Bordeaux, German and Loire Wine Dinner

[Bucko]

We had our good friends Mitch and Julie (Mitch posts on occasion) over for dinner last night, on a rare sunny winter day in the Pacific Northwest.

We opened with 1986 Pol Roger Brut to accompany Shrimp Francis, always a nice match. The Brut turned out to be a nice Champagne, with lovely aged, ripe apple fruit, slight toasty nuances, finishing with refreshing crispness.

In between courses, we opened up a 1989 Chateau de Montgueret, Coteaux du Layon to enjoy by the fireplace. We thought that it must be slightly corked because the wine was in perfect balance, but there was just little to no aged Chenin fruit flavors, just some mineral tastes. This should not be dead at only eleven years of age. Anyone else had this wine?

Next course was tomato bisque soup with a 1996 Lucien Thomas Sancerre, Clos de la Crele. A lovely wine with steely citrus and gooseberry flavors, crisp acidity that matched the soup very well, with a moderate finish. This wine seems to be at its peak right now. A favorite of mine.

The main course was rack of lamb and potato gratin, served with the 1989 Palmer, Margaux, and the 1990 Duhart-Milon, Pauillac. Both wines were delicious, with the edge clearly going to the Palmer. The Duhart has modest lead pencil flavors/aroma, rich black fruit, in a medium-bodied wine that still has years to go. The Palmer is rich, concentrated, seductive with its soft mouthfeel, with tannins noticeable at the end of a long, smooth finish. Years of life left in this beauty.

To accompany an apple tart dessert, we opened a 1983 Josef Drathen Bectheimer BA. These Rheinhessen wines to date have been a disappointment for me except Gunderloch. A sound wine, just no zip, nothing to keep you coming back for more, for lack of other words, simple. So the bottle was set aside and we opened a 1983 Bert Simon, Herrenberg, GKA. Peaked and going down the other side, so drink up. Much more class than the BA, this wine is still holding on to some decent Riesling fruit, with petrol and balanced acidity. The bottle was drained.

Nice night, good friends, lovely wines, ahhhhhhh......

[hotwine]

Argh! Mercy, Bucko.
Would you please re-post the directions to your house? I seem to have lost my copy .... And you do keep your cellar unlocked, I hope?

[Bucko]

Hey, the cellar is always open for a fellow Texan. OK, I confess, I'm a hybrid Okie/Texan, living in WA State. DFW, Tyler, San Antonio, OKC and Tulsa in my past.

[hotwine]

That's as Texan as most of the rest of us. I was born in Tennessee (a looong time ago), but got here as fast as I could. (Helotes is NW of San Antonio. This was once probably a day's ride from town, but is now considered more of a suburb.)

That dinner you described would go down in anyone's book as truly magnificent. Congrats on what must have indeed been a wonderful evening.

[Bucko]

Hey, I know Helotes. Up Hwy. 16, not far from the lake, what is it, Medina? I sure miss the good Tex-Mex food. No decent Mexican food in WA.

Bucko

[hotwine]

That's the place. So you can imagine how difficult it is to keep a wine cellar within the optimum temp range without installing a massive a/c unit.

[Scoop]

Great pairings, Bucko. Now I'm hungry (and thirsty)!

A question, however: I'm a big fan of German wines, but I am not familiar with the "GKA" acronym. Is then the Bert Simon from Alsace, perhaps? And what does "GKA" stand for? I assume "BA" is Beerenauslese.

It also sounds like the 1983s -- a great, hot vintage (I was living in Germany at the time)-- are starting to wane.

Cheers,

Scoop

[Bucko]

Definitely time to drink up the 83s, even the BAs and TBAs.

GKA - Gold Kap Auslese (like a reserve Auslese)

LGKA - Long Gold Kap Auslese (like a special reserve Auslese)

Both GKA and LGKA are very limited and more $$$$. Worth the hunt.

BA - Beerenauslese

TBA - Trockenbeerenauslese

Simon is a Saar region wine.

Bucko

[Scoop]

Thanks for the info, Bucko.

Scoop