TNs: Wines with Old friends

WINE TALK
#1

WINE’S WITH OLD FRIENDS - Hamilton, NJ (6/24/2010)

It had been about 3 years since I last had a chance to hang out with a bunch of my college friends, so I picked up and headed to NY and then to NJ to meet up with some of them. We opened up a variety of bottles since they don’t normally get a chance to drink wines over $15 and this would be a good chance to try some wines at a bit higher of a price point

taste: good depth with a excellent lighter feel and medium+ acidity with tones of white fruits, apples, all sorts of minerals, wet stones, and some bits of pears

overall: a excellent kabinett. Well balanced on both the nose and palate with good depth as well. On the young side, but accessible as the acidity isn’t too much right now, but more refreshing (90 pts.)

  • 2000 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
    nose: nice and fragrant nose of vanilla, leather, dark red cherries, bits of tobacco leaf, and some black and red currants as well. Has a real elegance to it on the nose with nice depth

taste: pretty medium body with good tannins and medium+ acidity as well as elegant tones of florals, tobacco leafs, dark red cherries, vanilla and a touch of leather as well. Very well balanced with good depth

overall: this did come off as a bit young. My first experience with a Lopez Heredia red and it was a real nice and elegant wine that still has some stuffing to it. A elegant and classic rioja that is real enjoyable and could’ve benefited from a bit of a decant (91 pts.)

  • 2007 Soter Pinot Noir North Valley - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton
    nose: very pretty and aromatic nose of dark red cherries, red florals, mushrooms, spice tones along with bits of red fruits and earth tones. Nice depth and on the more subtle side of things right now

taste: elegant and pretty medium feel with medium/high acidity and tones of dark red cherries, red florals, wild spices, as well as bits of earth tones. Nicely balanced with the acidity really showing through right now

overall: this has come together a bit more since the last time I had this. Another year or two and this could be a real nice and understated pinot (89 pts.)

  • 2005 Silvio Grasso Barolo Pì Vigne - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    nose: lovely and perfumed nose of roasted herbs, red cherries, spice tones, some bits of mixed berries, wild strawberries and a touch of red florals. Very pretty with good depth on the nose that has a real expressive quality to it

taste: demure and pretty medium feel with chewy tannins and medium/high acidity with feminine tones of roasted herbs, red cherries, spice tones, wild strawberries, and bits of florals. Excellent depth, but shows off the youth of the wine a lot with the tannins and the big acidity

overall: In need of some time, this got about 5 hours of bottle air before drinking. Very aromatic and took some swirling in the glass to get going. Well balanced, and though it shows its youth, it isn’t too inaccessible at this time if given a good decant (92 pts.)

  • 2001 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    nose: dark and rich nose of bacon fat, black cherries, smoke, lavender and bits of olives. Real good depth with a real savory and meaty quality to it on the nose that is classic cote rotie

taste: great and young medium/full feel with good supporting tannins as well as medium+ acidity with meaty tones of bacon fat, black cherries, bits of spice and lavender with a touch of olives as well

overall: a bit rough around the edges on the both the nose and palate right now. Could certainly use a bit more age, but is approachable with a decent decant. This had a real savory quality to it on both the nose and palate right now (91 pts.)

  • 2005 Copain Syrah McDowell Valley - USA, California, North Coast, McDowell Valley
    nose: stark contrast to the Guigal with rich and forward tones of blackberries, black cherries, anise, and a good bit of warm blueberry pie. Good depth with real lush fruit on the nose

taste: full bodied with good tannins and plush tones of black berries, spice tones, anise and blueberry pie. Very rich fruit on the palate as well, but very much a syrah at the same time with the tannins providing some good grip right now

overall: could probably use another year or two, but its really tasty right now. Well balanced with real nice and sexy plush fruit that shows itself well. It was definitely a 180 from the Brune et Blonde compared to it, but both were very good as this showed itself off as a cali syrah very well (91 pts.)

It was a great time and all of the wines went over well. I figured a good variety would be the best way to go and it was appreciated. All of these were drank over a very long, but fun night
Posted from CellarTracker

#2

Keith, thanks for the report. Nice wines and good diversity. I stopped in Barolo last week-end and I’m still trying to find my way around all the Grassos, Conternos or Voerzios in the area! I suspect the first name of each producer is as important as in Burgundy :slight_smile:

So… anything more on the context of the Barolo, e.g. style of the producer, specificity of this cuvée, vintage, etc. ?

#3

Indeed, a nice diverse lineup!

I should commit myself to buying more Brune et Blonde. All vintages I have had are quite consistently good.

#4

Silvio Grasso is in the modern camp, but I wasn’t getting too much on the new oak from them, which I was happy with. This cuvee also comes from La Morra, which will generally have finer tannins and also be on the more delicate and feminine side. I’m also a big fan of the 05s as they are more feminine and have a real pretty quality to them, and it looks like many people aren’t noticing them as much because of 04 and 06 being massive vintages. I’m sure there are others who can chime in on the Grasso with more info than I can


todd- agree, everytime I have a Brune et Blonde I wonder why I’m not really drinking more of them and why I’m not cellaring them. While the pre-chateau d’ampuis wines come off as stronger, I’ve still really enjoyed many of the B et Bs post-d’ampuis and this was no exception


my whole point of this tasting was for the diversity since they don’t really drink old world wines that often either and I wanted to slant it old world while having one or two NW wines. I wanted to throw a burg in there, but since young wines were the only option, I didn’t think any of the wines available would really work since I wasn’t in a specialty store when picking the wines up