It’s been a quiet week but we’ve had some stellar, rare wines from all over the globe. So far these mind-blowing wines are on the top of my week’s favorites list with the 1989 Trimbach Clos Ste Hune Vendages Tardives Hors Choix as the cherry on top. Such a rare and unique wine from Alsace, Clos Ste Hune is one of the world’s greatest dry white wines alone, but this special bottle was Vendages Tardives (late harvest) and a Hors Choix on top of that! In great years, Vendages Tardives are made in miniscule amounts and Hors Choix (‘super choice’) has only been made in one other year- 1959, so this extreme bottle was quite a treat- still bright and lively on the nose and the palate was near dry with notes of dried apricots, brown sugar and beautiful mineratily with layer after layer of wild yellow flowers and herbs with a hint of white truffle and toast.
We also tried a perfectly aged 56 year old Chenin Blanc. That’s right- Chenin Blanc folks! 1959 Clovis Lefevre Vouvray Grande Annee. There was so much going on in this dynamic white wine. It developed beautifully complex tones as it rested in the glass! Dried yellow flowers, sweet brioche, sharp cheese, raw matsutake and toasted nuts with wild sweet tangerine and kumquat preserves. It was also a little briny with subtle hints of honey and eucalyptus in the ridiculously long and altogether captivating finish.
1991 Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris- From the oldest Pinot Gris clones in the United States, originally planted by David Lett in Dundee, Oregon in the ‘60s, this 24 year old Pinot Gris is one of the most amazing white wines we have been loving lately here at Graileys. It shows an intense mix of tropical and orchard fruit with roasted nuts and hints of dried citrus peel with an acidity that keeps you going back for more.
2012 Roulot Meursault Clos des Boucheres 1er Cru Monopole- What a dream bottle! It holds a push and pull of power and grace with brilliant notes of golden apple, ripe pear, almost bitter orange with layers of herbs, wild fern and hazelnut. The minerality is so clean, yet striking and simply beautiful. There is a true refinement and elegance in this bottle that is unlike any other.
I can’t leave the red wines hanging. There were 2 red bottles from the New World that slapped me on the palate with flavors that I just can’t forget. First was the 2008 Bionic Frog Syrah from Walla Walla- talk about an oxymoron in a single bottle of wine! Rustic and wild with rich fat, deep char, smoke, licorice and black and blue fruits- this wine is dirty… but good dirty… Deep graphite with layers of salty black olives, savory meat, a plethora of wild herb de Provence and rich spice, the nose and the palate was very reminiscent of a powerhouse from Northern Rhone, but there was rich sweet fruit and power that only the New World possesses. A very rare and smoking bottle of wine indeed. We also tried 2012 Amuse Bouche which was full bodied to the max with rich dark fruit with an underlying sense of savory herbs. This wine is dark and slutty, but in a sophisticated way.
