Brad, I didn’t mean to be a downer. The bottle was perfectly good, and when I say it dropped off a bit, that was something like 6 hours after opening it, and it was only a small amount in my perception.
But I never found those wines ascended to a next level, at least to my tastes. They have some crisp fruit and good acids, and I don’t find a lot more in them, even at age 13. I’m sure others disagree, and I hope you enjoy yours. I have a 2007 En Haut left, I should probably open that one before too long.
Last night, I opened a 2003 Williams Selyem Flax Vineyard PN to have with some leftover Easter ham. Unfortunately, it was very mildly corked. It was so mild that I wasn’t even sure at first, and you could see the classic sweet red cherry and cinnamon profile of a WS pinot. But it got more noticeable pretty quickly and I had to abandon the rest.
I did buy it from WS directly, but I stopped buying from there in the late 2000 decade and I’m not sure if they’d do anything for me at this point.
So I moved on to a 2005 Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage. Hey, this was really good, even for a generally non-syrah-lover like myself. Some medium black fruit left, a nice layer of lavender/garrigue, a bit of sweaty salinity, a bit of black olive, enough structure and acid left, oak nicely integrated. I only had about a third of the bottle, and I’ll have the rest tonight and update my note. I don’t think it would be good to wait longer on this wine, but it’s drinking really well right now.
I remember this was a great QPR when it was younger, at maybe $25 or so – anyone still buying these in recent vintages? I might have to pick up another bottle or two some time.
I bought an auction lot from Acker and contained within was Anderson Conn Pinot Noir, 1989, Valhalla Vineyard. Some funk that eventually blew off and was left with an aged Pinot, that was in good shape. Ample fruit and a nice finish
I will. Found some odd singles…listed below, so will start somewhere.
1988 and 1989 Torres Mas La Plana
1983 Coppola Napa Valley Cab
1961 Croizet Bages
2002 K Vintners El Jefe
1975 Louis Martini Cab
2006 Rudius Spirit Rock
2001 J. Lohr Arroyo Vista Chard
1987 Columbia Crest BS Merlot
1996 St. Jean Cinq Cepages
1991 SLWC Napa Petite Sirah
1976 Bouchard Pommard
1989 Chante Cigale CdP
2011 Under the Wire Chard
2012 Under the Wire Zin
I popped a 2010 Rhys Alpine chardonnay a few years back and I have to say that might be one of the best “Chablis-style” chardonnays I’ve ever had! I keep looking in the ready to drink in CT or simply sorting by vintage and can’t summon the will to drink the oldest bottles. I keep skipping to something that keeps my fleeting interest, so well done to you finally cracking these suckers.
I love it! Though I don’t have double-deep shelves, I understand this. Something else to ponder in these strange times, when we aren’t debating whether to remove the tissue paper from our bottles…
So great story from Greg Tater, we were having a tasting at his abode when he still lived in NYC, we were sampling Bordeaux and Cali Cabs. He decided to bring out a bottle and serve it blind, it was such a stunning bottle and out shadowed the Cab and Bordeaux, and guess what was in the bag??
1989 Chante Cigale Chateauneuf du Pape, on first whiff it smells of strongly decayed earth…but with about 30 minutes of air, you get iron, blood, dried red fruits and flowers, leather and cigar wrapper. Color is starting to go brown/orange but palate is lovely and brisk. Great bottle for the $30 or so as part of an auction lot a decade ago that was lost in cellar before Covid19 gave me some time to look around for singles.
Woodward Canyon reds age remarkably well. Wines from the 90’s are still going strong. Actually Washington reds in gen. age better than most folks would think, it’s just that folks don’t give them that chance. One other Washington note is that the rieslings age remarkably well as well. I remember cleaning our my wife’s parents’ house many years ago, and finding a bunch of St Michelle generic riesling (it might have even been labelled johanisberg riesling at that time). prob 4-5 $ per bottle. I was just going to dump it, but thought I should try it. Wow! (there was also some 1976 St Michelle Cab, which was remarkably good–this was likely 15 years ago).
Yes! Randomly picked up a 93 at K&L about a year ago and was blown away. Right after that I scoured the web and picked up 1-2 bottles of each vintage 98-2003. None thus far have equaled the original but all have been super tasty. Letting some age longer too as I reckon some will have the legs.