Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2004

This a very unique Shiraz. One of the extreme examples of what Aussie Shiraz can be. The nose is so distinctive. I can not describe it adequately but lots of black fruits with almost cherry cola or molasses and pencil lead or mineral notes. (I said alsmot smell like blood but Lady SEA disagrees.) The palate is also unique with almost syrupy texture with tons of black fruits, smoke, meat juice with peppery finish and nice integrated tannin. Nice long finish. Somebody may think this wine bit like a cough syrup but in a very nice way (whatever that means). We are sure some love this wine and some hate it. We like it. Here is what RP says;

96 Points - Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)

"The 2004 Shiraz Underhill may be the finest example of this cuvee Yarra Yering has yet produced. Its inky/purple color is accompanied by a gorgeous nose of creme de cassis, acacia flowers, white pepper, and steely, earthy characteristics. Medium to full body, awesome concentration and richness, and a delicate, ethereal lightness suggest this stunning Shiraz can be drunk now and over the next 12-15+ years. It is a singular expression of Shiraz from the Yarra Valley."

FRIDAY NIGHT TASTINGS, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008

Present tonight were Uncles E, P, W and Jimmy. Uncle N is on vacation, somewhere in the South Seas (I think on a deserted island, where he can communicate with us only by means of letters in a bottle).
We had 4 wines tonight, all good but "not elegant", according to Uncle P.
The first one, presented by Uncle Piroca, was a supprise. Thought to be jammy, with notes of cedar, smoke, blackberry, plum and passion fruit-maybe "a petit verdot" (Uncle E) "a California cab"( Uncle W, who is consistently wrong every time). It was Michel Roland's latest bordeaux. A good wine, the best tonight, 3 to 3+.

Here is a remarkable wine brought by Uncle P. Dark like tar, with tastes of glue, coconut, dark expresso, cough syrup, camphor and turpentine, yet fruity, jammy. Uncle Winepath's favorite. Uncle E hated it. An amazing 16% alcohol content. Thought to be a grenache. It was a great Australian shiraz. Uncle E : -2; Uncle Winepath a 3. The other uncles were too busy drinking to come up with a grade.

This wine had clear caramel and licorish up-front aromas. Thought to be an Californian Merlot . A cabernet, actually, an easy- to -drink wine, but light-bodied and uneventful: a 2.

The last one to be tasted, this wine had a slight funk which quickly dissipated; soon undertones of violets and lilac predominated. Good wine, we guessed it to be an American or Australian. It was David Arthur at its best, a favorite of Uncle E. Unanimous 3.

Vinifera and Caravan Cab 05

We tasted two Cabernet from Napa. One is called "Vinifera Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005" and another is called "Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon 2005". Both are recommended by the wine store owner based on our selection from the "Candy store". Quite a contrast between them. Vinifera is a classic new world style with nice nose of black cherry ,vanilla with matching palate. No rough edges. very easy to drink but it has all the attributes of new world fruits forward wines but bit lacking in character and complexity. "Caravan" is called a 2nd label of Darioush, hence it is called a"baby" Darioush. This one has character. The nose has a more earthy smoky note admixed with black fruits. The palate is more gutsy with more assertive tannin and earthy and spice layers of additional flavours on the top of usual black fruits. It is again difficult to say which is better but we liked Caravan.

Details of Vinifera are a bit scarce. here is the write up from the press release; "Initial aromas of the 2005 vintage show fresh ripe raspberries, black cherries and hints of dark chocolate. With time, notes of saddle leather, cracked pepper and moist peat emerge. This wine is exceptionally easy and pleasing to the palate. A smooth entry and an intensely fruit driven mid palate are complimented by silky well balanced tannins and acidity on the finish. The name 'Vinifera Vineyards' is the original name of the company now called Beckstoffer Vineyards. The name 'Vinifera Vineyards' was abandoned in 1982 in favor of Beckstoffer Vineyards and has gone unused until now. " It appears that Beckstoffer supplies grapes to Paul Hobbs among others but I could not get any info as to who is the winemaker or if this is made by the Beckstoffer.

From K&L wine web site; "Caravan is the second label from Napa Valley powerhouse Darioush. Winemaker Steve Devitt aims for a rounder, more fruit-forward wine here and a more moderate price point. The fruit comes from two estate vineyards to help achieve the softer palate. Ripe berries and cherries make up this wine's core, highlighted by hints of cola, coffee and chocolate. Substantial amounts of petit verdot (19%) add floral notes, while a splash of malbec (2%) adds blueberry flavors on the finish. Try with roast lamb or filet mignon or a grilled burger with stilton or gorgonzola and bacon."

