Made a visit back to Los Angeles for the weekend and had a hell of a tasting. MULTIPLE wines were omitted from tasting notes.
Thursday night: Duck House in Monterey Park with 14 people and 20 bottles of wine. My favorite white of the evening was an Alsace Pinot Gris that I cannot remember the name of for my life. Mostly Burgs… my UNSOPHISTICATED palate was shocked by all the frog juice. Still had a delicious burg that I will remember fondly.
Friday Night: Indian food, some left over stickies from the night before + a bunch of sparkling and Rieslings… which I didn’t take the time to note down =(
Saturday Night: Southern Comfort in Pasadena at Big Mama’s… fried chicken! YUM YUM and All California tonight!
Whites from THursday night
Jim pulled out some very cool stuff from his stash of aged CA whites, exciting!
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2003 E. Guigal Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Great nose of sweet caramel, citrus and stone. A slightly scattered palate though of lemon grass mixed with fresh butterscotch on a granny smith apple. The slate like minerality runs though the wine with a sorta short finish. (90 pts.) -
2005 Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet
A nose of hay, tart apple, and peaches … all relatively light… have to really coax it out of the glass. Decent acidity, a lean wine with really not much going on on the palate… some apple-like fruit with a hint of citrus. Short finish. (87 pts.) -
2004 Lur-Saluces “Y” - France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur
Hints of sweetness run through the palate of the wine. Dry stone fruits massaged with honey and rolled in hay. You get hints of dirt in the wine which I found a bit weird but there’s a dryness to the wine that’s slightly off putting to my unsophisticated California Palate. The Sauv blanc was definitely dominant over the Sem in this bottle. (89 pts.) -
2005 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet
A bit of a light mushroom stir fried in soy sauce on the nose (weird?) with a crisp wiff of freshly cut grass. The wine itself was a bit disjointed on the palate. The acidity was far too high and there was just bushels of Hay tossed into the bottle with a few tart apples popped in. (88 pts.) -
1972 Chappellet Vineyard Chenin Blanc - USA, California, Napa Valley
hum surprisingly alive. It went downhill very very quickly but upon first taste it was vibrant with a strong minerality to it, not a razor sharp acidity but hey… it’s from 1972 no complaints. A little bit of lemongrass and straw with a medium body.
Thursday Night.
The Grange was tasted blind, popped 2 days earlier but never touched afterwards.
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1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
A brilliant nose of fresh bright cherry and strawberry with a little hint of forest floor (aka MANURE). Very nice medium bodied texture, creamy with a bit of a pure meaty cherry taste on the palate with absolutely gorgeous acidity. with a (slightly restrained) nice finish of spices and cherry. To my untrained Burgundy palate is tasted a bit young (99 for a cali pinot!? Toss it into the sink it’s past it’s prime =P) and wow if this is what Burgs taste like I should try more.
edit: now i know why it’s so awesome, it’s freaking expensive…It all makes sense… the BUrghounds were going Ga Ga over the bottle… I was confused. Thank you Joe for treating this newbile Burg drinker to something so excellent. (94 pts.) -
1995 Alain Michelot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
This wine tasted like someone tossed into a pot raw green pepper with strawberries and sprinkled dirt as a seasoning over it. Tons of green pepper on the finish and the 2ndary characteristics were incredibly overwhelming and still very tannic. (86 pts.) -
2006 J. Rochioli Pinot Noir Little Hill Block - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
A nose of soft cherries and earth… pretty simple. But the palate… man. Oak oak oak oak oak. Did I mention there was Oak in this wine? Btw there was some oak on the finish. Behind the oak… as the Oak oppressed it like a bad servant, was tart cherry with a streak of mint. (86 pts.) -
1999 Harlan Estate The Maiden - USA, California, Napa Valley
A nice nose of deep dark berries with mocha and white pepper. But the palate, man… I could not get past the VA/Brett in the wine. It was just overwhelming my palate. If I wanted to take a bite out of a green pepper like the Iron Chef dude, i’d do it, i’d like to think it was “mint” but it was incredibly overpowering. It absolutely overwhelms the cigar, currant, dark berry, and mocha component of the wine. I’d score this FAR FAR lower if after some time it didn’t blow off. Luckily it blew off a bit so i didn’t hate it completely. WTF is up with Harlan. Please see my attached Sloan note. (87 pts.) -
2001 Vincent Arroyo Cabernet Sauvignon Winemaker’s Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
Very nice simple “aged” Napa Cab. If i was blinded the wine, I would have guessed it was 10 years older. Whiffs of cigar, cedar and dirt on the nose with a scattering of tart cherries. On the palate you get burnt wood with cedar and bright cherry. Nice acidity to the wine, it was a good accompaniment to the food. (90 pts.) -
2005 Tor Cabernet Sauvignon Kenward Family Wine Cimarossa Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley
Very powerful nose of dark berries, cedar, and bits of tobacco and chocolate. A big wine in the sense that there are a lot of tannins but not big in a fruit sense like many napa cabs. Nice hints of berry running through the palate with a bit of eucalyptus and wood. Very long finish of fruit. Still tight and could use a few more years in the bottle. All in All I really enjoy Jeff Ames’ wines. (92 pts.) -
1993 Penfolds Grange - Australia, South Australia
Very big dense wine with a a very deep fruit nose with cedar, tobacco, tar, and pepper. Not much primary fruit but meaty with hints of stewed plum and vegetation on the palate. Very long gripping tannic finish with nice acidity. (92 pts.)
