WTN: Pichon, Armailhac, Spring Mt., Muga, Chapoutier

Blind tasting notes:

2001 Chapoutier Chante Alouette Hermitage Blanc – I liked the 2004 I had recently better than this. This wine showed a largely citrus nose, was a tad flat on palate, had reasonable flavour interest and good length. These wines are expensive and in my opinion the same money spent on a range of other whites (German, Alsatian) get you more bang for your buck.

1993 Seven Hills Columbia Valley Cabernet , Klipsun Vd. - red fruit and just a hint of vinyl in the nose, soft tannin and a hint of astringency at the end and decent fruit in the middle and toward the end, with good acidity. Still alive and tasty. This wine brought up whether a wine is defined by origin of grapes or location of winery – is this a WA or OR wine. We concluded it was WA because all the grapes were grown there, even though the winery is over the border in OR. I still wonder if a wine was blended from some grapes from each state with the winery in OR, would the consensus have been different.


1996 Spring Mountain Miravalle la Perla Chevalier – a Bordeaux blend (87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc) that had a rich sweet cocoa nose, very Bordeaux in style, medium body, mature and drinking well now. Not as widely framed as many CA wines, it should continue to drink well for a number of years, Worth considering as a ringer in a blind Bordeaux tasting.

1999 Ch. d’Armailhac – the nose very similar to the Spring Mountain gave us pause for thought. The wine has good fruit, soft tannin, good balance and drinks beautifully right now. Very nice.

1998 Ruffino Modus – a bit of a switch here, with a super Tuscan 50% sangio, and 25% each merlot and cabernet. Darker colour, nice lush smoky nose – what there was of it, as the wine seemed a bit closed, and narrowing a little on palate, at least from what one expected based on the nose, ending with a little sweetness. May need more time.

1988 Pichon Lalande – excellent Bordeaux nose with vanilla and currant, the wine still compact and somewhat tannic, with adequate fruit and some life yet.

2000 Kettle Valley Old Main Red – a BC wine blended from the usual Bordeaux varietals and it did an amazing job of fitting into the line up. Big sweetish nose with cassis and anise, the only tip off that we weren’t again in France being the 21 months in American oak. We were thinking maybe CA or WA, and were pleasantly surprised to discover it was a local wine.

1996 Prado Enea Muga Rioja Gran Riserva – big jammy herbs and fruit in nose, and big wine on palate with lots of fruit and a smoky long finish, with lots of acidity but ending sweet. Nice wine, surprisingly drinkable now and with good future.

2003 Mt. Boucherie Riesling Esiwein – I am generally not impressed with domestic sweet wines, which seem to feature a mass attack of sugar and simple concentrated fruit flavour over any complexity, but this one showed some restraint. Light to medium amber colour, a sweet nose, but neither Riesling nor Botrytis apparent, more apples than anything else, and medium sweet in the mouth. Not a bad showing, and a far cry from the usual sticky designed to part Japanese tourists from ridiculous amounts of money.

Nice mix of wines....were these sampled together???

I haven't opened the '99 d'Armailhac in a while.. sounds like it is doing nicely.

1988 Pichon Lalande – excellent Bordeaux nose with vanilla and currant, the wine still compact and somewhat tannic, with adequate fruit and some life yet.

Well, finally what I have been waiting for - a positive note from someone other than me! Most notes I've seen of this are far from complimentary but I love this wine. It seems so true to the vintage and the producer and drinks well now and is so food friendly that I would love to get lots more of it.

-O-

1993 Seven Hills Columbia Valley Cabernet , Klipsun Vd. . . . This wine brought up whether a wine is defined by origin of grapes or location of winery – is this a WA or OR wine. We concluded it was WA because all the grapes were grown there, even though the winery is over the border in OR. I still wonder if a wine was blended from some grapes from each state with the winery in OR, would the consensus have been different.

Seven Hills Winery moved from Oregon to downtown Walla Walla, Washington (I'm guessing) about five or six years ago. And Klipsun Vineyard is in Washington State in the Red Mountain AVA. However, the winery also makes a number of single vineyard bottlings from the Seven Hills Vineyard, which is just over the border in Oregon but lies within the Walla Walla Valley AVA. So while the bottle you drank used grapes grown in WA but was vinified in OR, a current bottle of a Seven Hills Vineyard wine uses grapes grown in OR but was vinified in WA. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure both bottles would have had WA, not OR, on the label. I believe all wines bearing the Walla Walla Valley designation, even though part of it is in Oregon, usually say Washington on the bottle.

While technically inaccurate in terms of the state listed, this practice does have the advantage of not confusing consumers who associate Oregon wines with Pinot Noirs grown in the cooler western part of the state, rather than the Cabs, Merlots and Syrahs grown in the hotter eastern parts of Washington and Oregon.

James - the wines were sampled together. It is a blind tasting group and there was no theme to this one. Makes it mentally more challenging.

Otto - I think people are spoiled by the 1989 and 1990 which are more forward. sweet and drinkable. The structure of the 1988 is more classic.

I don't have the Comtesse but I do have the Baron in 88 and must give it a try.