My friend Zach was our host for an absolute blow-out of a wine, poker and skiing weekend up in Vermont last weekend. He and his family were amazingly gracious hosts to us and we did our best to stretch the limits of their hospitality!
I car-pooled up Friday night with my buddies Andy and Gerry, arriving around 9:30 p.m. to find Zach, Tyler, Leo and John already indulging in about 5 bottles, so we had to act quickly to catch up! They had already dusted off a whole bottle of 1999 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio, which they claimed was pretty darned good. They also had some 2006 Falset-Marca Etim Seleccion Montsant that I never got around to trying.
More bottles were opened and a poker game was launched, with the most deserving man coming out victorious. We stayed up past 3 a.m., and the wines just kept getting opened!
2002 Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet Les Perrieres. Things started off on a good foot with this very nice Puligny-Montrachet. This has aromatic layers of crushed stones, lemon cream, nectarine pit, butterscotch candy and honeycomb scents on the nose that combine into a nice luxuriant package. It is creamy-textured in the mouth, with full fruit and unctuous body but also some nice spicy zing that lends it an edge of elegance when it needs it. It is yellow-fruited in a cool, classy package that delivers a nice punch. It is just a very pretty drink, with layered lushness, faint minerality, a kiss of spicy wood and good overall balance. This was my favorite white wine of the weekend.
2001 Castelgiocondo (Frescobaldi) Brunello di Montalcino. This was decanted about 2.5 hours before I got to it. It offers up an excellent nose of dark cherry, sawdust, leather, creosote, chocolate and a nice sweet pool of raspberry ganache down deep. It is full-bodied in the mouth, with a tensile feel provided by an unusual and not altogether pleasant texture akin to gun metal. There is little in the way of tannin until the very back of the palate. There is a crisp acidic edge throughout that carries along flavors of beets, bitter smoked cherry and tar—lending a very dry feel to the finish. Needless to say, the palate is not the equal of the nose, so ultimately this was a bit disappointing.
2005 Castello del Terriccio Lupicaia Maremma Toscana IGT. This is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot and was decanted an hour or so before tasting. It has a meaty, chunky aromatic profile featuring notes of black raspberry, black currant, inner tube and fresh-ground white pepper. It is not likable at all to me, lacking any sense of finesse. In the mouth, it is not much better, really. It stays meaty and peppered, with searing tannin levels and sharp, raspy acidity. It is very cool-fruited, with a bit of leafy menthol and lots of burnt oak edges. It finishes rough and scratchy and clearly needs time, though I don’t hold out high hopes that this is something I would ever eventually enjoy.
2005 Pax Syrah Cuvee Christine Sonoma County. This was open in a decanter 3 to 4 hours before I tried it. Upon bringing it up to my nose, the first aroma that hit me was that of heavily spiced chorizo sausage—very unusual. However, there are some more synthetic notes of rubber band and vinyl that I don’t care for. On top of that, there is a huge hit of super-sweet boysenberry syrup that never really seems to integrate with the other elements and makes the bouquet feel disjointed overall. In the mouth, it is much the same story--jammy bramble fruit, raw bloody meat, iodine, rubber notes, and white pepper in a big-boned package featuring sticky tannins throughout. It is not at all goopy or hot, and indeed it does display very good length and cut, but little charm or nuance to my palate.
1997 Dominus Estate Napa Valley. Ahhh, this is just beautiful. The nose is delightfully perfumed with red flowers, old leather books, soft tobacco leaf, dried red berries, cherry pits and a bit of classy cocoa powder. An interesting and not at all distracting note of horse sweat peeks in from time to time and later on in the evening, some higher-toned, brighter red cherry fireworks kick it all up another notch. In the mouth, it is extremely polished and classy, with a very pretty blue fruit and soft spice profile matched by cool, freshening acidity and hints of menthol. This cuts a nice, pure line through the palate, but manages to caress with its texture, depth and accompanying finery. The finish is rather lasting, with fine-grained tannins suggesting plenty of life left for this beauty. This was a very close runner-up for my WOTN.
