WTN: Giscours(x2) Mondavi Heitz Flora Springs

June 1 blind tasting lunch notes

We had a smaller than usual group (7) what with the summer and other demands on people’s time, but it turned out to be a really exceptional bunch of wines.

2015 Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse Cape Blanc – this was a very pleasant if odd blend (the Cape winemakers seem to like conjoining varietals in an iconoclastic manner in their blended wines) of Roussanne, Semillon, chard, chenin and clairette. Both richness and minerality in the nose, and a creamy mouth feel (oak was evident) with a crisp clean finish.

1983 Ducru Beaucaillou – great way to start, a light to medium colour and excellent cedar and cherry, balanced in the mouth, of good length and smooth. Showed a tad of break up with time in the glass, so time to drink up.

1966 Giscours – I was thinking a bit later – maybe a 1970 (they always seem younger than they are to me) but knew this had to be a good vintage. Medium colour, a nose of tobacco with a tad of spice, mellow and mature, and in the mouth a still ample fruit presentation with notable acid in the finish. Starting to dry out a bit but one can make small allowances for half century old clarets!

2000 Giscours – much darker, of course and with a broader palette of aromas, including tobacco, cherry and a bit of tobacco. Fairly full bodied with good fruit levels and soft tannin notable only in the medium length finish. Good wine! Prime time drinking right now and no rush.

1994 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet – medium to dark colour, with a nose that featured sweet currant and mocha, in the mouth, sweet but not ripe with a nice long finish. Excellent showing of California cabernet the way I like it. Ready now but should hold. First bottle out of the case, that I have opened. Made by Tim Mondavi, and the only complaint I have is that it has the silly bottle they used for a few years, with a wide flat rim at the top that defies use of many conventional corkscrews.



2005 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard – we seemed to have set up the perfect tasting order – just luck, of course. Dark wine with substantial eucalyptus levels, a signature for the vineyard (plus I have it on good authority that it was not all due to the Eucalyptus trees adjoin the vineyard – the odd branch used to find its way into the crusher….) Spicy on palate with plumy cassis as it opened. Good.

2002 Flora Springs Trilogy – big chocolate nose with undertones of tar, ripe and smooth with sweet fruit on plate and medium length. Drink up.

Great food and excellent wines.

[David M. Bueker]

Nice line up.

I have cracked more than a few of those wide flanges on Mondavi bottles. The wide, round flanges on Turley are almost as annoying.

David, do you recall how long they used those silly flanges? I expect it was a misdirected advertising minion's attempt to set them apart, which it did, but in a bad way. I have a 92 Reserve that is also blighted with that bottle.

[Jenise]

My notes:

2015 Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse Cape Blanc – Jim's. Instantly recognizable as new world with a bright fruit entry, good midpalate weight and a creamy, lemon pudding finish. Interesting blend of which roussanne was the lead grape though most of us would have guessed 100% chardonnay.

1983 Ducru Beaucaillou – Michael's. What you said.

1966 Giscours – Mine. Thrilled to have that Ducru to follow with my pair of Giscours. I really debated about whether to pair them up, in which the #1 clue about the second wine might have been "same producer" yet I didn't want the momentum to get thwarted by a tweener. Anyway, guesses went 80's, 70's, and finally 60's, so the advanced age wasn't evident. Sweet nose with a hint of rubber and cedar, picking up spice, potpourri and a bit of caramel. I was thrilled with it.

2000 Giscours – You pretty much covered it--my notes include black cherry, caramel and an interesting salt note not typical of most Bordeauxs.

1994 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet – The last bottle of this I had, Les brought it to that 4th of July dinner you were also at in 2014 and it showed as well as yours did yesterday, in fact back then it would have been the best in the group except that I opened an '95 Grace which pretty much swept the field. Excellent. Can't believe you're just opening this case!

2005 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard – Alvin's. Interesting nose: piercing, spicey sweetness followed by mint but none of the sour milk I associate with Heitz Martha's. Ripe, forward and distinctive.

2002 Flora Springs Trilogy – Hayto's. Agree with you here: big chocolate nose, tar, blackberry jam. Nowhere but down to go from here, though. Drink up.

And yesterday's food warrants some mention: seared halibut on a parmesan risotto with fennel, a salad of thick roasted pork belly on micro greens, and lovely bit of veal chop with a creamy mushroom sauce on a square of fried polenta.

We came home and ate a bowl of watermelon for dinner in penance.

Agree that the food was exceptional. And my case of Mondavi 94 is a sixpack so wanted to start in on it when it was fully mature with time left to enjoy for a few years. Thik I hit that about right.

It might be instructive to try a bottle against the 94 Montelena some time.

The 94 Mondavi Reserve was one of my favorites and the last one that I bought..A friend and I popped my last bottle of this nectar when Robert Mondavi died and we toasted him and celebrated his life..

That '94 Mondavi Reserve was indeed a winner. I had a taste of it a number of years ago and would love to have five remaining bottles as Bill does.