TN: EWG Parties Like It's 1999 - DP,Chave,Jamet,Mondavi,Araujo,ChevalBlanc,Yquem,Fonseca

WINE TALK
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EWG PARTIES LIKE IT’S 1999 - Conrad Greens Abode (12/13/2009)

Conrad hosted us yet again for a great night of food and wine. Our generous host cooked up dinner a several course dinner for us yet again right in his kitchen. Thanks so much to Conrad and to everyone for attending and the company.
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Our theme was wines of 1999. The wines were planned into flights to high light what we had in our cellars. The 3 red flights were served single blind where we knew region and variety. The Cab flight was the best for the reds and all of the dessert wines were excellent. The Pinots were remarkable for how well they were holding up with little signs of their age but the St Innocent easily won that flight. A wide variety of wines and styles were in the mix. Favs for me would be the Jamet, the Mondavi and all 4 dessert wines.

Sparkling Starters
Neither of these stood out but on the night the L’Ermitage was the more interesting for me as I’ve never had one with some age on it.

Rhone Whites
Wines headed in opposite directions. Where the Chave seemed a pup the Guigal seemed to be heading down.

  • 1999 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Nose of lemon pound cake. Pretty, complex palate, soft but clean. Gets better and better as it warms up in the glass. The best years of this are ahead of it but a tremendous wine. One of those that makes me realize why people bother making Rhone whites.
  • 1999 E. Guigal Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Showing some oxidation on the nose with toasty caramel notes. Chunky and broad. In sharp contrast to the Chave this seems to be on it’s way down.

Cote Rotie
Jamet impresses yet again and at ten years old is still a baby. The Jasmin has potential but the nose was too hard to get around.

  • 1999 Domaine Georges Vernay Côte-Rôtie Maison Rouge - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served blind. Nose seems young and ripe leaning to California with some warm spice. Forward fruited and loamy but clipped finish.
  • 1999 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served blind. Classic Cote Rotie nose showing minerals and pepper. Young and tannic yet very pretty. Great stuff.
  • 1999 Domaine Jasmin Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served blind. Crazy dirty stinky nose showing mineral, stems, black cherry, maybe brett and a strong odor of pee. Ample fruit on the palate that is tight and wrapped up. Shows some minerals and a clean finish. Gets better and better in the glass but the pee note on the nose really made this two wines and was hard to get past.

California Cabs…with a ringer
This was the strongest flight. All the wines were good here though the Mondavi I think was the easy winner for most. The Cheval Blanc and Araujo surprised for not showing as well as I would have hoped.

  • 1999 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. Ripe nose showing a touch of VA and some heat. Palate shows complexity though is sharp and tart.
  • 1999 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
    Served blind. Bright nose showing lots of dark berry notes. Brightly fruited though tight. Mouth coating tannins. A good wine but drank well below it’s breed.
  • 1999 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. Fat nose showing traditional Cab notes of greenish cedar, mocha and wood. A real wow of a palate with great complexity and balance. Easy winner of the flight and probably WOTN for most people.
  • 1999 Saddleback Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. Nose of toast, mocha, menthol and oak. Big thick juicy palate with more mocha that gets leaner as it sits in the glass. Pretty good overall and a nice surprise.
  • 1999 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. Tight nose that seems soft and has a bit of heat. Reserved and tight with a late soft expression. Clearly in need of more air. Wish I revisited later on.

American Pinot Noir
The St Innocent was the easy winner of this flight showing off its balance. All three of these really didn’t show their age even if they didn’t all perform so well.

  • 1999 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Brickhouse Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
    Served blind. Tight nose with some perfume and a slight brett. Plenty of fruit but well balanced on a pretty palate. Very nice.
  • 1999 Littorai Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
    Served blind. Big nose of dark fruits and black cherry with some heat. Vibrant palate with ample sweet dark cherry fruits.
  • 1999 Siduri Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
    Served blind. Ripe nose shows some tomato, graham cracker and sweetness. Kind of all over and mixed with sweet fruit though a clean finish. Much different than my last go around.

Sauternes
Both were outstanding with the Yquem seeming more graceful and the Rieuessec more powerful.

  • 1999 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Fat tart apricot nose. Sappy lingering dried apricot palate. Very good and shows much bigger than the Yquem next to it.
  • 1999 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Nose of sweet tangerines, apricots and other citrus fruits. Still thick but pretty with a clean finish. Nicely balanced with a pastry quality. Showed a more balanced expression next to the Rieussec’s fatness.

Vintage Porto
This was cool to try such a great producer from two great vintages side by side. The '70 seemed like it was far too young but the '77 was in a nice place. Both received an 8 hour decant.

  • 1970 Fonseca Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Decanted for 8 hours. Dark primary nose with a strong maple syrup note. Huge and thick still with tons of sweet brown sugared fruit. This smelled and drank like a baby. A big bruiser next to the '77.
  • 1977 Fonseca Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Restrained elegant nose. Clean, balanced and pretty. In a very nice place and clearly in a better drinking window than the huge baby of the '70.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for the note on the 99 yquem and mondavi. Local shop has the mondavi on closeout for $50. I agree with your note, really nice wine that drinks great now but shows some promise for years to come.