1999 Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley. This is a lighter ruby color and offers up a very interesting nose of bright sweet liquid cherry, fine herbs, leather belt, soft caramel and just a hint of clean horse hide and loamy earth. It is rather clean and charming, with just gentle hints of the rustic elements one sometimes encounters with this producer. In the mouth, it demonstrates great flow and fine acidic definition, with a purity of medium-bodied red fruit but also soft spices, smoke and cocoa dust accents. The finish is gorgeous, with a real lasting sense of flavor and great balance. This is a delightful bottle and garnered my #3 WOTN vote.
2006 Shea Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Estate Shea Vineyard Willamette Valley. I really didn’t like the 2005 version of this, and while this is better, it still does not press many of my pleasure buttons. The nose shows off mushrooms, toasted stems and brambly berries initially, later folding in some sassafras and cola nut notes. It is fairly creamy in the mouth, with spiced blueberries and menthol overtones. It does have some verve to it and it marries fleshy fruit to tingly acidity fairly adroitly. Some sneaky tannins do creep in toward the back and provide some hope for future development.
2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Westside Road Neighbors Russian River Valley. This Pinot is much more to my liking. I like the nose a good deal, with spiced red cherries, cranberry sauce, nutmeg nut, sassafras, cola and brown spices in a lifted package showing fine layers of definition that come in gentle waves. It is smooth, creamy and rounded in the mouth, with gently caressing tannins framing brambly berry, cocoa and ripe stem notes. The lithe acidity provides a nice punch to the core of blue briery fruit. It is not yet expansive or fully unfolded, but it still drinks nicely at this young age, with great promise. I had this as my #4 wine of the night.
2003 Cabreo Il Borgo Toscana IGT. This Super-Tuscan is 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s dark and dense in color, with dark and dense aromas of black leather, moist tobacco, black currants, dark Belgian chocolate, tar oil and a hint of jalapeno pepper. The dark theme continues onto the palate, which is rather serious and coated with thick, chalky tannins. One can sense that there is a lot of depth to the fruit here, but it is just so tannic right now that one ought to really wait a good while to approach this. The fruit concentration is pretty impressive, actually, and there is no sense of roasted qualities or high alcohol—it is just big, rich and thick with a whisper of freshening acidity lurking below everything. The finish is bone dry, with an iron ore edge to it. Again, I am hopeful that this will be good, but I suggest 4-7 years of cellaring.
1998 Domaine Paul Autard Chateauneuf-du-Pape. We did have one clearly ‘off’ bottle and this was it. The nose is all roasted and volatile, with caramel and some weedy and sweaty stank aromas. On the palate, it tastes oxidized, cooked or both. Too bad, as I had an extremely pleasant bottle of this earlier in the year and was looking forward to trying this one.
1994 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection Napa Valley. Perhaps not wanting to have the evening end on a down note, Gerry very quietly popped this beauty very late in the evening. Boy, did I like this--despite Leo’s near-constant caterwauling about the bottle being too shaken up and the fine particles floating around in it not representing how the winemaker would want us to drink it. He even filtered the wine through a bleached napkin and claimed that the result was an improvement. I somehow doubt that, but will have to take him at his word. So, the “unfiltered” version of the tasting note goes something like this: This wine has an absolutely gorgeous bouquet that cascades in a kaleidoscope of dried black cherries, sweet raspberries, creamy red currants, fresh and dried red flowers, shaved sandalwood, soft cream and gentle jalapeno layers. It presents beautiful integration of all components in the mouth, with a pitch-perfect sense of a wine at its resolved peak, even though there are some ticklish tannins still hanging around. It feels medium-bodied, with soft but driving acidity and fine flavors of red currants, darker fruits and cocoa. The finish feels fresh, but the overall sense is still one of falling into a comfortable easy chair. This was a great way to end the evening and represented my WOTN.
