TN: Huet Villa Mt Eden Evesham Santa Duc Castellinvilla

Notes on a blind tasting July 14, 2022.

Averill Creek Charme de L’Ile – this was an NV bubbly made on Vancouver Island from pinot noir, pinot gris and chardonnay. Bright clear yellow, balanced with crisp acidity, decent mousse, a pleasant palate calibrator.

2005 Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont – a lightish amber colour, with an excellent nose of floral honey and elements of both apple (crisp) and peach (sweet) in the mouth. Very slight hint of oxidation but it added some complexity rather than detracting from the experience. I do love these wines! And for me demi-sec is (if you’ll excuse the expression) the ‘sweet spot’ for Vouvray, adding interest without too much RS (which is why my preferences are for German Spatlese over Auslese unless I am in the mood for a sweetie).

1986 Villa Mount Eden Cabernet Sauvignon – my wine and I immediately found that I has wasted time worrying about whether it would show well at this age – it did! Surprisingly dark core but with pale edges, hints of anise and leather with some currant developing with time, good fruit in the mouth and soft tannins A good showing, and surprisingly Bordeaux-like.

2015 Shaw and Smith Pinot Noir (Adelaide Hills) – Australian cool climate pinot. Medium colour, red fruit, a tad musty, bit acidic and slightly oxidized. Presumably and off bottle.

2014 Evesham Wood Cuvee J Pinot Noir – medium dark colour and a notably sweet red fruit nose, this Oregon pinot made up for the shortcomings of the previous bottle. It was scented lightly with spice (nutmeg?) and overall rather Burgundian, with a long clean finish. Very good.

2006 Castell'in Villa Chianti Classico Riserva – quite dark with a slightly roasted impression, nice nose with a bit of fig, tobacco and mushroom and some dark cherry notes on palate. Finishes long but still fairly tannic – very good but needs more time.

2001 Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues – fairly dark colour with a sweet savoury meaty nose and excellent fruit levels on palate. This wine is still singing and I love the tune! Wish I had more than a fw bottles in the cellar. I still have the 1995 as well – a side by side tasting may be called for!

[Jenise]

So sorry to have missed it. But wow, I totally missed the memo on the topic--I thought it was open re grape but French only in honor of Bastille Day.

Love Evesham Wood pinots. And I have some Shaw & Smith--that's def an off bottle, but also '15 was a really hot year. Might have had custody issues. Your Mt. Eden sounds glorious.

I was going to open a Montelena but figured there might be retaliation from below the border if I did that without you! Might end up blind tasting Yellow Tail next time.

Thanks for note on the '05 Le Mont, looks like I have one. Agree that DS is fave style in Vouvray (or at least Huet)

I intend to use a Foreau DS for a food event coming up but haven't tasted it before - hopefully the balance will be similar to the Huet! I will compare it to a Suduiraut Sec in a flight. We will see.....

I didn't take notes, so here are some basic impressions. Bill's notes give a great impression of the wines, so I won't add to them.

The Huet should have been opened earlier - popping and pouring wasn't the best approach. Next time I'll give it more time. But it improved rapidly, and as it warmed up, it really starting delivering. Glad I have one more! There is no rush on this wine. One of my favourite wines.

The Villa Mt Eden screamed Bordeaux when I first smelled it. Napa cab was a clear second guess. This was really an old school Napa cab, I think it was 12.9% alcohol! Great to taste this style, but there wasn't a lot of fire left in this, and this should be opened soon I think.

The Shaw and Smith was definitely off in some way. It wasn't corked, as it had a screwcap. Cooked would be my guess, but something was certainly wrong here.

The Evesham Wood was opened by Bob in honour of Russ Raney, the first owner of the winery and a great, influential early leader of Oregon pinot, who died this week. His legacy is still in great hands, and this was a lovely OR pinot. Very nice now, but it's best days are still ahead. It will help me wait to start drinking my EW pinots.

The Castell'in Villa reminded me again of how well a good Chianti can age and how much QPR these wines provide. This was one of my favourites on the day, with lovely redfruits, velvety texture, wonderful integration and still some tannins to hold it tight.

The Santa Duc was a replacement bottle for the Shaw and Smith. This was popped and poured as well, but as Bill notes, it was singing right from the start. This was rather 'old school' as well, without the massiveness, hyper-ripeness and additional oak that the 2000s were to see in the Southern Rhone. My favourite S. Rhone vintage, which helped too. Again, the integration and balance of this wine was impeccable, and this was my favourite wine of the day.

And a lovely day it was too, sitting outside with a beautiful view of the river and forest.

[Jenise]

I didn't know Russ Ramey died. I was introduced to him and his wines by a long long ago former member of the original CompuServe forum where Robin Garr and and I first became acquainted. Tom lived in the same southern California town I did, and he and a bunch of his buds were all burgundy fans. EW was the one new world pinot noir that they accepted as being Burgundian. So anyway, one time when Russ was passing through town Tom had a bunch of us to dinner to meet him. My how many lifetimes I've been through since then.

[David M. Bueker]

Very sad to see that Russ Raney passed away. His Evesham Wood wines were always lovely. Thankfully the winery has been turned over to an equally committed winemaker.