Steve DeShaw's House - July 19, 2007 We all convened at Steve's house, without Mike, but with Steve's neighbor and friend, Jan, to share wine atop the rolling hills of Silverton. The view, to the west, made for a spectacular sunset during the tasting. Jan is familiar to the members of the group from the Night to Remember events. We started the evening with two California Spakling wines from Chandon, a Brut Classic and a Blanc de Noirs. The preference, from this author, and a few others was that the Blace de Noirs was more balanced than the Brut. That being said, both were easily enjoyed on the back patio with the wonderful views. Inside we headed to a table of cheese, bread, fruit and fresh Chinook salmon from Steve's recent trip to Alaska. We then tasted the first flight of three white wines. They were served chilled. Most got a "funny" but not corked nose on the third glass. Some thought it blew off, but others did not. And although two members rated the wine at 92, it ended up being the lowest rated wine of the evening at 82 points. The second flight, also three white wines, were very similar to the first flight. In fact, some thought there were identical. As it turned out, they were similar. The second flight's average scores were very close together ranging from an 89 to a 92. Nearly all agreed these were Rieslings, but there was no consensus as to their origen. The group was puzzled by what appeared to be higher alcohol and residual sugar, low acidity and a lack of wet stone on the palate. Brant's "alcohol meter" had the group believing that these, in fact, were not Old World Reisling's, but quite possibly from Australia. As it turned out, all were from the highly regarded 2005 vintage from Germany. Overall, the wines scored an 89 or near outstanding on the Parker scale. Greg, Paul and Steve's rated the wines at 86 points, while Bill rated the offerings at 93 points. Probably the best value was found in the second pour, the 2005 Weingut, which retails for less than twenty bucks. While the group was discussing the wine, Steve and Jan were busy in the kitchen preparing the dessert, a Chocolate Lava cake with white chocolate cream and fresh raspberries. Only a few hearty souls were able to devour the entire dessert with a Zinfandel Port and the Yalumba Musuem Reseve. Since the weather was cooperating, we all headed outside to discuss the wine and sample a nice Petite Syrah Port from Bogle. The group attempted to reach Mike, on vacation with his family, to advise he had missed the wrong tasting when had Steve decided to put on a Petrus verticle. But after some thought, it was agreed this would be too much for Mike to handle, so we sat outside around a warm fire pit and enjoyed the moment and fellowship. |