Saturday, April 24, 2021

More #@%!$ing Merlot

 


ThankfullyTed and Shannon have been enthusiastic participants in my recent drive to taste every wine given any award in the recent 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition. We, contrary to Miles, are very willing to drink more #@%!$ing Merlot.

We found the weekend open, when the Albariño tasting was pushed off two weeks. We had tried to do the tasting the weekend before, but my inability to sleep caused us to cancel; I blame my job. The weather didn't look good for an outdoor, socially distanced tasting, so we decided to do it remotely. I'm not fully vaccinated yet and am hesitant to move things inside.

Some back and forth with Jose after I had informed him of Malbec Day had me thinking it was Sauvignon Blanc Day and regretting that my Sauvignon Blanc tasting was incomplete. More googling indicated that May 7th was the day this year, which may prod me to do something. As if I need prodding.

Ted and Shannon brought over two Merlots to add to the 3 medal winners I had picked up. We bagged, randomized, and sent them home with 5 half bottles. An hour later we met on zoom to taste. We had a great time tasting with them both.

Results




A - 2011 Hartwell, Estate, came in first place with an average of 4.38. Ted and Shannon brought this.

C - 2018 Trujillo, Napa Valley, came in second place with an average of 4.00. It cost $65 from the winery. It won Double Gold in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.

B - 2017 Wild Diamond, Lake County, came in third place with an average of 3.50. It cost $42 from the winery. It won Best of Class in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition

D - 2013 Chateau St Jean, Sonoma County, Reserve, came in fourth place with an average of 3.13. Ted and Shannon brought this.

E - 2018 Bargetto, Regan Vineyard, Reserve, Santa Cruz Mountains came in last place with an average of 3.13. It cost $40 from the winery. It also won Double Gold in 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition

The winner was obvious from the start. The only question: The order of the other 4. All of the wines were enjoyable. If I can give the ones I brought more time, meaning not drink them for 5 plus years, perhaps we'll try them again.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Stag's Leap Cabs

When we tasted Kuleto Cabs with Paul and Jennifer, Jennifer generously offered to put together a tasting of her favorite, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Jennifer found four different Stag's Leap cabs all from the same year, 2009. We met the next Friday to taste them. We let the wines breath for two hours before we started. Ten minutes before it began, we cooled the wines to the ideal serving temperature, 60-65, putting them in the fridge, and measuring with a surface temperature thermometer.

Jennifer kicked off the tasting singing Tiny Bubbles while playing ukulele, Don Ho style. It was wonderful! Jennifer has used the pandemic to learn new skills, unlike most of us.


We had a great time tasting these amazing wines with Paul and Jennifer.

Results



C - 2009 Chase Creek, Stag's Leap, Estate, Napa Valley came in first place with an average of 4.18.

B - 2009 FAY, Stag's Leap, Estate, Napa Valley came in second place with an average of 4.29.

C - 2009 S.L.V, Stag's Leap, Estate, Napa Valley came in third place with an average of 4.14.

C - 2009 Cask 23, Stag's Leap, Estate, Napa Valley came in last place with an average of 4.03.

All the wines were incredibly smooth. It's amazing what age will do for a wine. Although the wines were all earthy, a taste that typically throws me off, I thought it was well integrated and worked really well.

Friday, April 9, 2021

Intimate Remote Kuleto Cabs Tasting

Years ago we attended Taste of the Town in San Francisco with Bob and Carolyn. Out of the literally hundreds of wines to try there, Sue found a favorite in Kuleto's Cabernet Sauvignon, India Ink. Bob agreed she had found a good one. They both went back for a couple of retastes. Years later we visited their beautiful winery. We learned they had renamed India Ink to El Coyote. Given Sue's love of the wine, I would occasionally purchase some for her as gifts. This last time I went to acquire some, I thought it would be fun to put Sue to the test, blind taste all of the Kuleto Cabs I could find in the same vintage, seeing if she truly knew what her favorite was. Worse case scenario: She would find one she more preferred. You may have noticed, I like to think of ways to do more blind tastings.

I picked up all these 2016s

  • El Coyote, Napa Valley
  • Lone Acre, Napa Valley
  • The Point, Napa Valley
  • Villa Vista, Napa Valley

On a whim I pinged Paul to see if they were interested in doing it over the weekend. We had wanted to involve them in our Valentine's Day tasting, but the timing didn't work for them. Knowing how much Jennifer loves Cabs, I hoped we could find a time this tasting would work for both of us. Paul confirmed it would work.


Sue thought my zoom wine tasting attire, complete with my lucky Andrew Neeme sweatpants shorts, was funny. She said her only concession for remote tastings was that sometimes she wore slippers, instead of boots.


We're all on our way to being fully vaccinated, but we're not there yet. It was to be another remote tasting. We split the bottles and Paul picked them up. I failed to properly open A and shoved the cork into the bottle with spurts of wine all over the place. We're talking wine on the ceiling! We worked around this and I switched to the AH-so wine opener for the rest of the bottles. The corks were fine, but sometimes the bag makes it difficult to get our usual opener attached properly.


We had a great time tasting with Paul and Jennifer.

Results




D - 2016 Kuleto, El Coyote, Napa Valley, came in first place with an average of 4.18. It cost $100 from the winery.

C - 2016 Kuleto, The Point, Napa Valley, came in second place with an average of 4.06. It cost $100 from the winery.

A - 2016 Kuleto, Lone Acre, Napa Valley, came in third place with an average of 3.88. It cost $100 from the winery.

B - 2016 Kuleto, Villa Vista, Napa Valley, came in last place with an average of 3.55. It cost $100 from the winery.

The wine was all very good, lowest average 3.55, and Sue may have found a new favorite.