TNs St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii

Last night a few Hawaii Wine-Os got together for a night of pot-luck food and wine at our place in Kailua. Wearing the green were fellow Scotts Christopher Dunn and Jim Redmond along with wives Mai-Lan and Jane. Mike and Clarice, Skippy and Eriko, and my wife Tricia rounded out our group.

Wines-
2005 Domaine A et P de Villaine Rully Les Saint-Jacques, this bottle worried me as the cork came out almost damp to the top. However, the wine was very good seemingly none for the worst; yet. Note to self-time to check other bottles. Honeyed citrus bread and ripe pear. At the doorway of mature for this bottle, time to open others. 90pts (my wine)

2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont, Orange marmalade and lemon with a hint of flowery botrytis spice and honey. I liked this one at a cooler temp. as it brought out a beautiful acidic balance to the wine. 92pts, this was my favorite with the night’s seafood (my wine)

2008 Chamisal Vineyards Califa Selection Edna Valley Syrah, Not my style of Syrah. I found this full of fruit, some chocolate and alcohol but sadly not much of anything else for me. Would have liked to drop some stones and sprinkle some dirt in my glass for balance. 85pts (Jim’s)

2002 The Dead Arm Shiraz Mclaren Vale, Been quite a while since I’ve tasted something from Mclaren Vale. Very smooth at 10 years out and from a 375ml, deep blackcurrant fruit, oak and some leather. 91pts (Christopher’s)

2006 Turley Zinfandel Dogtown Vineyard, another wine I’ve seemed to have moved away from. Although I could see this a a real crowd pleaser in the right crowd. Soft and light ground pepper, cherry and currant. Light and soft for a Turley.
90pts (Jim’s)

2009 The Industrial Zinfandel Sonoma, here’s a reason winemakers need to put more thought into names. Artificial fruit candy juice and alcohol.
Not scored (Christopher’s experiment)

1995 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, after much sitting in the bottle and my glass I believe this bottle to be very slightly corked. At first opening I detected no apparent corkage smell. However, the wine seemed tight. Four hours later upon revisiting I get a mild acidic tang on the nose (corkage). Fruit one dimensional and hard, no finish other than acidity. Too bad, last bottle. My other bottle opened 2 years ago was a 94pt wine. Tonight No score (my wine)

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains, From first pop and smell, this was unquestionably one of the best sweet wines I’ve experienced. The other being a d’Yquem, while the d’Yquem’s forte was amazing complexity via acidic balance and mouthfeel, this SGN was amazing complexity with fruit and mouthfeel. Honey, spice, orange, limes, marmalade, peaches, pears, apricots, toss in some flowers, it was all there in a silky viscous mouth coating experience.
Wow 97+pts might be my WOTY (my wine)

Last but not least, Thanks to all the chefs! Amazing cuisine!
Mike and Clarice for the Lobster Paella
Tricia for the Seafood Bouillabaisse
Skippy and Eriko for the Prime Rib
Christopher and Mai-Lan for the Roasted Vegetables Tagine Style
Jim and Jane for the appetisers

Aloha,
Kevin Ham
There are no good old wines, only good bottles of old wines. said before

Almost forgot, the men finished up outside under the gazebo with The Macallan 12 yr old and Talisker’s 1999 The Distillers Edition single malt scotch. No water needed as per Jim.
Aloha,
Kevin Ham

There are no good old wines, only good bottles of old wines. said before

Kind of weird…I just got back from Maui last night…and the wine we had the first night at dinner was the 2007 Domaine A et P de Villaine Rully Les Saint-Jacques…the second night…2007 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont! What a coincidence!

Aloha

Thanks, Kevin, for the great time at your place, the great food, and the aloha.

I agree pretty much with your assessments of the various wines. I should say a little something about the “experimental” wine that I brought ("The Industrial). This is by Ed Kurtzman who generally makes pinots for Freeman, August West, and others. He and Andrew Vingiello (AP Vin) decided to try some other wine styles. The 2009 The Industrial is the only vintage of the zinfandel that I’m aware of. Andrew has release 2 vintages of his cabernet, “The Treat.” I’ve not tried them yet. Letting them sit for at least another couple of years before popping one.

I agree that The Industrial is candied. I’m not sure of the source of the fruit. I found it to be a bit muddled and lacking in “identity.” It was fairly generic and one-dimensional.

As for some of the others, I loved the Les Saint-Jacques. It was lovely, lush, creamy, with apricot pits, sweet gooseberry, and (as you noted) pear. 91pts

The Le Mont Vouvray was also excellent. I prefer vouvray on the drier side, but this was fantastic with be Bouillabaise (my spelling sucks) and the seafood-dominated paella. 89pts

I’m with you on the Dead Arm. That is the last bottle (375) of the last vintage I bought. I’m over it. This is a great wine, but not my style any more. But, well-made, nicely balanced, and singing beautifully now. If I had some 750s, I’d let them slumber a little longer. 92pts

Chateau Montelena…what happened?! Yes, it crashed and burned. I did not notice that it was corked initially, but there was something metallic in there. Too bad. I was looking forward to enjoying this over the course of the evening.

Got to hand it to you on the Zind-Humbrect stickie. That was fantastic. I’ve not had this before, so thanks for opening it. All the flavors and nuances that you describe were there. Beautiful. 95pts

I’ll skip comments on the others, as you got them pretty much covered.

Thanks again for hosting and for the wee bit o’ whisky to seal a great evening!

Ed also makes Zinfandel for his Sandler label. 2008 was the first vintage of the Industrial. I opened my third bottle of it last night. It is also very heavy on the confectionery sugar note. It’s also extremely light in color for a Zin.

On a side note, I was in Maui in December visiting my brother who has been living there for eleven years. We’re planning a return visit next year.

Aloha 2x B. Buzzini!
The Rully does come in often as it is a Kermit Lynch offering. However, Huets only rarely wash up
on our shores. That '07 demi-sec is drinking very well right now!

1kailuaboy

There are no good old wines, only good bottles of old wines. said before

Let us know when you’re here next time, and hopefully you can get over to O’ahu for an offline!