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2008

This Sunday it was grape pressing time. The BRIX having sank below 0, the must was ready for the malo-lactic culture and for pressing with the vertical bladder press. We got about 7.5 gallons of juice which then was promptly placed into carboys for "quiet-time". Alcohol content was at 13%+, taste: tart, slightly bitter. Will need several good rackings before barrel ageing. The whole process was conducted by Uncle winepath, under the executive guidance of Uncle P, who arrived in the company of some Shafer's Hillside Select Cab, 2002 (superb); some Araujo Eisele vineyard cab, 1999(very good) and a bottle of superb Hourglass cab, 2005. So no one felt any pain.

Nicolas Catena Zapata 04

We arrived at Hilton head island. First stop was our usual wine store where they have a special room called the "candy store". We picked up "Nicolas Catena Zapata 2004". This comes in a "body builder" bottle. It has all the attributes of a new world wine should have. Nice sweet fruits, vanilla, caramel on the nose. Fruits forward but not candied with layers of nice flavors ending in nice smooth tannin. Everything is smooth and nice but we did not think the wine was extraordinary. Nice long finish with chocolate note. RP gave it a 98 but we are not sure we agree. It is 90 but not 98 (who cares about our opinion). In any case, it is nice to look over the ocean sitting on the balcony sipping a good wine. It is still the tail end of the season here with more people than last time we were here, but it is nice and warm with a cold breeze in the evening. Sound of the surf.
Here is the info on this wine form wine.com.

"72% Cabernet Sauvignon; 28% Malbec. The core Cabernet Sauvignon fruit component was sourced from Lot 3 of La Pirámide vineyard. With exceptional homogeneity and balance, these Cabernet Sauvignon grapes offer rich cassis flavors, supple texture and excellent structure. Two additional components of Cabernet Sauvignon were sourced from Lot 2 of the Domingo Vineyard and Lot 5 of the Adrianna Vineyard. These high altitude, cool climate vineyards provide fruit with ripe red currant flavors, strong mineral tones and notes of eucalyptus and black pepper.

The core Malbec fruit component was sourced from Lot 3 of the Adrianna Vineyard, the highest Malbec vineyard in Mendoza. This extremely cold, mountain microclimate produces exceptionally concentrated Malbec grapes with dark fruit flavors, perfumed violet aromas and well structured tannins. A second component is sourced from Lot 1 of the southerly located Altamira vineyard. Another cool area for Malbec, the fruit from this vineyard presents ripe cassis flavors and well balanced, racy acidity."

We will keep you informed what we drink while we are here. (we are sure you are interested, Noooootttt!)

Mini Vertical tasting of Joseph Phelps Cabernet

We had a shippment of Joseph Phelps (thanks Jimmy for your help) and did minvertical tasting of PJ Cab 2000 and 2005 (by Uncle-N and Lady Sea). Both are good wines. But 05 has much more vanilla and more fruites forward. 2000 is bit more like classic Brodeaux style but nice complex alyers of tastes. 2005 is more New World. Here are stats from the Winery.

BLEND & GRAPE SOURCES:80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petite Verdot and 4% Malbec from estate-owned vineyards and independent growers.
WINEMAKING DATA:Grapes were harvested between September 19 and October 25 at an average 24.° Brix, fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged 20 months in a combination of new French and American oak barrels (40%) and two- to four-year-old French and American oak (60%), before being blended and bottled in June, 2002.

BLEND & GRAPE SOURCES:90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot and 4% Petite Verdot from estate-owned vineyards (75%) and independent growers (25%).
HARVEST DATES: September 10 – November 3, 2005.
WINEMAKING DATA:Grapes were harvested at an average 24.7º Brix, fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged 18 months in a combination of new French and American oak barrels (50%) and two-year-old oak (50%) from coopers Sylvain, Demptos, Nadalie, Canton, Taransaud, Vicard and World Cooperage.

We are sure Piroca had lots of nice Brodeaux and converted to French wine buff.

