I actually stayed put in one city for a change 
Morning was devoted to meeting up again with one of the gentle princes of this wine world of ours, Ed Kurtzman. He welcomed me with open arms. Ed Chin also joined us and later we were joined by Tim Telli, owner and winemaker of Betwixt, so got some bonus tastes in.
Ed is planning to add sulphur to and top up and check on barrels tomorrow, so we didn’t barrel taste today, as we’ve done in the past. Of course, he “compensated” for that by opening a bottle of everything he made last year. Sigh…how do I love this guy, let me count the ways.
I think the thing I like best is that he is genuinely thankful for your words of praise and genuinely interested in your impressions of the wine. That doesn’t happen that often.
2013 August West Sierra Mar Chard
ginger, lemonade sort of freshness, touches of honeydew. Tightly wound still, but very pretty butterscotch and banana. 14 months in oak, another 14 months in bottle will probably serve it well. Plenty of happy promise.
2013 August West Rosella’s Chard
Somewhat smokier, though not much. Nips of hay, citrus, perhaps even apricot. Real vanilla custard to taste, banana and tropical. 14 months oak. Good in this style
2012 August West RRV Pinot Noir
Ed opened this bottle by mistake…ah well 1/2 Graham and 1/2 Keefer for this. Funky nose, tomato leaf and raspberry. Mouthfeel is quite pretty with coriander and lilting raspberry. Nice sparkliness to this.
2013 August West RRV Pinot Noir
Cocoa dust, some earth, strawberry and raspberry. Leaner, a little, darker raspberry and touches of blackberry around herbs dans la bouche.
2013 August West Graham Pinot Noir
11 months in 50% new oak. Woodsy/sandalwood side, raspberry and cranberry, sweetish nose. A like for me (rare enough for this vineyard), snappy red fruit mixed with cumin and cedar closet
2013 August West Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
Mostly Peterson and Sierra Mar fruit, dashes of diesel and cedar around darker berry fruit in the nuzzie. Palate is very tangy, plenty of acid, some dark berry replays.
2013 August West Rosella’s Pinot Noir
1/3 113 and 2/3 Pisoni clone, all the 113 was whole cluster. Love the mix of sandalwood, cloves and cherry and plum fruit. Has a length that the others don’t, a purity of expression too. Year in and year out, Ed is the master of Rosella’s fruit.
2013 August West Peterson Pinot Noir
777 and Pommard clones. 2nd year with this fruit. Rooty, maybe even mineral and/or iron/metallic side. Black raspberry. Le gout has some stemminess, some chickoree, with black fruit. may need the most time, high acidity, this came in at 24.2% brix
2013 August West Sierra Mar Pinot Noir
23 clone, 50% whole cluster. Sirugue and Atelier barrels, which he really likes. Oh my! Lovely and heady stuff with blueberry, coffee, earth, gorgeous plum and very small stemmy add. Needs even more time than the Peterson, extremely delineated, raspberry and currant. Pinch at the back (14.8%) but works with the structure. A very good wine indeed.
2013 Sandler Keefer Pinot Noir
Whee–such a bountiful strawberry and pie/baking spice bouquet, just a little floral. Sweet, as always, raspberry, nice sweet redcurrant, apple skin and some strawberry replay. 11 months in neutral oak.
2013 Sandler Peterson Pinot Noir
667 and Pommard clones. All destemmed. Almond side to the dark fruit. Tasty dark fruit, blackberry for sure, a bit of sweet shine.
2013 Sandler Bien Nacido Pinot Noir
Bright red raspberry, strawberry. Soft and sweet with red raspberry, crabapple and underlying sturdiness.
2013 Sandler Boer Pinot Noir
100% whole cluster here, Chalone area. Cinnamony, nutmeg, strawberry scents. Palate is still strict and chewy, mulberry a bit, coffee hints. A gangly child
2013 Sandler Buck Hill Zin
14 months in neutral oak, 24 year vines. Interesting nose of cookie dough and rhubarb. Well now! This is delicious, surprising how cool and open it is. Blueberry and black cherry balanced with light herbs and chocolate.
2013 Sandler Boer Grenache
This was also 100% whole cluster. Touch of campfire to purple fruit. Very expressive spice and smooth plum play. Not bad, just doesn’t excite me as much.
2013 Sandler Connell Syrah
Ed chose not to make a 2014 of this. 100% whole cluster, 15 months in a big foudre. Big initial campfire and meat scents to buttress unripe black cherry. A great deal of time, just the baby, tremendous amount of acid to hold up the blackberry and cassis fruit, with a good wood undertone.
