Picked up a 4 pack during the Last Bottle Moving Marathon. Then today I noticed Larry Piggins post in the Old Vines thread about how this came up on Last Bottle a few months ago but he passed on it. That was my queue to take a look at one of these. After popping a 2010 Carlisle Sonoma County last night this was a surprise.
2006 Bartolomei Vineyards Zinfandel Black Goose- USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (4/12/2012)
Transparent light ruby color. Looks like a Pinot Noir. Ripe cherry nose with a touch of cinnamon, clove, brown sugar and alcohol. Palate is medium bodied with ripe red cherry, vanilla, cherry coke and blood orange. Finishes with some blackberry (finally) liqueur and green tannins. Blind I would peg this as an oaked Central Coast Pinot Noir and not a North Coast Old Vines Zin but as the evening rolls on the finish gets a little more plush and fruity. Not at all what I expected but enjoyable nonetheless. Good match for grilled baby back ribs.
I had the '98 Ch Simard i bought from the sale last night with short ribs I made and it was very good. I didn’t take notes per se but I do wish I had bought more than the one bottle. It’s still very much alive and drinking very well.
This was one of those, oops, moments during the Moving Marathon where I clicked purchase because I had been blocked out of many of the previous offerings. Notes didn’t look real inviting and after letting this bottle sit in the fridge over 6 days it never seemed to come around.
2006 Faiveley Mercurey 1er Cru Clos du Roy- France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Mercurey 1er Cru (4/18/2012)
Dark cranberry with bricking edges. Nose showing subtle strawberry, cherry liqueur and some barnyard. Palate is very green and stemmy (whole cluster fermented?) with some strawberry notes. Doesn’t seem to have the fruit to hold up to much bottle aging but I’m letting the remainder sit in hopes that the tannins resolve. Really not very enjoyable at this point in time.
Here are my two purchases, the Clos Fonta was $100 on release and I got it for $30, so it seemed like a good deal:
2000 Mas d’en Gil Priorat Clos Fontà- Spain, Catalunya, Priorat (4/19/2012)
Popped and poured…let it sit in the glass for 10 minutes before trying. Hmmm, not much to say. A slight earthy aroma, but not much else. Almost nothing on the palate. I feel like the fruit has faded, and nothing developed behind it. Vac’d the rest for tomorrow to see if anything changes. So far, disappointing. *edit: day 2 was no better.
2009 Beckmen Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Estate- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (4/19/2012)
Popped and poured, cool but not quite cold. Nice aroma of straw and green apple. Medium weight on the palate with subtle grassy notes, as well as gentle grapefruit and minerals. Not as zippy as a NZ SB, and I was fine with that. Didn’t rock my world, but an easy to drink Sauv Blanc that I would buy again for the price.
2005 Vision Cellars Pinot Noir Las Alturas Vineyard- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (4/24/2012)
Didn’t know what to expect but wasn’t real impressed. Nose was kinda gamey but was mainly strawberry jam. Same thing on the palate, strawberry jam, but with a lot of heat. Didn’t change on day 2. You get what you get on these flash sales sites. Used 1/2 of the bottle in my spaghetti sauce.
I bought some of the Simard, and am happy with it. Sure its mediocre. But its also more interesting to drink than just about anything else in that price range. If there are other aged examples of Bordeaux for $12 that are better, I’m all ears.
Thanks for posting - i too made the mistake on this one. I’ve got very limited French knowledge and after a couple of the Faiveley’s went quickly i figured I’d have to buy before I knew what I got.
based on your note, I’m going to let mine rest for a while - see what happens.
2004 Louis Jadot Santenay Clos de Malte- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay (8/21/2012)
Great nose of citrus and green apple. Very creamy texture, with tropical fruits layering the palate. Finishes with a blast of acidity an some nuttiness. Really enjoyable wine.
I have two of these left in my cellar, tried one a few months ago. I am trying to figure out another use for them because drinking them isn’t very rewarding.
Keeping the thread alive as I popped this Jade Mountain that I snagged during the moving marathon. I hindsight I should have backed up the truck because at $25 this is a great deal for a wine that is already aged.
1997 Jade Mountain Syrah Block P-10 Paras Vineyard(USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder)
14.3% abv. Decanted off sediment and poured a taste. Nice ruby color, nose is heavy on bell pepper, menthol, tobaco and a little leather. Blind I would have guessed Cab Franc. First taste at ellar temp. The palate is still showing nice fruit for its age with a big shot of blueberry, pepper and some black raspberry. Still some acid keeping it light on its feet and the tannins are fine but mouth coating. Alcohol shows a bit on the finish but so do the fruit and tannins. Will revisit after air and temp correction, so far pleasantly surprised.
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