Dinner with 09` Cristal and 97` Williams Selyem Precious Mountain Pinot Noir

Blake_Brown · May 26, 2019, 4:01pm

We have a favorite restaurant in the Santa Barbara area where we have celebrated special occasions or just gone out for a fine dining experience because we were inn the mood and didn’t want to go to San Francisco or LA or Vegas or Paris. It has been shut down for over a year due to extensive damage from fires in December of 2017 and ensuing mud slides in January 2018. Having just recently reopened, we’re excited to return and see what has changed and what has been retained in both personnel, structures, remodelling and menu.

I`m referring to the Stonehouse Restaurant located on the luxurious San Ysidro Ranch property.

We were so elated to find all of our favorite servers were back on board. To that point, kudos to the management for retaining all of their valued employees, in some cases, finding part time work for them at other dining facilities and some work at the Ranch itself while reconstruction took place.

Additionally, new buildings have been added and the small creek bed that ran next to the restaurant had been moved a safer distance further away and formed into a much larger creek bed that could handle the kind of flooding the small one could not.

Also, all of the cabins and cottages that were destroyed, have been rebuilt, refurbished and refurnished. Extensive landscaping has occurred and the views from the upstairs outside covered patio of the restaurant has vast ocean views with the Channel Islands, 25 miles away, in the background. The place is as classy as ever.

Our MO is to take a top quality champagne and a Williams Selyem Pinot Noir from 97` or older that our dear friend, Burt Williams, made. And that we did:

2009 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- I have a 6 pack of this bubbly and wanted to find out where it stands now for future reference; I’ve had a few in the last couple of years and they were really ready in their youth to please, in fact, much more so than the heralded 08; from the nose through the tail, this was absolutely fabulous; the aromatics was huge offering inviting spicy stone fruit notes which on the palate translated into honeyed peach and apricot with some pear and citrus in the background; it was so full throttle, it begged to be sipped, not gulped; as good as it is now, it promises to be much greater later on and now my challenge is to keep my hands off of the remaining bottles and allow them to graduate into the finest realm. Wish me luck. Im still salivating thinking of this one.

1997 WILLIAMS SELYEM PRECIOUS MOUNTAIN VINEYARD SONOMA COAST PINOT NOIR- its been years since I opened one of these PM gems and way overdue as this is one of the best Burt ever made IMHO {he likes it a lot too}; the fill was just below the cork which says it has been handled properly as Burt filled all wines to the cork; the color was like the nose, cinnamon red with no bricking; the aromas of cinnamon, spice and red raspberry greatly enticed further exploring and I obliged by taking just a sip to let it glide over the palate; it was just as I had hoped; spicy, cinnamon and vanilla accents accented the red cherry, raspberry and strawberry fruit; it had a medium plus body and weight and held a steady balance throughout the entire hour in which it was consumed without any deviation from the first joyous pour; one of the best of the best WS Pinots ever for my palate.

This was such a wonderful evening. It was one of those fabulous Santa Barbara summer like evenings with clear, sunny skies leading into a glorious sunset. From our table, we had that epitome of vistas, large Pacific ocean views with the nearby local mountains behind us. Our table setting was surrounded on two sides by numerous colourful flowering plants. All of our wait staff friends came over to say hi and welcome us back like family. Our friend who oversees the wine program stopped over frequently and we shared wine and good conversation.

Most important of all, we had the kind of night that served to celebrate our love and companionship throughout all of the years and to toast to many more together. Life is good!

Cheers,
Blake

Neal.Mollen · May 26, 2019, 4:10pm

Sounds like a lovely evening. I’ll try to remember the name of this place should we get out to the area at some point; sounds glorious. And I do love that 09 Cristal!

Frank_Murray_III · May 26, 2019, 4:26pm

Thanks for the post, Blake. The 2009 Cristal is on my short list for WOTY. Excellent wine.

Blake_Brown · May 26, 2019, 6:19pm

Neal, we have 5 top luxury resorts here, The Biltmore 4 Seasons, newly opened Miramar, El Encanto and Bacara. IMHO, the SYR and Stonehouse Restaurant {there’s also the Plow & Angel below it}, is the best.

Blake_Brown · May 26, 2019, 6:22pm

Happy to see you also find this so excellent Brother Frank. I see you have gravitated back to the Comtes de Champagne too.

Frank_Murray_III · May 26, 2019, 7:49pm

Gravitated? Fake news.

Ray.Tuppa_sch · May 26, 2019, 8:08pm

2009 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- I have a 6 pack of this bubbly and wanted to find out where it stands now for future reference; I’ve had a few in the last couple of years and they were really ready in their youth to please, in fact, much more so than the heralded 08; from the nose through the tail, this was absolutely fabulous; the aromatics was huge offering inviting spicy stone fruit notes which on the palate translated into honeyed peach and apricot with some pear and citrus in the background; it was so full throttle, it begged to be sipped, not gulped; as good as it is now, it promises to be much greater later on and now my challenge is to keep my hands off of the remaining bottles and allow them to graduate into the finest realm. Wish me luck. Im still salivating thinking of this one.

'09 Cristal is great, and as you state, currently much more approachable than the '08 Cristal.

Going to open a mag in a couple of weeks to see how it is drinking out of that format.

Blake_Brown · May 27, 2019, 3:01pm

2009 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- I have a 6 pack of this bubbly and wanted to find out where it stands now for future reference; I’ve had a few in the last couple of years and they were really ready in their youth to please, in fact, much more so than the heralded 08; from the nose through the tail, this was absolutely fabulous; the aromatics was huge offering inviting spicy stone fruit notes which on the palate translated into honeyed peach and apricot with some pear and citrus in the background; it was so full throttle, it begged to be sipped, not gulped; as good as it is now, it promises to be much greater later on and now my challenge is to keep my hands off of the remaining bottles and allow them to graduate into the finest realm. Wish me luck. Im still salivating thinking of this one.

'09 Cristal is great, and as you state, currently much more approachable than the '08 Cristal.

Going to open a mag in a couple of weeks to see how it is drinking out of that format.

I’m almost shocked Ray. You, opening a mag of 09`anything champagne! It must be a 1909.

On the serious side of things, I`d be interested in knowing how it shows. I’ve got 1 mag and have not thought about when to open it until many years down the line.