California

Friday, September 21st, 2007 (5)
At the Airport…
2003 Mitolo G.A.M., McLaren Vale, Australia
Roadies…
2001 Numanthia, Toro, Spain
2003 Brancaia "Il Blue" IGT, Tuscany, Italy
At Dinner (Portofino)
2005 A. Rafanelli Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, California
2004 A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon,
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 (34)
Roadies…
2005 Franz Hirtzberger Gruner Veltliner "Rotes Tor" Federspiel, Wachau, Austria
2005 Vincent Girardin Rully Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, France
2004 Shafer One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon
Silver Oak Alexander
2003 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma, California
2002 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, California
2003 Twomey Merlot Napa Valley, California
Rochioli
2006 Rochioli Chardonnay, RRV, CA
2005 Rochioli Zinfandel, RRV, CA
Porter Creek
2005 Chardonnay
2004 Fiona Hill Pinot Noir
2004 Reserve Pinot Noir
2003 Timbervine Ranch Syrah
2004 Timbervine Ranch Syrah
2005 Old Vine Zinfandel
Moshin Vineyards
2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley
2005 Lot 4 Pinot Noir
2005 Family Reserve Pinot Noir
2005 Merlot
2005 Bowman Vineyard Zinfandel
2005 Syrah, Santa Clara County
Walter Hansel
2005 Cahill Lane Chardonnay
2005 North Slope Chardonnay
2005 South Slope Pinot Noir
2005 Cahill Lane Pinot Noir
Pre-dinner & Dinner (Cena Luna)
2002? Switchback Ridge Petite Sirah (Sam only…)
1997 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
2005 Roessler "La Briga" Pinot Noir
1985 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
2002 Switchback Ridge Merlot
2000 Gaja Conteisa, Langhe (Barolo)
1997 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Magnum
2004 Pedestal Merlot, Walla Walla, Washington
2003 Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend
2005 Londer Pinot Noir
1970 Graham's Port
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 (59)
Roadies (8:39AM)
2005 Lewis Cellars Sonoma Chardonnay
1997 Arrowood Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Williams Selym Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2004 Porter Creek Timbervine Ranch Syrah
2005 Molly Dooker "Enchanted Path" Shiraz
2002 Arrowood Saralee's Vineyard Syrah
2002 Arrowood Le Beau Melange Syrah
2005 Anderson Oaks Pinot Noir
2004 Lost Canyon Syrah (Corked)
2004 Betz "Pere de Famille" Cabernet Sauvignon
Kenwood (all Jack London)
2004 Merlot
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Zinfandel
2003 Syrah
Arrowood (Chris Conway, host)
2005 Saralee's Vineyard Viognier
2004 Reserve Chardonnay
2002 Saralee's Syrah
2002 Le Beau Melange Syrah
2002 Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon
2003 Monte Rosse Cabernet Sauvignon
2002 Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2001 Late Harvest Riesling
2005 Saralee's Vineyard Pinot Blanc
Sbragia Family Wines
2006 Home Ranch Sauvignon Blanc, DCV
2005 Home Ranch Chardonnay, DCV
2005 Gamble Ranch Chardonnay, Napa Valley
2004 Home Ranch Merlot, DVC
2005 Gino Zinfandel, DVC
2004 Andolsen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, DCV
2002 Monte Rosse Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley
2004 Rancho del Oso Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2004 Cimarossa Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2004 Wall Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Mt. Veeder
Holdredge Cellars
2006 Pinot Noir, RRV
2006 Wren Hop Pinot Noir, RRV
2006 Bucher Vineyard Pinot Noir, RRV
2006 "Mazie Rose" Pinot Noir, RRV
2005 Wren Hop Pinot Noir
2005 Alexander Valley Zinfandel
2005 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel
2005 Syrah RRV
2005 Lover's Lane Syrah
2006 Grace's Cuvee Late Harvest Pinot Gris
2006 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer
Huntington Cellars
2005 Petite Sirah
2004 Nevins & Nevins Vineyard Merlot
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles
2005 Syrah, Alexander Valley
Pre-Dinner & Dinner (Zin)
2003 Mitolo G.A.M.
2001 Pride Cabernet Franc
2002 Pride Merlot
2004 Tor "Rock" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
1992 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
1991 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
1997 Saintsbury Brown Ranch Pinot Noir Magnum
1998 Opus One
2002 Hundred Acre Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Spatlese
Monday, September 24th, 2007 (45)
Roadies (8:15AM)…
2005 Arrowood Saralee's Vineyard Viognier
2005 Bjornstad Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard
2002 Keenan Mernet Reserve
1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Corley Reserve
Pride Mountain Vineyards
2006 Viognier
2005 Cabernet Franc
2005 Merlot
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Rock Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (B)
2006 Canyon Ranch East Block Cabernet Sauvignon (B)
2006 Syrah (Medium Toast, Troncais) (B)
2006 Petite Verdot (B)
2006 Rock Arch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (B)
2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (B)
2005 Reserve Claret (B)
Blackbird
2004 Blackbird
2005 Paramour
2005 Blackbird
Shafer
2005 Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay
2005 Merlot
2004 One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Relentless
2003 Hillside Select
1996 Merlot
Cliff Lede
2006 Sauvignon Blanc
2005 Claret
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon
Monticello
2005 Syrah
2004 Jefferson Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Tietjer Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Corley Reserve
2004 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Pre-dinner and Dinner (Cena Luna)
2003 HdV Chardonnay
1997 BV Georges de Latour
2004 Cheval des Andes
1994 Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Toffanelli Charbono
2004 Mitolo Savitar
2002 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
2002 Monticello Reserve Cabernet
2005 Vincent Girardin Rully Vieilles Vignes
2002 Switchback Ridge Merlot
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 (32)
Roadies…
2005 Vincent Girardin Rully Vieilles Vignes
2005 Londer Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay
2005 Brewer-Clifton Cargasacchi Vineyard Pinot Noir
2002 Keenan Mernet Reserve
2002 Roda I Rioja
Martinelli
2005 Tessa Lee Sauvignon Blanc
2005 Chardonnay RRV
2005 Bella Vigna Chardonnay
2005 Bella Vigna Pinot Noir
2004 Terra Felice Syrah
2005 Giuseppe & Luisa Zinfandel
Hartford Court
2005 Four Hearts Chardonnay
2005 Stone Cote Chardonnay
2005 Lands Edge Pinot Noir
2005 Sevens Bench Pinot Noir
2004 Syrah
2005 Zinfandel RRV
2005 Hartford Vineyard Zinfandel
Emeritus (Brice Jones & Don Blackburn)
2005 Pinot Noir
2005 William Wesley Pinot Noir
2007 William Wesley Pinot Noir (B)
Seghesio
2006 Pinot Grigio
2005 Home Ranch Zinfandel
1997 Turley Dogtown Zinfandel Magnum
2004 Ramey Patriarch Cabernet Sauvignon
Pre-Dinner & Dinner (John Ash & Co.)
Krug Grand Cuvee
2005 Pierrot Corton-Charlemagne
2004 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir
1995 Pahlmeyer Red Blend Magnum
1994 Caymus Special Selection Magnum
1994 Beringer Private Reserve Magnum
2001 Chateau Guiraud Sauternes
2004 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Spatlese
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 (39)
Roadies…
2006 Seghesio Pinot Grigio
2005 Dutton-Goldfield Rued Chardonnay
Tandem (Greg LaFollette)
2003 Porter-Bass Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast
2005 Sangiacamo Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast
2005 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, RRV
2005 Lorenzo Vineyard Chardonnay
2005 Sangiacamo Vineyard Pinot Noir
2005 Van der Kamp Pinot Noir
2005 Peleton Merlot
2004 Talmage Bench/ Don Aldine Vineyard Zinfandel, Medocino
2004 Gabrielle Vineyard Sangiovese, Redwood Valley, Mendocino
John Joseph (lunch, John Joseph & Scott Peterson)
2006 Leo Steen Chenin Blanc (2 bottles)
2004 SP Drummer
2005 John Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 John Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon
2003 SP Drummer
2002 SP Drummer
2001 SP Drummer
2003 John Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
Dutton-Goldfield (w/ Dan Goldfield)
2005 Pinot Blanc
2005 Rued Vineyard Chardonnay
2005 Sanchetti Vineyard Pinot Noir
2005 Freestone Vineyard Pinot Noir
2005 Morelli Lane Zinfandel
2004 Cherry Ridge Syrah
2007 McDougal Vineyard Pinot Noir (Tank)
2007 Silvia Vineyard Pinot Noir (Tank)
2007 Morelli Lane Vineyard Chardonnay (B)
2007 Chardonnay (B)
2006 Rued Vineyard Chardonnay (B - Torensaud)
Pre, Post and Dinner (Sante)
1997 Freemark Abbey Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Rochioli Zinfandel
2004 Clio, Jumilla, Spain
1999 Pride Merlot Magnum
1999 Pride Reserve Claret Magnum
2002 Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon
2003 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon
Thursday, September 27th, 2007 (11) - Back To San Franciso
Roadies…
2005 Rochioli Zinfandel
2005 Dutton Goldfield Rued Vineyard Chardonnay
2006 Ferrari Carano Fume-Blanc
Lunch @ Boulevard
Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose
2005 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir (2 bottles)
Dinner @ Perbacco
2004 Anderson Oaks Pinot Noir
2002 Neal Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Pechennino Siri d'Jermu Dolcello di Dogliani
2001 Gaja Dagromis Barolo
On The Roof…
2005 Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend
2001 Gaja Dagromis Barolo
Friday, September 28th, 2007 (2) - Home
In The Limo…
2005 Girardin Puligny-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 375ml (2 bottles)
2005 Gambal Bourgogne "Cuvee les Deux Papis"
227 Total Wines

California (finally!)

