Dinner with Friends and My Wine of the Year (So Far)

Had a nice dinner with some clients and friends this weekend. I didn't take any notes but I'll try to give my best recollection of the wines.

1964 Deutz Champagne - still very alive. Light spritz in the mouth. lots of secondary notes and some oxidation but still very nice.

1978 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlegmagne- funky nose (not in a good way) but much better on the palate. Great acidity and decent clean fruit. Well stored but was probably never a great wine.

Flight 1
1970 Ausone- not so good. lacked any defining character. very light but not elegant

1970 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Unfiltered- Classic old Cali Cabernet. Not particularly complex but still very good. Graphite/Earth on the nose with nice fruit on the palate. I would drink this anytime

Flight 2
1964 Ausone- Corked!

1971 Ridge Eisele Cabernet- WOW and Wow again. What a beauty! I had this wine last year and this bottle blew that one away. The nose was fantastic and the wine was incredibly elegant. Rose petals, currants, cherry, minerality all tied into a seamless finish.

1974 Gemello Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Clara Valley- big bruiser of a wine. Loads of fruit but lacking the complexity of the Eisele. Still a tremendous wine but overshadowed by the Eisele in this flight.

Flight 3
1990 Vogue Bonnes Mares- good wine but not great. Ripe red fruits, strawberry, plums and some secondary characteristic. Lacking in the mid-palate and not well integrated. Still enjoyable but not what I would expect from a '90 Bonnes Mare.

1990 Georges Roumier Chambolle Musigny Amoureuses- complex nose. raspberries, earth, cherries and very complex. tingling acidity and great velvety mouthfeel. delicious.

Flight 4
1991 Guigal La Mouline- WOTN (wine of the night) Simply amazing. I could sit and sniff the intoxicating bouquet all night long. violets, raspberry liquor, smoke, bacon, spice.... dense and dark yet precise and light.

1991 Guigal La Landonne- very good but was fixated on the Mouline.

1991 Guigal La Turque- good but fixated on the Mouline.

All and all a fabulous night and many thanks to the host. Oh yeah. The food was also fantastic. Beef Shortribs, Roasted Carrots & Potatoes, an excellent cheese course, and much more.
Cheers,
Cory

Premier Napa Valley

We have a very busy week due to Premier Napa Valley, with 3-4 tastings a day and dinners at night. I'll try to take pictures and give updates on some of the wines that we are tasting.

We had a blind tasting this A.M. of 16- 2005 Napa Cabernets at the Rudd Center. I can't release the results but can say that the 2005 Vintage will be one to look out for.

Love the facility!! Great for Tasting

Gotta run. Have a tasting with Lail, Switchback, Realm, Foley and more. I'll report back tomorrow.
Cheers, Cory

Heartbreaking...47 Petrus leakers

These arrived in a cellar recently. Vandermeulen bottlings.Corks had slipped on the reefer truck ride. The pics are hard to see the fill levels, but one was 3/4 gone, the other was about 1/3 gone.

Other random weirdness - one bottle had jagged broken glass under the capsule...not broken recently but almost like they had used a broken jagged bottle when they bottled it.

We drank what was left of one. It was decent. Thick, dark (had been severely shaken up of couse), no tannin, oily, some decent porty, plummy fruit, but mostly a nutty, oxidized charcter. Hard to judge since they were so fried, but I imagine the one of them would have been pretty good. TRAGIC!

Sunny Day In St. Helena

My February goal is to post once a week, so here we go!
I was riding my bike around the vineyard during my lunch break and took some pictures.

These are of the Library Vineyard in St. Helena.

I believe this is Petite Sirah (correct me if i'm wrong)

Crazy weather right now! 71 degrees in February