Baker Lane "Hurst Vineyard" (Sonoma Coast-Sebastopol) 2006. A very restrained, light,. and elegant wine with an earthy character and elegant fruit. I would buy this.
Pelerin "Cuvee St Vincent" Santa Lucia Highlands 2006. Very interesting "roasted earth" nose. Not in a hot or overblown or sweet, just very earthy and darkly roasted. Coffee tones from oak? The wine is not extracted at all on the palate, though. A touch richer than the Baker Lane, with a little more fruit. Still, very much of the earth and red fruit side of things. No evident heat at all. I would actually buy this one.
Chateau de la Maltroye Bourgogne Rouge 2005. Controversial among my fellow tasters, some of whom caught a medicinal quality. I caught bright red fruit in a very restrained and deliciously earthy package. I liked this the best...others rated it the lowest.
My one purcahse of the evening. Soter "Beacon Hill" Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon 2005. Most expensive wine of the evening ($45) To me, this wine really smelled like Etude Pinot!
The palate, though, is more restrained and earthy. I prefer the three previous wines, frankly, but would not turn down a glass of this wine either! Sierra Madre Vineyard Santa Maria Valley. 2006. 14.9% abv, yet it doesn't taste particularly hot. Instead, to me this wine was sticky sweet from really ripe and rich fruit. A lot of people enjoyed this at the tasting, but this is the one wine of the night I actively disliked. The kind of Pinot that inspired my rant last month!
Chateau B. Kosuge "The Shop" Carneros 2006. Lighter and less sweet than the Sierra Madre but still richer and fruitier than the first four. I liked it, but not enough to consider picking one up.
Finally: Detert Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. I'm not sure about the 2005 Napa vintage for Cabs. So many of the wines seem really vegetal and green. I like green-ness as an underlying element of a Cabernet Sauvignon, but this was overwhelmingly green and minty. What I am hoping is that the 2005s open up in a couple of years and go into more balanace, just like the 2003s. Still...the 2003s were never THIS green and minty.
Also tried recently the 2004 Chateau Paradis Casseuil (Rothschild) Bordeaux Blanc. Yum...Hint of oxidative yellowing color, but this was a delicous semillion/sauvignon blanc white for $14 that is very rich, yet with good acidity and cut. Delicious.