WTN: Husch, Reverdy, Grange, Blue Mountain

[Jenise]

2006 Husch Sauvignon Blanc, Mendocino, California
A very clean and subtle sauvignon blanc: cucumber, jasmine tea and grass clippings. A guest brought it so place of purchase is unknown, but if it's local, I'll buy more. It was a great lunch wine with rich crab cakes, but later in the day I would have loved to have had more to serve with a dinner salad of cucumber and goat cheese carpaccio.

Instead, low on SB, I opened a 2001 Reverdy Sancerre (the SB, not the PN). Nose immediately reveals some age, and with the Husch still in mind it seemed stale, dieselly, even though it's an interesting and balanced wine and not at all over the hill. Would have been great with the toast and complexity of a panini sandwich, but the simple salad needed something fresher.

Our main course was a Mediterranean concoction of lamb shanks braised with fennel, sumac, walnuts, apple juice and pomegranate molasses on a barley and green onion orzotto, whose exotic and tangy flavors were going to favor something spicy and with some age. On a lark I chose a 1991 Penfolds Grange for the dish, and it turned out to be one of those to-die-for pairings. Boysenberry, cherry, tobacco and leather nose with a complex palate of spice, fruit and oak, and a finish that just kept coming. First of the '91's that I've had, and I'd say it's getting into peak territory.

After dinner, we stayed around the dinner table and I pulled a 2003 Blue Mountain Reserve Pinot Noir. My guests are pinot fanatics, and I know they'd not had this stunner from British Columbia--it's as pure and unfettered as pinot gets. Gorgeous cherry fruit and warm spices that turned sweet on the palate with some old Stilton and pecan/fruit crispbread.

On a lark I chose a 1991 Penfolds Grange for the dish, and it turned out to be one of those to-die-for pairings.

Pulled from your lunch rack, no doubt.

We await the replacement with great interest....

Having just read a good review re Husch Chenin Blanc, this looks like a winery to look out for. Thanks

[Jenise]

Wait a minute, Bill, your first question is always, "Is this one of your auction buys?" So of course, since the answer is usually yes, I'm feeling robbed of the chance to say 'no' for once. Bought these on release when we lived in Alaska.

Having just read a good review re Husch Chenin Blanc, this looks like a winery to look out for. Thanks

Where could you have read that, Dale? Frankly, it's less surprising to read of a good Anderson Vly Chenin (Lazy Creek and Navarro do good versions, too) than it is to read of a great Sauvignon from there. Maybe I just lead a sheltered life, though.

Mark Lipton

Husch used to be known for its pale, thin underfruited Pinot Noir. Wonder how they are doing with that grape?

The only Anderson Valley Chenin I've had was the Navarro and I can't remember thinking it was anything special, especially compared to the Riesling or Gewurz.

Husch used to be known for its pale, thin underfruited Pinot Noir. Wonder how they are doing with that grape?

The only Anderson Valley Chenin I've had was the Navarro and I can't remember thinking it was anything special, especially compared to the Riesling or Gewurz.

I've got to agree, as you'll see if you can wade through the trip report thread I started recently. The executive version: I shared a bottle of the '06 Navarro Chenin with Hoke Harden at dinner in Sonoma. It wasn't anything to write home about, though it was a decent wine. The '06 Husch Chenin that I had recently, however, was a very interesting and impressive wine -- not Huet or Foreau, but a wine that I'll buy more of. Lazy Creek's is also supposed to be quite fine, though I've only had their Pinot.

Mark Lipton