Latest / Sips, Suds, & Smokes / The good stuff is by the hill of pebbles

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The good stuff is by the hill of pebbles · Sips, Suds, & Smokes

• 0:00
  > Announcer>On the next episode of Sips, Suds and Smokes.
• 0:04
  > Brent>This is a wine episode. And here are the wines we're going to be discussing today. We have the Langlois, Crimeont de Loire, Brute Reserve. We have the Costa Sternal Blanc 2022.
• 0:15
  > Harm>Yep.
• 0:16
  > Brent>We have the Pagodas de Coast 2020. We have the Jeet Estelle 2020. And we have the Costa Estranel 2016. And the Cost Estronelle 2014. It's a good day in the basement.
• 0:34
  > Harm>You any French stuff on that box there? No.
• 0:37
  > Brent>Do you have any new wine stuff? Yes.
• 0:40
  > Harm>These old wines?
• 0:41
  > Announcer>Yeah.
• 0:42
  > Brent>Oh, uh, Lord. Yeah. So this is a good day in the basement. Absolutely. So anytime, anytime there's a good Bordeaux, it's, it's. It's a good day. And anytime there's one of my favorite Bordeaux, it's an even better day.
• 0:52
  > Announcer>So we'll be right back after this break. Brought to you almost live from the dude in the basement studios. Why? Because that's where the good stuff is. It sips, suds and smokes with your smokin toast. The good old boys. And now it's sipping.
• 1:59
  > Announcer>Hey.
• 1:59
  > Brent>Yes. It's sometime. Again, welcome to this sips episode where everything good in life is worth discussing.
• 2:04
  > Harm>Sure is.
• 2:05
  > Brent>Especially today. Today is a good day. Oh, very good day was made, Mad Bob. Joining me today are good old boy Herme.
• 2:14
  > Harm>Thanks for having me, Bob. It's French wine time.
• 2:16
  > Brent>Yes, it is. And good old boy Justin.
• 2:18
  > Bob>Bonjour, May. And me.
• 2:19
  > Brent>I know. I. I noticed I was able to get him out of bed this morning for this show, so.
• 2:24
  > Bob: Cracker 1>00pm yeah.
• 2:26
  > Brent>Oh, I'm here. Well, our Sips episodes are all about wine, distilled spirits, tea, coffee, and anything else you can sip. And this is a wine episode. Uh, and here are the wines we're going to be discussing today. We have the Langlois, Cremont, Deloir, Brute Reserve. We have the Custard Blanc 2022.
• 2:47
  > Harm>Yep.
• 2:48
  > Brent>We have the Pagodas de Coast 2020. We have the Jeet Estournelle 2020. And we have the Costa Estronelle 2016 and the Costa Estranel 2014. So it's appropriate. Good day in the basement.
• 3:07
  > Harm>Do you have any French stuff on that box there?
• 3:10
  > Harm>No.
• 3:11
  > Brent>Do you have any new wine stuff? Yes.
• 3:14
  > Harm>These old wines?
• 3:15
  > Announcer>Yeah.
• 3:15
  > Brent>Oh, Lord.
• 3:16
  > Harm>Yeah.
• 3:16
  > Brent>So it's is a good day in the basement. Absolutely.
• 3:19
  > Brent>So anytime, anytime there's a good Bordeaux, it's.
• 3:22
  > Brent>It's a good day. And anytime there's one of my favorite Bordeaux, it's an even better day. So let's have, um, Justin, tell us all about our SIPs ratings.
• 3:30
  > Bob>So we've got SIPs ratings one through five, one being the worst, five being the best. And we're going to do number two. Two SIPs.
• 3:40
  > Harm>But you're not going to hear it on this episode.
• 3:42
  > Brent>Yeah, yeah.
• 3:46
  > Bob>What else do you have? Huh?
• 3:49
  > Harm>Well, isn't that nice? That was so bad.
• 3:52
  > Brent>That was horrible. Yeah, that was. That was. That was bad. So.
• 3:57
  > Harm>All right, well, I thought you had a Pepe. The Pepe Le Pew in your pocket. You should. You should have a Pepe Le Pew. You're not watching enough, um, Looney Tunes. Not lately, no.
• 4:07
  > Brent>He didn't have a very good childhood, so. No.
• 4:09
  > Announcer>No.
• 4:10
  > Harm>Acme. Uh. Oh, sorry. Coyote versus Acme is out this weekend.
• 4:13
  > Brent>I'm taking a sack and tie him up and hit him with those iron sticks, you know. So that was pretty much what he did for childhood.
• 4:21
  > Bob>No, it was the generic. What do you call it? The generic Cheerios. We didn't have the name brand.
• 4:26
  > Bob>Whatever the fake Cheerios were.
• 4:27
  > Harm>I don't remember those. Walmart me. Oh, yeah.
• 4:30
  > Bob>Uh, I had fake Cheerios. Is real Cheerios are too much.
• 4:35
  > Harm>Oh, my God.
• 4:35
  > Bob>Thanks, guys.
• 4:37
  > Harm>I do remember lawn darts. We had the official lawn darts.
• 4:41
  > Brent>Uh, just because you're.
• 4:42
  > Harm>Nobody died.
• 4:43
  > Brent>Your brother used to make you run and he'd throw him at you.
• 4:45
  > Harm>That I used to throw my brother. We did. He's a year younger, but when he turned 16, he got bigger than me. I've never forgiven him.
• 4:53
  > Bob>Yeah, well, for getting bigger than you.
