TN: 01 Yquem,14 "Y",04/09/14 SQN,96 Pride,11 Marcassin,14 Ferren,04 Salon,11 Malconsorts..

DINNER AT TRELIO - Clovis Ca. (3/19/2017)

Another fun night with the 559 crew on St. Paddy’s Day…a little TOO much fun for me…as I should have spit at least once or twice…jeeeze I paid for that night!!! Sorry to those who I tried to converse with at the end of the night…I’m sure I made no sense with my drunken slurs! PISSED that I was so far gone that I didn’t get to fully enjoy the end of the night 04 Salon purchase off the list. Was wondering why the bill was so high? Still…always fun to get together with the fellas! Thanks guys!
Whites

  • 2014 Château d’Yquem “Y” - France, Bordeaux
    Fantastic! Bright and dry lemon and lime citrus, little grass, herbs…love the tropical coconut and waxiness…crisp with minerals and chalky limestone, lanolin, exotic. Savory and not any sweetness like I thought there might be. Loved this! (95 pts.)
  • 1995 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée L - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
    No ox in sight! Bright and tropical fruits, banana wax, coconut suntan lotion, sautéed apples, apricot marmalade, savory minerals, dried honey. Little sweeter though than I’ve had from them, which actually got sweeter with air. Super fun wine! (93 pts.)

  • 2014 Ferren Wines Chardonnay Frei Road Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
    Coche Dury? Wonderful smoke reduction on the nose to go with the pureness peach and pear, crisp apple fruit. Some exotics of wood spice, honey…really nice weight and feel…fresh with lemon citrus. Love that blown out birthday candle smoke! The perfect blind for a GC white burg tasting! But did notice later on a tad bit of sweetness that would kick it out of burgundy for me blind. REALLY liked this, as did others! (94 pts.)

Reds

  • 1997 Fisher Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Wedding Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County
    Drinking very Bordeaux…little brett funk, smooth old leather, creme de cassis, plum skin sour. med bodied, fruit seems to be fading…more high toned acidity, still trying to hold on. Seen better days. (89 pts.)
  • 1996 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Took awhile for this to show up…still some grippy tannins, nice dark chocolate brownie, mint tobacco spice, raspberry sauce. Sour skins showing more acidity than I would like…good dry graphite powder, cedar spice…aged leather, still showing well. Wish I spent more time on this. (93 pts.)
  • 2011 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
    Really young and somewhat primary…candied cherry fruits, little thin, pretty potpourri florals, cola, smoked cherry wood, smooth and sweet…a little too sweet for me. Needs some time. (90 pts.)
  • 2005 Saxum 44 Month Barrel Age James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
    81% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 9% Grenache…still massive, yet the tannins have balanced with age…smooth and creamy with the huge glycerin dark berry fruit. Dusty white pepper, oak barrel spice, white flowers, smoked meat, blackberry sour cream pie…wonderful complexities with a silky full bodied feel from the 44mos barrel age. Awesome! (96 pts.)

  • 2011 Domaine de Montille Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
    The outlier wine of the night, but a nice and pretty addition! Light bodied Malconsorts here, showing the vintage…crunchy berry fruits, pretty florals, dusty wood spice, tilled earth…firm minerality, fresh and bright, slight whole cluster funk. Wait 10yrs on this one. (93 pts.)

SQN

  • 2004 Sine Qua Non Into the Dark - USA, California, Central Coast
    Showing some Bordeauxish leather with age…pretty red fruits, liqueured and ripe, exotic woods and spices, white pepper, cherry blossoms…silky smooth…drank rather regal throughout the evening. (95 pts.)
  • 2009 Sine Qua Non On The Lam - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
    Softer and more subtle than past bottles…which I really dug! Peaches and honey…tropical pineapple, banana wax, buttered rum spice…pretty honeysuckle florals, saline minerality…if Raveneau made a Rhone white? Loved this! (96 pts.)
  • 2014 Sine Qua Non Syrah Piranha Waterdance - USA, California, Central Coast
    Huge and sweet extracted fruit here…dark and ooozing, smoky tar, kirsch liqueur, white pepper spice…but to be honest, it seems too sweet for me? Young of course, but might have been the other wines we had(04 Into the Dark, 96 Pride res, 05 Saxum44…) that might have made the sweetness stick out? Lot going on in this…hopefully next time the sweetness is tamer. (90 pts.)

