TN's: Old School Wineauxs do Rhones - LaLa,SQN,Saxum,Lillian

WINE TALK
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OLD SCHOOL WINEAUXS DO RHONES - The Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch (3/11/2009)

Once again we convened at the Cal Poly Pomona’s School of Hospitality and Restaurant Management for dinner. That’s right, we drank at school. They treated us great as per usual giving us our own small room so that we could be as rowdy as we liked. Since we have become one of their favorite groups the management requested we name ourselves and we did with what you see in the title. If you live somewhere nearby and have never gone the restaurant is quite a bargain and a treat. The management is made of of school professors and all the staff are students in the capstone class. All tips are a donation to the school. [good.gif]

Our theme was Rhones this time and we ended up with a stellar lineup of some top flight Rhone variety wines. I got to try my first La-La and Colgin Syrah, neither of which disappointed. We also had some of the best Syrahs from California with a Saxum and SQN on the table. Favorites for me would be the Colgin, Outpost Grenache, Guigal and the Saxum.

There was some trickery afoot by a new attendee who served us the SQN Atlantis Fe blind. Not only covered in foil but also in a Two Buck Chuck bottle where we could still see the pull strip on the capsule. Nice one Joseph Wu. There were guess that it was SQN but the bottle kept some of us off the trail. Charlie also brought a foil covered red ice wine from China. I could not find it or anything similar in Cellar Tracker. Smelled f cut grass and autumn leaves with a palate of tart sweet peaches.

Thanks everyone for another great evening. Til next time, kick it Old School. [gen_fro.gif]

