MacArthur Beverages California Barrel Tasting

Did anyone else attend the MacArthur Beverages California Barrel Tasting this past Saturday? I thought both the 2009 Dunn, Howell Mountain and 2009 Pauls Hobbs, Cabernet Sauvignon To-Kalon were outstanding wines. The Bure Family wines were close on their heels.

Aaron

Still a good time? I went to the 1997s, 1998s and 1999s and had a great time. They seemed to hen have some turnover but hopefully are still able to bring in a nice mix of older and newer producers…

I’d love to see some notes since I wasn’t able to make it this year. (Although I was able to taste the 2011 Monte Bello barrel sample at a Ridge winemaker dinner at Restaurant Eve on Thursday - delicious!)

I went for the 96 and 97 then 2006, 2007. There’s never been another event like the 1997 one. Most of the highest end producers no longer attend like Shafer and Dalla Valle and some others. Lots of new producers and the event is not longer the zoo it used to be. I can remember almost getting run over several times at the 1997 event.

I think it’s a good time and I can state that the first session is not a zoo. There were 42 or 43 wineries pouring and the first session had roughly 180 tasters. Very easy to get around to taste. Taking it easy this year, I tasted 39 wines in the 2.5 hours. One can easily do more. The evening session had roughly 100 more people so it may have been a little harder to get as many tastes or to talk as long with the representatives. The wineries present are those that MacArthur is currently stocking.

Not sure if it was the vintages or me but I felt that the quality range in the wines I tasted was wider this year than in the years past. I found many of the valley floor wines to be lacking acid and honestly boring. A very notable exception was EMH which (yet again) I felt was one of the best wines there and the only one I am buying on futures. Otherwise, I prefered the mountain wines which generally showed more acidity but often times with significant tannins. Many of these wines are going to need some time to mellow.

My note taking is very basic at this event. Not much detail. My favorites are below with limted notes
EMH: 2009, 2010, 2010 special - loved them all. Can’t go wrong with any of them. Did not really take notes, just enjoyed them.
Ridge: 2009 and 2010 - The 2009 picked up a lot of cinnamon since i last tasted it and it may have lost a little weight. Very nice. The 2010 had more mouthfeel but less aromatics. Also very nice. The 2011 did not thrill me.
Staglin: Great aroma. Probably the best nose of everything I tried. A wall of tannin however. Notes are not with me so not sure if this was a 2009 or 2010. They only poured the one wine.
Delectus: First time trying them. Liked the Cuvee Julia a lot. Some tannin but carried it well and I could see this being really good in the future. My wife called it Juicy. The 2010 bear crossing was good but not up to the level of the Julia yet with even bigger tannins.
Vineyard 7 & 8: The 2009 and 2010 both have big tannins. Good fruit and great body.
Barnett: 2010 Spring Mtn - very acidic but with bright fruit. My be too acidic for many but my acid fearing wife liked it. She did not like the Kamen calling it too acidic which I did not think had near the acidity as this. The Blackjack Ranch I felt had too much wood.
Dunn: 2010 - Its Dunn. You either like it or you don’t.

I did not taste most of the Morlet wines (Bure, Morlet, Boswell) deciding to focus more on wines I may buy and trying some wineries that I have never had before. I tried the Hobbs To-Kalon last and did not think it stood out. Maybe not fair to judge it at that point but also possible that I just don’t like this wine as I also did not like the 2007. I did like the 2008 however.

There definitely seemed to be less people this year so I had a relatively easy time getting to each table. There were a few times I had to wait a minute or two to get a pour but I did not mind. The pours were generally good. I went to the evening session and towards the end some barrel samples had run out.

I got through a simiIar number of wines and managed to take notes throughout the evening. If anyone is interested my notes are on my blog.

I like the 2010 Tablas Creek, Esprit de Beaucastel. I preferred the 2010 Ridge, Monte Bellow over the 2011 which showed a lot of roasted earth. My favorites were the 2009 Dunn, Howell Mountain and the 2010 Paul Hobbs, To-Kalon. The 2010 Paul Hobbs, Napa had lots of enjoyable leather. Bure Family was very good almost at the Paul Hobbs level. I found the Hourglass wines too sweet for my palate. Morlet was very good.

I drink mostly Southern Rhone, Souther Italian, and Spanish wines so with these wines being outside of what I normally drink, I had a great time.

Aaron

Brian - thanks for coming by and for the positive comments on my wines. Aaron - I’m not sure if you did not come by, or if you did and my wines are not in your wheelhouse.

A few Berserkers and eBobbers came by, and I don’t always catch the names with the noise in there, but if you identify yourself clearly as knowing me from one of the boards, I really appreciate that.

In answer to comments about the event itself: this is the only public tasting that I still pour at. Bassin’s got a larger ballroom for this year’s event, and they put the food in the center of the room, rather than in an adjoining room. It did not feel at all oppressive, and I think the additional space benefited both tasters and wineries. I love this show. Probably 80% of the tasters in the afternoon were familiar with me and my wine - it’s pretty much an annual check in on wines and how everyone is doing. Like friends and family at this point.

