Notes from a wine dinner at the recently opened Prime-Cut Café in Orange. Theme was Chardonnay, and a favorite red that you’d have with beef.
2005 Dehlinger Chardonnay, Russian River Valley – citrusy nose of lemon and lime, with touch of spice and mineral. Smooth on the palate, with a slight candied citrus peel quality, nice crispness and balance of flavors to acid. Nice full finish.
2002 Domaine Bernard Morey, St. Aubin Les Charmois Premiere Cru – sweet-sour citrus nose with an odd smoky underbrush scent. The acids stood more than the fruit on the palate, with some bitterness on a soft melt-away finish. Word was this was corked, which seemed less than obvious to me. I’m not overly sensitive to TCA, plus it could have been a temperature thing, but everyone agreed SOMETHING was off here.
2006 Nickel & Nickel Chardonnay, Truchard Vnyd, Carneros – while the nose here doesn’t scream Napa, there is a fairly big blast of rich ML-like lemony custard goodness, and smoky oak in the nose. The mouthfeel seemed a bit more restrained than the nose, and the richness did seem to balance nicely with the acids. Soft almost subtle finish, and quite nice!
2007 Domaine Seguinot-Bordet Fourchame Chablis Premiere Cru – lovely nose of smoky and meaty, mineral-infused citrus with a hint of ginger. Very nice mouthfeel, refreshing acid and fruit balance and juicy if soft finish. Very nice!
2004 Hyde du Villane Chardonnay, Carneros – few of us had heard of this, so it was a nice treat. Rich and slightly ripe apple and citrusy nose, with a touch of minerality and toast. The palate was mostly front-loaded, with very tasty fruit and elegant smooth transitions throughout, and long luxurious finish. Very nice!
2004 Rhys Family Farm Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mtns – knowing there was a potential for Brett with this particular bottling, many of us were on our guard. Well, try as I might, I’m not sure Brett was a spoiler here, but there did seem to be something amiss. The ripe dark fruit in the nose seemed to have a light bitterness, with an underpinning of brushy, earthy notes. On the palate, it was a bit disjointed – which could be just due to the fact that it was pop-n-poured, and not decanted. Full in mouthfeel, with dark fruit flavors, and the sensation and taste of spicy cola/Dr.Pepper concentrate, and a touch of heat. I tried this on day two, and while some of the Pinot flavors did come to the forefront, so did the alcohol.
1996 Cos Labory, St. Estephe – very nice nose of red and black fruit, leather, tobacco, and toasted herbs. Initially a bit reticent in mouthfeel, though the fruit and structure were certainly there, and this did begin to open up over time. Nice and chewy on the palate, with good balance of acids to fruit, and some stern tannins through the long finish. Good claret, with a better than average nose.
1999 Ch. D’ Armailhac, Pauillac – nose of nicely ripened fruit, toast, pipe tobacco and anise. Full and rich on the palate, with a big chewy mouthfeel, tannic off-sweet fruit, and powerfully long finish. Nice stuff!
2006 Madrone Cabernet, Oak Knoll District – nose of burnished ripe fruit that seemed to carry a caramelized brown sugar note. Following though on the palate, the fruit was somewhat candied in flavor, and balanced with more fruit than acid. Long enough finish, but this was tiresome to taste.
2002 Martin Ray Cabernet, Sonoma Mountain – nose of bright fruit, carrying almost a Kool-Aid quality. Clingy mouthfeel, with some decent fruit peeking through the semi-coarse tannins, and through the long slightly astringent finish. This is the second time with this wine, and although I did like it better this time out, it still doesn’t ring my bell.
2003 Ridge Geyserville – despite the field blend here, the 76% Zinfandel is readily apparent in both nose and mouth. Nice brambly black and red fruit, good flavors and excellent balance of acid to fruit. Lengthy finish gave off some of the “old viney” notes.
2002 Pride Mtn Reserve Cabernet, Napa Valley – the first bottle emptied at the table (rather quickly too, I might add), this was typical Pride richness and fruit throughout, well balanced, and very tasty. Smooth tannins, and nice long finish. That said, this wine seemed a just a hair underfilled for what I recall Pride Cabernet Reserves to be.
2007 Overlake Cabernet, Lake Co – somewhat leafy dark fruit – not quite green, but more sage-like aromas in the nose. A little disjointed in the mouth, with the fruit seeming to roll around like a BB in a boxcar. Decent body and finish, but not a very good poster child for Lake County.
2005 Stonehedge Reserve Petite Sirah – largely monolithic dark fruit, with some licorice and toasted herb. Smooth slightly thick dark something in mouthfeel, with indefinable berry and fine grained tannins. A bit milk-shake-like in structure, yet amazingly devoid of nuance or elegance.