  • 2005 Cave de Pomérols Coteaux du Languedoc Picpoul-de-Pinet Hugues Beaulieu - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc Picpoul-de-Pinet
    Nose of straw with some smokiness. Tart and clean, bit short. Good acidity and balanced. Very good for the price.
  • 2007 Thacher Winery Viognier Hastings Ranch - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
    Nice flowery nose. Rich palate that is a bit heavy but overall nice.
  • 2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit - USA, California
    Big aromas of freshly cut strawberries. This seems to have shed some of its baby fat and evened out over the last year. Juicy with the finish being a bit rough but gets better in the glass cleaning itself up. Still not eh wine that wowed me right after release but very good.
  • 1996 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Nose of pure ground pepper. Lovely balanced palate showing some cherries and great acidity. Could have used some flavor complexity but a terrific wine.
  • 2003 Lagier Meredith Syrah - USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder
    Bright ripe nose of boysenberries. Plenty more boysenberry on the palate that is on the tart side with tons of grip. A good Syrah if a bit one dimensional.
  • 2004 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
    Bright big nose of violets and big juicy ripe berries. Some complexity peaking through on a tight palate. Strong grip. This almost drank new worldish to me with its abundant big ripe berry fruits and none of the seconday characteristics you usually see in the regions bottles. Very good but not your dad’s CdP.
  • 2004 Kilikanoon Shiraz Oracle - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
    Mocha, mint chip and blackberries define the nose. Big bright fruit on the palate though with the typical Aussie tart finish. Good concentration.
  • 2004 Colgin Syrah IX Estate - USA, California, Napa Valley
    Pepper is the first thing that greets a sweet pretty nose and then there is some vanilla and chocolate candies over dense dark berries as well as some notes of stem inclusion. Lots of fruit on the palate yet not overbearing tip toeing that line. Lovely with a very good finish. Stem inclusion shows again on the palate and there is lots of grip here. This could use a couple more years in bottle but a touch one to keep ones hands off. I’ve heard a lot about Colgin Syrahs and it didn’t disappoint.
  • 2005 Pax Syrah Castelli-Knight Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
    Lots of stemmy asparagus notes on the nose. Nice balance and doesn’t come across as overly extracted. Juicy and surprising in structure to me in comparison to past run ins with Pax. Desperately in need of some bottle time or 24 hours of slo-oxing.
  • 2005 Lillian Winery Syrah - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
    Dark feeling nose of roasted meat, mocha with a slight green quality. Showing its oak dressing. Thick, rich, soft and broad with dark chocolate and rich dark berries. Feels more balanced with air and the berries really come forward but still a big thick wine. It is of a certain style to be sure but still doesn’t seem interesting beyond that for my palate. I can see how this would be very popular in the SQN/Foley-esque sort of way.
    Enough for a glass brought home shows nearly the same on the 2nd night. Oak doesn’t seem as prominent.
  • 2005 La Sauvageonne Coteaux du Languedoc Les Ruffes - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc
    Tight nose barely giving up anything. Lean feeling with a good grip and a nicely complex finish of pepper and bright cherries. I think this needs a couple more years to unwind.
  • 2005 Garretson Wine Company Syrah “The Craic” - USA, California, Central Coast
    Vanilla over sugary raisins. Ripe juicy and hot.
  • 2005 Sine Qua Non Syrah Atlantis Fe203~1a, b & c - USA, California
    Served blind. Funky nose giving green stem notes, pepper, bacon and some vanilla. Lean feeling yet showing plenty of oak keeping it soft. Juicy with greenish stems and some heat. Good but not exceptional and in need of some time.
  • 2006 Outpost Grenache - USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
    Very lightly colored. Big flowery nose of bright berry juice. The nose almost becomes like sweet strawberry candy later on. Lean feeling and well balanced the palate carries a dark undertone. Nice peppery quality. Very nice wine and interesting to see the lack of color. Seems to be letter the fruit speak for itself which it does nicely.
  • 2006 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
    Big nose showing the berry pie with some mocha and stem notes. Huge but balanced but excellent acidity. Love the acidity Justin gets in these, never tart and sets Saxum apart from lots of similar wines.
  • 2006 Noble Storm Syrah Santa Ynez - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley
    Funky reductive nose. Light a pretty but is lacking in concentration and has a rough finish.
  • 2006 Jaffurs Syrah Verna’s - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
    Nose really only gives up pepper. Big yet not fleshy, juicy and plenty of tannin. Would leave this alone a couple more years. Hard to read.
  • 2004 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Carte d’Or - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon
    Light nose showing soft white apricots and other stone fruits. Not overly the sweet the sugar already seems to be relaxing giving the palate a nice light feel. Could use more acidity.
  • 2006 Buttonwood Sémillon Late Harvest Semillon - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
    Straw and sugar on the nose with a touch of light wood. Bright with good balance showing tart apricots.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Did you try http://www.cellartracker.cn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ? [dance.gif]

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That Colgin is pretty damn good. I pretty much agree with you on the Lillian ( nice but a little much ). The Pax Castelli surprised me and is even better on day two, had to order the 06 after drinking this a few months back. Great notes as always, thanks, Chris.

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Cris,
Thanks for being the designated note taker and poster. I didn’t take any formal notes, rare for me, but I really wanted to enjoy the wines and company for a change without having to scribble a bunch of notes. So here are some impressions to echo what Cris already wrote.

The SQN Rose was really good, Not a major fan normally of Rose, but that really hit the spot to get things started.

The SQN Atlantis was an oak monster…not sure if that much oak would ever totally integrate. Still a good wine, but if don’t like oak stay far away.


2005 Caves was a good bottle after you got past the funky nose. enjoyed this.

2007 Thacher was very nice, I loved this one, but as Cris mentioned it is full bodied.

1996 Guigal was awesome to say the least…A smoking great wine with an incredible finish.

2004 Telegraphe CDP was also drinking very nicely. Restrained on the palate, and not closed up as some mentioned these do in their mid term years.

Normally not a large Colgin fan, but this one hit my sweet spot and I loved it. Along with a couple others one of my fav’s for the evening.

The Outpost Grenache was also another of my fav’s. It really opened up later in the evening but had everything there to get even better than it was in a few years. I’ve been hit and miss on their Grenache but this was a total winner for sure.

I had a great night as always, the group always has a fun time and the school and students are always so kind to us. Kudos to them [good.gif]

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I asked for the number of charlenes stylist [gheyfight.gif]