Brown bag tasting theme was anything having cabernet in it (I did try pretty hard to come up with a sparkling white example, but failed).
2002 Daniel Lenko Chardonnay Old Vines Reserve – off theme starter, a hard to find farm gate Ontario operation. Showing a bit of colour, typical chard nose, decent fruit and trailing oak. Not bad.
1996 Ch. Musar – this threw everyone including myself, and I have a fair bit of experience with this producer including a couple of lengthy survey tasting with the owner. This had the colour of a mature Burgundy, a not un-Burg like nose of soft mellow fruit (and later on some pencil shaving) and was quiet sweet on palate. Unlike any Musar I have previously tasted.
1990 Ch. La Tour de Mons – this Margaux had a slightly funky nose at first but settled down to muted fruit. Soft tannin decent length, middle a tad unfocussed but nonetheless reasonably tasty. Don’t hold.
1997 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard – dark with bit of coffee and slightly ripe plum in the nose and a bit less than the usual; amount of mint, sweet entry, tasty and long, finishing with still firm tannins. I wouldn’t touch this for at least 5 years.
1997 Mondavi Cab (regular) – tar and plum in this similarly dark wine, sweet on palate and still pretty firm. Notable oak in nose. Needs time.
2001 Delheim Grand Reserve – as usual, I figured the group would head for Bordeaux and Napa, so I headed off in the opposite direction and brought this Cape wine, although I should have pushed it forward earlier before the onslaught of American oak and fruit. Medium body, with an interesting herbal cabernet nose and underlying red currant, medium weight in the mouth, with good but not prominent acidity. Nice.
2003 Dunn Napa Cabernet – good colour, slightly ripe fruit and lots of it, but nowhere near what my previous experience would have lead me to believe. Sweet entry and medium long, decent but with little complexity at this point.
1995 Ch. St. Michelle Ethos – Washington state meritage showed a sweet vanilla nose, and was mellow and smooth in the mouth with hints of mint at the end. I liked this.
1997 Wynn’s Coonawara Cab – this regular bottling is one I’ve bought and aged for many years – it often performs well above its price class. Still dark, with some nice spice in the nose, sweet entry and nicely tuned oak, long and smooth. I have some 1986 and 1996 I better try and find soon!
2004 Concha Y Toro Don Melchoir – nice to see Chile in the game. Very dark indeed, and with a furry feel on the tongue, this was a baby. Huge fruit, black currant nose, high concentration and sweet, long finish. Infanticide!
1976 Hans Eifel Trittenheimer Apotheke Beerenauslese – not often I am thrown by a German wine, but I swear there was nothing that gave any hint that this was Riesling, nor where it came from. Medium amber colour, quite sweet nose, sweet in mid palate and then quite dry at the end. These wines dry slowly, losing sugar over many years, and this struck me as what I would expect from a mid – 1970s Auslese, but not from a BA. Interesting wine that made me scratch my head.