TN: Rhys, Ponsot, Bindi, St. Innocent, D'Oliveiras

WINE TALK
1

Last night, I got together with BBers John V. and Jeff K. to open a few bottles. Al wines were consumed blind over about 2.5 hours.

2006 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard
Green gold in color. Slight sulfur note at first but blew off. The nose has a lot of grapefruits and lemon chiffon. Slightly sweet on the nose. This is very young on the palate, and got better all night long. Lots of white grapefruit. Slightly sweet, I think from ripe fruit and not RS. Long finish. This needs a few more years to unwind. 50+4+13+17+8=92

2000 Ponsot Clos de la Roche Cuvee Vignes
Ruby/cherry in color, clear at the rim. The nose is slightly earthy with cherries and menthol. Soft in texture. Complex cherries on the palate with a slight menthol note, especially on the finish. This is mature and ready to drink. It is soft and feminine with an earthy complexity that improved all night. I liked it more than John and Jeff. I think its pedigree had us all a bit disappointed after it was revealed. Still, it kept improving. 50+3+13+18+7=91

2005 Bindi Pinot Noir Original Vineyard (Victoria, Australia)
Ruby/purple in color, clear and bright. The nose has cherries and cherry powder with a slight cola note. On the palate, this has bold cherries. I thought Californian blind. This was very good and a pleasure to drink. It lacked complexity but made up for that with bold fruit. Perhaps some more bottle age changes that. Certainly shows they can make quality Pinot down under. 50+4+12+17+7=90

1999 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs
Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright. The nose is musty with cherries. At times the mustiness blew off but then returned. Better on the palate with bold fruit. Cherries and dark cherries. The nose on this smelled old, but that palate was still young. Plenty of tannins which I found odd. Perhaps this was an off bottle or in a funky place but this was not as good as a 2000 I just had. Disappointing showing. Not a bad wine, but it should have showed better. There was some left so I will revisit it tonight. 50+4+11+16+6=87

We then had 2 Madeiras. Bothe had been opened for about a week. The 68 was in a decanter all that time, the 22 was in bottle.

1968 D’Oliveiras Reserva Boal Madeira
Brown in color, shimmering bright. The nose has caramel and slight cocoa notes. Pronounce orange citrus notes. This is soft and very smooth. Very little trace of alcohol. The palate leaves a great chocolate covered orange note especially on the finish. I thought this was better than last week. 50+4+14+19+8=95

1922 D’Oliveiras Reserva Boal Madeira
Deeper brown in color. The nose has some alcohol showing. Caramel, raisins, dark chocolate and oranges. On the palate, this is bigger yet more concentrated than the 22. Some alcohol showing. Lots of stuffing that is tighter. Raisins, oranges and some dark chocolate. Great finish. I think I preferred the smoothness of the 68 but the 22 probably has more potential. Either is great. 50+4+13+18+8=93

2

Phillip, I agree this was not a great bottle. not sure why of course. I will drink some later to see if a night of air helped. Last one I had was quite young so I was surprised by its showing. Oh well.

3

You are correct, Loren, the 06 chardonnay does not have any RS, it’s just the fruit. We find that all of our wines have a certain amount of ‘baby fat’ that the wines begin to shed shortly after bottling, where the minerality begins to come to the foreground. The 06 chard has started this evolution, and I think people with multiple bottles will be able to track this phenomenon through the life of the wine.

4

Loren,

I enjoyed your very descriptive notes on both the 1922 and the 1968. They are both fairly reasonably priced given their quality and age. I think Madeira makes for an outstanding choice of dessert wines after Burg. Very nice!

5

Ouch on the 7 Springs. We almost opened a bottle the other night but went with others. When I had it 1.5 years ago it was still very tanninc. I hope it survives this phase since I still have 4 bottles.

Jason