Wine Musings Vol#59

Wine of Merit: ***++Isola e Olena, Collezione de Marchi, Toscana IGT, cabernet sauvignon, 1998: Wonderful. This wine has aged majestically. I am not sure who the “Marchi” is but I love his collection! Very sauve and sophisticated, this wine is clearly Italian regardless of the varietal. More red fruit driven, with a small amount of aeration this wine adds layers of cigar tobacco, truffle, cocoa powder and vanilla. Perfect integration across the palate, picking up some briar and . Great, fine, velvety texture. Beautiful, sweet tannins to a medium long finish. Really a very stately wine. Beautiful.

***+Dyer, estate vineyard, Diamond Mountain, cabernet sauvignon, 2004: Notes I have read in the past have suggested this was a dynamite wine but also a wine to drink young. I did not find that the case. This is a taught, muscular mountain cabernet. Not reticent at all, though I would not call it open knit, the wine offers wonderful blackberry and dense minerality right from the glass. With time, tar, licorice root and briar add to the mélange. Wonderful depth, integration and laser like definition. Black fruit and more minerals on the palate, which seems almost limitless. Super long, finely detailed finish. Quite the tour de force! The friend that recommended this wine to me suggested it was a “better Harlan Estate”. In my mind it is more like a young 82 Dunn or maybe a 94 Gravelly Meadow Diamond Creek, but more approachable.

**+Saddleback Cellars, Napa Valley, cabernet sauvignon, 1994: I have always been a big Nils Venge fan and this wine was from back when Saddleback was a brand new brand. Well along in the maturation curve, this wine is still expressive and pleasant but many of the signature elements are beginning to devolve. Telltale roasted red fruit, soy and chocolate covered raisin elements dominate, with added nuances of lavender and black licorice. The palate is still jammy and fairly long but showing some heat from the age. A wine that is still drinking but past its prime.

**+Davis Bynum, Le Pinot, Rochioli vineyard, Russian River Valley, pinot noir, 1995: This is a wine that never really came into balance. When young the tannic backbone overwhelmed the flavor profile. Now, the flavors have fallen apart and the tannins are just finally integrating. Too bad. Overly mature plum and cherry flavors with tomato skin, soy and barnyard aromas. Kinda like a very mature Pommard. Very rustic. The palate is still firm adding spice and baking chocolate. Finish is a bit cooked. A wine that has passed its prime.

Wine Musings Vol#14

From notes taken March, 2006:
Wine of Merit: *****Kongsgaard Napa Valley Chardonnay, 2002: What can I say. I wouldn’t change a thing! Simply the best young chardonnay I have ever had. Great varietal expression, perfect balance, perfect flavor integration, wonderful minerality. Worth every penny. I have 2 more in the cellar. I expect that it will improve with age…I just cannot imagine holding out that long.

***+Matanzas Creek Merlot, 1987: Staying Sonoma. There are no great wines...just great bottles of wine. And this was one of them. Inspired by Dave’s merlot notes, I decided to give it a whirl, with a wine I assumed was well past its prime. Instead, a reward of wonderful, rich aromas of ripe plum, gingerroot, grilled meat, lavender and rosemary fill the glass. With time in the glass these evolve to contain grilled bell pepper and dark chocolate as well. The palate offers more luscious stone fruit, minerals and mocha, with a long, spicy finish. Very even and balanced. Not firm, but not falling apart either. Just right. Amy says, “This is just how I remember it!” Of course we have not had this wine in 10 years, but that is why she has such an amazing palate. My last bottle and it went out in a blaze of glory! A real gift.

***J. Wilkes, Bien Nacido Pinot Blanc, 2004: Perfect with sushi! Pale straw to green hue. Small production (under 600 cases) pinot blanc from the central coast. Bright aromatics, featuring white peach, Asian pear and grapefruit. Crisp but surprisingly creamy on the palate, with ripe tropical fruit elements and minerals. Nice, long finish. The amazing $16 value for a 750ml earns it even higher praise. I will buy more.

***++Davis Bynum Le Pinot (Allen / Rochioli), Pinot Noir 1992: Another jewel. Davis Bynum has always made great quality to price ratio driven wines. This wine is from fruit that many of the big boys have used to make wines of great merit. I bought it as a future for maybe $20 a pop. Worth 3X that easily. The tannic edge that this wine had in its youth has vanished, revealing an elegant, fruit driven pinot noir I would put up against almost any other of its ilk. Creamy, pomegranate and roses, cardamom and nutmeg fill the glass. The palate offers black cherry cola, some café latte and cinnamon, palate coating and delicious. The finish is long and spicy. Pure elegance and a dead ringer for a Williams Selyem of the same vineyard and vintage. Wonderful.

**+Hartford Court Highwire Zinfandel, 1997: This is one of those full throttle, high alcohol (14.7%) zinfandels that has still done OK with some bottle age, mostly I think due to its RRV, head pruned old vine provenance. Still showing deep extract and a lush mouth feel, this wine offers aromas of briar, white pepper and roasted stone fruits. Probably best right from the barrel, with age the fruit has become a bit fragile, leaning on the glycerin content, floral nuances and somewhat ephemeral red fruit to make it pleasant. In my opinion, RRV and Dry Creek do best with the low alcohol claret style of zin, so this is a bit of a stretch. Tannins are still very much firm and spicy. This is a wine that has a lot going on but could use some integration and balance. A fun wine.

*Soter Beacon Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2002: Now that Tony Soter has cashed out of Etude, selling it to Beringer Blass, he is doing his own thing in Oregon. I have always been a Soter fan and so looked forward to this wine. It was a big disappointment. 14.5% alcohol, it is way over the top. The deep, black cherry cola fruit is crazy over extracted, the wine hot, thick and flabby. Not dissimilar to Melville pinots. Pass