WTN: St. Innocent, Olivier, Cune, BV Georges, Reverie, Yquem

[Jenise]

Some wines consumed over the holidays:

1997 St. Innocent O'Connor
Dark, reddish black color. I hadn't thought I had any of these left, but stumbled over this one. Black cherry fruit gone blacker with a hint of dried basil and a bitter bite in the finish that I've not run into in a St. Innocent pinot before. We tasted the wine with three cheeses, and it was superb with a fresh, ash coated Salt Spring Island chevre where a bleu de gex and St. Marcellin only enhanced the bitter note. Drinks well now, but it won't get better.

1991 Cune Imperial Riserva
Oh, so delicious, this one. Ruby red. When the layer of brett subsided, warm cherry fruit and coconut on the nose, with cherries and spicy sandalwood on the mid palate joined by a bit of lemon rind on the finish.

1989 Chateau Olivier
Garnet-purple color, absolutely correct for a good bottle of it's age. In taste--well, Parker bemoans this Bordeaux property as an underachiever, and it was easy to see his point. The flavors were correct but more simple than complex, and it lacked everything that made wines like the 89 Talbot, Montrose, Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande, and Lynch Bages that I've had in the last two years so exciting and seductive. Definitely not up to the task of a Special Occasion Wine.

1996 Beaulieu Georges La Tour Cabernet, Napa
I chose this wine to go with my friend Jim Macmillan's excellent prime rib. At perfect middle age. Brooding deep garnet red, very giving cedarry red and black fruit with a bit of tobacco and Rutherford dust. Lovely, more sensuous than intellectual, which is why it was a better choice to follow domestic pinot noirs than a Bordeaux would have been. Perfect.

The 96 Reverie Diamond Mountain Cab blend was the backup to the Georges, and we opened it too. A huge disappointment after the Georges. Purple-black color. Heavy black fruit and green herb junked up with tons of oak. Clunky and a struggle to drink. A big disappointment after the lovely Georges.

1999 Chateau d'Yquem
I brought this to serve with my contribution to the meal, cold cured foie gras served with parslied toast and diced potatoes and cornichons tossed with mustard oil. I knew my friends had never had Yquem before, and I wanted to surprise them with something really special. This wine did the job: intense deep floral, lemon, grapefruit and honeysuckle flavors. For all of you who will now try to tell me that it's a waste to drink a wine like Yquem this young--trust me, it wasn't wasted. Excellent wine.

Jenise,

Thanks for sharing the tasting notes.

Just as a point of information--it's CVNE, not "Cune". It's an acronym for Compania Vinacola del Norte de Espana. But it does look like "CUNE" in the stylized script that they use. Their Reserva Imperial can be a great wine, indeed. I have fond memories of the 1976 and (if my memory serves me correctly) 1973.

It's never a waste to drink Yquem. In my mind, the world's greatest wines are those that are yummy when young, never go into a dumb or young period, and continue to provide pleasure for a decade or two or three. My favorite example of this is the 1985 Chateau Lynch-Bages. It was forward and easy to drink when young, it never closed up, and it just kept getting better and better over the next ten years. I only wish I had bought more than one case of it. Another example was the 1983 Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen Spaetlese from Adam Albert (the last wine from this great estate). It was excellent when first released, and just kept getting better and better over the next 20 years.

Just about every great vintage of Yquem fits this description.

-Paul W.

Great notes, Jenise.

I really liked the 99 George La Tour we had this weekend. It was just so elegant and balanced!

I liked the very raw, very young Reverie I tried this summer. I can see where you are coming from, though, it was quite "herbal"-which I actually like a bit (more than vanilla!)

Just as a point of information--it's CVNE, not "Cune". It's an acronym for Compania Vinacola del Norte de Espana. But it does look like "CUNE" in the stylized script that they use. Their Reserva Imperial can be a great wine, indeed. I have fond memories of the 1976 and (if my memory serves me correctly) 1973.

But it's commonly called Cuné, Paul, even on the cvne.com website.

We had the 1982 Imperial Gran Reserva the other night and it's amazingly still a baby. Two nights later (including an overnight in the decanter) and it was just coming around.

1997 St. Innocent O'Connor
Dark, reddish black color. I hadn't thought I had any of these left, but stumbled over this one. Black cherry fruit gone blacker with a hint of dried basil and a bitter bite in the finish that I've not run into in a St. Innocent pinot before. We tasted the wine with three cheeses, and it was superb with a fresh, ash coated Salt Spring Island chevre where a bleu de gex and St. Marcellin only enhanced the bitter note. Drinks well now, but it won't get better.

Thanks for the note. I don't have many 97s and none of the O'Connor. Was that the last vinetage? I wonder what the bitter thing is. I don't think I have ever got that from an SI either.

1996 Beaulieu Georges La Tour Cabernet, Napa
I chose this wine to go with my friend Jim Macmillan's excellent prime rib. At perfect middle age. Brooding deep garnet red, very giving cedarry red and black fruit with a bit of tobacco and Rutherford dust. Lovely, more sensuous than intellectual, which is why it was a better choice to follow domestic pinot noirs than a Bordeaux would have been. Perfect.

Nice. I really like these wines. Sounds like it is in a good place. I think I am going to pop a 93 soon.

1999 Chateau d'Yquem
I brought this to serve with my contribution to the meal, cold cured foie gras served with parslied toast and diced potatoes and cornichons tossed with mustard oil. I knew my friends had never had Yquem before, and I wanted to surprise them with something really special. This wine did the job: intense deep floral, lemon, grapefruit and honeysuckle flavors. For all of you who will now try to tell me that it's a waste to drink a wine like Yquem this young--trust me, it wasn't wasted. Excellent wine.

I don't think it is ever a waste to drink Yquem.... I just hope you have more.

Have a great new year!

Jason

[Jenise]

Paul, I was first introduced to the wine by a distributor, and he told me to call it "Coo-nay" and spell it either CUNE or CVNE. I've always chosen the former to match the pronunciation. Bill, thanks for the backup on that.

Jason, yes the 97 was the last O'Connor. Re the Yquem, that was my only 99 but I have some older vintages.

Brian, I liked the young Reveries I tasted at a Family Winemakers tasting and that's why I picked up a few back vintages when I found them at auction. These were probably good young too, but they're not aging well at all.

Thanks for the information, Jenise. I was especially interested in the Georges La Tour and the 1999 Chateau d'Yquem. I just had the '97 La Tour for Christmas Dinner and I have several bottles of the 99 d'Yquem. I have not had any d'Yquem yet. I thought the La Tour very nice but a while to go to its peak. It helped that we had it after the 2000 BV Tapestry. We had it with that braised whole filet w/garlic and thyme recipe that was in Parade Magazine two or three weeks ago.
JP

Brian, I liked the young Reveries I tasted at a Family Winemakers tasting and that's why I picked up a few back vintages when I found them at auction. These were probably good young too, but they're not aging well at all.

Wow. That's interesting for Diamond Mountain wines. I'll drink my one bottle over the next couple of years, then! I have an 04, actually.

That's the one advantage of my habit of buying one or two bottles at a time for me-if I goof, I'm not out TOO much money.

[Jenise]

Brian, things could well be different with your 04. And another diner at this dinner adored the Reverie, even though the rest of us found that a bit hard to understand. So it wasn't a flawed bottle, it was just so out of synch with the sexy nature of the pinots we'd been drinking (which I didn't even list here) and then the Georges La Tour and ultimately not to my taste period. None of which reflects on your bottle which could be different in a myriad number of ways--different winemaker, older vines, better vintage, etc.