• 4:55
  > Harm>He's huge now. It's ridiculous. He's taller and more broad and all that crap. Who needs that? Who needs a little brother like that? I mean, he's in his 50s now, but does it matter? No, I still. I still resent it.
• 5:06
  > Bob>Understand.
• 5:08
  > Harm>Damn kid had to grow up. I tried keeping from growing up.
• 5:13
  > Brent>That's called homicide, and it's frowned upon.
• 5:16
  > Harm>Why would they give me lawn darts otherwise?
• 5:18
  > Bob>Oh, well, yeah, my little sister makes me look good, so.
• 5:21
  > Harm>Oh, very nice. Yeah.
• 5:25
  > Bob>That's not saying much.
• 5:26
  > Brent>Yeah, saying much from her. Well, all right, Harm, why don't you tell us about our first one?
• 5:30
  > Harm>Okay. Thanks, Bob. So Langlois owns and manages 175 acres of the best AOC vineyards in the Loire Valley. Uh, for their Cremets, which is sparkling wine made outside of Champagne France, they have an intensely terroir focused approach of drawing the best characteristics from six distinct vineyards and soil types. They create a complex refined wines. The grapes are hand harvested in small bins and pressed gently. Only first press juice is used in the cuvee. Each parcel and each variety is vinified separately. Aging lasts for 36 months versus the 12 months required by the appellation. The reserve wines are incorporated in the final blend, which is an extremely rare practice in the world of Clermont. That's very common in high end Champagne. So Langlois, Crment de Loire, Brut reserve. So it's also the reserve wine as well. 12.5% ABV. The appellation again is Cormante de Loire. It is 60%, 67% Chenin Blanc, which you would never find in Champagne. 23% Chardonnay and 10% Cabernet Franc, again, not allowed in Champagne. Um, the color is a pale straw. The nose. So when I first opened it, it was hay and melon and ripe apricot. And now this had time to breathe. It's apples, uh, green apples, ripe pear first again. Earlier the pear was.
• 6:48
  > Harm>Smelled like a little unripe. And all through it I get almonds on the nose, like a nuttiness. So there's almonds and pears and apples and a little.
• 6:57
  > Harm>That hay is still coming back. And there's a hint of spice. I don't know what the spice is. Um, it's. It may be like all spice type thing coming out on the palate. The mousse is fine. Um, I mean, like, the bowls are small. Good zippy acidity, good fruit. Um, you've got apples, pears, and lemon comes out that I didn't smell on those. Um, nice and medium length finish. Little almost a little salty. Not quite. Bob, would you get.
• 7:32
  > Brent>I thought it was very pretty. It had a. When we first opened it up, it was, it was pretty cold.
• 7:38
  > Brent>Um, the nose had a very, like you said, a lot of melon, a lot of, uh, like a little bit of a flower shop nose. For me, Um, I didn't get as
• 7:48
  > Harm>much floral as you do, but.
• 7:49
  > Brent>And then I, I got, I got a lot of the pear when it was chilled, but once it warmed up, the green apple just leaped out of the glass. The citrus stayed though, which I'm, I'm, um, pleased.
• 7:59
  > Harm>I didn't smell the citrus. I got it on the palate.
• 8:01
  > Brent>No, I don't, I don't, I don't still don't smell the citrus. But those on the palate, the citrus is still there. I mean, it is, it's like, um, um, uh, one of the lemons, the ones from, um, the ones they make lemon cello out of Amalfi lemons. Yeah, it's, it's, it's that kind of lemon. It's not the, you know, cheap when you get the grocery store. I mean, just beautiful, beautiful palette on this.
• 8:22
  > Harm>Now they're called something else. Amalfi Coast.
• 8:24
  > Brent>Yeah.
• 8:24
  > Harm>What's the name of the lemon?
• 8:25
  > Brent>I can't remember the name of the. But you know the one I'm talking about.
• 8:27
  > Harm>Yeah.
• 8:29
  > Brent>And there's definitely some blanched almond in there. M. It's a, it's a very pretty little wine.
• 8:37
  > Brent>I enjoy it. What do you, what do you think? Just.
• 8:40
  > Bob>So when I first knows this, I got like fresh laundry and not much else. And then once it warmed up, the lemon came through on the nose for me. On the palate it was creamy. Ah, mouthfeel lemon. Um, the effervescence was very pleasant. And I like this better cold, um, when the finish was like a lemon cream. It's very well balanced. You could see where all the trouble with the high end techniques they use came through.
• 9:15
  > Harm>Um, the bubbles don't last as long as champagne though.
• 9:18
  > Brent>No.
• 9:18
  > Bob>And it's not extremely complex, but it was really pleasant.
• 9:22
  > Harm>Yeah, exactly.
• 9:23
  > Bob>Drink it again.
• 9:24
  > Brent>Yeah, It's a lovely little wine. It really is.
• 9:26
  > Bob>Yeah.
• 9:26
  > Brent>I enjoyed the heck out of it. And it's, it's a nice diversion from, you know, your normal champagne.
• 9:32
  > Harm>That Chenin blanc is great. It's nice to have Chenin Blanc.
• 9:35
  > Brent>That, yeah, that I, that honestly makes it for me.
• 9:38
  > Brent>It just, uh.
• 9:39
  > Harm>The only other sparkling Chenin I've had is from South Africa and this is,
• 9:43
  > Brent>this is better actually. It's different. Know that's the thing I like about it.
• 9:46
  > Bob>So after our last show we did Gerard when they were mostly reds. This was a nice break.
