Students return next week; I'm on a fellowship and will be hiding in the humanities center or the library, but things are still starting to get that back-to-school feel. Meanwhile:
CVNE 2001 Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva. Decanted gently, very little sediment. A little browning at the rim but otherwise deep ruby that darkens with air. A streak of bright red fruit shows itself first, then layers of darker ripe and dried fruit, earth, and spice. Finishes with fine tannins followed by an echo of the opening note of red fruit, teasing the next sip. Becomes more lush and deeper over 2 hours. Really beautiful bottle.
Dom. de la Pépière 2022 Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur lie, Les Gras Moutons. Not as plush as I recall from (I think) an earlier vintage, but still richer in style than Briords. Very good, I'll keep buying this.
Goodfellow 2021 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay, Temperance Hill Vineyard. Been having fun re-learning Oregon, got a case from Goodfellow earlier this year, 9 mixed Pinots and a sampler of 3 each of a few Chardonnays. It would have made more sense to open the "Vin Soif" first, but having been warned that that was less representative of the house style, I decided to jump in to the deep end. Lots of reduction on the nose and palate for the first 45 minutes or so. Behind that, a powerful electric streak of green-gold citrus, rind and all, turning toward mineral and white pepper on the finish. Two things are especially great about this: the sheer concentration and length in a wine that actually has a modest frame, and the kaleidescope of flavors, which share a generally green hue but are really mobile and shifting. Impressive, delicious.
Harrington 2013 Santa Clara Valley Teroldego, Fratelli Vineyard. I have a small bin of things I suspected were probably over the hill, but this definitely wasn't; in fact, I'd completely forgotten what this wine was like, expecting it to be relatively thin. Instead: ripe blue-black fruit, a little varietally indistinct, but balanced and tasty, with softened edges but otherwise still almost grapey-fresh. Who knew? Not me.
Spottswoode 2011 St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate. Bought two bottles of this on the secondary market late in my Chicago years for less than release, presumably because of the vintage, but this is lovely and right up my alley stylistically. Deep purple-red, lush dark plum-skin and cherry fruit, very sunny, with some cedar and menthol on the finish but no pyrazine; pretty classic middleweight St. Helena Cab, carries 13.9% easily, moderate tannins only. Drink or hold.
Trail Marker 2022 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. One of the annoying things about my new regime is that I can't often go back for a second full glass if a wine proves recalcitrant in the first hour, as this one did. Initially quite disjointed, showing moderate but unintegrated wood, tart fruit, and slight reduction. Then it gets itself together. Nice dark red and sour cherry fruit, focused, with a long, slightly spicy finish; both the oak and the reduction have receded. Not a ton of complexity but well put together. I don't regret buying but won't go back for more.
Dirty, Rowdy, and Enfield 2014 Chalone Red Wine, Antle Vineyard (50/50 Mourvèdre/Pinot Noir). Pretty interesting, having just had the straight D&R Antle Mourvèdre from the same vintage a couple of weeks ago: this tastes like somebody took that same dark violet canvas and painted a hot pink (Barnett) Newmanesque zip not quite down the middle. Both bright and deep, and with only a little remaining tannin perceptible. Delicious.
Day 2015 Sonoma County Zinfandel. Dark berry fruit and spice, alcoholic burn, and an unpleasantly bitter charred or ashy note popping up right on the finish, though this becomes less prominent as the midpalate fills out with an hour of air. Drink up, or better yet, take to a party thrown by distant friends you never really liked.
Château de Pibarnon 2016 Bandol Rosé. Wow is this good. Deliciously mature, substantial in the mouth, oily grapefruit peel and stone fruit, lanolin, lots of verve on the back end. I don’t know if this is at peak (who ever knows?) but there’s nothing else I could have wanted from it. Yum.