DAY 2: Well, for some people like Andy, Day 2 started just a few hours after Day 1 ended. He prepared a hearty breakfast for the crew and both Leo and Zach’s dad then headed for the slopes. Some folks were a bit “under the weather” shall we say, and others like yours truly snored much of the morning away. Still, by about 1 or 2 pm, cooking had begun for late lunch and dinner and so wine corks began to pop. First up for the pot of John’s delicious risotto was a bottle of 2006 Robert Mondavi Winery Fume Blanc Napa Valley. Some folks took a face-squirming nip of this before it went into the pot, but I managed to take a pass.
At this point, the momentum to start drinking again took hold and a few other white wines and some Pinot Noir were opened up.
2006 Sea Smoke Chardonnay Santa Rita Hills. Served from magnum and served rather chilled. The nose here is surprisingly minerally, with botanical herb, limestone, yellow pixie stick dust and lemon drop aromas that are not real complex or layered, but also are not overly buttery or oaky, either. However, as the bottle comes up to temperature, a bit more toasty, smoky wood notes begin to emerge. In the mouth, it is less focused, with effusive flavors of coarse toasted oak planking, blatant vanillin, lemon cream and butter that grow stronger the longer it sits in the glass. There is some nice lemony fruit in a fuller-bodied package beneath all of that, but as one stays with this for a while, the acidity retreats and the wine gets goopier and less defined until it is sadly undrinkable. I am not really sure if this is likely to improve, but there were times I thought I could glimpse a positive future for this wine and others where I just wanted to write it off.
2004 Louis Jadot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Abbaye De Morgeot. The nose here is young and a bit restrained—featuring aromas of finely-crushed stones, quartz and slightly sweet peach pit. In the mouth, it is fairly linear in the entry and mid-palate, but really opens up toward the back with flavors of apricot, mango and white peach. It is young, but the soft acids make it approachable at this stage—and it ought to improve a bit over the short term.
2001 Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir Estate Grown Chalone. Warm macerated cherries, toasted caramel, beets, raspberries and wood smoke can be found on the nose. The flavor profile is much the same, with a welcoming warmth of fruit, medium body, tangy acidity and gentle spices. It is easy-going for the most part, with soft tannins that grow with time but never really interfere too much. I got the sense that many in the group were not as positive, but I found the wine pretty easy to drink.
1996 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac. Leo didn’t think there were enough bottles open, so he randomly dipped into somebody’s stash and came out with Andy’s bottle of ’96 Pichon Baron. I think many of us thought this might have been better saved for dinner, but Andy said “what the hell, why not?” Personally, I’m glad he did, as this was certainly one of my favorite wines of the weekend. For starters, the nose is wonderfully complex and really engaging. It features aromas of dirt, more dirt, sweaty old saddle leather, dried black cherry, pencil lead and sweet tobacco juice. Over a few hours’ time, notes of jalapeno, coffee, tomato leaf, horse hair and sweeter red fruits also fold in. In the mouth, this is perhaps a bit less readily mature—showing a leathery textural edge and some occasionally austere acidity. However, there is a fine core of dried black cherry and black raspberry fruit that grows in intensity with time and air in the glass. It also picks up more drive and lift the longer one stays with it. There are plenty of tannins still kicking around and the wine finishes dry and a bit restrained, with a sense of being even better in another 3-5 years. Still, this was a clear favorite of mine and provided a bit of calm before the storm of all the young bruisers to come.
I think it was somewhere around this time that the rest of our group arrived to join the fun. Things started to get into full swing and more poker and some playoff football became the order of the day. Lunch was also served, with Leo’s delicious Bolognese sauce atop penne noodles and John’s deliciously al dente risotto providing us with the strength to push on.
2001 Carlisle Zinfandel Sonoma County. Served from magnum. The nose of this Zin offers up a cornucopia of crushed bramble berry notes to go with some soft dirt and leafy elements. For all the brambly notes, it is actually a bit aromatically restrained compared to my expectations. In the mouth, however, it is much more boisterous--with all kinds of spiced plum and berry confiture flavors that actually seem to sting the palate and coat the teeth with their pure intensity. Interestingly, it is never really gobby or goopy—it just delivers a hard slap of wild rich fruit, spices, lively acids and alcohol. There are things I like about this wine, but I just can’t drink very much of it.
