Blind tasting lunch notes:
Small group this time and interestingly, a 3/3 split on whites to reds.
With a gravlax salad:
2016 Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne – we had the pinot noir from this Nova Scotia producer last month and it was decent without being special. This was different. Pale with nice citrus notes in the nose, and some wet stone and green tea, and in the mouth, smooth and medium long. One of the best Canadian chards I’ve tasted. Wild fermented.
2004 Latour Giraud Meursault Charmes – light amber colour, very slight oxidative note in the nose which was primarily cantaloupe and lemon with vanilla hints. Good body, and clean terminal acidity. Very good, probably just on plateau and perfect for current drinking.
2016 Kistler Chardonnay Les Noisetiers – light colour with a definite greenish tint, some marine notes in the nose, but also apple and butter with yeast . Excellent acidity. Another very enjoyable wine.
With a grilled quail salad with mushrooms, foie gras and a seared scallop:
1996 Ch. Smith Haut Lafitte – first one of my 1996 clarets I’ve pulled a cork on. Pal edges, a classic claret nose of cedar and blackcurrant, good dark fruit on palate, and a very smooth long finish. Prime for drinking now and over the next few years.
2001 Ascheri Barolo Sorano – nice tar, pepper and berry nose, soft tannins and good fruit levels. This medium bodied wine is decent and should be drunk in the relatively near term. It is not as weighty as the 2000 was.
With beef tenderloin and venison:
2008 Chateau St. Jean Syrah Durell Vineyard – I still have a few bottles of the experimental reds Dick Arrowood was doing at St. Jean in the late 1980s, but I hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that they have begun doing reds again currently. Big dark wine with a sweet peppery nose, abundant sweet fruit on palate with mellow, smooth, lightly tannic finish. No mistaking this for anything but a Californian.
We finished with a half of the next wine:
1994 Grahams Port – still dark to the edges, spicy berry nose with cocoa hints, on palate, more chocolate and raspberry and a long lingering slightly hot finish. I was pleased to see that I have