Wine Focus: Open that Bottle MONTH ... EXTENDED!

[Jenise]

1994 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo
Mildly compromised bottle. Cork came out whole (Durand) but was fairly saturated and a bit moldy on top. The wine: no oxidation and pleasant to drink, but overall less complexity, less flavor, less everything than expected based on previous bottles, which have been excellent.

Boo hoo.

[Jenise]

So back in 2019 I bought this bottle in Maui. Was marked down to $215 from $250 and sitting in a sale bin, I kid you not. Well, since I got 20% off that day if I bought more than four bottles, I threw this in my cart much to the horror of my San Francisco-based brother, who was staying with us, and had never bought nor even drunk a wine that expensive.

The bottle came home with us, and now my brother lives down the street.

So when I went to select a wine to celebrate last night's expected good news, however nominally premature, I chose this as notes on CT trended toward it drinking well right now. And boy, did it.

2015 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace Diamond Mountain
Round, sweet, bing cherry fruit that's enjoyably ripe and agreeable on first sip (not decanted). Lavishly med-full bodied for great mouthfeel with dusty tannins and red-dirt minerality that disappear into a long, silky finish. A wine so good it causes you to pause and try to remember the last time you enjoyed a bottle of wine THIS much.

[David M. Bueker]

Lovely Jenise!

We got the news around lunch, and opened a magnum of Donnhoff to celebrate. Champagne later.

[David M. Bueker]

• 2007 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Felsentürmchen Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (11/7/2020)
  Opened a magnum at 12:45 PM to mark the calling of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. This is a joy to drink right now, and not just because of my mood. The fruit is still fresh, and a light patina of development has started to emerge. It’s a fresh peach given ten seconds on a very hot grill to give it just a hint of color and light caramelization. This has all the expected richness of a 2007 Spatlese, and fans of prominent acidity are advised to let it age out of a bit more of its fruit. For me it has a lovely balance, refreshing if not electric. It’s 5 o’clock in America, and this is a lovely celebration.

This is an unusual THAT bottle. It was discarded and forgotten. Finally opened for cooking, it turned out to have become quite magical.

1984 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (07/11/2020)
I bought a couple of bottles of this reputedly poor vintage out of curiosity during a visit to Foreau's estate in the early 00s. He gave some pairing tips, IIRC including cockles, but as the first bottle was thin and ungraciously acidic, I forgot about the second. When my wife asked for a white wine for cooking, I pulled this out but tasted it first in case it spoiled the food. Lo and behold 36 years from the vintage delicious fresh, elegant and fragrant aromas emerged on the nose and carried through onto the palate where they balanced the acidity, brought out fine minerality and sublimated the lightness of body with good length. Too feather weight to stand up to the dish of sandre et beurre blanc but delicious alone. Very good by now in an unusual way.

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The wine served with the dish to which the Foreau 84 contributed was pulled out at 6 years of age because of some complaints about premature ageing.

2014 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Bournais - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (07/11/2020)
This bottle has gained complexity compared with the first four years ago and there were no signs of oxidation of which some others complain. The nose was expressive with mineral elements and white fruit with a little wax and quince beginning to show. The medium+ bodied palate was not bone dry (complaints of sweetness from across the table) and showed good nerve and tension with more underlying gras than before, I think. The fruit was lively yet rich and there was replay of the aromas from nose, fine minerals, fresh acidity, slightly saline backbone and good length. However, in a sense it was upstaged by the light Foreau Vouvray 1984 used in the cooking (see TN) whose aromas had acquired much greater finesse than this Montlouis has, yet. Very good.
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PS on Sunday evening- being concerned lest the Vouvray be fading fast and be no longer useful for cooking, I took another glass. The bouquet on the nose was even more developed than yesterday and presaged a round delicious dem-sec which did not, however, follow on the palate. This remained focussed and crisp but some of the fragrance was drying out. It looks as if I'll have to rescue the remainder before it becomes useless for cooking .

This is an unusual THAT bottle. It was discarded and forgotten. Finally opened for cooking, it turned out to have become quite magical.

1984 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (07/11/2020)
I bought a couple of bottles of this reputedly poor vintage out of curiosity during a visit to Foreau's estate in the early 00s. He gave some pairing tips, IIRC including cockles, but as the first bottle was thin and ungraciously acidic, I forgot about the second. When my wife asked for a white wine for cooking, I pulled this out but tasted it first in case it spoiled the food. Lo and behold 36 years from the vintage delicious fresh, elegant and fragrant aromas emerged on the nose and carried through onto the palate where they balanced the acidity, brought out fine minerality and sublimated the lightness of body with good length. Too feather weight to stand up to the dish of sandre et beurre blanc but delicious alone. Very good by now in an unusual way..

