Served with quite an array of foods-everything from chicken parmigiana to tri tip to pork to mushroom risotto to goose sausage!
Ch. Grande Corbin Despagne. Probably oxidized.
The palette was still not too awful, but the nose was wierd and the wine was definitely lacking. It was a dumper for a lot of people. Oh well. *
Clos Badon Thunevin 1999 St. Emillion. Wine of the night for me. Nice nose. Red fruit. What really impressed me about this one was the lovely savory finish-with that unique touch of bitterness I noticed before when I tried this wine. For $30, a very drinkable special occasion wine. **** I'll buy more
1999 Chateau Mongiron La Fleur St Emillion. $25. Definitely sharper and more acidic on the nose. Gary smelled creme de menthe, and once he pointed it out, I could, too. Much greener and more bell pepper in character. I'm guessing a higher percentage of Cab Franc. Still interesting. **1/2
Adastra 2003 Carneros Merlot About $30. A disappointment. Had the greener/herbal character I like, but boy it was hot. 14.8% abv. *1/2
Farella-Park2002 Coombsville/Tulocay Merlot . About $25.00 A crowd favorite. Very smooth, elegant, rich, with good merlot fruit and some nice savory finishes. ***1/2 I'll buy more.
Provenance 2003 Napa Valley. About $20. Brought by my boss to the party. A fruit bomb, oaky monster of a wine. Over the top dark fruit. A contrast to some of the other styles on display. Alas, I failed in my attempt to convert Gary B to the joys of restrained Euro wines, as he announced that he likes this style. Don't banish him, though, because within the style it represents, and for a sub $20 price, I enjoyed it, too
**1/2
Hartwell Stag's Leap 2003. $65. For the price point, this wine didn't show all that well. It was only ok. Nice, fruity, complex character, but too expensive. Oh well. **
Bartholemew Park 2002 Sonoma County About $30. didn't show as well tonight, and some people didn't like it. I still tasted though the complex layers of flavor dominated by dark fruit with some savoryness. I would still buy this one again. ***1/2
Clos Du Val 2003 Napa Valley Merlot. $25. My other wine of the night, with a caveat: Not sure how much "typicity" this has as far as tasting like "merlot," but boy I enjoyed it.. Very, very dark fruit-definitely current and blackberry, not raspberry. There is smoothness probably caused by the oak, but the oak does not give off any nasty caramel or even vanilla notes. Very tobacco/leather, with a nice savory finish. Impressive tonight. ****.
Havens Bourriqout 20-2 Cab Franc/Merlot. Mixed opinion on this one=it tasted a little warm tonight. Not too green though-their Cab Franc must be a little riper than some Loire versions I've had, Beautiful color and dark fruit. some nice layers of flavor and I will probably pick up more A crowd favorite. ***
Santa Ema Grand Reserva 2004??? Gary B brought this. It had a great herbal/minty nose-something I am beginning to associate with South American wines?????? I sipped some of this, but I had ruined my taste buds with some inappropriate food for merlot (hummus)
Still-I overheard a lot of positiive comments. I'll look out for this one.