We made last minute reservations at Hatfield's on Beverly last night. We had a great time, the food was spectacular and I love the ambiance, but my wallet hurt when we left. We both had appetizers, we split an entree and split a dessert and had 2 bottles of $50 wine. We spent $240 with tip, and I guess when I write it out we got out of there fairly cheap. The truth is good food is pricey, and the execution at Hatfield's is pretty flawless.
The bummer is I forgot to take a picture again. I am a total space cadet, but we had 2 good wines that I wanted to pass on.
The first was Weller-Lehnert, Piesporter Goldtropfchen, Riesling, Kabinett, 1998. This was a nice SIMPLE little wine. I was psyched that it was 10 years old, but it was definitely at the end of its life. It was very petroly - which I love - but totally lacking intensity of acid or fruit. However, what this wine lacked in complexity it made up for in price. They must have gotten it on a closeout. The wine was only $49. At that price and 9% alcohol, that meant we could venture into another bottle... (if you're thinking we are lushes, it was actually only a half bottle!)
You know we love Brunello, so we saw a 2001 (an outstanding vintage) from a producer we had never heard of, Canalicchio. The wine was really nice and had lots of that dusty cherry Brunello thing with the juiciness of 2001. Very easy to drink. Too easy to drink! It was $55 for a half bottle.
Looks like they sell it at Mission Wines in South Pasadena as well. Full bottles are $56.99, which is a deal for 2001 Brunello.
One thing I want to say about Brunello is that the alcohol is not low. At 14.5% it rivals the alcohol content of so many new world wines. I hear so many sommeliers and buyers complain about high alcohol levels in new world wines. But Chateauneuf-de-pape frequently comes in over 15% and like I said, Brunello is at 14.5%, Amarone? Forget it! It's like 16%! Just food for thought. What are we really complaining about anyway?
And, again, sorry about the photos my friends!! The blog just isn't the same without them.
1 comment:
"I was psyched that it was 10 years old, but it was definitely at the end of its life. It was very petroly - which I love - but totally lacking intensity of acid or fruit."
Amy, a 10 year old Kabinett can't have ACIDITY and FRUIT. Those are the hallmarks of YOUNG wines - at least they should (as we know, there're plenty of young wines they don't have either).
When a perfect white wine ages, it starts to lose the fruit first and then its acidity. Without plenty of these, a white wine would be dead in 2 years.
IMO, it's very rare that you'll ever find a 10 year old German Kabinett that isn't BROWN (oxidized).
I truly doubt that they got it on a close out. Wine normally is dumped by the wholesaler if it starts to turns BROWN - not when it starts to TASTE OLD. That's when the real fun starts.
BTW, very old light white wines shouldn't be served chilled (but of course also not warm) as it will take all of complexity away...
From what you described, you drank a winner.
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