Served at dinner on Sunday night:
2011 Buty Cabernet Sauvignon Beast Phinny Hill Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills
At the perfect moment in life for current drinking, this has rich, maturing cabernet fruit augmented with warm leathery secondary nuances of bottle age. Very sorry that this is my last bottle.
2021 Zorah Karasi Vayots Dzor Areni
Absolutely LOVE this. One of the planet's oldest grape varieties, the thick-skinned areni grape, never grafted and on its own rootstock, has been grown in the extreme climates of Armenia for millenia. This one has an intense ruby hue with a cassis-ish nose and notes of pomegranate and raspberry on the palate that segue into a long, full finish. A real stunner. I wish we saw more of these wines around.
2015 Alberto Orte Valdeorras A Portela Mencía
Chuck's bottle. Good bottle age with excellent upside potential yet to go. We decanted for an hour to let it relax. Garnet red with warm tones of dark cherry fruit and earth in all the best ways. Apparently this was pretty inexpensive, around $17. Incredible QPR. Makes one ask, why don't we drink more of these?