Some recent tastes:
2000 Kenwood Cabernet Sauvignon Jack London Vineyard, Sonoma Valley
Maturing Cal Cab with blackberry, cedar and tobacco notes--refreshingly dry but not parchy (especially in the company of some gobby Aussies that I didn't even bother to take notes on). At peak, as tannins seemed to dissolve from one glass to the next.
1994 Château Margaux Pretty nose, as expected, with violets, chocolate and tobacco. A sweet caramel finish evident on first pour proves fleeting, however, as green tannins take over the back end and seep into the midpalate. Not a First Growth performance, where recent bottles of 94 Ducru-Beau and Pichon Baron have been stellar. Can this turn around? (On Cellar Tracker, I gave it just 89 pts.)
2011 Beringer Vineyards Chardonnay Private Reserve, Napa Valley
Interesting notes from others on Cellar Tracker ranging from "lean and meek" to "tropical", where I found neither. Rather, a wine with a solid New World personality, toasty oak but not overdone, well balanced, good body, and the potential to show extremely well 3-5 years out. This isn't the bombastic Sbragia style, but something a bit more refined.
2009 David Bruce Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley
Lovers of a generously oaked, extracted style pinot noir, which this is, will rate it more highly than I. Black and red fruit with notes of molasses on the sweet and heavy finish, it drinks more like shiraz than pinot. I remember liking David Bruce wines way back when, and though my own palate's shifted somewhat since then I don't think that explains how much I disliked this.
2011 Pico Maccario Barbera d'Asti Lavignone
Local wine seller touted this as great value Barbera. Notes on Cellar Tracker are very enthusiastic.
They're all NUTS. An extracted style with saturated fruit and a note of vinegar not too far in the distance. Neither of us could finish a glass. 24 hours later: it was all vinegar. Fed it to the rhododendrons.