2005 Castello del Terriccio Toscana IGT. This wine has a heavy, rough-hewn aromatic profile, with notes of tire tread, dark chocolate, black beans, blackberry fruit and skunky forest ferns that I do not find especially likable. It has an herbal edge on the palate to go with some chalky chocolate, black raspberry and blackcurrant fruit flavors. It also has tons and tons of mouth-coating chalky-feeling tannins. There’s plenty of body to the wine and some sense of purity to the black fruit, but it is so dry and raspy right now that I can’t really tell what it will be like when it is hopefully more approachable in 3-5 years.
2005 Two Hands Grenache Aerope Barossa Valley. This wine hits the nasal cavity with an absolutely pure mélange of bright and super-sweet red fruit like maraschino cherries, sweetened cranberry sauce and sticky strawberry fruit roll-ups. There are also some interesting mint, tomato leaf and classy cocoa dust notes lending a helpful counter-point. In the mouth, it is again absolutely pure red-fruited, with a deep, sweet core of fruit that is brightly backed by fine freshening acidity. That acidity and freshness prevents it from feeling over-done or goopy, but there is no denying that this is a sweet cocktail of a wine, though in the best sense of that term. Really, this goes down just so easily and has to be considered a very pleasant surprise. Even Andy’s Francophile palate seemed surprised to find pleasure here. If nothing else, this offers a really interesting palate calibration for those who would write this off without trying it.
2002 Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Oakville. This offering seemed to slip between the cracks a bit, as I don’t recall hearing a lot of chatter about it while it was out on the counter. It has rich, dense notes of cassis, jalapeno pepper, chocolate, volcanic ash, and espresso roast on the luxuriant nose. In the mouth, it is brawny and muscular, with a classic California Cabernet profile. It is cool-fruited but welcoming--with blackberries, black currants, iron, mint and dark chocolate flavors framed by tongue-coating, mossy tannins. The texture has a nice glossiness to it and while still young, there is some layering beginning to show. I would hold off for another 3 -5 years, but this is nice.
2005 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard Napa Valley. This is a real dark, opaque color. The wine’s alcohol is really nostril-burning for a while, but that eventually settles down to reveal aromas of briery berry fruit, sweet black raspberry and a hint of chocolate. It seems a bit raspy and alcoholic in the mouth initially, but again it begins to settle down after 30 minutes or so in the glass. Eventually, one can really begin to focus on the huge gobs of black currant fruit offered up here, along with the rounded glycerin feel of the texture. The acids are quite soft and the tannins rather sticky at this point—and the whole package is really an un-evolved sort of fruit bomb at this point. I was not a real big fan, but could see this being more interesting in like 7-10 years (at least I hope so, as I own some myself!).
2001 Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos Toro Vina San Roman. The bouquet of this Spanish beauty is absolutely gorgeous. It is a sexy mix of silky black and blue fruits, tar oil, soft ash and melted milk chocolate that just coats the inside of the nose with deeply layered waves of sweetness and asphalt. Really, I could smell this all night. It is again silky smooth in the mouth, with low acidity and a languid glossy feel, but also plenty of toughly tannic structure to contend with. Those tannins seem soft at first, but the wine just gets drier and drier, and more pinched the longer one stays with it. That contributes to a bit of a puckering feel toward the finish. The red-fruited flavor profile is quite nice, but this wine comes across as needing just a bit more time in the cellar to allow the tannins to better integrate. Still, this is an outstanding wine.
2004 Sine Qua Non Syrah Poker Face Central Coast. This was one of Zach’s extremely generous offerings to the group. It had been open 3 or 4 hours by the time I tried it. There’s rich rhubarb and black raspberry fruit on the nose, accented by soft spices and a hint of inner tube. It smells OK, but hardly what I would call other-worldly. On the palate, though, it begins to more readily show its chops. It is extremely creamy in texture, really caressing the palate with a core of velvety fruit that shows effortless concentration without any sense of ponderous weight. There is some fine layering starting to show and it has a nice spiced blueberry fruit profile that exhibits a real easy sense of flow. The acidity feels very soft, but as with just about all SQN bottlings I’ve tasted (all in the past few months), the wine comes across as expertly-balanced and the tannins well-integrated. I admit that I do like this (perhaps even more than many at this gathering), but I just can’t see paying the premium Zach did in the secondary market for it.
