2003 Napanook, Goin' to Napa

I'm leaving for Napa tomorrow!!!

So, to get in the mood, I thought I'd break open a Napa wine. Tonight's choice was Christian Moueix's 2003 Napanook. This wine is mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with some Cab Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec thrown in.

What a great way to get in shape for the big event! I was worried that this wine would be too young. It was not, and it did not throw a lot of sediment. While I did decant it, it probably would have been fine right out of the bottle.

On the nose it was subtle, with nice earthy, citrus and strawberry aromas. On the palate it was a veeery well balanced, medium to full bodied, with a nice glycerin texture and ok lenghth. What a delicious take on California Cab - more restrained than a California Cab, but more approachable than a Bordeaux. Excellent with a beef dish - very delicious, and very drinkable now. A definite crowd pleaser.
Score 17/20
Cost C$37 (SAQ)

2001 Chateau Lascaux "Les Nobles Pierres"

I was at the Manoir Richelieu for a weekend getaway with the family, and we had the opportunity to get a babysitter and enjoy the fine dining at the Restaurant le Charlevoix. The five diners were having a variety of dishes in very unusual preparations (i.e. veal, emu, and beef), so we agonized over the ample wine list over what wine to serve this thirsty crowd.

We settled on Grenache, and the waiter suggested the 2001 Chateau Lascaux from the Languedoc region of Pic St-Loup. I have had wonderful Pic St-Loup wines before, so we took his suggestion. It was a terrific choice - wonderfully fruity like an Aussie Grenache, but still very well structured and well balanced. I highly recommend this wine, and it appears to be available at reasonable prices.

2000 Terre Rouge Mourvedre

We had a 2000 Terre Rouge Mourvedre with a veal stew tonight. I didn't have my score sheet, but a few comments:

• I thought this wine would be well past its prime, but not so. Heavy tannins were supported by good fruit. Nice leathery, mushroom and vanilla scents, with some dark fruit.
• The wine had good length, and hid the high alcohol level well. However, the tannins were still tough - dare I say this could benefit from a few more years? Slightly rustic and unbalanced, perhaps poorly matched with a delicate veal.

Overall, a nice, thick, medium-bodied wine with heavy tannins. I would wait a few more years, but I am not 100% convinced it will improve. I suspect that the heavy tannin inherent in Mourvedre call for a little less oak?

Lasagna Night

For lasagna night I went straight to the safety of Tuscany:

2002 Fonterutoli Chianti Classico
2001 Capezzana "Villa di Capezzana" Carmignano

For my notes on the Fonterutoli see my post below, as this wine was just as nice as the last time.
A few months ago I purchased a few bottles of the Capezzana for two reasons: (1) the Ghiaie della Furba (see below) is one of the best wines I have ever had, and (2) WS rated this a 91 and RP an 89. Always on the prowl for a new sangiovese, this sounded like a winner.

On the nose the first sensation was gobs of leather (like sitting in a new Jaguar?), with a very woodsy/undergrowth sort of smell. Very nice and rustic, I also had scents of violet, cedar, pepper, coffee and lots of smoke. Wild and interesting. On the palate the wine was more tannin than fruit at first. While having a nice glycerin feel, the tannins were firm, the acid high, and the wine seemed a bit rustic and unbalanced. However, the wine underwent an amazing transformation tonight, and as the Fonterutoli seemed to get flabby the Capezzana got more elegant and refined. Very interesting. A decent finish, this wine is ready now and should remain nice for a few more years.

Given the rustic style of this wine, I might be cautious in serving it to novice wine drinkers, but the quality is definitely there. It paired very well with a meat lasagna.

Score: 16.5/20
Cost: C$32.50 (SAQ)

Turkey Dinner and Pinot Noir

For Thanksgiving dinner we had the requisite turkey, and I chose to accent this lovely bird with some Californian Pinot Noir. While it was disappointing to clear out the last two decent pinots out of my cellar, they were very nice and a perfect compliment to the bird. The wines were:

2001 Morgan Rosella's Vineyard (Santa Lucia Highlands) Pinot Noir
2002 Sea Smoke Botella (Santa Rita Hills) Pinot Noir

I have had the Morgan before, in Dec. of 2004, and I made notes to set this wine aside until 2006. Two years later, it was one of my choices this evening. Nice, subtle earthy, woody and leathery aromas, with scents of strawberries, pepper, tea, coffee and almonds. On the palate it was very strawberry, somewhat tart and a little unbalanced, but very rich. Ready now, it would pair well with food. Not as nice as the next wine, and very expensive (it cost me US$42).
Score: 16.5/20 (RP-88, WS-86)

