We had our 25th poker and wine extravaganza get-together on Dec 6th at Zach’s house, with Zach providing a really interesting line-up both in terms of concept and quality. All of the wines except the after-hours Sauternes were served double-blind, and I believe all but the 5 starter wines were decanted about 5 hours ahead of time.
Starter whites:
2006 Domaine Dupont-Fahn Bourgogne Blanc Chaumes des Perrières. This first wine is a fairly pale color and offers up a bouquet of pretty chalk dust, wet river rock, lemon, graphite and botanical herb aromas. In the mouth, it leads with a wet stony character, slowly unfolding to reveal additional notes of yellow fruits and citrus that have a richer, mildly sweeter character. It has nice persistence and drive and a good balance of acids, fruit, medium body and light structure that give it a classy, even-drinking quality that has a nice clean finish.
2001 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay Estate Bottled Santa Cruz Mountains. This is a darker yellow color, with pea green tints. It has a much richer, more effusive nose than its flight-mate. In fact, it is kicking out the jams aromatically—with aromas of lemon meringue, sweet oak, brown sugar, hazelnut and juicy mango fruit all vying for attention. In the mouth, it is really scrumptious, with layer after layer of rich, creamy yellow fruits, honey and brown spices unfolding in waves of limpid flavor. In addition, it has an obvious underpinning of acidity and a whisper of minerality to carry along all the stuffing and structure with ease. For me, it is a fantastic combination that gives the wine a distinct and engaging personality.
Starter reds:
1970 Château Mouton-Baron-Philippe Pauillac. This wine is showing a good bit of age with its garnet/brown color and clear rim. Although clearly advanced in age, I like the nose on this a good deal. It features scents of dried cherries and berries, worn bridle leather, white pepper, tea leaves and jalapeno pepper that start off a bit faint but freshen up and flesh out considerably with air. In the mouth, it comes across as a bit austere at first, favoring light body, sour acidity and jangly edges over faded red fruit and flowers. Eventually, though, the fruit starts to find its footing, albeit at a surface pleasure level where the light cherry and strawberry fruits, soft dusty earth and graphite elements give it a nice charming quality that puts the wine’s best face forward. I think it is surely past its prime, but it still has some pleasant things to share before it goes.
1971 Château Cheval Blanc St. Émilion. Before I got to this wine, I heard some talk about possible TCA and aromas of marshy salinity, etc. However, in my glass, I detect none of that. Instead, I find lovely aromas of dark sour cherries, clay earth, dried leather, sous bois undergrowth, dried red berries, hints of musty attic and a very distinct arrow of spearmint leaf that penetrates right up into the nostrils. In the mouth, it is also very nice—with a dry personality and a good dose of acidity riding above a lot of interesting layers of funky aged fruit and leather bits. It has greater body than the previous wine, but is on the medium-bodied side much more so than full. It finishes a lot fresher and juicier than I expect, with a real even-keeled and decently-persistent finish that speaks of old Bordeaux to me. This was a treat to try and showed pretty well, I thought.
1989 Pierre Jacumin Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée de Boisdauphine. I believe this was probably the only true pop and pour bottle at the tasting, as it was sort of a late (but welcome!) addition to the festivities donated by Philip. The first glass sports a fairly gentle nose of soft suede, creosote, dark soil and faded dark cherry fruit that slowly unfolds to add in aromas of horse barn and pretty orange peel and persimmon. Although the profile holds pretty true to these elements throughout the day, later glasses develop greater depth and aromatic push. In the mouth, it is much livelier from the start--with lots of dark spices and bright twangy acidity, but also furry tannins that are very much in play and sort of over-ride the indistinct fruit at times. With the bright acidity and big burly frame, the dark fruit seems to get lost a lot of the time. However, coming back to this later in the day at about the 6-hour mark, it has almost completely transformed itself—feeling much more filled in with fruit flavor and overall showing much more holistic and balanced. I was a bit disappointed in that first glass, but nearly wowed by the second glass—so my advice is to decant this for a few hours, for sure.
