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April 15, 2010
Michael Webb's HouseOn this year's installment of National Tax Day, we (meaning all members for a change) gathered at Mike Webb's house for our annual "Will he finally serve Petrus tasting." The tasting did not disappoint, but there was no Right Bank Merlot to be found.
While sampling two covered Sparklers, and catching up a bit, we held our Annual Meeting. Brant Blodgett and Mike Webb had taken some time to tweak the last rendition with most of the modifications centering around the definition of a guest and an alternate. We added, by a unanimous vote, both Aaron Hillman and Jim Shaw as our new alternates. We also voted in, by the smallest of margins, Bill Kimmer as our next President. Mike Webb will remain on as Secretary.
After the short meeting, we found our seats in the dining room to mourn the departure of our hard earned money to the government and to relish in the first flight of wine for the evening - four white wines. In year's past, we could only think of one handful of times we had blind tasted white wine during one of our monthly tastings. The weather, warm and sunny, only made it seem more appropriate. If only Mike had completed the outside deck. Well, that's another story for another time.
The four white wines, for most, bore little resemblance to one another. Grapes like Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Pinot Blanc and Reisling were put out as contenders. Then the debate switched from Old World to New World, from Alsace to Washington to Australia. These four wines' average rating fell between 88 and 89 points. The reveal didn't come until the end but most were sure there was a definite theme for the tasting.
The second flight, four red wines, continued the theme of an apparent lack of similarity. These were, for sure, acidic and smelling of fresh red fruit. Some, as with a couple of the white wines, were very light on the palate - they were delicate. Guesses flew out faster than Usain Bolt's time in the 100 meters. In the end, no one (not even Paul Bonar) was able to match year's of wine tasting with these wines hand crafted some three thousand miles away. But in which direction would we have to look? Suffice it to say, when the reveal took place, most, if not all, had never had wine from this area before.
Our nation's third most populous state also, coincidentally, rests in third place in terms of wine production behind only California and Washington. The Finger Lakes area sits between Rochester to the northeast and Syracuse to the southeast, and just below lake Ontario. The Finger Lakes are comprised of Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake and Keuka with Seneca Lake easily home to more wineries on its shorelines than the others combined.
Mike identified four producers in his East Coast themed tasting - Dr. Konstantin Frank, Hermann J. Wiemer, Heron Hill, and Red Newt Cellars. The Sparklers, as it turned out, were a 2002 Dr. Konstantin Frank Blanc de Blancs and a 2003 Hermann J. Wiemer Blanc de Noir. Most enjoyed the Blanc de Blancs better, for a variety of reasons, but when Paul Bonar stood out as the lone voice for the Blanc de Noir, having tasted that first, Mike started re-thinking whether that would have made a difference in the approachability of the wine. We'll never know.
The four white wines were all Dry Reisling's, three fromt he 2008 vintage and one from the 2007 vintage. Hermann J. Wiemer's rendition scored slightly, by one point, over the other three at 89 points. And the four red wines turned out to be Cabernet Franc from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages. These wines, as with the first four, averaged scores within a few points. Only the Red Newt Cellars offering averaged above 90 points. After some debate about whether either flight was characteristic of the varietal we all agreed it was a nice change of pace to taste wine from an area on home soil but that seemed for far and distant. To accompany the wine, Mike plated Tillamook Reserve Aged Cheddar, Vintage Gouda, Bra Tenero and Pont L'Eveque alongside Finocchiona and Spanish Prosciutto.
We also sampled a 2005 Heron Hill Late Harvest Chardonnay from Ingle Vineyard with Mike's Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Butter frosting. Because the bottle was a split, Mike also generously opened a 2005 Turley Late Harvest Roussanne from the Alban Vineyard - in a word, unbelievable.
Special thanks to Mike for schooling us and introducing Finger Lakes wine to us. And, for the amazing Red Velvet Cake. Next month's tasting will be held at Brad Courtney's parent's home on May 20th.
For scoring summaries, please click here.
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