|
ESSEX COUNTY WINE
SOCIETY
WINE
PRESS
February 14, 2006
Friends and fellow wine lovers:
On February 2nd, Dick Appert led us in a
tasting of ten wines from the Languedoc region of France. The last time we
tasted wines from this region was about five years ago and based on the
wines at our tasting, we think that there has been a major upgrade in the
wine-making capability in this area of France. The favorite wine of the
first flight was the 2003 Ch de la Negly, La Falaise, La Clape, Coteaux de
Languedoc, closely followed by the 2001 Ch. Puech-Haut “Le Rouge Epicurien/Tete
de cuvee Saint Drezery, Coteaux du Languedoc Both of these wines were also
great values at a price below $25 each.
The favorites of the second flight were the 2001 Dom
les Capitelles, Clos des Truffiers, Coteaux de Langeduedoc closely followed
by the 2001 Ch de la Negly, La Porte du Ciel, Coteaux de Languedoc.
Unfortunately these two wines have a selling price around $100 each. The
overall voting scores put the two wines from Ch de la Negly at the top of
the list.
Incidently, please be certain to look at the back of
the hand-out Dick gave us, which included the Parker listing of the best
Languedoc producers as well as a list prepared by Jean Pierre Gimenez of
Tasse Gourmande from Languedoc which lists not only the best producers but
also their best bottlings.
The next tasting, Thursday, March 2, 2006, will be led
by Gary Schwarz. We will be tasting wines from the Central Coast of
California.
The Central Coast of California is a vast region
stretching almost 200 miles from south of San Francisco all the way to Santa
Barbara. It also happens to be one of the world’s most rapidly expanding and
improving sources of excellent wine, particularly chardonnay, syrah, and
pinot noir. Our tasting will focus on one of those varietals, pinot noir,
and its unique attributes when grown in this region. The best Central Coast
pinots were already difficult to obtain before the movie “Sideways”
popularized them even more, but Gary Schwarz managed to obtain ten excellent
examples that he will present to us. These include the Hitching Post
Highliner (the wine Miles consumes in the movie whenever he dines at the
Hitching Post restaurant), Au Bon Climat’s “Isabelle Morgan”, two examples
from the Bien Nacido Vineyard (Ojai and Fess Parker), Calera “Selleck”, Sea
Smoke “Southing” (another producer popularized in the movie), and others
from Brewer Clifton, Siduri, Melville, and Talley (considered by many to be
the finest producer in the region). Be prepared – many of these wines are
intense, concentrated (and quite alcoholic) examples of pinot noir unlike
those produced anywhere else.
At our next meeting we will also hold the annual
business meeting of the society The nominating committee presented the slate
of officers at the last meeting and the membership will be asked to vote on
the slate on March 2. The slate is:
Co Presidents: Robert Erickson &
Howard Menaker
First Vice-President: Edward Miller
Second Vice-President: Gil Bauer
Treasurer: Dana Bolton
Secretary: Stacy Rudbart
Trustee: Kenneth Brady
In addition we can discuss any other business that any
member may wish to present.
As we mentioned at our last tasting we have started to
put the 2006-2007 schedule together. We will tell you more in a future
mailing but it looks like a great year with everything from a 2003 Bordeaux
to a Southern Italian tasting and a Pichon Baron vertical.
The following tasting is on April 6, 2006 when Richard
Steinberg, our connoisseur of old wines leads us in a special tasting of
Bordeaux from the great vintages. Attendance will be limited and we will
once again have a members-first policy since many of these wines are very
limited.
In vino veritas and a votre sante
Bob and Howard
|