Essex County Wine Society

Essex County Wine Society

October 16, 2010

Dear Fellow Wine Society Members and Friends,

"You either have to love them or hate them" was one of the first comments heard at the October 7th tasting of the Gran Reserva wines of Lopez de Heredia. This well attended tasting was one of the more interesting tastings held in recent years. These famous  (and expensive!) wines were unfamiliar to many and well known to a few. Whatever the viewpoints much discussion was generated with several participants remaining 30-45 minutes afterwards for further discussions. At the end, a very clear consensus was reached on the two favorite wines of the evening.  We tasted the 1973, 1976, and 1991 Gran Reserva red vintages from both the Tondonia Vineyard and the Bosconia Vineyard . The 1976 vintage Bosconia was the definitive Wine of the Evening followed by the 1976 Tondonia Vineyard. For the two white Gran Reservas the older 1981 vintage was found to be superior to the young (?) 1987.  Thanks again to Mahesh Lekkala for organizing this informative tasting and a special thanks to Maria Lopez for participating in the tasting via the DVD she prepared just for us. Bodega Lopez de Heredia looks to be a great place to visit.

The next tasting will be November 4th and features an in depth exploration of Zinfandel wines from California. We are fortunate to have a true Zinfandel expert, Dr. Melvin Brown,  join us from California to lead the tasting.  Our Executive committee has been trying to arrange this tasting with Dr. Brown for more than two years and we are pleased to be able to have him visit us (and his grandchildren).  Dr. Brown, the father of member Catherine Brown, has a life-long passion for Zinfandel wine and I include some recent autobiographical comments:

"Coming from Ohio I knew from nothing about wine until I spent several years in Germany.  Two major happenings there were familiarizing with wine and the birth of Catherine, in the order of their occurrence.  Living just over the hill from Bernkastel on the Mosel allowed close familiarity with German wines but I also was only a few miles from the French border.  So there was ample opportunity for sampling and learning.
Back in this country and California I started to acquire a collection of Burgundies, Bordeaux and Germans.  California was just starting to get good.
I live as close to Ridge Winery as I did to the Mosel in Germany.  One of my first buys there was a '68-'69 Zinfandel. (They don't make mixed years anymore.)  It was a juicy fresh delicious wine so I bought a case and threw it into the cellar.  It got lost there as wines have a habit of doing and it wasn't for several years that I stumbled upon it.  It  had undergone, to me, a miraculous metamorphosis: it was indistinguishable from a fine Cabernet Sauvignon.  And so it remained until once again something else got piled on top of the case.  Eight-ten years later I found it again but this time it was like  fine Port.  Not willing to figure what could come next, I finished the case of "Port".  But this experience sold me on Zinfandel, and subsequent bottles have not let me down.

During this time I became a founding member of the Haskell Norman branch of the London-based International Wine and Food Society and later a member of the Vintners Club of San Francisco, a group of producers and consumers.
I hope that this tasting will open the door for your members to additional vinous delights."

Dr. Brown will start off with a mini-vertical tasting of the benchmark Zinfandel blend from the historic Ridge Geyserville Vineyard. He will present 4 vintages ranging from 1992 to 2007.  With this set of wines in your palette's memory he will then provide  you with 5 more wines which he has chosen to illustrate the main Zinfandel growing areas in California. Just to challenge your memory, one of the five wines will be the 2008 Ridge Geyserville which you will be ask to pick out. Put away your Bordeaux and Burgundy hats and come prepared to visit the world of serious Zinfandel. You will want to share Dr. Brown's passion.

The cost of the tasting will be $65 for members and $78 for guests. Advance reservations are required so please get your reservations in without delay. The deadline is Friday, October 29, 2010.

Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010

Place: Montclair Women's Club, 82 Union St., Montclair, NJ 07042

Time: 7:30pm Aperitif, 8:00 Tasting

Hope to see you there!

Dennis Roland

"Wine snobbery, of course, is part showmanship, part sophistication, part knowledge, and part bluff"  Leonard Bernstein

 ______________