Perfect ending

  • 2001 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    SO exited to try this, since I’ve owned it from release, but never had it yet! Crazy freshness with the citrus acidity…vibrant, perfectly ripe tropical fruits, apricot marmalade, saffron threads, dried honey, vineyard smoke, salty minerals…layer after layer of perfect balanced sweet perfection. A legend for sure! (98 pts.)

  • 2004 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne
    I was too far gone at the end of the night when this one appeared. What a shame…as I am a HUGE Salon fan! From what I remember…very high toned freshness, painfully so. Needs time?

Posted from CellarTracker

Not sure what to make of that potpourri of wines, but is that carafe in the first shot the Kalin? Looks like Pliny the Elder … [cheers.gif]

Believe it or not, that AND the wine in the glass is the Kalin! Crazy contrast huh? No ox at all in that wine!

glad you’re alive man. clovis will never be the same.

you forgot the note on the 90 petrus we had at in-and-out :wink:

lots of great wines but the surprise of the night for me (and maybe my wine of the night) is the ferren chard. i immediately signed up on the list after the first sip.

matt - variety is the spice of life man. can’t always have a weedy, thin, diluted burgundy neener

For $130 one might hope it was decent [wow.gif]
Nice wines guys!
Buzz was over served, eh? champagne.gif

Did you decant the Piranha Waterdance? I did a two and a half hour decant and poured it at our Syrah from around the World meeting, so there was plenty of bone dry Northern Rhone to compare it to. It did not come off as overly sweet, but there were gobs of fruit. I thought it was well-balanced and a great wine.

No decant, but could have helped. I have no problem with extraction or overtly sweetness in sqn wines, and have had my fair share right off the truck…but sometimes(for me) when a bunch of diverse wines are served together(older dry cabs, acid wines) my palate tends to pinpoint a sweetness(caramel sugar) in some wines that I just don’t care for. Usually it will happen in young napa cabs like a schrader, or even a wine like 2000 pavie. Doesn’t happen all the time…remember the 07 dangerous birds intermixed with burgs, bords, aged rhones, priorat…and it was a 100pt wine for me! Will see what happens on the next one. Not really worried about it.

i believe it was half that price direct from the winery. but i agree with your point.

[cheers.gif]

When I hear the term “sweet” appear in a TN, I fear that the wine will not be to my taste. I often find that sweetness may be related to a high ABV, at least that is how it seems to me. I generally cannot stand any taste of overt sweetness in a red wine. I started finding this with certain southern phones and have avoided them lately for that reason. Have a few of these so think I will wait a while.

Had the '14 SQN recently P&P and didn’t get the sweetness at all. Gobs of fruit and impeccable balance(per usual), but not what you are talking about. I suppose it goes back to the theory of what you had before/after which you mention that influences your perception. Kinna agree.

unreal that the pride still shows young. these are the wines that bob f made that were supposedly destined to fall apart like all the other gloppy mess wines.
my experiences have been very good with these older reserves as well.
cheers

That was a super fun night!
Always a pleasure when the 209 Guys slum it in the 559.
We don’t do structured tastings, instead just bring something you want to share with friends. Of course a bigger table would have helped with so many bottles.
The '01 d’Yquem lived up to reputation, and the dry '14 was outstanding.
Other standouts for me were the '04 SNQ Into the Dark, the '11 Malconsorts and the '14 Ferren
Really, only one bottle that “off” for me, the rest a treat to share and enjoy.
And the food was outstanding!

Which one did you think was off? You becoming a Burghead now?? :stuck_out_tongue:

agreed. I got a bunch of well-aged mags of Stony Hill chardonnay to open when we get together …

The Fisher was off, or had some Brett, which I am full of

very nice. they rock along with mayacamas, mount eden…i love the O.Gs.

have you tried ferren chards? i went apeshit…bottles in the truck for delivery as of this morning.

UPDATE

Re the 2014 SQN Piranha Waterdance Syrah…finished another bottle last night, with much better results!


I cracked this open and only had a small glass, corked it, then came back to it 48hrs later. It was MUCH better than my first go around…the sweetness tamed, balanced to perfection(for sqn), and all the wonderful classic sqn flavors were ooozalicious! Definitely recommend this method for consuming a bottle now.