2001 Siduri pinot noir, Clos Pepe Vineyard
Youthful wine with almost no secondary development. Sweet black, blue and candied red fruit across the palate broken only by an odd decaf coffee note in the finish. A very good, well made wine, but after a month of drinking pinot almost daily, we have concluded that the Santa Rita Hills appellation is not our cup of tea--there's a warmth that we love about pinot noir, that every Oregon pinot we drank had, that these wines don't.
2005 El Felino Malbec, Argentina
Opaque purple-black. Chalky, indistinct black fruit with unsweetened black licorice and toasted barrel flavors. Make that the bottom of the barrel. Thick and heavy--like getting a big cup of espresso when all you ordered--and hoped for--was a cup of straight brewed coffee. No varietal character, no joy. Got through a first glass to be polite, couldn't drink a second. $20 locally.
2005 Paul Kubler Pinot Gris "K", Alsace
Perfumed canned pear and a slight oxidative note (Bob said, "Do I smell sherry?"). Full-bodied from undoubtedly ripe fruit, with the low acid and midpalate residual sugar that typifies the heaviness of most Alsatian wines to me. Went very well with a layered salad of tomatoes chevre cheese and dried thyme, but I couldn't drink a second glass by itself. $26 locally.
Then, some impressions from an annual Halloween party last Saturday night wherein everybody but us brings under $10 wines:
2002 Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon, California
Very ripe, heavy, low tannins, residual sugar. Couldn't drink.
2005 Rex Goliath Cabernet Sauvignon, California
This isn't great wine, but it was downright stylish compared to Mr. Shaw. Nice flavor, balanced.
1999 Nice Legs Merlot
Best wine on the table, and one we brought. This Washington state wine, which I'm sure is made by some bigger name winery but I don't know who, had some earthy red fruit and interesting secondary development.
2004 Coppola Merlot, California
Heavily tarred, unrecognizable as merlot. Nasty.
2004 Kirkland Shiraz
That's right, Costco wine. A savory style medium bodied shiraz with earthy red fruit and herbs. For our tastes, it was the 2nd best wine there but it was full of little chunks of something that looks-wise could have been crumbled cork, but weren't. They were floating throughout the bottle so almost every sip got you some of these solids, they weren't just an accumulation in the bottom of the glass. Offensive.
And there were others I can't remember. Good thing about a party like this is there's absolutely no temptation to drink too much.