Also plan on popping the 99 yquem within the next few weeks, your note has me looking forward to it.

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Nice notes, Cris. Thanks for posting.

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Good notes Cris. My favorites of the night were the Mondavi and the D’Yquem, although there really wasn’t a bad bottle in the group. I’ve had the '99 Araujo twice before with the same mediocre results, just not a good vintage for them. The Cheval Blanc was really tough to evaluate within that group of wines. My guess is that it would show better in a flight of its peers and with a little more age on it. I liked the St. Innocent, but was really perplexed by the Littorai, it seemed very ripe and overdone. The '04 is a bit like that as well.

Conrad did a great job at the stove, as always, and it was a great venue for a pre-holiday wine dinner.

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Cris:

Thanks for being the group’s scribe, and taking the time to post the extensive notes, which capture the wines well.

In the Champange, Hermitage Blanc and Sauternes flights, in each case it seemed to me that the first wine (Roederer, Guigal, Rieussec) was nice until compared with the second wine (DP, Chave, d’Yquem) which was in each case had more structure and depth. The relative simplicities of the first wines may have led to better showings of the second wines.

My favorites were the d’Yquem (surprise) and Modavi Reserve. The Cab flight was great. I still think the 70 Fonseca was either an off-bottle or suffering from having been shipped so recently. It did have the sweetness I associate with this wine.

Many thanks to Conrad for his generosity and allowing us into his house yet again.

David

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Nice to see Mondavi getting some love for the '99. I picked up a few in the $50 range this year and looks like I’ll be happy to have done so.

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Thanks for all the great notes. The pee note on the Jasmin is weird. I haven’t encountered that. Love your note on the Chave. Yeah, there is a reason they make and drink whites.

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Cris,
Thanks for posting notes on these. I’m with everyone on the Mondavi and Yquem, but the wine that was really on my mind the next day was the Jamet. Great stuff.

And David, very much agree with you on the 1st vs. 2nd wines in those flights. I was happy drinking the first ones (well, wasn’t a huge fan of the Guigal), but in all of those cases, the seconds really showed greater depth and balance.

Cheers,
-Robert

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I’d say to those that have found the Mondavi for $50 that it is a steal! Excellent example of a great Cali Cab in a very good place.

Interesting comments from David comparing two wines from those flights and he’s spot on as is Robert with the Guigal lacking something.

I also agree with Robert on the Jamet being memorable even if others seem to be at a better peak on the evening. They just seem to make beautiful wines.

Tom is also on the mark with his comments on the Pinots. The Littorai really confused me as did the Siduri. The St Innocent was easy to pick blind but the other two left me scratching scratching my head.

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Yes Paul the strong pee note on the Jasmin was odd to say the least. The nose seemed to have a lot going on so maybe it was something to do with some stem inclusion?

Rhone whites usually leave me shrugging my shoulders. That Chave almost makes me a believer. [wink.gif]

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Finally adding some thoughts. My clear favorites were the Chave Blanc, Jamet and Mondavi but overall I thought this was a stellar line up. Lots of variety in development and flavors.

  • 1999 Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Brut - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
    Served from a magnum. Still very youthful. I thought this was very nice but maybe not overly interesting.
  • 1999 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    This was a beauty. So tasty. Cris nailed it with the lemon pound cake comment. But this was miles away from simple. Absolutely packed and concentrated.


  • 1999 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served blind. A real stand out for the night. Still very young and fresh but the aromas and flavors are really starting to integrate. I really like the Jamet wines.


  • 1999 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. Quite different than the other wines at the table. I found it tasty but it did not show the complexity of the other wines. Sweet desert type flavors. Some VA which was slightly distracting.
  • 1999 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
    Served blind & it was a Ringer. I kept trying to coax more from this but it was fairly un-giving. It seems it is still in need of rest.
  • 1999 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. A real stand out of the night. Showing all the elements of what I would enjoy in a cab. Secondary earthy leathery smell and flavors but still plenty of fruit. It does seem like everything is in a good place right now. Still some nice tannic bite that keeps it in balance.
  • 1999 Saddleback Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Served blind. This was a nice surprise for me. Probably second in the flight. Lots of cab franc type smells. Herbaceous. Still a good amount of oak showing but I thought it was a nice fit. Not the most complex but one of the most enjoyable and interesting.


  • 1999 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Brickhouse Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
    Served blind. Hey CellarTracker just reminded me I have another bottle of this. Now I need to find it because it is time to drink this. The St Innocent was the clear stand out of the pinot round although there were only 2 other wines. Most of the primary elements and spice has transitioned on this wine. Nice complexity and showing very pretty.
  • 1999 Littorai Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
    Served blind. I considered this a real treat to try. Not sure it lived up to what I hoped. In some ways it still seemed tight but the balance was amiss.
  • 1999 Siduri Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
    Served blind. This one seemed to stand out even more. Basically fresh. Not showing many secondary elements. But this is sweet. Lots of syrupy dark fruit flavors. I thought it was held together just fine. Still waiting for my Pisoni epiphany but I am not sure it going to happen. Very well made but simple and sweet. I would have not guessed this was a 10 year old pinot. I am wondering if this wine just needs more time.

Jason

Posted from CellarTracker