Wine board drinks wine so scary, it's not even good enough for Dean Chen's date
Healy Jones, WG'07
Issue date: 11/13/06 Section: Insider
In the spirit of Halloween, your fearless Wine Club Board will taste Eastern European wines. Not that Eastern Europe has anything to do with Halloween, but we have to admit, trying these wines was a bit scary. Wine Board member Zach Ventress insisted that Hungarian wines were remarkably good. After three pleading emails from Zach we gave in and agreed that he could pick out some Hungarian wines at the local Wine & Spirits store. Alas, we learned the hard way that in the Venn Diagram of "Good Hungarian Wines" (if there even are any) and "Hungarian Wines Available at The Wine and Spirits Store in Philadelphia" there is no overlap. In other words, these wines sucked.
The evening stated off auspiciously enough, with Adler showing up a few minutes late having come directly from rugby practice, by way of some bar, wearing hot pants. Nothing like rolling around in the field with your favorite "mates" in hot pants, I guess. Thankfully he threw on a pair of corduroys over the hot pants and my couch remained virginal.
Jon joined me, Blair Schmicker, Jac Fourie, Jed Brawley, Michelle Shinn and the now infamous Zach Ventress on a cold evening to "enjoy" this Hungarian wine. While we began uncorking the first wine, Zach proudly told us a bit about Hungary's wine region. Our first Hungarian wine this evening was a famous white called "Tokaj," produced from one of four grapes, Furmint, Hárslevelü, Yellow Muscat, and Oremus. These are typically harvested in late October. Tokaj is a wine region with volcanic, mostly clay soil; a micro-climate characterized by a hot summer and a long, sunny autumn with morning fogs. Supposedly the white wines of Tokaj are smooth and sweet when young and develop more interesting flavors when aged. "Interesting" being the key word...
Hétzõlõ, Tokaj Late Harvest, Furmint-Harslevelu, 2005 (about $18). This white came in a bottle that very much resembled a Riesling. When the cork was removed there was a very loud "pop." According to Jon, if a bottle of wine pops really loudly, and isn't champagne, the wine could be off. So we decided to have Zach test it to see if it was ok to drink. Zach managed a smile and claimed the wine was fine... Suddenly we all noticed a horrible smell. Was that the wine or just-come-from-practice-Jon? We were all hoping it was Jon, as we could just kick him out. Unfortunately, it was the wine. The Tokaj had a definite petroleum refinery odor mixed with granny smith apples, as if Exxon was making crude oil out of apples. Not pleasant. Bravely we all sipped a bit and noticed the apple taste with a bit of honeysuckle. The texture was almost syrupy, which complemented the sweetness. Jed and I almost felt hung-over from the first, lingering apple/sulfur aftertaste. We all had fun thinking of what we'd eat with the wine - Zach suggested salmon. Blair indicated it would be better with smoked salmon that had been out for a little too long; Jon voted for mackerel, "the scavenger of the ocean," and the only thing Michelle could come up with was that Swedish fish that comes in the puffed out cans. Gross.
Supposedly, there is some Tokaj that's good to drink. It's just not in Philadelphia, so you should avoid it. On to the next wine:
Egervin, Bulls Blood "Bikavér" of Eger, 2002 ($5). Here's a hint for Zach and all other wine consumers at the Philly state liquor stores - if the employees at the store have to spend 45 minutes searching for your obscure bottle of wine, don't buy the bottle! It's probably not been stored correctly. Adler wants to know what kind of supply chain management this is anyways (thanks Professor Fisher!). This wine had turned to vinegar; it smelled of wet dog, feet and vinegar and was completely undrinkable. For total wine novices, this is one of the two things you are looking for when a waiter at restaurant gives you a sip of wine to taste before pouring for everyone. The other thing is the taste of cork. If you taste cork, or vinegar, in your wine at the restaurant, you should send it back. If the wine just tastes like crap, like the Tokaj we just tasted, well, that's your fault, now you've got to drink it.
Well, obviously Hungary wasn't showing its best to us so far in the evening. We had high hopes for final bottle
Vylyan Mini-Evolution, Villany Region, Blend 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zweigelt, 5% Portugieser, 2004 (about $15). This bottle started off promising, with a decent pepper smell. (Not capsicum, for our regular readers, but pepper like the kind that you put on your eggs.) The wine was a deep red. The first sip was not bad, as the wine's nose wasn't too bad. However, there wasn't too much taste to the wine, followed by a powerful tannic aftertaste. Jon described it as a "donut": smell and finish with a hole (nothing) in the middle. We sat in comfort, enjoying the only Hungarian wine that seemed to be drinkable, and perhaps even admiring the earthy finish of this wine... when it hit us. Out of no where we were slapped by a sulfur aftertaste. A really strong, really rotten-eggs sulfur aftertaste. At least we knew that the wine was preserved, but this aftertaste just wouldn't leave. Zach pointed out that you probably won't want this wine as a date wine, as it would make your breath smell like farts. Blair compared it to the Seinfeld episode where the valet guy had bad BO and it wouldn't leave the car - more powerful than superman. You should avoid this wine also.
