2001 Chapoutier Ermitage le Pavillon: Bold aromas of game, cassis, farm and wood. Black fruit held up by beautiful silky smooth tannins. Great finish and a lingering aftertaste. Not sure what term wine geeks use to mean “perfect”, but this was it. Laurent (the president and host of these events) said he thought this could benefit by another 2-3 years, but I’m glad not to wait! ($147)
1998 Gaja Barbaresco: Spicy fruit, smoke and tar to start, this later evolved some licorice properties. Perfectly balanced tannins and acidity and clean, black fruit on the palate. Again, I could find no fault with this wine. I also learned something that explained some angst I'd experienced w/ nebbiolo. The first nebbiolo I'd ever tasted blew me away and was actually the wine that sparked this whole love affair with wine for me, but since then I'd been sadly dissappointed by most that I've tasted. Laurent explained to us that nebbiolo is very much like pinot noir (fickle and finicky and prone to mediocrity under anything but the best of conditions) and that like burgundy is one of those wines that may require a lot of frog kissing before you find the odd prince. Whether this is true or not, it certainly fits in with my personal experience with Burgundies and Peidmonts. ($175)
2001 Sassicaia Tenuta San Guido: There was a very interesting sulfur quality to the nose on this. I don’t usually appreciate that in my wines, but this smelled more like a recently extinquished match than the rotten-egg smell that I associate w/ sulfur. The oak was evident, and there were also underlying tar and vegetal aromas. The vegetal notes carried over onto the palate as bell pepper. The initial body on this was much lighter than I had expected; the tannins were very upfront as was the acidity and I didn’t feel they were as well integrated as I would have expected from a wine that everyone at the table had been chomping at the bit for. However, this changed as time went on, and the food definitely improved the overall impression for me. Although under normal circumstances I would have been gaga over this wine, the others of the night were so sublime that I’m afraid I’ll have to put this one as my “least favorite” of the night. ($175)
2004 Flor de Pingus: Coffee, black currant, anise, cedar and soft candied fruit. As in the Chapoutier, the tannins were incredibly silky. Very full bodied, there was a strange but pleasing finish of incense, and the coffee scent intensified after about 20 minutes to an almost unbelievable level. It was very pleasant, but if you had your eyes closed you might think you were smelling a hazelnut latte from Starbucks. ($105)
2001 Cims de Porrera: I was excited to try this because I’ve read such good things about Priorat but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to taste any. Nice scents of prune, stewed fruit, iron, and earth. The mouthfeel on this blew me away…smooth, round & full w/ moderate tannins and a really looooong aftertaste. My WOTN (I think…the next one rocked, too). (Eur70)
2003 Le Clos des Papes: My impressions were of strong vegetal, farm, game & hay; the others pointed out the spicy herbal (thyme) notes as well as some dust. Very powerful structure, I now understand the buzz surrounding CdP (I had tried one in the past that had not had sufficient time to open up). This had the longest finish of any wine I’ve tried. Beautiful. ($120)
It was nice to be able to sample these wines, since they’re obviously not priced to where the average person will be purchasing them by the bottle (the prices quoted are from MacArthur Beverage). Although I must admit it’s tempting. I’ll have to remember to ask Santa
