WTN: Bret, Hendry, Montes, Donjon, Papes, Rocha

This month’s blind tasting lunch notes.

2005 Bret Bros. Pouilly Fuisse Climat La Roche – sulphur and lemon in the nose, mineral and a hint of apple.

2006 Jean St. Honore Meursault - don’t know this producer, but liked the wine. Bit more colour, a light straw, and less mineral and more fruit, fuller in the mouth and tasty.

1999 Hendry Pinot Noir, Hendry Vineyard (Napa) – nice pure fruit based nose, with maybe a very slight hint of animal, a pretty garnet colour, shading to brick at the edges, good depth and smooth in the mouth. Very pleasant New World Pinot.

2000 Montes Alpha Syrah – floundered about a little on this one as it didn’t really show much syrah character. Good colour, a slight hint of mint in the nose, and some vanilla/oak, and on palate, medium bodied with medium length. The nose picked up a bit of blueberry with time. In good shape, which means I won’t be in any hurry with my Folly, their premium syrah.

2004 Ch. de la Colline Carmine – something I picked up from what I judged to be one of the best Bergerac producers a couple of years ago. Still some purple at the edges, fairly ripe fruit nose with currants, soft tannins, good length. Lots of stuffing here and will continue to mature. Ironic that these wines sell for maybe 10-15 E when a petit chateau a little further west, offering inferior wine, sells for more.

1998 Vieux Donjon – medium colour, soft tannin, fairly smooth on palate, red fruit, a bit warm. OK, but no better. This bottle seemed prematurely ageing compared to the ones from my cellar, and I made a mental note to haul one out soon to confirm that impression.

2004 Clos des Papes – fairly dark, ripe nose, a bright wine that seems mostly Grenache (this turned out to be correct) with good length and medium tannins. Some nice berry fruit here and it should continue to improve for awhile yet.

Porto Rocha 3 Century Tawny – a blended tawny from this Portuguese owned house, with wines from 1899, 1900, 1945 and 2000 (doubtless to freshen it up a bit). The wine was basically brown in colour, with a sweet figgy nose and fairly sweet in the mouth although the balance was quite good. Interesting wine, quite good. Too bad they didn’t realize that the third century didn’t begin until the year 2001, so this is only Two Century Port……

[Jenise]

2005 Bret Bros. Pouilly Fuisse Climat La Roche – Minerally chardonnay notes with a little heat on the finish suggesting a riper year. Very good, though.

2006 Jean St. Honore Meursault - Very aromatic with sweet honeysuckle, also marzipan on the nose and palate. Richer than the previous wine by a few degrees. Also very good, would have a hard time choosing between these two which I preferred.

1999 Hendry Pinot Noir, Hendry Vineyard (Napa) – Superb warm, generous pinosity in the nose. Aged and yet ripe. I actually wondered if it wasn't a '90 Grand Cru Burgundy--there was an earthiness (your "animal") about it that could have been old world. Loved this, and was pleased to see that something as rare and esoteric as a Hendry pinot ended up in Canada. You guys constantly surprise me!

2000 Montes Alpha Syrah – I tend to dismiss Chilean wines, and wines like this remind me that I'm wrong to. To your excellent description I would only add that it was notably brighter than one expects from syrah period let alone one of this age, hence our floundering. Very enjoyable.

2004 Ch. de la Colline Carmine – Effusively fragrant and pretty nose of white flowers and dark berries, which for me is the charm of great merlot. Found it on the borderline between new and old world styles, so my first guess was a young Washington merlot from a good house like Leonetti, and when that failed I went to France. I missed out on an offer of Colline wines from Garagiste a year or so ago, and now I know what I missed. Excellent.

1998 Vieux Donjon – roasted red fruit, some cola spice. That cola thing completely threw me off the trail and so I was suprised when others guessed, correctly, that we had a Chateneuf here (not that I had a better idea). And, while I bow to your greater experience with Donjon and note that same entitles you to a different set of expectations about what Donjon can and should be, and rightly so, to my tastes this wine was excellent. My notes say, "Wow, in the zone", repeating the same comment I made re the Hendry.

2004 Clos des Papes – Can't improve on your description, except to add that there's a polished modernity about these young Clos des Papes that I find intriguing and confusing. I've never had an older one, so am not sure where they're going to end up.

Porto Rocha 3 Century Tawny – my wine. And I must tell the story: one of the guys in this group always brings a dessert wine, and apparently everyone thought he preferred that but he recently revealed that no, he just brought port like three months in a row once upon a time and now he feels it's expected of him, so he obliges. So I piped up and said this month, I'd bring the dessert wine, because a few years ago in fact I'd bought and been saving this very wine to surprise Jim with at some point. And what happens? Jim doesn't show. ARGH. But to the wine: very madeira looking in the glass. Brown with a yellowish tinge and lightly cloudy. Aromas and flavors of date bars, root beer, lemon juice, apple cider, tangerine and butterscotch. Complex and delightful. I would like to add that last night we enjoyed the pour I brought home for Bob (thanks for your contribution, Bill), and the wine was actually better than it had been at lunch. More delineation between flavors. Wish I had another bottle.