Nashville Wine Auction: Recap and TN…Some Great Cabs

The Nashville Wine Auction held its 35th annual l’Ete du Vin last Saturday (August 2) with Chateau Margaux as the special guest. Bidding was spirited to say the least…the high end tastings (e.g., several vintages of Chateaux Margaux, 20+ wines from around the world from 1985) going for $4-$5k/person. The highest grossing lot was a dinner for eight with country music singer Martina McBride (who also performed three songs) including wine and a well-known local chef for $44k. Among those of us at our table, we figure the total raised was north of $700k…all for cancer-related charities and research.

I started the evening with a 2009 Margaux du Chateaux Margaux…this was being poured at the bar…I’m very interested in what other board members who have had and/or enjoy this wine will say, but not my cup of tea…very earthy with mineral notes and harsh tannins…needs food perhaps. I’d be hard pressed to score this higher than in the low 80s…I know others will differ.

Fortunately, one of the fun aspects of the evening is to bring and share wines…though you need to be a bit careful when you don’t have a full table. Sure…you can just ignore the people you don’t know, but that really doesn’t go with the spirit of the evening. In our case there were six of us at a table for 10, though two people didn’t show.

In the order tasted:

2011 Domaine Dujac Morey St Denis: This was brought by the other couple at the table…very funky nose with no fruit to speak of…the finish is harsh…perhaps I just don’t get Burgundy…80 pts.

2005 Smith Haut Lafite Blanc: Now were talking…Expressive nose of honey, apricot, lemon and maybe even some fig…rich and concentrated…long finish…loved this wine…95 pts.

2010 Pott Actaeon Cabernet Sauvignon: This had about four hours of slow O at home before being recorked…dark red with a rich nose of dark red fruit…smooth and plush in the mouth with a long finish…one of my favorite Pott wines…95 pts.

2004 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon: I’ve had this bottle a few times, and this one was either closed or an off bottle…nice texture, but muted fruit and a short finish…89 pts.

2006 Lillian Syrah Blue Label: Gave this a quick decant when we arrived at the table and let it sit for perhaps 15 minutes before pouring…deep purple color with an elegant floral nose mixed with blue fruit and pepper…just glorious with the first sip…will let remaining bottles age as I think this will improve…94 pts.

2008 Scarecrow: I believe this was decanted earlier in the day and poured back in the bottle…has that great California Cab nose and just oozes of a “big” wine…great finish…95 pts.

2008 Sloan: Also decanted earlier and poured back in the bottle…The nose jumps at you with red and dark fruit…amazing finish…arguably the WOTN…96 pts.

2001 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve: It’s fun to break out some favorites from my early days of getting interested in wine…wasn’t sure we would get to it, but we were having a good time and the night was still young…I was surprised that it was still very dark with no signs of being a 13 year old bottle…cherries, blue fruit, vanilla and a wonderful mouthfeel…the finish was long…plenty of years left and seems to be getting better…I’m glad to have a couple more left…among the best bottles of Whitehall Lane I’ve had…95+ pts…the sentimental WOTN.

2008 Harris Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Lakeview Vineyard: A friend from another table came over and offered a pour…interesting timing as I had just heard a couple weeks earlier of the sale of Harris Estate, which I had visited in 2007…bought the Harris lineup in the sub-$100 days, but not recently…very good, but felt “young”…mix of blue and red fruit…light in the mouth with a pleasant finish…90 pts.

good notes adam! where is this held? will have to shoot you an email soon…i’m back in town for work in a couple weeks and it would be fun to get dinner again.

I’m not at all surprised that a 2009 Margaux and 2011 Dujac weren’t showing well. Were others surprised?

Thanks for the TN’s.

Matt…This is held at the Loews Vanderbilt. They did it out at Gaylord Opryland for years and in my opinion is a better venue, but created some logistical challenges. Please let me know soon when you will be back in town so I can get an email out with plenty of notice.

Sean…The Dujac was brought by a doctor who I know to have a nice collection…can only assume he knew what he was doing. The rest of the table shared my thoughts on the wine. The 2009 Margaux du Chateaux Margaux is a new third wine that I understand is only sold through limited channels. Given that Paul Pontallier, the Managing Director of Chateau Margaux was attending, you had to figure he knew the quality of the wine. Again, everyone at the table was in agreement that the wine was average.

I had the regular 2001 White Hall Lane recently and it was really nice. I have no idea why I walked away from this producer as I drank a fair bit of their stuff in the 1990’s.

Thanks for the info, Adam. I’d not heard of the Margaux du Chateaux Margaux.

Sounds like you had a nice evening with some good wine. Nice notes. I knew you would be smart and take some good ol’ American wine so you didn’t have to endure those brutal European wines all night!

Come on Tim…I gave props to the Smith Haut Lafite Blanc…and I love Sauternes.

See above post from Matt. Once I hear from him I’ll email the group about getting together.

I’ll be heading your way over Christmas again this year to stay with the outlaws in Franklin. I’ll bring some of that nice european burgundy stuff if you want!

So you did! Progress. And honestly, I have to admit, I have been enjoying the new world bottles with the group.

I’ll have to make sure I’m in town next year. For our next group dinner, I’ll bring an “old world” wine for Adam. I believe he liked the '98 L’Eglise Clinet at Flemings last year!

Looking forward to catching up with everyone soon

Billy