• 9:51
  > Brent>Yeah, they were all reds. Yeah. You know, so it's nice to get a little bit of, a little bit of a lift. So yeah, this one's, this one's very pretty.
• 9:59
  > Brent>I've enjoyed this one.
• 10:00
  > Harm>Did you uh, you guys get the spice too or. No, I didn't. No. Just on the back.
• 10:05
  > Brent>No, for me it's mostly fruit. So. But we're going to give the language. Cremat de Loire Brute reserve a well deserved three sips.
• 10:15
  > Harm>Interesting.
• 10:18
  > Brent>And again, just a nice departure from your normal, regular, everyday sparkling French wine champagne.
• 10:26
  > Harm>It, it's also m. More affordable. So yeah, if you are looking for French sparkling as an alternative to uh, champagne, you should look for Cremont. Um, they're made in different regions. This one from Loire is really quite nice.
• 10:41
  > Brent>Yeah, yeah. You know, again, nothing wrong with champagne, but like you said, if you're looking to spend a little bit less coin and still have a really, let me
• 10:49
  > Harm>tell you, it's way better than Prosecco. Stop with the Prosecco, please.
• 10:52
  > Brent>Yeah.
• 10:52
  > Harm>Hurting me.
• 10:54
  > Brent>We'll be back.
• 10:59
  > Announcer>Hey.
• 10:59
  > Brent>And we're back. We just finished talking about the Lanois Cremat de Loire. Brute Reserve. Beautiful little wine. Gave that three sips. So that's going to take us to our next winery and we're, uh, going to have Justin tell us about that.
• 11:12
  > Bob>So we're going to talk about cost. Estelle Blanc 2023.
• 11:17
  > Brent>Well, you got to do the read in first.
• 11:20
  > Harm>Uh, previous page.
• 11:20
  > Brent>Thanks for joining the show.
• 11:22
  > Harm>Our story begins.
• 11:23
  > Bob>Yes, our story begins.
• 11:25
  > Brent>There you go.
• 11:26
  > Bob>In the early 19th century with Louis Gaspar d', Estranel, a visionary winemaker whose passion for his land set him apart. Defying convention, he built his estate on a hill, or Cos, as it's known in the old Gascon language. The hill of Cos dominates the Gironde from the height of almost 65ft. His wine soon developed a reputation for remarkable depth and power. It wasn't just the wine that made him legendary. Fascinated by the east, the Estournelle exported his wines as far as India, embracing the exotic influences that would forever shape the identity of the chateau.
• 12:08
  > Harm>Say thank you, France.
• 12:10
  > Bob>And earning him the moniker of the Maharajah of Saint Estef. Estef.
• 12:18
  > Brent>Yeah, you got it.
• 12:19
  > Bob>That global vision.
• 12:20
  > Brent>He's a little slow.
• 12:22
  > Bob>Is etched into the estate today, from its pagoda inspired architecture to the grand ornamental gates that seem to whisper stories of distant lands and centuries past. In 1855, Chateau de Cause Estournel was recognized as the second growth in the historic Bordeaux classification, a testament to its enduring excellence.
• 12:46
  > Harm>Oh, um, by the way, Estranel means pebbles, so Costa Estranel is hill of pebbles.
• 12:49
  > Bob>Merci beaucoup.
• 12:51
  > Harm>So great drainage in Bordeaux for these grapes.
• 12:55
  > Bob>Through triumphs, challenges and changes in ownership, the estate has never lost its bold spirit or its commitment to crafting wines that are both powerful and refined. And now we're going to talk about Costa Estranel Blanc. 2023.
• 13:11
  > Brent>2022.
• 13:12
  > Bob>2022. 13 and a half percent alcohol. By volume, it's 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Semillon fermentation in stainless steel aged in French oak barrels. Seven percent of them are new. The vineyard is 91 hectares. Soil composition, clay, limestone. Unique in character. Costa Estrel Blanc evokes the coolness of sea spray. The salty sea
• 13:45
  > Brent>wine wins.
• 13:47
  > Bob>Wins.
• 13:47
  > Brent>Jesus.
• 13:48
  > Bob>Missed the line.
• 13:49
  > Brent>Somebody's been drinking wine.
• 13:51
  > Bob>Right? Whipping one's face while also conjuring the warmth and richness of the land. A generous and lively wine. It brings to mind a slice of bread spread thickly with quince jam, a sun drenched stall of autumn fruit, or sudden recollections of the sweetest summer moments.
• 14:11
  > Harm>Somebody got a press release.
• 14:14
  > Bob>Right. So the color is light on the nose. I got lemons and pears on the palette, bitter lemon and limestone. And the finish was short and a little bitter. What did you think, Harmeet?
• 14:29
  > Harm>Um, short and a little bit. Are we talking about Maury? Um, we miss you, Maury. You come do some more shows with us. Uh, the nose, I got, um, like green pear and there's a big wave of spice at the front, like some pep, white pepper and, uh, like cigar box. I don't know what that spice. It's a little bit of a nice. There's an herbal quality to it. And as it warmed up, the flavors got better.
• 14:58
  > Harm>The more fruit came out. Uh, the palate is round from that semillon and the orchard fruit really sings. M. So the sauvignon blanc is bringing the good acidity in those notes, but the Semillon rounds it out. Got a great mouth feel. The finish is dry, and I thought it's a little bit salty as well. And you probably didn't like the finish. I think it went on long enough and it made my mouth water. So I find that this is a great wine to have with food. Bob, what do you think?
• 15:30
  > Brent>I think it's beautiful. Um, when we first opened it and poured it out of the bottle, there was a smokiness and that blew off almost immediately.
