I drove up to the south Jersey area from MD this past weekend to attend some wine dinners with friends. On Friday I met with my old wine group at a wonderful little restaurant called Wanda’s BYOB in downtown Haddonfield. We were to bring California wines for this dinner. Here are my notes:
2008 Ployez Jacquemart BdB Extra Brut - I know, not California, but I wanted to start out with a Champagne. Brioche on the nose. Green apple on the palate. Very high acid for the age of the wine with a pineapple finish. Very nice. (91)
2014 Peter Michael Point rouge - My contribution. Very nice wine although the 2007 Mon Plaisir we had with it was much more complex and developed. This showed a gardenia nose. Just starting any tertiary notes. Lots of peach and tropical fruits with a very long papaya finish. (95)
2007 Peter Michael Chardonnay Mon Plaisir - Fully developed. Wow. I’m sitting on the rest of my PM Chards if they end up like this!. So complex with lots of stone fruit showing through as well as caramel notes. Lovely (96)
2020 Carlisle The Derivative - This was a Semillon/Muscadelle blend. Funky nose that blew off after a bit. Lemon and herbs. It does remind you of a dry Sauternes. I kind of liked it. Others at the table, not so much. (92)
2014 Cami vineyard Red Blend - I think this was Cab/Merlot blend. Very tight with sour cherry notes . A bit too much for me. Maybe needed more air. Others liked it. (90)
2013 Bedrock Ancient Vine Syrah From magnum - This was OK, but didn’t strike me as anything too special. Nice balance, definitely a syrah. Went pretty well with the food but didn’t have as much fruit to distinguish it more. (91)
2009 Pride Reserve Cab - This was quite lovely. I got blackberries and plums. Pretty big wine but not overbearing. Drinking well now but I see it lasting several more years. Why don’t I buy more Pride? (95)
2014 Carlisle Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard - I’m not usually a Zin fan but this was very, very good. Dark blueberry fruit and spicy notes. Really well balanced. And long finish. (95)
1998 Dalla Valle Cab - This was superb. The lady that brought this had earlier in the day called my friend up and thought this was oxidized. He told her to leave it open and decant into a clean bottle. I’m glad she took his advice. Dark fruits, some burnt wood notes. Very complex and I kept going back to this. I didn’t think ’98 was a very good year but this sure was a treat to drink. My WOTN. Wonder what the Maya is like? (96)
2010 Araujo Eisele Vineyard - My contribution. Lovely wine. Not as fully developed as the Dalla Valle. We did do a PnP on this whereas the Dalla Valle had 6 hours of slow ox. I think with more age and/or air the dense and reticent Araujo would have opened tremendously. By the end of the evening, this wine showed marvelously with lots of cedar and tobacco. (95)
2022 Kistler Pinot Noir Sonoma Ridge - Lots of berry notes to this. A medium bodied wine and kind of lost against the prior heavyweights. But I can see this being a joy to drink in 5-7 years. Way too young. (92)
