mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

2003 Casa Lapostelle Clos Apalta... green peppercorn alert... green peppercorn alert... not my favorite, though it seldom is... 1990 Chateau Gruaud Larose... really, really good as always... wine of the night was the 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee St.-Vivant "Morey Monge"... beautiful red berry notes on the nose with hints of white truffle and turned earth with saddle leather and cedar notes building on the (still) prevalant clove and cinnamon notes of oak. On the palate, the wine is a complete baby... still needs 5 years minimum to start showing its stuff. Never thought I'd call an RSV massive... so I won't... I'll call it massively elegant... the tannins are almost overpowering on the palate and this is not (yet) a wine of refined elegance. I think this has to be one of the longest lived RSVs ever produced...

One of note...

The 1999 FX Pichler Riesling Loibner Berg Smaragd, Wachau was a stunning example of Austrian Riesling... Full of oil, ripe pears, apples with a hint of stony-cheese. It was simply a cross between Robert Weil's Kiedrich Grafenberg Erstes Gewachs and Zind Humbrecht's Rangen Grand Cru Riesling... stony, full, and powerful. Could have used perhaps a touch more in the mid-palate, but overall, a very good wine.

Notes from Yesterday

Here are my full tasting notes... The 1996 Salon "le Mesnil" Blanc de Blancs Champagne was excellent, if a bit tight (the first taste was from a corked bottle - these notes are from the second). Pears, Granny Smith Apple, lemon and toasty brioche, very much a baby. Needs lots of time... The 2005 Faiveley Corton "Clos des Cortons" Faiveley was weak... lots of stem tannins and too much oak mask the pretty fruit underneath. I'm not sure the wine can come back from all of the tannin and oak... and 5 Grand and Premier Cru Tokaji from the Royal Tokaji Wine Company plus Aszu Esszencia (these are so interesting, I'll go through them in another post) ... then this evening, the 1988 Krug was really good, but Ive had much better, 2005 Peter Michael "Les Carierre" Chardonnay, 2002 Heitz "Trailside Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia, and 1996 Marc Tempe Mamburg Grand Cru Gewurztraminer SGN... but the stars of the night were the 1983 Chateau Margaux and the 1990 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Echezeaux.

Holy S!^&!

What a fun day... amazing... May is always good... and this was no different... First, started off with a tasting where I tried the 2005 Domaine Leflaive Whites... I'll go into details later... 1996 Salon "le Mesnil", 2005 Faiveley Corton Clos de Cortons Faiveley and 5 Grand and Premier Cru Tokaji from the Royal Tokaji Wine Company plus Aszu Esszencia... then this evening, the 1988 Krug, 2005 Peter Michael "Les Carierre" Chardonnay, 2002 Heitz "Trailside Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia, and 1996 Marc Tempe Mamburg Grand Cru Gewurztraminer SGN... but the stars of the night were the 1983 Chateau Margaux and the 1990 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Echezeaux.

Bordeaux, II

Had a great time yesterday... a group of us got together to taste Bordeaux... Started with a 2005 Anton Bauer Rosenberg Gruner Veltliner Trocken, Donauland (I know, Austrian, but we had to start with something...), then Pol Roger Brut NV (again, not Bordeaux...) and then the big guns... The 1993 Chateau Haut-Brion Blanc was incredible... one of the great whites I've ever tasted. The 1985 Chateau Lynch Bages rocked... the 1989 Chateau Palmer was a baby... the 1989 Chateau Montrose was dissapointing (one-dimensional)... the 1998 Vieux Chateau Certan was corked... the 1978 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste was dying... The 1999 Domaine de Baumard Quarts du Chaume was awesome... the 2002 Ponzi Pinot Noir was all alcohol... the 2003 Gould-Campbell Port was hot, rip and rich (prune stew)... Think that's it...

Better late than never...

