So, with a move coming, we're using simple weeknight meals as occasions to open those bottles that we should have opened years ago, or maybe that we shouldn't have bought in the first place, and which we certainly don't want to have to pay to have schlepped to New York.
First up last night was a Ridge 2003 Contra Costa County Mataro, Pato Vineyard, an ATP orphan that Draper's label suggests drinking "within the next three years," and while I often find that I enjoy Ridges well past the winery's suggested drinking windows, this one was DOA: some interesting aromas but a totally empty palate, like somebody had changed the wine back into water. Dump.
Replaced with a Casaloste 2009 Chianti Classico Riserva. We like Casaloste's regular CC, so when I saw this for sale I decided to give it a try, and only later read reviews that led me to expect it to be big and overdone. Well, yeah, it was a warm year, and this has more oak than the CC, but it's not bad; with a little time in the glass it shows some sweet, ripe black cherry fruit -- but it could use a lot more zip, and the back end still seems tight. Fine but uninteresting.
The night before, we had a non-cull wine, a Clos Saron 2013 Sierra Foothills Pinot Noir, Home Vineyard. First of three, and it was a treat. Very interesting play between concentrated high-toned fruit, licorice, and intense minerality. Comes across as a little wild without being unclean. I'll be in no hurry to open the others, as I suspect this is only going to get more complex over several years.