Exhausted

Well... I'm worn out... I promise I'll post again very soon...

Castello Banfi

The 2001 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino is drinking so pure right now... such a baby, but beautiful. Firm tannins, stewed tomatoes, dried earthy cherries. The 1997 Banfi SummuS (Cab, Sangiovese and Syrah) is a powerhouse... full of sotto bosco (see posts from Italy trip), dried leaves, but powerful tannins and a firm backbone. Awesome now, but still needs time. The 1997 Banfi Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino rocks... an elegant, sikly-smooth Sangiovese... Only one word to describe it - pure.

Transition

Not sure what happened, but after a very lackluster week at the restaurant, I come home to this... The 1999 Gaja Barbaresco is still such a baby... lovely notes of rose petals, dried cranberries, dried black earth and huge tannins. Very good - very Gaja. The 2004 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon was over-extracted and too big... the wine was not well balanced with the anise and extraction overpowing any sense of elegance. Not my style. The 2003 Domaine de Paillieres Gigondas is awesome... A slightly browning rim and deep spicy-garrigue/earth notes dominate the dried strawberries and raspberries. Very nice, especially for a 2003 - some of which are disjointed and overly alcoholic. The 1975 Bertani Amarone was stunning... a beautiful example of an incredible wine. Smokey-raisins and stewed prunes and cedary-dried leaves. A beautiful, long complex finish. Awesome, awesome stuff.

I'm Baaaack...

Wow... what a great trip. I'll post all of the wines and a few tasting notes, dining reviews, etc. in the coming days... off to work tonight though...

Well, Well, Well... you can never tell

Ahhh... the 1988 Chateau Lafleur... should be one of the greats from this vintage... but last night, two bottles were decidely not. The first showed signs of burnt toast, and a bitter astringent finish. The second was not much better... though without the burnt toast. Lesson? Be careful where your bottles come from... Also had a corked bottle of 1995 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild... not my night. Two other bottles revealed the wine has slowly started to emerge from its cocoon into a great Mouton... cassis, graphite, dried leaves and rich black cherries come from the glass. Beautiful. The 2003 Lewis Cellars Reserve is as it's been... a wonderful wine that's drinking well now. The 1992 BV Georges de Latour was a huge suprise!!! A beautiful nose of cedar, mint, eucalyptus, dill and sweet vanilla with beautiful black currants. A lovely, long finish. A knockout. The 2003 Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc was a bit hot, lush, and ripe... but still a beautiful wine wine years ahead of it. Cheese, spiced grapefruit, lemon rind and orange peel really came screaming from the glass. Nice!

"There are two categories of cliff divers...

Grand Champion... and stuff on a rock." - unknown

The 2000 Chateau Lagrange (3rd Growth, St. Julien) is beautiful... Most of the time the hype doesn't match up to the reality. Not with the 2000 Bordeaux. These wines are incredibly concentrated - but exceptionally well-balanced. Still just babies. This was a half-bottle, decanted for 3 -4 hours. Coffee, graphite, cigar box, wet tobacco leaves, sweet black currants, ripe black cherries and plums. Beautiful mouthfeel - great balance and structure. Tannins nice and ripe, but still very prodigeous. Wonderful wine... give it another 5 years in 1/2 bottle (!)... 10 in full. The 2001 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezeaux continues to be one of my favorite wines. It's starting to loose some of its weight, but what it's loosing in power, it's gaining in elegance and finesse - two somewhat uncommon traits for a "lowly" Echezeaux. Sweet wild strawberries, clove, cinnamon, all-spice, black turned earth, dried leaves... just a beauty. The nose is amazing... continues my belief in the terroir-driven style of the 2001 vintage. The 1996 Gaja Sperss (Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo) continues to be one of my favorite wines... pure Barolo with its rose-petaled sweet red plums, dried earth and powerful tannins. Again... one of the most impressive Sperss i've ever tasted. I was literally without words last night when I tried it. That says it.

Love It

Clos de Tart may be the single most under-rated Grand Cru Burgundy there is... A monopole, owned entirely by Mommessin, and in turn by Boisset doesn't make flashy, powerful wine. The Grand Cru is instead elgance and finesse - now I'm not claiming it's a Le Musigny, but I'd give it a run against Romanee-St.-Vivant... the 2005 is spectacular, the 2001 is fabulous... a great wine. I love the 2001s... keep your eyes out for Sylvain Pitiot and his Clos de Tart...

Wines from the week...

Enough about beer and fake bottles... how 'bout some real ones? The 1995 Chateau Leoville Las-Cases is starting to open and is a beautiful bottle... lots of cocoa, mocha, black tar, graphite, bacon, black fruit, cedar - still a baby, but a blossoming, tannic, powerful baby... the 1985 Chateau Haut-Brion is as it's been - very nice, with lovely gravel, bacon fat, and smoke on the nose. Not the best HB, but still very good... Three bottles of the 1997 Paul Jaboulet Aine Cornas "les Terrasses"... very smokey with black olives, meat, dried tar, and smoke with a peppery, powerful finish. Beautiful wine. One was not as good as the other two.

The Joy of Cooking

I love to cook... to me, it's a relaxing and creative activity... and it's always better with a glass of wine. We got a beautiful, thick piece of Black Grouper (extremely fresh - I would bet it was caught that morning). Very basic sautee. We had a bottle of the 2004 Vincent Girardin Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes... too young? Perhaps, but it was pretty with lovely underipe green apples and tons of minerals. A nice, if not great, bottle of wine to enjoy my time in the kitchen...

Beer, the other sparkling beverage

Ok, so aside from an unnatural love for all things grape (other than popsicles... can't stand grape popsicles for some reason)... I also have a love for all things barley. And hops. I love beer. I love the smells, I love the flavors, I love the complexity some of them can have. I love it. I certainly have my favorites, but there is one that I put on a pedestal far above any other beer on this planet... Alaskan Brewing Company's Alaskan Amber. Hoppy, rich, beautiful. The perfect beer. Better than my beloved Anchor Steam. Better than Chimay. If only I could find a few bottles!!!! It's been 8 years since I've had a bottle of this wonderful beer.

Counterfiet Wine

There's a lot of media attention being given to the dispute legendary collectors Bill Koch and Hardy Rodenstock are having amongst, well, themselves. Koch bought several bottles that Hardy had put up at auction that were supposed to be from Thomas Jefferson's collection (Jefferson was one of the great collectors of wine)... Are they? Who knows? Is there evidence that they are not? Yes. Is there evidence that they are? Sort of. Anyone know the answer? Can anyone know the answer? Doubtful. We are unfortunately in a time where the investment in rare bottles of wine is becoming a sport. What the bottle says and what the chemical composition is of the liquid in the bottle has become more important than the beauty and magic of wine itself. Can money be made by collecting then selling increasingly rare bottles? Absolutely. To me, that's not the important question. The real question is, why does money taste better than wine? For me, it's obviously all about the wine. I don't have 1 bottle in my cellar that I wouldn't drink because the memories are much more important than possessing a great bottle or bottles. Enjoying a legendary bottle with friends is more important than bragging rights... after all, isn't being able to say you enjoyed a bottle of 1921 Petrus better than saying I have a bottle, but I'll never open it? I'm not opposed to people selling wine because their tastes changed, but if you buy wines for the simple idea of selling them later, well, what's the fun in that? Have I had bottles that weren't what they said they were - I absolutely have my suspicions about a few. It is an increasing problem as the value of collecting wine grows more important than the value of enjoying wine... we'll see where all of this goes.

Dinner at home

Simple... a bottle of 2005 Carl Roy Sauvignon Blanc... really pretty stuff here. Not overdone, not overly grassy. Just a really nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to go with the Sweet Corn Risotto and Scallops...

Yum

Good wines this week... 1990 Dr. Burklin Wolf "BB" Riesling Auslese Trocken, 2005 Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken, 2004 Franz Hirtzberger Rotes Tor Gruner Veltliner Smaragd, 2004 Morgadio Albarino, 2002 Mommessin "La Forge" Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru, 2001 Hugel Pinot Blanc, 2001 Liverno (Super-Tuscan), a beautiful 2005 Puligny-Montrachet Foliatieres (I'll have to look up the producer... didn't write it down) and a 1999 Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes that I'll also have to look up the producer, 2004 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir, 2004 Eroica, 1998 Iron Horse Fairy Tale Cuvee, 2004 Poets Leap Riesling, Sokol Blosser Evolution 9, and a few others that I'll have to look up.

Not Much

To write about... very busy teaching and then away for a few days this week so I probably won't post again until Friday or Saturday...

Ho Hum

Another bottle of the exceptional 2004 Lewis Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon... this is a rock-star. The 2003 ZD Reserve Chardonnay is pretty - if you like oaky, rich, creamy chards. The 1996 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was ok... there was just no depth of flavor - no punch, no "wow". It was completely lacking...

Ughhhh

So it feels like I drank ALL of the liquor in the house last night (not really...), but the 2004 Robert Foley Vineyards Charbono was delicious... ripe, but not overdone. Lovely cassis, pencil lead, black currants and black cherries. Not overly complex, but very, very good. Also had some Johnny Walker Blue... love the stuff. So smooth with just a bit of smokiness. A great blended Scotch.

