Wine tasting of December 19, 2008

We tasted a total of 8 wines; 6 blind and 2 without cover. Piroca wanted us to taste extra two; Pinot (which, he thought, was not good) and Ovid (which he just got and has not tasted). Present were Piroca, Winepath, Jimmy, Uncle-N and Uncle-E who brought his friend Lady PK as a guest. The following 6 were blind tasted in the order it appeared. We started with Pinot and ended with Ovid which were listed at the end.

1. Pasanau Germans Finca La Planeta Priorat 2004, Score=2+~3

Nose has prominent jus de viande and black bean (by our Brazilian contingents, it was said to resemble “Feijoada” which supposedly includes black beans and pork). Palate has complex black fruits up front with bit thin mid-palate (one of the tasters expressed this as “watery”) and nice moderate tannin at the end. Also present are hints of lemon, green pepper and mustard. Because of the nose, everybody first thought this to be Shiraz (Australia) and because of lemon taste, despite not having proper color of blue tinge, Malbec (Argentina) was also suggested. Syrah, Cab blend was mentioned in passing. This is from Piorat, Spain. Bit usual for Piorate wine in that it is made of 80% Cabernet. Here is what JM said;

95 Points - Jay Miller - The Wine Advocate
"The 2004 Finca la Planeta is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% old-vine Garnacha, an unusual blend for Priorat. The wine is aged for 12 months in new French and American oak. Purple-colored, it has an alluring perfume of pain grille, slate, lavender, black cherry, and black currant. This leads to a full-bodied, layered, spicy wine with tons of fruit and 3-5 years of cellaring potential. It should be at its best between 2012 and 2020."

2. Chateau Montrose St. Estephe 2003, Score=2+~3

Nose has faint funk; best described as “sweaty foot or sock” or “xoxota” (I am not sure, this is allowed) by our Brazilian friends. Very restrained fruits with tannin finish with acidic kick. Consensus was that this is Bordeaux. This tuned out to be highly rated Ch Montrose. It is a blend of 62% cabernet sauvignon, 34% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot.

Stephen Tanzer gave 96 and said;
“Bright red-ruby color. Complex, perfumed nose combines raspberry, licorice, tobacco, camphor and black olive. Gripping and authoritative on the attack, then dense, sappy and juicy in the middle palate, with fruit of steel and great definition and class. Extremely intense raspberry, currant and red licorice flavors. Finishes with powerful but noble tannins that reach the front teeth and succulent fruit that goes on and on. This simply does not miss a beat from start to finish. “
This is also RP97! Obviously we are not Bordeaux lover.

3. Ramey "Jericho Canyon" Napa Red 2005, Score=3

We all thought this is a classic fruits forward Cali Cab. Nose has lots of fruits, caramel and vanilla without any funk. Palate is fruits forward (but not fruits bomb) with nice rounded tasted of all Cali Cab should taste and rather assertive tannin to finish. This was 2005 Ramey "Jericho Canyon" Napa Red and this is supposedly the last vintage from Jericho Canyon.

95 points from Robert Parker:
"The final vintage for this cuvee, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Jericho Canyon offers a Graves-like personality of scorched earth, chocolate, charcoal, and black currants as well as a sumptuous, full-bodied palate, and a layered, multi-dimensional finish. Drink this remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon over the next two decades. One of Northern California’s most successful winemakers/consultants, David Ramey’s personal winery continues to go from strength to strength. Ramey has had the best of both worlds, working in Bordeaux for the Moueix family, and in California at Dominus, Chalk Hill, and Rudd Estate."

4. O'Shaughnessy Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2005, Score=2+

Nose has slight funk (sweaty foot), which dissipates after sometime, and coffee. Palate shows forward fruits, mostly black fruits with usual oak derived tastes of a new world cabernet. Rather firm tannin. Consensus was new world cab; may be Cali cab or possibility Chilean. Nothing astounding but very nice wine and we liked it. This happened to be O'Shaughnessy Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon.

95 points Robert Parker:
"The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a beauty, with dark ruby/purple color and a big sweet nose of tobacco leaf intermixed with black currant, black cherry, new saddle leather, and white chocolate. The wine is full-bodied, powerful, with superb purity, texture, and length. It’s approachable now but promises to be better in 3-4 years, and last for at least 15 or more."

5. Chateau Chauvin 2005, Score=1+~2

Nose is rather closed but some mineral note is coming through. Palate is austere with bit hollow mid-palate with good tannin but bit strong acidic kick. At this point, nobody was paying close attention to guess what this wine was. In general, this wine was not liked even by Uncle-E. This is 05 Bordeaux.

90-92 Points - Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)
"Chauvin`s successful 2005 ranks alongside their 2000 and 1998. Its dense ruby/purple color is followed by lovely aromas of black currants, cherries, smoke, meats, and minerals. Superb purity, full body, good acidity, and moderate tannin suggest this fleshy, substantial St.-Emilion will be drinkable in 3-4 years, and last for 15 or more."

