Last night was the annual members’ holiday party at Graileys. It’s a glorious affair with a fun blind tasting contest and loads of great bottles popped and poured in communal revelry. Needless to say, I have a headache this morning. As for the blind tasting, well, I didn’t win. I guessed viognier for a white grenache, chablis for an oregon chard, merlot for a valpolicella, guessed 2008 St. Estephe for a 2005 Montrose and then missed on a Napa cab which is unforgivable.
Other memorable wines:
2002 Bollinger RD: Very interesting wine. Bright and zingy with good cut and a lovely nose of lemon curd, yeasty biscuit, and apple. The palate has a nice light entry with loads of lemon, apple, and a very yeasty finish. Slightly oxidative as is common with the RD. A lovely wine that I’m glad to have opened. That said, I’ll redeploy resources for other champagnes that present, in my opinion, better value. 93
2000 Leoville Poyferre: This is a really big 2000 bordeaux. It is surprisingly rich, and far more dense than the 2005 Montrose. It gives off sweet currant and blackberry jam notes with a lovely note of tar and a hint of chocolate. It’s a little primary, but was drinking very well. If you like big bordeaux, this is certainly a more modern than usual style. 95
2005 Joseph Phelps Backus: This is in a really nice spot. The tannins are present but integrated, and the oak is folded well into the wine. The nose is layered with black fruits, some oak, and a little spice or smoke note to it that I couldn’t really pin down. This wine seems to have improved over the past 5 years or so and is in a great spot. Or maybe I’d already had a bunch to drink… 94
2007 Chave Hermitage: Beautiful nose of black and red berries, some floral notes, and some licorice. This is a killer wine that should last ages. Really nice acidity balanced out with good structure and fruit that is rich without being heavy or syrupy. Gorgeous, but drinking young. 95
1982 Ducru Beaucaillou: Rather unimpressive though well conditioned bottle. The fruit is not particularly lively and lacks the richness you’d expect in a high quality 1982. The aromatics are nice, but not stunning, and show earthy, loamy notes along with dusty raspberry and cherry and some lead pencil. It’s enjoyable, but does not strike me as particularly high-quality bordeaux. 89
2000 Shafer Hillside Select: This was en magnum but alas, there was no sushi around with which to enjoy it. In any event, it wasn’t that great of a wine, and reaffirms my belief that 2000 is the worst Napa vintage from 1991 through 2010. This is a medium bodied effort with decent currant and cherry notes, a hint of oak, a hint of vanilla, and not all that much more going on. I’m probably being a little hard on it. 91
2013 SQN “Male” Syrah: This is a massive wine. Frankly, I’ve been turned off by a number of SQNs over time simply due to their mass, richness, etc. But this is an altogether different beast. It is very aromatic, with great cherry, raspberry, and currant, a savory herb note, and a licorice and spice finish. But what’s shocking to to me at 15.5% abv, is the lift. It’s got a big cut of acidity that makes it lighter on the palate than I expected it to be. It’s massive, no doubt, but the cut cleans it up a little bit. 95
2015 SQN Entre Chien et Loup: Really fascinating wine that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s nearly half chardonnay and half roussanne with some other stuff mixed in like petite manseng and viognier. I learned that entre chien et loup roughly translates to between dog and wolf but is an idiom used to describe an in-between that bridges two similar but different things. This is neither chardonnay or roussanne. It’s a weird but really exciting flavor profile running both sweet stone fruit and vibrant citrus fruit all laced together into this explosive, layered, white. Lemon curd, white peach, honeysuckle, maybe a hint of grapefruit and lemon zest. It’s big and rich, but also has blazing acidity that cleans everything up and keeps it lighter on the palate than I expected. I preferred this to the “Male” Syrah. 96
There were others, but I lost track.