Discovered in the cellar of a client: a MunJebel Bianco No.3 2006! MASSIVELY sedimented. Needs settling as per all sedimented wines, regardless of their colour. (People who say it is cloudy do not yet understand how to handle sedimented wine.) Settled and gently decanted, the wine is brilliant amber with red-hints. On the nose, evidently from the era of 'Frank's Wild Years', those early vintages with more than a spot more volatility than desired. And yet. The wine has calmed down in bottle, is now still and precise, intense, more red than white due to the maceration, and a brilliant last bottle by the fire after supper. Long, stony, dry, tannic, with far more positives than negatives. The flavours all dried stone fruits, ground pumice stone. Hailing from the end of the early era, pre-Frank's era of fine-tuning, the wine at once explains why the fine-tuning was necessary, whilst also demonstrating the power, quality, complexity, length that Cornelissen's early adopters always knew was there. I would rather have Frank's 2012 or 13 in the cellar - or a post-1998 Gravner, a Vodopevic or Le Coste Bianco del Paino - and anyone who owns this still should drink it up. But for a 'naively' produced unsulphited orange wine to show this well at 8 years old is a great testimony to Frank's belief that it was possible. It also held up for several days.
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Cloudy deep yellow apricot colour - something from Sicilian pottery. Nice nose of yeast, cider, apricot. Firm weight. Not so long finish of bitter honey. Hints of a lively acidity from its youth. Above all very interesting and unique. This rates a conversation.
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Orange Sunshine (skin-fermented white wines) (La Ciccia, San Francisco): Very cloudy. Intense Gueze / Kombucha / cider vinegar character, but also some red wine personality. But just so very severe; even in an orange wine lineup this is furthest to left field. Can't imagine drinking this in a normal wine context, but I could see enjoying it in a similar vein to Isastegi Cidre: slightly chilled, on a hot summer evening. (tasted blind)
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Another interesting wine from Cornelissen. Our impressions were similar to other tasters and in fact, our group actually thought this was a pleasant drink if you didn't consider it wine (more like the beer analogy). I got an interesting combination of peach and pickle juice - although others thought there was a strong grapefruit component.
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Color of a wheat beer. Big nose, but not floral, more pear, peach, green apple and mandarin orange (hard to peg down). Almost tasted like a slightly tart fruit liqueur. After 2 hours, bitter chocolate showed up and the color went slightly pinker. After 3.5 hours, it was creamsicle to the point I though it would taste good on vanilla ice cream. Day 2 was disappointing as it lost a lot of character. Saved the final glass for a week, and it went muddy (not recommended). I think this wine would be a good strong cheese wine.
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But others will score this an 82. Weird, wild wine. Cloudy, beer-colored wine. Belongs in the classification of Gravner and Movia Lunar (orange-colored wines). Intense flavor that changes over time/days. It doesn't taste like any other wine. I believe it has no sulfur added, so cool/cold storage of the wine seems important. This is a tough wine to get a handle on.
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8/9/2014 - David A.Harvey Likes this wine:
Discovered in the cellar of a client: a MunJebel Bianco No.3 2006!
MASSIVELY sedimented. Needs settling as per all sedimented wines, regardless of their colour. (People who say it is cloudy do not yet understand how to handle sedimented wine.) Settled and gently decanted, the wine is brilliant amber with red-hints.
On the nose, evidently from the era of 'Frank's Wild Years', those early vintages with more than a spot more volatility than desired. And yet. The wine has calmed down in bottle, is now still and precise, intense, more red than white due to the maceration, and a brilliant last bottle by the fire after supper. Long, stony, dry, tannic, with far more positives than negatives. The flavours all dried stone fruits, ground pumice stone.
Hailing from the end of the early era, pre-Frank's era of fine-tuning, the wine at once explains why the fine-tuning was necessary, whilst also demonstrating the power, quality, complexity, length that Cornelissen's early adopters always knew was there. I would rather have Frank's 2012 or 13 in the cellar - or a post-1998 Gravner, a Vodopevic or Le Coste Bianco del Paino - and anyone who owns this still should drink it up. But for a 'naively' produced unsulphited orange wine to show this well at 8 years old is a great testimony to Frank's belief that it was possible. It also held up for several days.
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9/3/2013 - Eric wrote: flawed
Awful. Just awful. Acrid, cloudy. Why did I even dare to put a taste in my mouth?
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5/13/2011 - riskun wrote: 92 Points
Cloudy deep yellow apricot colour - something from Sicilian pottery. Nice nose of yeast, cider, apricot. Firm weight. Not so long finish of bitter honey. Hints of a lively acidity from its youth. Above all very interesting and unique. This rates a conversation.
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7/30/2009 - 5laton wrote:
Orange Sunshine (skin-fermented white wines) (La Ciccia, San Francisco): Very cloudy. Intense Gueze / Kombucha / cider vinegar character, but also some red wine personality. But just so very severe; even in an orange wine lineup this is furthest to left field. Can't imagine drinking this in a normal wine context, but I could see enjoying it in a similar vein to Isastegi Cidre: slightly chilled, on a hot summer evening. (tasted blind)
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5/9/2009 - LoireFan wrote: 92 Points
Unpleasant the day opened. But 5 days later it was very interesting and fun to drink.
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6/15/2008 - NittanyLion wrote:
Another interesting wine from Cornelissen. Our impressions were similar to other tasters and in fact, our group actually thought this was a pleasant drink if you didn't consider it wine (more like the beer analogy). I got an interesting combination of peach and pickle juice - although others thought there was a strong grapefruit component.
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4/29/2008 - Lukeout wrote:
Color of a wheat beer. Big nose, but not floral, more pear, peach, green apple and mandarin orange (hard to peg down). Almost tasted like a slightly tart fruit liqueur. After 2 hours, bitter chocolate showed up and the color went slightly pinker. After 3.5 hours, it was creamsicle to the point I though it would taste good on vanilla ice cream. Day 2 was disappointing as it lost a lot of character. Saved the final glass for a week, and it went muddy (not recommended). I think this wine would be a good strong cheese wine.
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4/3/2008 - LoireFan wrote: 92 Points
But others will score this an 82. Weird, wild wine. Cloudy, beer-colored wine. Belongs in the classification of Gravner and Movia Lunar (orange-colored wines). Intense flavor that changes over time/days. It doesn't taste like any other wine. I believe it has no sulfur added, so cool/cold storage of the wine seems important. This is a tough wine to get a handle on.
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