6. San Roman Toro 2003, Score=2+

Very nice perfume nose of floral note; the best nose among today’s tastings. Woody and caramel notes are also detected. Surprisingly fruits forward and more like new world wine with nice caramel and vanilla with good tannin. Again, everybody was busy talking etc and did not give serious thoughts as to what this wine may be. This is Tinto de Toro (Tempranillo) from Spain.

93 Points - Wine Spectator
"Plush, polished and alluring, this modern red offers ripe, sweet blackberry and cassis flavors supported by plenty of toasty oak and grounded by a firm minerality. Not muscle-bound, but structured and balanced, with a long floral finish. Drink now through 2015. 6,100 cases made."
The following two were tasted without cover. The Pinot was one Piroca initially bought for Thanksgiving by the recommendation of the fat guy at one of his wine stores.

7. Failla, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2006, Not scored

Color is thin and strawberry aroma with minerality. Palate reflects the nose with strong strawberry and other red fruits and mild tannin. Almost taste like Rhone (Granache). It is Pinot but we had better examples such as Kosta Browne.

Wine Spectator 87pts
"Dry, herbal yet savory, with dried currant and wild berry fruit that's rich and refreshing, if a bit on the loamy side. Has good concentration. Drink now through 2011. 500 cases made."

8. Ovid Napa Valley Red 2005, Not Scored

Nice wine. Color is of course no problem. Nose has nice minerality with floral note (lilac). Nice black fruits to start and then progress into vanilla and carmel and end with rather big tannin (may be bit too big, may need more mellowing). This one was made by Andy Erickson, winemaker for Screaming Eagle, Arietta and Hartwell with consultant winemaker Michel Roland and vineyard manager David Abreu.

94 points from Wine Spectator:
"Beautifully crafted, rich and complex, focused on ripe, loamy currant, spice, subtle herb and mineral notes that are well-proportioned, offering depth and concentration while remaining elegant and fleshy. Has a long, persistent finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot. Best from 2009 through 2016. 418 cases made”

TASTINGS FRIDAY NIGHT, DECEMBER 12, 2008

Present were: Uncles Piroca, Jimmy, E, and Winepath. Absent were: Uncle N and Robert Parker.
The first wine was a contribution of Winepath. A screwcap, 1+to 2, a great disappointment, from the land of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (but without his talent). No body, very little soul, a light coloured, grapey wine. I hope the reds from Austria will continue to improve. Blauer Zweigelt, I would rather have a white wine from here.

This was a cali cab, most figured it out from the beginning. Very nice, a 3+. Somewhat funky nose, but well made, mature wine , with rosemary, mint and herbs. It had a reasonably good finish, well made, if a bit without passion. Joseph Phelps, Cab sauv., 2005. Could accept this for a table wine.

Third wine to be tasted: A big one, a 4. Uncle Jimmy guessed this to be a Malbec. Uncle Winepath was clueless, as usual, (accusing everything to be a California cab). Rubber-funk, smokey, heavy blueish color. Superb on mid-palate; a complete wine. Jammy, but not fruitty. Lovely. Catena Zapata, 2004 Malbec from Mendoza.

This one we guessed: an italian vino, Toscan Villa di Capezzano, from the house of the counts Bonacossi. A 2+ to 3; made entirely from carmenere grapes, this is a pleasant, smokey wine. Cedar seems to predominate, which we often associate with Italian wines. We liked this one.

Last, but NOT LEAST: HARLAN ESTATE, 2004. A 5+, Wow!!
A great generous surprise from Uncle P, this unbelievable wine: color like garnet gold, nose of blue mountain coffee. the specific gravity of this wine (mass/volume, for all of you great physicists out there) must be enormous. Very port-like, raisin, pmmegranate quince jam, spearmint and bergamon. Well ballanced, superb cocoa and ghanaian dark chcolate (76.5% cocoa).
Here are the words of RP himself:

Wine Advocate The 2004 Harlan Estate is probably the most precocious and accessible Harlan Estate that this perfectionist team has made. Already compelling, the wine has notes of roasted coffee, charcoal, blackberry, spring flowers, and some background sweet, toasty notes. Dense, fleshy, exuberant, even flamboyant by the standards of Bill Harlan, this wine exhibits no jaggedness or rough edges, has relatively high tannins, but they melt away on the palate. The wine is sensationally well-endowed, long, and rich – a tour de force in winemaking. They can do no wrong at Harlan, and it is obvious, even in the most challenging vintages such as 1998, that this estate is a true grand cru/first growth, making wines of irrefutable world-class quality. Of course, none of this comes cheap, as the price is now moving up into the league with Screaming Eagle, but there are no shortage of takers. Score: 98. —Robert Parker, December 2007.

Wine tasting of December 5, 2008

In the past few weeks, we were delinquent in updating our blog. We did have a wine tasting at Winepath and Junebug’s home. Winepath let us taste 9 or 10 California wines from their recent sojourn to California wine country. Others included Le Mistral (Rhone blends) from Joseph Phelps, Relentless syrah from Schafer, Lewelling Cab and more. Winpath baked a wonderful Boule. Needless to say we were too inebriated to chronicle any of the wines tasted.
Present in the current tasting were Winepath, Piroca, Jimmy and Uncle-N. Uncle-OZ also participated. We blind tasted 5 wines.