The Sea Smoke Botella was a gorgeous wine. A lovely desert-like smell, with dark cherry, oaky-undergrowth, earthy, leathery, pepper, smoke, cocoa, pencil shavings - there was a lot going on here! Well balanced and very soft on the palate, easy to drink with cherry fruit and a firm acidic structure. Splitting hairs, but the heavy alcohol was somewhat apparent in the background. A very long finish, this was a spectacular, fruit forward, well-made wine, and may improve. Over the evening (4 hours) the nose continued to evolve and show off its fabulous aromas. At US$28, this was a stunning value.
Score: 18/20 (RP-91, WS-91)

Overall, I really like the pairing of Turkey dinner with Pinot. Cheers!

Barolo Tasting at Cosme's - October 2006

For me Barolo is a fall wine – earthy, brooding, I picture a glass of Barolo while pondering a roast beef on a chilly fall day. So it was appropriate that our first autumn tasting was a Barolo tasting, on a chilly Montreal evening. We tasted the following six wines blind, but with one key difference vs. last year's Barolo tasting - we decanted the wines nearly 3 hours before the tasting.

Like last year's Barolo tasting, there was very little was less consensus - four of the six wines received multiple first place rankings. The final tally was as follows:

First - 1997 Parusso Barolo "Piccole Vigne"
Lloyd finally won! After a fairly consistent string of strong finishes, he pulled out the win when he least expected to. Consistency was the key to a very strong first place finish - while the third place Sandrone garnered just as many first place rankings, the Parusso was almost every taster's 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Everyone seemed to like the classic Barolo smell of this wine - I smelled rose, gooseberry, gobs of licorice, with some earthy, sulphur undertones. Very interesting. This full bodied barolo had firm tannins and a long finish, with more subdued fruit vs. some of the others. I found the wine to be somewhat unbalanced, but should get better and would pair very well with food. It was my second place wine. A very classic Barolo, and seems to be the value winner as well (cost approx. C$80). RP-90

Second - 1995 Massolino Barolo "Margheria"
Pramod's Massolino was the oldest wine of the evening. While it had only two first place rankings, it was also consistently a top 3 wine. The nose was very nice, but so subtle it was hard for me to identify the scents - I found some white flowers, strawberries, mushrooms, vanilla and a nice nutty smell. On the palate this medium bodied wine was delicate, very well balanced, (maybe a bit musty?) with some length. According to my notes this one has peaked. My third favourite. Cost C$86.

Third - 2001 Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis
Chris/Marie-Lise's Sandrone was very controversial - while garnering three first place scores, it also garnered a number of low scores (Marie-Lise and Chris ranked it 5th and 6th, respectively - hehehe). I was one of those who ranked it first place - Luciano, I praise you and your winemaking! Such stunning beauty entombed in a 750ml glass container! A beautiful nose - beautiful fruit, with scents of cedar and pine, truffles, leather, mint, butter, vanilla, with nice tannins underneath. This very full bodied wine was more viscous than the others, coating the tongue with chocolatey fruit. Very well balanced, harmonius actually, it still retained that hearty, rustic Barolo flavour. A never-ending finish, this wine will get better. Spectacular. Brought back from Italy, it apparently cost 90 Euros. (I found some US web sites listing it for US$140). Such rare magic, so tantalizingly close to perfection, it is worth every cent in my opinion. A WS-96 I think, and a Stephen Tanzer 97.

Fourth - 1998 Fontanafredda Barolo "la Rosa"
This was my contribution to the evening, and chosen for the simple fact that it was the oldest Barolo in my collection. It was also controversial, with a number of first place (i.e. my wife) and last place (i.e. me) rankings. It was my least favourite, as I believe the wine was corked. Musty, with some cherry and rose aromas, it was not very complex in my opinion. I found this wine to be thin, dilute, and acidic, with harsh tannins. It was somewhat unbalanced, but may improve - it would probably have ranked much higher with me if not corked. At least my wife liked it, as I have one more bottle (hopefully not corked). The least expensive at C$66, probably a close second for the value prize. RP 91-93.

