Thanks for doing this for a great cause!
2017 Fort Ross Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview PN. Starts off with bright red cherry, currant, and a bit of orange zest before waves of black tea, brambly earth and a hint of Chinese five-spice come in and make for a really compelling, balanced palate and medium length finish. Ready to go now with an hour decant or could lay down for several years.
**2010 Scherrer Platt Vineyard Pinot Noir **It is rare that I can let my Scherrer’s age, but this was available at the winery when we made it to last weekend’s open house, and I was happy to pick up a bottle. *The nose is earthy and herbaceous with sweet cherry notes. The palate shows an attack of cherries and cranberries leading to a hit of black pepper. Fully mature and a pleasure to drink.
I’m glad you posted that, I saw it and thought my week didn’t start until Wednesday!
I’ve had that 2012 Scherrer Platt a couple of times. Very nice wine, but it does feel kind of later maturity already.
Dark, saturated garnet color. Deep aromas of black and Luxardo cherries, ripe raspberries, freshly tilled wet soil, and a touch of smoke. On the palate the wine is polished and powerful, with ripe tannins that balance the acidity and alcohol quite nicely. Good purity of black cherry notes and a little minty herbs that complements the soil tones nicely.
This is my first wine from this producer and vineyard, so not sure how much of the polish and power is reflective of winemaking vs climate or vineyard character. Anyone know?
The 2017 Laherte Freres Les Longues Voyes was delicious with sushi tonight. Golden-colored in the glass, biscuit on the nose, and expansive on the palate with good persistence through the finish. There were less than 300 cases of this produced, so obviously not that easy to track down. Disgorged in January 2021.
1969 Marey-Monge Romanée-St-Vivant
I figured this would be a great opportunity to open this bottle that I’ve been dragging around the world for the last 45 years. Didn’t have much hope for it given its mi-shoulder fill, capsule that is rusted onto the cork and bottle and soaked cork. I figured $20 to charity was the best I’d do
Upon opening, certainly on the decline (age and treatment) but better than I anticipated. Diluted mahogany color to the rim. Forest floor, leather and a touch of balsamic on the nose, each of which carry through of the palate which is mid weight and persistent, with nice acid backbone and resolved tannins. Lookin forward to following this for the next couple of hours
2018 Metrick Pinot Noir Rancho La Vina Santa Rita Hills. Berserker Day purchase. Cherries, slate, slight orange finish. Tannins are present but integrated. This was lovely.
Opened too young and served with Bratwurst, but it wasn’t closed shut. Nice wine and I’m looking forward to aged Goodfellow. Keep getting nudged by this criminal during the selfie:
commercial post: I’ve imported the wines of Jacqueson in Rully since the 1984 vintage.
The first wine is their quiet benchmark, not a 1er Cru, but sometimes I’ve preferred it to their higher-rated bottlings:
2016 Jacqueson Rully ‘Chaponnieres’ - The aromas feature plenty of mellow black cherry fruit melded with just as much sous-bois (hardwood forest after rain). The palate is light bodied and dense, which doesn’t make sense unless you’re tasting it. The balance is wonderful, the finish not the longest. Overall incredibly satisfying. I was at Bonnie and Chuck’s for a not-quite-Thanksgiving dinner, Daugher Stacy took a picture but in the commotion I forgot to tell her to get my mugly into it.
Back home, I’m about to dive into leftovers. I’m only having a glass, because I’ve got company tomorrow who will happily polish it off.
In 2018 the sizeable Rully negociant Delorme was sold and another local grower retired. Paul Jacqueson and his friend Aubert de Villaine jointly bought and divided all of the available vineyards. Paul got this incredible gem. I had no idea that wine of this quality and intensity could come from Mercurey (admittedly, I’m not an expert). I only got one case, this is my second bottle, I plan to open about one a year.
2018 Jacqueson Mercurey 1er Cru ‘Champs Martin’
Medium-dark ruby color. Aromas are powerful and ripe, but not over the top. Mostly black cherry with hints of blackberry and black raspberry. The sheer solidity and density of the palate is not what I expect from Cote Chalonnaise, this is really primary, so fresh as to be just short of rude. This takes Jacqueson to a new level.
Frank, thank you, I’m done. I set a new personal record of 13 bottles, 12 with mugly shots. Laura’s House gets $250 from me this year. Tomorrow I’ve got company and fresh pasta from Pastaland. We’ll have an aperitif and the rest of this. And then (it will be 50 degrees) we’re drinking Nebbiolo. And then it’s going to get cold and I’m going to drink Mediterranean and Atlantic grapes. Nothing against Pinot Noir, I love the stuff, but I’m ready for something else.
Thank you again Frank.
Dan Kravitz
OH NO! You’re a Ducks fan? (And not the University of Oregon kind…)
That’s terrible news…except that at some point we should go watch a Kings vs Ducks game and then drink some Champagne and celebrate not being San Jose sharks fans 
Sorry these notes are so late in the game, it’s been a tough week, with my youngest having the nasty version of the flu going around. He went all the way from Sunday to yesterday with a fever between 102-104 unless we treated it with ibuprofen or tylenol. It finally seems to have broken for good today.
