TNs: 2 Rivers-Marie....08 Thieriot Chard and 09 Silver Eagle Pinot

My son-in-law shlepped our asses to and from LAX around our recent trip over the holidays to central Mexico and to thank him, we had he and our daughter over for dinner. The beets in the yard are humming along so we pulled a handful and fired those up, along with pasta that was his choice. I settled on the Chard first, as I had wanted to see how it was aging, then figured we’d do the Silver Eagle as I wanted to see how it showed. Both wines showed great. In fact, I have about a glass each left for tomorrow so after I get home from work and relax, both will be my dinner partners on Monday night. Thanks for reading and happy new year,

  • 2008 Rivers-Marie Chardonnay B. Thieriot Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (1/8/2012)
    Just opened this as I wanted to check off on whether this looked and smelled like the 2007, which I had recently. That wine is aging extremely fast IMO and is already heading downhill honestly (which I believe some have already suggested, others though have not). This 2008 is nothing like the 2007 and although a year younger, the color is light yellow, no bronze or amber like the 2007, and the wine shows lemon oil, tangerine and lemon and lime custard. I set it into the freezer for about 20 mins to let it crispen up, as it’s not quite the right temp but the relief and pleasure is that it’s holding terrific and tasting like it oughta be just great. Full note to follow later…with about 2 hours of air, we had virtually polished off the bottle. I jotted some final notes, which say coconut, white peach, green apple, tangerine, lime and a bit of spritz, although not much but enough to add a pop to the reset cork when pulled. This showed and drank very well, and I can see a bit of mineral on this wine but in the end, this is about a complex array of fruits and really nice balance. I think the wine can go another 2-3 years but it’s drinking pretty well now.
  • 2009 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Silver Eagle Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (1/8/2012)
    Drank with my son-in-law and daughter, alongside a meal made by my wife of beets from the garden, with orange juice, olive oil and feta, paired with a butternut squash pasta. I list these foods because I can’t think of two better dishes to serve with CA pinot noir. This is the first time I have had this bottling, having stored it since the shipment arrived. There are few notes on it as well, yet almost 200 users so it would seem a lot of folks are simply sitting on it and letting it age. In summary, that’s a fair decision, as the wine drank fine but it is still young. It has some decent sized shoulders on it, with raspberry jam, some darker fruit yet it holds together with a good foundation of acidity, which carries into the finish. In addition, early on into the bottle I noted mocha, but an hour later, I found fennel and anise and then I thought, hmmm, asian 5 spice. So scratch mocha, which was not the right impression, instead think clove, star anise and brown spice, which is aromatically what I find in the wine, as well as in the palate as it aerated. This is a very good bottling. I have a glass left, which I will revisit tomorrow and see if my impressions are the same.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for the notes Frank

Your comment about the spritz was interesting as I detected a bit of it in the 2007 I had last week.

TTT

Nice Frankie, very nice.

I just had my first chardonnay from them, it was a quite nice 2010. Got to sneak peak 2 of the 2010 Pinot Noirs as well. I think the 2010 release email is headed out today.

FYI/PSA: The heads up email will go out tomorrow, 1/10. The offer will go live on 1/17 @ 9:00 AM PST.

i thought the spritz was more than just a touch. It was quite noticeable. Is it from RS and secondary ferment, cold bottling capturing CO2, nitrogen sparging, or something else? Anyone know?

EDIT: According to another thread in which the winemaker posted, the answer is cold bottling that is adding the spritz.

Allocation one bottle each ??? [help.gif]