Flight One:
2005 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Botella Santa Rita Hills. The nose here is overtly brambly and briery, with a ton of stemmy notes, lots of oak spices, a twinge of alcohol and a feeling of some prickly zing to go with an undeniable fruit bomb overlay. A topping of powdered cocoa just adds to the candied, confectionary feel of this. On the palate, it feels almost blindingly saturated with rich purple fruit and a raw smack of smoked char and wood flavor. Some dry tannin slips in on the finish, but otherwise this is about sweet purple fruit, oak and big structure. I mean it has a boat-load of sweet fruit that certainly has a good deal of “fun” appeal, but this is still young and primary and in need of some further taming.
2005 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Southing Santa Rita Hills. This wine is a bit darker on the nose, but otherwise is even more voluminous and large-framed than the previous offering. Dark purple fruit is here in abundance and drives the bus for the most part, but one senses a bit more earthy qualities here riding below the overt notes of plum, blueberry, fruitcake and boysenberry. In the mouth, it is again saturated with blue and purple fruit, tons of smoke and barrel spices, but shows more of a caressing, layered texture than the previous wine despite more consistent tannin presence throughout. The cocoa and berry-laden finish shows too much of the charred wood component right now, but hopefully that will smooth out with some time in the cellar.
2005 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten Santa Rita Hills. The bouquet here is a bit leafier and shows more of a murky forest floor quality below the dark and rich fruit wave that shows less obviously sweet in tone. Overall, it is blacker and more serious in nature than its predecessors—coming off perhaps as even a bit stand-offish. In the mouth, while black-fruited and weighty, this is again a more serious and calculating wine than the two that came before it. It shows a ton of spice and wood planking, along with a bit of Belgian chocolate and leafy notes to go with the hard-core shot of blackberry and black currant liqueur flavors. It finishes the driest of the three. It would seem to be the least ready to drink of the trio.
My favorites (ahem) were in order as they were poured, as I felt each one in turn tried to take itself more seriously, when that just wasn’t appropriate given the over-riding personality of the line-up. In the long run, I suppose my preference could be reversed, but right now I’ll take the one that is most fun to drink.
Flight Two:
2005 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. The first wine of this flight is a bit lighter-colored than the next two, but all three are pretty darned dark. Aromatically, this wine features a really interesting profile of animal fur, mud, star anise, leaves and fireplace ash to go with the fruit notes of dark cherry and rhubarb. It is creamy and fairly well-layered in the mouth but also shows youthfully raw tannins at times. There is a bright twist of acidity to the dominant red cherry and black raspberry fruit and lighter earth and leaf qualities. It feels young but is already enjoyable, with a nice and easily approachable Cabernet fruit profile. It is medium to full-bodied, with a dry, measured finish of black earth, ash and smoke atop dark cherry fruit. When it was revealed, I added “definitely punches above its weight class” to my notes.
2005 Beaulieu Vineyard Tapestry Reserve Napa Valley. The nose here is more overtly rich-fruited, with all kinds of black currant, blackberry and plum fruit accented by a bit of graphite and tomato leaf aromas. It feels nicely glossy, pure and direct. In the mouth, it has a good deal of classy black fruit filling that flows well and shows a good solid sense of drive. It is full-bodied and the texture is just a bit matted and dried out at times, with the tannins not feeling particularly large but definitely sucking some saliva out of the mouth. Overall, though, it is nice and rich, with a very tasty profile and good verve. A second glass later in the day shows even more purity of fruit and less tannin, taking my top slot for this flight.
2005 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve Napa Valley. This wine ratchets everything up a notch. The bouquet is fairly classy but also expansive and nostril-filling—with very nice aromas of cherry compote, rhubarb, raspberry jam and cocoa powder leading the way. On the palate, it is rich and lushly-layered with masses of blackberry and black currant fruit and fine barrel spices to go along with eucalyptus and mint qualities. It has a lot of stuffing for the long haul but is drinking pretty darned young right now.
For current drinking, my preference was for the Tapestry, with the Georges de Latour clearly the long-distance runner and the base Cabernet a very pleasant surprise. Indeed, this whole flight of Beaulieu was a pleasant surprise for me.
Flight Three:
2000 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley. I find this wine to have a fudgy nose of brownie batter, thick mocha paste, roasted green pepper and cigar ash that is a bit odd. In the mouth, it feels large-scaled, fudgy and thick on the entry and mid-palate but surprisingly finds a juicy streak late that really freshens up the back and finish. Otherwise, I find the dry extract and tannin levels to be rather awkward and gangly at this stage of the game and I’m not exactly sure where the wine is headed. I’d rather hold than drink, though.
