WTN: Claret Tasting, Bordeaux with Dinner, & More

Thursday Night Crowd at Wine Styles, we did a "Claret Tasting with a mix of wines from the shop and our cellars.

2000 Pontet Canet Pauillac. Quickly decanted, but still pretty closed. Dark, savory, meaty wine with plenty of earth, tobacco, leather. Tannins are not obtrusive, but they are keeping the fruit somewhat reticent. Still, my wine of the night. What is wrong with me if I like even CLOSED Bordeaux?

2003 Cliff Lede Claret Stag's Leap. I provided this. Bleh. Poor tasting order-this is about as different (and not in a good way) as can be from the Potet Canet. Super sweet, prominent oak, somewhat hot. Cliff Lede seems to make wines contra-vintage...the 2003s are sweet and ripe, the 2004s were somewhat green and tight. Weird. The only wine which did not get finished Thursday night.

2006 Bell Claret (Yountville, Napa Valley). One of those under-the-radar wineries that keeps doing their own thing. They tend to the austere and old world in style, and this wine, despite its youth, was quite lean and savory and almost elegant. My #2 wine of the night-very impressive!


1981 Shown and Sons Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford. From Pete, who sadly recently inherited his father's cellar. Quite thin at this point, it still showed some interesting green pepper and mint notes. Many tasters found quite a bit of tobacco on the palate as well. Probably a fantastic wine a decade ago, and it was fascinating to have a chance to taste such a venerable wine!

2003 Miner Family "The Oracle" Bordeaux Blend. My disappointment of the night, as past experiences with their wines have found them savory and balanced. This was much nicer than the Cliff Lede in balance and overall tone, but still too SWEET SWEET SWEET.

2006 Quercus Rubra. Local (Suisun Valley) blend made by a neighbor three blocks away! Sweet, high acidity, and a crowd favorite. We also sampled from the barrel his forthcoming 2007 "Vitus" blend (Oakville grapes), and it will be structured, balanced, and savory rockstar of a wine.

________________________

2001 Chateau Gloria St. Julien. This chateau gets severely mixed reviews that warn of harsh tannins. I decanted for four hours and, with Joe's smoked tri-tip and corn on the cob, this wine was wine of the week. It was in a very nice place, with everythign I like about Bordeaux. Nice black currant fruit, plum, cherry, tons of leather, pencil shavings, and tobacco. Lifted palate with plenty of acidity and lovely, lovely savoryness. The Pontet Canet may be the better wine (especially in five-to-ten years) but right here, right now, the Gloria was beautiful. I love Bordeaux!

... What is wrong with me if I like even CLOSED Bordeaux?

Uh...incorrigible??

2006 Bell Claret (Yountville, Napa Valley). One of those under-the-radar wineries that keeps doing their own thing. They tend to the austere and old world in style, and this wine, despite its youth, was quite lean and savory and almost elegant. My #2 wine of the night-very impressive!

This sounds more like my style of New World wine, from a producer I've never heard of before. Do you know how many cases they make and the cost?


Mark

Mark: They are not a large production winery, they make about 2,000 cases of the Claret, which is their "drink now" wine and it is modestly priced ($25-30)

In looking at their site, they have a pretty extensive library vintages program for their more prestige labels (the Napa Valley Cabernet bottling) http://www.bellwine.com/

2001 Chateau Gloria St. Julien. [/b] This chateau gets severely mixed reviews that warn of harsh tannins. I decanted for four hours and, with Joe's smoked tri-tip and corn on the cob, this wine was wine of the week. It was in a very nice place, with everythign I like about Bordeaux. Nice black currant fruit, plum, cherry, tons of leather, pencil shavings, and tobacco. Lifted palate with plenty of acidity and lovely, lovely savoryness. The Pontet Canet may be the better wine (especially in five-to-ten years) but right here, right now, the Gloria was beautiful. I love Bordeaux!

Cool! Thanks. I'll try to drink one this weekend.

Well....I lack experience with Bordeaux (heck, I lack experience in anything but painfully young lesser California Cabernet), so your mileage might vary.

Have to admit I tried to Google for local bottles of the 2001 in the hopes of finding more. K&L Wines (the go-to shop for Bordeaux in San Francisco) has some 1995, I recall. Oh well.

Well....I lack experience with Bordeaux (heck, I lack experience in anything but painfully young lesser California Cabernet), so your mileage might vary.

Have to admit I tried to Google for local bottles of the 2001 in the hopes of finding more. K&L Wines (the go-to shop for Bordeaux in San Francisco) has some 1995, I recall. Oh well.

It doesn't, Brian, it won't be my first one; you just reminded me. I like it a lot. The 1996 is great (regardless of what anybody else says), if you can find one. So's the 2003. The 1995 lacked a little character in comparison, but it was classic. Had a '59 not to long ago. Transformational.

Disclaimer: ethical opinions are just that.

Hello Brian,

Been meaning to ask: how much longer do you think the Pontet-Canet needs? I was planning on opening one of mine in 2015, but based on your note and others I've seen, I wonder if even that will be too early.

Thanks,
Ryan

Hello Brian,

Been meaning to ask: how much longer do you think the Pontet-Canet needs? I was planning on opening one of mine in 2015, but based on your note and others I've seen, I wonder if even that will be too early.

Thanks,
Ryan

Not sure. Don't get me wrong, I really LIKED the P-C...it just depends on how much time you can decant it and your tolerance for tannins.

Unless I specifically want to open a long-haul wine young, I'm not a big fan of decanting, and prefer to just to let them cellar longer. That said, I would want to catch it on first pass in its relative youth, i.e., somewhat before it hits full maturity. Now, if I wasn't a grad student and could afford more than the two bottles I have, I'd be opening one next year . . . . anybody care to arrange me having a taste?

Thursday Night Crowd at Wine Styles, we did a "Claret Tasting with a mix of wines from the shop and our cellars.

2000 Pontet Canet Pauillac. Quickly decanted, but still pretty closed. Dark, savory, meaty wine with plenty of earth, tobacco, leather. Tannins are not obtrusive, but they are keeping the fruit somewhat reticent. Still, my wine of the night. What is wrong with me if I like even CLOSED Bordeaux?

It says that you have excellent taste!!!

2003 Miner Family "The Oracle" Bordeaux Blend. My disappointment of the night, as past experiences with their wines have found them savory and balanced. This was much nicer than the Cliff Lede in balance and overall tone, but still too SWEET SWEET SWEET.

Very interesting... I am a self-confessed and widely-known Miner slut.. but I just checked my CT notes, and though I have 2 bottles of this, I've never tasted it. I will have to rectify that, to see if this is somehow an anomaly among The Oracles, as I have recently found the 2001 and the 2004, especially the latter, to be outstanding.

I'm not sure if it was a particularly odd kind of bottle variation, Jim, as I had never found The Oracle a particularly "sweet" wine in past tastings. Certainly not the newer vintages.