Saturday, June 30, 2007

Wine Musings Vol#33

Wine of Merit: ***+Phillippe Pacelet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru "La Perrière" 2004: A wine I bought on the recommendation of Crush Wines and Spirits in NYC…a wine store quickly becoming a go to source for great wine. Phillippe Pacalet is I believe more of the new generation in Burgundy wine making – and it is apparent for the good and for the bad in his wine. This bottling has amazing purity and focus. The varietal fruit characteristics are perfect and intense. Dark, lush, black cherry, green tea, spice box and cola notes. A wonderful creaminess to the palate, along with more red fruit and nutmeg / clove spice. Absolutely delicious and a pleasure to drink. It has, however, in my opinion lost its old world charm. Blind I would have guessed RRV by one of the boutique producers. No way is this Burgundy! And yet…A lovely wine that I will drink with pleasure. When I want the noise and the funk…I guess we will always have Ampeau!

***+Flowers Andreen Gale, Sonoma Coast pinot noir, 2001: Elegance with stature. Perfumed, lovely Sonoma coast fruit, deep, red fruit, cola, lavender, pine needles and spearmint. Effusive but perfectly aligned and integrated. Lush, creamy palate with black cherry, nutmeg and cinnamon spice. Loong, menthol finish with laser focused eucalyptus. Best now, right at its peak. Fine indeed.

***+Mount Mary, Lilydale valley, Quintet, 1994: Something of a cult classic, Mount Mary is an insiders wine and considered by many to be the very best wine Down Under has to offer. This wine blew me away on release. It is a typical Bordeaux blend with an Aussie slant. Made back in the day when 13% alcohol was considered more than enough. It has aged quite a bit since then, showing a smidge of thinning at the rim, though the hue is still deep plum. The nose is a total ringer for a mature Sant Julien from a very good if slightly uneven vintage, say 1988. Garrigue, sois bois, some barnyardy elements, blackberry preserve, violets, mint, mature plum, tobacco…it’s all there. Even the grilled bell pepper that makes me think Gruaud Larose. Downright juicy. Palate shows more, juicy fruit, but is a tad thin mid palate and I taste a greenness that suggests American oak. Finish is sweet, spicy and adds some minerals, along with more telltale greenness. Delicious, but I don’t think it will get better with time.

***Failla, Alban Vineyards Viognier, 2005: Ehren Jordan just doesn’t make bad wine. The Alban vineyard is known for producing top quality viognier fruit. This is a dynamite viognier – and I find most new world viognier cloying and obvious. This instead is sophisticated and feminine, offering perfumed, guava, marzipan, honeysuckle and lavender notes that fill the glass, with an underlying hint of slate. The palate is smooth and viscous, with honeyed yellow peach, more minerals and asian spice. Great served cold with herbed cheeses and smoked salmon. If you eat trief, I guess seafood would work.

***Ridge, Dusi Vineyard ATP zinfandel, 1995: Another of the Advance Tasting Program (ATP) wines from ridge. 100% zinfandel. This was a bit of a SNAFU wine when it was made – the intention was to make it a late harvest, 40 degree brix type wine. Instead ripening stalled at 26 degrees brix and so they simply harvested it thinking that it would be a full throttle, in your face, short shelf life zin. So I didn’t hold out much hope. Instead it was actually lovely. Deep, dark, sweet brambly plum fruit, black pepper and some talc dominate the nose. The palate is still lively and round, not as flabby and dried up as the nearly 15 alcohol would have had me believe. Finish is spicy and resolved but not thin. A lucky find.

***Ridge, Lytton Estate ATP zinfandel, 1994: This was meant to be an age-worthy wine – a field blend that includes 100 year old head pruned zin as well as carignane and petite sirah - and it delivered. Bordeaux like complexity offers red berry fruit, cassis and pine needle as well as sois bois. Maturing palate feel is smooth and integrated, nicely balanced. A very nice glass of wine to drink now or hold, though I don’t think it will improve.

***Williams Selyem, Russian River Valley pinot noir, 2000: I think this wine represents the moment in time when Ed and Burt cashed out and left the winery to the Pellegrini folks. As such, I guess they went out with a whimper as opposed to a bang. I suggest this in comparison to WS pinots that I have had in the past. Actually, by itself it is a rather nice wine, especially given the difficult vintage. Very mature with bricking at the rim, the wine has a prune Danish and black cherry liqueur nose, with a nuance of green tea and cinnamon. The palate is lavish and full, maybe even creamy. The finish offers Asian spice, pretty much resolved. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

***Jocelyn Lonen Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, 2004: A quick update on this wine as I have posted on it recently. It is drinking great. Lush, deep red and black fruit, cassis and chocolate, a touch of truffle…no one will confuse this for a Ch Montrose but everyone should appreciate this for the delicious, palate coating mouthful of wine that it represents. At $35 a pop, this still represents an excellent value. Yum!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Wine Musings Vol#32


Wine of Merit: ***++Ramey, Ritchie Vineyard, Russian River Valley, chardonnay, 2003: This Ramey guy may be on to something (David Ramey has been the winemaker at some of Cali’s finest including Dominus, Rudd and Matanzas Creek). Certainly, he knows how to source fruit. The Ritchie vineyard does wonderful things with chardonnay and this is no exception. Perfumed, exotic, white flowers, bosc pears, honeysuckle and lavender waft up from the glass. Beautiful palate which includes lemon zest and vanilla, with asian spice. Lovely, integrated finish. Can’t beat it.

***Clos Pegase, Hommage Artist Series Reserve, cabernet sauvignon 1992: “How do you make a small fortune in the wine business?” asks Jan Schrem when queried about his success, “Start with a large fortune and work your way down!” Here is a guy that is clearly passionate about wine – and it shows in his bottlings. This is clearly a mature wine, though the color is a vibrant garnet to the rim. The nose is nuanced, with pomegranate, mint, lavender, sweet clover honey and powdery necco wafers. The palate offers more red fruit, Malabar pepper and asian spices, though it is clearly thinning. The finish is sweet and furry and of medium length. A very pleasant wine that can be enjoyed now.

**+Robert Sinskey, vin gris of pinot noir, 2006: Nice. Bright acids, muted strawberry fruit, lychee nut and pineapple juice notes. Light on the palate, a nuance of provencal herbs, with a nice fruity finish. Not bad!

***Cornerstone Cellars, Howell Mountain Beatty Ranch, Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, 1991: Mature color, evolved nose of soy, stewed stone fruit, plumy, chocolate covered raisins. Fairly full on the palate, mostly red and some black berry fruit. Integrated and fairly balanced. A wine to drink now. Delicious in the short term.

***+Ramey, Hudson Vineyard chardonnay, 2002: Wow. Lovely, effusive perfumed nose of honeysuckle, citrus and a beautiful lavender note. Full and coating on the palate. Notes of vanilla and more candies citrus. Great, spicy, firm finish. Super classy chard!

***++Barnett Vineyards, Rattlesnake Hill, cabernet sauvignon, 1994: Killer. Mature cab color and nose. Perfumey and sexy. Church incense, cassis, cigar tobacco, black fruit. Velvety, palate coating, black Malabar pepper, blackberry, boysenberry, chocolate and some tar. Really special. Sweet, fine tannins. Drink or hold. Great wine.