Wine

The 1996 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow is a great bottle of wine... normally... except this one was corked. Very slightly, but it still put a kabash on the fruit and underlying layers... The 2006 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir continues to rock... a great bottle of wine. See previous notes. The 1998 Stags Leap Wine Cellars "SLV" was very good, if a bit green. Better than most 98s I've had, and it says something that this wine has held up far better than it's better rated brother in the 1997 vintage (could be the most over-rated vintage in history, btw....)

???

Tried the 2006 Belle Glos "Gambit" Series Pinot Noir's yesterday... Gary's Vineyard from Santa Lucia Highlands and Griffin's Lair from the Petaluma Gap in the Sonoma Coast AVA. Both bottled without SO2 use at any stage in the winemaking process... interesting wines, but very expensive.

More Wine...

The night was fun... started with a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Brut N/V... nice, clean, dry (!)... wonderful stuff. The 1992 Perhod Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes" was unfortunately, dead... not even close... d.e.a.d. As a tribute to old-school California Cabs... the 1987 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve was one of my favorites of the week... beautiful black fruit, balanced tannin, lovely cedar spice, a hint of mint... a great wine with a long life ahead. Too bad the wines aren't made like this anymore... The 1982 Chateau Cos d'Estournel was powerful, full of tar and leather, tobacco leaves, cedar cigar box, all spice and a hint of green pepper. A great wine, but I prefered the 87 better, though many did not. The 1993 Domaine Robert Arnoux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Les Hauts Mazieres" was the best Pinot Noir of the week... beautiful with Epoisses. Lovely red cranberry, beetroot, clove (along the lines of DRC), rose petals, pink peppercorn, and forest floor. I've always loved Arnoux's wines from Vosne-Romanee better than his from any other village. Certainly one of the best, he just gets what V-R is all about...

The next night was a pair of Bordeaux and a lovely Loire Chenin... The 1988 Chateau Calon-Segur was as good as I remember from a few months ago. Beautiful ripe red cherries add a fruit componant to this wine that is different than so many of the other '88s. Long lingering finish. The 1986 Chateau Pichon-Lalande was gorgeous with lots of bell pepper, graphite, black cherries, black plum, and loads of spice box and tobacco. The Merlot really came through in this vintage. Good, but ready to drink. The 1997 Domaine de la Souchieres Coteaux du Layon - Chaumes was out of this world... mindblowing candied apricots, perfect balance... a great sweet wine. Stunning, really... this wine really needs 20 years, in addition to the 10 it already had! Beautiful...

On the last night, the wines really were out of this world... until the end. The 1978 Chateau Haut-Brion was a wine I could have smelled all night long. It continued to open an hour after opening... the glass smelled like tar-covered gravel, with smoke, saddle leather and black plums. Ready to drink? Sure... would it improve? Doubtful, but an exceptionally enjoyable bottle of wine, even more so given the company. With the 1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, someone smiled as the last bottle I had was corked, and this one blew away the one before that even more than I could have imagined... this bottle was fresh, alive, still young (!)... red cranberry, red wild strawberry, crushed pomegranite seeds, dried roses and spice box. A beauty... long, long finish. The last two, were unfortunately, both dead and we gave up and had some Lemoncello instead (!)... The 1976 Hallgarten Siebeldinged Konigsgarten Riesling Beerenauslese was unfortunately, long past its prime... As was the 1981 Chateau St. Jean Riesling Late Harvest... such a shame...opened a 1981 CSJ Johannisberg Riesling (dry) last year and it was great...

All in all, a fabulous week with the family... when I came, back, I had some 2002 Perrier-Jouet Rose Belle-Epoque Fleur de Champagne... this is a rock star... maybe the best since 1996, or even 1985...

