TNs: VCTE III & OC Poker

WINE TALK
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VCTE III & OC POKER - Wine Cellar Club (2/21/2009)

The third Cellar Tracker Forum, Virtual Community Tasting Event was good enough excuse for a get together of some poker and later on pool sharking. We used bottles for the pot, each person entering a bottle between $25-30. We had six people so we had the winner take home the five bottles he didn’t bring with the runner up taking the winners entry. Coming close to a victory I suffered to a late comeback by Patrick who finally out kicked me to take home the pot. A late trade gave me the McHenry Pinot that Jeremy brought. We played pool some afterwards and then crashed the other party going on where there were some nice bottles open. A couple I got good tastes of are included in my notes at the end.

A terrific time and great to meet some of the CT Forum crew as well as see familiar faces. We are already planning the next go around!

The first four wines are those chosen for the CT Forum Virtual Tasting. The last two were those among those we leached off the revelers outside. :wink:

  • 2006 E. Guigal Condrieu - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
    Big nose nose of pure clean spicey Viognier though not very complex. Big round midpalate with a soft soapy character. Some heat on the finish this seemed tight to me overall though it was open over night.
  • 2007 Fritz Haag Riesling - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
    Steely nose showing lime, light peach with a touch of petrol. Limey slate qualities over a chunky rough palate with some skin like bitterness. Not too much residual sugar but the structure seemed off.
  • 2007 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Drachenstein Riesling Dragonstone - Germany, Rheingau
    Nose is very tight giving up nothing. Well balanced with nice acidity and plenty of fruit towards the tropical side of Riesling. Fat midpalate but more in the generosity of fruit that overly sweet. This didn’t seem to have the focus of some better wines from the region but a nice bottle for the money. Somehow seems more friendly to a wider range of audiences than other German Rieslings might.
  • 2005 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
    Dense nose showing oak an brown sugar over strong boysenberry. Ripe and tart with more boysenberry on the palate this seems to fall off towards the finish. Not a lot concentration though not too much fruit or overly sweet. A crowd pleaser.


  • 2006 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
    A step up from the 2005 for me. Floral nose over candied berries. Tight focused blackberry palate with plenty of tannins and good balance. This needs a couple of years to unwind but a a nice wine is in here.
  • 2004 Agrícola Falset-Marça Montsant Castell de Falset - Spain, Catalunya, Tarragona, Montsant
    Grapey nose with secondary notes of chocolate, earth and a very Mouvedre animal fur type quality. Maybe the Carignan? Juicy and ripe with slow acting big tannins. Finish seems a bit weak. Interesting wine to be sure.
  • 2006 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir San Mateo County - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
    Very similar to my last go around. This changed and added quite a bit with air. Initially on the tight side showing some forest notes on the nose and a nice balanced cranberry palate. Later on Christmas spice and pine needles on the nose. Palate picks up some weight and sweetness adding some cola and cinnamon. This certainly doesn’t seem to carry the depth and concentration of the estate bottles from 2006 but hard to better for $30 in Cali Pinot.
  • 1995 Smith Woodhouse Porto Late Bottled Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Very sweet and sugary, ripe and pruney. More reminiscent of a late bottled Cali Zin to me than a Port. Much preferred the 20 year Tawny from the same house.
  • N.V. Smith Woodhouse Porto 20 Year Old Tawny - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Terrific nutty caramel like expression like a good vintage Colheita. Sweet and expressive but balanced and subtle. Very nice.


  • 1998 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
    Florals over bright young red berried fruits. Concentrated and still young drinking. Plenty here for the future but fantastic now. A treat.
  • 1999 J. Rochioli Pinot Noir West Block - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
    Was lucky enough to get a glass from some revelers at the cellar. Lovely spices on the nose with some terrific pine resin qualities. Very well balanced palate with a nice linear structure giving just enough fruit to let you know its from California and enough acidity to make the wine complete. Lovely Pinot.

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Poker and wine? What the hell were you thinking??

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Hey! I didn’t know about the McHenry trade! Was that your doing or did Patrick not want it? Even though I konked out first and missed the festivities out front, it was great fun. [drinkers.gif]

Great notes, and very similar to my impressions of all the wines (that I had). I will get mine up on CT soon. I know I already said this over on the CT forum, but great to meet you in person and cant’ wait to get together for another event.

