2 Book club wine dinners - Marlon James and poetry reading evening

at home
Tasted Friday, December 6, 2024 - Sunday, December 22, 2024 by Omar Khayyam with 118 views

Introduction

The book we discussed at the Marlon James event was even more tannic than the chateauneuf-du-pape wines we drank to our meal.

Flight 1 - Poetry (2 Notes)

aperitif

  • 2023 Grosset Riesling Polish Hill Clare Valley 94 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

    (12/8/2024)

    Wonderful already at the getgo. Clean and dry but with fruit and complexity. Winter apples, laundry basket, grilled citrus. Very nice finish.

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  • 2012 Radikon Oslavje 87 Points

    Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT

    (12/8/2024)

    This is fading but still has a fantastic nose with rotten apples, rhubarb pie and red berries. Tannic and fresh.

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Flight 2 - Poetry (4 Notes)

A slow boiled meat stew with lots of red wine and a fair amount of chipotle. Served with mashed potatoes (with a kicker of parmesan cheese and nutmeg) as well as collard greens.

Flight 3 - Poetry (1 Note)

fantastic pairing with Saint Agur cheese

  • 2009 Niepoort Porto Colheita 94 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    (12/8/2024)

    Wonderful. has complexity, spice box and figs, red and black fruit but also a lightness and freshness. Perfect match for a milder blue cheese, we drank it with some Saint Agur.

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Flight 4 - Marlon James (1 Note)

aperitif

  • 2021 Clément Lissner Gewurztraminer Muschelkalk 88 Points

    France, Alsace

    (12/15/2024)

    interesting, although vin nature supposedly should be even better at expressing terroir and varietal typicality as it is not masked by new oak, additives, heavy doses of sulphur etc etc. This wine is nice and fresh - the wine is more akin to an orange wine in color and not filtered - but is feels more like many other sour natural wines with some bitter notes, citrusy, orange rind preserves, honeycomb but not necessarily in a Gewürztraminer fashion, which I am not certain I would have guessed.

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Flight 5 - marlon James (2 Notes)

paired with hoed made rotisserie chicken with some ras el hanout spice mix, risotto, shiitake mushrooms

  • 2019 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Noir Altenbourg 95 Points

    France, Alsace

    (12/21/2024)

    Very good pinot noir! Dark red, with kirsch, spice box, and some old wood. A lot of fruit and great balance. Drinking really well and should keep for several years more in the cellar without doubt. Probably even better some years from now so that the oak is even more integrated. Needed a long decant. I think probably the best Pinot Noir from Alsace I have tried so far.

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  • 2014 Mayacamas Vineyards Merlot 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder

    (12/21/2024)

    Very structured for a merlot. Blackberries and a little sour&sweet come to the fore after maybe 6-7 hours in the decanter. Still a little primary.

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Closing

No problems in saving these red Ch9dP for another decade. At this point they need air and matching food. But also clear vintage differences between the 2010 and the 2012, with the 2010 more spry.

Grossets Polish Hill riesling has to be declared a world class heritage at some point.

The Weinbach Altenberg Pinot Noir was really something special and the best PN from Alsace I have ever tried.

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