2 Examples of GREAT TN's...what would YOU consider GREAT TN?

[Serge Birbrair]

I run into those 2,
one from Gavin and one from FloridaJim,
and BOTH TN's made me salivate and I had the feeling as I was there tasting what they were tasting. TN's like that is an Art Form of it's own.


Here they go:

Gavin's:
2002 Glaymond Shiraz The Distance

Black red colour, this wine sure showed the benefit of the time opened, it started out tight and taut, but when we came to it at the tasting panel some 24 hours later, it was singing. What a nose - highly aromatic, a melange of dark berries, plums, exotic spices with a touch of violets too. Again, delighfully light oak (no new oak and better for it) with a little chocolate but only a hint, a potent fruit driven bouquet. Over the evening the nose changed each time you tried it, indeed, it reminded me of the Kalleske Shiraz in this regard. The palate came into its own with lashings of blueberry, plum and blackberry fruit mingled with spice and chocolate on a long and incredibly balanced finished .. all class. Wonderful wine this, it managed intensity with balance, power with structure and a terrifically smooth mouthfeel. Needs both cellaring, and then decanting well before drinking.


FloridaJim's:

Dönnhoff

Almost every year, I buy a case of the Dönnhoff, Riesling Qba. It took a few years but I finally realized that this is terrific wine in almost any vintage. I like to drink it out of syrah glasses (and don’t care who knows it) because its aromas are all about white fruit and cherries and stones with hints of flowers tossed in and those little Riesling glasses seem to contain it. Expansive is my preference.
Its never too sweet, always representative of the Nahe, full-flavored, balanced and impeccably made.
Tonight we opened the 2002 version of this wine and my wife and I are sitting around acting like the cartoon characters from the Guiness commercial, smiling manically and shouting to each other while toasting and eating a dish of homemade pasta with pine nuts in brown butter.
The food has just enough fat to let the cut of the wine take hold and the pasta/pine nut flavors are calm enough so that the lovely fruit and mineral tones of the wine slide across the palate with intensity and a long reprise after swallowing.
Simple fare with great wine.
9.5% alcohol, $16.
“Brilliant!”

[Gianna..]

I certainly agree that both of listed TN's are excellent descriptions of the wine and of the person's enjoyment of the wine.

By I am yet to read anyone's TN's that rival the sheer eloquence of the Baby Chickpea (Danny).

[prester john]

I must agree with you, Gianna, on Danny's TNs. I seldom post (except on those too-rare occasions when I have drank something truly worthy of comment, whether negative or positive) and I don't often comment on another's ability to write TNs, but I confess to looking forward to Danny's notes. So too Attila's notes.

The art of a good TN, in my opinion, is that it should not just describe the wine but it should give me a little more. I don't wish to define what that means and thereby restrict it, but it may mean the mood of the drinker(s) after the drinking or a comparison of the same or similar wines that may have been drunk previously, or perhaps an expatiation of the masculine or feminine qualities of the wine, or the like. Put simply, I like to see a little more than just a clinical description of the wine. That can make even the best of wines seem tepid.

Having said all that, I know that it takes time and effort to create quality TNs, so I applaud all contributors to this forum and similar forums for their love of the fruit of the vine such that they spend their time so unselfishly as to post TNs.

FWIW, I think both of the TNs which Serge referred to are good examples of what I like in TNs.


PJ

[Gavin Trott]

I run into those 2,
one from Gavin and one from FloridaJim,
and BOTH TN's made me salivate and I had the feeling as I was there tasting what they were tasting. TN's like that is an Art Form of it's own.


Here they go:

Gavin's:
2002 Glaymond Shiraz The Distance

Black red colour, this wine sure showed the benefit of the time opened, it started out tight and taut, but when we came to it at the tasting panel some 24 hours later, it was singing. What a nose - highly aromatic, a melange of dark berries, plums, exotic spices with a touch of violets too. Again, delighfully light oak (no new oak and better for it) with a little chocolate but only a hint, a potent fruit driven bouquet. Over the evening the nose changed each time you tried it, indeed, it reminded me of the Kalleske Shiraz in this regard. The palate came into its own with lashings of blueberry, plum and blackberry fruit mingled with spice and chocolate on a long and incredibly balanced finished .. all class. Wonderful wine this, it managed intensity with balance, power with structure and a terrifically smooth mouthfeel. Needs both cellaring, and then decanting well before drinking.


FloridaJim's:

Dönnhoff

Almost every year, I buy a case of the Dönnhoff, Riesling Qba. It took a few years but I finally realized that this is terrific wine in almost any vintage. I like to drink it out of syrah glasses (and don’t care who knows it) because its aromas are all about white fruit and cherries and stones with hints of flowers tossed in and those little Riesling glasses seem to contain it. Expansive is my preference.
Its never too sweet, always representative of the Nahe, full-flavored, balanced and impeccably made.
Tonight we opened the 2002 version of this wine and my wife and I are sitting around acting like the cartoon characters from the Guiness commercial, smiling manically and shouting to each other while toasting and eating a dish of homemade pasta with pine nuts in brown butter.
The food has just enough fat to let the cut of the wine take hold and the pasta/pine nut flavors are calm enough so that the lovely fruit and mineral tones of the wine slide across the palate with intensity and a long reprise after swallowing.
Simple fare with great wine.
9.5% alcohol, $16.
“Brilliant!”

Well I like Gavin's myself!

[707]

Great TNs make you want to grab a glass of the wine straight away.

Of the local scribes I think Campbell in Winefront Monthly is hard to beat, there's always so much passion and clever phrases when he really likes a wine. "slips down easier than low cut jeans" is a classic.

BTW, I thought yours was eloquent too Gavin! The wine you were describing helped alot though, it's one of my favourites and their 2002 Cabernet is all class too.

[Chow Chow]

A classic from TORB on RRig 2002


"Many wine writers write about wine using sexual references, drinking this wine is not about sex, it is making love......"

p/s.Making love & sex is the samething Ric,...the later being politically incorrect"

[TORB]

p/s.Making love & sex is the samething Ric, just the later being politically incorrect"

Martin,

Whilst I am not particularly fond of political correctness, if you think making love and sex is the same thing, I genuinely feel very sorry for you. (Not sure how much of a joked you intended that post to be and how much of it was serious.)

[Chow Chow]

No worries big guy. The only "serious" pursuant is my obsession for a good red.