TN: A few nice wines with fellow Berserkers

A few Bay Area Berserkers got together for dinner recently:

2010 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (4/23/2019)
Fabulous medium intensity, lovely saline and mineral notes, really quite mineral, this needs time; later in the evening shows a strong, slightly distracting toast nose, but with more depth and richness on the palate, great acidity, the same mouthwatering saline note, minerality is tamed a bit by the overall richness. (93 pts.)

2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (4/23/2019)
Strong sea spray nose, lovely medium intensity, lighter weight but excellent depth, minerality and saline dance across the palate, excellent balance, still very young; later in the evening there is beautiful medium depth, a little less tight, more open, great salinity and acidity, light minerality, tremendous intensity and length, beautiful sea spray and ocean notes. Fabulous Chablis. (94 pts.)

2002 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (4/23/2019)
From Magnum. Slight bricking in color, nicely savory light leather nose, really nice medium full body leathery deep raspberry/strawberry, excellent complexity, some nice spice and dried herbs, great acidity. An amazingly good performance for a 2002, still years of development ahead, but drinks wonderfully right now. (93 pts.)

2007 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (4/23/2019)
Very pure cherry/dried cherry, strong acidity, fairly primary, very young; later in the evening turns more volcanic, violet, with some tangy electric minerality, very dry, fantastic flavors and liveliness. Drink now with lots of air, or hold for years. (93 pts.)

2004 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (4/23/2019)
Lightly garrigue nose with some crushed berries; quite pure medium boysenberry/blueberry fruit, has a lot of suspended sediment, and the color/body seems a little stripped based on recent experiences with 2004 Allemand. I don’t think this is a pristine bottle, though it doesn’t seem to show any signs of being cooked. NR.

1967 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/23/2019)
Yao’s Blind wine: definitely aged color and weight, nose of old leather, some nice spice notes, lovely aged weathered medium cherry, dried cherry notes, supple, balanced, still some hints of fine tannins for structure, quite lovely. Guesses around the table ranged from Bordeaux, Napa, Barolo. I guessed early 70s, maybe late 60s, California. Something didn’t quite seem like Napa to me, I was guessing Martin Ray, trying to remember if La Questa was still around then. A beautiful bottle in fine shape. (94 pts.)

There were a few more wines I somehow didn’t take notes on, hopefully someone else will chime in on these:
2011 Heaven’s Door - a wonderful Austrian Sauvignon Blanc
2005 Rostaing La Landonne
1977 Grgich Hills Joberg Riesling
1993 Ausbruch Furmint

So you are A So and A So + 1?

Nice notes, chap!

Thanks for sharing the notes, Alan!

I really loved that 2004 Allemand… That and the Monte Bello were my favorites of the night. I was surprised at how different all the Northern Rhone were, no two wines alike!

Just adding the labels on the Austrian wines for context: The Sauvignon Blanc was 2011 Ewald Zweytick Heaven’s Door. The stickie was 1993 Wenzel Ruster Ausbruch Furmint.

Thank you for the notes Alan! And thank you for having the discipline to spit and write detailed notes

Reflecting on the Monte Bello, which I’m sure I’ll never taste again, what impressed me is that there was enough structure left that the wine didn’t feel thin or shapeless. You couldn’t really taste it, but it was definitely there holding the wine up even after 50 years in bottle. I think I might go hunting for some Monte Bello from the '70s now

I liked the Heaven’s Door; to me it wasn’t a million miles from Bordeaux Blanc, but had a certain complexity that made it taste older than it was. Apparently quite a rare bird! The Rostaing my husband liked a lot; definitely a big wine with a more modernist outlook, and I tasted a little cocoa with some aeration. The Grgich was resolutely mushroomy and was a fun drink. The Ausbruch I liked, but I was a little too far gone to have a coherent tasting note on