First, THANK YOU to Eric Tomasi for putting on a terrific show. Not only did he organize the event, volunteer his house, supply all the glassware, furniture, non-alcoholic drinks, etc. plus a good share of the wines, but he supplied a delicious dinner including beef burgundy, jerk chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Thanks to Eric for all the work you put in making this happen and giving everybody a great evening!
Now some tasting impressions – not even calling them tasting notes as I did not have pen and paper and was not focusing to produce precise in-the-moment notes. No pretense to completeness or precision here. Hopefully others will chime in with more details. The evening featured a pot luck lineup of opening Champagnes, a vertical of Leoville Barton and other Bordeaux, a range of interesting Napa Valley wines, and some excellent dessert wines. I came a little late and had no Champagnes so I cannot comment on those.
1995 Vieux Chateau Certan – gorgeous wine and possibly the wine of the night. The person who brought this decanted it several hours in advance so it was very soft and open. A delicate, lush, perfectly aged Pomerol. If you wanted to fault it, did not have a big finish or exceptional depth/knockout fruit. But terrific mouthfeel, finesse, and complexity. Classic right bank. A burgundian Bordeaux. Excellent match with the beef burgundy, very well proportioned as a food wine. Right in its drinking window.
Leoville Barton vertical – this was a very good contrast as all of these wines had the same house style, dark fruited but the classic cassis berry-type fruit than the over-ripe plum or raisin style, very classical Bordeaux with good balance and well integrated oak. But huge differences in vintage character.
1999 Leoville Barton – vivid cassis/blackberry type flavors along with a touch of funky earth to complement the fruit. The tannins have receded and the wine is in early peak, still fruity but just beginning to develop secondaries. As I discussed with another person there, 1999 is an underrated vintage with a lot of charm. Made for an interesting contrast with the 2000 as it is clearly a “smaller” and perhaps inferior wine but also better drinking at the moment.
2000 Leoville Barton – As I said, interesting contrast with the 1999, with the 2000 being deeper, bigger, more forbidding, and much more austere. Tannins cut short the midpalate and finish. Nice nose gives good promise for the future, good weight on the palate. Interesting but hardly hedonistic at the moment, perhaps more decanting would have opened it up more.
2003 Leoville Barton – Also showing young and tannic on the palate, but the nose was more luxurious and hedonistic than any of the other LBs. A lot of milk chocolate and plum. Had some charm already along with the tannins and matched well with the food, this is going to be very good and at least for now was more fun and perhaps more promising than the 2000.
2004 Leoville Barton – Had just a sip of this as I’ve had it many times before, but like the 1999 it is ready to roll. Deeper fruit and in general a darker/more layered and intriguing character than the 1999, but possibly less charm and brightness than that vintage.
California wines
1992 Mayacamas – still alive but lacked fruit. A little thin and tart and flavors had a pronounced green pepper edge to them. Reasonably well balanced and not flawed exactly but I didn’t find it particularly pleasant either.
1999 Spottswoode – this bottle felt flawed, some of us thought it was brett and others identified volatile acidity. Some sweetness under that, previous bottles I’ve had of this have been sweeter. But the depth of fruit was definitely not enough to carry whatever else was going on with it.
2004 Husic Las Palmas – very smooth and easy drinking, tannins gone if they were ever there, flavors tended toward the fig / raisin / plum end of the spectrum. Very ripe, some would find it overripe, others might like the style. Heavy and not IMO refreshing, but also rich and velvety. I felt like it was almost Amarone-styled.
2007/2011 Black Cat EMH Cabernet – quite a contrast with the Husic as these wines are fairly Bordeaux styled for a Napa, with good acidic lift and a streamlined, less rich, somewhat more red fruited style. I enjoyed them, however found that the 2007 had some excess alcoholic heat that did not integrate as well with the rest of the flavors as the 2011 did.
Dessert Wines
2009 Doisy Vedrines – Lively, sweet pineapple, lemon custard, more toward the fruit plate side of Sauternes than the spicy botrytis side. Markedly sweet but enough acidic cut to avoid being cloying. Very enjoyable if you like the style. Quite young yet as one would expect.
1970 Guiraud – totally different aged Sauternes character as compared to the DV. Brown/mahogany color, elegant balance of flavors, a tangy sweet quality I’m having a hard time finding the words for. Some spice and almost a touch of sherried character, although not in a flawed way.
2008 (?) Banyuls – forgot or never saw the producer of this. Very mellow and smooth, good complement to the chocolate cake as one would expect. No alcoholic heat at all, very well integrated. A nice easygoing black cherry type fruit, although honestly this was at the end of the evening and I mostly just remember how smooth it was.