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Good to meet you too Jeremy. Patrick offered a trade as he’s not much of a Pinot guy. I’m happy because I am and am interested in exploring the SC Mountains more. Both parties are happy. [cheers.gif]

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[taunt.gif]
Yeah I know. I must say that the Alesia was my contribution and I was inspired to bring it because of the Boston Poker & Pinot events I’ve seen so often over the past few years online. [good.gif]

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Good for everyone then [good.gif]

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Love the idea of a wine pot for poker…
did you guys mix it up or have a Texas-Hold-'em tournament

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thx for this note Cris as i’m going to a CdP tasting this w/e and will be popping the 1998 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape

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No-Limit Texas Hold 'em Mel tournament structure. The wine pot is a great idea which I cannot take credit for.

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I had never had one from that producer before. Top notch wine that is still young. No brett but nice bright fruits. Enjoy! [cheers.gif]

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so you decided it was the Caillou, eh?

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Patrick was right. The label on the Cailloux is much different.

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One of these days, we’ll do an OC vs. Boston Poker tournament!

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sooo … you did get a look at the label?

i’ll add my notes on to this thread in a couple … granted, you’ve already seen 'em, but maybe others haven’t. Your notes on the flavors of the Alesia match my notes for the same’s bouquet, btw.

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Bring em on! I always hope to get more input on our events and don’t often get a lot.

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I had an awesome time hangin out, meeting new friends, playing poker and drinking wine. I’m already looking forward to OCP4W II … I would like to be the person who goes home with more wine than they came with next time! [beg.gif] I guess I’ll have to dust-off Brunson’s book and start studying. :wink: Here’s my notes from the event:


2006 E. Guigal Condrieu - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu (2/21/2009)
– cork was removed many hours prior to tasting –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: nice bouquet of minerals, stone fruits, and lanolin; note of carmelized sugar emerges with some time in the glass; the bouquet is moderately to very expressive.

BODY: golden yellow color; medium-full bodied.

TASTE: hmmmm…weird. unlike others I tasted with, I detected very little fruit on the palate (the “others” have more experience than I with Rhone whites … so I guess “listen to them”) – I got strong notes of lanolin and lees, as well as some off-putting vegetal minderals; the minerality is certainly here, but seems soft and somewhat muted – I prefer whites with sharper minerals and acid than this wine has; the mouthfeel is kind of oily; a pleasant apricot note makes an appearance on the medium length finish, which unfortunately revealed a touch of alcohol as well (14% abv). My score below is a reflection of how intrinsically good I believe this wine is, not how much I enjoyed it … on an “enjoyed it scale” of 1 to 100 (100 being the most enjoyment possible) I would say this was about an 80 for me. Luckily for those who enjoy this type of wine, this seemed to be a well-made wine.

B: 50, 5, 12, 15, 7 = 89



2007 Fritz Haag Riesling - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (2/21/2009)
– cracked and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 3 days –

NOSE: not terribly complex: moderately expressive with some basic lime and other non-descript tropical scents … on Day 2, this smelled similar to a NZ Sauv. Blanc. Day 3 same as Day 2.

BODY: green-yellow color; medium bodied.

TASTE: mildly sweet with nice acidity; simple, and a bit fat. On Day 2 this improved a bit from the previous day, now showing some lemon curd laid over a slightly grassy backdrop. Day 3 same as Day 2…last glass went great with chicken quesedillas tonight.

Day 1:
B: 50, 5, 11, 14, 6 = 86

Day 2:
B: 50, 5, 11, 15, 6 = 87



2007 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Drachenstein Riesling Dragonstone - Germany, Rheingau (2/21/2009)
– cracked and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 3 days –

NOSE: extremely tight, showing minerals, faint papaya, and a touch of green apple … no improvement on Day 2. Day 3 same as Day 2.

BODY: pale yellow color; medium bodied.

TASTE: Day 1: more minerality than the 2007 Fritz Haag Riesling; a touch of lime as well as hints of smoke and quinine; well-balanced with a medium-length finish. Day 2: lost some complexity on the palate, and the finish now lasts an astonishingly short 5-10 secs. Bouquet is still tighter than a nun. My Day 1 enthusiasm for this wine has completely waned … too bad, as I was hoping this could be my go-to Riesling “daily drinker.” On Day 1, this was better than the Fritz Haag. On Day 2, the Fritz Haag was better than the Dragonstone. Day 3 same as Day 2.

