Some Houston berserkers met up for a second time with some new attendees, on the theme of “older California wines.” As with our last installment this was a blast and the wines were spectacular. Good to see everybody, including @Myles_Lup @Corey.H @Dav1d_Sawyer @R.Condron @Ryan.D. @MICHAEL_C_R_O_M_W_E_L_L @RyanC and @Tom_Gutting were allegedly “too busy practicing law,” and were much missed.
2016 Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus 1er Cru Blanc de Blanc
Apple and yeasty dough on the nose with some floral almond character; on the palate moderate body with a broader character for a bdb. This was open and inviting, and to my palate didn’t come across as distinctively chardonnay-ish. In other words this read as a (well-made, tasty) conventional blend brut, despite in fact being a zero dose/brut nature and all chard. Apparently very ripe grapes!
2019 Famille Mousse Les Terres d’Illite
Blanc de noir, 80% Meunier 20% Noir. Broader on the nose and a touch oxidative, this has juicy apple and pear with some lemon squeeze. On the palate, this is boisterous and chalky, with some vanilla and almond in addition to apples, stone fruit, and citrus.
2017 Guillaume Sergent Pataphysique
100% Meunier. This was probably the most engaging of the champagnes from an analytic point of view due to the juxtaposition between more developed maillard/caramel/nuts character on the one hand with very stout acidity, the highest of any of the champagnes to my palate. That made for an attractive and interesting combination and I enjoyed this wine more than I generally seem to enjoy meunier heavy bottlings.
2018 Marc Hebrart Special Club
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Apple, pear, creamy lees tones. Powerful, broad, but balanced… and therefore extremely, extremely charming. Between the vintage and the style this is certainly bigger boned and broader shouldered than most champagnes but the wine is rendered in such a compelling and inviting way that I have a hard time imagining anyone actually disliking it.
1999 Au Bon Climat Nuits Blanches Chardonnay
My bring, and I’ve declared my love for these wines over and over so grain of salt, but I thought this was excellent. Roasted nuts, butterscotch, pineapple, balancing acidity, long finish. This was waxy and textural, the palate impact was immense, and the finish went on.
Digression: This was the first vintage of the reserve chardonnay bottling – at this point merely “Nuits Blanches,” with the “Au Bouge” added later to denote a slightly pulled back version of the wine that matched the overall house style more. The origin story, as retold to me various places including on here, is that this wine was made with tongue firmly in cheek in response to the middling critical reception for Jim Clendenen’s chardonnays, which were considered a bit austere at the time—as astounding as that seems today. The spirit of the wine was in the vein of “Oh you want a big ripe Chardonnay? I’ll give you a big ripe Chardonnay all right.” The only problem with that plan was that the result was extremely delicious and merited making from that point until the end of time. This was pretty g.d. good at 27 years of age for a wine that was made as, basically, a prank. One attendee remarked on how well balanced the wine was, and I took great pleasure in showing him the ABV at a stated 14.5%(!!!).
2005 Au Bon Climat Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir
A bit on the round and warm side for older ABC Pinots. There is some leafy earthy character and some spice, but mainly the impression was darker ripe fruit with a fairly soft texture. There was a question raised whether this was perfectly sound, though my impression was that this was basically as I’d expect. I’ve said on here several times that the pinots from the K&L sale—this wasn’t my bring but it was from the same source—have had a much higher floor but a much lower ceiling than the chardonnays, and this didn’t change my mind. Not at all a bad glass of wine, to be clear, but more “well that’s held up alright” than “wow what a beautiful aged wine.”
2022 Beta Maus Vineyard
Sui generis. Very pretty, very floral, peppery, some apricotty stone fruit?? Surprisingly open and friendly and there is a lot to love right now. Would I call this a cab blind? Probably not! But this is a very interesting direction for Napa cab. I’d love to try these wines with 25-30yrs on them, and I’d love to learn more about the farming that turns out 12.5% alc Moon Mountain cab in 2022(!!) that doesn’t show any hint of underripeness.
Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot Flight
Myles and I happened to have bottles to put together a mini-vertical of three excellent early 90s vintages of one of my favorite value-play auction wines. These usually hammer at or under $60 before vig and they are a great glass today. Parker’s glowing reviews of these wines have been well borne out, other than his massive conservatism as to drinking windows. I got sent home with these three bottles as we packed up, but attended a seder the next night so didn’t get to check back in. Luckily they were still bopping away on night 3, when I set them out for dinner with some neighbors where they were well enjoyed.
1991 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot
This was showing away. A blast of tobacco, dark fruit, and licorice on the nose. On the palate, deep dark fruit and a plush, very full bodied texture, with fine plush tannins. Certainly not a high acid wine by any means but there was sufficient acid to balance and frame the wine. The Very nice.
1992 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot
Night 1: Some VA on the nose and question from Myles on the provenance (part of an auction lot that had some duds), but the palate is pretty good. In line with the bracket on either side in terms of the overall flavor impression on the palate, a good showing given it is potentially a bit less than it might be.
Night 3: Nose cleaned up nicely with almost no perceptible VA (go figure) and this showed better than night 1. In line with the 91’s plush, dark fruited nature with lots of leafy merlot character, cigar tobacco, and a powerful rich texture.
1993 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot
Excellent incense and dark fruit nose with a vigorous whack of spearmint or perhaps wintergreen, this is my third bottle and every one has performed beautifully. This perhaps isn’t quite as good as the 91 but it strongly outperforms the vintage rep and gives it a run for its money. Again sweet toned dark fruit and tobacco are the main flavors but in the cooler vintage (I think?) this has a bit of lift and line that is quite attractive.
1992 Caymus Napa Valley
A bit more acid and lift than the Merlot flight, plus a more ashy tobacco and cedar nose. Deep rich dark fruit and tobacco leaf palate. This was a funny following act in that it really demonstrated the tendency of cab and merlot from the same region to converge on one another over time. Knowing that this was a cab you could pick around for some distinctions, but if you’d slid this into the Beringer merlot flight I don’t think I’d have immediately told you this was a different grape.
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All told a really fun evening with a couple repeat players and a couple new faces. The wines showed nicely on the whole and it was fun to explore some older CA bottles.
