Monday, December 25, 2023

Christmas Pinots

 Last year Alex and Adam came up for Christmas Eve. We has a wine tasting. Adam asked if we were going to have a testing this year. It seems the start of a tradition.

I ordered 6 wines from Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wine of 2023 and Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Wine of 2023. I whittled it down to 4 for the tasting, thinking 6 was too much.

  • 2019 Rippon, Mature Vines, Central Otago, NZ
  • 2021 Big Table Farm, Cattrail Brothers Vineyard, Eola Amity Hills, OR
  • 2021 Occidental, Freeatone-Occidental, Sonoma Coast, CA
  • 2021 Merry Edwards, Georganne Vineyard, Russian River Valley, CA

I did not include 2021 Convene, Russian River Valley, CA and 2021 Resonance, Willamette Valley, OR.

Ratings



D - 2021 Merry Edwards, Georganne Vineyard, Russian River Valley, CA came in first place with an average of 3.31. It was Wine Enthusiast #9 wine of 2023. It cost $70 from the winery

A - 2019 Rippon, Mature Vines, Central Otago, NZ came in second place with an average of 3.25. It was Wine Enthusiast #5 wine of 2023. It cost $55 from K&L.

C - 2021 Occidental, Freeatone-Occidental, Sonoma Coast, CA in third place with an average of 2.94. It was Wine Spectator's #2 wine of 2023. It cost $69 from Aabalat.

B - 2021 Big Table Farm, Cattrail Brothers Vineyard, Eola Amity Hills, OR came in last place with an average of 2.13. It was Wine Enthusiast #22 wines of 2023. It cost $72 from the winery.

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Spring Cabs

Things have been kind of slow since we've moved to Santa Rosa. Late last year we threw a party. I wasn't convinced that our friends would drive two hours to see us, but they did. This year we decided to try a traditional blind tasting.

Last year we joined the BV wine club and acquired a vertical of Georges De Latour. I was thinking we should taste that and the clones that it's made of, but I threw together a couple of other options.

Option 1: Georges De Latour Cab Tasting

  • 2017 Georges De Latour
  • 2018 Georges De Latour
  • 2019 Georges De Latour
  • 2018 Clone 6
  • 2018 Clone 4
  • 2018 Clone 169

Option 2: Cab Tasting

  • 2018 Ehret, Hillside Reserve
  • 2018 Louis M. Martini, Lot 1
  • 2018 Mayacamas
  • 2016 Passalacqua, Block 18 & 19
  • 2018 Stag's Leap, Cask 23
  • 2018 Trujillo, Gary Morisoli

Option 3: Everyone bring a cab

I asked a couple of people what they thought and both of them went for option 3.

I sent out the invite, saying I would bring a Georges De Latour. Ted had mentioned that he would love to see how the Georges De Latour and Hartwell compared.

Sue and I were forced to taste the Georges De Latour vertical and decide which bottle we thought we should bring. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. We both had different favorites, but compromised on the 2018.

Unfortunately, Carlos and Ling, and Michel and Linda couldn't make it, but we were blessed with the company of the rest of our wine tasting friends.


Sue kept our bellies full with Duck Fat Fries and Fred Steak to name a few standouts.


I debuted my new Fourth of July shirt, that I got on a recent visit to Missouri for our nephew's high school graduation.

Results




E - 2011 Hartwell, Estate, Stags Leap District came in first place with an average of 3.86. Ted and Shannon brought this.

B - 2019 Raymond, Reserve Selection, Napa Valley came in second place with an average of 3.73. Jose and Lili brought this.

D - 2018 BV, Georges De Latour, Napa Valley came in third place with an average of 3.42. Sue and I brought this.

A - 2011 Silver Oak, Anderson Valley came in fourth place with an average of 3.13. Mac and Rebecca brought this.

B - 2006 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V., Block 4, Napa Valley came in last place with an average of 2.76. Paul and Jennifer brought this.

It was nice to taste some great cabernets with friends. Many of the cabs were older than I can ever see myself cellaring (they wouldn't last that long).

People brought a lot of nice cabs to share in addition to the wine for the tasting.

Saturday, July 17, 2021

One Last Zin Tasting for the Road

Our move was a weekend away. Friday we were moving all the wine. I had a crazy idea to do one last Zin tasting on Saturday. I figured as long as we kept it simple, like ordering pizza, it would be a welcome break from the the moving. I pinged Ted Wednesday night. He was game. He offered his place in order to save a dog sitter. I was cool with this, but he had to agree I could pay for the pizza. He did. I had a zin tasting ready to go, but would only do it if Jose were involved. Jose used to be big into Zins, he's now more into Cabs. I pinged Jose. He was in too. It was on!

I had a zin tasting in the cellars, yet another inspired by the 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition results. I had never tried any of the wines.

Ted had a couple of bottles he wanted to share, so I was supposed to bring only two bottles. I knew I wanted to bring the Best of Class and Black Chicken, but I also wanted to bring the Once and Future, so I did.

