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Tasting Notes
November/December, 2008

Tasting Notes Contents Page

QPR Winner   I give this award to wines that demonstrate an excellent Quality to Price Ratio. They are sometimes more expensive than the wines featured in my Best Buys section (which is cut off at $20), so while every Best Buy is also a QPR Winner,  not every QPR winner is an official Best Buy.  QPR winners are simply wines that are great values for a relatively  reasonable price. 

Calif/USA Dessert/Sparkling  Germany  Italy  Loire  Rhone/South/SW France

California/USA (except dessert/sparkling)
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (Clos La Chance)
This is the estate Cabernet from this Central Coast winery, just its second vintage. This was bland and inoffensive on opening, showing some vanilla from oak, and little else. The finish was extremely modest, and the wine seemed to have little depth or structure. Sometimes it seemed as if there was no "there," there, a performance better suited to a less expensive wine. Some 40 minutes of aeration did help it a bit. It finally showed a little structure and fleshed out a bit. It still seems like a fairly modest and straightforward bottling. Suggested retail price is $30.00. There were 1,212 cases produced. 85 points.

2005 Meritage Special Selection (Clos La Chance)
This is the second vintage of this Meritage bottling, an equal blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, plus 18% Petit Verdot, 12% Malbec and 8% Cabernet Franc. Of the Clos La Chance wines here, this was the deepest and best structured, the only one, really, that showed sufficient mid-palate concentration and intensity for a new release. Those merits noted, the  finish was always a little harsh, the oak fairly obvious, and it was hard to warm up to this. The suggested retail price is $50.00. There were approximately 5,800 bottles produced. 87 points.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon "Whitestone Vineyard" (Clos La Chance)
This is the debut vintage of this single vineyard bottling. It opens with notes of licorice and oak. It has moderate tannins, moderate depth--in fact, seems fairly middle of the road in most respects. Although somewhat fuller and better structured than the basic Cab here, it may not be quite worth the price increase. This has some potential for the future though if the vineyard can actually speak out from under the oak. The suggested retail price is $50.00. There were 522 cases produced.  86 points.

1999 "Enveiere" (Burgess)
Light and pleasant, with some tertiary notes around the edges after it airs out, this doesn't have much depth and it has less intensity. Call it fully mature, easy drinking, pleasant, but not much more. 87 points.

1999 Zinfandel "Hayne Vineyard" (Turley)
Another disappointing performance from a Hayne (the '97 had problems recently) at around the 10 year mark. The problem here is that the wines young seem in need of age. They are built to age, showing tannins and structure. The other problem, however, is the alcohol levels. This hits 16.8%. In its youth, it seemed to handle it--or, at least, the tannins and exuberant young fruit covered up any problems. Now, the alcohol is rather obvious and annoying. This still has good depth and good fruit, and it is not as annoying as the '97 Hayne I had recently, but with every passing 30 minute interval the alcohol became more obvious. In the long run, this drank well at times, but was too often clumsy. With that, I'd say this is in decline, notwithstanding the prime time fruit and the good depth. 89 points.

1999 "Tresor" (Ferrari-Carano)
This wine has finally shed its tannins to come into some reasonable balance, and it is drinking quite nicely now. What's left? The depth is certainly more modest, but it has a bright, lively feel to it. The red berry notes the fruit projected early on have diminished, replaced by the Petit Verdot and Cab Franc herbal notes. There is a certain olive, green note to this now. It is not overly intrusive or offputting, but it is certainly a far cry from how the young wine shows. This is a dead ringer for Bordeaux now, what the British might call a luncheon claret. Very nice, it not quite distinguished. 88 points.

1996 Zinfandel "Old Hill" (Ravenswood)
Served blind, I thought this was mature, but not sure it was Zin, given its sedate demeanor, without the brambles and briars.Of course, many say that Zin as it ages, at least those that can age, becomes more Bordeaux-like, less flamboyant. So it is here. This opened mute and a little too reticent, but it has the structure to actually improve with air. I liked it more and more as time went on for its good balance, focus and gentle maturity. 89 points.

2001 Zinfandel "Dogtown" (Turley)
Powerful, beautifully structured and rather tight, the Dogtown shows some focus and power--in a tannic rather than alcoholic sense--that one does not often get from Zin these days. It has beautiful fruit as well, sweet and pointed. As it airs out for a good long while, you do begin to notice the alcohol, which seems almost inevitable these days. 91 points.

2003 Zinfandel "Dogtown" (Turley)
The '03 is softer than the '01 (above), sweeter, with not nearly as much depth or precision. It rather quickly becomes a bit hot with air, although there is certainly some nice, balancing fruit here as well This starts off well, but ends less well. 88 points.

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Dessert/Sparkling
1990 Colheita Port (Burmester)
This tawny is rather bright and consumed with its acidity. There is little lushness here, and its fruit is a little on the restrained side for a relatively young Colheita. There are fine aromatics, nutty aromas and caramel, and it still tastes rather good. Its aromatics are its best feature, though. This arrived with some other Burmester samples, a varied and generally interesting group, including the '03 on this page. 89 points.

NV Brut Rosé "Cuvée Rubis" (Vilmart)
Toasty and a touch sauvage, this beautifully balanced pink has nice depth and a persistent finish. The toasty sauvage note gives it a little distinctiveness. 90 points.

2003 Port (Burmester)
This has the trademarks of the 2003 vintage up front, sweet, sugary, often rather decadent fruit. It becomes rather more austere fairly quickly from this producer, though, never quite losing the sugar, but not quite maintaining the same intensity of flavor. The alcohol is a bit noticeable at times. The finish is average. I tried this on opening and some hours later. It was always good, but I can't say it really grew on me.  It is a fairly compact 2003. 89 points.

