Rather than do a complete travelogue for this visit, which encompasses parts of Silicon Valley, the Monterey Peninsula, San Francisco, and the gold (and wine) country of the Sierra Foothills, I've decided to simply focus on wine, food, and restaurants so I can devote more attention to a Paris/Alsace travelogue, which will be complete. Some posts in this series will be quite short, others will be lengthy. The two series will be posted concurrently. People who want less narrative and more information will be pleased. People who want more narrative and less information are a little nuts, but thanks anyway.
5 September 2003 – Los Altos, California Home of Jeff and Lisa Cuppett
JF Fayel "Domaine des Cantarelles" 2002 Vin de Pays du Gard Viognier (Languedoc) – Thick, floral peach syrup with lowish acidity and what seems like a light patina of wood, but on the latter point I'm not certain. Finishes with oily, vanilla-scented cashew. Eminently drinkable.
Jacob's Creek 2002 Riesling "Reserve" (Southern Australia) – Good minerality paired with Granny Smith apple skin, briny fruit and a short, lime-flavored finish. Not bad, if a bit "wet" for a riesling, and a good value.
Karl Lawrence "Aldin" 2001 Chardonnay (Napa Valley) – Virtually no aroma whatsoever. On the palate, sweet orange juice with some acrylic heat; woody caramel on the finish. Blech.
Ollivier 2002 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine "Sur Lie" Clos des Briords "Cuvée Vieilles Vignes" (Loire Valley) – Alisier and wet steel, with briny sea salt lashing the tongue from a distant Atlantic wind. Fuller-bodied with air, showing grapefruit and extremely high acidity. Jeff thinks it's corked, I don't, but in any case it's definitely an off-bottle.
A swingin' slice of California life
L. Albrecht 1994 Gewurztraminer Bollenberg (Alsace) – Rotting peach (much less negative than it sounds), golden kiwifruit, sweaty lychee and mint aromas are interesting enough, but on the palate it gets really strange for a gewurztraminer: sweet lavender, thyme and even more mint. Complex and wonderful, fully mature, and decidedly different.
l'Ameillaud 1999 Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages Cairanne (Rhône Valley) – Light espresso, black cherry, black dirt and black licorice in a thick, dense, solid wine with very good potential for future development. Impressive.
Clavel 1999 Côteaux-du-Languedoc "Copa Santa" Terroir de la Mejanelle (Languedoc) – Blueberry, anise and vanilla soda with good acidity, turning sweetly floral on a lithe finish. Balanced and very enjoyable, though it's aging a little more quickly than I anticipated.
Gonnet "Domaine Font de Michelle" 2000 Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe "Cuvée Etienne Gonnet" (Rhône Valley) – This starts out promising, showing green olives and mixed herbs with some generalized fruit aromas, though it's a bit shy. Things turn south after that: chewy leather veers sharply towards the underripe, with bitter chocolate and disjointed, green tannin (including, it seems to be, a significant dose of wood tannin), and the finish is blackberry juice and coffee grounds in a very plastic modality. There's good, there's bad, but on balance this wine has some problems that age will only exacerbate.
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