We had a visit from Bruce and Debbie Hayes from Ontario, so an offline was set up here and along with a couple of locals and Jenise and Bob, who are honorary locals, we also had Clint Hall and Diana come up from Seattle. The theme was West Coast wines. It took poor Bruce a little while to catch onto Jenise’ habit of throwing bread my way whenever she especially approved of something I said, particularly as I had taken care to seat him between me and Jenise, but once he caught on, all was well!
With scallop and grapefruit.
1999 Charles Ellner Brut Champagne – a toasty custardy thing happening in the nose, very good with a clean long savoury finish.
2009 Delille Chaleur Estate – this sauv blanc/Semillon blend certainly favoured the latter varietal. It showed a fair bit of smoky oak in the nose, was smooth in the mouth, with medium body and pretty decent length, and it got toastier as it sat in the glass, the oak perhaps having had insufficient time to blend into the wine.
2009 Buty White – after the inevitable jokes about buty calls (none from me, I would add, and the lack of incoming bread attested to that) we tasted a Columbia Valley wine I am not familiar with and I liked it quiet a bit. Also a white Bordeaux blend but with some added muscadelle. Perhaps it was the addition of that varietal, or perhaps it was a more moderate hand with the oak, but the majority opinion was that this wine was the more pleasant with food, showing a lighter nose, and silky smooth palate presence.
2005 St. Innocent Freedom Hill Chardonnay – the final wine from Willamette Valley was also very nice, showing a very pleasant nose of yeasty bread dough with hints of lemon and vitamin tablets, a creamy mouth feel and very good balance.
We went on to wild mushroom ravioli with:
2004 Copain Pinot Noir Cerise Vd. (Anderson Valley) – a lovely pure clean pinot fruit nose with no detectable heat (it was over 14%) that developed an interesting spearmint component with time in the glass. The heat was detectable in the mouth but it showed good flavour and a lengthy finish.
2001 Arcadian Gary’s Vd. Pinot Noir – a big fruit driven nose that included an earthy element along with red fruit, sweet entry, tasty and long. I preferred this possibly due to the lack of heat from alcohol, but both were good.
We started in on the cabernets between courses and continued them with the main course of lamb chops.
1991 Dunn Napa Cabernet – very dark colour, and a leathery rounded fruit nose, this wine has a fair bit of soft tannin and adequate fruit. It is very pleasant now and IMO will not improve any further as you’d risk losing fruit.
1995 Viader Cabernet (Napa) – this has a lot of cab franc in it and that no doubt lifted the nose, which was excellent, with floral notes and cocoa. Elegant and well balanced, this wine is on top of the drinking curve and does not need any more time. It added a slightly raisined note to the nose later on.
2001 Leonetti Cabernet – a really nice nose on this wine with blackberry, currant, cocoa and spice. Supple wine with soft tannin drinks well now but no rush at all.
1990 Mondavi Reserve Cabernet – nose a tad closed at first but opened nicely showing cocoa, plum and earth notes. Mellow and ready with good acidity.
1992 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet – fairly dark with plum and leather notes in the nose and the usual cocoa. Very smooth and well integrated on palate with a very long sweet finish . Some anise notes popped up later after time in the glass. Comments from the group noted that this seemed the most ‘complete’ wine with everything where it should be in correct amount. First time I’ve opened this or the Viader since release and nice that they both showed well.
with cheese:
2000 Carmenet Copa de Oro Late Harvest Semillon – dark golden colour, a rather odd nose, with the nuttiness and slight maderisation of a Sherry, which made it a bit edgy, fairly sweet with reasonable acidity. Reminded me of a light Pedro Ximinez rather than a late harvest Semillon. Two half bottles.
Great group and great meal.