Day 1:
B: 50, 5, 10, 16, 7 = 88

Day 2:
B: 50, 5, 10, 14, 6 = 85



2005 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale (2/21/2009)
– double decanted the day before tasting: decanted for 6 hours –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: strong spearmint note; hint of cherry as well as an odd vegetal aspect; oak; black licorice scent emerges with time in the glass

BODY: garnet color of great depth; medium bodied

TASTE: tannic; oaky; sweet leather and bramble along with some blackberries. This wine basically cemented in my mind my growing ambivalence towards Aussie Shiraz. Tasted this against an '06 Dead Arm … I slightly preferred the '05 over the '06.

B: 50, 5, 11, 16, 7 = 89



2006 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale (2/21/2009)
– decanted over night before tasting –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: banana bread/overripe bananas; oak; vegetal note; non-descript dark fruits

BODY: garnet color of great depth; medium bodied.

TASTE: dark fruits – especially blackberries; oak; spice; a bit hot; medium length finish; Hold for now.

B: 50, 5, 11, 15, 7 = 88



2006 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir San Mateo County - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County (2/21/2009)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: nice bouquet of cherry, cinnamon and Dr. Pepper cola

BODY: garnet color of light depth; medium bodied.

TASTE: certainly a delicate-style pinot with notes of cherry and bramble … improved in the glass. A lot better than an '04 Sonoma County that I tasted a few weeks ago … the '06 San Mateo county wasn’t hot like the '04 Sonoma County was.

B: 50, 5, 11, 16, 7 = 89



2004 Agrícola Falset-Marça Montsant Castell de Falset - Spain, Catalunya, Tarragona, Montsant (2/21/2009)
– decanted for a few hours before tasting –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: vegetal (must have been the Cab. Sauv. kicking-in here); cherry licorice and a hint of anise; hint of old-world funk, but not as much as I was hoping for.

BODY: lots of superfine particulate matter suspended in the wine (sadly, forgot to note color or weight of wine)

TASTE: dark berries and leather; short finish; tannic. A bottle of the '04 “old vines” that I had from this producer a few months ago showed its best on Day 3, so perhaps this wine needs the same sort of extended air time to strut its stuff.

B: 50, 5, 11, 15, 7 = 88


… and then some wines I bummed off very generous folks who were celebrating one gentleman’s 52 birthday:

2000 Le Dame de Montrose - very nice wine … I will be looking for this next time I go shopping … would buy for $40 or less.

1998 Lewelling - Cab. Sauv - Wight Vineyard … never had a L-W before, so I was excited about this … I was surprised when I logged-on to CT to see this vintage as the one vintage of this bottling that has a CT avg. below 90. I thought this was absolutely fantastic. I think I drank about 1/3 of the bottle myself … I honestly couldn’t understand why others seemed very disinterested in this wine. Absolutely fantastic … If I had scored this out, my score would have been in the 89 - 93 range. Easily my WOTN, even though I never should’ve gotten a taste.

1999 Rochioli - Pinot Noir - West Block … another first for me — i’ve only had their Estate Pinot, never one of their “Blocks”. This was fantastic, and if not for the L-W, would have been my WOTN (even though it was bummed off the very generous birthday crowd outside … I think, next time, I should bring an extra bottle to contribute to any impromptu parties we crash … at least then I won’t feel like such a bum). Nice cool cherry flavors, wonderfully integrated tannins, great structure, nice acidity … great Pinot. I’ve been on their waitlist for a couple of years, and tasting this wine only makes me want our names to get to the top of that list even more so than I already wanted!

