One of the true pleasures in this world is drinking someone else’s Bionic Frog so you don’t have to lessen your own personal stash by one. Thanks Dad, and thanks to the sucker who let this go for $85 at silent auction! Deep purple with ruby red edges, this wine exuded Cayuse class from the get go. Now Cayuse class may be different from the dictionary definition of class, i.e. Sophia Loren or Jackie O. Cayuse class is down and dirty. Intial aromas of crumbled earth, smoked meat, picked fennel, some black raspberry, and a heavy dose of minerality. Christophe’s wines are starting to show such a depth of minerality that I now believe we need to add another element to the periodic table–Cayusium–with the symbol Fg for f*@king good. Not quite as intense as the 03 I had recently, but maybe a touch more complex. Sweet layers of dark fruit interwoven with briny olives, soy, umami, pepper, and even more minerality. The balance this wine achieves with sweet vs. savory is bordering on genius. No noticeable oak or tannin on the back end allows the finish of brown spices and blueberries to linger on your palate for minutes. Free Bionic Frog rocks. Dad, let’s open that 05 this weekend! 97pts.
Sounds awesome, I have a few bottles sleeping and wasn’t planning on opening one any time soon. Should I rethink this or will these improve with more cellar time?
If you have three or more, pop one now and enjoy it. If you have two, I’d hold them both because I think it will get better with four or five more years of sleep.
Talk a friend into opening one of theirs!
Sound advice.
Jared -
Very interesting notes. Can you explain what you mean when you talk about the Cayuse minerality? I’m a bit of a curmudgeon on the subject, as minerals aren’t volatile and thus don’t actually smell like very much. And yet I love minerality in wines; I just think each wine region has its own characteristics of minerality.
I have suggested we ditch the term altogether: http://palatepress.com/2009/10/taking-our-vitamins-and-minerality/comment-page-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But really I think it’s just as good to clarify what regional minerality is. So for this eager Cayuse consumer - who hasn’t had his first bottle yet - can you elaborate?
Cheers and thanks.
No minerality?
What next? No ballerinas dancing across the tongue? No Yogurt?
Oh, the humanity! ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
Welcome to the board!
No peach fuzz either.
And no religion too…
It’s become much harder to focus on the content of Mr. Landreth’s posts due to recent change in avatar…
![[whistle.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/87d24eb81ec6dc01d84f3d6c19fa9a357e90218e.gif "whistle"){kind=small}