TN: MOPA 100 Point Wine Tasting

WINE TALK
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MOPA 100 POINT WINE TASTING - Rancho Santa Fe, CA (5/9/2009)

Walk around tasting of 100-point (WS or WA) wines. Charity fundraiser at a private home. Each attendee was given a tasting card of 10 wines.




  • 1982 Château La Mission Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Not much nose on this, but who cares? Fabulous blend of earth, dusty plum flavors. Long velvety tannin finish. Beautiful. (95 pts.)
  • 1982 Château Léoville Las Cases - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
    Bright, pretty fruit on nose, but did not deliver on the palate. Tastes slightly stewed. Flatlined. Surprisingly short finish. Parker got this one wrong. Oh, I just checked, and two months ago he rerated it and lowered it 5 points. No longer a 100 pointer! (93 pts.)
  • 1990 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
    This one is a brett-bomb. Some people would hate it, but I didn’t mind so much, since there was still some fruit. I’ve had other bottles of this wine where it wasn’t so apparent. Long finish. Saddle leather covered with horse sweat. GiddyUp, Girl! (95 pts.)
  • 1991 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Light nose, but the flavor made up for it. Dusty dry plum coated in leather and truffles. Silk sheet finish. Gorgeous. So much dimension, especially in comparison to all those ’82 Bordeaux. (98 pts.)
  • 2004 Sine Qua Non Syrah Poker Face - USA, California, Central Coast
    Is this wine or blueberry pancake syrup? I’ve never tasted a dry wine that had such a sticky, cloying finish. I loathed this wine, and would have given it sub-70 points, but have to give it a little nod, as most people at the tasting considered it WOTN. Guess that’s what makes horse racing. (90 pts.)
  • 1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Showing more age than the other ‘82’s at this event. Fabulous nose, but in palate the fruit is really start to recede. Meaty, truffly, but missing something. Flatlined in the finish. (94 pts.)
  • 1982 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Killer nose. This wine is singing right now! Unctuous blend of leather, truffles, with the most delicious dried plum fruit ever. Amazingly long finish. #2 wine of the event. (98 pts.)

As with every other 100-point tasting that I’ve attended, I am now SURE that the Palates That Be at WS and WA have nothing to do with my personal preference. There were only two wines out of 10 that I’d call ethereal (and that I’d spend the $300-$900 that these wines cost).
Posted from CellarTracker

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Rough note on the SQN. I personally think it is the number one or number two syrah based wine that I have ever had.

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100-point wines apparently attract hotties.

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Well duh.

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That’s the only other SQN I recall having before our TexFest JFTLOI (Just for the Love of It) and I would wholeheartedly agree with her notes. That’s what I was expecting on JFTLOI but was quite pleasantly surprised, as it was a much more balanced wine to me, and not anywhere near as dark, brooding, and hot.

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Rancho Santa Fe is not the hood!

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Yeah, I’m certainly in the minority on this one. Funny, as I was enjoying Manfred’s wines back in the mid-90’s when he was still a lowly somm at Camponile. He certainly knows who butters his bread and as his wines become more Aunt Jemima-like the becomes even more popular. The great thing is that it allows me to enjoy the leftover Rhones and Barolo while everyone else is elbowing in for the JFTLOI and Poker Face.

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Yep, Bruce and I only go to 100-point tastings.

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zing!

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I’m not surprised at all that the SQN didn’t show against those other wines. How could it? The others were great aged wines hitting their peak vs the SQN that’s built totally different. You might as well been comparing apples to oranges.