WTN: Moreau Bosquet Barton Phelps Sadie Dow

Blind tasting lunch notes.

2008 Blue Mountain Blanc de Blancs – this bubble made from chard was light straw colour, had excellent mousse, lots of acidity and some nice apple notes that showed up with a bit of airing.

Eyrie Vd. Rose of Pinot Meunier (old vines) – this Oregon bubble showed lovely colour, and interesting slightly funky nose and good balance.

2006 C. Moreau Chablis Valmur Grand Cru – ripe chard nose with apple and butter, some colour, rich and smooth on palate.

2001 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chante Le Merle Vieilles Vignes – mature colour, browning a bit at the edge, and a mature nose with fruit ad mingled tar. Good acidity and soft tannin. Perfect now and no reason to hold.

1983 Leoville Barton – an obviously claret nose, and a well structured wine with a nice cedar nose and soft tannin, pleasant and with medium length.

2008 Phelps Creek Pinot Noir Dragonfly Vd. – nice light clear colour, a nose of fruit and flowers, and a bit of spice, with lots of spicy fruit on palate.

2003 Sheridan Vd. L’Orage – claret blend from Yakima, darker and with ripe plummy red fruit nose with an interesting milky sweet component, still fairly tannic.

2003 Eben Sadie Columella – Cape syrah blend, this wine showed clean pure fruit and was quite dark with a sweet finish, quite full at the end.

2007 Domaine Montvac Vacqueyras ‘Variation’ – brought this back from the Rhone a few years ago and wanted to try it. Fairly dark, but also quite dumb in the nose, although very gradually opening up a bit. Lighter than you’d expect a 2007 to be. Decent berry fruit on palate.

1997 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz – blood/iron in the nose and some black pepper and spice. Almost elegant with good length. If only all Aussie Shiraz showed this sort of balance!

1991 Dow Port – medium dark with some nice jammy cherry fruit in the nose , a rather chalky mouth feel, and a sweet mellow finish with chocolate notes. Good showing. Start drinking!

E and E used to be a regular sighting on the shelves here Bill. They must have had a good rep eh.
Dows..yum!

[Jenise]

My two cents:

2008 Blue Mountain Blanc de Blancs RD –
Golden delicious apple, lemons and raw bread dough. Rich fruit with clean finish. 'RD' means this one sits sur lie 7 years prior to disgorging.

50th Anniversary Eyrie Vd. Rose of Pinot Meunier (old vines) – my wine, purchased at the winery last month. This is a historic kind of wine, made from the very first vineyard planted in Oregon by David Lett in1965 from cuttings he brought back from Europe. Pale coral color, incredibly spicy nose, complex palate, fine bubbles.

2006 C. Moreau Chablis Valmur Grand Cru – What you said, Bill. Btw, there was some controversy at table about whether the wine was oxidized. I'm pretty sensitive to oxidation, and personally didn't find any here. Just too old--a couple years anyway past optimum.

2001 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chante Le Merle Vieilles Vignes – Brownish, and just a little cloudy. Tarry nose, some spice, but way more mature than the '01s I've been drinking.

1983 Leoville Barton – What you said, and very fine. Worth noting that '82 and '86 were excluded from consideration before you, rightly, guessed '83.

2008 Phelps Creek Pinot Noir Dragonfly Vd. – also my wine and another history lesson from the Pacific Northwest. The Dragonfly vineyard is in the newly created Columbia Gorge appellation which cuts an east-west swath through both Washington and Oregon states with the Columbia River as a center line. The Dragonfly vineyard (which has been renamed several times, so the original traces are hard to follow) was the first pinot vineyard in Washington state and it dates to 1965 like the Eyrie wine above. Phelps Creek is a top producer on the Oregon side specializing in pinot noir with a Burgundian winemaker and this vineyard is the star of their lineup. Nose of dark cherries, spice and a whack of mint follows through on the complex palate. Drinking superbly right now.

2003 Sheridan Vd. L’Orage – Sweet, jammy nose, a bit simple on the palate. In all, pretty typical of Yakima fruit and the hot 2003 vintage.

2003 Eben Sadie Columella – Complex, saturated dark fruit that we struggled to identify before outing the majority syrah component. A very classy wine.

2007 Domaine Montvac Vacqueyras ‘Variation’ – Drinkable, but it came off kind of plain following the Columbella. Not a lot of character here.

1997 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz – What you said.

1991 Dow Port – Again, what you said. I'm so glad I own some of these!

Btw, good to see you back in the saddle.

I wouldn't have expected 2006 Chablis to thrive for 10 years, Jenise, even at GC level.

[Jenise]

Tend to agree, Chaim. This bottle wasn't mine and I believe the owners of it weren't unhappy with how it showed, but I personally have been disappointed by most of my older white burgs of late, but for an 05 Pousse D'Or Caillerets which in fact was lost in my cellar and not deliberately held-onto, and have nothing at this point older than 2011.