This thread is for those one-off or eclectic nights where you have a good bottle (or 7) with a few friends, and feel welcome to post the spoils with or without your notes
Enjoyed this lineup with some delicious food at a local BYO place with some really outstanding, creative dishes
17 Francois Cotat - Les Mont Damnes - clean, floral, a bit linear, with green herb. A benchmark Sancerre, pure as the driven snow. 93
17 Peter Michael L’apres Midi - an amalgam of grassy notes meets vanilla wood. An odd match, but it works 91
16 Aubert Sugar Shack - actually had more of an identity than the PM suav blanc. deep spicy notes with creamy lemon curd and ample weight/richness make this a friendly wine for some hard pairings - think langoustines and cream or fried quail with cayenne. I liked this more than the two times I’ve had it before. 94
07 LdH Blanco Vina Gravonia - You just can’t beat this wine with food. Its versatility is really unmatched in my rolodex of whites. Without comment to this particular vintage, year in and year out the gravonia shows its chameleon-like nature. The oft-mentioned notes of sherry, nuttiness, an oxidized character are again correct, but it’s still in the ball park of delicious white wine rather than amontillado. Very special. 95
2015 Cirq Treehouse - another dark knight for versatility. I was prepared not to like this wine based on the negativity after the sale of KB to Duckhorn, but I must say, this pinot showed off some serious bright, ripeness. It was creamy and red without a hint of confection. And offered generous acidity which made it also quite friendly with several dishes. Best pairing was risotto with morels. 95
2002 Caymus SS - a heaviness about this wine, with plum, some old library notes peeking through. It’s into a secondary phase but still retains some ripe fruit and balance. I’m not sure that this wine is as good in 5 years, with the idea that it may fall out of balance, but a special treat tonight. 94
2015 Scarecrow - eye opening wine for me. Decanted ~30 min before pouring. The cab purity with notes of mint and eucalyptus are evident on the first assessment. It has ripe black fruits with a strong mineral backbone. My wife enjoyed this wine perhaps more than I did; for me it came across as a really authentic Napa cab, much the way folks describe MACDONALD, but at the same time, I’ve had other single clone cabs (from Schrader, Lail, Carter, Terra Valentine, etc) that behaved in much the same way. So for me, it’s special and delicious, but not worth 3x the premium over similar products of lesser hype. I think you could beat this blind without too much effort. On the other hand, I’ve tasted a few young Beckstoffer cabs lately, and this is of a different breed. Whereas those tend toward more chocolatey with blue fruits (of course winemaking matters here), this was right down the fairway (and long). 96
On the other hand, it was not particularly racy/acidic, so certainly not underripe. I would call it a balanced, elegant wine without RS, but I don’t have a reference for other vintages. Hope that helps.