Ted was set up for four wines, so he randomly chose two of the three I had brought. It was a warm day. We started with a refreshing Savvy B from Halleck.

We had a great time tasting with everyone.

Results




W - 2018 Wilson, Sydney's Reserve, Dry Creek Valley came in first place with an average of 4.14. It cost $60 directly from the winery.

Z - 2019 Robert Biale Vineyards, Black Chicken, Napa Valley  came in second place with an average of 3.98. It cost $50 directly from the winery.

Y - 2016 Taft Street, Alexander Valley came in third place with an average of 3.55.

X - 2017 Dutton-Golfield, Dutton Ranch, Morelli Lane Vineyard, Russian River Valley came in last place with an average of 3.18.

The Zins were all really good.

I DoorDashed Round Table Pizza, which was enjoyed with a salad Shannon made from vegetables out of their garden. We also enjoyed a GrGich Zin Jose brought and the Once and Future.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Post Vaccination Blends

I was fully vaccinated and we were going to celebrate with a once in a lifetime tasting, again.

I decided on the following Cabernet Blends

  • Opus One
  • Dominus
  • Insignia
  • Sassicaia
  • Pontet-Canet, Pauillac
Most of them were younger than I would have liked, but I would try to give them time to open up, planning to decant them for 6 hours. I was still worried, but what could I do?

The day of the tasting, it warmed up. I was worried about the wine during the decanting and turned on the AC.

We started with a variety of Chardonnay. The heat was giving me problems and I struggled to serve the blends at the preferred temperature (61 - 64). Ling and Lili gathered their fill of loquats.

We had a great time tasting with everyone.

Results




D - 2017 San Guido "Sassicaia" Bolgheri, Italy came in first place with an average of 3.87. It cost $220 from K&L.

B - 2017 Opus One, Napa Valley came in second place with an average of 3.49. It cost $325 from K&L. When I tried this I figured it was the 2009, because it was so smooth. One of my tasting notes was, Wow!

C - 2016 Dominus, Napa Valley came in third place with an average of 3.46. It cost $290 from K&L.

E - 2017 Joseph Phelps "Insignia", Napa Valley came in fourth place with an average of 3.40. It cost $250 from K&L.

A - 2009 Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, France came in last place with an average of 2.89. It cost $300 from K&L. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave it 100 points.

After we had revealed the winners, I brought out a one of a kind, 5L Santa Cruz Mountains Cuvee, won at the 2014 Premier Cruz silent auction. Dave, from Burrel School, had suggested we wait 5 to 10 years before opening. We had troubles with the cork and had duck taped it closed.


It's fun to wield large bottles!

We thought it was going to be horrible because we had tried the cuvee twice before and had given the wine to the tree out back after one sip. We opened it because I didn't want to move wine that we would never enjoy to our new place in Santa Rosa. From the big bottle it actually tasted pretty good.

Who knows how many more of these occasions we'll have in the future, given our move. It's not like we're never going to see anyone ever again, but it does seem unlikely we'll have as many of these kinds of gatherings in the future. We're blessed to have such incredible friends.

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Post Vaccination Champagne

Sue texted me the good news.


April 1st I would qualify for a vaccination. I got excited and started planning our first post vaccination gathering. I would spare no expense to celebrate. I would start with a Champagne tasting, followed by blend tasting. WINEKING inspired some of the wines, while best of lists and K&L recommendations filled in the rest.

People convinced me to split the event into two tastings. They thought it was too much wine for one tasting. They were probably right.

For the champagne tasting, I started with the following
  • Cristal
  • Bollinger La Grande Annee
  • Krug "Grande Cuvée"
The Fosters had generously gifted us a couple bottles of Cristal and I wanted to share the experience with our friends.

After receiving the Bollinger La Grande Annee I realized that this was the same champagne we had on new years eve of 2020. When I had purchased it, I thought I was buying Wine Enthusiast's #1 wine, when in fact, it was their #10 wine.

Champagne Review: Armand de Brignac "Ace of Spades" Gold Brut educated me that Cristal is not the champagne of choice for rappers anymore. Initially I was able to resist my urge to find one to add to the tasting, but as I hemmed and hawed about if and how to have the tasting. I figured we needed at least 4 champagnes and ordered it. You can alternatively read about it via a Decanter article Carlos found: Rapper Jay-Z boycotts ‘racist’ Cristal.

An Instagram ad for the 2012 Veuve Clicquot Le Grande Dame convinced me to pick up this beautiful box and bottle to make a total of 5 champagnes.



I was worried we wouldn't have enough champagne after the tasting, so we picked up a 3L bottle of Tsarine. Yeah, we're nuts.


We had an incredible haul of champagne lined up for the tasting.


Sue did a great job setting up everything outdoors.

We started with some 2018 Tondre, Tondre Grapefield Chardonnay. It was very nice. Adam, Alex's long time boyfriend, who doesn't typically like wine, helped himself to another pour. I took it as a good sign.


