A theme with a bit of scope – North and South America.
Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley (nv) – little nose at first as probably presented too cold, eventually developed some yeastiness. Good acidity, mousse perhaps a bit lacking. Decent.
1982 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve – medium garnet colour with fading edges, a nose that was rather dusty at first but developed to show some cedar and red fruit notes. Up front acidity and faded in the glass over half an hour but pretty good while it lasted.
1997 Geyser Peak Reserve Alexandre Meritage – a leaner greener nose, but pleasant. Long and cedary with some decent stuffing – good showing.
1990 Sena – this wine, a joint venture between Errazuriz and Mondavi was dark, with a slightly funky mint/tobacco melange in the nose, good fruit levels, a bit on the sweet side, and decent length. Good. A Bordeaux blend.
1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia – still dark, with a deep plum and blackberry nose, well balanced and with good length. Very good. At peak.
2006 Bodega Noemia de Patagonia Malbec J. Alberto – very dark – impenetrable, almost, but with hints of salty caramel and lavender in the nose, which as pleasant. Drinks well now, as it is more developed than the colour would make you expect and the tannins have already softened. My wine – wanted to show them what a good (as opposed to pumped up overly sweet) Argentinean Malbec could be like.
2001 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor – another dark wine with a smoky minty nose but I think something was off – it showed as simple on palate and a bit lacking in fruit, which has not been my experience with other vintages. I’ll reserve passing any judgement on this as it may have experienced sub-par conditions at some time in its life.
2008 Kiona Chenin Blanc Ice Wine – some people really liked this, which passé my understanding, unless they have little experience with good dessert wines. It was light orange in colour and was very, very sweet. There were no identifiable elements in the nose and no flavour differentiation. Loire houses like Huet and Moulin Touchais need not lose sleep over this one!
2000 Daniel Lenko Vidal Icewine – not my favourite hybrid grape by any means, but as a dessert wine not at all bad. Very dark orange colour, a burnt sugar and orange nose, with a bit of pineapple, well balanced albeit very sweet – the Vidal acidity is a definite asset there.