So we opened a few things to make up for lost time, and are finally posting a note from some wines opened on Monday.
2017 Lundeen La Canterra Vineyard BdN: opens with a bit of lychee and florals, orange rind, and yeasty bread dough/flour, there’s a note of late summer grasses where some of the grass is green and some brown, iris, and the only negative is that the florals get a little too reminiscent of scented dish soap. Overall though a really interesting and intriguing nose.
The palate is delicious. Lemon peel, fresh apple, light citrus, and a little stony. The stoniness shows off a dry and very faintly astringent finish that I really like and keep coming back to.
Over time the soapy note disappears, and the nose settles into a beatifully harmonious bottle of bubbles. The yeasty tones are a great bass note, and the aromatics and body both have a very focused mineral streak. The finish is still dry and savory, and right up my alley. One of the 2-3 best Oregon sparkling wines that I have had. We drank a bottle of Agrapart Terroirs last night and while it was a bit oddly frothy in the mousse compared to other bottles from the same case, this is every bit as good. Super effort from one of the more focused WV sparkling wine producers and well worth checking out.
2017 Biggio-Hamina “Caroline” Holmes Gap Vineyard, Van Duzer Corridor AVA
Todd Hamina makes some lovely wines, and we share a lot of similar processes in the cellar. It’s pretty rare that our wines track similarly though, but this is an exception to that. The potpourri and roses over red fruits made me do a double take. This has a lovely dark earthy streak that works as a foundation for the more elegant fruits and spice notes. I think of 2017s as being excellent longer term wines but a number of bottles recently have been evolving very well and fleshing out sooner than I expected. This is no different. It’s still lighter bodied in the oalate and very refreshing with slightly more restrained tannins than my wines typically have. Super wine.
2017 Trathan Hall Ana Vineyard, Dundee Hills AVA: following the trend of 2017s that are open for business, this is super tasty. The Dundee Hills usually seem to drink well around 5 years of age, and this is drinking very well. A well integrated nose of red fruits, florals, a hint of coffee and tar, lots of baking spice as well. The palate is filling in very nicely, it’s juicy textural, well balanced, with a great attack, mid-palate, and length. Acids are in perfect harmony with the fruit and the tannins are a nice lingering echo.
2019 Trisaetum Yamhill-Carlton Artist Series: 115 and whole cluster. The wine shows the cool character of the vintage with lighter, bright, floral notes. LOTS of pretty red berry, a hint of leafy green, bubblegum carbonic notes, a hint of coffee, and a very fresh aspect to the nose. The palate is light to medium bodied, bright and fresh but the tannins appear very early in the taste. Marion berry if I had to pick a specific berry flavor. Well balanced but the tannins sit on top a bit, and I think a few more years in a cellar will be rewarded.
Thanks for doing this Frank!
Oh no! I was really counting on the those two extra days. No pic but I did open a FMIII fav. I’ll let him have them. 
Posted from CellarTracker
I’ll make my final contribution to this post with a winery I discovered after reading notes from our sponsor, FMlll. Tonight’s 2015 Marie Courtin Champagne Indulgence Extra Brut Rosé is more Rouge than Rosé, with a stunning crimson color. Marybeth thought it was a still red wine in my glass. Bitter cranberries, strawberries and pomegranate. It’s dry, savory and energetic.
Yikes! After enjoying a bottle of the 2014 Marguet Grand Cru Ambonnay Rosé, I went fairly deep on the other '14s. One or two of multiple wines, including that Les Saints Remys, Les Bermonts, Le Parc, and Les Crayères. I like “a wine to be examined” now and then, but six or eight is a lot of examining!
What a cutie of a kitty! And thank you for opening the House Block as well.
I am still in wine jail so I am supposed to drink nothing and I only cheat on special occasions . . . but I did have just a bit of the 2006 RM and the 2020 Myriad (pinot-based rose) on Wednesday night.
16 years has softened any roughness from TRB’s winemaking style and it was very smooth. My son thought it was a bit Port-like but I think that was just the tertiary flavors of age. My wife agreed with him but she hates Port and hasn’t had any for many years, so what does she know? Less fruit than I expected.
The Myriad was an excellent rose. It actually had flavor in it. I had only a half an ounce, so I can’t say a lot about the flavor - maybe a bit of cherry or red berry fruit - BUT it disappeared quickly to rave reviews from the rest of the family.
No photo of me with the wine, so this is just a $10 contribution.
2014 Copain Pinot Noir Wendling Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (11/27/2022)
Medium body, good garnet color, there's a light pine forest spice note on the nose; I have always loved this wine, with its juicy, spicy, quintessential Anderson Valley fruit profile, plenty of balancing acidity, just the right level of fine tannic structure, almost a Vosne spice, this seems to be aging very slowly and gracefully, retaining all its character, while softening just slightly. One of the finest Copain Pinots produced. (93 points)
Dude! I had that wine a few months back. One of the most unique wines of the year for me. Good on you for taking that 15 Indulgence for a spin.
