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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
THIS is what happens when two wine geeks marry
Scott Clark faced a daunting task last weekend: Come up with the perfect wedding toast for his good friends and fellow wine geeks Bob and Cathy, and deliver it in front of several dozen more wine enthusiasts who were enjoying a wine-rich reception.
Who ya gonna call? Robert Parker, of course. Because after all, a fine marriage is like a fine wine, right? So it stands to figure that the same adjectives used to describe a fine wine can apply to each of the members of the union, and to their marriage, right?
So to capture the essence of Bob for the crowd, Scott turned to Parker’s description of the 100-point 1990 Chateau Montrose:
… remarkably rich, with a distinctive nose of sweet, jammy fruit, liquefied minerals, new saddle leather, and grilled steak. In the mouth, the enormous concentration, extract, high glycerin, and sweet tannin slide across the palate with considerable ease. It is a huge, corpulent, awesomely endowed wine that is relatively approachable, as it has not yet begun to shut down and lose its baby fat. Because of (his) enormous sweetness, dense concentration, high extract, and very low acidity, (he) can be appreciated today, yet this is a legend for the future.
And for Cathy? Scott turned to Parker’s description of the 1999 Lafite Rothschild:
A quintessential offering …both elegant and intensely flavored and almost diaphanous in its layers that unfold with no heaviness. An opaque dark ruby/purple color is accompanied by a complex bouquet of lead pencil, graphite, cedar, creme de cassis, toast and vanilla. Medium bodied with extravagant layers of richness yet little weight and a finish that is all sweetness, ripeness, and harmony….
But how to describe the resulting union of these two friends and wine lovers? For that, Scott buckled down, poring over Parker reviews, borrowing bits of prose from the descriptions of many, many Bordeaux from, of course, the finest pedigree and vintages. And here, my friends, is a slightly pared-down version of how Scott — with a powerful assist from Mr. Parker — described Cathy and Bob’s future together:
… possesses a spectacular, young but awesome smorgasbord of aromas … There are gorgeous aromas of creosote, asphalt, camphor, cigar smoke, roasted espresso, new saddle leather, and graphite; all intermixed with black currants, acacia, liquid minerals, crushed blackberries, creme de cassis, vanilla, hickory smoke, scorched earth, and grilled nuts. … powerful, dense, and chewy, with magnificent extract, excellent delineation, and outstanding purity. … This brilliant achievement satisfies both the hedonistic and intellectual senses. … already showing great complexity and accessibility … extremely difficult to resist. The brilliant symmetry of the wine, extraordinary purity, and seamlessness are the hallmarks of a modern-day legend.
Anticipated maturity: Unknown Aging potential: Unlimited
It brought down the house.
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