2003 Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno Toscana IGT. This is by far the best of the Super Tuscans tasted this weekend. It was decanted a few hours by the time I got to it. The color is absolutely inky black. The nose offers up fresh and satiny notes of graphite powder, cool blackberry fruit and new black leather shoes, with tinges of grilled bell pepper. It is similarly cool and glossy in the mouth, with black fruit in abundance. It is smooth and rounded, with full body but also tannins that grow grainier on the tongue after a while. I like this wine and would like very much to give it another try in a few years.
At around this point, Zach’s dad rang the dinner bell. Not only does this man open up his house to this crowd, he then goes ahead and insists on cooking a delicious meal of beef tenderloin, fingerling potatoes and all sorts of assorted goodies. The food was just what the doctor ordered!
1992 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Napa Valley. With dinner, we were lucky to have Gerry, Kyle and Andy pull together this delightful mini-vertical of Montelena. Gerry quite interestingly pointed out that the fill levels on the three bottles were in exact reverse order of the wines’ ages—with the 1992 showing the highest fill level and the 1995 the lowest. In any event, the 1992 may have been my WOTN, just edging out the 1994. It has a very engaging bouquet of crushed velvet raspberry fruit layered atop earthier notes of browning tobacco leaf, dry mounds of dirt, bridle leather and tar. It smells dense but elegant; sexy and refined yet full and giving. It is a real nice balancing act that shows off many different facets of the wine. This is another wine I could just sniff all night. In the mouth, it is slippery smooth and lithely-textured, with very nice levels of mixed dark fruits. It presents a medium-bodied package, with solid acidic structure and totally appropriate tannin levels. This is drinking great now, but has the stuffing to keep going, for sure.
1994 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Napa Valley. The ’94 is similar to the ’92 on the nose, but is a bit darker in tone, with a meatier profile that is not quite as nuanced as its older sibling. The aromas of leather, chocolate-covered dark cherries and tobacco leaf are still beautiful and nicely aged, though. At times, one also senses some warmer, sweeter red fruit notes running beneath. On the palate, the wine has a real classy, easy-drinking quality to it, yet never veers away from a sense of vibrancy and surprising freshness. There is a fine tingle of spice that accompanies the pretty red fruit and darker notes of chocolate and earth. It has a mouth-watering finish that exhibits fine length and balance, accented by soft round tannins. Like the 1992, this has plenty of life left but is drinking delightfully right now.
1995 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Napa Valley. This version of Montelena serves up very nice scents of soft cassis, tar oil, black lava, tomato leaf and toasted caramel. In the mouth, it is soft and generous, but at times may be showing just a bit of heat and some gently roasted warm fruit qualities. The tannins are more obviously in play here than in either of the two previous wines, and while they are fine and dusty, they do coat the teeth a bit. Some smoky notes come on later in the evening as it sits in the glass and more of the warmly roasted red fruit character comes into starker relief. Regardless, the wine is generous and enveloping, though not the equal this night of the ’92 and ’94.
2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District. I did not get to the Shafer HSS offerings until pretty late in the game, as I kept waiting and waiting for this wine in particular to open up in my glass. I poured it 4 hours earlier and kept coming back to it for sniffs from time to time, but I have to say that it never really revealed itself the whole night long. This certainly seems to be a wine in need of a long cellaring, though clearly the components are there for an outstanding wine down the road. The nose is tight, but decidedly classy—with aromas of black cherry, black raspberry and brighter, sweeter red fruit notes running deep underneath. It never really uncoils, though, and is clearly just showing a fraction of what it has in store down the road. It has excellent flow and delineation in the mouth and a good core of juicy black currant fruit that feels deep and pure. The structure is definitely rigid at this point, but there is no doubting the balance of this wine and the promise of what it has in store later on in its life.
