Graeme MacDonald comes to NYC

WINE TALK
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Graeme MacDonald was in town and a few wine geeks got together to drink some Napa wines with him. I selfishly love to drink wines of this sort with Graeme because he is such an enthusiastic student of Napa I learn so much which is part of the overall enjoyment of drinking wine for me. I did not take notes and we went out afterwards so this is a quick hazy recap from memory. Lastly it is always great to see Jay Hack and I finally got to me Jeff Nemanick who was fantastic company.

1996 Mondavi Reserve 30th Anniversary - This was produced from the portions of To Kalon owned by Graeme’s family (MacDonald and Detert) an includes both Cab Franc and Cab Sauvignon. This bottle still seems young and a bit fruit forward. Although enjoyable did not live up to the legendary status. Served blind and Graeme guesses Mondavi Reserve. Graeme mentions he only has one bottle so I was glad I opened this for him.

1990 Heitz Marthas Vineyard - Missing the telltale Eucalyptus. Nicely balanced and and overall pleasure to drink. The three 90s were all light easy drinking and stylistically too my liking.

2002 Heitz Trailside - Still young and clearly different than the Marthas.

1990 Corison - From magnum. Smooth delicous easy drinking cab (but still serious).

1990 Newton - This was the surprise wine of the night for me. 12.5 abv. I was really into this wine. It was made my John Kongsgaard who is a mentor to Graeme.

1991 Togni - Wow just a great overall wine. I love the secondary herbal notes in Togni wines. Note to self I need more Togni. Thanks Jeff.
1974 Sterling Zinfandel - Amazing color and still very much alive. Nice spice. Served blind and Jay nails the vintage.

2008 MacDonald - 12 cases produced! - Graeme brought this and it was an honor to drink. Beautiful wine and despite only a minor decant it was open and delicious.

2009 MacDonald - 22 cases produced! - I was not sure if Graeme was going to bring a MacDonald wine, after all even he does not have much so I brought this. Pop and poured late into the evening. Beautiful filigreed wine that was just a pleasure to drink. I liked both MacDonald equally and both communicate the vintage.

After this we went over to the after party for Isabelle Legeron who just published a book on Natural Wine and I recall ordering some Champagne and a 3L of Dard & Ribo…

p.s. - Graeme did an interview with Levi Dalton (I’ll Drink to That podcast) earlier in the day, if you are interested in his wines and Napa I would recommend checking it out when it is released.

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On a schoolnight fellas? Nice outing!

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Great wine. Graeme is a nice guy with wonderful stories about their property, wine making and all sorts of stuff. I’m not so sure any more about Alex. He responded to my email about selling me a bottle of the 2008 with “would be happy to sell you some of the 2008. The price per bottle is $100,000. Cash or credit would be preferable.” I am waiting for his response to “How big is the bottle?”

The 1974 Zin was wonderful. It morphed into claret like old zin is “supposed” to do. I agree that the 1990 Heitz Martha’s had something between zero and very very little eucalyptus but I was very happy with the bottle, which i picked up at auction last month. I had never had a Heitz Trailside before and I really liked the wine. Old enough to have lost the rough edges of youth.

I did not know the 1990 Newton was made by Kongsgaard. We had one blind at Leo’s Blind Tasting Group and everyone thought it was fantastic, so I went out and bought a few at auction. This bottle showed very well. A good spot in the drinking window.

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Dead soldiers never lie:

The '08 MacDonald sans label is in the back. Heitz/Heitz/Sterling/Mondavi 30th Anniversary/Newton/MacDonald/Togni/Corison Mag. 9 bottles and a mag for six guys. Not too shabby and we didn’t even open the 1974 Jordan.

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Balla night indeed! I’d have opened one of Abe’s, just for historical accuracy.

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You are so right and it is not like Jay and I don’t have a few hundred bottles of Scholium between us…though I think that would have taken my hangover to another level!

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Woe is me - - - we forgot the Karthauserhof Trocken as a starter.

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I still think Trailside is one of the secrets of Napa Valley.

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Sounds like a great evening.
I have to meet these Macdonald guys! I’m two vintages in and still haven’t tried the wines.

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Tru dat.

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  • 100 on the Heitz Trailside. One of the great svd wines in Napa that doesn’t get nearly the attention it should.

Jay- I’ve had some great zins from the 70’s at Bern’s and I always describe them as an aged Claret. They are a terrific experience if you can find well stored bottles.

Lastly, the McD’s brothers are great guys. Hope to try the wine soon.

cheers