Haven't written about a last Monday night... here we go... All in all, a very fun evening with friends - Good Wine, Good Food. First wine of the night (Champagne was Veuve Clicquot) was the 2000 Domaine des Malandes Chablis "Les Clos" Grand Cru... first bottle was completely oxidized and undrinkable... the second was only slightly better. Now, Burgundy from the mid 1990s until the early 2000s has had a well documented "cork" issue, with a very high percentage of all wines from nearly all producers experience premature oxidation... I would suspect that this producer with whom I was not familiar with bought into the same bad batches of corks that everyone else did. Honey with wet stones, Granny Smith Apple and a tart pear note in this wine... Good, not great. The 2000 Franck Follin-Arbelet Corton-Charlemagne was fabulous, though... My favorite White Burgundy Grand Cru (apart from the ocassionally stunning Batard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet (Domaine Leflaive) or Montrachet (Nearly everyone) - but nearly always I'll come back to the Corton-Charlemagne)... this was a baby... kept some until nearly the end. Butterscotch, hazelnut puree, Granny Smith Apple, and a wonderful citrus zest (lemon, lime, tangerine) note... a long, powerful finish... wine of the night. The 1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru "Aux Reignots" was pretty, but while I think this still has life ahead of it, it is ripe for drinking. Turned earth, tobacco, black truffles, sweet rhubarb, strawberries and hints of tar. Elegant and long... NB - Arnoux is one of my favorite producers... if you've never had an Arnoux Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots... The dissapointment of the night was the 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Trapet Chambertin Grand Cru. Acidic with hints of tar, raspberry and strawberries, this wine was all tannin and not well balanced. I've had much better examples of this wine in the past, so perhaps it was just the bottle (VA maybe?)... expected more. The 2005 Domaine Baumalric Muscat de Beaumes de Venise is not my favorite and I try it all the time, so I'll refrain from comment, though this is probably the best producer of this Vin doux Natural from the Southern Rhone... The 1970 Taylor-Fladgate Port en Magnum was outstanding... deep caramel, black cherries, blueberries, figs and almonds. So nice... gorgeous.

Delish!

The 2004 Almaviva is now showing more evidence of the Carmenere in the blend than it had a month or so ago... a great bottle, but you have to like the Chilean style - green peppercorn, mint, eucalyptus with blackcurrants. The 1994 Opus One is past its prime... notes of anise, cedar, cigar box, tobacco leaves, black currant and cherries. You could tell that this wine was something special at some point, but was now just tired and faded... my last bottle in the cellar. The 2003 Bond "Vecina" is very, very good, it's just not as good as the 2001 or 2002 Bond's I've had in the past, but that should be expected as 2003 was an inconsitant vintage - and lighter than the 2002 and 2001s in almost all cases. Made my Bill Harlan, there are 4 single vineyard wines that are made under the Bond label - Melbury, St. Eden, Vecina, and the newest, Pluribus. A sweet nose of cassis, mint, blackcurrant, black cherries, plums and a bit of graphite. On the palate, the wine is not overly concentrated, with more of an elegant style. The sweet fruit is predominate on the palate, with lots of glycerol burning a little on the way down. Not as nicely balanced as it could, or should, be. In all honesty, I was expecting more...

Hot Set

Scarlet>Fire, Uncle John's Band>China Doll>Friend of the Devil>Playin In The Band>Uncle John's Band... really smoking Scarlet>Fire (35 minutes!), but the China Doll was spine-tingling. Great stuff... love the Anchor Steam! Tried a 1974 BV Georges de Latour last night... over the hill... completely.

On Monday, went to a tasting with some great wines... the 2004 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild was the best of any of the 2004's I've tried. Another Baron property, the 2004 Chateau Clerc Milon was green and grassy... not good. A very uneven vintage (tried most of the classified growths a few months ago), but Mouton had the stuff (mocha, charred earth, graphite, cassis... really good). The 2004 Aile d'Argent (Mouton's white wine) was interesting, no where near a Haut-Brion Blanc, but on par with Lynch-Bages Blanc. Toasty cheese with grapefruit, tangerine and cinnamon. The 2004 Gaja Ca'Marcanda Magari rocks... from Gaja's Tuscan property, this wine is mind-blowing. The 4th vintage for this wine, and really the best yet. The 2003 Vineyard 29 was very good as well (see previous notes). The 2004 Aid

Even a Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut Every So Often...

Had a great time earlier this week... I'll write about those wines tomorrow or Monday. Last night saw the first really great bottles go out in a quite a while... The 2003 Joseph Phelps "Backus" Cabernet Sauvignon is mammoth. Black currants, black cherries, and anise with loads of clove, cinnamon and vanilla. It's a big wine with big tannins and big fruit. If you're not into power wines, this isn't for you (though there is a hint of finesse on the finish suggesting this will become something even better in a few years.) The 1986 Chateau Cheval-Blanc is a beauty... clearly into the top 5 wines I've tasted this year. The best example of this bottle I've ever had (around half a dozen times) and the first time I've had it in about a year. Pure cigar box, cedar (classic Cheval characteristics), with lovely black currants and dried leaves. Lots of saddle leather, mushrooms and gravel. A great, earthy wine with a finish that lasts for well over a minute. I could still taste the cedar over 30 minutes later... not as powerful as the 1982 or 1990 or 1998, this is a wine of pure elegance.