Dom Zind Humbrecht H de T Muscat 2000

I’ve been aching to taste this wine for about nine months now. It came on our Bangalow holiday with us but didn’t find a suitable food match or excuse. Tonight both came at once: Yon, our great friend and Annie’s godmother arrived from Sydney to stay the week with us, and we cooked up a ginger and black pepper fish stir fry that matches this wine like you would not believe. Let’s just say that few things make me as happy as an occasion like this.

This is only an entry level wine (about $60ish from memory) from my favourite Alsatian producer, Domaine Zind Humbrecht. The Herenweg de Turckheim Muscat 2000 is a dry white made from Muscat. It’s deep golden with great colour intensity and an orange hue. The nose is at once musky and floral with a distinct citrus lift. There are notes of malolactic characters (buttery). In the mouth this wine lays down the law, stating what the region has to offer: powerful dry whites with a palate notable for elegance and balance. Firm but not overstated acidity is balanced perfectly with residual sugar only evident as a contributor to its even palate weight. The wine’s entry is a genuine, natural continuation from the nose. Musk and rosewater on the mid-palate with orangeblossom and jasmine on the back palate. All this and sensational length just makes this a wine that I want to buy every bottle I can find. This fellow is 14.5% alcohol – stronger than most Shiraz, but just doesn’t come across at all hot or overpowering. This, my friends, is what wine is all about to me. Restraint, power, beauty.

All of this reminds me of Len Evan’s famous statement that every time you drink an inferior bottle of wine it is the same thing as smashing an excellent bottle of wine against a wall, to be wasted and unenjoyed by anyone.

The minute, man.

Well, this is my first post on this flashy new blog put together by my buddy Benja, c/o some Frenchman wordpress template designer dude.

History suggests that the first entry in a monolith as epic as this site will no doubt become should be as sweeping in generality as it should be warm and welcoming in nature. Not so, dear reader. Instead you have a glimpse into this very minute at casaderogers:

Third, by Portishead has just started spinning in the CD player, completely unaware that it was preceeded by Wincing the Night Away by The Shins, which in turn was preceeded by Bedouin Soundclash’s Street Gospel, which of course only followed in the haunting footsteps of Cat Power’s The Covers Record. Are you still following? Tenses are confusing. To quote A. Trocchi:

“When I write I have trouble with my tenses. Where I was tomorrow is where I am today, where I would be yesterday.”

Amidst all this I am drinking one of the better experiences of my life: Domain Zind Humbrecht Heimbourg Gewurtztraminer 1998. It’s a sensational bastard glaring at me from the glass with 14.5% alcohol. Light straw in colour, aggressively aromatic with the classic nose of nougat, lychee, musk. Sneaky glimmers of rose petal come through. On the palate it’s a queer creature. Warm with clearly present alcohol (but not faulty), the classic fruity characters of the varietyhave clearly pulled back more than just a little (like an old man’s lips revealing a perfect row of chompers) revealing more and more bottle-age characters: bacon & smoke in particular. Very mango, a little spicy, racy, with the expected lychee and musk still lingering. This is great booze. You should all be drinking this wine right now. As I’ve lately begun to repeat to strangers like a mantra, life is too short: you could die tomorrow and have never known what good wine tastes like. I’ve only recently learned that not all very serious wine is red. In fact, it seems to me that the most exciting wine is white. If you need convincing, email me with a price-point and I’ll tell you which wine to buy.

In other of-this-moment thoughts, today I used up Cain’s Book and will now continue on with my assault on Bukowski’s body of work with Women. Can’t wait.

A-Ro is asleep in her bed and she is perfect.

Georgia is pottering about, waiting for me to pay her some attention. So that’s it.

Audi 5000.

peace.