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WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

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Jenise

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WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Jenise » Thu May 31, 2018 1:58 pm

Various stuff from the last few weeks:

NV Bleasdale Shiraz Sparkling Langhorne Creek
Had this bottle lying around for about ten years now, so the sweetness has pulled back and interesting secondary nuances have developed. Very good pairing with spicy vegetable pakoras.

2016 Château Mas Neuf Costières-de-Nîmes Paradox Rosé Red Rhone Blend
Has that pinch of extra RS typical of Costieres de Nimes that I usually don't like, but that aspect worked very well with a full Indian meal.

2013 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
Bone dry and minerally with fruit of preserved lemon and quince, but texture's a letdown with relatively sparse bubbles as well as low persistence. Disappointing.

2016 Lang Vineyards Bravo White Okanagan Valley VQA White Blend
A zippy little reisling blend that's tangy and sweet on the midpalate but finishes drier than you think it's going to. Fun, a great patio wine.

2016 Spring Valley Vineyard Rosé Walla Walla Valley
Sadly, corked. But beyond that could tell that this would have been a stellar bottle. Super pale, delicate and crisp, complex.

2013 Etude Chardonnay Grace Benoist Ranch Carneros
Borrowing from the previous review, "tart lemon, juicy pears, barely ripe white peach, creamy vanilla, and lots of stony wet rock." I found it bigger bodied based on mouthfeel than he did, but perhaps that was because it was the most complete wine among the collected whites.

2012 Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley
An everyman's everyday merlot. Hard to appreciate in the company of the nicely aged grenache below:

2007 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja Veraton Garnacha
PnP'd. Drank beautifully--the alcohol and oak that annoyed years back have both integrated into a seamless wine. Soft plummy fruit with notes of canned pear, vanilla bean, and cream soda. Well-cellared bottles might coast here for years--I'll give them 2025.

2006 Arcadian Syrah Stolpman Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley

Outstanding. A great example of Northern Rhone treatment of new world fruit at absolutely the peak moment in this bottle's life. Bits of tar, bacon and garrique on barely sweet new world fruit.

2012 Matthews Claret Columbia Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
Our last bottle 18 month ago was very good and nicely showing off the cab franc component. Now, it's just showing the fatness and low acidity of the '12 vintage. Further upside development unlikely.

1990 Château Pibran Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend
Bill Spohn's wine. Plum fruit and cedar, well balanced with mature notes but am VERY surprised about the age. Own some 05's which probably won't live this long. Heck, neither will I.

2016 Blue Mountain Pinot Blanc Okanagan Valley
Very pure and a textbook expression of the pinot blanc grape. 55% Stainless and 45% 4-year-old oak creates a subtle creaminess.

2000 Château Pontet-Chappaz Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend
Ripe flavors consistent with the vintage, no Margaux nose, but otherwise at 18 a good showing for a cru B.

2006 Chateau St. Jean Eighty-Five Fifty-Five Sonoma County Red Bordeaux Blend
A CSJ wine none of us knew existed. Some leftover stuff bottled and named for the winery's address. Big, balanced and fleshy, surprising heft for the vintage. Bordeaux blend with syrah instead of CF. Plum and bing cherry fruit, tiny bit of tar, pleasingly integrated oak, classic California big-ness. A wine that leaps out of the glass and hugs you. At peak and should float here awhile--definitely not dead as some on CT have reported.

2006 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands
Drank our last two bottles in the past month on two separate occasions. The first showed livelier, slightly more youthful and complex than the second. Both were lighter in body as Arcadian's Pisoni's were this vintage. Looking at other recent reports, it's unanimous: drink up.

2003 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive Alsace Grand Cru
Rich morning pee-yellow. Intense nose of honeysuckle, quince and browned butter. Not oxidized but clearly near the end of life. Drink now.

2016 Buckel Chardonnay Grand Valley, Colorado
Ordered a bottle at Eulas Bistro in Durango, CO. Mr. Buckel is the winemaker at Colorado's Sutcliffe winery and this is his own label. Minimalist oak with dry, minerally fruit--compares closely with the style of California's Santa Cruz Mountains. Very, very good.

2015 Sutcliffe Vineyards Cabernet Franc McElmo Canyon, Colorado
Tasted at The Office in Durango, CO. Well made and very true to the grape with raspberry fruit, herbs, and pleasantly grippy tannins.

2004 Long Shadows Wineries Cabernet Sauvignon Feather Columbia Valley
Last night we paired this with a curry-cured rib-eye. This wine has never lived up to the Dunn reputation. Never had the complexity of his California wines, and now at age 14, it's one-noted and proves itself past peak as the last glass devolves into soy sauce flavors. Not one of my six bottles ever having developed anything in the way of satisfying secondary nuances. It's a real problem with Washington wines: too many don't age well--they just get old, and that's that. Sure vintage plays a part and 04 wasn't a great vintage, but Rob Newsom's 04 Boudreaux Reserve is absolute proof that beautifully aging cabernets with fantastic secondary complexity were possible. Why Allen Shoup's money and Randy Dunn's talent didn't produce one like it is beyond me.

