After five weeks away, I needed a nice night at home with good friends, good wine, good food and good music.
2007 Rhys Alpine Vineyard Chardonnay: Ahhh . . . WOW. My first Rhys Chardonnay. I meant to grab an ’06, but plucked this one instead. Darn the luck. Translucent golden yellow. Knockout aromatics: concentrated lemon curd, mingled with sea salt and stony mineral accents. One of the few white wines I have had that I would be happy to just sit and smell all night long. Spunky acidity provides precision and great lift on the palate, followed by a lingering finish accented with green apple that hangs on forever. Bravo. WOTN on the first bottle. How am I gonna keep my grubby mitts off of the two remaining bottles that I have?
1999 Witness Tree Vintage Select Pinot Noir: Deep purple, with a dark bramble fruited nose, laced with forest floor, mushrooms and Asian spice. Another olfactory Picasso. Fully mature, smooth, balanced attack. Integrated tannins and residual acidity combine to provide and extended finish that becons for another sip. A wonderful example of aged Oregon Pinot.
2009 Thomas Pinot Noir: I usually open a bottle upon receipt of shipment, but had not gotten around to it yet. So why not tonight? Characteristic translucent burgundy red. Reticent, clean, nose upon opening. After 4 hours in the decanter, this started to open up, showing typical red-fruited Dundee Hills character, slanted towards a raspberry fruit profile, instead of strawberry. Slightly astringent attack. Not opulent, like some ‘09’s. This is a youngster, as expected. All the pieces are here. It will be fun to watch this develop.
A great way to spend a beautiful Spring evening in St. Louis.