Our Monday Night Blind Wine Dinner Group enjoyed another fabulous evening at our venue of choice, Ca Dario Montecito.
All 5 of our local members attended and each of us was assigned a wine to bring. We ended up with 1 champagne/ sparking wine, 2 white and 2 red wines.
Our champagne was really good and a challenge for the other 4 of us to ID. Even getting it was a blanc de blanc was tough and the exact vintage was even tougher. Here’s some notes:
2007 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- the color was an interesting mineral gray yellow and the nose offered an array of pronounced aromas that included ginger and honey coated lemon; once tasted, the lemon was oily and further accented with yellow apple; it was pretty robust and intense, tangy, zesty and actually a bit sweet; whatever it was, it was wonderful and I made the comment I’d like to have it in my cellar; I guested it was 2008 Delamotte at first, but then I thought it was a blend and not a BdB and vacated that idea in favor of it being 2008 Bollinger Grande Annee.
This group has had an extraordinary amount of Comtes and we were surprised no one called it such, but it really was atypical IMHO.
2007 DOMAINE BLAIN-GAGNARD BATARD-MONTRACHET GRAND CRU- blind; following its pure gold color came advanced aromas of bruised apple, oak wood, vanilla and caramel joined by a hit of white pepper and a coat of honey on the palate; it had an oily texture, full body and mild acidity at best; it seemed obvious to be white Burgundy and I had it as a 2002.
2014 PIERRE-YVES COLIN-MOREY EN REMILLY SAINT AUBIN 1er Cru- blind; my bring; due to the telltale white wax capsule, I transferred the wine to another bottle; the color was medium yellow and the nose was so replete with flint and minerals, the fruit profile was initially masked and it wasn’t until at least 30 minutes later that a bit of citrus came through in the form of orange marmalade, grapefruit and caramelized lemon plus accents of vanilla, wood oak and ginger once tasted; the finish was mostly flint and minerals with an emphasis on the latter; it had nice acidity and a wondrous mouthfeel with its oily texture; one got it as a Saint Aubin, but not the producer and another member who has shared tons of PYCMs with this group did not recognize it, but was in the Burgundy ballpark.
2012 GROTH RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA- blind; this was their 8th vintage release of this wine and is comprised of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate’s Reserve Block and 10% Merlot from their Hillview Vineyard; it is aged 22 months in 100% new French oak; following its rich, deep, dark red and purple color came aromas of talc and sandalwood accented red and black currant which was joined by milk chocolate, blackberry and black cherry with a late arrival of some fresh blueberry; it finished a bit dry and I theorized it was younger with yet to be fully integrated tannins and called it a 2008 Right Bank Bordeaux thinking it had much more Merlot.
2002 DOMAINE FAIVELEY CHAMBERTIN- CLOS de BEZ GRAND CRU- blind; sadly, this was corked.
1997 TORTOCHOT CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- brought as a back up, this bottle had been opened the night before and then coravined; the color was a grainy red raspberry and the nose had a lot of musty, dusty, mature notes as well as pyrazines {bell peppers} and unfortunately, some residual TCA from the wine before it as I was unsuccessfully in cleaning the glass; beneath all of this was some really nice spicy red and black raspberry fruit.
I remain thankful for the wonderful fellowship and consummate learning experience that happens each and every time this group gets together. I/ we are also blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with this restaurant who treat us royally and consistently serve us high quality Italian cuisine with joy and pleasure.
Cheers,
Blake
