1. La-peira En Damaisella Las Flors De La Peira 2005, score=3+~(4)By far the best wine among the seven wines. Nose is very fragrant with rich complex aroma without any hint of funk. Mouth feel is velvety smooth with very forward complex black fruits with plum and black pepper, nice long finish and just perfectly smooth but well crafted tannin. Now comes the interesting part; Can we tell what this is? Everybody agreed that this is a New World wine. Since Uncle-N brought it, Spain was mentioned. Uncle-E suggested possibility of Clio (which has some similarity). Rioja was also mentioned. Australia, Argentina (some mention of Malbec). Uncles E and Winepath briefly mentioned Languedoc and promptly dismissed it. This is La-peira En Damaisella Las Flors De La Peira 2005 from France, Languedoc. As you all know, we are not Francophile with exception of Uncle-E, but this is one of the French wines we all liked. Here is what GV of Winelibray said (he gave 95).
“Insanely good value, even at this price. This is cut from the cloth of a Clio or a Numanthia; killer good wine in the bottle, huge potential for good scores and a reasonable price. Super ripe, complex and well balanced enough with earth, this fantastic wine needs to be tried. Do not miss out on this sensational new wine! 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache Noir, and 20% Mourvedre."
2. Gran Lurton Cabernet-Sauvignon Reserva Mendoza 2006, Score=2+Nose is rather closed but no unpleasant smells. Palate is also bit muted with restrained fruits upfront with nice acidity and firm well made tannin. Relatively short finish. We thought that this was Bordeaux-style but probably new world wine. It is “not-so-bad”. This happens to be Cabernet-Sauvignon Gran Lurton Reserva Mendoza 2006. Uncle Winepath picked this one up at the Argentinean wine tasting few weekend ago at WW of Wine (?) on Wisconsin Ave. I am sure Piroca will hate to hear this but this is a good food wine.
3. Familia Mayol Malbec Finca Montuiri 2004, Not ScoredThis wine was not rated for two reasons. 1. We tasted this on Thursday as an add-on without cover, 2. This was blind tasted (for some of the testers) on Friday and something happened and the characters of this wine have drastically changed. We may have to taste this one again to be fair. In any case, on Thursday, it was kind of good wine (we thought). It did have some pungent nose but was very reasonable. Now, on Friday, it became very unpleasant with strong turpentine or chemical smell and very unpleasant palate. This bottle was kept in the wine refrigerator tightly re-corked as were the other two wines but something has happened. This one also came from the Argentinean wine tasting attended by Winepath and Piroca.
4. Leeuwin Artist Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, score=2+ ~ 3This one dons a screw cap proudly, so everybody was immediately thinking of Australia. Nose is nice with minerals and some vegetal (green pepper) note. Palate is rather complex with fig, citrus, and blackberry leading to firm tannin. Nice wine. Beside usual suspect of Australia, Washington state (I do not know why) was also mentioned. Syrah, Cabernet, Merlot were mentioned.
94 Points - Josh Raynolds - International Wine Cellar
"Ruby-red color. Opaque ruby. Deep cassis and boysenberry aromas are brightened by zesty minerals and complicated by cured tobacco, licorice and baking spices. Sappy dark berry flavors are firmed by youthful tannins and pick up bitter chocolate and licorice with air. A powerful rendition of this wine, but there's no excess weight. Shows a more tangy red fruit character on the extremely long, juicy finish. Bet on this improving for at least another ten years."
5. Raymond Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Score=2+It has a herbal nose. Palate has nice fruits with citrus and good tannin. Australian Syrah, Argentinean Malbec, Other South American, even European origin were suggested. Although most of us thought this is a new world wine. This happens to be good old Cali Cab. Nowadays, nobody goes for the obvious.
93 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"Other wineries come and go. Raymond remains, offering solid Napa Valley Cab at a fair price. The '05 Reserve calls to mind the very fine 2000, but actually costs less. It's a dry, elegantly structured wine, rich in sweet fine tannins, and offering up complex, delicious flavors of freshly picked ripe blackberries, spicy cassis, baked cherry pie and smoky oak. Drink now through 2015."
6. Larkin Cabernet Franc Napa 2004, score=2-Nose has slight funk with minerals but not much. Palate is rather austere and flat. In general, we did not like this wine. What a disappointment. We thought that this was not-well-made Cali Cab but this happened to be Larkin Cabernet Franc 04. We expected more from Larkin. We were not sure if the storage was not appropriate at the wine store but it tasted very flat.
7. Rappahannock Cellar's Cabernet Franc 2006, score=2-Nose has some funk and coffee and smoke. Palate is rather muted with reasonable tannin but short finish. We were not impressed. After brief consideration of Northern Italian wines, we settled on Cab or Merlot from US. This was Rappahannock Cellar's Cabernet Franc. The result of Winepath’s recent trip to Northern Virginia wineries. These red grapes simply do not have enough time to fully ripen. In general, we are not impressed with NV reds. The only exception is Octagon but even that is not cost effective.
1 comment:
The change decanting for a day or two has always been a point of interest for me. Just as there was the vast change in the Familia Mayol Malbec Finca Montuiri 2004 which went from the rich taste of lavender and plum easily rating a 3+ or 4. Moving its rating down to a -1 undrinkable over night. The Larkin went the other direction. The shift was not as pronounced yet definitely there. After decanting, blueberry, black raspberry, and licorice were noted, as was full bodied mid-palate tannins. I would put it two days later at a 3 with the only thing keeping it from a higher 3+ or 4 being the finish which just dropped off leveing nothing to remember
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