TM


Tasting Notes
September/October, 2007

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. 

Argentina Burgundy  Calif/USA  Dessert/Sparkling Germany 
Irouleguy   Italy  Loire  Rhone/South/SW France Spain

Argentina (except dessert/sparkling)
2005 Syrah "Los Quimiles" (Vinhos de Los Andes) QPR Winner
This gets off to a rocky start, but actually becomes quite tasty. It is soft and lush, with juicy sweet fruit, and a modest mid-palate. It is a bit on the simple side, the finish unexceptional. It is drinking well now, and I doubt it will turn into anything much better with cellaring, but it should hold a few years. For every day drinking, it is very pleasing. It is probably available for around $11 or so. Note: this oddly says "Syrah" on the front, but "Shiraz" on the back. 85 points.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon "Los Quimiles" (Vinhos de Los Andes) QPR Winner
This seems a bit flabby and oddly oily in the mid-palate, perhaps due to oak, but air enlivens and rescues it a bit. It becomes more flavorful and a little brighter. It is soft, pleasant for every day drinking, but short and simple. With forty or so minutes of air, it does develop some charm and elegance. In the same price range as the Syrah, above,  it seems rather similarly styled, ultimately. This does show some varietal typicity with air, but it also fades fairly fast. 85 points.

2004 Malbec "Prodigo" (Alessandro Speri)
Beautifully balanced, and quite elegant, this is clean, flavorful and cheerful. It is nicely constructed. Speri comes from Verona, and now lives in Mendoza. This wine has a lot of charm, although it is not particularly deep or long. 87-89 points.

2004 Malbec "Q" (Familia Zuccardi)
Full bodied and intense, this wine is rich and flavorful, while maintaining its balance. It is nicely textured as well. It is very attractive. 88-90 points.

2003 Malbec/Tempranillo "Zeta" (Familia Zuccardi)
The Zeta blend works very well here, seeming full and rich, with a succulent finish, and delectable fruit.  The flavors persisting on the finish are very attractive. 89-91 points.

2004 Malbec "Cobos" (Vina Cobos)
Penetrating and intense, this full bodied Malbec is very fine.  It is bright and dances around as well, not just seeming clunky and deep. The finish is long, flavorful and lingering. This is pretty nice. The $150 price tag is another matter. 93-95 points.

2003 Malbec "José Blanco" (Trapiche)
This series of wines takes its name from the grower--here, Blanco, in the next wine, Pedro Gonzalez. This bottling is delicious, sweet, but well structured, with an elegant mid-palate and well integrated tannins. It is quite charming and very tasting. 89-91 points.

2004 Malbec "Pedro Gonzalez" (Trapiche)
This is firmer and more focused than the Blanco bottling, above. It is more intense and seems a bit deeper. If its depth is superior, its charm is not, however, and this wine will likely require a couple of years of cellaring to approach the Blanco bottling in that department. It will likely be better in the long run--but not today. 89-91 points.

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Burgundy (except dessert/sparkling)
1995 Vosne-Romanée "Les Beaumonts" (Dominique Laurent)
This started slow, seeming light, a bit flat, pleasant but unexceptional. It had some attractive strawberry-and-earth notes. It then fleshed out and dramatically improved with air. The finish became bright and succulent, and the wine also showed off a backbone. It suddenly seemed vibrant and alive structurally, even though the earthy notes gave it a mature feel. It drank well throughout the evening, elegant, sunny and charming. 89 points.

1996 Vosne-Romanée "Les Beaumonts" (Dominique Laurent)
The 1996 version of this wine is a nice step up. It has a certain lushness on the texture, but also depth and power. It seems youthful, and is full in the mouth. It is beautifully structured, with piercing intensity of flavor, nuanced by raspberry notes. It becomes more intense with air, before finally smoothing out and becoming harmonious. The finish lingers. 92 points. 

1995 Echezeaux (Dominique Laurent)
Bright, light and charming, this Echezeaux shows delicacy in the mid-palate, then delivering persistent, but gentle waves of fruit flavor.  This cheerful wine shows a lot of finesse, and great focus. 92 points.

1995 Echezeaux (F. Lamarche)
Bright, well focused, but rich at the same time, this delivers ripe, sweet fruit on the finish, and is particularly delicious early on. The power comes out with air, and the wine loses a lot of its charm, seeming a bit harsh and tight. This has many good points, but needs to cellar well to be really appealing. 88 points.