Mrs. Bassins and Andy Creemer put on a great, great event, at least from this winery’s perspective. I look forward to it every year, and this year surpassed each of the other years for me in terms of comfort, support and service. The tasters were well-informed but in general not “nerdy,” so it was a genuine pleasure to be there. This show is a lot of work, but a lot of fun, year after year.

One of the highlights for me this year was having Bedrock’s Morgan’s parents each come by separately to taste and chat. I think Morgan’s dad has tasted and made a wine or two in his day [cheers.gif] .

Merrill, unfortunately I did not make it by your table. I had ever intetion of stopping by, but I tried to be studious this year in taking notes and honestly found that the 2.5 hours flew by! I am not the fastest taster nor note writer so perhaps I need to attend both sessions next year. So no slight to you or any other winery, I simply wrote about all of the wines I tasted. Fortunately, I live in Maryland so I can always purchase some of your wines or taste them with Andy.

Best, Aaron

Merrill ,
I agree with your take on the event. It’s always a lot of fun very well run. But since I just don’t buy Napa Cabs anymore it’s tough to justify the price tag on an annual basis.
Bob

I’ve attended twice in the past. One year it was held at the Watergate Hotel and I booked a room there so could taste widely without worrying about getting “home’” safely. The best part for me was that I was invited to an after-party of in-the-business people where some really good European wines were offered. I was enthralled by a Puligny-Montrachet (I think it was a Leflaive). I was slightly tipsy and forgot to visit the Ports which I was leaving for last. At the tasting I was drawn to ZD Cabernet and Cain Five (I don’t think they participate now) and Von Strasser wines. I’m not keen on highly tannic wines and find most Howell Mountain wines not my thing. I will be visiting MacArthur Beverages in April while in the DC area.

I was there during the early session and thought it was great - minimal lines, and good chance for dialogue. Some of the wines were hit or miss, but I dont have my notes in front of me. Will post more later.

Next year, or as you say, perhaps with Andy. The two 2010s are still in barrel, but I also poured the 2009 from bottle. As I was traveling and pouring alone, I did not make it out to a single other winery’s table. The two shows (12:30-3:00 and 6:30-9:00) produced a steady stream of glasses waiting for a pour. And unlike some other shows I used to do, virtually all of the tasters want to discuss something about the wine, the vintage, the grower or winemaker - something. In general, I would characterize the attendees as tasters, not just there to drink. The afternoon tends to be more “studious,” while the evening session does take on a bit of a “date night” character.

Another I noticed today as the futures went on sale. I believe only 6 of the wineries particpating this past Saturday were there 15 years ago. It also does not seem that the futures prices are much of a bargain any more either. Although, back then, the point of ordering some of those wines was to just get access to them vs. getting them at a deep discount.

Brian,

Have you been to this tasting before. The reason I ask is that when I have gone (this year I went to the ACC tournament instead) I have always found the newest Ridge wine hard to taste. It is a year younger than everything else and is often very closed. I cannot tell you how many times I used that thought - it did not thrill me - only to kick myself the next year for not having bought some on futures.

This is the third year I have been to this tasting. Two years ago I found the 2009 wonderful and thought it better than the 2008. Last year I still preferred the 2009 to the 2008 and felt the 2010 was almost as good. I trust Eric knows what he is doing and it’s quite likely that the 2011 will end up a great wine but on this day I did not like it. It was the nose on the 2011 that bothered me and nothing like I smelled in either the 2009 or 2010.

Merrill - Until next year!

I found the nose quite aromatic with a very strong roasted earth component and in the mouth the Cabernet Franc flavors stood out. The profile was quite different than the 2010. While I preferred the 2010 I do not have the experience to guess what the 2011 will be like in one year let alone developed. If you look at the Ridge blog there is a post about assembling the 2011 Monte Bello.

I’ll agree with others in that the first session was great, with not too many people at all, and I appreciated the fact that they moved the whole event into a bigger ballroom, instead of somewhat crammed in to one of the smaller ones like last year. Food was fine as well, almost an afterthought to us as we made sure to arrive with full stomachs this year, in preparation for lots of tasting (and not spitting)…Andy mentioned that they had to pass on the Lamb carving station this year in order to keep the ticket cost the same, but I honestly don’t think I even noticed…

I wish we could have made it all the way around the room, but it just didn’t happen, and we ended up talking to a bunch of folks as we walked around. So the standouts on what we made it to were the 2010 Dunn, 2010 Boswell Dr Crane, 2010 Fontanella Georges III, 2010 Tablas Creek Esprit De Beaucastel, 2010 Black Cat SS, and the 2009 Morlet Couer de Vallee and Passionment. Overall I do prefer 2010 to 2009.

As others have mentioned Ridge, I will too…I was surprised they brought the 2011. It’s incredibly young and I thought at this point consisted mainly of unintegrated oak. However, it was certainly very interesting from a learning perspective, as I don’t know if I’ve ever had something that young and not together yet. And don’t get this wrong, I’m not knocking the wine, in fact I look forward to tasting the 2011 again next year to see how it evolved and integrated, it was just wine at a stage that we normally don’t drink it.

Overall, great as always. Hi Merrill, it was great to meet you there!