Just quick note while at the Dulles AIr port waiting for the flight.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2008-VINTAGE 2008

This Sunday, Uncle Winepath has started the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon maceration. About 100 lbs of lowly central California cab was crushed, using traditional methods (feet). At an acceptable BRIX of 23.3, following an overnight cold soak, the must was inocculated with red pasteur yeast (at 20C) and now, after 48 hours of furious pink foaming with strawberry/apple /cherry aromas filling the chateau caves- we have a real macho FERMENTATION.... The cap is being religiously broken twice/day by the winemaker and the sugar is rapidly dropping as we speak. After the capricious last year's vintage of 2007, following 8 months in new french oak barrel (which now is bottled-not discarded, thanks to our wine experts Junebug, Lady Sea, Uncle N, Uncle Piroca)- this year's wintage appears to be less robust, but who can tell ?

Wine tasting on 9-12-2008

Piroca was literally on the way to Paris when we had this tasting and was absent. Uncle-E did not quite make it. As a result, this was a rather small tasting. Present were Winepath, Jimmy and Uncle-N and we blind tasted only two wines. Both happened to be from Australia.

1. Turkey Flat Shiraz 2005, Score=2+

Color is dark cherry red. Plum and black cherry on the nose. Good black fruits with plum upfront and a bit of acidic finish and good firm tannin. Reasonable finish. Good but not anything exceptional. It lacks a WOW factor and not that complex. Cali Cab was mentioned and then Spanish, Tempranillo?, was also mentioned. This happens to be from Australia, Barossa valley, Turkey Flat Shiraz. Apparently RP liked this one and gave 95. We did not think this is a 95 wine. Here is what RP said, "Cut from the same mold as the 2004, the spectacular 2005 Shiraz exhibits an inkier purple color as well as a deeper, richer, more nuanced style. Cropped at .8 tons of fruit per acre, which no doubt accounts for its awesome concentration, it is even better than the 2004”.








2. Tir na N'og Old Vine Grenache 2006, Score=2+

This is a quite different wine. Nice red color, slightly lighter than Syrah or Cabernet that we usually taste. The nose is very fragrant; strawberry and raspberry with mineral. Uncle-N said “granache”. The palate mirrors the nose with lots of nice sweet red berries and red cherry which end up with mild well-integrated tannin. The finish is quite long. South of France style (Rhone blend). Granache, maybe some Syrah component, were mentioned but Australia did not even come up as a country of origin. A decent wine but again nothing spectacular. This is from McLaren vale and carries a Gaelic name of “Tir na N’og” with a subtitle “Land of youth”. Wine spectator gave 91. I cannot find any information on the web about the winery but the wine maker/winery must be of Irish decent (obviously). According to Winkipedia; “Tír na nÓg was considered a place beyond the edges of the map, located on an island far to the west. It could be reached by either an arduous voyage or an invitation from one of its fairy residents. The isle is visited by various Irish heroes and monks in the echtrae (Adventure) and immram (Voyage) tales popular during the Middle Ages. This otherworld is a place where sickness and death do not exist. It is a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life and all pleasurable pursuits come together in a single place. Here happiness lasts forever, no one wants for food or drink. It is the Irish equivalent of the Greek Elysium or the Valhalla of the Norse.” If we keep drinking as we are doing, we may reach Tir na N’og someday.

Wine tasting of September 5, 2008

Hot weather has made a come back and we cannot have wines safely shipped this week. In any case we tasted 4 good wines. All from North America but two are classic new world and two are old world-style new world wines. Very interesting combination and the tasters expressed different opinions to the latter group of wines. Present are Uncle-N, Piroca, Winepath, and Jimmy.

1. Trefethen Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, score=3+

We felt that this is a classic Cali Cab. Nose has predominant black cherry and vanilla without funk. Palate is also fruits driven with mostly black cherry with usual oak derived flavors. Nice but mild tannin with long finish. Nothing wrong with this wine. Everything is smooth and polished. Consensus was Cali Cab and we were right. This is Trefethen cab 2004. Trefethen is very old (for Napa, founded 1968) vineyard. The grapes are from Oak Knoll district and here is their description of ‘04 vintage of cab. “An unusually warm, dry spring led to early budbreak and set the stage for an early harvest. Summer temperatures were seasonably warm, with early September bringing a memorable heat spell. The early season heat-stress resulted in smaller grape clusters and berries with intense, concentrated aromas and flavors.”