1999 Chambolle-Musigny "Les Charmes" (C. Clerget)
It is hard to find many redeeming values to this. It is powerful and tannic, very bretty, with a modest mid-palate and a finish in which the fruit is covered up by the barnyard notes. It does have a bit of elegance, and some structure, but also seems a bit tart, and a bit older than its vintage date would suggest. 83 points.

1989 Pommard "Argillières" (Lejeune)
This wine shows a lot of tannin left, and it is probably outliving the fruit a little. Still, it comes together well and for a good while presents a gentle, friendly picture of an aging Burgundy, with bits of strawberries and earth. It is vibrant at times, although it eventually fades. It smells older than it shows. 87 points.
 

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California/USA (except dessert/sparkling)
2002 Pinot Noir "Marcassin Vineyard" (Marcassin)
Lush, sweet and beautiful fruit opens this wine up, but just when you are ready for a big, thick bruiser, it shows that it actually has a rather elegant mid-palate. I'm less convinced by its tannin, alcohol and acid balance, though, as the wine becomes quite disjointed, burly and a touch harsh after a couple of hours. Still, the sumptuous fruit is a pleasure to taste. This needs a little cellaring to have a chance to put its parts together. 92+ points.

2004 Chardonnay "The Quarry" (Aubert)
Sweet fruit leads this off, and there is a remarkably luscious finish. It has a bit of toast and vanilla, but at this point, its parts have integrated rather well. It is rich and burly, sweet and a bit heady. It is a lot of fun, but not terribly complex. It is fully ready to drink. 91 points.

1999 Pinot Noir "Corral Creek" (Sass)
Lovely, with a bright succulent finish, this has aged very gracefully. It has plenty of flavor, but a certain mature aspect that makes it harmonious, but not old. Gentle and appealing, its brightness still allows it a little liveliness. There is nothing profound here, but it is a very pleasing wine from an unknown (at least to me) producer. 88 points.

2001 Cabernet Sauvignon "Spring Mountain District" (Schweiger Vinyeyards)
This opens rather soft, and a bit hollow, but forty minutes of air or so helps turn this wine into something attractive, if not really exceptional. It remains rather light in the mid-palate, but it develops some decent flavors, and structure pops up that enlivens it and makes it seems like something other than an inexpensive wine with some typicity. That said, the finish remains modest, and while the wine drinks nicely, it goes nowhere interesting as air continues. This came into my region for $20, at which point it was a reasonable enough deal for a restrained wine with some structure that can hold safely for a few years. Its original $50+ pricing would have made it a terrible deal, though. 87 points.

1997 Zinfandel "Jackass Vineyard" (Martinelli)
This opens poorly, drenched in sweet oak notes, piercing and intense, but the surprise is that it settles down beautifully, integrating its parts and showing like a mature Chateauneuf with air. The mid-palate is actually rather elegant, and the fruit is a pleasure to taste. 92 points.

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Dessert/Sparkling
2001 Port "Late Bottled Vintage" (Burmester)
This opens lush and velvety, seeming impressive, young and grapey, but that is something of an illusion for this LBV, just bottled in 2006. Although it always retains the velvet on the texture and the youthful smell, it becomes much drier on the finish, and shows its structure off more than its fruit most of the time. There is a hit of acidity and some austerity, ultimately. The alcohol can be a bit noticeable at times.  87 points.

NV Port "10 Year" (Burmester)
Opening with considerable lushness, this seems richly textured, with a bite. Nutty, and light in the mid-palate, it is succulent and juicy on the finish, a rather delicious 10 year old Tawny, that I liked more and more as the evening wore on. 89 points.

1991 Riesling Late Harvest "Edelwein Gold" (Freemark Abbey)
Dark amber in color, this well aged Riesling survives because of the sugar content. It's very sweet, and rather tasty as a result. There is relatively little left that is identifiable as Riesling, and it is light and easy. For whatever it has become, it still tastes rather good. 87 points.

NV Port "20 Year" (Burmester)
Surprisingly lush, this seems richly textured on opening, and for days afterwards, despite an elegant mid-palate. It is penetrating and focused, with delicious caramel and nutty notes on the finish. It is a bit heady, but the danger here is that it tastes so good that you won't even notice it going down. It is rather gentle and laid back in demeanor, and retains its lushness even after being open for days. 91 points.