At this point we were ready to kick Zach out of the wine club. He confessed that he had bought the only three types of Hungarian wine at the Wine & Spirits Store. Also, he spent something like $38, and it was easily $40 too much. We decided to have two other wines so we could justify the hang-over we knew the sulfur was going to give us.
Guillians, Spring Mountain District Merlot, Napa Valley, 2001. You probably can't find this wine, as Blair confided that he'd been aging it under the stairway in his San Francisco apartment for the past five years. Harry Potter lived there too, under the stairs. He didn't drink because he was under 21, or 18, or what ever they do in England. The wine was nice, but probably a little over the hill. It lacked a certain freshness to the fruit, and was overly mellow with out too much flavor. This is a wine that could have been decanted, as it picked up flavor as it sat in the glass.
Penley Estate, Hyland Coonawarra Shiraz, 2002 ($15 - in Delaware). This Australian gem was provided to us by Adler. We opened the bottle and Jon proceeded to tell us a long, romantic storey about how he first had this wine with his ex-girlfriend. By the end we were all crying. Crying because he was talking too much and we were thirsty. I mean, really, we didn't care; we just wanted to drink the wine. However, it was worth the wait. The wine was an inky red, with a nice bing cherry and currant smell. The body was just right, and the tannins were mild but pleasant. The finish was a little short, but overall this was the best wine we had this evening. We'll have to check to see if it's available in the Philly store, but if it is and if it is available for under $20 you might want to check it out.
Our evening ended with a nice finish... except that we noticed Adler had half taken off his corduroys. He claimed it was because his phone was in his hot pants. What ever the reason, we learned two key lessons this evening: Hungarian wine and Philly don't mix, and never trust an Australian rugby player in hot pants to behave while telling a romantic story.
Our wine take aways this week:
Hétz?l?, Tokaj Late Harvest, Furmint-Harslevelu, 2005 (about $18). Jumps out of the glass, in an I'm-going-to-kill-you kind of a way. Petro/fruity smell, too sweet, sulfur aftertaste. Drink with rotten fish. Better yet, don't drink.
Egervin, Bulls Blood "Bikavér" of Eger, 2002 ($5). Corked - don't buy this wine in Philly. Who knows how it was stored.
Vylyan Mini-Evolution, Villany Region, Blend 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zweigelt, 5% Portugieser, 2004 (about $15). Pepper nose, water texture and earthy/sulfur aftertaste. Avoid - drinkable but not worth the price.
Penley Estate, Hyland Coonawarra Shiraz, 2002 ($15 - in Delaware). Bing cherry and currant smell and taste, mild but pleasant finish. Nice wine overall.
The evening stated off auspiciously enough, with Adler showing up a few minutes late having come directly from rugby practice, by way of some bar, wearing hot pants. Nothing like rolling around in the field with your favorite "mates" in hot pants, I guess. Thankfully he threw on a pair of corduroys over the hot pants and my couch remained virginal.
Jon joined me, Blair Schmicker, Jac Fourie, Jed Brawley, Michelle Shinn and the now infamous Zach Ventress on a cold evening to "enjoy" this Hungarian wine. While we began uncorking the first wine, Zach proudly told us a bit about Hungary's wine region. Our first Hungarian wine this evening was a famous white called "Tokaj," produced from one of four grapes, Furmint, Hárslevelü, Yellow Muscat, and Oremus. These are typically harvested in late October. Tokaj is a wine region with volcanic, mostly clay soil; a micro-climate characterized by a hot summer and a long, sunny autumn with morning fogs. Supposedly the white wines of Tokaj are smooth and sweet when young and develop more interesting flavors when aged. "Interesting" being the key word...
Hétzõlõ, Tokaj Late Harvest, Furmint-Harslevelu, 2005 (about $18). This white came in a bottle that very much resembled a Riesling. When the cork was removed there was a very loud "pop." According to Jon, if a bottle of wine pops really loudly, and isn't champagne, the wine could be off. So we decided to have Zach test it to see if it was ok to drink. Zach managed a smile and claimed the wine was fine... Suddenly we all noticed a horrible smell. Was that the wine or just-come-from-practice-Jon? We were all hoping it was Jon, as we could just kick him out. Unfortunately, it was the wine. The Tokaj had a definite petroleum refinery odor mixed with granny smith apples, as if Exxon was making crude oil out of apples. Not pleasant. Bravely we all sipped a bit and noticed the apple taste with a bit of honeysuckle. The texture was almost syrupy, which complemented the sweetness. Jed and I almost felt hung-over from the first, lingering apple/sulfur aftertaste. We all had fun thinking of what we'd eat with the wine - Zach suggested salmon. Blair indicated it would be better with smoked salmon that had been out for a little too long; Jon voted for mackerel, "the scavenger of the ocean," and the only thing Michelle could come up with was that Swedish fish that comes in the puffed out cans. Gross.