2004 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District. For drinking now, the 2004 would be my choice between these two. The nose opens up more quickly and is generally more open-knit and giving. It features cool dark cherry and black raspberry fruit aromas that feel classy and smoothly-rounded. In the mouth, it is really refined and polished to a fine buff, with a classy texture and an easy flow across the palate. However, it does have some alcoholic warmth that pokes in from time to time early on before settling down later on. Fine-grained tannins are not that prominent up front on the palate, but do assert themselves at the very back. Overall, I certainly like the wine, but find it tight and young, with outstanding promise in about 6-8 years.
2005 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford. This was initially decanted about 7 hours before I finally got around to pouring myself some. With all of that airing time, it is still tightly dense, dark and thick on the nose, with black raspberry fruit, black pepper and soft rubber notes that manage to easily avoid any sense of seeming chunky or over-done. It exhibits a ton of dry extract on the palate, but the plushness of the texture and the delicious profile of flavors simply carry the day over any sense of over-extraction. It is really a fine balancing act, with the sweet core of spiced plums and dark Belgian chocolate framed by soft acids and a velvet glove structure. The tannins are extremely soft and even pillowy for such a young wine and manage to keep the wine feeling almost airy despite all the extract and richness of fruit. I have to say that I think this is going to really be something special down the road and I would love to have another crack at it in like 5 years.
2003 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Like the Scarecrow, this had been decanted for about 7 hours. That is where the comparisons between the two ought to end. The nose here is taut and tensile--with blackberries, black cherry, dark mysterious earth, cool graphite minerality, ripe beets and some leafier elements combining into a nice package. I can’t say I like it as much on the youthful palate, where it starts off well enough with a sense of creaminess on the entry. However, as it fans out across the mid-palate, it brings in a lot of astringency. Acids pinch in tight, tannins that feel decidedly crunchy come on strong and some raw graininess comes in on the finish. Overall, it feels much too raw and disjointed at this stage of the game, despite the nice aromatics that promised more. I hope the palate develops well and catches up to the aromatics soon.
Kyle was on dessert duty and put together some very nice dishes that were served with the following wines.
1958 Chateau Gilette Demi-Doux Sauternes. Once again, Zach’s Dad showed the depth of his generosity by offering up this old chestnut for all of us to try. It is a dark gold matte color and actually smells a bit to me like aged Chenin Blanc. Aromas of honeycomb, beeswax and interesting funk lead the way, with perhaps more typical notes of caramel topping and butterscotch coming in behind. It is finely acidic on the palate, with crisp edges and a somewhat narrow core of off-dry yellow fruit and butterscotch flavors that finish decidedly dry. It feels a bit aloof and removed at times and I can’t say I ever warmed up to it from a pleasure delivery standpoint. However, there is no denying that this is some unusual and interesting stuff that I enjoyed pondering while I was slowly losing all my chips to Gerry in the waning minutes of the final poker game.
2001 Chateau La Tour Blanche Sauternes. Wow, does this ever come across as fresh and uplifting at this point of the night (or morning, as it was). Aromas of nectarine flesh and pit, dried apricots and yellow pixie stick are lively and youthfully exuberant. It is very fleshy and opulent on the palate, coating the whole mouth with unctuous flavors of caramel, crème brulee, and apricots in a sugary-sweet but finely-pitched package. It all hangs together with a languid texture but exhibits excellent lift when it needs to. Yes, it is young, but I am happy to drink it right now.
1983 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Porto. It was getting really late and I just didn’t have the stomach to spend a lot of time with this wine. It smells warmly alcoholic, with faded cherry fruit and roasted nuts. A few quick sips suggest that it is a bit on the thin and fading side, with some jangly acids and spirits sticking out a bit against the macerated cherry and dried fig fruit. I was happy to just let it go.
And with that came an end to the carnage--again wrapping up very late in the morning. The drive home later that day through the fresh-fallen snow was just beautiful, but did require a few Advils, to be honest. I think I am still recovering more than a week later, but I might be getting to the point where I think I am ready to field the next invitation from Zach!
-Michael
In any one year, it can comprise a blend which will include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut, Carignan, Grenache and/or Mourvedre.