A few weeks back, I was happy to join some old friends and make some new friends from around the country at a dinner featuring a whole bunch of fine meat products and a raft of good wines.
There were a few starter wines already open when I arrived.
2004 Olivier Leflaive Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume. This wine shows pretty notes of chalk, apple, pear and graphite on the nose. It has solid flavors of herbs, pears and apples through the mid-palate and more of a sour citrus fruit finish in the mouth. I like how it shows some precision allied to a creamy texture and a nice freshness—but I suspect it will take on more length with some time in the cellar.
2004 Domaine William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. I missed this one.
2005 Ridge Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains. This wine is a whole different animal, with a spicy, woody, soft and sexy bouquet redolent of sweet vanilla, toasted oak, nutmeg, meringue, herbs and rich yellow fruits. In the mouth, it is super-rich and concentrated, with a smooth and luscious texture to it. It is full of vanilla, nutmeg, hazelnut and tropical fruit flavors in a very mouth-filling package. It doesn’t show a whole lot of cut, but it is very giving and packed with flavor. I hope the sweet oaky notes integrate a bit better with some time in the bottle, though.
We then moved on to a blind tasting of some New World pinot noirs. We knew the wines but not the order of service.
2004 Dehlinger Pinot Noir Reserve Russian River Valley. I’m not fond of this wine at all. It opens with a weird astringency that rises up into the nostrils and never really abates as other notes of murky earth, burnt stems, mushroom stalks, black tea leaves and dark cherries try to make their presence known, as well. It just has no appeal at all to me. In the mouth, there is still that sliver of bitter smoke and earth, but one can also sense a very rich core of plums, blueberry jam and boysenberry syrup flavors. Although it has a smooth texture and good tangy acids, it is just too uneven and awkward and I just don’t enjoy drinking it.
2007 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Koplen Vineyard Russian River Valley. This is a whole lot brighter and more lifted, with raspberry and cherry fruit right off the top, with candied but deeper blue and purple berry aromas accented by brown baking spices coming on strong. At times, it seems a bit overdone, though. In the mouth, it is very creamy and lush--and the rich flavors of blue and purple berries, smoked oak and vanilla leave a very lasting impression. However, the flavors seem a bit overly confectionary at times and the finish is a lot more cloying than I would like. This is really sexed-up and blatantly fruit-forward, and while I at moments can feel myself falling under its spell, my overall take is that it needs time to tame down some of the overt flamboyance.
2006 Walnut Block Pinot Noir Marlborough. This is a lighter but much more balanced bouquet than any of the previous wines—featuring crisp aromas of fresh cherries and strawberries, leaves, chalk and crunchy minerality. In the mouth, it continues in that vein, with a bright and pleasingly juicy profile of pure cherry fruit and rocky minerality. It is easy to drink, but with a sneaky concentration and depth through the middle and a good crunch on the finish. It is not the most complex wine, I don’t think, but it is rather enjoyable and well-made.
2008 Ten Minutes By Tractor Pinot Noir Judd Vineyard Mornington Peninsula. This wine is rather transparent in color and features a lot of evergreen, juniper berry and light strawberry notes on the nose. On the palate, it is pure and driven and very acidically-structured, but the flavors are light and a tad straightforward. It is made in a crisp, refreshing style with a red berry and light brown spice flavor profile that is clean and easy, but ultimately a bit lacking.
2002 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvee Elizabeth Occidental Vineyard Sonoma Coast. This is the first wine that made me sit up and get excited—starting with the interesting bouquet notes of dank funky earth, dried sweat, mincemeat, chocolate and mixed berries. On the palate, it is nicely balanced between the sweet plum, rhubarb and raspberry fruit and the earthier notes and barrel spices. There are no hard edges anywhere and it features a lovely layered texture leading to a good long finish.
2005 Auteur Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard Willamette Valley. Here we have a cool, classy nose of blueberries, smoked cherries, scorched earth, saddle leather, smoked salami and pencil shavings that are full but not overdone at all. It is more savory than sweet and has a lot going on. In the mouth, it is creamy and concentrated, but ultimately not quite as complex or expressive to me as the Kistler. It is cooler, earthier, more reserved and a bit more masculine in demeanor—with nice flavors of dark earth, cool spices and dark cherry paste. It is very solidly-made, delivers good flavor and seems like it will be able to cellar a while, too.
The Kistler was my favorite of the flight, followed by the Auteur and then the Walnut Block and the Kosta Browne. For the group, it was the Auteur that barely took the crown (by one point over the Kistler and the Walnut Block and 3 points over the KB).
We then moved on to the free-form part of the evening, which involved mountains of gourmet-cooked food and some fantastic wines.