Christmas in August

Is it August or February? Great wines last night... and they just kept on coming. The 1998 Alvario Palacios "L'Ermita", Priorat is a beautiful wine. Tasted once before, at the uber-lunch at the end of March. Tasted 3 different bottles of this yesterday - one right after opening, and two other bottles about 6 hours later. Loads of anise, cocoa, wild raspberry, exotic spice box, jasmine, and leather... this wine is an earth monster, but clearly still needs a few years to show its full potential. The wine got more and more earthy as the night progressed. The 2001 Marquis de Grinon "Gaudium" Gran Reserva Rioja was ok - not great. In the classicly-light MdG style, this wine had a moderate finish and I don't really have a lot of other positive things to say about the wine. Would I turn town a bottle? No. Would I order one off a list? No. That sums it up. The 1999 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-St.-Vivant "Morey Monge", bottles 00121 and 00123, was excellent. Bottle 00121 was opened and tasted first. This bottle was slightly closed, but a beautiful example of very young great Burgundy. Classic DRC nose of clove, cinnamon, spicy rhubarb, and strawberries came together in the soft elegance that defines RSV. A long, unevolved finish. Bottle 00123 was much more open on the nose, with roses, spice box, clove, cinnamon, strawberries, rhubarb and ripe fruit. This bottle was superior to the first - more expressive in every nuance. Unfortunately, both bottles closed slightly as the night went on. It took a lot of working the wine in the mouth after being opened for 3 hours to really bring out its subtelties. Very, very nice.

The 2003 Masseto was a huge disappointment... I've never loved this wine, and the cocoa-powder and overripe cassis and black cherries were slightly off-balance, and then the elevated alcohol just threw it over the edge. It's often called the "Italian Petrus", but I don't think Petrus would ever make a wine like this. Another bottle of the 1996 Gaja Sperss was identical to the one from the previous night. Outstanding wine. Shows the Serralunga d'Alba power.... Rediculously good... saw one on a wine list in Roma for 125 Euro... kicking myself for not drinking it. The 2000 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (2 different bottles, but both were identical) was the most open and expressive of any 1st or 2nd Growth Bordeaux I've had in a long, long time. The wine is pure cocoa, toast, chocolate, coffee grounds, cassis, black cherries with a lots of black olive (?! - unusual for this wine). Loads of pencil lead on the palate, and wow. What an incredibly long finish. One of the best Lalande's I've had in a long time. Give it at least another 5 years - preferably another 10 - before opening if you have some. Great wine. For me, the wine of the night was the 1999 Tirecul la Gravieres "Cuvee Madame" Monbazilliac (Sauternes-style from Bergerac in SW France). Tasted against the 1997 Chateau Suduiraut (which was good, but had nothing on the Tirecul), the wine was complete caramel popcorn, honeysuckle, honey, toffee, brown-sugared baked apricots, and orange blossom. The nose was powerful and extraordinarily complex, leaving you breathless. I could smell the wine for hours. On the palate, the wine coats your palate, leaving every tastebud searching for another layer. Incredible length. The wine is a baby, but appears much more evolved than it truly is. Give it a few years and drink this incredible wine from this legendary estate. I need a bottle for my own cellar, and I'd put it against Chateau d'Yquem in all but the greatest of vintages....

Forgot

Can't believe I forgot this one!!! The 1994 Vega Sicilia Unico is another one of those stunning wines that gets overlooked in favor of the Bordeaux first growths, the cults from California, and the Burgundies of producers such as Leroy and DRC. In a time when Spain is quickly being equated with "value-wines", the poor Vega is often forgotten. Perhaps its the long aging before release (the Spanish used to (I say used to because while some still do it, the new wave of winemakers releases wines far younger) age your wine for you. It was released when it was ready to drink), or perhaps its because it is so earthy and leathery that it doesn't have a huge appeal, but this is without question the greatest wine estate in Spain, and certainly one of the greatest in the world. The tasting notes haven't changed much, except these two bottles seemed to be more expressive on the nose than just a few months ago... give it time.

Beautiful

Tasted the 2004 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montipulciano... if I haven't said it, the 2004 Tuscan's are fabulous... best in years, at least since 1997. This was full of earth, leather - and power! For a Vino Nobile! But it was simply no match for the 1996 Gaja Sperss... This was the best bottle of this wine that I've had. When I initially smelled it, I was a bit disappointed as the nose seemed closed. 15 minutes took care of that issue... Leathery with roses, spice box, cinnamon, black cherry, red cherries... amazing length and tremendous power. This is a 50 year wine, and we're only on year 11. Give it another 5 at least, or as I did, taste it over the course of 3 or 4 hours, because the last taste was the best... simply beautiful. Could be one of the top 5 wines I've had this year so far.

Good Times

Will post notes, but the 2002 BV Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon, 1996 Chateau Lagrange, and the 2003 Harlan Estate (completely underwhelmed, by the way...)

Dinner with Friends

had dinner with 2 other Master Sommeliers last evening and was a lot of fun. Started off with a Campari, Soda, and White Wine (the wine brings a hint of sweetness to the otherwise bitter drink). Had the 1985 Charles Heidseick "Champagne Charlie" and wow was this a good bottle. Nice and rich with hazelnuts, roasted almonds, peach, Granny Smith Apples and hints of brioche. Nice. Moved on to the 2004 Domaine Weinbach Tokay Pinot Gris Altenbourg Cuvee Laurence. High RS in this one (thinking 25-30 gl/rs) with super-ripe apricots, orange blossom, and honeysuckle. Very floral and nice and rich. Needs about 15 years. The 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage "La Chapelle" took a while to open, but when it finally did, wow! Very meaty, leathery and dusty with raspberries and clove. Not as good as the bottle I had last summer, but still very nice. For dessert, Banyuls.

Custom

Nice night... The 2001 Guigal Cote-Rotie "Brune et Blonde" is awesome... so earthy with notes of wet red meat, black pepper, dried saddle leather and tobacco with black cherries, black berries and raspberry. Very earthy and beautiful. The 2003 D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz is really, really good. Loads of black pepper, baking spices and black fruit. Nice and jammy - like warm raspberry jam. Nicely balanced. The 2003 Guyon Chambolle-Musigny was terribly upsetting... this is not Chambolle. Chambolle is elegance, refinement - the Queen to Vosne-Romanee's King... seductive fruit, elegance tannins, and a silky mouthfeel. This example was hot (high-alcohol), over-ripe and didn't even shed a drop of elegance. Awful. The 2004 Jadot Vosne-Romanee "Les Suchots" on the other hand, was gorgeous. Always one of my favorite Premier Cru Burgundy vineyards (the other being Les Amouresses in Chambolle, Les Brulees in Vosne-Romanee, and Clos St. Jacques in Gevry-Chambertin), this was structured power. Very young, with oak that needs time to integrate (but it's not over-bearing) - the wine is velvet with an incredibly long finish for a 2004. Proves that great winemakers make great wine in any vintage.

Late Night

Had fun though... Henriot Brut is really good... nice and toasty with brioche, pears, apples, and while peach. Beautiful. The Henriot Brut Rose rocks... lovely strawberry, raspberry, anise and a hint of rose petal. Nice and dry, not overly powerful. An elegant rose. The 2006 Pavi Pinot Grigio, Napa Valley was really good... a hint of gold with stale beer. Ripe and rich. The 2003 Nickel & Nickel John Sellinger Cabernet Sauvignon was good, but I've never loved these wines. Lots of cocoa and mulch with anise and mint. And Patron Silver on the rocks with lime is a lovely drink...

No Excuse

No, I haven't written. And, no, I don't have an excuse. Tasted the 2003 Fisher Vineyards "Cameron" Red, Napa Valley today... lots of cocoa powder and anise, with lots of black currant. Nice tannins, but not overpowering. Not 100% sure of the blend, but it tastes like a lot of Merlot. Tasted a few killer German Rieslings yesterday... I'll post later... off to a cocktail party.

Now, Let's Go Run and See...

The 1999 Antinori Guado al Tasso was good, but was not the bottle I had in Tuscany last month... good and very dried leaves, cedar, tobacco and anise. Pretty, but not as spectacular as I would have liked. The 1995 Pol Roger "Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill" is a monster... a great bottle bubbles. So complex and powerful, but a streak of elegance at the same time. Really beautiful. Nice and toasty, but citrus, anise, and apricots are prevalent as well. Exceptional... Enjoyed a wonderful bottle of NV Gosset Brut Rose last night with my wife... this is not a wine to age, but rather enjoy the power in its youth. Strawberries and raspberries with dried leaves... a great pizza wine (!)...

Few More and Tuscany Continued...

I was a judge yesterday in the Florida International Wine Challenge... Tasted quite a few wines, made the palate tired (!)... had a good time though. Though the wines were blind, I know exactly what the wine of the day was... the 1995 Charles Heidsieck "Blanc de Millenieres" was tremendous... a beautiful, toasty, rich Champagne. Really a stunning wine that can be drunk now, or lay it down for a few years for the super hazelnut-butterscotch-toast notes to amplify. Had a few other decent things and some not-so-decent wines. Anyway, enough.

Back to June 7th. After getting out of bed and realizing I had a hangover to recover from, it was off to Banfi. Banfi owns 1/8 of all the land under the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (approx 2850ha). They use French Oak, 250hl stainless tanks and make 85-90% red wine. They also use some American, Russian, Hungarian and some Chestnut wood. They have a unique barrel system as they have some bent by vapor rather than by the heat of the fire... interesting. Mostly 350hl barrels, but some 225 (Bordeaux). Do 1hr of toasting on low heat brings a mid-level toast to the barrels. Slovinean oak = Balsamic Spice in the wine.... They have 28 Poggios (small vineyards) that are blended into their Brunello di Montalcino. (As a side note, he mentioned that under DOCG law the average Poggio must be 6.5ha...) Guess the DOCG board hasn't heard of, or doesn't want to acknowledge, micro-climates. The single vineyard Poggio all'Oro is 27ha and rich in limestone w/ clay.

