TN's: Women Without Borders (a Wednesday night adventure to another dimension)

Mid-week fun times with some fun people — even Queen Grand and Abigail Downing were in attendance, and who would want to miss them?!?! Not this guy! Boring this evening certainly was not … can’t remember the last time I discussed quantum light consciousness over a glass of wine, but I did this evening. Had a blast hanging with new and familiar faces, alike.

2005 Lagier Meredith Syrah - USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over one hour –

NOSE: restrained Nose showing hints of spice (cumin), meat, smoke, and oak; a bit volatile.

BODY: medium-light to medium bodied

TASTE: tart/sour; not big; some alcohol flavor; red fruits. A follow-up with the winery confirmed suspicions that this bottle was likely suffering from low-level TCA. NR (flawed)


2007 Wind Gap Wines Syrah - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –

NOSE: a bit stinky; earthy olive; juicy; not overripe smelling; Cornas-in-California; lots of maple after 30 un-disturbed minutes in the glass.

BODY: medium-light bodied; quite lean for a CA syrah.

TASTE: lots of green and black olive; very food friendly (paired beautifully with lamb); light spiciness; clean; lithe; 12.7% alc. is not noticeable; not a big CA fruit-bomb; probably my favorite wine of the evening.


2002 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Le Méal - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 30 minutes after bottle had been open for an hour or two –

NOSE: perfumy florals; minerally; seemed reserved.

BODY: tan-golden yellow color; full bodied

TASTE: lots of typical Rhone minerals; hint of cigar wrapper; 14% alc. not noticeable; open; there was something about this that I can’t quite put my finger on that made me feel it was just a little off.



1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 20 minutes after bottle had been open for an hour or two –

NOSE: very tight Nose: kirschy Twizzlers and an odd little green streak.

TASTE: medium bodied, with red fruits on the somewhat flat and musty palate; not nearly as good as a bottle I had at the domaine 4 weeks prior – something was a bit off with this bottle.


2008 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Old Vines Summa - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 20 minutes after bottle had been open for an hour or two –

NOSE: open and expressive Nose showed lots of cherry, underbrush, and blueberry.

TASTE: medium-light bodied; open-knit, and lacking in structure; red berry flavors with oak flashing behind; a bit tart/sour; came across as alcoholic to me – was surprised to see 14.1% on the label; not tannic.


2007 Domaine les Pallières Gigondas Les Racines - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 15 minutes after bottle had been open for an hour or two –
– 80% Grenache, 8% Syrah, 7% Cinsault, 5% Clairette.

NOSE: very tight; smelled a bit spoofy.

BODY: dark garnet color of great depth; medium-full bodied.

TASTE: 14.5% alc. is a tad noticeable; grippy tannins; dark fruits; tasted a bit off – cooked.


2005 Château la Bienfaisance - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 10 minutes after bottle had been open for an hour or two –

NOSE: oak and banana bread; not complex.

BODY: purple color of great depth; medium bodied.

TASTE: strong drying tannins; purple fruits; earthy; minerally; I wonder if the fruit will outlast the tannin. Not bad, not great.


N.V. Yalumba Muscat Museum Reserve - Australia, New South Wales (12/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 15 minutes after bottle had been open for a half hour –

NOSE: tawny; nutty; alcoholic.

BODY: auburn color; full bodied.

TASTE: viscous on the palate with a strong sugary pecan flavor; long finish; a bit alcoholic.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for these, Brian, too bad about the L-M, I was hoping for an indication of where my one bottle of 2004 is sitting.

I will only speculate, but your somewhat dissatisfied experience with the Le Meal may be because, even with 1-2 hours open and some time in the glass, it is absolutely fast asleep, as my limited experience has shown these to become after a few years. I have a couple bottles of 03 White Hermitage that I’m now not planning to open until at least 2015 and probably beyond.

Kwa heri,

I suspect you are right, Mike. Marsanne (and Roussanne, as well, for that matter) are weird puppies for me — I like 'em extremely young, and then I don’t like them 'till they’ve got some age on them — I don’t think 8 years counts as “some” for these wines. After a recent revelatory experience with an '89 Chapoutier Chante Aloutte last month, I’ve become keenly interested in buying a Le Meal or De l’Oree so I can sock it away for 25 or 30 years. That '89 blew me away.

Brian–I see you were taking notes on MORE than just the wines… Let’s just say that the evening’s conversation covered many topics other than wine…

I really liked the Wind Gap for its style–as you say, a bit lean, low alcohol, and with some nice olive qualities. Tasty with the Lebanese food.

