A club shipment earlier this year brought this lovely bottle of 100% Yountville Semillon to my doorstep.
Let’s check it out.
(By the way: If you are looking for a wine club to join, Bonny Doon’s DEWN Club is a personal favorite.)
(By the way #2: Isn’t it nice to see stuff like Semillon from places like Yountville, where surely, replanting to Cabernet would make more financial sense.)
It took a bit of time to open up, but once it did it was a beautiful bottle of wine. It’s got that waxy, melony quality of semillon, which I’ll admit to not always being excited by, but a beautiful texture and acidity emerges and ultimately turns this into a wine that calls to mind that quote about wine being bottled sunshine.
I was invited to a twitter tasting to celebrate the 40th Anniversary release of Caymus cab this afternoon. I was happy to participate, as Caymus is such a classic name in Napa cab.
I remember visiting Caymus on my very first visit to Napa when I was first getting into wine. It felt very special — I remember that you had to schedule a “private” tasting in advanceand while we were there, sitting around a big wooden table, a group of poor schlubs walked up to taste and were turned away. Fancy. I was impressed by the cabernet, but couldn’t really afford it, so I remember leaving with a bottle of their rosé called “Oeil de Perdrix”. That wine, or at least the name, was moved to the Belle Glos label, which sits under the Wagner Family of Wine group along with Caymus, Conundrum, Mer Soleil and Emmolo.
So back to the 40th anniversary wine.
Caymus produces 2 cabs each vintage, the “Special Selection” and the normal Napa Valley bottling. (They also produce a Napa Zin.) The 40th anniversary bottling is from the 2012 vintage and it replaces the normal Napa Valley bottling, not the Special Selection.
So how is it? I’ll let my live tweets do the talking.
#Caymus40th Very deep color. Rich, insistent nose of dark fruit with exotic accents. Cedar, spicebox. Lots going on.
Here’s a sextet of wines from Trione, tasted from 50ml Tasting Room samples.
Trione 2010 Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley
Pungent nose calls to mind fresh-cut grass. Bright lime flavors with a saline quality (tequila shot?) and sharp acidity. It has a persistant, mineral finish. Some might find it too lean for their tastes, but I think it’s quite good. Off to a great start.
Trione 2008 Chardonnay Russian River Valley
Buttery baked goods & melon, creamy on the palate apples and I feel the oak more than taste it. For a buttery Chard, it’s strikes me as not unreasonably so. Another long, resonant finish.
Trione 2008 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
Pow! Sweet raspberries right in the kisser. In fact, my mind immediately goes to Bonny Doon’s old Framboise. With time and more swirling, I start to catch signals of earth.The red berry notes carry through to the palate, now enrobed in sweet oak. Combed cotton texture and a long finish. Pretty amped up for Pinot, I have a feeling it might have complexified with more time. This was one where I really missed having a full bottle to taste over more time.
Trione 2008 Syrah Russian River Valley
Complex, earthy/funky nose with plenty of dark fruit/dark chocolate/cherry cola notes as well. Oak, too. Seeps into your tongue like it’s setting up shop, like it’s eyeing squatter’s rights. (firm tannins). Slightly gritty. Blackberry
Trione 2007 ‘Block 21’ Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Green and leafy, black currant, black tea on the nose. The nose has me expecting something lean & mean on the palate, but I get something confected and sappy. Raisins & currants. This one crosses an invisible line (which the plenty-intense Syrah above did not) that sets off my FRUIT BOMB radar. Many would like this, but not a style I reach for these days.
Trione 2007 ‘Red Wine’ Alexander Valley
Dark fruit with clear hints of chile pepper and tomato, which I find quite appealing. Fruit-punchy on the palate, but with sinister intentions. Grippy tannins. Finishes long, but a bit hot.
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I’m not sure what I expected (or why), but I was pleasantly impressed by these wines. The cab wasn’t my style, but I would happily drink all the other wines again. The standouts for me are the Sauvignon Blanc and the Syrah. Give Trione a try.
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These wines were provided by the winery as samples for review.
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This was my first experience receiving Tasting Room samples. A few thoughts on the format:
For the most part, I enjoyed the format. I got a good sense of each wine (more than I’d probably get standing in a tasting room.) without feeling guilty about having a bunch of mostly full bottles left over.
A few times, I actually struggled opening the teeny-weeny screwcaps (it was hard for me to get a good grip on them).
Unless you want to wash six Riedel stems, you’ll probably do what I did and stick to one glass. When I do that, I typically prime/rinse the glass with a bit of the next wine in the queue. That’s a bit painful when you only have 50ml to start with.
