Nice wine weekend!
Friday Night-fantastic dinner at Fuso Italian Restaurant. It's good to see sleepy, chain dominated Vacaville has such a good chef-driven restaurant!
2001 Tower Estate Hunter Valley Shiraz. Wow. Just wow. A much richer bottle than the last one. Excellent berry fruit, with lovely notes of cherry. Delicious, amazing old leather character. A lot going on-the mouth feel had this delicious chewy (but not tannic) "texture" that I found amazing. Only 13.5% abv-no heat, no oxidation. Delicious. 95 points, especially given the qpr ($30) Wine of the Week!
2003 Beringer "Private Reserve" Napa Valley. Pretty soft and approachable-no strong tannins here. Definitely a fruity Napa Cab, versus the more classic style that Beaulieu seems to be reaching for. Still, this was a very pleasant, classy, quaffable fruity cab, with good fruit that is not cloying at all, plenty of licorice/anise notes. Very drinkable right now, but I think there is the acidic structure to age a few more years (I have one more bottle). 90 points-an exemplar of its type.
In Sonoma:
2005 Az. Ag. Vignalta "Venda" Colli Euganei Rosso 80% Merlot, 20% Cab Franc. This Veneto red surprised me. Does not taste like a California Merlot or a Bordeaux Right Bank at all. Instead, there is a nervous tension here (popped and poured from a new bottle) that shouted "Italian" to me at least. Tasted blind, I would have sworn there was Sangiovese in the blend! Very tangy, high acidity, good bright red fruit. Not the softish, sweet reds associated in my limited experience with the Veneto.
Wine Styles Blues Concert Saturday night:
2004 Chateau Peyraud Saint Emillion Grand Cru. A deliciously rich French Merlot. Not really "New World," but not classic Bordeaux either. (Although Kevin at Wine Syles thought it tasted very French) Waves of dark berry and cherry fruit, already some very delicious leather and tobacco notes. Also some smoky notes from the high toast barrel??? Yep...definitely some oak (Otto would not like), but somehow this winery avoids the cloying vanilla soup too prevalent in Napa. A very rich wine worthy of 90 points just for the pure slurpability. Not classic, but delicious.
At Wine Styles Sunday Afternoon: Chateau D'Armailhac 2002 Pauillac. Sure it was too young, very tannic, maybe a little closed etc., etc. etc. BUT, we all thought this wine was pretty classic. Very pretty berry/cassis fruit on the nose with some pleasant green pepper herbaceiousness-in balance, though. Definitely some tannins, and the fruit is somewhat reticent right now, but I stil found the mouthfeel and lightness delicious. We did not give this the long decant it deserved, but it was still classy and elegant. 90 points with strong upside potential What was interesting is Beau gave us a taste of Hess Mount Veeder Cabernet, which is not a particularly fruit forward wine for Napa. It tasted almost sweet compared to the D'Armailhac (which actually cost less money when I bought it a few years ago!)
http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/armailhac.shtml
Sunday night: 2006 Saintsbury "Toyon Vineyard" Carneros Pinot Noir. Cranberry color. A very restrained and somewhat elegant California Pinot. Definitely some fruit and alcohol, more to the bright cherry/cranberry/ side of Pinot. BUT...the fruit does not knock you upside the head, it is not cloyingly sweet, and there are a lot of things going on in the nose and the mouth. I sniffed brown sugar (but only a hint) cranberry, earth, mushroom, etc. etc. A very nice Cali Pinot. 88 points. Could merit some cellar time-this would come together a little better in two years.
2006 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Zinfandel. Rather elegant Zinfandel, with strong zinberry fruit, only a tiny hint of jam...less black pepper than when I tried this at the winery last year. Still, went very well with what may have been the very best corned beef I have ever had. 87 points (and I'm not a big Zin drinker)
