Neal and Kosta-Browne dinner April 28 - What a night! > Wine Forums - THE Wine Forum

Home

Wine Forums

Wine Education

Wine Links

Wine Videos

Wine Search

Help

Friday, August 29, 2008

You are here : Wine Forums

VinoCellar.com Wine Forums

Unanswered Active Topics

Forums Search

Forums > Wine Events! > Post Event Fun!

Subject: Neal and Kosta-Browne dinner April 28 - What a night!

Prev Next

You are not authorized to post a reply.

Author

Messages

dinwiddie

Barrel Sampler
Posts:2176

04/29/2006 12:30 PM
What I'm doing up this early I'll never know, but here goes. We had a wonderful evening. It was nice to meet Mark Neal and Gove Celio again and this time to meet their wives. I had the good fortune to sit next to Elizabeth (Gove's wife) and listen to her tell about her girls growing up among the vineyards. And thanks for the hat Mark. Michael Browne is as nice a guy as you will ever want to meet (heck of a winemaker too) and we had a great time talking about his wines. The food was excellent, as expected, and the service quite nice. But now to the wines. I hope I didn't miss any but there were bottles and decanters all over the place so it is hard to say. In no particular order (except that this is the order I wrote them down) we had: 2004 Tabor Hill Gewürztraminer Traminette - this wine continues to suprise everyone, yes Michigan, but it is very good. A good start to the meal. 2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - very nice Riesling. A little of a petrol (that's gas for us here in the states) on the nose that is typical of these wines, but lovely. Peach, oranges, stone and steel, all in a smooth easy to drink finish. Lovely. 2003 Salina Heintz Ranch Chardonney - This came out later in the dinner. A little too oaky for my taste, but quite focused with lemon and herbs. If this is your style, it is a killer. 2004 Kosta Browne Russian River Valley PN - WOW. A killer of a Cali Pinot. Young, vibrant, cherrys, vanilla, spices, and seamless. Wonderful, wonderful wine. You can taste the Amber Ridge fruit in this wine. Love it. One of my two WOTNs 2004 Kosta Browne Kanzler vineyard PN - Another great PN. A little more powerful and focused, I noticed a slight dustyness (not a bad one) to the nose that fortold a more earthy taste. Love this wine and wish I had some to put in the cellar. Bright fruits and a note of vanilla. This could probably use a couple more years in the cellar, but it is great now. 2004 Kosta Browne Amber Ridge Syrah - Bold yet approchable. Lots of fruits and not overly tannic. Great wine. 2004 Neal Family Zinfandel - My other WOTN. What a nose. It was almost too good to try to drink it I didn't want to bring it away from the nose. Lots of black and red fruits, a little allspice and pepper. This puppy is ready to drink now and if you can get your hands on some, grab it. Great example of a great Zin. I got to watch Mark do the famous "pour and shake" before decanting. But I'm not sure which of the next two wines he was subjecting to the torture. 2004 Neal Family Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - Great Cabernet. Wonderful nose and flavors of cassis, plums, anise and vanilla and a little ceder. Smooth tannins for such a young wine. Complex structure that is consistant through out the palate. Loved it. 2003 Neal Rutherford Dust Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon - Another killer. Cassis and blackberries and violets dominate the nose. Lots of sweet fruits, with a purity that can only be marveled at. Excellent balance, fine tannins, and great acidity, with a medium to long finish. 2002 Stryker Monte Rosso Vineyrd Petit Verdot - This was a suprise. A Petit Verdot from California. Very tannic, almost chalky on the tongue. Focused and powerful. While this is not my cup of tea as it were, it was an excellent example of the grape. 2002 Ojai Ben Nacido Vineyard Syrah. This is what most people think of when they think CA Syrah. A dark, brooding wine, with flavors of berrys and currants, hazelnuts, and spices. Tight frame and an earthy finish. Very good wine that has benefited from a couple of years in the cellar since I last had a chance to taste one. 2003 Quartz de Chame Lorie Valley. Wonderful with dessert (I had the trio of creme broule) Sweet and smooth without being cloying. Just enough grip to let you know that this is a great wine, not juice. Thick yet not unctious. Sorry for the sketchy notes, but I'm going from memory since all I did was write down the names of the wines. It was a wonderful evening, with wonderful friends (both old and new) and food. But most of all wonderful wines to share with those friends. Thank you so much Norm for setting it up, and thank you Mark, Gove, Michael, and families for sharing your wines and time with us.

Winoman

Herndon VA

Grape Sorter
Posts:390

04/29/2006 1:07 PM
I second all of the above! Unfortunatly - I never did get to try that Zin...but the other wines were all quite nice one and all. I agree with you about the Russian River Pinot being a WOTN. Its drinking amazingly well right now considering its very young age. Both of the Neal Cabs were great too...the Rutherford Dust in particular is and will be a very special wine...again 04 vintage! And who would have thought a wine from Michigan would be so unoffensive and drinkable...quite refreshing and good even?!?! Anyway I'm up early for a purpose...let the (kids) ballgames begin! Looking forward to some more comments on the night & pics (I took just a few...). Great company...I was sitting near Gove & Mike and they were always very engaing...as was Gove's wife. Everyone had a good time it seemed. Food and service were both spot on as well...Thanks Capkat for putting this on and making it happen.. D - I saw you writing in your little book - but didn't realise you had taken such detailed notes! Good job!

