reveals a fair amount of spritz, even on a screw-top bottle, but the remainder of the nose does not leap from the glass. It is a bit chalky, with some melon rind, but not really a whole lot of fruit. On the palate, this had lots of grapefruit, but again, too much of the pith, with quite a lot of bitterness. There is quite a major alcohol prominence, paired with a fair amount of juniper-like flavors, so this comes across as fairly gin-like. The wine has a bit of a redeeming long finish, which is much better balanced than the primary palate, with serious slate and gravel minerality, and bold acidity to keep one's palate interested. It isn't enough to overcome the main flavor profile, however, and I still can't recommend this wine at $22.

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• 2011 Terras Gauda Rías Baixas Abadia de San Campio 91 Points

  Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas

  Extremely dark golden, golden yellow, by far the richest looking example of Albariño I've ever seen. The nose just jumps out with a bunch of cat pee! At first blush, this is New Zealand Sauvignon blanc, but with a little air there is lemon and yellow tomato. The nose really varies over time. On the palate, sharp green apple along with a notable saline quality, although it is kind of a soup-like saltiness, rather than seashell. There is some minerality, but it is more of a "dark" flavor, almost iron-like, but balanced with lemon and other citrus. This very much has a full-bodied "fat" character, not quite creamy, but with balancing acidity. It keeps changing as the evening moves on. Overall, this is probably the best, most interesting Albariño I've ever had, although decidedly unusual. The web indicates that this has no oak treatment, making it even more difficult to explain the richness. Very interesting wine, and really amazing at the Searcher price of $16.

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• NV Alves de Sousa Porto 10 Year Old Tawny Quinta da Gaivosa 91 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Reddish purple-brown, very dark and hard to see. The nose is really nice, but hard to place, with dried cherries, cognac-infused raisin, fig jam, and toasted almond and pecan. The palate is big, and still halfway between a tawny and ruby. Rich plum sauce, more of the dried cherry, and some blackberry reduction on the ruby side; but also plenty of vanilla, toffee, dark chocolate and caramel on the tawny side. It has decent acidity, but only a medium length finish. Overall, it is good, but not great, at the Searcher price of $35, it performs at its price point, but not above. 91 is the top of the range, for me.

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He sure picked better than I did. His choices were the last two. He's a good guy with deep wine knowledge and I missed his company at the NC Cindy tasting. I'm glad we're able to meet up separately, and I look forward to doing it again.