1985 Port "Colheita" (Burmester)
The incredible nose on this wine is almost worth the price of admission itself. It is essence of nuts, and it follows through onto the palate, which has a lush texture, and a certain lightness. It is suffused with flavor, delicate but delicious and ethereal. Lurking underneath is a rather powerful hit of alcohol, though, and there are times when it shows as the wine's components assert themselves. It didn't diminish my enjoyment of this much, though. 92 points.

2004 Gruner Veltliner Beerenauslese "Ried Kaferberg" (Brundlmayer)
This Austrian BA is delicious, thick and rich, yet with bracing acidity. It has hints of pepper on the finish, which lingers respectably. This is unctuous, lively and delectable, drinking quite nicely now. 94 points.

1993 Champagne Brut "Grand Cellier d'Or" (Vilmart)
Powerful and toasty, this has fine depth and a nice, lingering finish. There is a feeling of richness here on first taste, even though it resolves into a mature wine, showing some smokey notes and hints of oxidation. Overall, however, this is a fine performance. 90 points.

2006 Gruner Veltliner "Eiswein" (Nigl)
This is bright, laced with pear notes, sweet on the end, but beautifully balanced in the middle.  It has fine structure, and a Chenin Blanc type feel to it, rather than an unctuous TBA. It is very appealing on all levels. 93 points.

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Germany (except dessert/sparkling)
2002 Riesling QbA "Willinger Kupp" (Van Volxem) QPR Winner
Fresh, light and easy, this is pleasant, but unexceptional, showing nice acidity, adequate fruit, and not much else. For easy sipping, in an early maturing wine, though, it is rather nice. 85 points.

1999 Riesling Auslese *** "Ockfener Bockstein" (Dr. Fischer)
This three star Auslese, served from a half bottle, is just delicious. In this vintage, it is remarkable for its richness and texture. It is sweet, but well balanced, with a nice velvety feel on the palate and lingering, flavorful finish. Quite delectable. 92 points.

2004 Riesling Kabinett "Herrenberg" (Maximin Grunhaus-von Schubert)
This young Kab is simply beautiful. It starts with piercing acidity, and ends with sugar cutting through it, both parts joining together in that classic mix that makes these wines so much fun. The texture is oily, the wine clinging to your mouth. This is undoubtedly a Kabinett in name only. It has a long life ahead, but in its youth, it is quite approachable. I wouldn't be surprised to see it shut down for a couple of years soon. 91 points.

1995 Riesling Spatlese "Graacher Himmelreich" (Selbach-Oster)
Although it tastes mature, with a mature, burnished feel and golden color, this develops beautifully with air, mingling its sugar and acid perfectly. It texture is oily and velvety, and quite sensual. Delicious and beautifully structured, this is an elegant winner. 92 points.

2002 Riesling Spatlese "Urziger Wurzgarten" (Monchhof)
This is young and shows hardly a trace of age at the moment. It is very sweet on the finish, the sugary notes dominating the rest of the wine. It makes it young and delicious, but hard to find the balancing acidity--although there is just enough. This exuberant young puppy has yet to settle down, and hopefully when it does, it will also show some of the structure you expect from superb Urz Wurz. 89 points.

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Irouleguy (except dessert/sparkling)
1999 "Ohitza" (Domaine Brana)
Perhaps this once showed better, but at this point in time, this wine is light and thin, weedy, and vegetal. It is streaked with green, and it gets worse with air. It has some life left, but it really would be best to drink it sooner rather than later. 80 points.

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Italy (except dessert/sparkling)
2002 Saffredi (Fattoria Le Pupille)
This off-vintage wine is probably going to be available a lot cheaper than usual. There may be some resistance to spending lots of money on off-vintage trophies--and with good reason. Apparently, some wineries (this is not aimed at Le Pupille in particular) think we should just pay for labels. That said, this is a respectable off-vintage performance, but don't trophy wines have to excel to justify themselves? Not just be respectable?  This has a lush opening, turning a bit earthy. It is tasty, shorter than you would expect, and a bit hollow, relatively speaking, but at times quite pleasing. It won't get any better with age, although note that this was opened about six hours before we got to it.  It is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot and 15% Alicante. 88 points.

2003 Il Carbonaione (Poggio  Scalette)
From 90 year old vines, this Tuscan IGT provides beautiful fruit and structure. The mid-palate is sweet, almost sappy on opening, yet it is surrounded by well integrated tannins that give the wine a lively demeanor. It is also sunny, finishing with bright succulence. It is 100% Sangiovese di Lamole, as the winery describes it. Impeccably balanced, it is also quite delicious. 91 points.