2. Ojai Syrah Melville 2004, score=3+

Again, we could tell what was the grape varietal but not the exact origin. The color is dark almost black with the help from the shape of the bottle, without tasting, we said “syrah”. Nose is a classic plum and black pepper. Syrupy mouth feel with more plum, black cherry, coffee with spices. Nice well-integrated tannin with long finish. We immediately thought of high-end Aussie Shiraz but this happens to be from Southern California, Ojai vineyard. Piroca bought this one before and we all liked it. RP gave 94 and here is his comments; "From the cool Santa Rita Hills, the 2004 Syrah Melville reveals classic blackberry, blueberry, charcoal, acacia flower, and bacon fat aromas. Stunningly rich, full-bodied, thick, and juicy with a smoky character in the mouth that is not apparent in the fruit-laden nose, this is a beautifully proportioned, full-bodied Syrah that should drink nicely for 10-15 years."
We tasted this in March 22, 2008 and we said “Such a classic nose of Syrah; very intense nice nose with plum, black fruits, some bacon fat and black pepper. Nice smooth mouth feel with lots of black fruits and plum, mocha and caramel. Nice structured tannin but some felt too much oak. Finish is relatively short. But overall, this is a fine North American Syrah....we like this better than fake "fruits" laden low-price Australian Shiraz for sure”

3. Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, score=3+

Now this is totally different from the first two. The brown rim indicates the age of this wine. Perfumy nose (old classic perfume) with mineral dusts and after the rain notes. Fruits are there but much muted and restrained, mostly black fruits with some earthiness to it. Tannin is very ripe and well-integrated and long finish, a classic old world style. We used to not like this type of wine but most of us now developed a taste for it and appreciate it. We thought of European and thought that this must be from Italy. Uncle-N thought of Brunello and Winepath suggested Barolo or other piedmont wines. Super Tuscan was also mentioned. We were all wrong. This is from Washington State “Quilceda Creek”. According to their drinkability chart, 1998 should be best drunk now and before 2020.

Here are some stats for 1998 cab ; “Winemakers: Alex Golitzin, Paul Golitzin, Marv Crum; Varietal: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Frank; Vineyards: Champoux, Klipsun, and Tapteil; Barrels: 100% French Oak; Time in Barrel: 22 Months; Time in Bottle before release: 9 months; Case Production: 2,500 Cases.”
Here are some review notes; "Bright ruby color. Floral, minerally nose combines cassis, blackberry, bitter chocolate and pungent oak. Thick, rich and very concentrated, with a flavor of chocolate-covered plum. Lovely combination of lush texture and firm underlying spine; lively acids give the fruit impressive purity. Finishes very long and subtle, with suaver tannins than this winery's '97 cabernets. Offers compelling sweetness without losing its freshness or balance. Score: 91-93 Barrel Sample (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar)".
"Blackberry jam, juniper berries, and spices can be found in the rich aromatics of the stunning, dark-colored 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon. A wine of awesome breadth, width, concentration, and power, this full-bodied beauty is crammed with lush layers of blackberries, plums, and cassis. This offering's prodigious fruit envelopes its copious silky tannin. Additionally, it displays an extraordinarily long finish. Drink it between 2005 and 2016. Score: 96 (Pierre-Antoine Rovani, Robert M. Parker, Jr.’s Wine Advocate)" .

4. Dunn Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 1999, score=2~3+

Here comes a stinker. Color has brown rim indicative of its age. Nose has rubber tire, sulfa and according to Piroca “green pepper” (Uncle-E, our green pepper specialist, was not here to confirm this). Palate is also old style; muted black fruits with black cherry predominating with layers of complex flavors ending in firm strong tannin. Some felt that tannin is still too strong. Nice long finish. Winepath did not like this one. But after some time, stinky nose dissipated and more complex flavors developed and Piroca liked this one best--thus, the range of scores from 2~3+. The tasters felt that this is European; Italian, Spanish, even French—possibly Bordeaux. But this is from Napa. Uncle-N had Dunn cab before (much younger vintage) and felt that it was too tannic and wanted to taste older vintage.

Here are some of the reviews in 2002; “90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Bright ruby-red. Wild aromas of blackberry, black cherry, espresso, leather, raw meat, tobacco and mint. Juicy, sweet and plump, with intense but rather rustic flavors. Finishes with lingering sweet fruit and surprisingly ripe tannins. Not squeaky-clean but long on personality." (Nov/Dec '02)".
"89 points Wine Spectator: "A dense, chewy, muscular wine marked by pencil lead, currant, cedar, mineral, iodine and dill flavors. Tightly wound and immense, and sufficiently tannic to cellar for up to a decade. Best from 2005 through 2012. (10/02)”.

This one really needed decanting.

Not by design but we ended up comparing two groups of new and old style wines. Which ones are better? Hard to tell. We feel both have occasions at which they will be at their best and we like both styles.