Monday, March 9, 2009

Good Grouper

Made a simple dinner of broiled NC grouper with buerre blanc. The grouper was supposedly spear caught off the coast of NC. I have no idea if it is true, but I saw the whole fish at my brothers and it had a hole through the head. Anyway, very high quality fish.

2001 Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons
This was just OK. Frankly, I enjoyed a bottle of the Brut Reserve recently more than this. It could be the vintage, but it seems to lack drive.

1997 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
Cork was soaked, so this probably saw some heat at some point. Still in pretty good shape, although rounder than I expected from Prager and this site.

1997 Freie Weingärtner Wachau Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
There was something off in this bottle. Maybe it was premoxed! Seemed like it was OK at first, but gradually slid down hill.

2002 Huët Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont
This was the most horribly flawed bottle I can remember in a long time. Some sort of combination of sewage, bleach, and vomit. It was so aggressively and stunningly awful that I was bewildered.

1995 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile
Again, a bit of mustiness right when opened that blows off nicely. This was a really grippy version of Frédéric Emile, especially in comparison to a recent 1997. No sign of the mysterious premature oxidation here. This showed really well with lots of minerals and only a hint of kerosene. I kept this in the fridge and enjoyed the rest 4 nights later when it was even better. Without a doubt, the best bottle of 1995 I’ve had and one of the better Frédéric Emile in recent memory.

1990 Château Suduiraut Sauternes
Really pretty mediocre. It was dominated caramel and crème brulée notes. It seemed to lack structure and precision. Too bad, I haven’t had good Sauternes in a while.

4 comments:

Lyle Fass said...

Too bad about the Huet as I think that is the class of thye '02 Demis.

Sharon said...

That's some snob drinking. Good on ya! Though isn't 02 Huet, like, 50 years too young? I think it refused to be tasted.

Sharon said...

Also, maybe I'm completely senile or have the shakes by now, but 2001 in Champagne? I don't think I've had one of those from any producer. Any idea why Pierre Peters went forth with it?

the vlm said...

The Huet was a bummer. As for the age, good bottles might make 50 years, but why? A 1996 sec recently showed beautifully and I'm not sure what another 20 years would bring to it.

I have no idea why this wine was made in 2001, perhaps it shouldn't have been. It was a gift from someone congratulating me on my new position, so I took it in that spirit.


Snob drinking? Not really, just another weekend in Durham. It's how we roll.