A recent special occasion was celebrated with wines at my favorite Santa Barbara restaurant, The Stonehouse, located in the San Ysidro Ranch:
NV RUINART ROSE- during a 1 week tour of the Champagne region last year, we drank lot of stellar bubbly and amongst all of the Krug, Taittinger, Phillipponat, Bollinger and others, this was one of the favs; it`s remained a popular wine in our house and I just had to revisit it before going out for dinner just to properly prepare my palate [or any excuse will do]; consistently good, it has some biscuity, toastiness and fresh, ripe strawberry on the nose and in the early palate that moves on into more sweet red cherry; full bodied with great depth, structure and length, it has complexity and finesse wrapped into a oneness that certainly pleases this imbiber.
1990 DOM PERIGNON- from the extra fine 90 vintage, this is evolving nicely and continues to impress and suggest it will be a big winner in years down the line; great acidity, the nose is intense with toast, butter, pepper and spice and moves into a taste of spiced baked apples with some creamy lemon topping, a little chalk and mild ginger added to make this soooo enjoyable; I
m holding on to the other bottles for 5-10 years before revisitng.
1988 SANFORD BARREL SELECT CHARDONNAY- I was a little apprehensive when I pulled the bottle from my cellar and saw the pretty dark color even though the wine was a medium gold at the onset and the bottle glass is colored; this was the last bottle of many cases I bought soon after it was first released.
Obviously, I should remember the wine well. As stated, Ive had a lot of it and the 88
regular too, but none of these in the last 10-12 years. It was too good not to drink early on, but I did pack one bottle away and knew its great acidity would hold it up for some time. Little did I know it would go 23 years later.
The cork came out easily and intact and as I poured it at our table, I saw the color was similar to the pure gold it had initially, got a great nose and a major WOW on the palate. It was all Id hoped for and more. The nose had some spice and baked apples and a hint of coconut. I immediately had a smile on my face when it went further. It was creamy rich, oily and full bodied and contained some of it
s earlier characteristic buttered toast and candied apple notes which went on and on. Three days later, it was still on my palate.
Yes, I have moved on in to whites from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Alsace, Germany, Austria and Italy; the early on in my wine life, oak infused wines, served to get me interested and led to the immense passion I now have [and there`s not much, if any, oak involved].
1995 WILLIAMS SELYEM ALLEN VINEYARD PINOT NOIR- stunning; surprisingly not too different from my notes from the first experiences upon release as well as later on; vanilla, strawberry, cinnamon, spice and pepper in the nose continuing on into more strawberry / raspberry; smooth and nicely balanced with great length; looked up the purchase price= $45, such a deal.
Cheers