• 15:38
  > Brent>Yeah, a little flinty, smoky that blew off. And now it's just beautiful fruit. And there's that salinity that you're talking about. It's there on the nose and it's also there on the palate.
• 15:50
  > Harm>Well, they talk about it in their little press release. The. The sea spray on your face.
• 15:56
  > Brent>Oh, uh, yeah. Just absolutely beautiful wine. And I'm with you. The, the acidity on it is lovely,
• 16:03
  > Harm>but it's balanced with a semio. Rounds it out.
• 16:05
  > Brent>Yeah, it's. It's just right where it needs to be.
• 16:08
  > Brent>The acidity is just enough there that it gets you interested in it. Also, like I, like you said, I think this, I think this would, with some food would be absolutely perfect. I mean, like a nice piece of fish, this would be soft cheeses.
• 16:22
  > Harm>I'll go with this.
• 16:23
  > Brent>Yeah, fantastic. I think this is an absolutely beautiful wine. So, um, yeah, and the only bad thing about it is I only have one bottle sitting in front of me.
• 16:36
  > Harm>You got a rating, sir?
• 16:37
  > Brent>I think we're going to be rating the Custard Sono Blanc 20, 22. Four sips.
• 16:44
  > Harm>That's classified.
• 16:47
  > Brent>So that's going to take us to our next wine, which is the Pagodas de Cos 2020. That's 13% ABV. It's 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 9, uh, percent Cobb Franc, uh, 4% Petit Verdot. It's aged for 18 months in mostly new barrels. Costa Estrel's other grand vin Pagodas de Coast is crafted from vines that are 40 years old on average, cultivated on a specific dedicated terroir. The soils yielded, uh, excellent results for this early developing vintage as they made it possible to wait for the grapes to reach their perfect ripeness. Um, can I see the bottom? Yeah, it's right there.
• 17:34
  > Harm>Nope, that's not it. That one.
• 17:36
  > Brent>Handed the bottle.
• 17:37
  > Harm>Thank you.
• 17:38
  > Brent>It's got a beautiful color to it. Nice. Nice Burgundy. But it's got a nice rim of garnet on it.
• 17:48
  > Brent>On the nose, black cherry, black currant, and a little bell pepper. Um, and on the palette, let's see. Oh, absolutely beautiful. A little bit of plum, a little tobacco leaf, some cherry, a little bit of licorice on the back palate. This is very, very pretty. What did you think, Harm?
• 18:31
  > Harm>Well, to me, this wine needed a little bit more time to breathe. Um, on the nose, I got cassis more than anything else, but then it starts morphing into, like, milk chocolate and licorice.
• 18:44
  > Harm>And, um. You said cherry. I'm not getting the cherry as much. Well, maybe I'm.
• 18:50
  > Brent>Now I get it on the palette more than I get it on the nose.
• 18:53
  > Harm>And it's got a bit of graphite and chocolate on the palette. I find this a little bit low acid for me. I know that's the house style for this wine.
• 19:01
  > Harm>Supposed to be low acid, but it's just a little bit low for me. Medium, uh, body. It's. It's good.
• 19:09
  > Harm>Justin, what do you think?
• 19:11
  > Bob>So, on the nose, I got, um, some medium strength fruit. I got like a, ah, punch brand cigar box kind of nose to it.
• 19:22
  > Harm>Does your fruit even lift, bro? Speed. Sorry.
• 19:26
  > Bob>According to my blood test, it does. And then, um, I got big and bright fruit on the palate, and the finish was like, long and mid back palette. I think this needs another 10 years to age. And then I think it's going to be beautiful.
• 19:43
  > Harm>And we need to take a break for a commercial, too.
• 19:45
  > Harm>It's perfect.
• 19:49
  > Brent>Hey. And we're back, and we are having a lovely afternoon.
• 19:53
  > Harm>Justin was waxing rhapsodic about the, uh,
• 19:56
  > Brent>pagodas, drinking some fantastic Bordeaux. This is the way that every Sunday should be. So, yeah, Justin was waxing rhapsodic. Yeah, all three words.
• 20:08
  > Harm>Well, he certainly wasn't poetic.
• 20:10
  > Brent>Oh, absolutely not poetic. No, definitely not.
• 20:12
  > Brent>But, yeah, this one. This one's pretty.
• 20:15
  > Harm>Finish what you're saying, Justin. I interrupted you. The commercial interrupted you. You said so.
• 20:20
  > Harm>You said it needs 10 more years.
• 20:22
  > Bob>Yeah, it needs 10 more years. That was it. What'd you think, Harvey?
• 20:25
  > Harm>I already said it. I'm done. Let's give it a rating. Bob, we need to move on.
• 20:30
  > Brent>All right, well, we're going to be giving the Pagodas the Coast 2020. Well deserved. Four sips.
• 20:37
  > Harm>I got outvoted. I don't think I deserve four sips, but I got. Just put that in there that, you know.
• 20:42
  > Brent>All right, so that takes us to our next wine, and we're going to have Harm tell us about that one.
• 20:48
  > Harm>Thank you, sir. The G d' Estournel is 2020, is 13% ABV. It is 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 90% Merlot in the 2020 vintage. The Merlot from the vineyard in the northern part of Medoc was an except. Was exceptional. As it was at Cote Charnel. It's, um, more extreme weather conditions and less rain than stuff. But with the vines being 35 years old on average, they were able to compensate thanks to their deep roots. Um, it's a slightly cloudy garnet, so it's very lightly filtered on the nose.
