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Faux 4th of July - Wine & Friends weekend in NH
New London, NH
Tasted July 19, 2019 - July 20, 2019 by retired_and_roving with 154 views
Introduction
Every year we gather with friends at our friend's home in NH. Usually we do this over the 4th of July weekend, but this year calendars did not align so we postponed and celebrated a few weeks later. Our trip this year coincided with the intense heatwave and NH, while cooler than NYC, was still hot, hot, hot. Rather than hanging outside which we would normally do, we hunkered down in the cool air conditioning, made food, ate meals, told stories, shared laughs and drank wine. Nothing better than sharing some bottles with old friends and our dogs.
Flight 1 - Day 1 (7 notes)
White
2018 Weingut Keller Riesling Limestone
First wine of the day and a new one for me. Very mineral, tart and sweet simultaneously - pretty nose. Not sure this is my thing but fun to taste.
White
2018 Mortellito Terre Siciliane Calaiancu
Wine #2. Grillo 90% / 10% Catarratto - organic and raised in stainless steel. I really quite liked this one - it has that coastal salinity and minerality, mouth watering acidity and a nice freshness. Enjoyable.
White
2017 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bourgogne-Aligoté
Wine #3. Has that characteristic PYCM struck match nose. Really nice wine - green apple, straw and wet stones. Medium finish. Liked this quite a bit.
Rosé
2018 Stein Rosé trocken
Wine #4 . Think this is my first time with a German rosé. Quite lean and racy in style - red fruits on the nose, but minerality and acidity on the palate more than fruit. This one really needs food.
Rosé - Sparkling
N.V. Marguet Champagne Grand Cru Shaman 15 Rosé
Wine #5. Disgorged Dec-2018. Beautiful deep pink color. A bit of a baby killing here as I am sure this will improve with some cellar time. Pretty darn tasty though - it leads with minerals and racy acidity but there are red fruits and yeasty flavors that come through mid palate. Lovely bubbles!
Red
2016 Les Marecos Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes
Wine #6. Much better experience than the first outing back in March. Popped and poured this time. Sappy and juicy young syrah with some cracked black pepper among the red and black berries. Still super young but paired well with burgers.
Red
2000 Antonio & Elio Monti Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Pignotto
flawed
Wine #6. Lots of must and wet cardboard on the nose for me - I thought this was definitely corked although others disagreed. On the palate mature dark fruit, damp earth and wet cardboard.
Flight 2 - Day 2 (9 notes)
Rosé
2018 Terrassen Blaufränkisch Rosé
My first time trying a rosé from Blaufrankisch. This was quite an easy drinking rosé, red fruits and bright acidity on opening but mellowing into a softer textured finish. Served with salad for lunch.
White
2018 Gaia Assyrtiko Thalassitis
Nice to try the new vintage of one of my favorites wines from our Santorini trip in 2017. Of Gaia's three Assyrtiko offerings, this 100% stainless version was my favorite. The '18 was also delicious - I love the purity and crispness of the fruit, bright lemony acidity, sea salt and minerals. It is lean, racy and right on point.
White - Sparkling
2011 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine
Disgorged April 2013 - Hot damn - this was delicious! Yes it was over 100 degrees outside - but the a/c was blasting and we were whiling away the Sat afternoon with friends sipping some good juice:-) This was the wine of the weekend by group consensus. Served at cellar temp (no additional chilling) Beautiful toasty, bread dough aromatics. Delicate mousse, golden apple and essence of red berries, with toasted honey and bread dough, minerals on the long lingering finish. Really pretty and distinctive - great value.
White
2017 Benanti Etna Bianco
100% Carricante - aged in stainless steel. Love this grape variety and my first time trying this producer - won't be the last. Textured richer mouthfeel coupled with racy acidity - stone fruit and tart apples, chalky mineral finish. Delicious!
White
2017 Matthias Hild Elbling Zehnkommanull
My first time trying the Elbling variety - never had actually heard of it. This was a pleasant easy drinking wine, fresh with good acidity but not racy, some minerals, aromatic nose - easy to gulp - nice on a hot summer day.
Red
2017 Littorai Pinot Noir Les Larmes
Really pretty nose of cherries and spice. Very balanced and pleasant to drink - red fruit, spine of acidity, earth and spice. Lightweight feel on the palate. Still quite young and imagine this will gain more complexity with 5 years of cellaring. Always my favorite US PN producer.
Red
2017 Enderle & Moll Pinot Noir Liaison
First time with this producer and PN from this region. Served after the Littori Les Larmes - which I quite liked- I would still give the nod to this wine (and at half the price that is great qpr). The nose here is very pretty and fragrant and the palate is also feminine, pretty and elegant - the way I prefer it. Very nice!
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Comment
Red
2017 Anders Frederik Steen Ardèche Pure magique pas des chimique
Every year when we gather for a "friends and wine" weekend in NH - our natural wine loving buddy always throws in a wacky treat for the rest of us. This was the surprise this year - just way too out there on the funky natural wine curve for me. This is very, very spritzy with a raspberry confection style nose and palate - I would say tutti frutti - reminded me of Lambrusco and I don't say with any affection:-) Not my thing. Fun to try though and we always have a laugh over our difference in palates.
Red
2017 La Clarine Farm Funky Drummer
65% Syrah, 29% Grenache, 6% Counoise - 100% whole cluster. Last wine of the day so notes are from memory. Enjoyable - nice structure from the syrah, some black tea notes, a hint of greenness and spices on the finish - dark berries but more of a medium weight. Most importantly for me - no spritz, which I can often find in natural wines.
Closing
Wine of the weekend was the V11 Cedric Bouchard Inflorescence Val de Vilaine - just a great showing. Also tried some new things - Elbling and Rosé of Blaufrankisch - which were really fun.