I am not a wine geek.....seriously!

So last night hung out with Stephen and Joe from Crush and we tried to drink non-geeky wines. We failed miserably. But when you get three hard-core winegeeks together you get Vitovska, Chignin Bergeron and a spatlese trocken feinherb...but I am getting ahead of myself.

The first wine was the 2002 Vodipivec Vitovska which turned into a great wine and was perhaps the wine of the night but needed some serious aeration as the first half-hour it was like sucking on the periodic table. Very elemental stuff and the finish was brutally metallic. But this thing started to expand on the mid palate and became achingly beautiful stuff. The fruits were fleshy apricot, tangerine and peach. The elegance and mouthfeel were fantastic. The minerality became much more integrated after a while and became less elemental and more fruity. Concentrated with that wonderful orange color of so many wines of this ilk (Gravner, Lispida, Radikon). I'l admit when this was first poured I was talking mad smack about it but it really stunned me by the end of the night. Expensive yeah.....but very very cool.

Next up was the 2005 Berlioz Chignin-Bergeron. I really thought until I saw this bottle that only people with the last name Quenard made wine in Chignin. I was wrong. I really did not get this wine. It was big, ponderous and kind of lacked acidity. There was lots of interesting waxy tropical fruit. I know it is old vines and I know it Roussanne which does not have the greatest natural acidity but this seemd very low in acidity. It had interesting aromas but never really got me going and for $40 there is alot of other weird geeky French wine. Maybe it will be better in five years.

Then we moved onto the '05 Knebel Winninger Bruckstuck Alte Reben Spatlese feinherb which was very very nice but had a weird edge to it too. Too geeky? The nose had loads of spice, slate, mineral and dried beer aromas along with some interesting lemon and lime zest. The palate had lowish acidity but it did work with the rest of the wine. The texture was very velvety and it was bone dry but very rich at the same time. I wish the acidity was higher as it really would have livened everything up a bit more.

Up next was a great set of reds. The first wine was an absolutely embryonic bottle of 2004 Baudry Chinon La Croix Boisse which is a personal favorite. I even liked the '03. The color was dark as a moonless night with a nose of crushed flowers, blackurrants and green peppercorn. Acidity was high, tannins were huge and the density was off the charts. The concentration was well....very concentrated and the purity was amazing. This was blakc fruits galore and the texture was thick wet velvet. This was easily the best 2004 Chinon I have had yet. Painfully young and I am eager to finish off the rest of the bottle tonight to see where this baby goes.

The next and final wine of the night was the 2002 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie "Cuvee Tardive" which was in a great place. The nose was singing with loads of spice, tea leaf, rainwater, swamp, purple and a solid core of red fruits. The palate had enormous concentration and great acidity. There was a very pretty leafiness throughout the midpalate and finish alogn with lots of spice. Very pure and very rich and actually drinking great now. Not sure how much longer this will go. I like this alot but think the '05 is a better wine.