Berserkers,
Fellow board member Jay Shampur and I got together for a low key Super Bowl LV dinner with Middle Eastern takeout and wine. Under the current world conditions, it was just the two of us sitting apart on his couch watching the game in HD on his 55" TCL R-635 4K TV via his 4K Apple TV feeding surround sound via his pair of Apple HomePods. Still a pretty awesome experience. We shared the following trio of wines:
MAILLY 2008 O’ de MAILLY GRAND CRU CHAMPAGNE – A blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay with a low dosage of 6 g/L. My internet research after the fact shows that it is a rare French champagne that is made with fully ripened grapes, common to the Italian Franciacorta method which also favors using fully ripened grapes and eschewing high dosages. Uncommon, however, to the French. So how did this turn out?
Deep gold orange in the glass, my picture doesn’t do it justice. It was very orange tinged. Lots of nuttiness and biscuit on the nose. Jay detects sweetness to the wine. I definitely get nuttiness and rancio. It’s got some Sherry characteristics to it. Jay felt it wasn’t a harmonious wine but I enjoyed it. I was thrown off a bit expecting a classic French crispness, but once I took this for what it was I liked it. Melded well with the Middle Eastern food which was rich and nutty itself from the falafel and tahini flavors.
DOMAINE WILLIAM FEVRE 2014 CHABLIS PREMIER CRU MONTMAINS – Wow was this good. Jay and I were immediately taken with this. Very mellow gunpowder nose, incredibly smooth texture on the palate, seamless green apple and unripened pineapple flavors that have given up some bite but in turn blended in perfectly with the mellow gunpowder finish. Everything is balanced perfectly, no one characteristic overwhelms the other. It really is in a perfect spot. Jay has the remainder of the bottle and can comment on its evolution. Once again, a shining example of how Chablis 1er Cru is the absolute best value in higher-end white Burgundy. So affordable yet a good one like this one always punches far above its weight.
DE BORTOLI 2011 NOBLE ONE – This is my last bottle of the 2011 vintage of this famous Australian sweet wine, the self-styled “Aussie Sauternes” though technically even that nickname is not accurate because the wine is 100% botrytis-affected Semillon from Australia and never contains any Sauvignon Blanc or Muscadet to provide acidity and aromatics respectively as the French do with Sauternes.
So what we have is super intense super-sweet full-bodied tropical fruit flavors of overripe mango, pineapple, peaches and quince with just a very slight touch of candied orange peel. It’s always interesting to drink Noble One because it so clearly lacks the more complex and refined creme brulée and roasted pineapple flavors of Sauternes but has twice the fruit flavor and intensity of a Sauternes. At least. I could finish a half-bottle of Sauternes in one sitting by myself if I wanted to. I could never finish a half-bottle of Noble One in one sitting. One could argue that it’s actually a better value that way in that you know you’re going to have leftovers to savor and see its evolution afterwards. Sauternes purists would also argue this is a one-dimensional wine and I could see that but you know exactly what you’re getting with this and it is a delicious change of pace from Sauternes. As always, this is an intensely aromatic and very sweet wine. It’s best taken in small doses as it’s practically dessert by itself which was good because we didn’t have any other than the Noble One this night and it was more than enough.
Interestingly, Jay brought out a couple of whisky glasses for us to use and while I did use my wine glass that I finished the Chablis in, Jay used the whisky glass exclusively and I tried a sip out of mine. Out of the whisky glass, the only real difference I found was that, quite interestingly, the strong fruit nose and aroma actually intensified instead of dispersing as you might expect it would in the wider more open short glass. I also left this with Jay to enjoy and see its evolution over the next few days.
