Chicago: Flights of fantasy
Been in Chicago for the past 10 days. Gave me time to explore some nice restaurants and wine bars. The following tasting notes come from Bin 36 and the Cru caf? and wine bar. Both were places more geared to wine and while food was good it wasn?t spectacular. More about fantastic food establishments with wine in another posting.
WHITES
Mixed flight
1999 Gruner Veltliner, Wieninger, "Herrenholz", Vienna, Austria.
Green apple with a touch of pepper. Nice.
1999 Vouvray, Francois Pinon, Loire Valley, France.
Started with a taste of tangerines and apricots and finished with apples and slate. Nice.
2000 Riesling, Von Buhl, "Armand", Kabinett, Pfalz, Germany.
Very lively and fragnant wine. Ripe grape fruit, peach, orange blossom with a lime finish. Really good. Although a Kabinett style did had some residual sugar but still had a nice clean finish.
2000 Gewurztraminer, K. Fitz-Ritter, "Durkheimer Nonnengarten", Spatlese, Pfalz, Germany.
Very floral bouquet. Fruit emphasis on mango and tangerine. A whiff of pineapple. Spatlese-level sweetness but clean finish. Yum. I have mostly tasted Alsatian Gewurz but this German number was really enticing. Will look out for more.
REDS
1) Pinot flight
1999 Jean-Marc Bouley, Hautes Cotes de Beane, Burgundy, France
Basic entry level burgundy. Ripe plums and cherry. Not very complex. OK.
2000 Echelon, San Luis Obispo, California, USA.
More aromatic. Cherries, plums, and even a hint of bitter chocolate. Spicy finish.
1999 Burrton wines, Russian River Valley, California, USA.
Biggish wine. Muted rose petal nose. Fruit laden but finishing with overwhelming tannins. Tannins completely swamp the palate- will it ever get in to balance???IMO, too tannic and tannins will kill the fruit with passage of time and the wine will just dry out.
1999 Maranges 1er Cru, Domaine Vincent Girardin, Clos Des Loyeres, Burgundy, France.
Real nice barnyard nose. Fine sexy wine. Very supple and alluring. Good.
2) Mixed Flight
2000 Malbec, "Altos Los Hormigas", Mendoza, Argentina.
I was really looking forward to this wine but it disappointed. Significant VA lift. Followed by sour cherry, green olives and boot polish. Very tart. Didn?t like it.
1998 Chateau La Croix Chantecaille, Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, France
Merlot based wine. Cedar and black currants dominating with some plums. Fine tannins. Yum.
1999 Gigondas, Les Espalines, "Cuvee Les Tendrelles", Rhone Valley, France.
Nose a bit muted. Chewy texture. Currants, licorice, and pepper. Nice.
1998 Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon , Umberto Cesari, "Liano", Emilia Romagna, Italy.
Very polished and integrated flavours of dark cherries and bitter chocolate. Spicy Oak.Very nice wine.
Sweet wine (Icewines)
Inniskillin Wines, Niagara Peninsula, Canada.
1998 Pearl Vidal
Amber colour. Tropical fruit flavours. Mango and Passion fruit. Appeared a bit forward. Nice wine. Longeivity ? difficult to predict, appeared to be at its peak (?).
1998 Oak Aged Vidal
Wine had spent 3 months in French Oak. More complex due to oak influence but oak not too intrusive. Balanced wine. Really nice.
1998 Riesling.
More refreshing and very racy. Piercing acidity. Orange blossom, honey and apricots. Fantastic.
The Riesling was my pick of the three wines ? was that because of a bias towards the familiar Riesling grape vs the unknown and untasted Vidal grape (?).
Sanjay
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