• 21:22
  > Harm>Plums, uh, cinnamon, allspice and chocolate, milk chocolate. And, uh, there's a little bit of pepper on the palate. M. Um, when I first tasted, first thing hit me was the spice, and then hot chocolate and then cherries. That is starting to change a little bit more. The chocolate's coming out more than the spice than the cherries. Finishes medium long. It's got good enough acidity for me. I thought that last one was a little bit low ph. I think this, um, one I liked better than the last one, but, uh, these guys didn't. What do you think, Bob?
• 22:00
  > Brent>Um, I liked it as much as the last one. It was him that didn't like it as much as the last one we actually were drinking. I don't think we're drinking the 20. I think we're drinking maybe 22 last Sunday.
• 22:12
  > Announcer>Yeah.
• 22:12
  > Brent>So I think it's beautiful wine. Um, on the nose, it's a lot of black fruit.
• 22:20
  > Harm>I got red fruit. Whatever, man. It's all subjective.
• 22:24
  > Brent>And on the palate. M. Again, dark fruit, cassis, more plum than cassis. A little bit of tobacco leaf. It's got a. This has got a bit of a salty minerality on the back palette, on the finish.
• 22:44
  > Brent>It's got a really nice mouth coat. It's got a good grip to it, but the tannin isn't overpowering. Uh, yeah, you know, this one's. I think this one's a little more ready to drink than the wine that we had before.
• 22:55
  > Harm>Do you not get the chocolate and the spice notes, or is it just me? Am I off? I'm getting chocolate, man. I'm m getting Mexican hot chocolate things almost. With the pepper.
• 23:08
  > Brent>I'm getting the pepper.
• 23:10
  > Harm>Cinnamon.
• 23:13
  > Brent>M. Maybe. Maybe. What do you think, Justin?
• 23:19
  > Bob>So when I was first poured, I got, like, the, uh, end of
• 23:25
  > Harm>fireplace.
• 23:25
  > Bob>Uh, it went right before it goes out.
• 23:27
  > Harm>Ashy smoke. Yeah, that blew off. I did that first.
• 23:31
  > Bob>Yeah, I got that first. Then, um, I got toasted walnuts, some fruit deep in there. And then after all that blew off, the fruit, like dark fruit compote became more prevalent. Um, the palate, I got, like, medium mixed fruit. Um, not very deep flavor profile, but pleasant. And the finish, for me was unremarkable.
• 24:04
  > Harm>Okay.
• 24:05
  > Brent>He is so broken inside.
• 24:08
  > Harm>I know. That's okay. I'm just, um. We're all.
• 24:10
  > Harm>We're all different. And some people are more different than others. Yeah, some people are wrong.
• 24:16
  > Brent>Yeah, some people are just wrong.
• 24:18
  > Bob>I'm new to French wine, so I come to it with no expectations and experience, just judging what's in the glass or taste buds.
• 24:25
  > Brent>But now. Ah, we won't go there
• 24:29
  > Harm>writing, Bob.
• 24:30
  > Brent>Yeah, I just. He's killing.
• 24:32
  > Harm>Just do it. Do your job, Bob.
• 24:33
  > Brent>All right. We're giving the G D est or nil. A well deserved. Three sips.
• 24:37
  > Harm>Interesting. I'm being pushy. The red wine's making me aggressive today. Was it the scotch last night? Still hanging. Working on me.
• 24:44
  > Brent>I don't think it was. I don't think it's the wine that's making you aggressive. I think that's just genetics.
• 24:48
  > Harm>That's, uh, just genetics.
• 24:49
  > Bob>Just watching light slip away.
• 24:51
  > Harm>Yeah, I'm too old for this.
• 24:55
  > Bob>That's all it is.
• 24:57
  > Brent>All right, well, let's move on to our next wine, which is the Costa Esterno 2016. This is 13.5% ABV appellation. This is a second growth from the classification du.
• 25:13
  > Announcer>Yeah.
• 25:13
  > Brent>Ah, du Grand Cru Classe 1855. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23.5% Merlot, and 1.5% Cabernet Franc.
• 25:24
  > Brent>It's got a beautiful dark, dark, dark, ruby color on the nose. Oh, sandalwood.
• 25:39
  > Harm>Yeah, it's there. Further away from the glass.
• 25:44
  > Harm>Little bit of embers. Like the embers he got from fire and the last wine. I'm. I'm smelling more here.
• 25:48
  > Brent>Just that little bit of ash, the ashiness. There's a little bit of earth in there, a little bit of dust, violets.
• 25:57
  > Harm>Not just earth. It's earthy.
• 25:59
  > Brent>Flowers. Yeah, there's definitely some violets in there.
• 26:04
  > Harm>Jump in, Justin. I'm interrupting him. You can interrupt you, too.
• 26:07
  > Bob>Big mushroom on the nose.
• 26:09
  > Harm>Okay.
• 26:09
  > Bob>Cedar and candle wax.
• 26:11
  > Harm>Uh, that candle wax is made like a burnt candle, Right? It's not. Not the fresh candle.
• 26:17
  > Brent>Right.
• 26:18
  > Harm>Yeah. It's so complex. I keep coming back to it.
• 26:21
  > Brent>Yeah.
• 26:22
  > Harm>What else you have, Bob?
• 26:24
  > Brent>Oh, see on the pal. Absolutely magnificent.
• 26:37
  > Brent>Blackberries, cassis, damson, plum. Got a great grip to it.
• 26:46
  > Harm>I just want to smell it.
• 26:48
  > Brent>It's still.
