From notes taken January, 2006:Wine of Merit: ***Renard Rousanne 2003: You know it makes me feel like sayin’ “foxy”! This is, candidly, a much better wine than the Perrin CdP Blanc. Golden yellow hue, nectarine, peach preserves, orange zest, flinty minerals, honeysuckle. Oily texture, lovely weight on the palate with some noticeable oak on the finish. Delish right now – I don’t sense that this will cellar well.
*+Provenance Rutherford Cab, 2000: Lovely, if a bit standard fare. Firm, Rutherford red and black fruit, minerals and some of that good Rutherford dust. Plenty of chocolate and toasty oak. A bit lean. Nice enough.
***Sette Ponti Oreno, 2003: This wine has received big press, so I thought I would try it before I decided to buy it at a premium. It is very good, in a fairly formulaic “Super Tuscan” kind of way. Excellent depth and purity of fruit. Very expressive with plum, vanilla and boysenberry jam right off the bat. Some tar and grilled meats. Velvety and palate coating on entry. If I take any points away it is because this wine does not put balance at a premium. It has a slight drop off in the mid palate and then offers a big tannic, cab driven finish. Again, this is a very nice wine in the Sassicaia, Solaia, Solegno style. Buy more? At $39.99 sure. At $80, I pass. Both prices are out there!
**Clos L’Eglise, Cotes de Castillion 2000: This bares absolutely no resemblance in anyway to the Pomerol, even though it is mostly (60%) merlot, with 20% cab franc and 20% cabernet. Medium weight, one dimensional, pretty wine in more of a varietal driven, new world style (as in “Look, if they order Merlot I am leaving!”). Blueberry, mocha, lilacs, chalky vanilla. Residual sweetness. I sense almost no cab sauv and it lacks the mushroom, earthiness of the cab franc that I dig. Friendly, if youthful, finish. I think Parker gave this a 90 or something, probably because the owners also own Pavie and a couple of other more serious chateau that actually are in Pomerol. I would score it mid 80s, maybe higher if it were cheaper. At $35, it almost seems overpriced. Pleasant, but not compelling. Order it at a restaurant while on a blind date in Santa Barbara.
**++Failla Chardonnay, Keefer Ranch 2003: I am a Failla fan. I love the Keefer ranch pinot. The chard is also very nice if somewhat atypical. Lavishly oaked but not overwhelmingly so, the fruit offers a whimsical key lime pie like thing, sugarplum and marzipan. Bright acids. I think this wine may in fact come together and knit the oak with the fruit to offer a bit more harmony. American Chablis? Nice! I will let ‘er sit awhile and stew before I re-approach.
***Sette Ponti Oreno, 2003: This wine has received big press, so I thought I would try it before I decided to buy it at a premium. It is very good, in a fairly formulaic “Super Tuscan” kind of way. Excellent depth and purity of fruit. Very expressive with plum, vanilla and boysenberry jam right off the bat. Some tar and grilled meats. Velvety and palate coating on entry. If I take any points away it is because this wine does not put balance at a premium. It has a slight drop off in the mid palate and then offers a big tannic, cab driven finish. Again, this is a very nice wine in the Sassicaia, Solaia, Solegno style. Buy more? At $39.99 sure. At $80, I pass. Both prices are out there!
**Clos L’Eglise, Cotes de Castillion 2000: This bares absolutely no resemblance in anyway to the Pomerol, even though it is mostly (60%) merlot, with 20% cab franc and 20% cabernet. Medium weight, one dimensional, pretty wine in more of a varietal driven, new world style (as in “Look, if they order Merlot I am leaving!”). Blueberry, mocha, lilacs, chalky vanilla. Residual sweetness. I sense almost no cab sauv and it lacks the mushroom, earthiness of the cab franc that I dig. Friendly, if youthful, finish. I think Parker gave this a 90 or something, probably because the owners also own Pavie and a couple of other more serious chateau that actually are in Pomerol. I would score it mid 80s, maybe higher if it were cheaper. At $35, it almost seems overpriced. Pleasant, but not compelling. Order it at a restaurant while on a blind date in Santa Barbara.
**++Failla Chardonnay, Keefer Ranch 2003: I am a Failla fan. I love the Keefer ranch pinot. The chard is also very nice if somewhat atypical. Lavishly oaked but not overwhelmingly so, the fruit offers a whimsical key lime pie like thing, sugarplum and marzipan. Bright acids. I think this wine may in fact come together and knit the oak with the fruit to offer a bit more harmony. American Chablis? Nice! I will let ‘er sit awhile and stew before I re-approach.
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