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Here’s my take on it all…

Virtual Tasting

  • 2006 E. Guigal Condrieu - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
    One of the most interesting white wines that I have come across in my short time chasing this hobby of ours. This was opened overnight before drinking, but not decanted. Pale straw yellow in color. It shows a pretty classic Viognier nose of sweet pineapple, with an underlying floral note. This wine showed three distinct profiles as it cross the tongue. First there is a big hit of stony minerality, like licking wet rocks, with the taste of alcohol (no heat yet) coming through into the mid-palate. On the mid the fruit peaked through showing very nice and light citrus infused oil flavor. Into the finish the fruits softened and faded out with the heat from the 13.9% alcohol poked it’s head back out, but never really became overwhelming. Having some experience with Rhone whites, the fruit profile, while brief in this wine, was what I would expect from the region, but everything else was a completely new experience for me. Considering the way it sectionally crossed my palate, I wonder if this wine needs age to really come together. I doubt I’ll find out however, as this didn’t really “wow” me enough to want to shell out $45 for it. (87 pts.)
  • 2007 Fritz Haag Riesling - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
    Pale yellow color. The nose showed subdued aromas of citrus with underlying grass and flowers. First thing on the taste I got was acid right on the front of my tongue. It has an oily texture with flavors of sharp citrus and sweet melons. While I don’t have much experience with Riesling, this to me seems pretty basic and straightforward. It has a nice acid structure, but otherwise it’s a tad on the sweet side for me and there’s not much complexity going on. Easy drinker, but I would hope for a little bit more complexity in something at this price point. For $7-$8 cheaper, I would get the Josef Leitz Dragonstone we tried next to this before coming back here. (85 pts.)
  • 2007 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Drachenstein Riesling Dragonstone - Germany, Rheingau
    Very tight on the aromatics, only could coax out some citrus oil and what I would describe as sweet petrol. Shows on the sweet side of the Riesling spectrum with tropical fruit flavors, but these are cut into the finish with a nice minerality, crisp acidity, and an underlying petrol that I wish would come forward more. Not much more going on here than the Fritz Haag we drank next to this, but I felt that it had better balance and a little more depth of flavor. I think both would show better with food, and I could see enjoying this under the warm summer sun. (86 pts.)
  • 2005 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
    Black, purple, and opaque in color. Nose shows BIG chocloate, blackberry, black pepper and some green pepper. Insanely aromatic wine. Tastes of lush black and red berry fruits with underlying vanilla spice and pepper flavors and very chewy tannins. Well balanced as it never went insanely over the top with the oak and the jammy fruits as the Aussies are known to do, but I still felt that this wine was lacking in any elegance or direction. A bit all over the place with so much going on. I rather enjoyed it at this juncture, but I could see being turned off to this if I wasn’t in the mood for it. (88 pts.)
  • N.V. Smith Woodhouse Porto 20 Year Old Tawny - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Ahhh…this is more like it. Rich nose full of caramel, roasted nuts, and sweet prunes. Well balanced flavors that followed the nose with an underlying smokiness and only a touch of heat. There was a lightness to the texture, but a denseness to the fruit flavors that really fascinated me. Not the best 20 yr tawny that I have had, but right near the top. (89 pts.)

Community Bottles brought for enjoying during poker

  • 2006 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
    Tasted next to the 05 vintage and this wine jumped out at me as being an improvement right off the bat. Similar characteristics in the nose and on the palate to the 05, but all of it seemed more subtle and restrained, which was my main complaint with the 05. Soft floral nose with vanilla, chocolate, some white pepper, and black fruits. On the tongue, the 05 seemed to just go all over the place, but this seemed to come in with more structure to it. The flavors, while still big and rich as expected, seemed deliberate and focused in comparison. I am really glad we had this next to the 05 because I think a lot of those nuances would have been lost if I tasted this on its own. Still a bit much (both stylistically and price point) for me to really get excited about. But a very enjoyable wine none-the-less. (90 pts.)
  • 2004 Agrícola Falset-Marça Montsant Castell de Falset - Spain, Catalunya, Tarragona, Montsant
    Decanted for several hours before drinking. Soon as I stuck my nose into this wine I knew it was going to be right up my alley. Nose full of wet, dirty leather, pine, and earth. The flavors showed lovely ripe blue and black fruits, spice, tobacco and fresh soil. Tannins are still a bit chewy and unresolved, but with time this should settle into a soft yet structured wine. I wish I had taken more detailed notes on this wine as it was really quite fantastic. This was my wine of the event, without a doubt. (91 pts.)
  • 2006 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir San Mateo County - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
    Impression only as I really only had about a two ounce pour of this. The bottle was open for about 4 hours before drinking. Absolutely fantastic nose full of rich strawberries, cinnamon, and fresh pine. The nose of this wine alone is worth the price of admission. Flavors of strawberry rhubarb, spice, and dust showed more subtle and subdued than the nose. Other than feeling a little let down by the relative thinness of the flavors compared to the nose, this is a really fantastic little bottle of wine. Definitely worth seeking out to work through a full bottle. If I ventured a score I would say 88 at this point, but the potential is there for higher scores both in terms of really getting a good taste of it and with a few more years in the bottle.
  • 1995 Smith Woodhouse Porto Late Bottled Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    This is my first taste of a Late Bottled Vintage port. This was bottled in 1999. Nose is very smokey and seemed very similar to a cognac with more underlying spice and sweet raisins. The taste was similar to the nose with big smoke filled flavors and heat from the alcohol covering most of the sweet fruit and nut flavors. I am thinking this just needs to lay down for 20 or so years to let the alcohol integrate and allow all the characteristics come together. There was nothing bad here, it was just really hard to get through the alcohol at this point. (87 pts.)

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