These notes are about 2 weeks old and are from the thirteenth in a continuing run of wine and poker events with the local gang. All wines were served double blind except the Port at the end of the night.
Flight 1:
2001 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay Estate Bottled Santa Cruz Mountains. Right off the bat, the nose tells you this is a Chardonnay of some reckoning. Aromas of cool stone fruits, peach pit, citrus oil and powdered minerality are classy and inviting. It is very lively and intense in the mouth, with a leesy character to go with bright citrus flavors, a sort of soft minerality and a touch of vanilla-tinged oak. It shows a real elegant side, but by the same token, it is a deeply rich wine. It can seem understated at times, but then one feels its surge of power. It is just a great expression of Chardonnay.
2005 Varner Chardonnay Spring Ridge Vineyard Home Block Santa Cruz Mountains. This is also for sure a Chardonnay, but this time the wine is decidedly more stony and mineral-driven. The nose features lemon rind and other citrus notes, framed by limestone and minerals. On the palate, it is narrower and tighter than the previous wine, with a crisp, serious up-front note that thankfully fans out quite a bit and actually comes across as fairly luxuriant by the finish. It doesn’t seem particularly full, but it has a sneaky core of density to the citrus and herb flavors. On the whole, I liked it a good amount, but not nearly as much as Wine #1.
Flight 2:
2004 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard Santa Rita Hills. There is a fairly rich Pinot Noir nose here, with strong aromas of cola, nettles, pomegranate and autumn leaves, but also heavier notes of plums, blueberries and blackberries. It grows more expressive over time and folds in some nice red flower and red fruit notes. Black cherry, toasted herb and stemmy flavors are fairly rich on the palate, but there is also fine acidity for balance. It all hangs together nicely to make for a solid, spicy domestic Pinot in a slightly bigger style. This was my favorite of this flight.
2004 Walter Hansel Winery Pinot Noir Cahill Lane Russian River Valley. This smells more herbal to me, with pine needles, sap, stems and leaves leading the way to soft cherry, pomegranate and perfumed soap. It is sappy and luxuriant in the mouth, with a bright edge. It has a softer personality than the previous wine, coming across as easy-going, well-balanced and gently fruity. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of overriding structure here, but it is a nice wine seemingly destined for early-drinking pleasure.
2006 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten Santa Rita Hills. The nose of this wine is clearly more high-toned and vibrant than the other two Pinot Noirs, with aromas of rose oil and bright red cherry and raspberry fruit framed by fine-grained wood notes. It is sweet and very glossy-textured in the mouth, with red fruit and brown spices. It comes in a medium-bodied package, with tannins that start off soft but grow and grow. It has some nice acidity, but perhaps a tiny hint of heat, as well. This seems rather young and probably ought to be held a while before trying again.
Flight 3 :
1999 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. The color appears to be fading or browning a bit at the rim, so this probably has a bit of age on it. It has a horse stable nose, with tons of leather, warm earth, raisined cranberries, dried currants and drying tobacco wrapper aromas. It comes across as a touch dirty on the palate, although it does seem to pull itself up out of that funk to some degree as the day wears on. Still, it is a rustic, old-world style of wine that has some dried fruit, earth and smoke flavors, drying tannins toward the back of the mouth, and a funky finish. Still, there is something likable about its rusticity that sticks up out of the crowd.
2000 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape La Crau. This is a wine that has dark red fruits, nettles and incense on the nose, with a deeper well of some roasted cherries, dark caramel and orange peel aromas lying in wait below. It is big and bright in the mouth, yet unmistakably European, with its intense acidity balancing youthful black fruit and dark chocolate flavors and intensely drying tannins. It has a nice seamlessness to it, not quite reaching chewy in texture. There is just a hint of youthful warmth, but overall the profile is quite nice and the flavors are pretty tasty.
2004 Domaine de la Janasse Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Chaupin. Not giving up much on the nose right now, this final wine in the flight manages to give off some aromas of fudge brownies and sweet blackberries but not much else. With aggressive swirling, some stemmy, foresty notes and a more red-fruited profile come along just a bit. Similarly, this is dense, meaty and very tannic (though the tannins seem finely-grained) on the palate. Those tannins totally coat the teeth with a feeling of chalkiness. Beneath this, there is a good core of mixed berry fruits and supporting chocolate cocoa flavors that flow very nicely from entry to finish despite the tannins. This is clearly a very young, largely-structured wine with good stuffing, but needing lots of time to come around.