2000 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley. This wine is a whole different story. Lighter-colored than the other two wines in the flight, it has a knock-out bouquet of juicy red and black berries, mixed currants, white pepper, aloe, worn leather, fruitcake and mace. In the mouth, it is perfectly polished and smooth, with glycerin-laden black currant and blackberry fruit and a hint of exotic spices. Jalapeno pepper, tomato leaf and ashy qualities come on late to add to the complexity of the flavor profile, which is extremely tasty and probably still not yet fully-formed. This is a tremendous wine to drink now or to cellar. Along with the Cheval Blanc, this was one of my Wines of the Day.
2000 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve To-Kalon Vineyard Napa Valley. The To-Kalon sports a darker but also glossier nose of dark plum and fruitcake, incense and potting soil. It shows a good deal of class but not nearly the levels of complexity of the Reserve at this stage of the game. In the mouth, I find this to be quite earthy and dusty with coal ashes, tomato leaf and dirt pile suggestions right up front and just a moderate bit of fruit hidden way to the back. That makes it come across as not nearly as engaging or open as the Reserve. It has a big frame, solid levels of body and some dark fruit that does start to slowly peek out with time in the glass. However, the finish is a return to the theme of ash and dirt. While there are some appealing elements to the wine and the pedigree can be sensed at times, it seems like a wine in need of long rest before it feels ready to reveal its fruit. I’d wait a good 5 to 7 years before trying again.
Flight Four:
2005 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Syrah Dry Creek Valley. This wine is black and opaque and sports a highly polished nose of lead pencil, blackberry, blackcurrant and fruitcake that does flash some airy qualities to go with those darker bass tones from time to time. If a wine can be described as harshly rich, this wine would qualify. It pumps out tons of sweet boysenberry and rhubarb fruit along with rich dark chocolate galore, but also features rough, bitter herb and charred wood notes that I find totally distracting. It also shows a tickle of alcohol running all the way through it from start to finish. The finish in particular is a hot burning poker to the tonsils. Overall, this is young, disjointed, and barely drinkable—at least on this day.
2005 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Syrah Dry Stack Vineyard Bennett Valley. The nose of the next offering has many of the same aromatic qualities as its predecessor, but shows better overall balance. Notes of lava, sweet earth, graphite, blackberry and fruitcake have a classier, more expressive set of things to say. In the mouth, this is chewy and loaded with glycerin. The wine grows and grows in volume and body with time and air—pumping out the sweet black and purple fruit needed to counteract the oak planking that is also evident here. It ends up being larger-framed and bigger all around than the previous wine, but manages it all a lot more successfully. There is also a nice inner perfume of flowers and incense that I like. It finishes with a polished dose of mocha paste and tons of lasting flavor—boding well for the future of this wine. This was my clear wine of the flight.
2005 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Syrah Kalen's Big Boy Blend Bennett Valley. The nose is almost a carbon copy of the previous two wines—perhaps showing a bit more reined in and inward-looking at this time. Still, it is polished and smooth, with aromas of incense, black fruit, dark earth, oak staves and pencil lead. In the mouth, though, everything is just far more obvious and sort of caricatured. It is rich and chewy despite a lot of glycerin, and shows tons of spices and raw tannins that are much more obvious than in either of the previous two wines. The fruit is massively chewy and dense, but it just feels like too much at this stage of its evolution. My palate was already fairly beaten up at this point and this wine provided the TKO.
After hours:
2003 Château Rieussec Sauternes. Thank you to Tyler for opening this 375 ml bottle as the evening was winding down. It has a nice gold color to it and features beautiful aromas of crème brulee topping, brown sugar, apricots and lemon oil all layered and richly enveloping. It has a great viscous, oily texture in the mouth and already feels layered and multi-dimensional. It pumps out a lot of rich creamy apricot flavor first and foremost, but also plenty of toasted botrytis spices, sugar cane and meringue. It has a wonderful, lasting aftertaste that really coats yet cleans the palate. It is not showing a whole lot of acidity, but it is in no way flabby or lacking in focus. In fact, it is fine-knit, luscious and fun. It is open for business now and ought to be amazing in another decade or so.
-Michael