The 2005 Florus Moscadello was sweet, clean, 75gl/rs 14%abv with no mutage. 30% new FO, Clove, cinnamon, honeysuckle, beeswax, orange rind, apricots, orange blossoms. Needs time to come together, but delicious now. Had a special lunch at the restaurant...

The 2006 Fontanelle Chardonnay was rich with Granny Smith Apple, Ripe Anjou Pear, a hint of wet stones, apricots, honeysuckle, with toast (6 months in small FO). Had with Prosciutto e Melone. The 2003 Summus (40% CS, 20% Syrah, 40% Sangiovese) was medium-plus bodied with nose of anise, black cherries, black pepper, very dry tannin and dusty, dried fruits. Had with Tagliatelle con ragout. The 2001 Poggio Alle Mura "Brunello di Montalcino" Riserva (this is a blend of single-vineyards). Had staining tears, a light-purple to orange and brown rim, with m+ intensity. Dried leather, black cherries, black currants, raspberry, turned earth, rosemary, clove, cinnamon, very tight, m+ tannin. "Great wine. Big wine". Served with Bistecca di maiale con patate arroso e fagiolini (Cinta Sires - the breed of pig). The 1995 Poggio All'Oro Brunello di Montalcino Riserva was sick... 100% Small FO, almost opaque with notes of suppoi (sotto bosco), black olive, cedar, sweet cherries, cranberry, black currant, dried fruits, m+ tannin - less fruit driven. Loved it so much I brought a bottle home!

From there, it was a short (tongue in cheek here... I was driving 160-170km/hr) 2 hour drive to Bolgheri and Tenuta San Guido (better known as the producer of Sassicaia). A completely different experience than the overly-commercial Banfi. Bolgheri is approx, 6000ha, of which 1% is vineyards. Started in 1968, there are now approx 200,000 bottles of Sassicaia produced each year (compare to 10-20,000cs of Margaux, Latour, Lafite), 150,000 bottles of Guidalberto, and 150,000 of La Difese. The soil is sand with limestone and clay. Sassicaia means "Place with a lot of stones". They do 2wks maceration on the skins, they perform remontage, and use only natural yeasts. They do a quick Malo in stainless steel. The building itself is nothing more than a barn... very rustic, very Sassicaia. Use a touch of american oak on the Guidlaberto, otherwise 30% new on Sassicaia for 24mos, Medium Toast, Allier forest. Racked every 6 months. They use Cordon Spur as their trellis system.

The 2002 La Difese IGT (only sold in Europe), 70% CS, 30% Sangiovese showed soft raspberry (black), black currents, blackberries, black tar, black olive, clove, cinnamon, and cassis. Very good. Retails around 50 Euro. The 2005 Guidalberto (45,45 Merlot/CS, 10% Sangiovese) is a blockbuster... certainly the greatest Guidalberto I've ever tasted, notes of black currant, black cherries, cocoa, dried earth, dried leaves, soft & pretty with a long, cassis & black pepper finish. Beautiful. The 2004 Sassicaia was closed as closed can be, with almost nothing showing on the nose... black cherry, black currant, cinnamon, clove "woody), cassis, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, long and refined with m+ tannin. This wine is going to be great when it opens... the 2006 Sassicaia was the biggest wine of the day. Black cherry, m+ tannin, black currant, cassis, cocoa, very long... twiggy.
We then went into the vineyards where we learned that they have a problem with Oidium, as they are so close to the sea If you look really hard, you can see the water in the background... was a slightly cloudy day. He told us you can usually see Corsica(!). Alas, all we saw was the footprint of a cingale (wild boar), who like to eat the grapes. Well, this concludes the winery visits (and true working portion) for the trip... I'll go into the remaining wines/etc I had while on vacation another day...

Few this week...

Been busy (not great wine busy, mind you)... The 1990 Chateau de Pez (Bordeaux) was ready to drink, but still had some nice black cherry, cedar and pencil lead. Good wine, glad I opened it. The 1990 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste was a beauty... ready to drink, but still had lots of life in it. Loads of fruit and substantial tannins (though nicely balanced). A real beauty with dark graphite, cedar, cigar box and cassis - nice long finish.

On To Tuscany! or Italy Continued...

So after a few amazing meals, some fabulous wines, and quite a few new friends, its was off to Tuscany on Wednesday morning. We had an appointment with San Felice, but unfortunately, had to cancel. The drink should take about 5 hours or so from Alba to San Gimignano. The road it Alba to Allesandra to Genoa (one of the most stunningly beautiful cities I've ever seen... hugs the very steep mountains that come right to the sea. Beauty + traffic + most winding roads I've ever seen + speed = white knuckle driving. It was a long road) to Liverno to Firenze, and finally down to Castellechi in Chianti where we had an appointment with Cecchi (who also would be providing us with our accomadations for the next 3 nights).

The Cecchi family started producing wine in the late 19th Century (1893), and now has 4 estates and produces over 7.5 million bottles a year. There is the one in Chianti, another in Maremma, another in Umbria, and one in San Gimignano. They have 120 hectares in Chianti and Chianti Classico. Use French oak and destem. The Cecchi Estate was selected in 1989 to help in a trial of 54 Sangiovese Clones by the Conzorzio del Chianti Classico to see the differences. The Cecchi Estate (Picture below). On to the wines... The 2006 Cecchi Vermentino di Maremma IGT "Litorale", 12.5%abv, sandy soil w/limestone, 200,000 bottles, August harvest, cryomaceration. Nice with Bosc Pear, lemon rind, stoney minerals, and white flowers. The 2006 Vel dele Rose Morellino di Scansano uses cryomaceration, harvested the first 10 days of September, matured in NFO for 5 months. Clove, jammy, bubblegum (almost Beaujolais like).

After those few was a beautiful vertical of Villa Cerna Chianti Classico Riserva - 2004, 2001, 1996, 1993 and 1981. They were wonderful, with the 1996 having a more vegetal note from the poor vintage (lots of rain at harvest). The 2001 was powerful, but slightly closed. Built for the long haul. The 2004 is incredible. But the 1981 was tremendous. Garnet to orange-brown rim, moderate intensity, tar, leather, dusty dried leaves, rosemary, stewed tomatos, very fresh and lively. m+ tannin, cinnamon stick, cigar box, violets, flowers... kept getting better and better throughout the tasting. A real gem. The 1993 had bruised cherries, toast, and was past it's peak with a bit of spearmint and pine tar. Last wine was the 2003 Sagrantino di Montefalco - a beheamoth of a wine from Umbria. 16 months FO. All black fruit and clove, with dried cranberries, tar, chocolate and cinnamon with big ripe tannins, m+ acidity. Great.

After a long day of driving, it was to the Castelli di Monteuto in San Gimignano. Our own private castle, if only for a few nights. The building on the far right was the guest house, where we stayed. A 3-story, 6 bedroom, I'm going to guess 4000 sqft guest house... overlooking the town of San Gimignano. That night two of us stayed in, went to the Coop in San Gimignano, bought some great anitpasta, and made a meal of pomodoro, Insalata di Pesci (octopus, squid, yummy!), Peccorino, Proscuitto di Parma, and a few other food items. Drank a 1999 Antinori Guado al Tasso and a 2003 Gaja Ca'Marcanda (the same from the Gaja tasting...). The Guado was a steal on the shelf... beautiful and drinking well. Also had some 2006 Monteuto Vernaccia di San Gimignano as an aperitif... great night. Lots of fun and great stories.

Another Day, Another Night...

Tasted another bottle of the 1997 Mt. Eden Chardonnay - and to prove it wasn't a fluke, this one was even better!!! Also tried the 2003 Lewis Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Simply awesome... right up there with Bond. Rich and thick with loads of vanilla, anise, cocoa, and black currants. Jammy Jammy.

Slow week...

Last night tasted the 1997 Mt. Eden Chardonnay from Paso Robles. Amazingly, it was still holding up very, very well. One of the few Cali chards that do! Lots of oak with butterscotch, honey, almonds and apricots. Nice and fat with lots of malo. That's about it.

Italy Continued...

So, after an amazing tasting at Gaja and a wonderful lunch (if not a bit full of mushrooms), we headed back to the hotel I Castelli. While functional, this hotel had zero charm. For being, what we were told anyway, the nicest hotel (heard about a few great Inns, but that didn't help us...) in Alba, it really wasn't much. Later that afternoon we had an appointment at Marchesi di Barolo. To say I was underwhelmed would be a serious misuse of the word... There was nothing wrong with it, per se, it just wasn't a "wow" experience. MdB is a very traditional Barolo producer, havin made wine for over 200 years. They age their Barolos for 1 year in smaller french oak barrels then transfer them to larger, very old Slovenean oak casks. Malo for all but the Barolo & Barbaresco is done in concrete, with fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The single vineyard Barolos get 30% new oak and the malo is done there. They rack every 3-4 days from fiberglass/concrete. They do a destemming with a 12-18 day maceration. The Barolos hit 32 degrees Celcius during fermentation. They own 10ha of the Cannubi vineyard which lines the road up to Barolo. There are two soil types - Totillano (clay) and Helveciano (sand). On to the wines... The 2006 Roero Arneis (calcareous &sand, up to 2 months for fermentation at a low temp with no skin contact, no malo) Brilliant pale straw with a greenish reflection. Granny Smith Apple, White peach, Bosc pear, less intense, very floral. High acid. 2005 Gavi (Calcareous & Clay, low Guyot) - fresh and floral, slight herbal note (green almonds). 2004 Nebbiolo d'Alba "Michetti" (Langhe & Roero, 1 yr aging (6mos Slovenean Oak) - tar, leather, dried cranberries, dried strawberries, red rasrpberry, slightly fruity. Ok, not great. As a side note, the labels says "contains sulfites" in 9 languages... The 2001 Barbaresco Riserva (2yrs Barrel, small % NFO, 2yrs bottle, Graia Vineyard, hand picked over a 15 day period.) was a dark garnet with notes of dusty dried leaves, violets, cherries, strawberries, tar & tobacco, M+ tannins, pepper. The 2003 Estate Barolo Riserva (14.5% ABV, 2yrs FO, 18mos bottles). Smoky, herbal, touch of tar, black truffles, roses. Hazelnuts, big tannin, black cherries, bl currants, bl pepper. Nice. Had a tour of their cellars (old bottles of Barolo...) Then to dinner at the winery. The 2005 Dolcetto d'Alba Boschetti was dark purple with bright fruit, bl plum and cherries, figs, prunes, light and easy to drink but almost opaque. Served with Carpaccio w/ endive balsamic vinaiger, parmesean cheese. The 2003 Paiagal Barbera d'Alba was spicy with black pepper, fresh black cherries, currants, sage, thyme, clove. Fruit and ncie - but not great. Anise and cinnamon candy. Served with an asparagas flan w/ Parmesean. The 2003 Barolo Cannubi was over the top. Black tar, cherries, herbal notes. This wine was too high in alcohol and too closed to be drunk now. Not sure why it was served. Ditto to the 2003 Barolo Sarmassa. Loads of alcohol on the nose, black tar, cherries, black plum, more open and tannin though... tar and herbs. Too young. Not great. The two Barolos were served together with Veal braised in Barolo. For dessert, the 2006 Zagara Moscato d'Asti was good and light, a nice end. The digestif was the MdB Barolo Chinato. This version is very Fernet Branca like. Medicial... I've now found upwards of 10 Chinato producers...