Fifth - 1999 Paolo Scavino Barolo
Ratings were pretty consistent for Cam's Scavino. This was a very nice wine, but young and facing some tough competitors. On the nose it was slightly tart, with scents of raspberry, flowers, liquorice, tea, and smoke, maybe with some green pepper scents. On the palate it was a bit rustic, good but not great, I am not sure if this young Barolo will improve. Cost C$92. RP-89

Sixth - 1999 Marchesi di Barolo Cannubi
Bringing up the rear was Cosme. I don't think he has ever come in last, and I would not have expected it at a Barolo tasting! I actually ranked this wine fourth, and my notes were fairly complimentary. The nose was pleasant and very fruity, with scents of cherries and strawberries, mint, cocoa, nice and subtle. On the palate it was full bodied with firm tannins and a long finish, a very classic barolo with a fruity, chocolatey flavour. This young Barolo will improve. It was C$71, but I have a hunch you can get this cheaper - if you can, it is probably a good buy in my opinion. RP-91.

Comments:

The warmup wine was the 2000 Chateau Bouscasse Vielles Vignes from Madiran. I love Madiran, and I love the Alain Brumont - winemaker for both Chateau Bouscasse and Chateau Montus. A perfect lead in to our tasting!

Age? While not nearly as linear as last year's Barolo tasting, three of the top four wines were also the oldest. The long decant may have improved the ratings for the younger wines slightly, but not much.

Overall a great, but expensive, evening! Time for a Barbaresco night?

2001 Elderton 'Command' Shiraz

Holy crap, I think I've died and gone to heaven! Un-freakin' believable! I could fill this tasting note with exclamation marks! What a great wine!

I have a few bottles of the 2001 Elderton Command Shiraz from Australia's Barossa valley. I was saving this wine for for a special occasion, and while the special occasion did not manifest itself in the way I had hoped for, I thought this wine should be the special occasion. And it was!

I was totally immersed in this wine's aromas - leading with coffee and cherry scents, and followed by a violet and other white flowers, blackberries, oak, butter and SPICY (pepper, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla). There were so many wonderful scents, and they developed and changed over the evening. I could picture myself in Starbucks with a "tall bold" and a pumpkin scone!

On the palate, this was the most 'viscous' wine I have ever tasted. This soft, thick, heavy, powerful wine coated my mouth with sweet glyerin fruit while big fat tannins pounded on the back of my tongue. "Liquid Gold". The finish was very long, seemingly infinite. While high in alcohol (15%) it was not obtrusive, everything was in good balance. While drinkable now, the tannins should soften up over the next few years. I will wait until 2010 before trying my other bottles.

Overall, this was a spectacular wine that paired very nicely with a roast beef dinner. While not cheap, I doubt you could find many better wines in this price range. This is definitely one of the best wines I have ever tasted.
15% alcohol
Score: 18.5+/20
Cost: C$79

PS-I have yet to have a bad Elderton wine. This winery produces great wines at all price levels! FYI - WS rated 96, RP rated 95

Matching Ribs, Part 2

A depressing, rain-soaked, Saturday night - at least we had some nice wines! For tonight's ribs, I returned to my comfort zone with a pinot noir, using one of the last Burgundies in my cellar. However, I opened a Bordeaux as a backup due to my horrendous misadventures in buying wines from Burgundy - you can never be too sure...

Tonight's wines:

1999 Maurice Ecard Savigny-les-Beaune "Les Narbontons" (Bourgogne)
2000 Chateau Carsin Cuvee Noir (Bordeaux)

The "Narbontons" was very nice, my best Burgundy experience in a long time. VERY strawberry on the nose, with some citrus, oak, mushroom and leather, perhaps a touch minerally? And it tasted very nice as well - light to medium bodied with firm tannins and fresh acidity, very glycerin-smooth on the tongue, tart but very enjoyable. Seemed to have some life left, but not for too much longer. A great match for food and ribs, a great Burgundy.
Score: 16/20. Cost: C$45

The Carsin was also an enjoyable wine, but less interesting than the last. Nice aromas of raspberry, hay, strong vanilla, and perhaps some nuts? Not as heavily oaked as other Bordeaux, allowing the fruit to come out, but not very complex. On the palate, medium bodied with nice fruit, this was very quaffable. Ready to drink now and probably not getting any better. Also a nice match for food.
Score: 15/20. Cost: C$34

Overall, Pinot Noir and ribs remain a favourite pairing of mine, and M. Ecard has rekindled my interest in Burgundy.