Dave

Wine Thief
Posts:2890

04/29/2006 2:41 PM
I have no detailed notes from Thursday night, but I do have a few impressions! Just to reiterate the point from my earlier post, the company was better than the wines and the wines were outstanding! 2004 Aubert Chardonnays - Loved them both. I liked the Lauren more than the Ritchie, but both far better than the 2001 Ramey Hudson. The 2004 Aubert are drinking better than the 2003's right now. I recommend standing the Lauren up for a month before serving. Cloudy, cloudy wine. We had a slightly different line-up of Neals. 2002 Neal "Chaffen" - initially over-shadowed by the Rutherford Dust, this wine improved in the glass all night. I only have 3 bottles of this, but I am going to hang onto them for as long as I can. Should be great in 5 years and even better in 10. I really liked this one. 2003 Neal "Rutherford Dust" - the one wine I was hoping that they wouldn't bring since I only bought one bottle (even though I knew at the time that I should have bought more). I should have bought more. My WOTN. The nose reminded me of the '70 BV Private Reserve back when that was just a 10-year old wine. I hope this makes the SVD line-up in future years. 2003 Neal Petite Sirah - believe the hype on this one. My other WOTN. Mark said that this should be ready in 4 years or so. I'll have to take his word on that one. It seemed like it could age forever. 2004 Turley Rattlesnake Zin - I happen to like Turley zins, but I shunted this one aside because it was served in the same flight with the Neals. 1984 Groth - I actually liked this wine. My neighbor, the wine writer, said that the nose smelled of dirty laundry! We never did see eye-to-eye on this one. 1984 Dunn's - the Howell Mtn was my favorite of this flight. I liked it far better than the Napa. I will try another Napa soon to see if it was an off bottle. I really like old cabs, but they were outclassed by the prior flight. 1990 Suduiraut - surprisingly dark color for a 1990. Fun to try, but glad I didn't purchase any when they hit the market here last year.

travelrep

Northern Virginia

Barrel Filler
Posts:1105

04/29/2006 4:26 PM
What a great evening! Thanks to our gracious visitors from the left coast for bringing some awesome juice. I don't have much to add to the comments of Dinwiddie, Winoman and Norm, suffice it to say that the food, wine, company and evening were just great. I'm in the process of sorting out the pictures I took and will post them in the member's pictures section of VC in a little while. Many thanks to CapKat for putting this shindig together! T-Rep

Pool Boy

Laurl, MD (DC suburb)

Master of Wine
Posts:13707

04/29/2006 5:00 PM
I am so bummed I missed this as it sounds like you all had a superb time. If only I were not blowing my nose every 2 minutes, or snorting, or coughing I'd have been there. ARGH!

www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com

David Niederauer User is Offline

Los Gatos, CA

Master Sommelier
Posts:15756

04/30/2006 6:26 PM
Quote: I got to watch Mark do the famous "pour and shake" before decanting. But I'm not sure which of the next two wines he was subjecting to the torture. You mean "infamous pour and shake". I just want to know if he did the old drop-the-bottle-on-the-the-floor-and-get-it-backin-hand-on-the-first-bounce trick?

AlexRed

Northern VA

Barrel Filler
Posts:1357

05/01/2006 3:03 PM
hehe. I was sitting across from Mark. He held on to it. It was the Rutherford Dust that that got the pour and shake. It seemed to work as the wine performed very well. It was great to be able to talk to Mark about his work and see that he obviously cares very deeply for what he is doing. He and his team work hard to produce the best fruit and juice they can put in the bottle, at a great value! This is very important to him and I say bravo. Although i cringe at thinking about getting up at 3am every day though. the Rutherford Dust was my WOTN. I believe the RD and the Napa cab from Neal were both 2003. the Neal Zin was the 2004. the Zin was nice as well, lived up to the hype, glad I have some of that. Kicking myself for not going for the RD. The KB RRV was great after 10-15 minutes in the glass. High spice and fruit, cinnamon, great RRV nose and taste. I enjoyed the 2004? KB Amber Ridge Syrah, it was much lighter and elegant in style than the 2002 Ojai Bien nacido Syrah, which was a big bruiser (although i really enjoyed that as well). Interesting to see the 02 be so big compared to the 04, but vineyard site i imagine had a lot to do with that. Missed the 04 Kanzler, somehow it didn't make it down to my end of the table the Petite Verdot was very interesting. It was a little more severe than anything else on the table but i enjoyed that chance to taste it unblended. I enjoyed it's on its own, but it isn't for everyone. I will be better able to pick out its presence later in other wines. I enjoyed the Michigan selection as well. very nice way to start off the evening... now i know why dinwiddie always asks CapitolKat for some. we had a lot of wine (too much really for the pace of the dinner) and about 6 bottles of white didn't get opened because we needed to decant the reds and the food came in quick order... other than that and the fact that the table was quite long so i didn't get a good chance to talk to people down at the other end, it was a great evening. I did manage to get up and walk around to talk to Micheal, and then with Gove at the end of the evening. Really fun to be able to interact with such nice people with their hands in the production of this stuff we all enjoy. it adds to the enjoyment. It was great meeting everyone. looking forward to being out in Sonoma for a wedding in Oct. Dave, did you guys have the Napa PS or the 1540 PS?

Dave

Wine Thief
Posts:2890

05/01/2006 4:05 PM
Alex, we had the Napa Petite Sirah. Hard to imagine that the other may even be better.

dinwiddie

Barrel Sampler
Posts:2176

05/06/2006 12:17 PM
Quote: D - I saw you writing in your little book - but didn't realise you had taken such detailed notes! Good job! Actually, all I wrote in the book was the names of the wines, no notes.

You are not authorized to post a reply.

Forums > Wine Events! > Post Event Fun! > Neal and Kosta-Browne dinner April 28 - What a night!

ActiveForums 3.7