Spent the weekend with friends, and here's what we drank.
2012 Salmon Champagne Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut Pinot Meunier
My wine. Watermelon, cranberry, mace and cinnamon bark on the nose and palate suggest a sweetness to follow on the palate that never materializes. Instead, it finishes wonderfully bone dry. A surprising and hypnotic wine that stays with you; one of the first consumed but ultimately everyone's wine of the weekend.
2004 Gaston Chiquet Champagne Special Club Brut Champagne Blend
Fairly identical to the last bottle tasted in 10/17 judging by my notes, but this might have been even richer. Drinking it's best, exquisitely ready.
2017 Le Vieux Pin AVA Okanagan Valley VQA White Rhone Blend
A poster child for what's possible from BC's Okanagan Valley: rich lemon curd, quince, upfront minerality, firm acidity and exceptional body transform this viognier-heavy Rhone blend. And while definitely showing the Viognier, it lacks the suffocating al dead-old-lady perfume that makes viognier my least favorite white grape. Has the right stuff for bottle aging, but why wait.
2008 Domaine Mordoree Rein-Les-Bois
Medium red. Bright and grenache-y with notes of raspberry, roasted butternut squash, blood orange and spice. Crunchy, firm acidity and some tannins.
2007 DuMOL Syrah Russian River Valley
My wine. In peak form. Dense, brooding, almost black in the glass with black raspberry fruit, bay leaf, white pepper and just the right amount of funk. Sensuous, silky mouthfeel added to the thrills.
2013 Ultramarine Blanc de Noirs Heintz Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
My wine. Med yellow color. Concentrated fruit on the nose and palate that leans closer to Extra Dry than Brut. Not a flaw, just not my favorite thing. What did stand out was texture: superfine effervescence and cashmere-creamy on the tongue.
NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 736 Champagne Blend
Fabulous weight, dry, rich and complex. In exceptional form right now and easily eclipses the Ultramarine that preceded it--though the latter had its charms.
2005 Domaine Joliet Fixin 1er Cru Clos de la Perrière Pinot Noir
Fair amount of sulphur on the nose that blinds the flowers behind it. Light red color and very pleasant though less body than I would expect from '05 premier cru.
2012 Domaine Arlaud Chambolle-Musigny Pinot Noir
My wine. Medium polished red. Floral nose, ample red fruit and silky tannins with pumpkin pie spices on the palate, good body. Blind, I might have guessed Russian River pinot before Burgundy. Very good.