1982 Chateau Prieure-Lichine Margaux. The bouquet of this wine leads to a good deal of thought and introspection, as it slowly morphs over time in the glass to give up very pleasant aromas of leather, creamed cherries, red currants, white pepper and bacon fat that just get better and better over time. On the palate, it has a nice mellow flow and gentle layering providing a good platform for the moderately-concentrated red currant and cherry fruit, bacon fat and ash flavors. It is a wine that grows on you the longer you sip and consider it--and in my opinion offers delicious drinking. I’ve had a poor bottle of this wine in the recent past but this one was a welcome reassurance.
1982 Chateau Talbot St. Julien. There is a much more overt and almost brawny nose to this wine--pumping out all kinds of lead pencil, eucalyptus, tobacco leaf, saddle leather, black currant, scorched earth, grilled meat and spicecake aromas. On the palate, it is delightfully cool and gentlemanly, yet muscled, giving and generous with all of its black currant fruit, spice, tar and earth flavors. It is ever-changing and expands broadly as the evening goes on, all the while staying exceedingly smooth, well-constructed and finely-balanced. It really delivers the goods—great wine.
1989 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac. Wow, this is simply outstanding. The nose is rich and layered, yet utterly classy and pedigreed—with lovely aromas of espresso roast, sweet tar, black currant, cocoa, fireplace ash and faint jalapeno. In the mouth, it is seamless and pure, with a totally holistic feel from start to finish. It offers a richly-woven tapestry of plum, cherry and black currant fruit that is full and fleshy, yet cool and refined. It may not provide fireworks, but it is a study in balance, drive and refinement that I think is just wonderful.
1974 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Reserve Napa Valley. The nose here is a bit on the cooked side, with hints of caramel, compost and stewed cherries that are not real pleasant. In the mouth, though, it is considerably better-- offering lots of cedar, cinnamon, stony cherry and crisp red berry fruit flavors that seemingly have some moderate grip left. Actually, it can be pretty enjoyable to sip for a short while, but clearly this needs drinking up quickly.
1984 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Napa Valley. I really love this vintage of Montelena. On the nose, it lures you in with pretty violet, incense, cedar dust and menthol aromas but really captures you with the darker, richer notes of cool earth, brownie batter, creosote and minced meat. It is the kind of bouquet that is simply a joy to spend time with. In the mouth, it sticks to the same principles—delivering classic Montelena earth and cool dark fruit in a brawny-structured but smooth-textured package that is drinking at peak right now but showing no real signs of decline either. A really outstanding vintage of Montelena here.
1991 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Napa Valley. This is a nice wine in just about every way. It starts with a cool but sultry nose of blackberries, black currants, white pepper, tomato leaf, tobacco, smoke, dusty earth and incense. In the mouth, it is drinking great--showing outstanding balance and layering to the dark and mysterious fruit, spice, toasted nut and oak spiced flavors. It is rich and full and nicely spicy, with a long and impressive finish.
2004 Sloan Napa Valley. Wow, what a big paradigm shift one encounters coming off of the older wines and trying to process this offering. I know a fair number of folks really did not care for this wine, but once I got over the shock of it, I actually found plenty of redeeming qualities. First off, the nose is very powerful but sleek and slinky—with strong youthful aromas of black currants, spiced blackberries, chocoloate, pencil shavings, mace and creosote. In the mouth, it delivers all of those same qualities in a very smoothed-out and highly-polished textural framework that feels very modern and free-flowing. The fruit is a bit overtly sweet at this stage and there is a fair bit of wood influence, too, so that is part of the turn-off, I imagine. Still, for me, I think there is a place for this kind of wine once in a great while. I much prefer a steady diet of the Bordeaux and classic California Cabernets, but I don’t write this style off completely.
2005 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. On the other hand, this wine just seems to take it a few steps too far for me. It has a nose of rich chocolate, vanilla, overt oak and menthol that is richly sweet and a tad overdone but generally is likeable enough. In the mouth, though, it is a hot alcoholic milkshake that burns as it goes down the throat and gets raw oak splinters stuck in your craw. It is big and broad-shouldered and black-fruited, but impossible to take more than a few sips of right now. I’d stash this away for a good long while and hope for something good to come of it.
2005 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji 5 Puttonyos. This wine offers up an unctuous bouquet of brown sugar, apricots, crème brulee topping, honey, toasted orange peel and pistachio nuts. The sweetness level and the flavors of apricot, toasted orange peel and dried pineapple are nicely balanced on the palate by the acidity, and it does not feel cloying or especially heavy. This was a nice cap to the evening, for sure.
-Michael