Supposedly, there is some Tokaj that's good to drink. It's just not in Philadelphia, so you should avoid it. On to the next wine:
Egervin, Bulls Blood "Bikavér" of Eger, 2002 ($5). Here's a hint for Zach and all other wine consumers at the Philly state liquor stores - if the employees at the store have to spend 45 minutes searching for your obscure bottle of wine, don't buy the bottle! It's probably not been stored correctly. Adler wants to know what kind of supply chain management this is anyways (thanks Professor Fisher!). This wine had turned to vinegar; it smelled of wet dog, feet and vinegar and was completely undrinkable. For total wine novices, this is one of the two things you are looking for when a waiter at restaurant gives you a sip of wine to taste before pouring for everyone. The other thing is the taste of cork. If you taste cork, or vinegar, in your wine at the restaurant, you should send it back. If the wine just tastes like crap, like the Tokaj we just tasted, well, that's your fault, now you've got to drink it.
Well, obviously Hungary wasn't showing its best to us so far in the evening. We had high hopes for final bottle
Vylyan Mini-Evolution, Villany Region, Blend 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zweigelt, 5% Portugieser, 2004 (about $15). This bottle started off promising, with a decent pepper smell. (Not capsicum, for our regular readers, but pepper like the kind that you put on your eggs.) The wine was a deep red. The first sip was not bad, as the wine's nose wasn't too bad. However, there wasn't too much taste to the wine, followed by a powerful tannic aftertaste. Jon described it as a "donut": smell and finish with a hole (nothing) in the middle. We sat in comfort, enjoying the only Hungarian wine that seemed to be drinkable, and perhaps even admiring the earthy finish of this wine... when it hit us. Out of no where we were slapped by a sulfur aftertaste. A really strong, really rotten-eggs sulfur aftertaste. At least we knew that the wine was preserved, but this aftertaste just wouldn't leave. Zach pointed out that you probably won't want this wine as a date wine, as it would make your breath smell like farts. Blair compared it to the Seinfeld episode where the valet guy had bad BO and it wouldn't leave the car - more powerful than superman. You should avoid this wine also.
At this point we were ready to kick Zach out of the wine club. He confessed that he had bought the only three types of Hungarian wine at the Wine & Spirits Store. Also, he spent something like $38, and it was easily $40 too much. We decided to have two other wines so we could justify the hang-over we knew the sulfur was going to give us.
Guillians, Spring Mountain District Merlot, Napa Valley, 2001. You probably can't find this wine, as Blair confided that he'd been aging it under the stairway in his San Francisco apartment for the past five years. Harry Potter lived there too, under the stairs. He didn't drink because he was under 21, or 18, or what ever they do in England. The wine was nice, but probably a little over the hill. It lacked a certain freshness to the fruit, and was overly mellow with out too much flavor. This is a wine that could have been decanted, as it picked up flavor as it sat in the glass.
Penley Estate, Hyland Coonawarra Shiraz, 2002 ($15 - in Delaware). This Australian gem was provided to us by Adler. We opened the bottle and Jon proceeded to tell us a long, romantic storey about how he first had this wine with his ex-girlfriend. By the end we were all crying. Crying because he was talking too much and we were thirsty. I mean, really, we didn't care; we just wanted to drink the wine. However, it was worth the wait. The wine was an inky red, with a nice bing cherry and currant smell. The body was just right, and the tannins were mild but pleasant. The finish was a little short, but overall this was the best wine we had this evening. We'll have to check to see if it's available in the Philly store, but if it is and if it is available for under $20 you might want to check it out.
Our evening ended with a nice finish... except that we noticed Adler had half taken off his corduroys. He claimed it was because his phone was in his hot pants. What ever the reason, we learned two key lessons this evening: Hungarian wine and Philly don't mix, and never trust an Australian rugby player in hot pants to behave while telling a romantic story.
Our wine take aways this week:
Hétz?l?, Tokaj Late Harvest, Furmint-Harslevelu, 2005 (about $18). Jumps out of the glass, in an I'm-going-to-kill-you kind of a way. Petro/fruity smell, too sweet, sulfur aftertaste. Drink with rotten fish. Better yet, don't drink.
Egervin, Bulls Blood "Bikavér" of Eger, 2002 ($5). Corked - don't buy this wine in Philly. Who knows how it was stored.
Vylyan Mini-Evolution, Villany Region, Blend 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zweigelt, 5% Portugieser, 2004 (about $15). Pepper nose, water texture and earthy/sulfur aftertaste. Avoid - drinkable but not worth the price.
Penley Estate, Hyland Coonawarra Shiraz, 2002 ($15 - in Delaware). Bing cherry and currant smell and taste, mild but pleasant finish. Nice wine overall.
 |
Be the first to comment on this story