This past week, several of us got together at Fringale Restaurant in SF with fellow board member Eric Lundblad of Ladd Cellars. An excellent restaurant, no question, the stars of the night were the wines! Brief observations follow, all wines sorted per flight in order of personal preference.
Flight 1 - With Hors D’Oeuvres: Foie Gras, Seared Ahi and Pate on Brioche, the two wines were brought by guests to enjoy before the Ladd Cellar wines. The Champagne was a crisp, yeasty young drinking wine that was quite enjoyable. In contrast, the German Riesling was more honey and caramel with a light waxy sweetness. Both were a great start to the evening!
1976 Michael Weber Niersteiner Gutes Domtal Spatlese
1988 Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage Champagne
Flight 2 - With Roquefort & spinach ravioli, toasted pine nuts, basil & cream sauce, tasted two different Russian River Pinot Noir from Ladd Cellars. The 2005 was deep, with raspberry, black cherry, and aged butterscotch notes, a lovely wine. The 2008 was cool and clean, ripe and well balanced, it had a nice bright cherry palate.
2005 Ladd Cellars Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
2008 Ladd Cellars Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Flight 3 - With Poached black cod, potato puree, piperade, artichokes, capers, olive tapenade, found both Moore Ranch wines to have more in common with each other than the two Russian River wines. Both were laser precise, with blue and black fruits, tighter and restrained. Given more time in the glass, would expect the wines to fill out considerably. Both were elegant and refined in style, an interesting contrast to the fuller bodied Russian River Valley wines.
2007 Ladd Cellars Moore Ranch Pinot Noir
2006 Ladd Cellars Moore Ranch Pinot Noir
Flight 4 - With Braised veal short ribs, orzo, brussel sprouts, baby carrots, morel mushroom sauce, a red Burgundy side by side tasting with a Ladd Cellars Pinot Noir. Both wines were enjoyable, no question, but for different reasons. The Abigail was bigger, tannic, powerful and expressive, while the Anne Marie was more forest floor, green, and oaky in a more restrained style.
2007 Ladd Cellars Cuvee Abigail Pinot Noir
2006 Domaine Anne Marie Gille Vosne Romanee
Flight 5 - After a wonderful meal and several really good wines, enjoyed a final after dinner wine from our gracious host, a bottle of 2007 Ladd Cellars Sonoma Coast! Far lighter and more toned down than earlier wines, it had riper strawberry fruit and minty, very easy to drink.
2007 Ladd Cellars Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Of all the Ladd Cellars wines, thought the 2007 Moore Ranch best, followed by the 2007 Abigail and finally, the 2005 Russian River Pinot. Cheers to an excellent job on the wines Eric!
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
