Tasting on March 28, 2008

Present are Uncle-E, Jimmy, Piroca, Uncle-N, and Winepath. As usual, we tasted blindly and the wines appear as we tasted them. We tasted reasonable number of 6 wines. At the very beginning, clumsy Winepath spilled his wine while opening it and had to use “wine stain remover” which had a strong citrus smell. As a result, every wine we taste today had a strong citrus smell but we discounted it.

1. Joseph Drouhin Volnay 2005, Score=2

Everybody got this right in terms of Pinot Noir. Light transparent ruby color with floral and mineral nose. Light palate with lemony acidity and mild tannin. Burgundy vs. North American was more difficult to determine and because of no “funky” nose, most of us favored this to be North American Pinot. This is from J Drouhin, Volnay near Cote de Beaune.
This is “the best value” of the Wall Street Journal 2005 Burgundy tasting. To quote them “smooth and lovely, with great fruit and very attractive blueberry-blackberry tastes. Rich, yet light on its feet. Quite romantic and nicely complex”. The vintage 2005 in Burgundy was said to be a very good year and we just wanted to taste.

Piroca wanted their job. How wine can be described as “romantic”? We are not sure but some of us will not love Pinot especially Burgundy no matter what. Uncle-E thought this is quite pleasant.

2. Finca Sandoval Proprietary Blend 2004, score=3

Many of us are quite correct saying this is “Syrah”. The nose has protein or meat juice note with black pepper and plum. Later when the wine opened up more assertive nose of caramel and chocolate are evident. Some thought faint vegetal nose as well. The palate is nice with smooth almost viscous mouth feel with black fruits, cassis, plum and peppery finish. Most of us thought of this as Australian or California Syrah.
This is from Spain and the blend is 83% Syrah, 9% Monastrell, and 8% Bobal. Several tastings ago, Uncle-E brought the same wine from 2005 vintage. We tend to like 04 more than 05. I think this has a good PQR.

3. Rotllan Torra Tirant 2003, score=2+ ~ 3

This was a difficult wine to figure out. The nose has slight “funk” with cherry, caramel and slight peppery note. The palate is nice with black fruits especially black cherry with good structured tannin with decent finish. Some of us thought of Bordeaux-style blend such as Cab-Merlot but did not think this is Bordeaux.
This is again from Priorat, Spain. It is a blend of 30% Garnacha (old vines), 30% Carignan (old vines), 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, and 5% Merlot which went through alcoholic fermentation in foudre and malolactic in barrel, 12 months aging in Tronçais Oak (specific type of French oak).

4. Shafer one point five 2005 score=4

By far the best in the tasting. The nose is nice with tons of black cherry, caramel and vanilla. The palate is also really nice with back fruits with caramel and vanilla. Long finish with nice structured tannin. Everything pointed to the high-end Cali Cab but we are afraid to commit ourselves since Piroca fooled us so many times with new world Spanish wines (some are 100% Garnacha) but the wine was definitely good Cali-Cab style.
This is One Point Five from Shafer. Piroca brought 2004 last year as well. As compared to “hillside select” this one focuses just on Stags Leap District. The predominant fruit sources are the Hillside Estate vineyards and Shafer vineyard called Borderline located about two miles south of the winery, also within Stags Leap District. Hillside Select ages three years in new French oak and is 100% Cabernet, while One Point Five ages 20 months in 65 percent new oak, half of which is French and half is American, and includes 2% Petite Verdot.

5. Luigi Bosca Malbec 2004, score=3

The nose was described as "dusty roses and cherry with underbrush and acacia flower” by Piroca to compete with other BS-ing wine critiques. The palate has lots of cherry and “asphalt” but not unpleasant. Good but soft tannin and relatively nice and long finish. Uncle-E and Piroca thought this was Malbec from Argentina and they were right! (for change) and triumphant. We think this is well made Malbec with a high PQR.





6. Mas Doix Salanques 2004, Score=3

The nose is best in the tasting with lots of cherry and perfume and cedar. The palate is also cherry and other black fruits with some caramel and vanilla but much more subdued as compared to typical California cab and cab blends. More “old world” than “new world”. We thought of Bordeaux blend (but not Bordeaux) but had difficult time to place the exact grape(s) or origin of country.
This is the second label of Mas Doix, Priorat, Spain. We have tasted their first label “Costers de Vinyes Velles”(50% Carinena, 48% Garnacha, and 2% Merlot) and gave it a “4” which was definitely a “New World” wine but this one is somewhere in-between. It is 65% Garnacha, 20% Carinena, and equal parts Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon aged 14 months in French oak.