Back in early July, five of us heeded the call to try out a relatively new BYO restaurant in Belmont called Kitchen on Common, which focuses on local ingredients in its cooking. The spot was welcoming, the food pretty good, and the tab cheap—what is not to like? We’ll be back (though next time I will avoid the nearby intersection with the utterly, completely clueless traffic cops who kept me sitting in one place for over 15 minutes!).
The whites were not served blind, but the reds were.
2007 Weingut Schwarzböck Grüner Veltliner Niederösterreich. This comes in a 1 Liter bottle and I think with a beer cap closure. From what I understand, about 80% of the wine is from vintage 2007 and the remainder from 2006. The nose shows soft grapefruit, slate and both grassy and herbal notes in a clean, gentle and moderately inviting package. It is fairly juicy in the mouth with grapefruit, quinine, bitter herbs and strong graphite minerality. There is a touch of a spritzy feel on the tongue, though I don’t recall any actual spritz itself. Despite the juiciness and minerality, it feels rather soft in the mouth, without adequate structure and just barely enough acidity. For the price, though, what more can one reasonably expect?
2003 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Kremser Freiheit Kremstal. The nose here is much tighter and more serious, though not as inviting, really—featuring aromas of vegetable compost, white grapefruit, herbs and limestone. It is much more voluminous in the mouth, with greater richness and presence. It feels fairly rounded and not especially crisp, though toward the finish one finds just enough crispness around the edges of the palate to keep it from being too flabby. Otherwise, it is on the lusher side and seems to lack precision. I’d be curious to see if it gets any better over the short term.
1999 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Riesling Spätlese Kaseler Nies'chen Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. AP #16. OK, here is something I can get excited about. This wine has a gorgeous nose right in my sweet spot, with lots of rich honeycomb, citronella, waxy yellow fruits, tropical nuts, mangos and a decidedly lifted petrol note pervading everything. There is a lot of complexity and a sense of muskiness that grows much stronger after 2 nights sealed up in the fridge. In the mouth, it is similarly lovely. It is just well put-together, holding its line from entry right through to the back of the palate. Flavors of tangerine and candied pineapple and apricot are delicious, and the sweetness level is quite in check, with the whole package just feeling very nicely balanced. It thins out a bit on finish, which is otherwise clean and uplifting. Two nights later out of the refrigerator, it has lost some of its edginess and turned more sweet, but remains quite gulpable.
N.V. Lucien Albrecht Crémant d'Alsace Blanc de Blancs Brut. This was a nice little palate cleanser before jumping into the blind reds. It has a chalky nose full of club soda minerality, foresty greens and lemon and lime pith aromas. It is relatively full in the mouth, with squeaky clean flavors of cherry, fleshy apple and faint citrus. The finish is smoky and nicely mouthwatering.
2001 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Monthélie 1er Cru Les Duresses . There is an interesting, pleasant and inviting bouquet here of pomegranate, baked plum, fresh mint leaf, new leather and clean earth. Sadly, though, this is all about austerity in the mouth right now--with crisp acidity poking out way too much and an overall feeling of being rather metallic. Coming back to this several times over the next few days yielded no softening whatsoever; in fact, it got worse and worse. Behind all this austerity, there is actually some potentially promising fruit with strawberry, cranberry and orange peel flavors trying to push through to the fore. Though not successful today, it seems capable of rounding out in maybe another 5-10 years?
2006 Alcina Cellars Pinot Noir Ramondo Vineyard Sonoma Coast. This wine presents deep and moderately rich aromas of black cherry, cola nut, sarsaparilla, vanilla-tinged oak and stemmy notes, with a sweet cherry liqueur ribbon running underneath. It is seamlessly-textured in the mouth, showing a nice sappy quality carrying along flavors of sweet cherry and sweet-tinged spicy oak. The finish is very pretty, with a healthy squirt of lemon-tinged acidity.
2006 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Windsor Oaks Vineyard Russian River Valley. Smelling dense and thick, the aromatic profile here is one of sweet plum notes accented by white flowers and complex spices. It is sweet and intensely spicy in the mouth, showing very forward and young. While nicely velvety-textured, it is close to being too syrupy for my tastes; however, there is some spindly acidity that comes and goes just enough to keep it in check. It really pumps out the flavors in a bold and overt package, showing the slightest hint of heat at this juncture but not a lot of imposing tannins. I’d sit on this for a while and see if it settles down a bit.
1996 Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Upon first sniffing this, one senses an odd vinyl note lying over other aromas dominated by a green pepper streak and notes of leather and green tobacco leaf. Much later in the evening, though, some of the odder notes have blown off and the whole package feels decidedly more Bordelais—with aromas of horsehair, clean stable and softer tobacco accents. On the palate, it is gently textured with chocolate and mixed dark and red fruit flavors supported by smoky, chunky tannins. Those tannins grow and grow throughout the evening, eventually drying the wine out a bit on the finish. Otherwise, the finish shows pretty decent length, with intriguing notes of mint and perhaps eucalyptus that bring one back for another taste. It’s hard to evaluate overall, as it changed a lot over the course of the evening, but I ended up liking it a good amount.
1996 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. A huge blast of pure cassis greets the nose at first, along with some tomato paste, more cassis, all kinds of other mixed red fruits and a slight hit of minty wood. As it takes on air, it gains further in complexity, pulling in additional aromas of scorched earth, tomato plant, candied blue fruits and cedar dust. In a word, it is beautiful. It shows fine delineation in the mouth, with solid structure. The fruit is fresh and extremely well-balanced, never feeling too heavy or overly rich or extracted. The tannins seems rather well-resolved, with a fine level of freshening acidity carrying everything along to a rounded, generous and inviting finish (where sneaky tannins do at least put up one last fight). This is drinking just great now and ought to be in the zone for the next several years.
-Michael