Our Monday Night Blind Wine Dinner Group enjoyed another fun and educational evening with our 4 local members in attendance.
As usual, we had one bubbly, one white and 2 reds and we all struggled mightily to identify each and every wine. This may have been one of the most humbling evenings we’ve had in our 3 years of existence, BUT we learned a lot and honored the experience. Here’s some notes:
2006 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- poured for us blind and rightfully so, as the bottle shape alone would have been quite telltale; initially the nose had aromas of spicy lemon dominated citrus mindful of a young Dom Perignon to me, but that faded quickly and I moved on to other considerations first because of the pure yellow color and then the nose and tastes that had different aromas of white pepper, ginger and anise accented citrus and nectarine; it had bracing acidity, was full bodied, rich and round while expressing loads of power and energy and I’m thinking this is maybe a new world sparkling wine, perhaps a non-vintage blend and definitely not a blanc de blanc; so then I started thinking this was a Roederer Estate L’Ermitage or a Schramsberg ‘J Schram’ {which are both vintage wines}; so, I was conflicted until at least 40 minutes later, a replenishing pour provided an entirely different sparkling wine, definitely more suited to my palate; it was perfectly balanced, still big, rich and bold and now challenging me to consider other options, but I did not cave in and called it a new world, CA, non BdB with some trepidation. Once revealed, we were amazed at what it was and it was clear this bottle was very atypical for all of the numerous 2006 Comtes each of us has had over the years and especially with recent bottles; in fact, if anything, it was more like the 2008 Comtes in many ways with its massive power and concentration, but still the taste profile was so different.
One of our other geeky members brought his pH meter and measured each wine- this one had a pH of 2.89.
2007 MOREY-COFFINET les CAILLERETS CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET 1er Cru- served blind to the others; the color was yellow toward gold and the nose offered mild notes of honeyed yellow apple and lemon with a hint of minerals, all of which continued on all the way through; it was smooth and easy on the palate and overall was a mellow wine with finesse, charm and elegance; I’ve had a few bottles before, but it’s been 4 or 5 years since the last bottle and all of then were much more expressive with petrol, flint and minerality notes much more prevalent; I was the only one who liked it as the others had it as an understated, sapped new world chardonnay and one member even got it as being oxidative. Subjective bias on my part?
Oh and BTW, the pH was 3.2
2005 CHATEAU LAGRANGE SAINT JULIEN- blind; not decanted; the color was a youthful dark red purple and the nose was replete with lovely notes of talc and dark chocolate laden blackberry which also made up a good portion of the taste profile along with some black currant which came in late; it was super smooth and delightful and finished with some fairly stiff tannins that surely will dissipate in years to come while providing the backbone for this to evolve righteously; I had it as a Napa Cab dominant Bordeaux blend from 2010-12.
The pH was 3.35
Geeky pH meter reading
2013 GAJA SPERSS BAROLO- blind; not decanted; the color was a faded red with some purple undertones and rim bricking which suggested a much older wine and i went with something around 2000 or older thinking it could even be over 35 years old; the spicy red raspberry and rose petals aromas were mindful of many Burt Williams’ wondrous Pinots from the early/ mid 1990s and had I not known who brought it, I probably would have gone with this being a Williams Selyem Pinot from Russian River Valley, perhaps Allen Vineyard, but I called it a Musigny as it surely had Grand Cru qualities and I did not find any reason to steer away from Burgundy after tasting it for over an hour; it was delightfully smooth upon entry and had layered depth with nuances unfolding with each layer; it finished a bit dry, but no problem as there was so much to like before that. And then to find out it was a younger Nebbiolo from the top class producer Gaja was a lesson learned for more appreciation for the different expressions of this grape that even merited a GC Burgundy likeness.
The pH was 3.3
Wow! This was another major schooling on wines for me and I’m ready for more. Meanwhile, it’s such a pleasure to commune with these brothers and share the experience while we support each other to grow and learn and enjoy life to the fullest. I’m deeply grateful.
Cheers,
Blake
L-R: Bill Bowles, Mark Howard, me and Tom Van Meter
missing: our now Austin residence member- Rick Banks