Our fine wine dinner group met recently at Bacara Resort`s Bistro Restaurant for a wonderful multi course meal complimented by many wonderful wines with a base theme of world class Merlot.
Our Prince of Sweets was to attend, but was not able to; therefore, a bottle of Masseto did not join the Merlot lineup, but we were well fortified. The wines on this night consisted of:
MV KRUG GRANDE CUVEE- this was the 3rd bottle Ive opened from a recent purchase with consistent notes albeit very atypical from all of the years of MV Krug passionate intake; I love the ID code on the label [312032] that now allows for in depth information regarding this bottle from their website; in this case, this bottle was disgorged in the summer of 2013 after a minimum of 6 years aging, comprised of 134 different wines from 12 different vintages 1990 through 2005 with a blend of 44% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay and 19% Pinot Meunier; Ive characterized this MV batch as being more Dom like; great acidity, lots of citrus without the toasty, buttery elements; crisp, refreshing, depth with layers of bliss.
NV HEIDSIECK MONOPOLE DIAMANT BLANC BRUT- oxidative notes of caramel, butterscotch and toasted almonds, sherry like; I`ve had more than a fair share of oxidative wines in my cellar and many have found their way to this dinner group; fortunately, this bottle was not one of them.
2007 BONNEAU du MARTRAY CORTON CHARLEMAGNE- steely, graphite, minerals, creamy rich texture; bright acidity; consistently good CC.
2013 DOMAINE HUET CLOS du BOURG SEC VOUVRAY- good Chenin here; some grassy, herbaceous notes dominate this pleasant wine that definitely served to cleanse the palate for us to move on.
2012 DOMAIN HERVE AZO PETIT CHABLIS- very dry, lots of minerality, decent texture, lean and light, crisp and refreshing.
We now blind taste through the 7 Merlot theme wines all brown bagged. The ID was withheld until the end after discussion and re-tastes.
2004 QUERCIABELLA PALAFRENO TUSCANA- theres so much to say for this wine as it kept unfolding and changing; its so fully loaded and only a dry finish and less finesse keeps it from being my WOTN; the color is deep dark and suggestive of youth; the nose has some cedar, mint, spicy black currant all which continue on and are joined by coffee, chocolate and licorice; a serious extract that exudes power which is out of balance; somewhat astringent finish.
2010 TUA RITA REDAGAFFI TOSCANA- deep dark rich full color of youthfulness; theres some coconut in the nose and taste plus some eucalyptus, talc, sandalwood, cedar and tart black cherry/ berry flavors; it had good mouthfeel and finished quite dry; this was the groups co-WOTN, although good, I liked another one better.
2003 TUA RITA REDIGAFFI TOSCANA- tasted blind, I got his almost as youthful as the 10`; this is pretty serious with lots of flavor, complexity and layers of dark fruit; nicely balanced and with good length, this stood out among all others and was my WOTN.
2010 PETROLO GALATRONA- a fruit bomb with dominating notes of chocolate, basil and sage infused black currants and cherries with okay notes of vanilla and talc; the group`s co-WOTN.
2005 CHATEAU BON PAASTEUR POMEROL- more oak influenced notes appear here with talc and sandalwood topping off the spicy chocolate black cherry, currant, plum fruit; it finished very dry.
1982 CHATEAU LATOUR a POMEROL- corked
2003 SAN GIUSTO A RENTENNANO LA RICOLMA TOSCANA- pretty serious although lots of heat pervades; it`s big and tasty and out of balance and should benefit from some aging and decanting as I believe most of these youngsters would have as well.
With our Prince of Sweets missing, we ate dessert instead of drank it.
Cheers,
Blake
