WTN: Lots of assorted stuff from dinner

Notes from the Bon Voyage dinner for Vince Tan at Cafe Ysabel.

Yering Station Late Harvest Pinot Gris 2002 - Deep color. Sweet and oily. Very nice and a good match for the gooseliver creme brulee.

Domaine Jacques Prieur Volnay Santnots 2002 - Fragrant strawberry nose. Dry, savory. Medium weight with a good amount of fruit. Long. A good wine by itself but unfortunately overwhelmed by a rich trufffle and mushroom cappuccino.

Coldstream Hills Chardonnay 2003 - Started out a bit stinky but that blew off after about 5 minutes. Lightly sweet and lightly oaked. Dryish finish. Above average.

Freie Weingartner Wachau Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Terrassen 2003 - Very little on the nose. This seems to have gained some weight since the last time I tried it maybe a year ago. Flavorful. Grapefruit and some smoke. Lots of character. Very nice.

Gunderloch Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett 2002 - Medium dry. Butterscotch with an acid streak. Tried this last over a year ago and it seems to have gained in complexity. Best white with the fish.

Le Bon Pasteur Pomerol 1998 - Chocolate, leafy. Soft in front palate but tannic in the back. Spicy, earthy and dry. Probably still has room to develop. Best red with the lamb.

Wyndham Estate Show Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 1997 - Mint. Quite dry. Full, youthfull. Preserved Chinese plums. Probably at peak now. Pretyy impressive.

Oculus Mission Hill Family Estate Okanagan BC 2003 - A Bordeaux blend in a very heavy bottle. Sweet. Very fruity scent. Thick. Young. Lots of power in front but fades quickly in the finish. Not for me.

Dominus 1995 - Lots of fruit on the nose. Sweet. Tremendous amount of fruit on the palate. New Worldy in a good way. Tannic, young. Leathery and meaty. Great complexity and balance. Excellent to drink now but could conceivably improve a bit more with age. Outstanding wine!

Dow Vintage Port 1985 - Relatively dry. Raisiny. Light. Nutty finish. At peak now. A bottle a few months back seemed to be much fuller and better.

La Frenz Liqueur Muscat NV - Made by an Australian in British Columbia. Very light in color. Nose of orange reminds me of Chambers Rosewood Muscat. Candied orange flavor. Light. Short finish. Ok but not up to Oz sticky standards.

Jay,
Thanks for the notes, particularly the '98 Bon Pasteur and the '95 Dominus. I took a pass on the entire '98 Bordeaux wines but wish I had picked up a couple from the right bank. Bon Pasteur is always a nice wine and even affordable. Bought the '00 and '01 but will have to take your word for the '98. I used to buy Dominus every year but stopped in '94 as the prices started getting really stupid. I have one bottle of '95 and wondered what to expect. Sounds like there is no hurry to drink this wine.
Walt

Jay, thanks for notes. Not a great BC night there!!

For me the Coldstream remained a bit flat even after the stink blew off. Not nice to drink by itself but went well with the fish. While good on their own, both the gruner and the riesling made the fish taste metallic.

I found the Oculus getting better over the evening; a better improvement than the Rolland wine, which was good at first and stayed good and that's it. For me the Oculus made a better match with the lamb (which was drizzled with a strong sauce and perhaps came from a slightly older animal than I prefer). The Rolland wine would have gone well with grilled or pan fried lamb chops done in a minimalist way. The Oculus might be interesting after five more years.

I agree with you on the Dominus, but I think the Port can still go further. Generally, am not a fan of Oz stickies and prefer my dessert wines lighter and not so 'sticky' but even had I been taking notes I doubt they would've been very coherent by the time the BC muscat was opened.

Hi Nico,

I have to agree that the Gruner was terrible with the fish but I still preferred the Riesling over the Chard with the fish. I'm kinda surprised you seemed to like the Oculus so much. Even Arnie agreed with my opinion but hey, de gustibus... By the way, I think Vince mentioned that Michel Rolland is consultant winemaker for Oculus.

Last night was the third time I had the Dow this year and the bottle we had seemed much lighter than the other 2 times. Perhaps some bottle variation? In any case I think it makes good drinking now.

I thought you and Arnie usually have the same preferences when it comes to reds.

The Rolland was started off good (better than the Oculus) but didn't go anywhere after that. If indeed Rolland consulted on the Oculus 03 maybe their winemaker didn't go far enough in micro-oxygenating it.

Having said that, and knowing I can't afford to keep a lot of 95 Dominus lying around, the Rolland is the wine I would drink now, as I prefer my lamb done simply, and tend to avoid red wines with too much flavour; but please keep me in mind if ever you have opportunity to open another bottle of 85 Dow.