Lunch blind tasting notes.
Cruse Winery Ricci Vineyard Sparkling St. Laurent – huge fizz (presumably not method Champenoise) pale pink, peach nose, slightly sweet finish, cidery impression. Interesting.
2003 Zind Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain – petrol Riesling nose, considerable colour – mid amber, smooth and dry, lacking fruit and slightly angular in the finish. Past its prime.
1990 Ch. Pibran – this Pauillac cru Bourgeois still shows good colour, lighter at the rim, a very good cedar and plum claret nose, with very good fruit and vanilla, balanced and finishing medium long with clean acidity. Good showing for a modest wine.
2006 Arcadian Pisoni Vd. Pinot Noir – medium colour, varietal nose, soft round and pleasant, with decent length.
2006 Ch. St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon Eighty-Five Fifty-Five – cab, merlot, petit verdot Malbec and syrah. Still purple even at the rim, a tad simple in the mouth and primary in the nose, and lots of ripe cherry at the finish.
2000 Ch. Pontet Chappaz – another cru bourgeois, this time a Margaux and one I had never heard of. Dark, balanced and ripe, it acquitted itself well. Solid mid-pack bourgeois.
Some of us retired to my place to wait out the traffic and we opened another bottle:
2006 Arcadian Stolpman Syrah – wow – wine of the day for me. Slightly vegetal nose but in a positive way, Red fruit and berry notes, with a French tone rather than American. Pretty wine with elegant nose, an American Cote Rotie? Probably needs drinking as I don’t think it will develop much from where it is now..