Patron

First, I'd like to say that tequila is a beautiful thing... too much of it is not... Four wines last night - the 2005 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Rouge "Cuvee les Deux Papis" is stellar. For a Bourgogne, the wine simple rock. Notes of mocha, cranberries, strawberries and raspberries on the impossibly long (for a Bourgogne) long finish. High acid + lively fresh fruit, well, this is a winner in my book. The 2003 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Cabernet (3L) was ok... a bit overbearing and too ripe. A moderate finish... don't waste your money. The 1985 Silver Oak Alexander Valley (3L) was slightly maderized with a burnt-caramel note. I've had this wine from three liter before and was not impressed with it then, and I'm certainly not impressed this time around either. All in all, a pretty dull evening... save for the 1994 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Without question one of the great California Cabs I've ever tried. The 1994 Bryant Family sits at number 5 for me all time... this is better. Lush ripe fruit and a richness not found in many other wines, with a beautiful (and intense) eucalyptus note. The finish goes on forever. Perfect, this wine still has lots of life in front of it though I doubt it can get any better. Always a thrill to taste one of the Cali Cults (Harlan, Bryant, Colgin, V29/Grace Family, Hillside Select, Dalla Valle Maya, Screaming Eagle, David Arthur Elevation 1147 - these are the 8 I consider the "true" cults). Forgot I tried the 2001 Terrabianca Campaccio... lovely dried-fruit-driven wine (70% Sangiovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon). A nice drink.

Two Favorites...

Two great wines last night... the first was the 2003 Louis Jadot/ Clos de la Chapelle Duc de Magenta Chassagne-Montrachet "Morgeot" Premier Cru... fat and rich, with loads of ground-up rocks, intense hazelnuts, ripe, rich Granny Smith Apples, and fat butterscotch, honeysuckle and white peach. Always pretty, always great. One of the great 2003's I've tried... but I wouldn't wait on this one. I doubt it's going to get much better... The 2001 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle, however, will continue to improve for quite a long time. Already displaying an beautifully evolved nose of meat, bacon fat, tar, saddle leather and black pepper - this is a pure Northern Rhone nose... Loads of ripe black fruits with black cherries, plums, and figs. A beauty of a wine that is still a baby as the palate was a bit under-developed compared to the nose. It still needs quite a while. Without question the best La Chapelle I've tasting since the stunning 1989 (not had the 1990...).

Can't believe I forgot about it the other night! Tried, for the first time, the Keo St. John Commandaria Cyprus. Really cool stuff... half port, half madeira, half red grapes, half white (Mavro and Xinisteri)... generally not fortified (though the law does add a provision for adding grape spirit to get the alcohol up to the minimum level, though with the grape ripeness levels as high as they are and mandated by law, I can not imagine how or why you would want to fortify this delicious wine!!!). Lots of roasted almonds, honey, caramel and toast. A very cool wine...

Last Night...

Tried two different bottles of 1995 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou... this wine continues to be closed, with one of the bottles slightly more open than the other - though when I tried them, one had been open for 1/2 hour, the other 3 hours. The wine is dominated by tannin, with hints of sweet fruit. My question is - is the wine simply still closed down (a lot of 1995s are still closed), or is the wine simply tannin-dominated and the fruit will never come out... only time will tell. WS WOTY in 1998, I believe.

Had a bottle of 2005 Dr. Burklin Wolf Estate Riesling... nice, just a tiny hint of sugar... pretty with loads of minerals... nice, needs a little time. Incredible value... the 2004 Chateau de Sancerre was pretty... very rich with tons of minerals, grapefruit pulp (the white part of the fruit), and lemongrass... nice and herbal.

Best of 2007 - so far...

This helps me keep my notes in line for later in the year... So, at the end of 6 months, here are my favorite wines of the year so far...

1989 Gaja Darmagi, 1989 Gaja Barbaresco, 2001 Gaja Sperss, 1996 Gaja Sperss, 1981 Cecchi Chianti Classico Riserva (to be reviewed later - had it on my trip...), 2001 DRC Echezeaux, 2006 Martinetti Martin, 1985 Braide Bricco dell'Uccellone Barbera d'Asti, 2005 Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet, 1955 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, 1990 DRC Echezeaux, 1993 Chateau Haut-Brion Blanc, 1986 Chateau Cheval-Blanc, 1989 Remoissenet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Cazetieres", 2001 Pio Cesare "Il Bricco" Barbaresco, 2001 Archery Summit Arcus Estate Pinot Noir, 1997 Almaviva, 1979 Krug Collection Champagne Magnum, 1990 Krug "Clos du Mesnil" Champagne, 1966 Leroy Meursault 1er Cru, 1961 Chateau Latour, 1990 Penfold's Grange, 1990 Guigal "La Turque" Cote-Rotie, 1990 Chateau d'Yquem, 1994 Bryant Family Cabernet Sauvignon, 1998 Comte George de Vogue Le Musigny Vieilles Vignes, 2001 Clos de Tart, 1995 Araujo Eisele Cabernet Sauvignon, 1985 Chateau Haut-Brion, 1996 Dalla Valle "Premiere Napa Valley" Barrel #41, 1982 Chateau Latour, 1995 Domaine Leroy Richebourg, 1900 Irmes & Borges Colheita (1947 bottling date), 1986 Chateau Haut-Brion, 1997 Gaja Costa Russi, 1990 Chateau Certan de May, 2000 Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune Riesling, ZD Abacus VII, 1988 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg, 2002 Shafer Hillside, 1998 Penfold's Grange, 1998 von Buhl Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, 2004 Joseph Drouhin Musigny, 1995 Chatau Latour, 1989 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux... so how do I narrow that down to the top 10??? Easy... I just make it the top 15!
15. 1989 Gaja Barbaresco
14. 1995 Chateau Latour
13. 1990 Krug "Clos du Mesnil"
12. 1955 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
11. 1998 Comte George de Vogue Le Musigny Vieilles Vignes
10. 1995 Leroy Richebourg
9. 2000 Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune Riesling
8. 1996 Gaja Sperss
7. 1989 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux
6. 1990 Chateau d'Yquem
5. 1994 Bryant Family Cabernet Sauvignon
4. 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezeaux
3. 1982 Chateau Latour
2. 1961 Chateau Latour
1. 1990 Guigal "La Turque" Cote-Rotie

I am very happy with the order of this list... the fun part is placing things in as the year goes along...

Added a post...

that I've been working on.... from June 27th. Includes my visit to Gaja... Scroll down.

Too Much...

Been working too much... enjoying every minute of it (well, maybe not every minute of it, but 99% of it). Two nights ago... the 2002 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has shut down a bit and is not as big and thick as it was the last time I've had it... rich anise and eucalyptus with high alcohol, and a rich, ripe black-fruit finish. Smelled the 2002 Mommessin Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "La Forge", which is really declassified Clos de Tart. Very pretty nose - lots of turned dried earth, but with lush, ripe red fruits. Pretty... Last night, the 2004 Henri Boillot Montrachet was beautiful. It really didn't take off until it was room temperature, as I tasted it over the course of about 2 hours. When it was at its peak, it was full of minerals and was tight as a drum... even more closed than a few months ago, the last time I tasted it. Maybe a hint of green, and not as intense as Montrachet can be. Also tasted Bryce Jones (Sonoma-Cutrer) new venture, the 2005 Emeritus Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. Small production, but a really killer wine. Not the overblown style (though I really do love Kosta-Browne...), but more of an old-styled RRV Pinot. Pretty floral nose with Candy Apple, cinnamon, ripe red cherries and wild strawberry. Very elegant, and a very nice price point...

Last nigth & Italy, continued...

Had the 2003 Dr. Pauly Bergweiler Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett last night... not acidified, and only 9% ABV. The wine was ripe and rich, but had developed a very petrol and orange-blossom nose. Very stony... drink it now as I don't think it's going to improve all that much... Also had a corked 2001 Dr. Burklin Wolf Kirchenstuck Riesling Spätlese Trocken... a shame... couldn't get anything on the nose but wet cardboard... nasty stuff, that TCA is.