Dessert from Thursday night
How unfortunate that I did not remember the name of the Alsace, it was constantly evolving during the night, from slightly sweet to a clean wine with great minerality and acidity. Really my white wine of the night.
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1983 Long Vineyards Johannisberg Riesling Late Harvest - USA, California, Napa Valley
Ah i love drinking birth year wines that are alive. A nose of burnt butterscotch, tar, rubber, and honey. Really nice sharp acidity on the palate with lemon, granny smith apples and varnish floating around in my mouth. Ah delightful. (91 pts.) -
1990 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Beautiful Golden color with a great nose of fresh honey, caramel, stone fruits, and HINTS just hints… of tropical fruits. Medium bodied Sauterne, not thick by any means. A chemical rubber component on the palate (that faded away the next night) with PLENTY i mean PLENTY of honey. It’s like i squirted a quart of honey into this wine bottle but scattered in bits and pieces of orange peel, peaches. Could use some more acidity… the next night all you taste is honey. But really delicious the first night we had it, I greatly GREATLY enjoyed it. (93 pts.)
Friday Night
We had a whole mess of sparklers and rieslings to go along with this, which unfortunately i was too busy stuffing my face with food to remember what they were.
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2005 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir Alberigi - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
I enjoyed this pinot, pop and pour. Bright red fruit on the nose with a bit of earth,spice, citrus peel, , and cloves. The palate is very clean with strong red berry running through the mid palate with some spice. Not an overly complex wine on the palate, but I very much enjoyed the nose. (91 pts.) -
2004 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select - USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
Pop and Pour. Big ol mac daddy of a wine. Gobs and gobs of bright ripe red fruit hit you on the nose with some mocha/vanilla. The wine is really big and tannic and is gonna need some time to resolve that. Great structure tho with dark berries, plum, and black pepper on the palate with a nice long finish of ripe dark fruit. Not overly complex at this point, I don’t have much experience with SHHS so I’d hate to say how it’d develop. (92 pts.)
Saturday Night
We had a few whites, but I didn’t take notes on them (Duckhorn Sauv blanc) unfortunately.
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2000 Bressler Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
Surprisingly good from a 2000 napa cab. A light aroma of cherry and clove with tobacco and baked wood. A little bit of heat on the nose from pop and pour that blew off. Sour cherry with a streak of green on the palate with ground up cigar with a long tannic green-ish finish. I’m not sure what path this wine is going to take… it has the tannins to last… but the fruit is already dying out of the wine. (90 pts.) -
2003 Sloan - USA, California, Napa Valley
On first sip all I could taste was Oak and green pepper. Fast forward 3 hours later. A nose of hot baked red berries but a palate of ripe extracted fruit with a very short finish. But man… the Brett/Oak on this wine is so prevalent. Not so much as 3 hours before, but it really consumed everything. It just stood out and didn’t let you appreciate the rest of the wine. On the other hand, in classic Harlan style… the wine was incredibly smooth. Most wine at some point has a little bit of resistance but not this one. (87 pts.) -
2006 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Not quite as big as the James Berry 06 but still a big young wine. Probably the only wine able to stand up against the fried chicken we ate that night. Double Decanted the night before. Very ripe berries with 5 space and cherry on the nose with a bit of mint. A very brooding wine that’s trying to let the fruit burst out. A heavy mouthfeel of ripe cherries, strawberry with brute like acidity. Not much heat on the wine unlike the JBV. (93 pts.)
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