I was invited to attend a wine tasting with another local group last night. There were five of us, and the topic was Northern Rhones. The wines were brown bagged and served in random order. Everybody but me is ITB.
As an aperitif: 2002 Chateau D'Arlay pinot noir from the Jura. Good acid and minerality, rustic and comforting. Doesn't show it's age.
First around was a white in half bottle: gold, seems older, could be a 99 to 01 I thought. Well developed almond flavors, nice flowers, probably a roussanne/marsanne blend. No evidence of viognier. Turns out to be an '05 St. Peray, and stupidly I didn't catch the winery name.
Next, the first red. Olives, motor oil and iron on raspberry fruit. Classic Crozes to my tastes, and I think it's no more than 3 years old, but there's no agreement. Turns out to be an 07 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage. A very good wine that will reward cellaring.
The next one seems very young, possibly an 06 or 07. Blue-ish red color. Vitamin B and eucalyuptus on the nose with sweet fresh red fruits on the palate and little else. Certainly no stuffing to speak of. A drink-now sort of wine--deliciously so, mind you. I've had less than ten St. Josephs in my life but since this didn't fit the profile for Crozes or the big three, I suggest it might be one. And it is: 2006 Le Vies de Vienne.
Suddenly things turn serious with the next wine. Nose of lavender and burnt rubber, a little brett, olives, herbs, smoke and roasted meat. Medium bodied, complex and satisfying, and pretty much everybody's WOTN, it's an 04 Philippe Faurey St. Joe.
In spite of the fact that I know this next one is my wine, I'm blown away when I put my nose in the glass because what I smell is so unexpected: Bordeaux. This wine had nothing in common with the above wines or just about any Rhone I've ever had, rather it has the potpourri, pencil lead and dusty minerality of a 20-plus year old Medoc. I'm reminded that the last time I opened one of these (acquired from the same source in 1999), I took it to a wine dinner in Canada arranged by Blair Curtis, and even then it shocked us all with it's not-unattractive but nonetheless prematurely aged qualities. With time in the glass, the fruit fades. It's a 1997 Jaboulet Cote Rotie.
The next wine is daunting. Brettiest nose so far, with vitamins. Absolutely nothing else there. There's some discussion of TCA to be truthful, but I'm sensitive to that and saw none here. Opaque, black-purple, modern, big bodied, extracted. With time the palate opens to show bacon, eucalyptus, chalk and both substantial fruit and tannins, and the finish is a bit sweet. I figure it's a ringer from California or Washington which jars everyone because no one has apparently ever brought a ringer before, but now that I mention it...yeah! Oddly, it's not, it's the 2005 Remezieres Hermitage Cuvee Emilie. Nobody was excited about it.
The next wine is clearly labelled "Non-Rhone". The bottle's a bordeaux shape, but we're given no other clues. To me it tastes older, over ten years, but I can't narrow it any further than that. If I had to pick one grape I'd guess cab franc because there's some herbaceousness here integrated amidst the ashes and the savory fruit, but we're told it's a blend. Whatever it is, we all like it and are quite amazed, impressed, astonished even, when we find out that 's a 1995 Chateau Lumiere "Toshihiko Tsukamoto" bordeaux blend. That's right: made in Japan.
And then the inevitable discussion takes place wherein we gnash our teeth over the weirdness that is Washington syrah, both the belief on the part of many on the produciton side that syrah not only can but should be this state's dominant grape variety but also the fact that they attempt to accomplish this with overripeness and high alcohols. That sends Brian off to the cellar to grab what I have found to be this state's hardest to get wine, a Cayuse syrah. Specifically, it's the [b]2005 Cailloux Vineyard. It's terrific. It's complex, earthy, savoury and traditional, a real live bona fide Northern Rhone knock-off even if a bit warm at 14.5 %. Unfortunately, at north of $125, it fails to convince any of us that it needs to exist, even as a curiosity.
Great night, fun group.