Our 4 local members of our blind wine tasting group enjoyed another fine dinner at our venue of choice, Ca Dario Montecito.
As usual, each of us is pre-assigned a wine to bring with one to bring a sparkling wine, one a white and 2 to bring a red. We change up the assignments over time to balance it out and the diversity of our cellars makes for some interesting challenges just to get the varietal sometimes.
We started off with a sparkling wine that we all loved, compared it to Grandes Marques, and once again, failed to recognize:
NV TALBOTT VINEYARDS SPARKLING BRUT- blind; a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; following its light yellow color came super mellow aromas of citrus dominate fruit with lemon most enhanced with a nice spicy accent; once tasted, it gave more of the same while exuding elegance and charm, some richness and perfect balance; at this point, I mentioned this had the possibility of being the Talbott as we’ve had it before blind and it had always shown exceedingly well and been compared to top tier champagnes; but, this came off to me as a blanc de blanc and therefore I was not strongly convicted and acquiesced calling it 2006 Taittinger Comtes, among others, as I’ve done before; once this was revealed, I more subjectively experienced it did not posses as much complexity and depth, but it sure was good and satisfying and unlike most other sparkling wines I’ve had; also, this was low in acidity and that made even my 2nd guess of the 2008 Laurent-Perrier less feasible; we all loved this so much the first time we had it, we each bought a fair amount after one of our members made a special trip to the winery to make the purchase; this is consistently good juice and I had the thought it would be the perfect hot summer evening bubbly to quench any thirst. I welcome another opportunity to taste this blind and actually recognize it.
2014 TALLEY VINEYARDS ROSEMARY’S VINEYARD ESTATE CHARDONNAY- served to the others blind; this winery was discussed last week by 3 of us at our dinner and we praised it for making balanced, more Burgundian styled wonderful wines across the board; so, it was perfect that I could bring this blind and as its turned out, the others had this as a white Burgundy; the color was a hazy yellow and the nose first suggested it had some chill on it and then allowed for some grapefruit to first flesh out, then some yellow apple, followed by some lemon zest; the taste profile also confirmed the chill factor, but had more yellow apple with a light coat of honey and a streak of minerals running through; it had great feel and some weight that gave it more body, but it tended to be more elegant and sophisticated all the while maintaining amazing balance; there was enough acidity to support longevity in this very pleasant well made wine than has loads of grace, charm and elegance.
2010 VEGA-SICILIA UNICO RIBERA del DUERO- blind; opened 1/2 hour prior to serving; comprised of 94% Tempranillo and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon as it was for the 2009 as well; the color was a dark, inky purple and the nose gave up coconut, talc and sandalwood accented blueberry which immediately suggested Spanish to me and almost instantaneously after a sip, Unico, as I’ve had quite a few and it was still fresh in my mind; the French and American oak was mostly integrated with room for more to evolve; the soft and smooth texture served to lighten up the intensity of the wine as it easily glided over the palate while providing an impressive and welcomed finish with all of the aforementioned notes coming together; I called it 2006 Unico with some degree of assuredness that it was Unico.
2014 DOMAINE MICHEL GAUNOUX CORTON-RENARDES GRAND CRU- blind; decanted 2 hours; the color was a medium red purple and I immediately thought Pinot Noir and then the nose helped even more with aromas of fresh red berries, strawberry and red raspberry, all of which were embellished by a wondrous spicy accent; the taste profile had more of the same and its soft, smooth texture added to its allure; I was struggling to get this as being new or old world and kept swirling and tasting for about an hour and still did not come to any conclusion other than I really liked it, thought it to be about 10 years old and finally landed on this being a CA Pinot from Santa Barbara County, maybe from Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. Once revealed, I had another piece of humble pie.
Cheers,
Blake
