Some friends met up recently to share some cool wines, and these were two notes that I thought may be of interest to the board. The “event” is linked below if you’re curious about scores or the other stuff we got into that night.
2002 Evesham Wood Cuvee J Pinot Noir
complex! There is so much going on, that it really invites you to contemplate the nose for a bit before diving in. Both light scents and dark work together to deliver this complexity. On the light side, I noticed roses, and a bit of Brie cheese with the rind intact. On the darker side is a rye cracker that goes with the cheese along with notes of allspice, cherries, and cinnamon rolls. Yeah, that’s almost a ridiculous amount of stuff, but I kept coming back for more on the nose, and kept getting more! It’s gentle on contact with the palate with rose petals starting things off, and dark cherry flavors rolling off of the roses. The tannins are gentle and beautifully balanced with the fruit at this point. A touch of oak shows, and it works very well with the body and flavor of the wine. The cherry fruit gets thicker as it evolves, and tastes more like dark cherry skins as the finish sets in. The acidity has a fantastic feel to it, and it takes a looooononng time to fully settle in. The length on the finish really allows you to revel in this experience. This is wonderful! I’m sure it will continue to age well, but I’d really encourage you to open one of these up to check it out now if you’re lucky enough to have one on hand.
1987 Knudsen Erath Riesling
What a cool find! Expectations were pretty low when we went to pull the cork, but the wine was still holding up! Apricot skins show with caramel and dominant butterscotch scents on the nose. Clean apples show on the palate. The acidity has definitely dropped off a bit with age, but a bit of it is still on hand to lighten the experience up a bit. The butterscotch from the nose shows itself fully on the palate. This certainly makes it show it’s age, but I would never guess that it was as old as it is! The wine is still fairly balanced and it is an entirely enjoyable drink with an enormous novelty/nerd factor.
http://www.cellartracker.com/new/event.asp?iEvent=13768
Very cool Daniel. Evesham Wood’s Cuvee J is almost always stellar. Old Oregon riesling is always fun to try, and occasionally downright delicious.
Great notes, thanks. Nice score on that riesling!