One of the 50ml bottles shown with a full-sized 750 ml bottle of a different wine.
Vinavanti is an urban winery in San Diego whose Black Label wines emphasize a natural winemaking approach. Knowing my interest in Mourvèdre-based wines, Eric Van Drunen was kind enough to provide two bottles as samples for review. Both the 2011 Mourvèdre and Clara Rosé, sourced from nearby Temecula Valley, are hand-picked, native-fermentation, unfined/unfiltered, no sulfite wines. Au naturel, mes amis.
Let’s see what’s up.
Vinavanti 2011 Mourvèdre Temecula Valley (Summit Vineyard)
Nearly 100% Mourvèdre, with a little Grenache and Syrah
Dried fruit character — cherries and plums — infused with sweet tobacco. The flavors are rich and full, if a bit murky. Plump and weighty in the mouth with an impressively long finish, leaving a pleasant sense of coffee.
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Vinavanti 2011 Clara Rosé Temecula Valley
50% Mourvèdre / 50% Grenache
An intriguingly smoky nose leads to a lively palate that manages to hint at berries, melon and citrus all at once. It all rides atop a lovely combed-cotton-textured mouthfeel, finishing dry and reasonably long. Very nice.
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I enjoyed getting to try these Temecula wines, my first Mourvèdre wines from this appellation as far as I can remember. I especially dug the Clara Rosé, a wine I’d happily enjoy through our long Texas summers.
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Check out the Vinavanti website to see their full range of wines (which includes one other Mourvèdre-based wine, a GSM) as well as house wines available in refillable one liter bottles.
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Note: These wines were provided as samples for review.
That was the phrase that immediately leapt to mind when I first tasted this wine. And it stayed stuck in my brain with every subsequent sip. So I’m just gonna leave it at that. I really loved this wine. If you dig vin natural and/or cool-climate syrah, definitely check this out.
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Producer: Eric Texier
Grapes: 100% Syrah
Appellation: Côtes du Rhône – Brézème
Vineyard: Brézème — Estate vineyard on a southwest-facing slope. Rocky limestone & clay soil. Vines average 15 years in age. (More details from winery.)
Vintage: 2010
Winemaking: Indigenous yeast fermentation. Neutral oak élevage. Non filtré.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a chance to taste a Barossa Mourvèdre for the intermittent yet persistent #MourvedreMonday series. I recently came across this bottle at a wine shop I hadn’t visited before. I’d heard of Turkey Flat before via my Mourvèdre-radar (i.e., hours on the internet), but hadn’t ever found a bottle on the shelf. So I was happy to find this one, with bonus points for a little bottle age.
Vineyard: Turkey Flat Stonewell Block, a dry-farmed estate vineyard with limestone soil
Vintage: 2006
Winemaking: 20 months in new & seasoned French oak puncheons
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: $32
My tasting notes: Deep, dark color. A bright raspberry note dominates the nose, but there’s an earthy complexity as well. It’s rich and full on the palate, with lifted red and black fruit that stays grounded by a sense of leather and spice. A bit of toasty oak. It finishes dry and grippy.
Overall impression: A nice spicy Barossa Mourvèdre that I’d happily drink again. This wine’s certainly no turkey. I hope to track down some other vintages of this wine and/or Turkey Flat’s GSM called Butchers Block Red.
This is the fourth and final post in a series about the Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class. The earlier posts covered 3 Sauvignon Blancs, 3 Pinot Noirs and 3 Carmeneres.
Ventisquero ‘Grey’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Maipo Valley ($29)
94% Cabernet Sauvignon · 6% Petit Verdot
A fresh nose of cassis and mint accented by rich spice box notes. A cool, structured Cab on the palate with ripe dark fruit and a firm tannic presence that manages to stay lifted. Despite the “18 months in French oak barrel”, it didn’t strike me as heavily oaked. Good stuff.
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Maquis Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Colchagua Valley ($19)
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Another fresh nose, this one featuring more herbal characteristics. Delicious dark berry fruit and peppery spice on the palate with grippy tannins. A very nice value at $19.
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Los Vascos ‘Le Dix’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Colchagua Valley ($65)
85% Cabernet Sauvignon · 10% Carmenere · 5% Syrah
Bright, intense and seductive nose. Definitely oaky, but not over-oaked — at least for my palate that evening. Complex on the palate — mixed berries, chocolate, spices — with a full, long, smooth finish. This one has that luxurious, Barry White feel and it’s working for me.
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Another very good flight of wines and a nice finish to the tasting. I enjoyed them all, but you can’t beat the the Maquis for the best value among these three Cabs.