I’ve had the LM Syrahs from various vintages, and that was most definitely an off bottle. We also had a corked Hansel Alyce Pinot, which was also unfortunate. At least with the Hansel, the TCA nose was so strong that there wasn’t any doubt at all that there was a flaw.

Notwithstanding a few off bottles, a tremendous amount of fun. Glad you could make it.

Bruce

Thanks for the great notes, Brian. And Thanks to Bruce L for hosting us. The Porn Star Name Game was major fun, and I can’t really remember why everyone was laughing so hard, but I think it has something to do with sheep and cold sores.

Just a couple additions to your comments:

Lagier Meredith Syrah - My third time trying this wine and my third dissapointment. Ever since hearing Carole Meredith speak at a wine event 10 years ago, I’ve SOOOO wanted to like her wine, but it always seems flawed and I find it hard to believe that all vintages were suffering bottle damage. Whether it’s sour (this time) or raisiny (my first experience), it’s been untasty fruit.

2008 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard - had little to do with Pinot. I don’t understand how a guy like TRB that loves traditional style aged Barolo and Burgundy ends up making wine that tastes like this. Doubt if the alcohol will ever integrate. How come every time I think the level is sky high, the label says it’s 14.1? Is that a nudge-nudge wink-wink that means 15+?

Sorry that my wine was boring (guess that’s why they call it BORE-doh). It was another example of '05 St Emilion’s that you can use to wean your Cal-Cab drinking friends over to France. And much less expensive than comparable domestic product.

I agree that the WindGap was enjoyable and complex. His Grenache-Syrah blend is even better.

Looking forward to another fun night next time I’m up in helL.A!

But you forgot to mention that the person that brought the corked Hansel Alyce fortunately had a backup bottle (even if it was a boring Bordeaux!)

Well, my mention wasn’t intended as any kind of moral judgment about bringing a corked bottle o’ vino…

Bruce

Oh, you made the wine?!!? Sorry.

haha … j/k … seriously though, it’s not your fault the Hansel was corked … but I suppose we could blame you for having non-discriminating sticky fingers!


btw: I have one of those '05 “weaner” St. Emilions in my cellar, too: 2005 Château Puynormond Les Vielles Vignes — bottle variation has been a real PITA with it, but when it’s on it’s pretty darned tasty.

Thanks for the notes Brian. An outstanding evening even if I couldn’t really find a wine I loved which when considering what we had on the table is saying something. So many laughs in a few short hours. Thanks to the familiar and unfamiliar faces for a truly excellent night.

Again, none of the wines gave a lot of pleasure beyond that easy feeling. The Le Meal was far from previous experiences with that wine. I’m sure it had to do with the vintage more than anything. The complexity and balance just weren’t what I expected and it had some heat leaving the finish undefined. Loved the nose on my Rivers Marie but the palate came up short being on the dark jammy side. Starting to wonder about the 08 lineup now. The nose was a classic concentrated Sonoma Coast Pinot. The Beaucastel seemed a bit simple with a good dose of heat. I think we both made a point of checking in on it a couple hours later to no change. The Lagier Meredith was very sullen though I detected no TCA. Could very well have been a very light case. The Wind Gap like the RM was much more intriguing on the nose than the palate which was very bland. The nose show a more N Rhone character with meat, soy and olive. I thought the Pallieres Gigondas seemed very tight. The nose gave up nothing and the palate seemed concentrated but inexpressive. The Bienfaisance was a nice basic right bank Bordeaux, though it seemed more like a Bore-doh. Not bad for a BevMo buy. The Yalumba was a nice enough sweety but just more on the sweet decadent side of things rather than a balanced wine. When I opened the Hansel I could smell a lot of TCA right from the neck. Massively corked.

So the distraction from the wine was even more welcome than usual.

thanks, Bruce … me too. … I only wrote notes about the wines; some things lend themselves to memory better than others!

I think what you had was the worst kind of corked. The kind that’s so mild that you don’t perceive the TCA but the fruit is suppressed and so the wine just seems blah. I’d much rather have a massively corked bottle where there’s absolutely no doubt.

I’m sending a replacement bottle tomorrow.

Carole

Exactly so, and thanks for replacing the bottle. It makes me wonder how much “bottle variation” is actually due to very low-level TCA taint, where the TCA levels are below sensory detection by most mortals. As I mentioned above, with the Hansel Pinot, it was massively obvious that the wine was corked.

Bruce

That’s a very good point Carole. When the wine is ruined with no apparent culprit you are just left scratching your head.