Friday, December 18, 2009

Wine Musings Vol#91


Wine of Merit: ***++Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia, Gran Reserva, Rioja, 1981: I love this wine. Wonderful nuance and verve. Mature color, great notes of rose hip, potpourri, rhubarb and minerals. Palate glides but never thins. Cherry, white strawberry and more minerals in the mid palate. Medium, long finish. Great!

***+Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou, St. Julien, Bordeaux, 1999: A lovely, terroir-driven, stately wine. Elements of juniper, spicy red and black berry fruit, licorice root, smoke. Wonderfully elegant on the palate. Completely integrated and suave with no fading. Lingering, fine finish. I think 1999 is generally an under appreciated vintage for Bordeaux.

***+Von Strasser, Estate, Diamond Mountain, cabernet sauvignon, 1995: Similar to Diamond Creek, I find Rudy Von Strasser's wines to be blessed with a great sense of place. Nuances of freshly turned earth, rose hip and rose petal, toffee, raw tobacco leaf...gorgeous. Still coating, rich and long, this wine is really hitting its stride. Terrific.

***(+)Phillips Hill, Toulouse vineyard, Anderson Valley, pinot noir, 2007: A new wine for me. A cool climate signature, with deep red and black fruit, pipe tobacco, a touch of bey leaf and earthiness. Lovely integration and volume on the palate, with air. Firm tannic backbone suggests cellaring, as does the long, firm finish. A well crafted wine that will benefit from time.