2012 Flying Goat Cellars Pinot Noir Dierberg Vineyard Santa Maria Valley
A very good American style pinot, with more oak showing in this vintage that I expect from FG, perhaps because '12 fruit didn't produce enough lasting acidity for balance. These will not improve from here, drink soon.

2012 Montes Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha Colchagua Valley
Nothing but green bell pepper and cactus leaf for the first three hours, but came together in the fourth and showed reasonably good medium bodied Chilean flavors. Decant if you have to open one or hold.

2014 Lemelson Vineyards Chardonnay Reserve Willamette Valley
Drank two bottles this week, both of which happily showed much better than the subdued April bottle. Vivid chardonnay that's closer to Meursault than California, excellent.

And here come a bunch of Chateau Ste. Michelle wines. Not generally a fan of the winery but these presented very well:

2014 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica Ice Wine Horse Heaven Hills
Stunning bottle and label. Lemon, apricot and caramel with an almost unctuous sweetness. Lovely.

2014 Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Ethos Reserve Columbia Valley
Another year in bottle has been good to this. The oak has integrated and the wine shows a lot more balance and finesse than expected based on last summer's bottle. Too much toast shows up in the finish for my personal taste, but it works nonetheless.

2014 Chateau Ste. Michelle Austral Red Wine Columbia Valley Red Rhone Blend
Too sweet with nothing but top notes on first opening, didn't care for it, set it aside. Four days later, however, it had filled out beautifully into a voluptuous new world Rhone. The syrah, mourvedre and cinsault don't show individually but all serve to boost the grenache (which accounts for about 50%) element into a starring role. Quite good.

2013 Chateau Ste. Michelle Merlot Canoe Ridge Estate Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills
CSM makes a good traditional merlot, and the Canoe Ridge vineyard always introduces minerality into the cherry fruit in a very pleasing way. Drinks well now.

2013 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica Columbia Valley
POVILAS captured it perfectly, so I'll just quote him/her: "Great balance between flinty minerality, sweetness and acidity. Can be one of the top Riesling of a USA. Lilacs, peaches, pineapples. Fresh and full body with pepper, paprika and lime. Medium long finish with grassy minerality and lemon. I was expecting less from off dry Riesling. Balance is surprisingly good for this price range."

2013 Chateau Ste. Michelle Artist Series Red Wine Columbia Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
Didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Complex and silky, with cassis, spice and earth. Shows beautifully now with just 2 hours uncorked.

2013 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Cold Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley
Blackberry fruit with cocoa, menthol and a bit of sandalwood. A classic expression of Washington cabernet. Solid.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Dale Williams

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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, old Pibran, Feather, many mor

by Dale Williams » Thu May 31, 2018 2:13 pm

Jenise wrote:2016 Château Mas Neuf Costières-de-Nîmes Paradox Rosé Red Rhone Blend
Has that pinch of extra RS typical of Costieres de Nimes that I usually don't like, but that aspect worked very well with a full Indian meal.

2013 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
Bone dry and minerally with fruit of preserved lemon and quince, but texture's a letdown with relatively sparse bubbles as well as low persistence. Disappointing.


Is the Costieres Red or Rose?

Too bad about the Huet (though they typically have less fizz than Champagne)
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, old Pibran, Feather, many mor

by Jenise » Thu May 31, 2018 2:46 pm

Rose. And re the Huet--not my first one so I understand, but the persistence was an issue. Without being totally flat, it lacked something essential in mouthfeel.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Dale Williams » Thu May 31, 2018 3:54 pm

I didn't realize till now that CT lists as Red Rhone Blend, rather than "Rhone Blend" or "GSM Blend" or something.
Rose Red confused me. :)

I think I had a solo '10, but otherwise haven't seen Huet Pet since '05. Thanks for warning
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Jenise » Thu May 31, 2018 4:01 pm

Dale, I own three more of the Huets so will find out soon one way or the other if this was just a weird bottle or what.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Patchen Markell

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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Patchen Markell » Thu May 31, 2018 7:07 pm

That pretty much ruins Pinot Gris for me, thanks! :shock: :shock: :shock:
cheers, Patchen
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by David M. Bueker » Thu May 31, 2018 8:09 pm

That ZH Pinot Gris sounds like most young ZH Pinot Gris I have tasted in recent years. It’s not end of life. It’s life!
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Jenise » Thu May 31, 2018 8:12 pm

David M. Bueker wrote:That ZH Pinot Gris sounds like most young ZH Pinot Gris I have tasted in recent years. It’s not end of life. It’s life!


Could well be. But there were six of us there and that was pretty much the consensus of the table and the wine's owner--and this wasn't his first rodeo. Not gone, but best days are over.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by David M. Bueker » Thu May 31, 2018 8:57 pm

My point being that it never had any best days. The combination of ZH excess and 2003 heat created cooked, gross messes that were OTH on release.
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by Jenise » Fri Jun 01, 2018 1:05 pm

David M. Bueker wrote:My point being that it never had any best days. The combination of ZH excess and 2003 heat created cooked, gross messes that were OTH on release.


Ah, sorry I misunderstood.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Huet, Arcadian, Z-H, and my usual mishmash

by David M. Bueker » Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:35 pm

I was being overly obtuse.
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