Great time as always. Below are some notes taken by the scribe Wetrock as well as some additional thoughts by me. I have also included a link to Wine Berserkers.
No theme for the Vineyard Lunch Gang this time so we ended up with a wide variety of options. Several of these were served blind just for kicks. Several bottles were also brought opened from the night before but I'm leaving off notes for those for now. ;) Pastrami, loads of wine and good friends.....the holidays have been good!
- 2008 Biohof Pratsch Grüner Veltliner - Austria, Niederösterreich
Served blind. Flowery nose. Balanced, clean though simple. Very good value and comes in a 1 Liter. - 2007 J.M. Boillot Montagny 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Montagny 1er Cru
Tight nose with a bit of sulfur. Clean and pretty. Good concentration. Would recommend a couple years in bottle at least or plenty of year. Excellent value @ ~$17. - 2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Winemaker's Cuvée Freedom Hill & Vitae Springs Blend - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills
Stemmy nose with potting soil notes. Tight palate. Shows good balance and tannins but not giving up much on the day. Apparently no stem inclusion though. The winemakers say the stemmy notes are part of the terroir of the region. - 2006 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
Spicy nose showing a strong Worcester sauce or Hoisin sauce aromas. Astringent and very drying initially. The palate picks up sweetness later on. Would have liked to have tried this with more air. - 2006 Monte Xanic Cabernet Sauvignon - Mexico, Baja California, Valle de Guadalupe
Served blind. Funky odd nose showing a salty fish note and cinnamon later on. Mouth stripping tannins initially it becomes somewhat flabby and rich. - 2007 Rhys Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
Nose is dark and rich with a spicy character showing ripe fruits. Rich and dark palate with a juicy quality and more spices. The palate seemed a bit tight overall.
The next night it seemed bigger and a bit more integrated becoming somewhat seamless. I would hold this for a couple years but seemed on the round side so I don't think it's a long termer. - 1996 Flora Springs Sangiovese - USA, California, Napa Valley
Served blind. Strange nose that I couldn't place. Lean and acidic with strong fruit. My guess was Aglianico. At least I got the country right. Was good but maybe better a few years back though didn't show oxidation. - 1986 Kenwood Cabernet Sauvignon Jack London Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Served Blind. Smelled like a real old Cab. Palate was done. Well past it's prime. - 2006 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
Rich nose showing a lot of chocolate. Rich palate with a lean finish. Not exactly what I expected from this producer. The chocolate could be the 22% Merlot standing up big today but came off like an oakier wine. Be interesting to follow over the years.
And from me:
I did add scores to wines I own and felt I had a good handle on. Feel free to disregard. My favorite wines were easily the Thibault Liger-Belair and Rhys.
- 2008 Biohof Pratsch Grüner Veltliner - Austria, Niederösterreich
Nicely balanced and zippy. I like the 1 litter bottle with a screw top. Makes it handy to keep for a few days. - 2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Winemaker's Cuvée Freedom Hill & Vitae Springs Blend - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills
Decanted for about 2 hours. I wanted to give this a try despite the Freedom Hill Vineyard leading me to believe it would be backwards at this stage. Glad to see Mark V. designating something his wine-makers cuvee. Hopefully it will be what he wants. As expected this was fairly un-giving at this stage. This is never going to be a fruity wine. The earth and herb based elements are no match for the tannin. Even on the second day this pretty tight. I enjoyed this a lot but it would be scary for the Cali Pinot crowd. This should be just fine in another 6-7 years but I suspect it will be a bit brooding.(90 pts.) - 2006 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
As time went on I kept getting more and more purity. Very nice fruit flavors and starting to show nice complexity. This started to show like a real beauty but in need of 4-6 years. - 2006 Monte Xanic Cabernet Sauvignon - Mexico, Baja California, Valle de Guadalupe
Well I seemed to like this more than the others at the table. Even brought some home for dinner. Showed some interesting elements although overall it seemed a bit dirty. Not sure what this costs but if it is sub $15 it would be fun to revisit. - 2007 Rhys Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
This was a treat to taste so early on. Served blind and my initial thoughts when more toward Rhone. Something very young and fruity with a grenache base and very light tannin. Once I was told it was pinot I thought oh yeah, Anderson Valley. Well nope but it is my second favorite Cali Pinot area (probably a tie between the two). At this stage the pure fruit as it the front. I got hints of other elements but the primary fruit really lead the charge. I loved the purity. Not sure of how long this will go but it certainly needs 2-4 years. This is big cali pinot done right. Lots of sweet fruit that is not candied.(92 pts.) - 1996 Flora Springs Sangiovese - USA, California, Napa Valley
I really thought this would be dead and buried. We actually drank a bunch of it back in 97-98 but I never really thought to age it. We'll it was long in the tooth but not dead and the secondary elements were quite interesting. It should also be noted that this was stored in a kitchen pantry (or something like that). Not temperature controlled by any stretch and generally far warmer than a wine fridge. - 2006 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
Okay this was a challenge for me. I enjoyed it but no where near as accessible as the 05 on release. This never came fully into balance. But the parts seem to be there. Given the producer I expect this to be just fine with proper aging but I would not touch right now. Plenty of tannin and acid I just don't know how the fruit will play out. Try again in 10-15 years.
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