Our most recent poker game was held at Zach’s house, with the main wine line-up provided by Darren, who put together an outstanding set of flights for all of us. As usual with this monthly event, the wines were all served blind with no prior warning of themes, producers, etc.
Starter wine:
2007 Juve y Camps Cava Reserva de la Familia Brut Nature. The bouquet here is warm and toasty—with aromas of apple, ginger, and sweet cream that are pleasant enough but not especially focused or lifted. In the mouth, I find it a tad bitter-edged, with flavors of quinine, minerals, botanical herbs, pears and white peaches. It has soft acids, rounded easy body and mellow flavors that are okay but just not all that exciting to my palate.
Flight 1:
2006 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Blanc. Here we have a wine that presents a nose of lemonball candy, light honey, sweet chalk dust, apple, hay, vanilla bean and slight bits of tropical yellow fruits. In the mouth, it has a nice leesy texture, but without a whole lot of obvious weight. It is smooth, lithe and well-balanced, with gently sweet flavors of orchard fruit, chalk and lemonball that I find easily appealing.
2006 Domaine Leroy Savigny-les-Beaune Blanc. This wine displays a much more exotic bouquet that features aromas of star anise, clove, Christmas ribbon candy, clotted cream, pear and melon that are heavy, dense and rich. In the mouth, it is rather luxuriant and totally creamy in texture, with a lot of glycerin and low acidity but long and lasting flavors of lemon cream, apple, vanilla and oak spices. One can sense the alcohol here, too, but it is actually pretty well-integrated into the wine’s exuberant personality. Overall, this is a wine for those who like a rich, languid, sexified style of Chardonnay that still has a solid sense of balance.
2006 Maison Leroy Montagny 1er Cru. This wine is by far the most refined of the trio on the nose—putting forth fine aromas of apple skins, peaches, light smoke, graphite, pencil shavings and apple blossoms. It is also more focused and directed on the palate than the previous pair of wines, with a fine sense of refinement and class to the medium-weighted flavors of apple fruit, melon and limestone. It is a picture of balance and definitely my favorite wine of the flight.
Flight 2:
1999 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne. This wine is kind of pale-colored, and features a fine nose of warm caramel, sweet cherries, wild berries, chalk dust, baked earth, plush suede and foresty plant aromas. It has a tart acidity and a tangy purple and blue berry fruit profile that runs through the wine the whole way through, providing a bright and palate-cleansing sensation that I enjoy a good deal. It is a “small” wine that doesn’t try to do too much but presents a very pleasing profile that is at once fresh and also nicely resolved.
2007 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne. This is by far the densest, richest and darkest nose of the flight, showing a much more masculine sort of profile that features aromas of dark baked cherries, cool gravel, mixed currant fruit and a bit of scorched earth. In the mouth, it is cool and sinewy, with a muscled fruit profile of black cherries and dark currants supported by tightly-coiled acidity. There are no real tannins to worry about, but the wine seems a bit inward-facing right now and I just don’t find myself making much of a connection with it at this time.
2007 Domaine Leroy Nuits St.Georges. I really enjoy the bouquet of this wine—it has a very graceful floral aura to it that goes delightfully well with the elegant core aromas of sandalwood, cedar, jalapeno pepper, red currants, cassis and cherry paste. In the mouth, it is again finessed and classy, with a contained sort of frame but with excellent acidity and solid palate momentum to carry along the intense but pretty flavors of bright cherry, cranberry and ashy earth. It is a very nice wine drinking extremely well right now and was my favorite of the flight.
Flight 3:
1998 Paul Jaboulet Aine Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre. This wine smells very nice, with pure and transparent aromas of cherry and raspberry fruit accompanied by scents of black tea leaves, corn silk, cigar ash, forest greens and root vegetables. In the mouth, it is full of densely-concentrated cherry and cassis fruit flavors that are fresh and lifted, with a nice cleansing finish that also sports pretty good length. It is a tad chewy at times, but is generally quite welcoming and warmly-engaging. I don’t think it is particularly typical of Cornas, but for those not overly concerned about that sort of thing, it is a lovely wine to drink at this moment of its evolution.