2000 Montiano IGT (Falesco)
The 2000 Montiano is a beauty. It is elegant in weight, focused and precise on opening. With air, it expands in the glass beautifully, fleshing out, showing off its primary flavors, yet always remaining impeccably balanced. It is persistent and lingering, and kept improving for some hours. 93 points.
 

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Loire (except dessert/sparkling)
2005 Vouvray "Clos Baudoin" (Chidaine)
Dark, dry and refreshing, this has an elegant mid-palate and nice finish. There is a touch of smoke on the end, and the wine is a bit piercing with air. It has a certain austerity to it, so those looking for sugar should look elsewhere. 89 points.

2005 Montlouis Sur Loire "Clos Habert" (Chidaine)
Bright and fruity, this charming wine is wide open and expansive, yet rather light and airy. The best part of this is the finish, succulent and sunny. It is a pleasure to drink. 90 points.

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Rhone/South/Southwest France
1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Chaupin" (Domaine de la Janasse)
Surprisingly rich for the vintage, this seems simply gorgeous on opening and it develops well, too. It is earthy, elegant and balanced, with a bit of game popping up with air. There is power lurking underneath, as intense tannins pop up with air as well. This wine manages to combine focus and richness. 91 points.

1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Domaine du Clos du Caillou)
Velvety in texture, this coats your mouth early on, and packs some punch in mid-palate depth and grip on the finish as well. It is delicious and succulent, with a lingering, flavorful finish. 90 points.

2004 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Reservée" (Pégau)
This was a barrel sample on my first taste, and I thought it showed terrifically. It still does, still projecting the richness and delicious fruit, but also showing the focus and precision that I predicted. I thought this was one of the best 2004s I tasted when I was in the Rhone and they were in barrel. I see no reason to change my mind. 94 points.

1995 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvée Prestige--Tête de Cru" (Cabrières)
This has thinned since my last note, but otherwise developed quite nicely, with charming flavors, and some complexity. It is a bit lighter styled in comparison to top CdPs these days, but it is persisent, flavorful and graceful. 89 points.

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Spain (except dessert/sparkling)
2004 Cenit (Vinas del Cenit)
Piercing, young and powerful, this has an oily, mouth-coating texture, grip on the finish, with a big hit of acidity and tannin. It is tinged with vanilla and oak. For all of its power, and for all the things going on here, it is a wine with a rather elegant mid-palate. What this really needs is a few years in the cellar to come together. 90+ points.

2004 Prima (Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos) QPR Winner
This inexpensive second wine from Mariano Garcia can probably be had for under $15. It is a revelation, brilliantly structured, powerful, pungent and deep. It is ripe, but brooding, despite having been decanted for a couple of hours. It remained tight and focused. There is some oak around the edges, which should integrate as the wine ages. Few wines in this price range will age as well as this one should. 91 points.

2004 Tinto (Aalto)
Sweet and pungent, this beauty from Aalto has an elegant mid-palate, a tannic kick, and rather delicious fruit. It is showing good flavor now, but realistically, it needs a couple of years in the cellar to have a chance to pull itself together, and will likely be best around 8-10 years old. 92 points.

2001 Altos de Lanzaga (Telmo Rodriguez)
This Rioja is oak edged, with an unusually sweet finish. It has some earth to it as it airs out, however, and there is good persistence here. It has some punch, to go along with some flamboyance. It's not great, but not bad, if you're not an oak-a-phobe. 88 points.

2000 San Roman (Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos)
This fine offering is more evidence still of how good this winery is. It is rich and sweet, beautifully structured, capable of evolving for hours. Underneath the sweetness is a certain earthy note that lends it character, and there is an elegant mid-palate as well. It is also delicious. 93 points.

2002 Astrales (Los Astrales)
This is sweet and rich on opening, showing a lot of oak. For the vintage, it is quite a fine performance, even showing some persistence and grip, along with the ability to expand in the glass. There is, perhaps, a certain hollowness to it with lots of air, but it holds up quite nicely for the most part. 89 points.

2005 Prieto Picudo "Gamonal" (Pardevalles)
This under $20 wine features the unusual varietal Prieto Picudo.  It is a fun wine, but rather simple, a bit light, sweet and pleasant, young and a bit flamboyant. It will be early maturing, but in its prime, i.e., now and the next couple of years, it will provide some every day enjoyment in a crowd pleasing style. 86 points.

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