Jennifer entertained us with her rendition of tiny bubbles on her ukulele. Sue helped out with the singing. Some joined in on the chorus. We should have printed out the lyrics. Sue had said this, but I never followed through.

We had a great time tasting with everyone. It had far been too long since we had seen everyone in person. It was a great feeling hugging friends again.

Results




A - Krug, Grand Cuvee, 168 edition came in first place with an average of 4.15. It cost $170 from the K&L. Unbelievably, Mac thought A was a Krug and indicated it in his notes. He said it had a distinct taste. I was very impressed.

E - 2012 Bollinger La Grande Annee came in second place with an average of 3.53. It cost $330 from Artisan Wine Depot as a magnum.

B - Armand de Brignac "Ace of Spades" Gold Brut came in third place with an average of 3.43. It cost $260 from Wine Chateau.

D - 2012 Veuve Clicquot Le Grande Dame came in fourth place with an average of 3.32. It cost $200 from Wine Express.

C - 2012 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne came in last place with an average of 3.10. It cost close to $300 from K&L or TotalWine.

It was great to see everyone again, in person, and cheers surviving the pandemic with a once in a lifetime champagne tasting.

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Impromptu Young Cabs

Since we decided we were moving, I've been thinking the more wine we drink, the less wine we have to move. In this vein, I tried to get together an in person tasting over the weekend, weeks ahead of my official post vaccination tastings. I knew some of our friends were out of town, but I hoped I would be able to get a few to join us. Luckily Jose and Lili, and Paul and Jennifer were able to join us to taste some young cabs.

I decanted the wines 2 hours before we started, to give them a chance to overcome their youth.

We sat down in the backyard to enjoy the wines. It was nice to see people again. Lili and Jose brought Sue a lovely birthday gift and rum cake to share. We had a great time tasting with everyone.

Results




A - 2017 Brander Reserve, Los Olivos District came in first place with an average of 3.58. It cost $50 from the winery. There was a mix up on a Sauvignon Blanc I ordered from them for a tasting I was putting together on Dr. Pat Farrell Master of Wine's recommendation. The winery sent it to me as a gift.

D - 2018 Soquel Partner's RESERVE, Atlas Peak, Napa Valley came in second place with an average of 3.33. It cost $125 from the winery. We bought it as a future for half price as club members.

C - 2018 Lail, Blueprint, Napa Valley came in third place with an average of 3.21. It cost $80 from the winery. The 2017 vintage was Wine Enthusiast's #1 wine of 2020, but was only available in half bottles, so I picked up a couple of these to try.

B - 2018 LightPost Reserve, Paso Robles came in last place with an average of 3.17. It cost $59 from the winery. It won Sweepstake Award (Best Cabernet Sauvignon) in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition. I had ordered their Best of Class Pinot, but they sent me this on accident. I agreed to buy the bottles from them after a good sales job.

Afterwards, I opened a 2014 Vine Cliff, Private Stock, 16 Rows which is usually an incredible bottle of wine, but I was disappointed. I then opened a 2017 Plumpjack Reserve which was excellent.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Albariño Tasting

As you might have guessed, I went a little crazy planning tastings when the 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition results came out. Why? I can't say. It might have been the weight of the pandemic, or perhaps I needed a distraction from my job, but in the end, I lined up an unprecedented number of tastings. In this effort I tried to pick some varietals that I was less familiar with. To that avail, I added an Albariño tasting. Only a subset of my friends are interested in a white tasting, but thankfully enough. Truth be told, I would do it without interest, but wine is always better with friends.

To find my wines, I started with the Albariño: 2021 Awards. I could not find the Double Gold winning, Idaho Albariño from Williamson Orchards and Vineyards. I contacted them because the wine was not listed on their web site. They told me they had limited sales to club members after winning the award. Apparently, it was flying off the shelves. The idea of trying an Idaho wine intrigued me, but not enough to join another wine club. Fortunately, I was able to find 3 choices I was happy with.

The wines were in my hands and I planned to distribute them with the birthday Sangiovese wines. Coincidentally I received an email from Wine Enthusiast titled "Fall in Love with Albariño from Rías Baixas." I took this as a sign that I should add an Albariño from the region to the tasting, so I ordered one. I then waited two weeks for them to ship it to me. So much for distributing them at the same time. The good news was we had a representative from the home of Albariño!

We met on a Saturday, a little earlier than usual given a Michael Franti virtual concert we planned to attend. We had a great time tasting with everyone.


Results





B - 2019 Berryessa Gap, Yolo County, came in first place with an average of 4.01. It cost $23 from the winery. It won Gold in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.

A - 2019 Pierce, San Antonio Valley, came in second place with an average of 3.88. It cost $25 from the winery. It won Best of Class in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.

D - 2019 Harney Lane, Lodi, came in third place with an average of 3.43. It cost $20 from the winery. It won Double Gold in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.

C - 2019 Paco & Lolo, Rias Baixas, came in last place with an average of 3.16. It cost $21.

Everyone agreed all the wine was very enjoyable and glad to have given it a try.