1. Larkmead Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Score=3+~4

Color is nice dark garnet with a hint of brown tinge in the rim. Nose is very pleasant without any funk; licorice, vanilla and black cherry. Palate is clearly very fruits forward with nice polished tannin with slight smoky finish. Very nice. Winepath thought this is Spanish with barbequed hedgehog taste. Uncle-N thought this is a classic Cali Cab of new world style noting we had been fooled so many times by Piroca. This was Larkmead Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. We have tasted earlier vintages and we consistently liked them and 05 is no exception.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) 90-92
"Pontet-Canet comes to mind when tasting the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, a combination of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot. A deep ruby/purple hue is accompanied by aromas of graphite, black currants, pain grille, and spice. Medium to full-bodied, impressively pure, and lighter than the 2004, it is neither as heady nor fleshy as that wine, but should provide plenty of pleasure over the next 15 years. 2004 and 2005 could not be more different, with the 2004s flashy, flamboyant, and opulent, even voluptuous, and the 2005s linear, restrained, and more discrete, with slightly more austere tannins".


2. El Nido Clio 2006, Score=3+~4

Nice dark color with coffee in the nose. Very nice fruits forward wine with predominant black fruits, plum and nice well-integrated tannin. No question, this is a nice new world style wine. There are some differences in opinions as to which wine is better #1 or this one. Piroca and Winepath liked Larkmead but Uncle-N definitely liked this one. Because of some plumy palate, syrah component such a Cab+Syrah blends was suggested but this turned out to be just released Clio 06. It sold out so quickly from Wine library that neither Uncle-N nor Piroca could get a case. But Piroca managed to get 10 bottles from another wine seller. The 06 is a definitely great wine. We discussed the earlier vintage and concluded the 04 is still the best.

93 pts. - Gary Vaynerchuk
“COLOR-dark beautiful; NOSE-hedonistic fruit; chocolate candy bar with raspberries; over-the-top vanilla spice; a hair too much oak; very deep blackberry jam flavors; pomegranate; very exotic; very rich; very thick; very viscous; TASTE-bombastic; this wine make me think of Beyonce; so much fruit; so much complexity; dark cedar box flavor; silk for days; a hedonistic fruit bomb that doesn't overdo it and shows some class (like a polished elegant 47 year old lady); elegance, refinement & polish, but it's bombastic and still has it; while it's a youthful, vibrant wine, it has the elegance of Bordeaux, it has the fruit bombness of a Napa Cab or Barossa shiraz; I thought the '05 went overboard, but this '06 is a throwback to the balance of the '03 & '04 vintages; a beautiful hazelnut flavor on the tail-end; the raspberry fruit can not be denied; black currant finish; beautiful tannins; this has the "delicious factor"; this is excellent; GV-93”

3. Astrales Ribera Del Duero 2005, Score=2+~3

Color is nicely dark with some purple or blue tinge in the rim. Cedar nose with chocolate without funk. Palate is bit more restrained compared to our first two wines but very nice complex layers of fruits and ending in very assertive tannin, may be still bit too rough. Piroca noted a bit flat mid-palate. This wine is walking the line between new and old world and is very successful in doing that. After some aeration, this wine got much better. Malbec, Petite Verdot, meritage possibly Argentina, Cab, and Spanish have been suggested. This is Astrales Ribera Del Duero 2005. This is made of 100% Tinto Fino.

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"This is a huge and impressive step up from the 2003 Astrales, which was fine but not at this level. Here we're talking about color, bouquet, palate feel, intense flavors, finish, you name it. It's pure, ultratasty, chocolaty, smooth and pleasurable. Astrales is the complete package and a wine to watch. Top Shelf Editor's Choice"

93+ Points - Jay Miller - Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate
"A worthy successor to the superb 2004, the 2005 Astrales is 100% Tinto Fino sourced from vines ranging in age from 30-85 years. The grapes were fermented with native yeasts and the wine was aged for 18 months in French and American oak, 30% new. Purple-colored, it exhibits an enticing perfume of toasty oak, pencil lead, mineral, blackberry, and licorice. Smooth-textured, layered, and intensely flavored, the wine is currently tightly wound but very well-balanced. It will need a minimum of 5-7 years to reveal its full potential. This lengthy effort will well reward those with patience (and youth) by providing pleasure through 2030."

4. Mollydooker Maitre D' Cabernet 2006 served decanted in a covered bottle of SCARECROW 05, Score=2+

Color is dark and nice and nose has slight moldy note but nice. Bit of sweet candied fruits palate, which end in slightly bitter taste (not bitter as in bitter tannin). Cab, Cab blends, even amarone was suggested. When this was unveiled by Winepath, Prioca notice the top of the bottle looked like SCARECROW. Wow, Winepath is getting extravagant but this was M-D Maitre D. Nice try.

5. Grayson Cellars Merlot 2006, score=1+

Color on this wine is thin and palate is thin and very simple. We did not like this one although we could not tell exactly what this is.