Flight 4:
2008 Chateau Caronne Ste. Gemme Haut Medoc. I’m not a real big fan of this particular wine, at least not at this time. It opens with a very stemmy nose full of birch bark, wintergreen, sarsaparilla, mushrooms, potting soil, scorched earth and purple berry aromas. That leads to a palate that is at once sweet with flavors of mocha, chocolate paste, peppermint and black cherries, but also somewhat green and vegetal underneath. Also, the heavy oak isn’t particularly well-integrated yet, so I just think this seems kind of messy and unappealing right now.
2006 Chateau Caronne Ste. Gemme Haut Medoc. This is a better showing, with the nose sporting nicely resolved aromas of red currants, cassis, tobacco leaf, caramel, leather strap and pencil shavings. In the mouth, it is really creamy and decently-concentrated, with lots of enjoyable dark fruit, nut and fudge stuffing. However, the tannins are extremely aggressive and the wine seems quite young at this stage of the game in spite of the more evolved bouquet. I like it OK, but would give it another several years.
Flight 5:
1992 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley. Now we’re talking! I love the bouquet of this wine—it is just killer stuff that is right in my sweet spot for California Cabernet, sporting lovely aromas of leather, green pepper slices, green tea, dusty back road, dense black currant fruit and rich mocha paste. It is also just rocking in the mouth—feeling cool and fabulously structured yet pasty-textured and extremely generous in flavor. There’s still a strong pop of tannin, to be sure, but that doesn’t interfere too much with the outstanding blackberry, black currant, tobacco, leather and dusty earth flavors that this puts out in spades. It is still on the upside, I’d have to say, but I love drinking it right now. My WOTN.
1993 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley. This bouquet takes a bit longer to grow on me, eventually finding a spot where it nicely blends together fine aromas of cassis, brambly blackberries, dark earth, chocolate, chicory and wild herbs. On the palate, it seems denser and thicker than the 1992, with a more rigid tannin backbone to it. But it has outstanding energy and great length, with blackberry, black currant and bramble berry fruit flavors that are driven along by a vibrant kick of acidity. It has a mountainous, momentous sensibility to it and I very much enjoy its rugged, masculine profile.
Flight 6:
1997 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia. Oh, this is nice. It has silky-smooth, regal aromatics that just coat the nostrils without ever losing their sense of grace and distinction. It seems totally holistic, creamy and encompassing in its notes of pipe tobacco, plush cassis, raspberry paste and green pepper that come across as deep and lush but also regal in a way. In the mouth, it is very generous and a bit plump, with a seamless and caressing mouthfeel and effortless weight. The gentle acidity gives the red licorice, raspberry paste and black cherry flavors just enough of a juicy feel to keep this pure, classy and fine-drinking. My runner-up for WOTN.
1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley. This wine has a plumper, sweeter bouquet to it, but is really beautiful in its own way—with its aromas of sweet road tar, blackberry jam, coffee, toasted spices, graphite and gentle oak filling the nose. In the mouth, there’s lots of clove and baking spice flavors riding atop a glycerin-laden, sweet river of creamy red and black fruit. The alcohol seems a bit elevated compared to its flight mate, but I’d still say it is well integrated. Over time, the fruit turns a bit slinkier, with more grip and delineation, but always feeling smooth, ripe and layered. It is a lot of fun to drink and just seems like an excellent wine all around.
After hours:
1991 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Chabot Vineyard Napa Valley. This wine is a whole lot more aggressive on the nose, with a much darker-fruited and serious-toned profile to it. Black leather, dark chocolate, camphor, black cherry and cedar aromas are big and dense, but again just a bit firm and humorless. In the mouth, it is dense and rich and darkly fudgy. It has tons of stuffing and masses of blue and black fruit to go with chocolate and black earth notes. Tannins are still a major player here–though they show no signs of roughness–and the structure still stands rather tall. It is a man’s man sort of wine with a lot under the hood, but probably needing like another 5 years to unwind a bit more.
-Michael