At WineStyles Friday night.
2005 "Vitus" Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville. New project from a local (Vacaville) partnership. http://vitusnapavalley.com/
The one partner, who lives four blocks from me, owns a landscaping business. He started making wine in his garage as a serious hobby, and this expanded into a large enough effort that he was holding annual "parties" at his house to sell the new release. Well...another nabob, a local contractor, decided he wanted into the business....So...they are now partnering, buying Oakville grapes, producing the wine at an actual winery, etc. etc. etc. And...you know, this was not a gobs of pruney fruit with 15% alcohol and a blanket of vanilla wine at all! 14.13% abv nominal. Quite a bit of structure-rather tight at the moment. Definitely the herbaceous green notes I am finding in a lot of 2005 Napa Cabs, but there is depth of fruit here that suggest this will be very nice in five to ten years. A lot going on. 91 points?
Saturday Night.
2005 Clos Du Val Reserve Pinot Noir Carneros. I ride my bicycle right by these vineyards all the time. This is a lovely wine that bridges "Old World" and "New World" styles. A dark ruby color-definitely not the blackish tone of many russian River Valley pinots. On the nose, forest floor and mushroom and a hint of cherry. On the palate, there is certainly ripe California fruit, but the winemaker does not take it over the top, and there is also quite a bit of freshness, acidity, and earthy notes. very smooth and elegant mouth feel, as well. A very nice pinot, and I have one more that I might put away for a few years to see what happens. 93 points.
2006 Faively Bourgogne (White Burgundy. Helpfully labeled "Chardonnay") I enjoyd this basic negociant bottling quite a bit. It certainly has some richness, but there is a very pleasant purity of chardonnay citrusy fruit. For $23 (wine.com is cheaper), this wine just shows lovely balance. I am not usually a big fan of California Chardonnay, but this French version was lovely. 92 points, especially given the QPR.
At Terroir Wine Bar, with bleu d'auvergne and sheeps milk cheese.
2005 Puffeney Trousseau Arbois. I love Trousseau! There is such a delicious mouth feel here, with a rich "warmth" that is simply delicious.
2005 Puffeney Savignin. Now, this was quite unique, made in an oxidized style with a lot of weird and wonderful things going on. Guillaume laughed at me when I said I smelled "banana." On the palate, there is this fascinating sour flavor, almost like sour milk?????!!!!!
Very refreshing acidity. Citrus elements. Like nothing else I have ever had. 93 points on weird deliciousness alone!2005 Domaine Montpertuis Counoise. Another new grape for me (at least as a varietal bottling). Amazing blackberry fruit. Imagine a Barbera with much more structure, earthyness, and definitely tannins. I have a bottle of this, luckily.
92 points.
I also tried this deliciously unctuous desert wine from Jerez, Espana. I left my notes at home, but Dagon described it as being similar to an Umbrian Ripasso wine. It was beautifully light and lifted, with plentiful acidity and a strong flavor of golden raisins. Amazing stuff.