The Spring Winemakers' Smackdown!
Photograph courtesy of Mary Antczak
Our third Winemakers' Smackdown on April 2nd was the best ever! We had a great panel, and a winning wine list (no Two Buck Chucks, no box wines!); seven outstanding wines. The venue for this event was the event space at the Jedediah Hawkins Inn, a very large, post and beam barn, which held our 125 person crowd nicely. Chef Keith Luce designed a lovely bento box, with seven tapas-like items to be paired with each wine. If you thought a little bit about Chef Luce's design, you had an insight into the possible origin of the various wines. Most of the audience was happy to sit back and let the panel worry about the details.
The panel this time consisted of Louisa Hargrave, Paumanok winemaker Kareem Massoud, Les Howard from Raphael, Kelly Urbanik from Macari Vineyards, Tracy Ellen Kamens from Grand Cru Classes, and our March Madness Smackdown Tournament winner, and lab tech at the Premium Wine Group, Mr. Andrew Rockwell. As the bell rang, Louisa came out swinging, insisting the event stop while she recited a poem written for the occasion (North Fork Poet Laureate, Roman Roth, was absent from the proceedings, as he was training for the next Smackdown in the Australian Outback). Following the literary enlightenment, the first wine was poured; a 2006 vintage Gruet sparkler from New Mexico. It was a curve ball. A beautiful wine, elegant and complex. Some said it was a Champagne, others suggested California, and a couple left the door open for former Smackdowner Eric Fry's 1996 Lenz sparkling.
From there we moved to a totally organic 2009 Müller-Catoir Riesling, which was crisp and pristine; a thing of beauty. Then, on to a wine whose story was emblazoned on the front page of The New York Times; the 2009 Kistler Sonoma Mountain Chardonnay. Kareem Massoud nailed this wine, suggesting the winemaker's shift from overpowering fat wines to wines with more grace and finesse was not complete. The $80 a bottle wine is unfiltered and unfined, and unlike some other big California unfiltered Chards, like those from Paul Hobbs and Helen Turley, this wine was cloudy and thick.
Moving into the reds, the 2008 Penner-Ash Willamette Valley Pinot Noir was simply stellar. The buzz surrounding winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash is absolutely deserved. A 1997 Rioja Alta 904 followed, and was quite a visual contrast with its umber tone. The fruit was still there, and in fact it was deserving of all 94 points issued by Parker.
Coming in at 93 Parker points was the 2008 Tablas Creek Paso Robles Esprit de Beaucastel, which received high praise from every panelist. Kareem Massoud suggested the wine was a 2008 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Right wine, wrong continent, but nonetheless, a pretty amazing guess. Like their French partners, Tablas Creek is entirely organic, with 120 acres of vines that originated at Chateau Beaucastel.
The finale was a 1994 Clos du Mont-Olivet Chateauneuf du Pape that leaned heavily on Grenache. In this 60 acre vineyard the vines average 60 years old, and while yield is reduced by the older vines, the concentration is intense. This wine was almost like a fine sherry, and a very interesting contrast to the much younger California Rhone Ranger that preceeded it.
Our August 13th Winemakers' Smackdown will feature another great wine list, and author George Taber will be the evening's emcee. If you love learning about fine wines, be sure not to miss that event!
Enter your email address below to join our mailing list.