2012 Betwixt White
50% Marsanne, 50% Roussanne. 15 months in neutral francois freres barrels. Splendid musk, lilac, pear and melon overtones. 24 Brix or so. Does taste ripe and ready—pineapple and binned apple, this is good.
2013 Betwixt Helluva Pinot Noir
The Helluva vineyard is in AV. Ahh–AV nose of coffee, cocoa, earth and bright raspberry. Fine carry, young but tasty (9 months in oak), 20% new, medium toast Ermitage barrel
We had a couple extras at lunch, including the 2013 Pearl Morissette Cuvee Metis that I wanted them to try (they all did like it), 2014 Jaffurs Grenache Blanc, which was as fresh as what I tasted last week, 2009 Guiraud which was still baby-fat-like today.
2009 Morning dew Jan’s Cuvee Pinot Noir
AV Pinot, awful pretty chocolate and black strawberry. Still young and kinetic, with earth and black fruit, but the tannins are in the right place and all the components there for a fine wine.
2005 Sandler Connell Syrah
Ed still feels this is the best syrah he ever made. And it’s still very fundamental, elemental, very defined char, fruit and very dark cocoa. Still tons of carry and acidity, Bright-red berry fruit. Lots and lots of time to grow.
DINNER AT ZAZIE
my thanks to Joel Galant for organizing and to everyone for coming out and holding up the quality of the OLs I’ve been able to attend on this trip. Food and service here were both very good.
2012 Riviera Ligure di Ponente La Ginestraia Pigato
The grape is grown near the coast and is a cousin to vermentino. Defines “pleasant”–pear, apple, very lightest white pepper. All pleasant.
2001 Latour-Giraud Meursault Genevrieres
Not premoxed, hurrah. Tight still on the bouquet, washed stones, very light baking spice, lemon and minerals. Really, really nice, full of class, lemon, mineral and flows—flows down the throat. A very small dab of matchstick at the end.
2007 Roulot Meursault Les Meix Chavaux
Bouquet starts with buoyant florals, lime and stones. The 4 hour decant I ordered for this was a very good idea. This is still pretty tight to taste, but lime and limestone combine with so much driving acid, mutates to lemon sorbet. And 3 hours later, this is happiness in a glass, it has balanced itself out and passed the PYCM for #2
2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault Les Perrieres
Omigosh, so good. Pear and nut and gunflint and lemongrass fill the aroma. Omigosh, so good! Power, but leashed and coiled. Endless tanginess to the lemon, mineral and unripe pear replays. Totally can’t stop drinking this. #3
2002 Guy Amiot Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets
Aromatically opens up with time in the glass, presenting with gingerbread edge to apple and lemon. Fine, certainly—smooth with replays and small saline at the back, this is just missing some vibrancy that this house should have.
1988 Chateau Certan de May
This is pret-ty! The freshest blueberry and blue plum get added to by cocoa, small tabac and currant. Pret-ty. This is flat out shudderlicious, expressing beautiful plum, pomegranate, spices and lightest herbs. A Bordeaux that is absolutely a point, this gets my WOTN.
1990 Domaine de Pegau CdP
More than just a little peat in the schnozz. While it dissipates at first, and while it settles into the more mature style—more into the dried fruit and some tea, the peat comes back with the lamb tagine. OK
1991 Faiveley Corton Clos les Cortons
Quite lifted strawberry, earth, cocoa. Getting into mature Corton, there’s tea here as well to go with dark berry and plum fruit and some roasted chestnut perhaps.
1998 Maume Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St. Jacques
Seriously seductive bouquet, sweet red raspberries woven about by spices and earth. This is still young–tremendous energy to bright berry and lots of sous-bois and herbs.
1997 Dominique Laurent Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Wood has receded but still some cinnamon/sandalwood to accent cherry. Sturdy here too, lots of positive energy and the fruit has still made it through the absorption of oak. Strawberry, cranberry and cocoa dust, quite nice.
1986 Chateau Doisy-Vedrines Sauternes
Ashish was in the house, and this was the result Maple syrup and vanilla for me, a twinge of pear. Pretty this is–light, and the glycerin and botrytis are nowhere in evidence, but engaging appley apricot remains, a good example from a full.
Wonderful night of conversation and exploration.
On to Napa and Sonoma
Haere Ra,
Mike