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Germany (except dessert/sparkling)

2005 Riesling Grosse Gewachs "Munsterer Pittersberg" (Kruger-Rumpf)
Bright and sunny as this is, its best feature is the harmony and integration of its parts. It is not sweet, obviously, but it is fruity, and the wine has a friendly, rather than austere or shrill finish. It all comes together beautifully for a young wine. It is modestly scaled, and not particularly intense, but it has plenty of fruit on the palate. 89 points.

2007 Riesling Spatlese "Kiedrich Gräfenberg" (Robert Weil)
Opening with delicacy, this seemed to be a barely there Riesling that was light and unassuming, with little intensity or finish. It is a young puppy, of course, and these wines often need air just like a red. With air, it became a more complex wine, showing off its minerality plus a longer, mouthcoating finish and more intense bursts of acidity. It started simple, and ended with subtle power. 91 points

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Italy (except dessert/sparkling)

2003 Rosso Syrah "Esse" (La Torre)
Opening with lots of oak and some underlying power, this seemed too disjointed and unbalanced for quite awhile, and at the same time subdued and muted in flavor, to really enjoy. It was also a wine that improved dramatically with appropriate aeration, though, and the longer it was open, the more I liked it.  After awhile you could actually taste fruit instead of oak, and the wine acquired a very elegant, well balanced demeanor. 90 points.

2000 "Arte" (Clerico)
Graceful, elegant and quite charming, this wine shows a little earthiness, but is still fresh and pure. It shows well on first pour, but becomes more interesting with air, as the parts meld together and the soft tannins integrate with the relatively ripe fruit. This is a very friendly styled wine, a long way from the powerful Barolos the estate can produce. It is a fairly suave face of Nebbiolo. 90 points.

1995 Barolo "Bric del Fiasc" (Scavino)
This is a big mouthful that seems to coat the palate. It is very harmonious at this juncture, with enough intensity to still be young-ish Barolo, but it is drinking rather well. Its texture is soft and caressing, the fruit ripe and flavorful. This has evolved into a sexy beast, except it is not very beastly. 93 points.

1995 Barolo "Cannubi" (Scavino)
Bright and harmonious, this also seems to be a bit one dimensional, a bit small scaled and laid back. It drinks nicely now. 89 points.
 

2004 Barbaresco (Produtorri del Barbaresco)
This is bright and pointed, yet fresh and ripe, with a rush of sweet fruit on opening. It is very approachable, very supple, yet it does turn a little earthy in the end, providing some welcome character. This is a lot of fun, if not exactly profound. 90 points.

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Loire (except dessert/sparkling)

1995 Chinon "Clos de la Dioterie Vielles Vignes" (Joguet)
This was truly miserable on opening, smelling old and very dead. It was particularly worrisome since the last bottle I had of this--some 6 years back--seemed troublesome and old even then, although at that time I suspected some bottle problems rather than wine problems. I was surprised to come back to this some 15 minutes later and find it picked itself off of the ground, showing more energy, brightness and some still living fruit. It is still well along in life, showing tertiary aromas, a little oxidation and some tar and tobacco, an interesting but not inspiring performance. It comes in at 12.5%, and frankly this is a wine that could've used a little more ripeness. Drink up. 87 points.

2005 Chinon (Bonaventure - Chateau de Coulaine)  QPR Winner
A touch of game on the nose gives way to a bright, slightly herbal wine, a bit compact and lean, but with rather ripe and pleasant fruit. Elegant in the mid-palate, with a little tightness on the finish, it is a wine that it pointed and focused, still approachable young, but not likely to expand or dramatically improve. 88 points.

2002 Savennières Moelleux "Les Coteaux" (Closel)
I put this here rather than in the dessert wine category because it is so austere, barely off dry. Bright and tight, it is tasty but restrained, a bit compact, but piercing and focused. In its own right, it is a pretty pleasant wine, but don't open it with dessert. 88 points.

2007 Vouvray "Silex Noir" (F. Pinon)
Fresh and lovely, ripe, with a lingering finish, this bright wine has a hard, crisp edge that will serve it well in the long run. In the meanwhile, it is quite approachable and more friendly than you might think, with up front fruit mingling with the acidity and just a little sugar, more like fruitiness than residual sugar. Not a revelation, but rather pleasing. 88 points.

1997 Savennières (Baumard)
Fairly fat and acidic, the dominant impression left here is in the lactic notes it projects, a sort of sour milk finish. Despite its depth and its crispness, the finish won few fans. I'd drink this sooner rather than later. 84 points.

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Rhone/South/SW France (except dessert/sparkling)
1990 Hermitage "La Sizeranne" (Chapoutier)
Light and fading, this is elegant and pleasant, with modest fruit but a little brightness and verve on the finish. While not decayed or oxidized exactly, and therefore with more years left to live, it seems to have passed its peak and it is not likely to improve. Drink up. 87 points.

1994 Hermitage (Chave)
Simply beautiful, this is bright, friendly and fresh, hardly seeming 14 years old. There is that gamey note that will be familiar to Hermitage and Chave fans, but what is impressive is how lively and young this is. It is a perfect time to drink this now--it will not likely improve, but everything is in perfect harmony and it is still vibrant. 90 points.

1995 Hermitage "La Chapelle" (Jaboulet)
Bright and pure, this is a much cleaner, more pristine wine than the Chave reviewed above--that is, not much game, and perhaps much more closed. Fresh and a bit tight, this wine seems remarkably young for its age, but I'm not sure it will become truly distinguished. The tannins have moderated considerably with cellaring. 91 points.
 

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