The Tasting Group

One of my only oenological highlights during my time spent in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina was being included into a long standing weekly wine tasting group.  The group is made up of about a dozen or so folks with a wide variety of backgrounds but two things in common  – a love of wine and deep cellars.  Let it suffice to say this means that should you bring Yellowtail Shiraz as one of your wines there’s a good chance your invitation will be revoked.  When I first was invited to the group and I asked one of them what I should bring his reply was “Just show up, bring plenty of wine and don’t embarrass yourself.”  Good marching orders indeed and often times I was “sprinting at full speed” just to keep pace with their wines.

Held each Saturday the group needs a quorum of four people to hold a tasting but usually 7-8 or so people show up which makes for a nice tasting.  Each wine is tasted double blind, that is to say the tasters know neither the grape or the provenance.  Rarely is there ever a theme, per se, however there is definitely some sort of cosmic prodding from above and it often happens that there winds up being some sort of unintended commonality each week as you’ll see below.  Moreover, the tastings usually wind up finishing in Bordeaux which is of particular interest to me.  I often say that I did NOT get into the wine business because I have a knowledge of the wines of Bordeaux that I want to share with the world.  Even with all the wines I get to drink in the course of the day this group has provided me an opportunity to enjoy Bordeaux and develop a frame of reference that I never would have the chance to do so professionally.

Anyway, since I moved back from Baton Rouge at the end of December ’07 I haven’t had a chance to make a group but Saturday before last I did and it was a welcomed reward.  The group is alive and well and the wines, well not too much has changed.  Here are my notes from the tasting, Enjoy!

Wine#1. 2002 Domaine Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc.
Pleasant, balanced.  Lots of new world fruit.  Still good acidity.  A nice way to start the day.

Wine #2 2004 William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur.
Full, Round Fruit. Almost a sweet minerality, very laden with high toned minerality.  Very clean, very nice.

Wine #3. 1994 Blain Gagnard-Delagrange Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Boudriotte.
Over the hill, nothing discernable except some whisky barrel.

Wines #4 2006 Blain Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet “Morgeots” (my wine)
Lively and clean, not dense or heavy handed at all and I’ve seen from some ‘06s.  Good “lemon curd” like acidity.  Unlike its cousin above the wine had very minimal oak.

Wine #5 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl (my wine)
A WOW!  It took the group all of a second to recognize this as a Z-H.  Very elegant, but still concentrated with a rigid structure.  Great balance, long finish, lively acidity all wrapped up by a bundle of sweet honeysuckles.

Wine #6 1993 Domaine de la Pousse d’Or Volnay.
Tasted like a spoiled old Gigondas. Yuck.

Wine #7. An A/B Comparison, both 1989 rhones.
A)    1989 Paul Jaboulet Hermitage “La Chapelle” – Nothing at all to tell you this was a top flight Rhone Wine.  It wasn’t flawed, it just tasted like a muddled mess.
B)    1989 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape – Tasted like over ripe Valpolicella.  Roasted, stewed, reduced flavors.  Unpleasant.

Wine #8.  Another A/B Comparison, both my wines, both 2006 New World Pinots.
A)    2006 Shea Wine Cellars “Shea Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Oregon.  Tightly wound and a touch green.  Needs time.
B)    2006 Kosta-Browne Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley.  A gift from two friends (thanks D&J!) and definitely won the “Miss Congeniality” award of the day.  A lush, velvety textured wine just giving and giving of fruit. Ripe red fruit and high toned bing cherry.  Definitely a crowd pleaser, though I wouldn’t hold onto this wine for more than 5-6 years, you want to catch this one coming out of the gate.

Wine #10  2003 Archery Summit Pinot Noir “Renegade Ridge”
Big. Full powerful massively fruited. Wine. Dark fruit.  Impressive finish and – even more impressive – showed great balance of acidity considering the heat from Oregon in 2003

Wine #11. Another A/B Comparison, both 1990 Hermitages.  Both have 100 point ratings from Parker.
A)    1990 Michel Chapoutier Hermitage “Le Pavillion”
B)    1990 Michel Chapoutier Hermitage “La Chapelle”. Both were astounding wines that defied denfinition.  Massive and powerful, both were monolithic and rigid without any sign that there was a let-up on the ageworthiness of these wines.  I would say the’re just now starting to show what they can and will be.  Truly an amazing experience.

Wine #12. 2002 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon “Cariad”
Thick intense black fruit.  Amazing depth of flavor.  Unmistakable Napa wine, definitive.

Wine #12. 2000 Chateau Talbot
Tightly wound and a bit medicinal.  Unusually dark fruit.  Needs time or is it just off?

Wine #13. 1985 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou
A WOW of a wine.  Really soft and lush. Very pretty and not tannic.  A wine that shows the reward of patience when aging Bordeaux.

Wine #14. 2001 Chateau Cos d’Estournel
Stunning!!!  Rich, deep complex and youthful.  A table of experienced Bordeaux drinkers all thought the wine showed like a young vibrant Eastbank Bordeaux.  The voluptuous fruit and silky tannins were amazing, however it also lead a discussion as to its age worthiness considering the experience of the previous wine.

Wine #15. 1985 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon.
Still nice dark fruit.  No hints of browning or bricking, again – a table of experienced Bordeaux drinkers all thought this was a younger Pauillac.  Firm structure, very nice.

Wine #16.  1986 Caymus. (one of my wines, given to me as a gift by a friend, THANK YOU Dr. N)
So, imagine my surprise when I have my ’86 Caymus Cabernet on deck only to find out that the wine RIGHT BEFORE IT was a 1985 Caymus Cabernet.  I mean, really.  What are the mother-scratching odds of that?  Anyway, if we thought the ’85 was Bordeaux we REALLY thought this was Bordeaux, and in fact I had the majority of the table convinced that this was a late 90’s Bordeaux because (a) it tasted like Bordeaux and (b) it was still youthful.  This wine is now the second finest older Napa Cabernet I have ever tasted (the first still is the 1984 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet) and is an example that when these cats out in Napa WANT to make good, balanced wine instead of the overblown, high alcohol, tannic monsters they’re making right now that we can compete with France.  Too bad we aren’t going to see much of that anymore.

Popularity: 2% [?]