Back to Italy... The next morning (Tuesday) we had the appointment I was most looking forward to on the entire trip... Gaja. After getting fabulous directions the night before, we managed to not get lost for the first time this trip and made it a few minutes early to the stronghold of Gaja (I mean that literally... as you walk up, there is a very large, very industrial, metal door that slides open after you contact security to let you in). The town of Barbaresco was very small, but beautiful. Only 600 people reside in the town... The picture is the Barbaresco castle/ church. We took a tour of the facilites... Gaja was started in 1859 by Giovanni Gaja. The estate now owns some 27ha of vineyards (including the single-vineyards Sori San Lorenzo, Sori Tildin and Costa Russi, plus 14 others) in Barbaresco. All of the vines used in the production of Gaja wines are estate owned... They generally destem, have only one pressing, macerate for 3 weeks and ferment for 8 days, with racking after... they then spend 1 year in new French Oak barrels (Francois Freres, Gamba, Toransaud) from the Allier and Trocais forests, plus a little bit of Romanian oak. They revealed that at one point they tried American oak, but it was a failure so they won't be trying that again any time soon... The skins are then destilled for single-vineyard grappa. For the white wines, malo is done in steel, while for reds it is done in wood. Gaja was one of the first to purchase the wood, age the barrels themselves (2-3 years outside) and send to a local barrel maker for assembly. (Resumed writing 3 days later... drinking an Anchor Steam on a rare night off...) Here are two pictures... one the Traditional Slovenian oak barrels used after the first year, and the French Oak... All right, what about the wines??? From the approx. 100ha, the Gaja family gets around 300,000 bottles a year. A good bit Barbaresco... as for the 2002 vintage? All of it was sold off... Shame, but exactly what would be expected from a producer of this stature... Walked to the tasting room (Gaja is still in the distribution business, importing "the best" wines from all over the world (Joseph Phelps, Latour, Lynch Bages, etc), as well as the sole Riedel distributor in Italy... interesting. Into the tasting room - 8 glasses, and as I would discover, all of the glasses were the specific Riedel stem for the given appellation.... The first wine was the 2005 Sito Moresco - a blend of 35% Nebbiolo, 35% Merlot, and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. (now on to a Casa Lager from Casablanca, Morocco - a bit more spicy, but nice). Lots of roses, cassis, slight bit of cloves, tar and earth. Black cherries and cassis (dried) with big, round, well-balanced tannins. Nice entry-level wine. Next was the 2003 Ca'Marcanda Ca'Marcanda - 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc from the Ca'Marcanda estate in Maremma, Tuscany - (a wine I would have 2 more times this trip). This is the highest-end wine from this particular property, retailing for around 75 Euro, or around $125. Minty with anise, clove, dried earth, lots of flower with black cherries, tar, black currant, plums and cocoa. A very, very pretty wine that needs lots of time. Excellent for the vintage... got a bottle of this as a present, and was drunk before I left Italy... The 2000 Rennina Brunello di Montalcino from their estate in Montalcino (this is a 3-vineyard blend. They also make a single-vineyard called Sugarille). Very orange-brown with dried leaves, red earth, plums dried cranberries... very earthy (as would be expected), without the class and refinement of the Sugarille. The 2004 Barbaresco was beautiful, but also very closed. Red center, orange rim with dried cranberries, cherries, figs, tar, leather, tobacco and rosemary. Very shut... an exceptionally long finish. In comparison was the 1989 Barbaresco... a stunning wine, nearing maturity. Full of Sotto Bosco, dried cherries, tar, leather, dried earth - "beautiful", very long finish, dried sweet fruits, cedar, dried leaves. Amazing wine... took my breath away. Next up was my favorite young wine of the trip - the 2001 Sperss is massive. Blowing past the 1996 in sheer weight and power and eclipsing both the 1998 and 1999 in magnitude, this wine is pure adrenaline. From a vineyard in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba (95% Nebbiolo, 5% Barbera). Herbal with clove, cherries, dried peppers, and orange-brown rim, slightly closed with an exceptionally long, balanced finish. Cherry fruit - sweet, clean, very high tannin... all of this, and I even added a note about how elegant this wine is. From there, the 2001 Conteisa (95% Nebbioli, 5% Barbera), from slightly less-powerful provenance is still a beautiful Barolo. Sweet fruit and and expressive nose, but very closed palate. Dried fruits, powerful but elegant with loads of black pepper. A great wine, but not the Sperss or Barbaresco. The 1989 Darmagi (means "What a Pity", after they planted it with Cabernet Sauvignon)... 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc... classified as Vino da Tavola, in Piedmont. A very young wine... slight orange rim, but otherwise opaque purple... sotto bosco, cedar, clove, herbs (green pepper and mint), spicy with black cherries, violets and earth. "Like a great Margaux"... very elegant, like a 1st Growth Bordeaux... incredible. Never one of my favorites, but it was on this day. We were invited to lunch and took with us the 1989 Barbaresco and 1989 Darmagi (you can't pass up old vintages of Gaja...) Went to lunch at the base of the church in Barbaresco... good food. Had lots of mushrooms. Too many mushrooms. Very good, though... no one spoke English, so I had to use my limited Italian to get by. Was lots of fun... Later that night was Marchesi di Barolo. I'll post that later... Pictures of the vineyards of Barbaresco... while we were inside, it starting storming. All of a sudden we hear a few large "boom"s... they fire off cannon filled with some sort of powder trying to ward off hail, as the grapes are just beginning to form, can be very damaging. Read about what happened in Alsace at decanter.com.

Pig Roast!

Went to a pig roast last night (technically a 71-pound Wild Boar roast...) Really killer stuff... great afternoon with Cabo Wabo Reposado Tequila, Guava Mai Tai's, Knob Creek Bourbon, Warsteiner Dunkel, and 2006 Condes de Albarei Albarino. Too much food, too much fun. Hands still smell like smoke from picking at the pig...

Last 2 Nights

Pretty good... last night was the 2001 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino... a very good Brunello with loads of sweet fruit, dried leaves, and a good bit of tannin. Shows the strength of the 2001 Vintage... The 2003 Bond Melbury (Harlan) was massive... a real beauty. Much more full-bodied than the Vecina, this is what I expect from Bond... Rich, ripe black berries, anise, black currant and a hint of dusty raspberry... long, long finish. Not the best vintage, but one of the great 03's I've had so far. Also tried a 1967 Borgogno Barolo Riserva last night... the wine was obviously recorked and filled to an appropriate level... there was no fruit left, and it was a dry, "sotto bosco" laden wine. I question why the wine was recorked in the first place it wasn't that great! Very dissapointing. The night before was the 1990 Chateau Gruaud Larose... I tried just a small sip at the end of the evening and it was a bit dried out by that point... still one of the great noses of any 1990... The 2001 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezeaux continues to impress me. I don't know that the '01s will be the longest lived wines, but they are certainly capable of another 10-15 years at least... as previously tasted, but a more explosive nose this time... definitely beginning to open up.

Monday, June 3rd (Afternoon & Evening)

But before that, I tried the 2002 Patit Creek Merlot, Walla Walla, Washington last night... nice and fruity, but with a classic chocolate-earth note. A very nice example of Walla Walla Merlot... Also, the Champagne Deutz Brut is a lovely bubbly - notes of lemon rind, orange peel, big granny-smith apple notes, and a big of toasty brioche and toast on the very nice finish.

So, anyway, back to the trip... after Braida, it was back to the hotel as Bruno Giacosa had to cancel at the last minute (sad about that one... as I love the wines) - or as close as one would get while being lost for 2 1/2 hours because there is not an exit on the autostrade for Alba... So after a nice drive to Torino (!), and a jaunt down a few back roads through the commune of Roero (beautiful - really pretty terrain, perfect for Nebbiolo and Arneis that are permitted in the DOCG). Went to the gym for an hour so the legs don't get out of shape...

Toward La Morra from the valley floor...

What followed this evening was one of the great wine evenings of my life... though the wines were mostly unfamiliar to me, it was just one of those gastronimic experiences I'll never forget. We were picked up by Michele Martinetti, the son of owner Franco Martinetti and took a drive Southwest from the town of Alba in the hills of the Barolo DOCG... driving into the valley floor was very surreal... the hills and vineyards of Barolo surround you like you're in an ampitheater of wine... to the south, on the hill is the town of Barolo, to the east, the village of power - Serralunga d'Alba, to the west, the soft and supple La Morra... to the north-east, Castiglione Falletto, and in the hills far beyond, Novello and Monforte d'Alba...

