Tis the Seaon

It continues to be that time of year again... lots of wine shows, lots of wine tastings. With all of these shows comes some great finds and some great dissapointments. Favorites of the tasting tonight? 2002 Anderson's Conn Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (ripe blackcurrant, blueberries, and plums with the right amount of tannin and great balance. Outstanding classic Cali Cab); 2001 Blanck Gewurztraminer Furstentum VT (great elegance, lychee, rose petals, honeydew melon, and a good bit of sweetness); 2000 Guigal Cote-Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis (black earth, great balance, chocolate, violets, cinnamon, and clove. Excellent, classic Cote-Rotie); 2002 Amiot Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru "Ruchots" (wild strawberry, rich, turned earth, some nice black plum, very elegant with a touch of power); 2002 Trapet Gevry-Chambertin V.V. Ostera (again, wild berries with nice earth, dried leaves, good bit of ripe tannins and nice finish); 2001 Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru (elegance - screams it; with boldness and power a secondary trait. Nice fruit, needs 5 years at least. These 2001s are so underrated it's not even funny... they are so classicly Burgundian - completely terrior driven); 2003 Littorai Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard (killer... big, bold, candy-apple, strawberry, and figs with great tannins. Drink it now or 5 years from now... great wine). 2003 Numanthia and 2003 Numanthia Termanthia (both very approachable now, but have so much to them. Black, black fruits, and deep, ripe tannins. Beautiful wines, but they are sneaky-powerful and will give you whiplash if you aren't carefull!); and lastly, 2001 Torre Muga Rioja (classic, powerful, rich Tempranillo. This is what Rioja should be... great wines). Duds of the night? Most of the 2003 Burgundies (mostly white) were over-sulphured and the nose is reductive. Not pleasant. This is what happens when your acids are too low, or you're scared your acids are too low. It's a shame. The 2003 Verget Corton-Charlemagne VV Caniculus was the best of the bunch, and usually my favorite White Burgundy... but it was simply "OK"... nothing more. The 2004s are too young right now, but the Macon's show great promise - very pure, very clean, great minerality. I certainly tasted much more than this tonight, but much of it was new vintage tasting that I did quickly just to get an idea of the wines. Cheers!