Parents visiting so had to dig out a BDX. Quite close to what I think Graves should taste like and quite open, really huge compared to most reds I drink these days. Think this is the final vintage.
Lunch was charcuterie in a Catalan interpretation so the Tondonia seemed appropriate enough. Not as many sherry notes as the 2010 but still beautiful and complex.
2003 Domaine Robert Chevillon Les Cailles
Very ripe and starting to collapse. Excessive sediment. A bit of a train wreck really. But we drank it 
Funny enough when I tasted Chavost blind I thought that the bubbles where the only thing which pointed in the direction of Champagne. Everything else just screamed natural wine making gone a little bit wrong. Not faulty. But unpleasant.
A very lovely, fully-evolved St Em from that right bank vintage that can do no wrong, 1998. This is a red-fruit gem. Quite lithely structured but highly aromatic and packed with earthy, red fruit and tertiary elements. Quite musky on opening, but after an hour in the decanter, the barnyard notes have receded to the background and the spicy red fruits and earth notes have come more to the fore. The palate is also predominantly red fruits, lean in profile, a bit grainy. Not an elegant wine at all, more rustic in texture. That is not a complaint, I tend to like some elegant rusticity in my wines. Sweet and sour red cherry nota, wild red raspberry and some hints of dried plums on the back end. As I sit here and swirl to coax more flavor out of the wine for evaluation, it’s also showing some camphor on the nose. A fun wine, a tasty wine, but not necessarily an excellent wine, and definitely time to drink up. I’m 91 pts on it. I’m in a generous mood and it is lovely after all.
2012 Ceritas Chardonnay Peter Martin Ray.
This wine has evolved significantly since my last bottle several years ago. The profile, once dominated by laser-sharp acidity and a crisp, mineral-driven, Chablis-like character, has developed new layers with age. Now, it shows notes of toasty vanilla, lemon, and faint apple.
Some of these flavors I typically associate with oak influence. In my experience, Ceritas has always been restrained in its use of oak, fermenting and aging in neutral French barrels. This seems to be a case where the grape itself, rather than the wood, is expressing these flavors as it matures.
It’s a classy and delicious wine, one that has transformed dramatically with time. This bottle suggests it still has the structure to age for at least another decade.
Excited to read this. K&L had a few stray bottles of 2011 recently for around $50, just arrived a few days ago and looking for a chance to crack open.
Hi Warren,
I have just been offered some Ceritas wines, Any thoughts on style, best vineyards etc
TIA,
Kent
Hey Kent - as a (former…like with so many) list member with Ceritas I will say that Peter Martin Ray and Trout Gulch were/are my favorites. My vintages are not terribly up to date, but I have been opening older bottles of PMR from my dad’s cellar and they are holding up really well.
Have this and a few cleansers and you might repeat today’s feat tomorrow.
Looking forward to thoughts on this one!
It’s very aromatic and tasty but pretty young. Not a disaster if one should be opened by accident.
Glad it’s not just me. I coaxed one for a few hours last fall and it just never got there. Needs time. My highlight for CB is the 2000 at age 20. Most others have underwhelmed, prob cause I pop them too young (user error)
The 2011 was lovely, very aromatic, but I think that is also emblematic of the vintage. I went against my better judgment on this one, I sort of view 2013 as a baby 2010, lots of structure that needs time to resolve. I got excited because @ToddFrench popped a 2015 and I wanted to join him in the experience, virtually. I will say that the end of the second evening it did open up more aromatically, picking up a lot of earth and rocky textures and flavors and aromas. I like this style, more on the red fruit of the Cornas spectrum.
Little detail Robert has neglected to point out is that he THOUGHT he pulled a 2015 to drink along with me…but he pulled a 2013
Numbers can be difficult.
Kelley Fox Canary Hill Pinot Noir 2022