• 26:49
  > Harm>You already to taste it. Still smell it.
• 26:50
  > Brent>This bottle's been open now for several hours. Um, and it's still. Still very close, still very tight.
• 26:58
  > Harm>But cedar's coming out to complement the sandalwood.
• 27:01
  > Brent>There's definitely a cedar note in there, sort of a cigar box. Um, yeah, this thing is.
• 27:08
  > Harm>This.
• 27:09
  > Brent>This is a sleeping monster is what
• 27:11
  > Harm>we opened in 2016. It's 2026. This wine is way too young to be drinking now. We are fools. But this is what they sent us. Well, we can't hold on to it forever for you guys.
• 27:21
  > Brent>Well, thankfully, they didn't send us, like, the 20.
• 27:23
  > Announcer>20.
• 27:23
  > Harm>No, no, don't do that.
• 27:25
  > Brent>Yeah, it's, uh, It's. It's a. It's an absolutely lovely wine.
• 27:31
  > Harm>Um, some people are calling it perfect. So it's close up there, man.
• 27:36
  > Brent>I think that we'll find out if it's perfect and at least 10 years. 10 years?
• 27:43
  > Harm>Five to 10. You can hold it for 30.
• 27:45
  > Bob>Yeah, 40. Who knows when 10 years from now, you're going to get more of the cedar, the outer structure of the wine, and less of the big fruit, and it's still going to be.
• 27:55
  > Harm>I think. I think the fruit here is still going to show through. In 10 years, maybe 20 years. No. 10 years. Yes.
• 28:01
  > Brent>Oh, in 10 years. I have no doubt. I have no Doubt that this, uh,
• 28:05
  > Harm>is my problem is I may not be alive in 10 years.
• 28:08
  > Harm>Yeah. I gotta drink it now.
• 28:10
  > Brent>One can hope.
• 28:10
  > Harm>Yeah. Yeah. I'm staying alive for my daughter.
• 28:14
  > Harm>That's the only reason she's in middle school. I gotta be alive. Well, uh, you know, otherwise I've given up. I've given up all hope except for the wine. Thank you for giving me hope, Bob.
• 28:21
  > Brent>Well, uh, this is definitely hope. But I mean, I'm sorry I'm giving you this old wine.
• 28:26
  > Announcer>Bring us some fresh wine. Yeah, no more of this old stuff.
• 28:29
  > Brent>Yeah, exactly. So. But yeah, this is. Oh, my gosh, I. I could literally just sit here and smell this and just think over it for the next.
• 28:41
  > Harm>It keeps evolving in the glass. The woods is rotating from sandalwood to cedar. Then it's. It's going to cigar box. The tobacco is coming out the wet, like, uh, wet tobacco leaf.
• 28:54
  > Bob>If you're gonna drink this now, ladies and gentlemen, eight hour decant.
• 28:58
  > Harm>No 6.4M. You could do it. You're right. You're probably right. Eight hours would be better.
• 29:03
  > Bob>Yeah.
• 29:03
  > Harm>Yeah. It's crazy.
• 29:05
  > Brent>Well, these have been open a good four.
• 29:08
  > Harm>One time I opened a bottle of arena when my wife was making lamb, uh, chops for Christmas. We drank half of it. And I decanted for two hours, put it back in the bottle. We only drank, it was. Wasn't great. I thought expected more from it. Next morning, we come downstairs. The whole downstairs of the house smells amazing because it needed overnight to decant because I drank it too young.
• 29:27
  > Bob>We're lucky enough on this show that
• 29:29
  > Harm>she was making lamb chops. I brought some good Italian wine home,
• 29:32
  > Bob>take some of these bottles home, and they're better the next day.
• 29:35
  > Harm>The next day is definitely. This is definitely the next day wine.
• 29:41
  > Brent>Hey. And we're back and we're still waxing poetic about this magnificent Costa Estra.
• 29:47
  > Harm>There's no poetry here, my friend.
• 29:48
  > Brent>2016.
• 29:49
  > Harm>My soul has no poetry left.
• 29:51
  > Bob>So, um, on the palate for this, it was like really big fruit for me. BlackBerry. And the finish was long and creamy. Kind of like really good diet.
• 30:05
  > Harm>Yeah.
• 30:06
  > Bob>Cream soda?
• 30:09
  > Harm>No, cream soda is more vanilla. There's no vanilla here.
• 30:13
  > Bob>Well, you got what you got.
• 30:14
  > Brent>I got what I got.
• 30:15
  > Bob>You get vanilla on the end, do you? Yeah.
• 30:19
  > Harm>Yeah. I love you, Justin, but you're broken.
• 30:24
  > Brent>Yeah. There's something deep inside that.
• 30:26
  > Bob>What else don't we know about that?
• 30:28
  > Brent>Yeah.
• 30:29
  > Bob>Something new.
• 30:30
  > Harm>So I, um, mean, it's changing again now. I pull it up to my nose. There's coffee There was no coffee earlier. What's going on with this thing? It just keeps evolving. Which wine was the last time you did a decant for eight hours? Justin?
• 30:43
  > Bob>Last time we did the show.
• 30:45
  > Harm>Uh, you. An eight hour decant.
• 30:47
  > Bob>Oh, for sure. Because we did the show and then four hours later I had like, you know, candy and wine and it was like an eight hour decant.
• 30:57
  > Harm>Yeah.
• 30:57
  > Bob>And then I'd have the same wine again like the next morning.
• 31:01
  > Harm>Okay.
• 31:04
  > Brent>Last time he did it was when I was just playing for the Boone's farm.
