Notes from a catered lunch at home. Our restaurant where we had been doing blind tasting lunches for a few years had closed and the chef agreed to do an event at my place.
Poderi Morini MoRosé Spumante Brut Rosé – no one guessed Italy right off – we figured that it was French. Nice onion skin colour, citric nose with good fruit, balanced, nice.
2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Hommage a Jeanne – light amber colour, a light petrol Riesling nose, peach and apricot with some spiciness, and good length. Very nice.
2016 Henricsson Vineyard Chardonnay 'Kajsa' – this BC wine had medium colour, a buttered popcorn nose, good concentration and my only criticism would be that the balance was a tad skewed to the low acid side.
2015 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill – clear mid yellow colour, some sulfur in the nose, quite dry in the mouth with vanilla, fruit and excellent balance. Quite good.
1975 Château Léoville Las Cases – I have had a half case of this for many years and have visited it only occasionally, waiting for it to snap into focus, as I had early on decided that it was one of the ‘good’ 75s that had enough fruit to outlast the ever present firm tannins. Last bottle I’d opened was several years before and it had shown decently but wasn’t entirely satisfactory. Then we had another bottle from a different cellar earlier this year and it had started off decently but had crashed and faded in the glass., so I figured I’d better haul out another one (plus because the event was at my home, I had a plethora of back-ups).
Short report – best bottle I’ve had yet. Medium colour, almost Burgundian, and a garnet edge. Nose had a bit of Rhonish funk at the start that dissipated after a bit, leaving some excellent fruit and mint notes, and almost crisp acidity. The tannic backbone was still present but was tamed to the point that it was thought of as simply being good structure, not the iron hand grip the wine had shown in youth. This is why I love classic clarets and probably why I no longer buy much of the modern styled Bordeaux.
2011 Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Estate Sta. Rita Hills – dark red, excellent fruit levels, typical PN nose with a definite tomato component and herbal, fresh and balanced. Good show.
1995 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville – dark wine sweet oaky nose, fairly concentrated flavours but relatively simple ones, and a sweet cedary end. Considering the age, a decent showing.
2012 Reynvaan Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon The Classic – obvious cabernet, ripe and showing sweet cherry and chocolate flavours and a bit of coffee and cocoa in the nose. Clearly new world ans it had some pretty good persistence in the finish.
2006 Montevetrano – I have enjoyed these wines in older vintages but hadn’t tried anything this young before. Quite dark colour with a tight nose of dark fruit with some oak and a hint of nutmeg. I would think that this needs a fair bit of time to really show well. Long tight and still tannic finish.
2004 Château Lynch-Bages – dark colour, classic nose of fruit and Bovril with some cassis, soft tannins and good length. Good now and has time.
1988 Grahams Malvedos Port – lighter colour than the last bottle I opened, and with a nose showing nice development – figgy and spicy. Full bodied and balanced with good medium length finish. In a good place. This was a half bottle, so may have been more forward than larger formats would be.