Wine Tasting on 6-19-09

This is the first wine tasting after Uncle-N came back from Japan. Although much more wine stores have opened up and more people are enjoying wines in Japan, the majority of the wines are in the price range of $20-$50 dollars and consist of predominantly French and Italian. You can easily imagine what quality of wines you get from these countries and in this price range (of course with few exceptions). RP equivalent in Japan are sister-brother cartoon (Kamino shizuku or Drops from God) authoring wine critiques. Weaker (or subtle or easy to drink) wines are more popular such as Pinot, Rhone, Burgundy. Good California, Australian and South American wines are scarce. Most California wines in Japan are cheap jug wine varieties (no wonder California wines are not valued here). Even if you find familiar and semi-decent Cali wines, the prices are 30-50% more than in the States.

In any case, today we had interesting tastings with predominant Spanish wine entries. Present were Uncle-N, Jimmy, Piroca, Uncle-E and Winepath. We tasted 5 wines; three were Temperaillo from Ribero Del Duero, Spain (two were brought intentionally for comparison by Uncle-N but the third one by Piroca is coincidental).

1. McKinley Springs Cabernet sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills 2003, score=2-

Color is nicely dark. Nose is bit alcoholic (wine was served bit warm) with predominantly black cherry nose; a good start. Palate is bit disappointing with sour cherry with bit thin mid-palate ending in rather bitter tannin. Many of us especially objected to the acidity of this wine. Ausie cab, Argentinean cab or cab malbec blend, were suggested. This wine came from Washington State. This was recommended by Winepath’s regular wine store. We do not have much luck with wines from Washington State but certainly this one is not our favorite. Here is winery’s description of this wine:

“Our Cabernet Sauvignon grapes come from the first vines Andrews Horse Heaven Ranch planted in 1980. These 25 year old vines produce an intense flavor-filled grape that is extremely fun to work with. The wine from this grape is a big, bold Cabernet that shows black berries, chocolate, espresso beans with a hint of mint and spices. This well balanced wine has soft tannins that leave a nice long finish.”

2. Vinedos Alonso Del Yerro “Maria” 2005, Score=2

Color has bluish tinge at the rim. Nose has slightest funk, mineral and black fruits. Palate starts with rather muted black fruits with bit of acidic kick and ending in rather strong tannin. What a disappointment (especially for Uncle-N who had high hopes for this wine). Our tasters thought Petit Verdot, Malbec (from Argentina) and Garnacha (from Spain) mainly because of the blue tinge. Again this is not our favorite at all. This is from Ribera Del Duero, Spain and made of 100% Tempranillo. Rather high-priced (more than $10 expensive than Aalto), this is certainly not recommended. We often disagree with Jay Miller of WA, He tends to give much higher score than appropriate (in our humble opinion).

Wine Advocate 95:
“The 2005 Alonso del Yerro “Maria” was aged for 18 months sur-lie with batonnage. It too has a brooding perfume but is a bit more layered, forward, and immediately pleasurable. There is plenty of ripe tannin and a 60+ second finish. Give it 5-7 years of cellaring and drink it through 2025.” Score: 95. —Jay Miller, February 2008.



3. Aalto 2005, Score=3

Nose is bit closed but has some vegetal characters (sweet potato according to Uncle-E) but otherwise pleasant. Palate is nice although not a fruits bomb with layers of predominantly black fruits with caramel note ending in big but nicely integrated tannin. Chilean or California cab was the consensus. This is again Tempranilo from Ribera Del Duero. We tasted 04 vintage of this wine on August 29, 08 and Uncle-N posted 04 Aalto while vacationing in Hilton head (Nov 3, 07) and gave similar scores and similar description. This is much better than “Maria”.

Robert Parker - 95 points!

“The 2005 Aalto, made from 100% Tinto Fino, is a deep purple color with an enticing nose of wood smoke, bacon, floral notes, spice box, and blackberry. This leads to a powerful, layered, intense wine already beginning to show complex flavors. Structured for 5-7 years of further evolution, this strong effort will be at its best from 2015 to 2030.”

4. Seavey Cabernet Napa Valley 2004, score=3+~4

Finally we hit a good New World wine. Color is dark almost black with a wonderful perfume nose with plum component. Best nose so far. Palate is fruit loaded upfront with caramel, chocolate and vanilla with nice smooth tannin. Very unlikely wine from Uncle-E. This is screaming of “New World High-end Cali cab”. This turned out to be Seavey 04, which Uncle-E has brought before and we all liked it then.

WA 94: Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
“Full-bodied and powerful with velvety tannin, fabulous intensity, and stunning aromas of smoked herbs, charcoal embers, chocolate, creme de cassis, and minerals, it is a rich, voluptuously textured wine that admirably hides its serious tannin levels. It will unquestionably keep for two decades or more.”

WS 93: Wine Spectator
“Firm and structured, with ripe, vivid, aromatic currant, floral, fresh earth, spice and hazelnut-scented oak. Everything folds together, in a sleek yet muscular package that offers rich, intense tannins, but also excellent balance. Best from 2009 through 2018.”

5. Bodegas Los Astrales Ribera del Duero 2003, Score=3~3+

Color is nicely dark. Nose has some sulfa or “fecal” note with spices (anis). Palate starts with rather austere fruits but develops rather complex layers of flavors ending in nicely integrated but assertive tannin. Uncle-N made a comment that this is Bordeaux style but probably from California cab Bordeaux blend (amazingly we made similar comments every time we tasted this wine). This is again from Ribero Del Duero, Astrales 2003, to be exact. We tasted 03 Astrales on Feb 27, 09 and 05 on Dec 5, 08. The professional critiques below were in 06 and 04. Now after 3 years of bottle aging, it may be that the wine is getting better.

Rated: 92 by Josh Raynolds, Sep/Oct 06
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
“Ruby-red. Pungent, intensely floral nose features deep notes of blackberry, black raspberry and boysenberry preserves. Rich and dense, with serious structure and weight; sweet, lively dark fruit flavors are complicated by bitter chocolate, licorice and black pepper. The flavors build and deepen through the finish, which is sweet, focused and long, with a gentle suggestion of dusty tannins. Give this some time.”

Rated: 88(+?) by Stephen Tanzer, Sep/Oct 04
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
“Saturated, bright ruby-red. Cassis and blackberry fruit complemented by bitter chocolate and roasted oak notes. Sweet and fairly dense but a bit youthfully clenched, with chocolatey torrefaction notes currently holding the upper hand over dark berry fruit. Finishes with substantial tongue-clenching tannins and strong smoky, tarry oak. A bit gritty owing to the strong oak element. Technical director Eduardo Garcia is the enologist at Mauro. This should be a wine to watch, especially if future vintages bring more subtle oak treatment.”