• 31:07
  > Harm>Yeah.
• 31:08
  > Brent>Or. Or wait, wait, hold on.
• 31:09
  > Harm>So the strawberry is not my favorite. You know, you can't do strawberry boots for him. What's your favorite cherry? Ryunidi. The first time I threw up. Hey, yeah, That's my. I didn't have it on ice.
• 31:26
  > Harm>Uh, I had it cold. Straight from the bottle. Yeah, it was.
• 31:30
  > Bob>You got to listen to your commercials.
• 31:31
  > Harm>There was no cups.
• 31:32
  > Brent>Yeah, I've got every. I got every 50s and 60s wine commercial there is in here. Uh, this is such an amazing wine though, so.
• 31:39
  > Harm>Oh, my God, it's the perfect wine.
• 31:40
  > Brent>We have a rating. We are going to be giving the Costa Estronelle 2016 for five SIPs. Because that's as much as I actually can. Um, and it feels inadequate. This is. This is one of the best wines I've had in a long time. So. So that's going to lead us up to our last wine and we're going to have. God help us, Justin. Tell us about that one.
• 32:07
  > Bob>All right, so we're doing the 2014 to the 2016.
• 32:11
  > Bob>2014 Costa Estranel 2014, 14% alcohol by volume.
• 32:18
  > Bob>Appalachian, St. Estefe, second growth du SEM.
• 32:23
  > Bob>Grand cru classe in 1855, 65% cabernet sauvignon, 33% merlot and 2% Cobb franc. So the nose on this one was Tonkansu ramen, muted fruit.
• 32:41
  > Harm>He's not wrong. There's new mommy to this. It's not pork. Tonkatsu is pork.
• 32:47
  > Bob>It is.
• 32:48
  > Harm>Yeah. I don't get pork.
• 32:50
  > Bob>Tomato, tomato, soy, so on. Uh, the palate was huge. Fruit, lemon, marzipan, cedar. And the finish was also cedar. This was a lovely, well constructed wine.
• 33:06
  > Harm>The 2014 is drinking better than the 2016 right now. The 2016 is going to drink better later.
• 33:11
  > Brent>Yeah, this is a little more approachable right now.
• 33:13
  > Harm>Yeah, definitely. This, if you find the 2014, this is the one you want.
• 33:19
  > Announcer>Both.
• 33:19
  > Brent>This is the one you want. If you're going to open it, you're
• 33:22
  > Harm>going to buy a case of the 2014 was like 300 a bottle case. Uh, of the 2016. You put the 2016 down for when your kids graduate college, and you're going to 14 when they graduate, um, middle school.
• 33:35
  > Bob>You can buy a case of this.
• 33:36
  > Announcer>We're going to win.
• 33:37
  > Brent>My kids actually graduate.
• 33:38
  > Harm>Your grandkids. Your grandkids. Pardon me?
• 33:40
  > Bob>That's 3,600 bucks. And you're going to put your kids through college. That's pretty good.
• 33:45
  > Harm>No, they got to get scholarships. I'm not going to.
• 33:46
  > Bob>Okay. Okay. So you're going to spend it on.
• 33:48
  > Brent>I know.
• 33:49
  > Bob>It's actually my to excel.
• 33:50
  > Harm>My dad prepaid college for all the grandkids, so my daughter. Sweet.
• 33:54
  > Brent>Well, you know why. Yeah, I mean, he knows. He knows this knucklehead.
• 33:58
  > Harm>That's why his dad paid. I'm drinking my way through that Fair.
• 34:05
  > Bob>At least you get like 30% off.
• 34:08
  > Harm>Cheers.
• 34:09
  > Bob>Cheers.
• 34:10
  > Harm>Yeah. Hey, I don't pay. I pay wholesale. That's okay.
• 34:13
  > Brent>The world needs ditch diggers, too. Don't worry about it.
• 34:15
  > Harm>No, she's going to be a scientist. She's in seventh grade, and math is too easy for her, so she decided to learn about linear algebra. I didn't take linear algebra in college.
• 34:25
  > Bob>I didn't even know that was a thing.
• 34:26
  > Harm>Yes. Uh, so in linear algebra, like, you know, capital A plus capital B does not equal capital B plus capital A because each variable as a function. And so you use vectors. So if you rotate, uh, a vector, the order operation. The order that you do it in matters.
• 34:44
  > Brent>He's already lost my interest.
• 34:45
  > Announcer>Whatever.
• 34:46
  > Bob>Yeah, sounds like the kind of M stuff I try to sell.
• 34:48
  > Harm>My 12 year old wants to learn this stuff. It's.
• 34:51
  > Harm>It's great.
• 34:51
  > Brent>What do you think about the wine? Let's talk about the important thing.
• 34:54
  > Harm>Well, um.
• 34:55
  > Brent>Yeah, yeah.
• 34:56
  > Harm>Come back to order of operation. The 2016 was amazing. The 2014 tastes better now.
• 35:02
  > Brent>It's more approachable.
• 35:03
  > Harm>More approachable. I got coffee, I got flowers, I got dark fruit. Uh, the palate is velvety. Coats the palate. The fruit and the flowers from the 16 are there, but they're more vibrant in the 14 because it's drinking better right now, but it's not going to last as long as that 16. The 16 is more rich and more dense. This hasn't evolved as much in the gloss. Justin, what do you think?
• 35:27
  > Bob>I'm just wondering whether it was like a early, uh, pick, a late pick, and what the weather was in 2014 and 2016, because those are the only different Variables. Unless they changed, you know how much they would do.
