Our dinner group enjoyed a fun dinner in the private dining room at the Wine Cask restaurant in Santa Barbara with a very creative wine theme of champagne, white Burgs, and “orphan” reds, such as Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre, Petite Verdot, etc. And, boy did we ever step up with some orphans.
Eight of us shared 15 wines in all, ate well and enjoyed great fellowship. We were also privileged to be served by one of the best servers in all of Santa Barbara who is a friend of most of us and quite wine savvy which helped for food pairings.
Our wines:
2006 de VENOGE LOUIS XV BRUT ROSE- I’ve seen this very unusual bottle on shelves in wine shops a few times and often wondered what was in the bottle and could it merit the high price tag affixed to it? A rare opportunity came up for me to purchase a couple of bottles of this rose plus a 95 and 96
Brut, so this was my first time to explore anything from this house; the first nose was pretty serious being full on, bold and flamboyant, but in short time, it mellowed out and gave generous but not overwhelming spicy bright red fruit which on the palate translated into strawberry and red cherry with some noticeable apricot blending in; it had a creamy mousse and was in amazing balance from the nose through the tail; later on, it was even better with more richness, more body, thus providing even more pleasure.
2014 JEAN-FRANCOIS MERIEAU TOURAINE BRUT BULLES- 90% Chenin Blanc, 10% Sauvignon Blanc; everything about this bubbly was mellow; the nose was lightly sprinkled with fresh citrus of which lemon lime was most prevalent in the taste profile and its medium weight added to an element of elegance for easy drinking pleasure.
2006 MOET & CHANDON DOM PERIGNON BRUT- served blind; one got it was Dom immediately calling out some menthol notes he associates with young DPs; I didn’t get it; I liked it and more and more with each taste as it expanded over time; the nose was a bit skunky at first, but then it blew off and gave way to spicy citrus fruit followed by a streak of toasty, lemon zest; it was lush and creamy and finished on a high note with all of its attributes coming together; extra time brought it all into a state of oneness.
2010 DOMAINE ROULOT LES LUCHETS MEURSAULT- minerals and flint jump out of the glass and then comes some herbal infused citrus especially lemon being delivered in a tactile sensory pleasing medium; it finishes with more flint at the end; by itself, I would have liked it, but the next 2 shined above and beyond it.
2017 MOREY-COFFINET LA ROMANEE CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET 1er Cru;- this took it to another level with lovely aromatics of mineral laced Meyer lemon which continued on to the back end; the wine was in perfect balance, had a smooth texture and exuded class and elegance.
2012 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY EN REMILLY SAINT AUBIN 1er Cru- I`ve been a fan of just about every release of this wine and this bottle held up to high expectations with minerals and spicy mild citrus notes; it had bright acidity, nice balance and a long satisfying finish; I found I was thinking its a tossup between the M-F and this as to which is the best of the white Burgs, if not for WOTN. An outstanding red made it a mute point for WOTN.
1991 RAVENSWOOD OLD HILL RANCH ZINFANDEL SONOMA VALLEY- this brought back good memories when I was buying lots of vineyard designate Zins from Ravenswood in the 80s and 90s and Joel Peterson was one of my heroes before I had a huge palate shift and moved into Pinot Noir; our bottle had no obvious color signs of aging and even the fruit profile seemed fresher than a 28 year old Zin should be expected to have; it had lots of spice laden blackberry, blueberry and plum fruit; it was so tasty and showed no signs of any heat with its 14.9% abv.
1980 ROULON SMITH VINEYARDS CHAUVET VINEYARD ZINFANDEL SONOMA COUNTY- 13.7% abv; there was absolutely no bricking or sign of aging; mature fruit was prevalent throughout with especially dried blackberry and plum; it was delightful, easy on the palate and a real treat.
2003 MARTINELLI JACKASS HILL ZINFANDEL RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY- 16.9% abv; from a 3 acre vineyard planted in 1900 and claimed to be the steepest in Sonoma County at 60 degrees; the vineyard got its name as the family often remarked that only a jackass would farm a hill that steep; it had a dark purple vibrant color; lots of wood notes from the nose on through with super ripe black cherry and blackberry fruit; it finished with a bit of root beer like notes; it can stand a lot of time and decanting in advance with the next opening is recommended.
1996 OJAI VINEYARD ROLL RANCH VINEYARD SYRAH- the color was a pure dark purple; the nose was very inviting with a hint of clove and jammy blueberry and plum which continued on to the back end; it was full bodied with layers of depth and held on for a long finish; this wine has a while to go before it reaches its apogee.
1997 ROMANO DAL FORNO VALPOLICELLA SUPERIORE- a Corvina blend; always a treat, this fine bottling hit all of the sensory receptors in the right spot at the right time; the aromatics were full of inviting nuances including pepper, spice, liquorice, earth, leather and smoke along with rich black fruit; in the taste I got generous amounts of more defined black cherry and black currant; the mild pepper trail continued on throughout as a nice surprise; it was full bodied, had layers of depth and complexity and kept on unfolding, getting better and better with time. Did I mention, it had unbelievable softness and mouthfeel? I`m thinking WOTN now.
2004 ELISABETTA FORADORI GRANATO VIGNETI delle DOLOMITI- 100% Teroldego; this was pretty intense from the color on plus it had a hit of Brett that required pushing past to glean some of the attributes which included massive doses of black raspberry, blackberry and black cherry along with a streak of spice; it was very complex, full bodied and did not want to give up at the back end. An Interesting side thing about this wine was pronouncing the varietal. We had a few different spins on it. Mine: TEAR, as in rip, ALL TO GO.
2000 ARNALDO-CAPRAI SAGRATINO de MONTEFALCO 25TH ANNIVERSARY- 100% Sagratino; here’s another very intense wine that will blow your socks off unless you have very tight shoe laces; loads of spicy dark fruit highlight the aromas and taste profile and it reeks of my childhood theatre going indulgence I’ve borrowed as a wine descriptor, jujube; in fact, its more like jujube than jujube.
2009 P+S PRATS & SYMINGTON CHRYSEIA DUORO- blend of 70% Touriga Nacional and 30% Touriga Franca; this wine says catch me before you get palate fatigue which is quickly approaching after the last 2 and the 11 before it; I caught enough to know this is a pleasant wine offering really delicious red, blue and black fruit highlighted by a touch of chocolate, licorice and coffee; just past mid palate, it dried out a bit and finished quite dry.
Chryseia means “golden” in ancient Greek as does the name of the river in Portuguese.
This comes from a collaboration from Charles Symington in the Duoro and Bruno Prats from Bordeaux mindful of the Opus joint venture of Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild and Robert Mondavi.
2015 ONCE & FUTURE PALISADES VINEYARD PETIT SIRAH CALISTOGA- made by Joel Peterson of Ravenswood fame, this was inundated with sweet wild cranberry fruit accented with talc, sandalwood and pine; it seemed way too young and probably would have benefitted from a long decant and certainly would have been better opened earlier in the evening than being our final of 9 reds.
Our prince of sweets graced us with another gem:
1999 KRACHER WELSCHRIESLING TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE NUMBER 10- 375 ml; honeyed burnt apricot abounds here in this super thick syrupy dessert in a glass.
When it was all over, everyone agreed our wine theme was very creative and gave us a chance to open some bottles we rarely have AND it turned out to be really fun.
This is such a wonderful group to be associated with and I treasure each and every dinner we share every 2 weeks year after year, times 20 now.
Cheers,
Blake