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At the beginning of the tasting, I poured out a little of each of the 3 Carmeneres and 3 Cabernets to create a little more room for the wine to breathe before I got to them later in the tasting. Instead of pouring the wine down the sink, I poured them all into a single glass, creating a sort of master-blend to taste at the end of the tasting. So how was it?
Meh. There’s a reason blending is an art form not a random act. The resulting wine was pretty muddled and unimpressive despite being composed of some nice individual wines. Oh well, it was an interesting experiment.
Welcome to Part 3 of this mini-series of posts on the Wines of Chile blogger tasting held back in October. Earlier posts covered the 3 Sauvignon Blancs and 3 Pinot Noirs. The final post, yet to come, will deal with the 3 Cabernet Sauvignons.
But today, dear reader, we focus on Carmenere. I won’t try to retell the story of Carmenere in Chile. You can Google it. Suffice it to say this originally-Bordelais grape wound up widely-planted in Chile and has become it’s calling card. I was really happy to get to taste these three wines.
Wine #7
Concha y Toro Marques de Casa Concha Carmenere 2010 Cachapoal Valley ($22)
100% Carmenere
Aromas of dusty black fruit and currants lead to a lean, but muscular palate presence. Green pepper and pencil lead dominate the plummy fruit. And plenty of tannins. A fierce little wine. Firm but friendly.
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Wine #8
Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenere 2010 Apalta-Colchagua Valley ($15)
95% Carmenere | 5% Carignan
The nose offers up tobacco and green pepper. On the palate it is plump and fleshy, with plummy fruit and sweet spices outlined by an ashy character. A Rubenesque Carmenere.
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Wine #9
Koyle ‘Royale’ Carmenere 2009 Colchagua Valley ($26)
85% Carmenere | 8% Petit Verdot | 7% Malbec
This one leaps out of the glass with strong mineral/graphite/iron presence and some pleasant green notes. Firm on the palate, featuring chocolate notes along with the dark fruit. Finishes with puckery tannins. In my notebook I wrote: “Big, inky badass” and drew a picture of a giant squid. This wine definitely made the biggest impression on me of all the wines in the tasting, and I was still enamored by it when I tasted back through the wines the next day. I will seek out this bottle again.
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All in all, this was a very nice flight of wines. Along with the Sauvignon Blancs, the Carmenere flight was my favorite of this tasting. Carmenere is easy to forget when you’re browsing the racks at your favorite wine shop. These wines reminded me that they are worth seeking out.
And if you’re ever looking for a wine match for chicken liver, pork and black pepper paté (aren’t we all?), Carmenere will work very nicely.
I tasted this wine back in the summer, but never got around to blogging my notes. So I decided to dust them off for today’s Mourvèdre Monday post.
Tablas Creek 2008 Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge
Complex nose of cherry/raspberry fruit with a hit of coffee/mocha and mint. On the palate, it is mouth-filling without being overwhelming. It delivers earthy dark fruit and lightly grippy tannins and finishes with a bit of a mineral/minty lift. Fruit-forward, but balanced. VINEgeek Verdict: Damn good.
Chilean Pinot Noir is not something I have a lot of experience with, so I was happy to get to taste three side-by-side as a part of the Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class blogger tasting. I’ve previously posted about the three Sauvignon Blancs that were a part of the tasting. And there will be two future posts on the other varietals included: Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Emiliana Novas Gran Reserva Pinot Noir 2010 Casablanca Valley ($19)
Pretty strawberry and raspberry aromas with a puff of smoke and a little bit of barnyard as it opens up. On the palate, the fruit leans to cherry with a light earthy note. A nicely balanced wine. (ORGANIC)
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Cono Sur ’20 Barrels’ Pinot Noir 2009 Casablanca Valley ($32)
Seductive tobacco notes dominate the nose of this wine, with bright red fruit playing second fiddle. On the palate, the smooth, luscious texture and sweet fruit makes this a sexy Pinot, for sure.
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Morandé Gran Reserva Pinot Noir 2009 Casablanca Valley ($18)
A complex and rich nose, with the red fruit accented by tobacco (not quite as much as the Cono Sur) and a bit of earthy funk. Lovely cool red fruit flavors with bright acidity and a clear cinnamon red-hot note.
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All three of these wines are from Casablanca Valley, one of the coolest wine regions in Chile. Despite the cool temps, the fruit gets very ripe due to the abundance of sunshine. So these are definitely New World pinots. All three are enjoyable to drink and worth checking out if you like the style. I’d probably choose the Cono Sur for drinking on it’s own and the Novas or Morandé for dinner.
A club shipment earlier this year brought this lovely bottle of 100% Yountville Semillon to my doorstep.
