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THE WINE PRESS
THE ESSEX COUNTY WINE
SOCIETY
Early Summer 2007
Dear friends and fellow
wine lovers:
The 2006-2007 season of the
Essex County Wine Society fulfilled the goals of the society set for
us in its creation in 1973. We learned a great deal about wine from
several areas and we drank some great wines at our tastings and
dinners. Since our last review we have had three events: in April a
vertical Pichon-Longueville Baron tasting from the cellar of Dennis
Roland; in May our Spring Dinner at Vine in Basking Ridge; and in June
a members only memorial dinner for Barbara Prosser at Osteria Giotto
in Montclair.
Dennis Roland structured
the blind tasting of Pichon Baron so that we had three groups of wines
he felt were similar in style. It was revealed that the first group,
which was thought lighter, included the 1988, 1995 and 1996. The
society favored the 1995 of the three. The second group was felt to
be somewhat bigger in style and included the 1989, 1990 and 2000. The
1990 was the favorite of the second group by vote and was described as
rich and full, displaying the classic cedar and pencil shavings
bouquet. The third flight was younger wines, the 2001, 2004 and
2003. Votes were split rather evenly among these three. For the
favorite wine of the evening the participants seemed to favor the 2004
though there were many undecided. When we were asked to guess the
vintages in this blind tasting, we failed miserably. Humbling it was.
From all reports from those
attending the Spring Dinner at Vine the dinner was one of the best the
society had ever experienced. The dinner began with a non-vintage
champagne from Duval/Leroy which had body and minerality to go with
the excellent appetizers. The fish course was accompanied by the 2005
Premier Cru Montagny from Jean-Marc Boillot. This white wine was a
great example of the very well regarded 2005 vintage. The wine
displayed marvelous fruit and accessibility. From the ECWS cellar we
served the 1996 Grand Cru Clos de la Roche from A. Rousseau. Aside
from perhaps some slight bottle variation, the wine was a lovely
example of a young, but mature, Burgundy. Also from our cellar we had
the 1989 Pichon Baron which went well with the delicious short ribs
and seemed early in its maturity. The dinner finished well with a
Graham’s Malvedos Centenary Port which was a dessert unto itself. (We
have more of the Port in our cellar and perhaps we could serve it at
our 100th anniversary).
Long term member Barbara
Prosser bequeathed wine to the society and we elected to drink the
wine at a memorial dinner in her honor. Our dinner for members only
was held at Osteria Giotto in Montclair on June 10, 2007. Some of the
proceeds from the dinner were sent to the University of Delaware,
College of Marine Studies, to support student research. Barbara had
asked her family to direct contributions in this manner.
Next year will be the 35th
year since the society’s founding and we have planned a series of
tastings, young and old, from France, Italy and California. Our
schedule is somewhat tentative but we hope the dates are firm. Please
reserve the dates on your calendar.
September 23, 2007 Fall
Dinner
October 11, 2007 2005
White Burgundy (Salthouse)
November 8, 2007 2001
Brunello di Montalcino (Waga/Neri)
December 6, 2007 Southern
France (Sibley)
January 3, 2008 2005
California (Brady)
February 7, 2008 2005
Bordeaux (Schwarz)
March 6, 2008 2005 Red
Burgundy (Menaker)
April 3, 2008 Vintage
Burgundy (Steinberg)
May 4, 2008 35th
Anniversary Spring Dinner
We again request all those
who have e-mail addresses to use them as the primary means of
receiving the Wine Press and other society generated communications.
Reply to:
rlx2ericksonrl@msn.com
Hmenaker1@aol.com
Everybody enjoy your
summer. Our next Wine Press will be in August announcing the Fall
dinner
In vino veritas and a votre
sante
Bob and Howard
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