• 35:41
  > Harm>The weather always changes vintage to vintage.
• 35:43
  > Bob>We're talking, you know, two really different wines.
• 35:47
  > Harm>They're not really that different that you can see they're the same lineage. You think they're that.
• 35:52
  > Harm>That far apart?
• 35:54
  > Bob>Yeah, I mean it's the same wine, but it expresses.
• 35:58
  > Harm>This is so much more rich that 2016. It's so concentrated.
• 36:03
  > Bob>Agreed. And so maybe it was hotter.
• 36:06
  > Brent>I had to guess elegant and yeah, it is.
• 36:11
  > Harm>Is the sick. The, the uh, 16 is much more powerful. Yeah.
• 36:16
  > Bob>So I'm guessing a hotter year earlier pick.
• 36:19
  > Harm>Yeah, could be. I wasn't paying attention.
• 36:21
  > Bob>14 Be cooler weather and a later pick. That's my guess.
• 36:26
  > Brent>Well, what do you think? What is. What does Vincent.
• 36:27
  > Harm>You could look it up if you wanted to.
• 36:29
  > Brent>What does Vincent Price think about the wine? A wine to conjure memories of taste buds in transport. Well, he liked it. Yeah, I think it's absolutely lovely vintage 2016.
• 36:40
  > Harm>It was a cool, wet start, I
• 36:42
  > Brent>think, followed by very beautiful. I think it's elegant. It's drinking well now. I think it'll drink better within a few more years, but I. It's approachable now. I don't think it's going to go as long as the 16, but I think it's going to go for quite some time. I think it's a beautiful wine. Absolutely fantastic. I mean, just. You knew where this show was going to end up. I mean, it's cost Estournel. I've never had a bad cost Estournel
• 37:08
  > Harm>ever, so I haven't had one in 10 years. Thank you for bringing this as part
• 37:12
  > Bob>of the first one.
• 37:13
  > Brent>You're living life wrong, my friend. Well, I'm.
• 37:15
  > Harm>You know, the thing is, I don't drink that much Bordeaux.
• 37:17
  > Brent>I prefer you spend 60 hours a week in a wine store.
• 37:20
  > Harm>I prefer Italian. I. People bring me wine every week to taste new stuff.
• 37:24
  > Brent>And you say he's broken. Oh, uh, dear.
• 37:26
  > Harm>I get. Every week I get new wine to taste. We bring stuff from all over the world.
• 37:32
  > Brent>No, no, Bordeaux. Bordeaux.
• 37:35
  > Harm>My neighborhood doesn't buy Bordeaux. They're weak.
• 37:37
  > Brent>I don't care. Yeah, they're broken inside.
• 37:40
  > Harm>They want, uh, coterone. They want Provence, they want Italian. They need California. That's the problem.
• 37:47
  > Brent>They need Bordeaux. Well, we're going to be giving the cost Estelle 2014, a well deserved five sips again, only because we don't have six.
• 38:00
  > Bob>Uh, a bottle of red, a bottle of white at the Italian restaurant.
• 38:06
  > Brent>Yeah, this is, this is.
• 38:08
  > Harm>I saw Billy Joel live You are not Billy Joel.
• 38:10
  > Bob>I am not Billy Joel.
• 38:11
  > Brent>Yeah, I knew him in Congress. And you are not himself. All right, well, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for joining us. Uh, thank you, Harm.
• 38:21
  > Harm>Thank you, Bob. And this time, I mean it. I'm not joking. You better mean it this time.
• 38:26
  > Brent>We got him out of bed for this one. I knew he was.
• 38:28
  > Harm>I could.
• 38:29
  > Brent>He would have come here as a zombie.
• 38:30
  > Harm>Um, I would. I was hungover when I got up this morning. Thanks. I got it.
• 38:34
  > Brent>Thank you, Justin.
• 38:34
  > Bob>Mercibo Ku. And you rallied well, Harm, huh?
• 38:37
  > Brent>Yep. He's done good. Well, for Sip, Suds and Smokes, this is Made Man, Bob. Thanks for joining us. Remember, life is too short to drink bad wine.
• 38:44
  > Brent>And if you're drinking Cost Estournel, you are not drinking.
• 38:47
  > Harm>Also, if you're drinking Lagavulin all night, keep hydrated, drink more water.
• 38:51
  > Brent>Yeah, probably a good idea. Oh, such good wine.
• 38:55
  > Harm>Cheers.
• 38:56
  > Announcer>We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you're listening to us online, do yourself a favor and tap. Just tap the subscribe button.
• 39:05
  > Brent>Give it a little tappy. Tap, tap, tap. A roo.
• 39:08
  > Announcer>The easiest way to listen to our show is to ask Siri, Alexa, Google, Uncle Larry, or whoever it is that talks to you on your phone. Play podcast, Sip, suds and smokes. We love your feedback and you can reach us at info@sipsudsandsmokes.com our tasting notes flow out on Twitter and Instagram with our handle ipsudsandsmokes, and our Facebook page is always buzzing with lots of news. You'll also be able to interact with the thousands, millions and millions of other fans on those social media platforms. Do us a favor, take the time to rate this episode. If you're listening to us online, that's a big help to us and we get to see your feedback as well. Come back, join us for another episode, and keep on sipping.
• 40:05
  > Announcer>This has been a one tan hand production of Sips, Suds, uh, and Smokes, a program devoted to the appreciation of some of the finer slices of life from the dude in the basement Studios. Your host, the good old boys will see you all next time.