First, we went to the winery. It's more of a rented space that other winemakers use as well to produce small quanities of wines (full of very nice equipment...). The Martinetti wines come only from purchased grapes... Franco Martinetti got his start when the Bologna family (see Braida from before) gave him grapes to make his own wine. As a side note, one thing I noticed among the great wine familys of Europe is that they all are very close... Angelo Gaja gives a 3 Liter of Barbaresco (of the baby's birth year) when a son is born to a wine family... The facility was very modern, but Martinetti is more of an old-styled wine producer, which is fabulous to see. We did some barrel tastings... They use primarily Boutes barriques (225L), paper filter, and do not fine the reds. They are topping up once/month and source Nebbiolo from several vineyards in Barolo. The first sample was the 2003 Boschetti Vineyard Barolo... Boschetti is a West and Southwest facing slope behind the village of Barolo planted to Dolcetto (Marchesi di Barolo) and Nebbiolo. This wine was going to be bottled in the beginning of July, so be sold in October... This wine matures in 60% New French Oak and 40% 1yr old barrels. On the nose, the wine was full of tared-rose petals with notes of black cherries, dried currants, with a hint of alcohol on the nose... on the palate a little more fruit with less earth, with not quite the cedary-oaky taste sometimes found in young Barolo. Next to it was the barrel sample of the 2003 Serralunga d'Alba-sourced Barolo... 14.6% alcohol, which wasn't too bad considering the hot and dry vintage... this was was much darker in color, very full bodied on the nose, with loads of black fruits, sweet fruit, anise and cinnamon candy. On the palate, this wine was pure power - with just a hint of suppleness. At this point he mentioned that they have sometimes experimented with Italian, Sardinian, and Turkish oak as well as French... very different than the large Slovinean oak barrels traditionally used in Barolo and Barbaresco production... I'm getting off track. The next barrel was the 2004 Serralunga d'Alba Barolo (didn't reveal the vineyard) from Boutes French Oak Barrels... this wine was completely shut, with just hints of spice, sweet cherries, roses and hefty tannins. We also tried the 2004 Serralunga d'Alba Barolo from a Pierre Danaque Barrel... more open than the other, with more roses, cherry Jolly-Rancher, black plums, and a beautiful freshness. The tannis were not quite as high with 1/2% less alcohol. A beautiful Barolo... we then did a few sample blends... the 2004's are very, very good and I look forward to tasting them in bottle. A tour of the winemaking side of the winery revealed an autovinificator (72-84 hours), a destemmer (destemming done on all wines), and stainless tanks (all malo done in stainless)... We tasted a 2006 Barolo in from tank (just finishing malo) which was full of fruit, and very rich in cherries and roses... beautiful... long, long finish on this one as well... saw a demijohn as well, used to top barrels up - traditional to the Piedmont.

After the tasting, we took a drive through the vineyards... here you can see his vineyard has a bit more limestone than the preferred clay...

I believe this is looking back towards Barlo from near Serralunga d'Alba... this does the region justice as to just how hilly and what a spectacle Barolo is...

The view from the restaurant (Whose name completely escapes me...)... incredible...

I can't recall all of the courses, except we started with local salami, had a pasta course (angnolotti), pork and lamb and all sorts of delicious goodness... We did not order, rather our host chose the courses for us... The 2003 Methodo Classico from Lombardy was a nice sparkler to begin the evening... crisp and dry. The 2006 Gavi was stunning... without question the best Gavi I've ever tasted... loads of floral notes with melon and citrus notes. Very good. The 2006 Martin (made entirely from the local Timorasso grape was another beauty - full-bodied. - almost a cross between a great Condrieu and Corton-Charlemagne. Honeyed Granny Smith Apples... would love to find a bottle of this for my cellar. On to the reds... The 2006 Bric dei Banditi Barbera d'Asti was fun - an easy to drink pizza and pasta wine. Almost has a carbonic maceration-type feel... fruity (red and black berries) with a hint of pepper. Great! The 2005 Siccis Omnia Dura Deus Proposuit Langhe Nebbiolo was good, but not noteworthy. A touch fruity with hints of cinnamon and violets.

The 2000 Montirus Barbera d'Asti is a winner... people are always amazed that these little wines hang on and improve so well... touch of Sotto Bosco, with black pepper and cedar. The 1999 Sul Bric (top of the hill) is a blend of 50% Barbera, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon... a powerful wine that I don't think knows which was to go... Fruity, but with tannin... The 2002 Moresco Barolo shows what a great producer can do in a very poor vintage... though not a fabulous wine, it was very good and drinking well now. Lots of roses and earth, with just a hint of spice. Not very concentrated (though that's all relative with Nebbiolo anyway...). Then, my first Freisa! The 2004 Lauren Da Uve Freisa was a big, powerful tannic monster... The grapes are cryo-frozen and the color and flavor extraction is incredible... not you everyday drinking wine, and make sure you have a good dentist to whiten your teeth! For dessert, a non-vintage passito Timorasso called Alcadro - uva vino di stiganetta... nice, sweet and perfect!!! Had one of the great Gelato's I've ever had... just simple vanilla, but incredible... Went home and went to bed... oh yeah, dinner was 4 hours...

Before I continue with my trip...

Made a killer Champagne Risotto w/ grilled Shrimp last night... used Perrier Jouet Brut - one of the last, true low-dosage brut Champagnes out there... toasty brioche, tart granny smith apples, but with the classic PJ very large "fish eye" bubbles... unappealing, but a nice bottle of bubbles nonetheless. Before that was the killer 2006 Stoneleigh Riesling, Marlborough, New Zealand... so easy to drink with just a hint of petrol, loads of minerals, and tart citrus, white peach, and Bosc pear notes... really delicious...

On to Alba... Sunday & Monday Morning - Braida

I'll first apologize if my tasting notes are a bit more difficult to follow from here on out as I have a particular interest in the technical aspects of winemaking and vineyard management. If you have any questions about what any of the terms mean, e-mail me and I'll let you know! FYI, gl/rs is grams per litre of residual sugar (I prefer this shorthand).

This was the part of the business-end of the trip I was most looking forward to... Barolo, Barbaresco, Langhe, etc... The great wines of the Piedmont. To say I was dissapointed in the village of Alba would be an understatement... but we weren't there to sightsee.. Here's the view from my hotel room in Alba...

Arrived Sunday evening, and went into town for dinner. Had a ravioli filled with some sort of meat, and then had lamb... Had an 2004 Braida Bricco dell'Uccellone Barbara d'Asti (outstanding... without question the greatest Barbera producer in Italy... we go visit them the next day), a Pecchinino Dolcetto di Dogliani Siri d'Jemu (the most recent DOCG in Piemont)... big, black Dolcetto. Unfiltered, unfined... massive stuff (never said that before about a Dolcetto!), and to start was a 2006 Gagliardo Favorita (Favorita is the grape... very slightly perfumed, nice and light, my notes say "like a cross between Cortese, Vermentino, and Pinot Grigio"... my first experience with this varietal.) Got a poor nights sleep, got up in the morning and went for a long walk...

The next morning featured a lot of getting lost... we were an hour late for our appointment, and would start something of a trend. Just to go off on a little rant here... Driving in France is easy. The road signs are clearly marked, and the roundabouts are easy to navigate without getting lost too much. In Italy, they tell you which direction to go in, but then you get to the roundabout, and the signs say something completely different!!! Not a fan... Anyway, we finally make it to Braida. This is a medium-sized producer (500,000 bottles or roughly 40,000 cases, with ~150,000 bottles being only for the European market), just outside of Asti in the town of Rocchetta Tanaro (referring to the famous Tanaro river that runs through the Piedmont). Really do a great business in Moscato d'Asti (white) as well as Brachetto d'Acqui (red), both semi-sweet, both semi-sparkling (frizzante), and both low in alcohol. Here, too, flowering was a full 4 weeks early and a mid-to-late August harvest is expected, though the weather had turned a bit cooler and rainy. It was a hot April, and a cool, rainy may. All grapes are hand-picked. Tanks are cleaned with citric acid, vs. the traditional sulfur.


<-Special tanks that allow the pressure to be controlled... used for Moscato d'Asti, Brachetto d'Acqui and their sparkling Barbera. Can be used up to 6ATM of pressure (M & B are at 1.5ATM).



On to the wines... 2006 Grignolino d'Asti. This wine is cryo-fermented and made only for the EU market. Very light ruby red, with red cherries, strawberries and cranberries. No oak on the wine with nice higher acid. Serve chilled. The 2006 La Monella Barbera del Monferrato is slightly sparkling and completely dry. Notes of red cherries, raspberries, with crushed rocks and a slight black pepper note. This makes up around 150,000 of the 500,000 bottles produced at Braida and is only sold in the EU. The 2006 Il Fiore is a white made from a blend of 60% Chardonnay, 10% Naschetta, and 30% Riesling. Lots of stone fruits with apricots, lemon pepper and spice notes. Kind of a cross between Gruner and Riesling with the weight of Chardonnay. Very minerally and very fat and round. Outstanding wine. The 2004 Asso di Fiori Chardonnay sees part of the Malo done in barrel and hence has a very rich, creamy mouthfeel with loads of toast, lemon, ripe pears, apricots and Granny Smith Apples. 13.5%ABV. The 2005 Il Baciale ("The Bachelor"), is a blend of 60% Barbera, 30% Pinot Noir, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot. All varietals are fermented separately and then blended into used barrels. Lots of black figs, prunes, smokey-tar, leather and black cherries on the nose turns to a more fruit-driven, clean and crisp palate. 13.5%ABV. Awesome wine. The 2005 Montebruna Barbera is made in the traditional style of using no new oak (10yr old 150hl barrels)... made from clones 1884, 339, and 420AA (high production) grafted onto Cobra 53B rootstock. Comes off with 6gl/rs and a ph of 3.5. Very clean, very, very pretty... goes down so easily! A great food wine with the higher acid, bright red fruits, and slight RS. The 2004 Bricco delle Bigotta sees 16 months in oak (50% new, 50% 1yr), and comes from a clay/iron soil. Lots of toasted coffee, dark chocolate, black cherries, blueberries and raspberries with a very distinct rose-petal note. Very good.