Flight 4:
2000 Château Grand Puy Lacoste Pauillac. This wine is right in my sweet spot. The nose offers up lovely notes of sweet tobacco, leather, spiced fruit cake, clean fur and soft red berries. In the mouth, it has great balance first and foremost. There is also solid drive, a seamless texture, plenty of lifted acidity and very classy tannins. The flavors are also lovely, leading with red currants and mixed red berry fruits. It has medium body and no rough edges or overdone notes. For all that, it is clear that this can go for quite a while—hopefully drinking at this nice plateau or even getting better over the next 5 years. This was my wine of the day, as it just reached out and grabbed my pleasure sensors while also stimulating the mind.
2000 Château Malescot St. Exupery Margaux. This wine is a bit bigger all around when compared to the previous wine. It has a somewhat similar profile on the nose, but seems a bit darker, more serious and perhaps a few years younger. Aromas of tobacco leaf, roasted green pepper skin, old leather, forest ferns and soft purple fruits greet the nostrils. It gets better and better the longer one stays with it, too. In the mouth, it does not have the immediate charm of the preceding wine, with more aggressive tannins and more sharply-defined acidity. Still, it shows outstanding class, structure and balance to its black currant and blackberry fruit profile and finishes long and strong. This is really good stuff that can be enjoyed now but ought to perhaps rest a little while longer.
2000 Château La Lagune Haut-Medoc. Like its two flight-mates, this wine was well-received by my receptors this afternoon. On the nose, there are notes of cool black leather, black cherry, horse hair, coffee, persimmon, peppermint dust and fine oak that combine to very nice effect. It is cool-fruited in the mouth, showing fine elegance, breeding and balance, but also power. Black currant and blackberry fruit flavors are nicely accented by spicy wood notes. Tannins are non-interventionist for a while but do begin to show their teeth a bit with time. Still, this is attractive drinking now, though likely better with some added short-term cellaring. I voted this my third-favorite red wine of the day.
Flight 5 :
1994 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. CORKED.
2002 Ramey Jericho Canyon Vineyard Napa Valley. Ok, this is clearly new-world Cabernet, with its aromas of cool blackberries, black currants, exotic herbs and chocolate interspersed with hints of tomato leaf and sweet confectionary notes. On the palate, it is very sweet, but manages to refrain from being overblown in my opinion—featuring cherry compote, currants and chocolate chip flavors. It is finely and yet lusciously-textured, with chalky mocha-tinged tannins. The wine is rich and mouthwatering and takes a minute or two to get used to after the previous set of Bordeaux and Chateauneuf du Papes, but it is a great example of what it is meant to be—an exuberant and luscious style of Cab.
2002 Match Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Butterdragon Hill Napa Valley. To me, this smells a lot like one of those richly-styled types of big California Pinot Noir—with its aromas of mixed red berries, cola nut, fine oak and herbs. Once it was revealed, I was actually not surprised, as I felt exactly the same about this wine when I first tasted it last year. In any event, the wine is more clearly Cabernet-oriented in the mouth, though it is still on the lighter side. There are lots of sweet cocoa-dusted red and slightly darker berry fruit flavors here. The structure is very soft, yet manages to have a sense of delineation and a sense of veiled seriousness. I have to say that the wine grew on me over time and felt more attractive once I got used to its personality and profile.
2004 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This is tight and a bit unevolved on the nose, showing mostly mixed berry aromas for the time being. In the mouth, it is pretty good, but fails to stand out among the rest of the company here. It features sweet, crushed berries, soft-edged tannins and pretty decent balance. It probably will be better in a few years’ time.
Out on the back deck:
1985 Graham Vintage Porto. This is delicious port. The aromatics are rich and ample. In the mouth, it is drinking beautifully well—displaying a gorgeous and seamless texture, a luxuriant mouthfeel and lovely overall balance to the sweet purple fruits and abundant spices. It is simply a delightful pleasure to drink with a fine cigar in hand. Many thanks to our host!
-Michael