I helped out a friend a little while ago who needed to inventory a bunch of new wine shipments he had just received. We toiled for a few hours at his off-site wine locker and then traveled a short distance to a local tavern to have dinner and drink a few of the wines from his stash.
2006 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay Napa Valley. We had opened this and started in on it back at the locker, and by the time we sat down to dinner, it was in a really great spot. The nose is big and fleshy, with wonderful aromas of lemon cream, pear, hazelnut, cold butter, smoke, wet stone and nutmeg. On the palate, it’s very mouth-filling and expansive, and just loaded with rich fruit and spice flavors. Although it’s definitely showing some oak, you can’t help but be pulled in by the bold, attention-grabbing flavors of hard lemon candy, pears, hazelnut, allspice, salted butter and vanilla. It’s tasty now and should have plenty of life ahead.
2010 Alban Vineyards Roussanne Estate Edna Valley. This is pretty fascinating stuff, beginning with a crazily exotic and kaleidoscopic bouquet featuring aromas like white roses, lemon oil, peaches, funky tropical fruits, honeycomb, potpourri, white pepper and eucalyptus. Taste-wise, it’s loaded with white currant, yellow raisin, peach and yellow tropical fruit flavors to go with a variety of spice notes that lend it a wild streak that’s quite appealing. It’s very oily-textured and fairly full-bodied, but full of bold and lively edgings that give it a zesty quality that really works. It’s full of character, full of life, full of flavor, and a lot of fun to drink.
1979 Château La Lagune Haut-Médoc. With our red meat dishes, it was interesting to switch over to something much more classical in tone. The ’79 La Lagune presents a wonderful bouquet of dark cranberries, red currants, old shoe leather, cigar wrapper, potting soil, pencil shavings and fine earth. In the mouth it delivers healthy but resolved cranberry and dark cherry fruit flavors that are gentelmanly and refined. There’s a dry, earthy edge to it all the way through, but it stays wiry, toned and tangy. It’s a very fine drink.
2002 Peter Michael Les Pavots Knights Valley. Open for several hours, the nose of this wine shows off its Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot components—with aromas of tobacco leaf, menthol and tomato plant surrounded by chocolate, mocha, cherry candy and also blacker fruit scents. In the mouth, it’s bold and dark, with plum and blackberry fruit in a densely fleshy package. The tannins are plump and the acids are soft but focused, and the length is great. It’s tasty now, but does cinch up a bit later in the evening, so I’d have no fears about aging this another 5 years before trying again.
-Michael