This was a great impromptu tasting with Paul of some of his excellent reds that will sell for $28-$45 approximately, depending on which one you or we select. At this point all signs are " go " for the excellent medium-bodied, balanced, nuanced and flavorful as well as polished Blaufrankish 2006!
Enjoy these pictures that I took and the text at the end that hopefully show the fun and the excitement and the " flow " of the moment and the wines that led one into the other. Cheers ...
Paul thanks for coming to see us today. It was quite the treat for Chris and me ...
I've just looked at these pictures and had a little time to reflect on this tasting early this afternoon. It's always a pleasure to drink Austrian wines these days as the bar of excellence that many of them exhibit is so high that one cannot fail to be impressed and sometimes wowed by them.
In the case of Paul's wines I see real style, finesse and elegance where often less is often more. He holds his wines back some and they open slowly and gracefully over my palate.
They were all from the 2006 vintage and it was great starting with the Zweigelt '06 from Burgenland. I liked the balance and the focus here. It did not shout out at me but spoke to me in a very pleasing way and I was already a fan of Paul's wines after the second and third sips. It would sell for between $28 and $30 as I recall and I would buy some if I needed another Zweigelt. However, what I needed was a Blaufranisch and I said this once I saw the wines on our tasting table.
I then tasted with Chris Barker the Zweigelt " Langer Acker " '06 and I liked the fuller, deeper, more intense mouth-feel and was once again pleased with both the focus and excellent linear delineation of the flavors as they stretched along the acrobat's tightrope , suspended and touching my palate so to speak beautifully over it's entire length from first taste sensation till the last and the wine here acting as the tightrope artist finished his or her walk and found safety in a long, lingering finish. Nice. It would sell for $36 to $40 I believe.
Finally we got to the Blaufrankisch Burgenland '06 and I was really waiting to see what this would hold? It was fuller and broader and with more bright, fleshy red berry flavors on my palate : less darker berry flavors and I liked this. I found the taste even more approachable : even more appealing on it's own. Slowly the herbs and spices and accents and nuances, nips and tucks of the flavors started to reveal themselves and take on a greater 3-D dimension. I liked this : the Blaufrankish just languished and spread out a bit like it was totally oblivious of my observation and analysis. It simply gave me the impression that it did not care one way or the other. I liked this : it almost played with me this way.
I can't wait to have Jody taste this at one of her tastings with our customers in Cleveland Park. It will sell fro under $30 a bottle on our shelves.
Then Chris and I moved to the last Blaufrankisch, the " Edelgrund " '06 that was denser, a bit more opaque, a bit more tight and closed and with more unresolved tannins and spices and acids, too. In my opinion it can use easily another 2-5 years in the bottle before it really begins to strut it's stuff. I can wait. I will recommend that if people enjoy the regular Burgenland Blaufrankisch '06 that they invest in some bottles of this " Edelgrund " '06 at around $40-$45 and put some away for awhile where they will not be tempted and then to uncover it sometime later so that all the flavors can unfold and reveal themselves more in their fabulous entirety than they do now.
THese comments above I just added : my tasting notes, so to speak at 11 PM here at my home in northern Virginia. I wanted to do this while everything was fresh in my memory.
The notes below I added earlier after downloading these pictures. It takes some time to organize and piece all of these elements together. Enjoy and read on, too ...
As you may be able to tell I am an artist as well as a wine-educator/enabler and I do love to play with my subjects and their wines, the glass the wines are in, the reflections and distortions that I get with the strong lighting above, my flashes, my contrasts and the colors of the wines as they are changed by all of the above. I hope you enjoy the journey as I search for new angles and new perspectives and new ways to combine all the elements into stories in and of themselves in each single picture. Of course, I love how they tell more of a complete story combined as they are here.
We had a great tasting with Paul Achs of his own winery in Burgenland, Austria today, Wednesday January, 2010 at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) around 1:30 PM. I loved the Blaufrankisch that we tasted and we are thinking of getting Jody to taste some around Valentien's Day as a nice treat for some of our customers. We also tried a special bottling of it for more money, two Zweigelts and more - all reds earlier this afternoon from PAUL ACHS. It was a special treat for Chris Barker and myself. Here are some pictures to enjoy. Cheers, TONY
PS : Stay-tuned for more....
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