Shift of Gears

I’m going to do my best to maintain this blog.  That means that I need to start writing about more wines, perhaps with less story.  In the coming weeks, look for shorter posts that are more review-like (and less article-like) in style.

One More (Special) Freebie

I know, I promised to jump off of the “free to me” train after this stop.  And I will.  Unless something worth writing about falls into my lap.  Which, for reasons I’m not going in to, probably won’t happen any time soon.

This special free bottle was given to me, not because it was old (which is was), and not because it was bad (which it wasn’t), but because I asked for it. 

My (now former) boss’ cousin passed away fairly recently.  And this cousin’s widow asked Phil to go through their cellar with her (seems that the cousin was the wine buff).  So he did, and she sent him away with a case or so of older wine that she wasn’t interested in.  I looked through these wines with Phil, we takled about them, and he gave me one.  It was a 1989 St. Emilion from a Chateau I’d never heard of.  It was decent, though pretty tired.

Another bottle in that box caught my eye, however.  I asked him if I could buy it from him, and being the generous friend that he is, he gave it to me. 

The reason that he’s now my former boss is that I’ve moved.  I live in Boston now, with my wonderful, beautiful fiancee.  The reason the this particular bottle caught my eye is that it was born in the same year as her.  When she was conceived, the vineyards were green and the buds were breaking.  Her mother was about 7 months pregnant when the grapes were being harvested.  And when she was born, the wine had probably just gone into barrel. 

1976 was a great vintage for the Napa Valley.  The best examples are still young and vibrant, with plenty of fruit and fine tannin to last for several more years.  The 1976 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon was no exception. 

I was actually blown away by just how young this wine seemed.  The color was still deep and solid, a nice plummy/ruby purple/red with little to no glint of brick to give away its age.  The nose was full of bright cassis fruit, subtle spice and herb notes. 

The palate was the biggest shock for me.  It was so subtle, so elegant and silky, so well integrated… I would have thought it was a Pinot Noir if I’d gotten it in a blind tasting.  The big, rich cassis and cherry fruit were framed by ample acidity and very fine tannins.  A spicy, almost olive-like quality came through on the long finish.  Overall, plenty of fruit along with continuing tannins and acidity gave this wine impeccable balance.

Impeccable balance.  And so I’ve settled in Boston with the love of my life.  This bottle and a wonderful dinner marked a great celebration.  A bottle as old as my love, that had aged almost as gracefully.  But she will continue to get better with age.  For many, many years to come.

A Pattern Emerges

It’s obvious by now that I am a terrible slacker when it comes to this blog. I’ve been “blogging” (I use that term very loosely) here for about 8 months. In that time, I’ve hammered out a solid 4 posts (including the one that I’m typing now). Totally brought-en, if you ask me.

My slacking, however, is not the pattern that I’m referring to (though, in my life, that is a pretty clear pattern as well). I sat down to type this thinking about a bottle that I drank a few nights ago. And then it occurred to me that there was another noteworthy bottle from a few weeks ago that I should make a post for. The tie that binds these bottles (along with two others that I’ve already written about) is that they’ve been free to me.

Gratis.  Handed to me with a smile. 

Working in the retail booze biz, there’s actually quite a bit of free crap to be had.  T-shirts, glasses, hip-flasks, hats, etc.  And every so often, there’s free booze.  Like partial bottles that were poured at tastings.  Or a few beers from a six-pack that was dropped (watch out for shards of glass stuck to the outside of the bottle – trust me).  But occasionally full bottles will be handed out.  Maybe it was a sample from a distributor that there’s no interest in carrying.  Maybe another bottle broke and splattered the label, making it unsaleable… Or maybe it’s a bottle of Gewurztraminer from Alsace that’s over ten years old, covered in dust, that will continue to sit on the shelf because no one (selling or buying) has much of an idea what it is, even though it’s from a great producer and a wonderful vintage (that happens to be long forgotten because it was over ten years ago).        

The wine that I’m referring to was a 1996 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Goldert.  This bottle was 13 years old when I got my hands on it. That’s TOO old for probably (more than) 99% of Gewurz on the market. I was nervous about opening it.  The ambient conditions in the wine shop are not exactly cellar-like. I imagined pulling the cork and finding a fruitless, oxidized, sherry-tasting mess.

But this wine was made by one of the top 5 or so producers in Alsace. And it was a single (Grand Cru) vineyard at that…

I cut the capsule away and sank the worm of my Laguiole into the cork. I swear to you, as soon as the cork was pierced, I could smell Gewurztraminer. The cork came out solidly and easily. And one quick whiff of the bottle confirmed that this wine was indeed still alive and well 13 years later.

The wine’s age was evident in its color.  It was a brilliant golden yellow.  A satisfying, deep color that made me know that there was something serious in my glass.  Beautiful.

The nose was that classic Gewurz mix of lychee, rose and spice.  On the palate, the wine was weighty and sweet, but balanced with a bright, lemon/lime acidity.  I was actually surprised by just how sweet it was.  The alcohol wasn’t particularly low (if I remember, it was around 13%), which led me to believe that it was going to be fully dry.  The combination of the sweetness and the richness of this wine made me think of quality, estate bottled Spatlese.  The palate was very complex and mixed this sweetness (which began to remind me of burnt sugar) with steely acidity, nutty and spicy characters, and a bright peach/apricot component.  The finish was long and elegant, bringing back the richness and caramelized sugar quality.

Free.  Amazing.   Typically, these two descriptors don’t go together.  I feel like I’m doing pretty well matching them up these days, though.  There will be one more free bottle talked about shortly.  Then maybe I’ll pick up the tab on a few…