Great Week...

a week's vacation... but it wouldn't be a great vacation without family, friends and some great wine. I'll go into more detail about some... The 2006 Ch. Ste. Michelle/Dr. Loosen Eroica is a dry Riesling with lovely stone and citrus fruit with just a bit too much alcohol for my liking... while I appreciate the desire to make a dry wine, the alcohol made it a bit unbalanced... perhaps a Kabinett-level styled wine would serve better from the Columbia Valley... The 2006 Owen Roe Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir was outstanding... I will disclose that they source fruit from a friend... ripe black and red fruits, spicy, but a beautiful, elegant berry nose. Great stuff!!! First wine I've had from their vineyard... The 1989 Chateau Montrose was better than the last time I had it, but still not a great wine. I don't know if time will help it or kill it... Guess we'll find out! The 1983 Reichsgraff von Kesselstadt Scharzhofberger Spatlese was on it's last legs, but still delicious! Appeared bone dry with honeyed apricots, bruised Granny Smith Apples and a long finish. Very nice!

Day two brought a great party with plenty of bubbles and a great bottle of 1985 Graham's Vintage Port... still a baby, but nice fruit. Black plums, stewed black cherries and blueberries with a lovely hazelnut and smoked cocoa powder note. Nice! Day after was the 2002(?) Barmes-Bucher Herrenweg de Turkheim Grand Cru Riesling was beautiful, if not very young. Oily and stoney with barely a hint of RS. Long white peach and orange blossom finish. The 1989 Chateau Gruaud-Larose was beautiful... classic for this wine, this is still a baby showing lots of black berries, cassis, cedar, tobacco leaf and graphite. Powerful, too. The 1967 Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo was a quick-change artist... a beautiful fill level and fabulous color... the initial nose was gorgeous... the first taste was... not good. After letting it decant for a good 15-20 minutes, I came back to it to find that the beautiful rose petals had returned, the dried underbrush was coming back to live! The wine was alive! Not only alive, but very young indeed! Cocoa powder, cranberries, dried cherries! Amazing wine, and one of the top 3 wines of the week for me. The 1988 Chateau Rausan-Segla was very nice, but unfortunately had to compete with the Barolo... lots of wet tobacco leaf and clove on this bottle. Dark and earthy with a hint of dark flowers. The 1995 Chateau Loupiac-Gaudiet was ok... not my favorite. Lots of over-ripe candied apricots, but an almost bitter, stemmy finish. Sweet, yes, but my feeling is this was one will not get any better.

The next night brought some 2007 Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc, Casablanca Valley, Chile which is an outstanding value... clean, crisp, slightly herbaceous with lemongrass, gooseberry, tart grapefruit and citrus notes. A hint of mineral fools you for just a second into thinking you're in Sancerre, but the intensity of fruit brings you right back. Dueling Rhones tonight... The 1994 Lucien et Andre Brunel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Cailloux was outstanding, despite the vintage. Still full of life at 14 years of age, this showed spiced cranberry, red raspberry, dried forest floor, barnyard, hay and dried saddle leather. A wonderful long finish. Afterward came the 1989 J.L. Chave Hermitage Rouge which was otherworldly... "Amazing, dried meat, tar, leather, dried earth, black olives" - all from my journal that night. A long, long silky finish and an unforgetable nose left me smelling the glass when I was done... Still a baby though. Many more great wines to come, but they will come another day.

More...

Nice to try a few wines by the same producer next to each other (or within a day or so...). The 2004 Bond Melbury was powerful, but I noticed some slightly green herbal notes (?!) I didn't think were possible with this level of extract... unless they managed to squeeze a few seeds in there... not great. The 2004 Bond St. Eden on the other hand was beautiful - black fruit, cocoa bean, dark chocolate, and a long, tannic finish. Great stuff. The 2006 Sea Smoke "Southing" Pinot Noir was beautiful, if not a bit more alcoholic than the bottle I had last week. Lovely red plum, currant and wild red berry fruit. Lots of spice... long finish, but needs a bit of time. The 2006 Sea Smoke "Ten" Pinot Noir, on the otherhand, was beautiful now, but needs a bit of time for the oak to integrate. Lovely wines... The 2001 Solaia was beautiful - cedary, dusty-dried leaves - classic for this wine. Still has lots of life left in it... almost a bit jammy still!