Lunch with Mike R and Mark G at Kittle House.
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2005 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills - Sta. Rita Hills (12/13/2010)
Popped and tasted. Typical pinot noir weight. Slightly warm going down. Decanted at the 45 minute mark. A little sweetness to this, and very smooth going down. I wasn’t hit over the head with any berries. The wine was still developing 90 minutes after decanting. Classy and elegant. This is a special wine, one that still has a few years ahead of it. This more than kept company with an 88 and 89 Dunn Cab Sauv from Howell Mountain. (92 pts.)
Drank this with my wife, daughter, son and girlfriend to celebrate his new job.
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1996 Lanson Champagne Gold Label Brut - France, Champagne (12/13/2010)
Drank this at a celebratory new job dinner in NYC. My first impression… where are the bubbles? I didn’t think this was a cremant. A hint of lemon. Very few bubbles, but a constant stream. Some toast at 60 minutes. Some sweetness at 120 minutes. Sometimes I thought this was a little flat. (91 pts.)
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2006 Carlisle Syrah Pelkan Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley (12/13/2010)
Beautiful nose and taste at 60 minutes after opening. Very smooth, with some warmth going down. Tasted chocolate at 90 minutes. At 2 hours, I tasted dark chocolate and tar. The wine was improving as the evening wore on. I’ll pass this note along to Mike when I visit with him. Hopefully I can convince him to take me off the wait list. (91 pts.)
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Dan, been a few days since I had a chance to post…thanks for the note on the 2006 Pelkan. I went back and reviewed my note too and it’s been almost 2 years since I drank one of these. My note from then is really out of relevance as the wine has now had a good amount of time to settle in so I’ll go back and try another one in the next few months and add to the flow.
I opened the 05 Sea Smoke Botella for our holiday party. It was singing on all counts. Truly delightful and ready for business. Ten usually requires a lot more cellar time.
Dan, I settled on the Pelkan tonight to pair with a nice hearty soup that the Dr Mrs made. What I get with the wine this time, I love the zesty flavors it shows, of course married with Mike’s typical signature of fruit and color.
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2006 Carlisle Syrah Pelkan Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley (12/21/2010)
I put some good spacing of time between this bottle and my last, almost 2 years. Bottle open about 60 mins, no decant, just pull the cork and pour a glass. Fairly dark in color and while not pitch black, it’s dark enough with some maroon edges. Nice bouquet of smoke, iron, underbrush, really nice and distinctive. The palate is generous, with same iron-like note, surrounded by black and red fruits, with a engaging, zesty finish of acidity and rounded off with some tannin. The richness of Mike’s signature folds into the finish also. I suppose this wine will soften overnight but as a snapshot now, for someone looking to open the wine and match it to a zesty, hearty food (as I did tonight with a 13, 15 or some # bean soup from Whole Foods), it works excellent. Delicious.
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