Wine Group Recap - 09.24.12

Clear and bright with a pale gold core out to a watery rim. Clean with medium aged aromas of cheese rind, lemon rind and a waxy apple aroma. Clean and dry in the mouth with medium plus acidity and a long finish. Excellent length a little alcoholic but a-okay. Tasty. 2008 Vouvray?
2006 Brokenwood Semillion Reserve $39.99  and 11%

(only one of our group got this wine right and it was a good job, too.)

Deep gold color out to a bubbly rim. Slightly earthy and loamy with a funky long waxy finish.  Bret?  Finishes dry with lots of acidity and sparkling. Ultimately not supposed to sparkling. Grand Cru Alsace Pinot Gris?
1998 Zin Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive Riesling

(I was the closest to this one but I didn't get that it was Riesling.  It was funky and weird.  Totally refermented in the bottle and slightly oxidized.)

Clear with pale gold core out to a watery rim. Clean and salty with green apple notes with citrus lemon and medium plus acidity and a long finish. A little hot in the mouth. Pretty simple. Stainless steel chardonnay? Chablis?
2009 LaRoche Grand Cru Les Blanchot in screw cap

(This was nailed by a few people in the group and it showed well.  I really like screw cap wines from France.)

Clear and bright with a deep core of ruby out to a watery rim orange rim. Clean with pronounced developed aromas of soy, cedar, cranberry, sawdust, undergrowth, licorice and spice and pencil lead and iron. Dry with plummy notes of green tea and medium plus tannins and a dark finish. Bordeaux. 1998 or maybe older? Excellent. Pommerol?
1987 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 13.5%

(This was the surprise of the night.  I would say that no one was even close.  We all thought it was Bordeaux.  All of us.)

Clear and bright with a medium ruby core out to an orange rim. Clean with pronounced developing aromas of dill and plummy flavors of plum. Lots of truffle. Excellent acidity and long finish.  Rioja for sure.  Vintage?  Older.
1995 La Rioja Alta Gran Riserva

(Everyone picked up on this wine right away because of the American oak.  It was pretty tasty wine, too.)

Clear with medium ruby core out to a watery orange rim. Pronounced developing aromas of cedar and spice and rose and lavender and plummy and slightly hot and and a spicy long finish. Soy, tobacco. Lots of tannin and rough finish. Needs so much time. Barolo?
2001 Altesino Brunello Montosoli 14.5%

(We all thought this was Barolo although a few thought it would be from something else in Italy, but no one guessed even remotely that this was Brunello.  Good wine but a little rough for the money.  I think it was $135 or something?)

Overall, a fantastic tasting with great wines.  There was a Smaragd Gruner Veltliner from Knoll that we didn't try because it was corked but besides that and the Vendange Tardive from Zind Humbrecht, all the wines were tasting fantastic.

And as I said, the shocker was the elegance and power of the La Jota 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cheers.

The Wine Group tasting 06.26.12 . . . epic? Not so sure . . .

Nine wines from around the world (mostly France) all from 2000 and older.
2000 Goisot Sauvignon St. Bris "Fie` Gris"
1993 Domaine Michel Juillot Mercurey Rouge
1994 Domaine Michel Juillot Mercurey Blanc
1996 Paul Chapelle Puligny-Montrachet Champgain
1991 Chante Perdrix Saint Joseph
1999 Domaine de Fauterie Cornas
1995 Canoe Ridge Merlot Columbia Valley
1998 Goisot Cotes d'Auxerre Corps de Garde Bourgogne Blanc
1993 Domaine Hubert de Montille Bourgogne Rouge
19997 Ferreira Vintage Port (375 ml - not pictured)

Had the guys over to the house to taste through some old wines from Beaune Imports and wines that have been hanging around in the garage for years off and on and it was a hit and miss affair.  Two and maybe possibly three of the wines were corked, some more than others and of course no one could agree on which ones were corked but there was some definite effect of the cork on all the wines whether it was the musty cardboard of classic corked wines or if it was just the muted fruit, slightly off of mildly corked wines.  All I know is I am hoping and praying for a time when this can't happen to any wine, but it won't be in my lifetime, that's for sure.  Too many people stuck on tradition.

The highlights of the night:

1998 Goisot Cotes d'Auxerre Corps de Garde Bourgogne Blanc (100% Chardonnay): Clean with pale gold core out to a watery rim, clean in the nose with fresh granny smith apples and custard and lemon zest with flavors to match.  Creamy and textured in the mouth but no overt wood flavors and it finishes really long and persistent with tangy acidity.  Excellent

1991 Chante Perdrix Saint Joseph: Clear and bright with a medium ruby core out to an orange rim.  Spicy white pepper and smoked meat in the nose with hints of cranberry sauce.  Smoked meat and blueberry/boysenberry balsamic vinegar reduction in the mouth with super fine tannins.  Long, long finish with medium plus acidity, definitely what has kept this lovely wine alive.  Excellent.

Others in the group loved the 1999 Domaine de Fauterie Cornas and the Goisot Fie` Gris.  The Michel Juillot wines were over the hill be still interesting wines for what I am sure back then (and probably now) some really inexpensive off the beaten path Burgundy.  The Canoe Ridge was disjointed and not fun.  The Hubert de Montille 1993 Bourgogne opened up with time but was showing a definite cork issue.  The 19997 Ferreira had maybe stayed too long in the garage . . . . and the Paul Chapelle was corked.

A fun night.  The cheeses from the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills were delicious.  Five guys must have eaten about 3 lbs of  Selles sur Cher, Comte`, Ossau-Iraty and more thanks to Erik Kelley.

So the question: is it worth it to cellar wines for 15 to 25 years before drinking?  Obviously, there needs to be a good place to keep the wine (cool, dry, dark, slightly humid but not too much) and the quality of the wine needs to stand up to the test of time (lots of acidity is needed to last 20 years, folks, lots and lots of acidity), and lots of luck that you don't have crappy cork that effects the taste of the wine and lets in just the right amount of oxygen so the aging process can percolate along.  So I am not sure . . . after all these years in the business, if the rewards of long term cellaring outweigh the risks.

Enjoy.