So, after about 175 emails (no shit), a group of mostly wine industry friends and I have assembled a tasting to
test out Mr. Parker's assertions about "wines that will make you forget
about Burgundy" in a recent Business Week article. We have lined up 5 of the Californian Pinots in the article against 5 Burgundian counterparts. We tried to get all of the Californian Pinots in which Parker uses Burgundy as a reference in his tasting notes. For example he contends that Kalin is made in "a Northern Cote de Nuits style" He mentions DRC Echezeaux in a couple of tasting notes, so we included a 2002 DRC Echezeaux. We also tried to keep the vintages fairly close. Thus most of the Burgs we chose are 04 or 05 with the exception being the 96 Esmonin that we chose as a foil to the 97 Kalin.
(As a side note, some of these California Pinots were hard as hell to find. Not sure if it was Parker's column or not)
The tasting will take place at 7PM on Wednesday, June 18th.
A third party will decant and number the wines. We will taste in 2 flights of 5. Instructions will be given to put the Esmonin and the Kalin in the same flight because of age and Parker's comments about the Kalin. I'll do the same for the DRC, Brewer Clifton (dead ringer) and Calera (simply reminiscent). The person decanting will also be instructed to compose each flight of either 3 Burgs and 2 Californians or vice versa. Other than that, it will be a mystery to all of us going in.
We are going to judge the wines in this manner. First, everyone will make a judgment as to whether each wine is Burgundy or California. Second, we each pick our top three wines. We will assign 3 points for first, 2 for second and 1 for third.
Afterwards, we have reservations at Serpentine. We are bringing 03 and 05 Roumier Chambolle Musigny and an 2004 Michel Gay Beaune Coucherias 1er.
Will the Cali's stick out like Pinfindels? Will one of the Burgs get mistaken for a Cali? Can one of the Cali's crack the top 3 in a room full of burghounds? Will the DRC live up to its price tag?
To paraphase Chris Berman, "That's why they play the game!"
The Wines
1996 Frederic Esmonin Griotte Chambertin
2002 DRC Echezeaux
2005 Rossignol Volnay Fremiets
2004 Bruno Clavelier NSG Aux Cras
2005 Denis Mortet Gevrey Chambertin Mes Cinq Terroirs
2004 Calera Selleck (Mt. Harlan)
2005 Chasseur Freestone Station (Russian River)
2005 DuMol Finn (Russian River)
1997 Kalin Pinot Noir Cuvee DD (Sonoma)
2005 Brewer-Clifton Mount Carmel (Santa Lucia)
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