Wait, wait, what becomes a common theme, we were invited to a "simple lunch - no really - just one course - angnolotti" with the Bologna family (owners of Braida) in their private residence... NB - there are no simple lunches with wine families... So, our simple lunch started out with a 1994 Ca'del Bosco Cuvee Annamaria Clementi Franciacorta... though not a great vintage, this wine had a beautiful slightly-oxidized nose with honey, caramel, toasted brioche, lots of hazelnuts and toasted almonds. Very exotic nose... almost Krug in style. The next wine was the 2004 Ai Summa Barbera d'Asti - this is a wine we carry on our list, so I was very familiar with it. Lots of anise and eucalyptus/mint on the nose on this... beautiful!!! Both of these were served with extensive antipasto - proscuitto, cheese, fruits, etc, etc... fabulous. The highlite of the visit, though, was the 1985 Bricco dell'Uccellone Barbara d'Asti. A stunning, mind-blowing wine. As expected, no label. Just a chalk-written vintage on the bottle... red center w/ a brownish/orange rim. Lots of hazelnuts, black truffles, dried porcini mushrooms, red clay, wet leaves, turned earth, mint and anise, and a new term for us - "Sotto Bosco" - refers to the turning up of earth after a rainstorm - almost like compost. A great and perfect descriptor for this wine. Amazing length... who knew Barbera could age this long and well... goes to show what any great wine is capable of. FYI, "Bricco dell'Uccellone" means "Top (bricco) of the Big Dick (Uccellone)"... Finished the meal with the 2006 Moscato d'Asti and the 2006 Brachetto d'Acqui... both delcious, low-alcohol, fruity wines. Great with gelato, sorbet or a bowl of fruit (stone fruits for the moscato; red fruits for the brachetto). We actually had macerated Cherries with the wines. A the end he brought out a digestif... 2004 Rochelt Williamsbirne Eau-de-Vie. From Fritzeus, Tirol, Austria... pear brandy made in what's called "the bellybutton bottle" as there's a big dimple in the middle of the bottle. 50%ABV. Really, really good... did exactly as promised. A great visit... without question the best Barbera d'Asti, Moscato and Brachetto producer there is.

Part I - France

(I just figured out how to add pictures!!!) So, this was a completely-working trip until the last 5 days when it was vacation... I'll go through the vacation wines as well at the end. For now, I'll focus on France where we visited one estate, Domaine du Tariquet. For those of you not familiar with Tariquet, I would become so as they produce some of the greatest value wines in the world. The family owns over 1000ha in Cotes de Gascogne and produce Armagnac and a wide variety of still and sparkling wines. This part is more about food, as that was the star of the show. I had quite a few varitals I've never had before (traveling with another Master Sommelier, we tend to try things we've never had before - grapes, producers, varietals, etc, with a strong emphasis on wines we can not buy in the US), but mostly it was a straight business trip with lots of meetings, tastings, and discussions. Most I can't discuss (which is a lot of what we were in France for), so please forgive me.

So, arrived in Bordeaux in the mid-afternoon of May 31st (Thursday). Took a much-needed nap and a shower, then walked around town. Stayed in the Hotel Normandie (more of a hole than a hotel, though we were only there for one night) in downtown Bordeaux... Found a great cafe for drinks/dinner... had a bottle of 1998 Chateau Pougeot... very nice from the often overlooked 1998 vintage... though truly a Right-bank year, it was very acceptable and the left bank wines are drinking beautifully right now. Also had a 1999 Chateau Pontet-Canet. Good drinking wine, and went nicely with dinner. All in all, a nice meal and a good start to the trip. Then next morning, got up and drove from Bordeaux to Eauze in Gascogne to have lunch at Tariquet... a huge basket of Foie Gras, various fish and meats, cheeses, and of course lots of wine... They make a wine called "Aperitif" which is mostly Ugni Blanc (they are within the boundaries of Armagnac) and slightly fortied... nice stuff, they drink it with sparkling water mixed in. Nice stuff... had a Syrah/Tannat blend, and some Petit Manseng for dessert... such a musky, slightly sweet wine (50gl/rs). At a great dinner at a restaurant called Restaurant La Vie en Rose in the town of Eauze... I started with 4 large pieces of pan-seared Foie Gras with a candied apricot sauce... fabulous... some of the best FG I've ever had (although not the best... the best was seared FG, on top of Brioche fried in the FG fat, then black truffles layered on top in a too-good-to-be-true sandwich had in the Languedoc a few years ago...) Had lamb for main course... Raspberry Ice Cream for dessert (mainly because one of my travel companions ordered the chocolate cake and we though it would go nicely - and indeed it did!). Great stuff... Drank some Sauvignon, 05 Chardonnay/Semillon, Petit Manseng, and then the highlite was Tariquet Fut no6 Armagnac XO (54.9% abv). Amazing earth and citrus notes... Only one barrel made, not exported to the US. Intense...
They next day we tasted unaged single-varietal "armagnacs", though at this point simply classified as Eau-de-Vie. Ugni Blanc (power & structure, sweet and smokey); Baco (22A) (the lone hybrid permitted in Armaganc - white peaches, smoky, sweet fruit, and beautiful and long on the palate); Plant de Graisse (lots of anise, citrus and minerals); and Folle Blanche (aka Gros Plant; very aromatic with pears, sweet pineapple, and very powerful). Great way to taste what adds what to the final blend.

Lunch was an adventure as we had a 8-course, 4 hour gastronomic experience. Started with an Amuse-Bouche of Salmon Tartar, then on to Foie Gras on Arugula with a bacon vinaigrette (yes, I could feel my arteries being to harden at this point from all of the Foie Gras so far...), then Foie Gras with Legumes (amazing the way the earth brings out the Foie Gras), then the "adventure course" of salted Cod Tongue and Cheeks with garlic and basil. A little too much for me... ate about 8 or 9 of them... then Duck Confit-stuffed red peppers (beautiful...), Mushroom Risotto (heavenly), Hanger Steak, and lastly Chocolate Souflee with Vanilla Ice Cream... a great meal from "Tariquet Embaseurs"... an adventure for all as the menu is not published and theh chef makes it on a whim... A great meal and a real treat for the senses... of course the wines were great as well (some Minervois (too much alcohol), and a Cote de Brulhois VDQS (mostly Malbec)) and many, many other wines.

As we were not very hungry after 3 large meals, we did the only thing we could - have a 4 course meal for dinner! I started with Langoustines in a bean broth... excellect, seared Foie Gras, then Lamb en Crote and lastly a Chocolate-Creme Caramel ice cream and cake. Some Jurancon Sec 04 (Gros & Petit Manseng w/ Corbu) and a Madiran "Penillet" 00 that was stunning... really killer Tannat (if you don't know, it's one of the most powerful and tannic grapes on earth... always needs time to soften and is mostly used as a blending grape... but we saw this and had to have it!).

That was it for France.. drove to Toulouse and few to Milan... as a side note, saw the huge Airbus 380 (actually about 10 of them)... wow are they huge, and boy are they ugly! Italy to come...

Pictures are the bottling line at Tariquet, the Famous Black Pigs of Gascogny, Copper Still (used for Armagnac production), Colombard Vineyard in Gascogny, and the smallest of Ugni Blanc grapes... flowering was mostly finished. Two weeks ahead of schedule.

Leflaive

Reading through, I realize I never gave my tasting notes on the 2005 Domaine Leflaive Burgundies I tasted before I left!!!! And let that be a lesson to you!

The 2005 Bourgogne Blanc is simply stunning... who know that BB could be so delicious??? It needs time!!! Give it 2 or 3 years and come back and visit the stony, honeyed elegance at a song of a price. The 2005 Puligny-Montrachet "Pucelles" in a racy and stunning with mind-blowing minerality and intense, tightly-wound stone fruits with honeysuckle... This is really, really, good. The 2005 Puligny-Montrachet "Clavoillon" is even more tightly-wound, with honeyed apples, and steely - teeth-gripping minerals... intense. Give it 7-15 years. The star of the show was the 2005 Batard-Montrachet. Fat, rich and powerful, this wine need 10-25 years to show. So tightly wound, but pack with fruit and minerals and a perfect balance of acidity and alcohol, this could be a stunner when it finally matures next decade...

Without question, the greatest white-wine estate in the world (IMHO, better than Coch-Dury, Leroy, and Zind-Humbrecht).

Last Night- First

I promise I'll get to my trip today at some point... between watching golf and cooking a good dinner tonight, I should be ok... Last night has two beauties...

The 2001 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux was so pretty - earthy, but refined with wild raspberry, strawberries and loads of Rhubard and clove with baked cinnamon. An exceptionally long finish for this slightly closed wine (better on the nose than in the mouth, honestly...) The 2001s are still some of the most underrated Burgundies I've ever come across... The wine of the night, and one of the greatest wines I've ever tasted was the 1955 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. I've had this wine now 4 or 5 times, but this bottle was different than the others. It was monumental. I will note that I do have a question as to whether the bottle was recorked at some point, as the capsule was in very good shape, and the wine was youthful (far different than some of my other experiences with this wine) and displayed tremendous amounts of fruit... I'll have to try it again to be sure (smile). Loaded with the classic Lafite nose of cedary-tobacco-pencil lead and cassis, always (to me) the most expressive and elegant on the nose of the first growths. Dried earth with clove and a slight hint of black olive. In the mouth, it was one of the most extraordinary bottles I've ever tasted. Exceptionally long with such class and elegance, this wine could be nothing other than Lafite from an exceptional vintage. The tobacco and cigar box gave way to sweet black currants and cassis with hints of pencil lead on the finish... the wine just completely coated my palate and made me weak in the knees. Just hints of power - but mostly pure, refined elegance - just as she should be. All of this from someone who ranks Lafite as his 4th favorite of the 5 first Growths, and 7th out of the Great 8 (including Ausone, Petrus, and Cheval-Blanc), with only Mouton behind it. I'll recap my order though... 1. Latour 2. Cheval-Blanc 3. Haut-Brion 4. Margaux 5. Petrus 6. Ausone 7. Lafite 8. Mouton. A top 10 wine? Definitely, and one of the 5 best this year so far...

Back

Not sure if I wrote about it... but sorry for the no posts for the last few weeks... I was traveling in France and Italy and have many, many notes to write in the coming weeks... great trip, lots of fun.