Dinner at the Casino steakhouse in Ferndale with friends last night, each brought a bottle:
2007 Pique Cailloux Bordeaux Blanc
While everyone else had regulation cocktails, I ordered this off the menu for Bob and I to share. I'm a fan of the PC reds but have never had their white. It was delicious: crisp, elegant, with good minerality, a hint of white grapefruit and an interesting guava note.
1999 Betz Pere de Famille Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington
Finally. That is: bought six bottles of this about five years ago and the several I've opened have been all minerals and tannins, no fruit whatsoever, hard and tough with nothing but alcohol in the nose. Wasn't at all sure where they were going or if they in fact had anything to go on but they weren't enjoyable or worthy of Betz' fine reputation. I had to conclude that the prior owner probably thought so too and that's why he sold them. And I wouldn't have bet on them coming around. (I had two backups with me last night.) But finally, at eleven years of age, this wine is starting to reveal. Still somewhat austere for an American wine, but now there's some tangy dark black cherry fruit, cocoa nibs, graphite and tobacco. Very Paulliac. And very good, with more improvement to come.
2007 Aragon, Napa Valley
I could not examine this bottle in the darkness of the restaurant, but it was described to me as a meritage blend. I have no idea about price. I expected a fleshier, fruit bomb style wine because of who brought it, but it was an upside surprise to find a balanced wine that showed some structure and restraint while not hiding it's California origins. Very good.
2006 Syzygy Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Washington
The Aragon was so good in fact that it made this competent little Washington Cab seem a bit chubby and single-minded. Reading this, you're probably thinking, wow, what a crappy name for a wine. Well think away, and let me tell you that one look at the bottle won't ease your fears. The label is blue and orange and the capsule's orange. Couldn't be uglier. And the label depicts the kind of stuff that Paul Winalski and Ryan Maderak understand about what's going on out there in the constellations, all of which takes way too long for them to explain to you if you visit the winery. Which I did once. Left scratching my head about how these space cadets ever got into wine in the first place. But they do make good wine. Good enough that at only $29 I bought a bottle of cabernet to bring home to see what it would do given more time in the bottle. Now this bottle wasn't mine, but in fact it is the very vintage I did buy so I can make this comparison: it's fleshier now and shows some black curranty fruit, and the finish sports a bit of a vanilla pudding flavor from the oak which I'd prefer not be there. This could actually be just an awkward phase, however, that integrates with a bit more time. I'll hope so.