Sounds great. And indeed magical because I'm sure if you had a case of this sitting around, very few would reach these heights. But who cares, bravo to you for enjoying this one!

[David M. Bueker]

• 2001 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru (11/25/2020)
  It’s a rare treat to drink Bonnes Mares. I bought this bottle on release, before I knew much of anything about Burgundy. At least I knew enough to put it away for a long sleep. Holiday week in the time of COVID, while putting up the Christmas tree, I decided it was time. I opened the bottle, and poured a small glass to have while I was stringing lights on the tree. The aromatics were immediate and captivating, dark fruit and the heady scent of damp earth and fall leaves. Time brought out soy-like umami on the palate, buffering still present tannins. I kept going back to smell the wine, not even taking a sip. The aromas were too good. Three hours later the palate fanned out even more, with meaty, wild gaminess. The contrast of the ethereal perfume, and the wildness on the palate carried through dinner. The last few sips are still lingering in my glass, and I pick it up every so often to enjoy the aromas. I’ll eventually finish it...later.

[Jenise]

Your patience was admirable. Sounds like a beautiful experience.

Been a long time since I've had a Bonnes Mares. Moved here 16 years ago with some 98 Groffiers and, I believe, a '93 Dujac. But they're gone, and it's unlikely I'll buy any more.

I opened a 1995 Jean and Jean-Louis Trapet Charmes-Chambertin to go with Thanksgiving's coq au vin. I first tasted this wine from cask at the domaine. This is a classic grand cru hitting its peak stride. It's, well, utterly charming. Well worth the 25-year wait.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Fifteen?

OK, thirteen if you count time from when it was released. Fifteen years from the time I tasted it from barrel at the domaine.

-Paul W.

OK, thirteen if you count time from when it was released. Fifteen years from the time I tasted it from barrel at the domaine.

-Paul W.

It was still in barrel 10 years after the harvest? Or was there a typo here?

D'oh! No, I'm just having trouble doing subtraction lately.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

I am sipping a glass of 2006 Ridge Monte Bello right now, and I am just on another planet.

[David M. Bueker]

2006 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (12/2/2020)
Random selection, as I asked my wife to blind me on something, and she picked this from half bottle. The aromatics said Ridge from the first moment, and because I know that I only had Geyserville and Monte Bello from half it was an easy trip to the Cabernet. What a nose - all deep red fruit and complex spice and herb. Gorgeous! Certainly still young, but the texture drew me in each and every sip. Silky on entry, and vibrant on the finish, the contrast was enthralling. Perhaps too soon from 750, but from half this was a treat!

Marlène Soria of Domaine Peyre-Rose is an iconic figure for lovers of Languedoc wine. She developed her 24 hectare estate in the hills near Montpellier in the 80s and is famous for the extreme rigour and finesse of her work. Yields are low and the wines see no new oak. Indeed in the 90s they were entirely tank raised but following three lost vintages 1999-2001, she now raises part of the crop in large oak barrels. The wines are only released when she deems them ready, at present 2010 for the reds. Her vines are cultivated organically and the main red variety planted in her estate is Syrah from which she produces two outstanding cuvées, this Clos des Cistes and Syrah Léone.

Having been dazzled by Syrah Léone in a restaurant during the 90s, I acquired one bottles of each cuvée from 1995 and 1998, i.e. four in all. I treated each bottle as a special occasion and this was the last, which I chose to go with a rich wine marinated beef stew. I drank neither of the 95s at their best; Syrah Léone too young with a wine geeks group, one of whom complained about its being spoofulated and over oaked , and Clos des Cistes too old. However, both 98s have been excellent.

1998 Domaine de Peyre Rose Coteaux du Languedoc Clos des Cistes - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc (10/01/2021)
I had a big disappointment with a Clos des Cistes '95 which was badly over the hill but this '98 was excellent. It is made from c.90% Syrah and the rest Grenache at a higher altitude than Syrah Léone and, from my notes of that wine's '98, it was quite different but equally good, if not better. it was less opulent but very elegant and linear in shape, showing a quite full bodied and a seamlessly intense flow of red fruit, fine minerals, hints of varnish and herbs, silky texture, fresh mouth-watering acidity and long finish with fine supporting tannins. There was perhaps a touch of Musar here but without the exoticism. Excellent.
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