1999 Yalumba "The Menzies"

This wine has a bit of a checkered past here. I bought it because of my success with other Yalumba offerings and some great reviews, but "The Menzies" has not performed particularly well in two of our formal tastings (1,2). On account of this mediocre performance my last bottle was consigned to the back of the cellar, waiting for an opportune time. The opportune time turned out to be a quiet Friday night.

So it was with modest expectations that I opened 1999 Yalumba "The Menzies" (Coonawarra) tonight. What a surprise! The nose was very nice, a classic nose of 'aged cabernet', with lots of bold, terrific scents - violet, strawberry, blackberry, mint, oak, pepper, cocoa, and pencil shavings. I am sure the last time I tasted this wine the dominant theme was prunes. Anyway, the taste did not disappoint either. Medium- to full-bodied, very well structured, well balanced: "Hearty, fruity, yet elegant, nice!" I would say Bordeaux-like with nice length, and may have some potential for improvement?
14% alcohol
Score: 17+/20
Cost C$44

The last time I tasted this wine it was pruney, fruity, and unstructured. So, how do I explain the transformation? Possibilities:

1. Previous bottles were not stored properly?


2. It needed more bottle time?

The first seems more likely.

Breaking the Shiraz Habit

Every few months I get together with a old friend in Toronto, and the first order of business is a visit to the wine store. I tend to select an unusual menu of wines, in an attempt to break his Aussie Shiraz habit. It's not a bad habit, per se, more of a rut. He drinks so many wonderful Shirazes, but he is missing other wonderful grapes and regions. Fortunately, he's ok with my experiment, and I have not been totally unsuccessful - he now likes a good Argentinian Malbec for a change!

Tonight's experiment featured two oddities (Italian wines are not odd, but these choices were not mainstream Italian):

2000 Allegrini "La Grola", C$30
2004 Elio Altare Barbera D'Alba, C$27

I have had the "La Grola" on a few occasions, and I always found it to be a wonderful wine for the price. I scored it a little lower on the nose - while pleasant, there were very few scents and those present were fleeting - blueberries and vanilla were all I caught this evening. However, the taste was excellent - full bodied with very nice fruit and structure, soft tannins with a hearty feel and a nice long finish. This wine should continue to improve, but is easy drinking now. Score: 16/20.

The Barbera was a more unusual selection, as I have not had many in my life and I have never tasted any of Altare's wines (famous for his Barolos). Dark purple with a fantastic wild and gamey nose, this wine was bursting with interesting aromas: Violet, citrus, raspberries, earth/undergrowth, leather, smoke - fabulous! On the palate the wine started out very acidic, powerfully tannic and a little off balance - a disappointment vs. the nose. A funny thing happened over the evening, and as this wine got more air it developed wonderfully - I am not sure my score captures how nicely this wine became with more air time. Definitely needs some more time in the cellar, and should improve. Score: 16/20.

Both wines were an excellent match for Domino's pizza.

To be fair, we decanted the La Grola and drank the Barbera out of the bottle - a little unfair to the young Piemonte upstart.

2002 Fonterutoli Chianti Classico

This is one of my favourite Chiantis, and a regular in my cellar. After many (MANY) failed adventures into inexpensive Chianti, I think I have found a winery with a consistent, reasonably priced, Chianti.

The 2002 Fonterutoli Chianti Classico was very aromatic, lovely, rustic, smokey. Scents of dark cherries, blackberries, backed up by wild earth and leather smells, liquorice and cloves, and almonds!? In summary, spicy with lots of interesting smells and very nice fruit.

The taste was equal to the smell - medium bodied with good fruit, firm tannins and fresh acidity, this Chianti had good balance, a tad rustic in a nice Chianti Classico sort of way. Well made, with great length, this wine will probably get better and soften with age, but is ready now after a good decant. Great with food, seek this out.
Score: 16.5/20
Cost: C$25

PS-while 2002 was a bad vintage for the region, Fonterutoli did not release its high-end "Castello" wine, so the estate's best grapes went into the pedestrian Chianti Classico. I have had the 2001 (a better vintage), and the 2002 is equal to that fine wine.

2004 The Olive Grove Chardonnay

I usually choose the wine for dinner. On occasion I even make suggestions to the chef about what food will pair with the wine I would like to drink that evening. However, this wine was selected by my wife from the 'approved wine' section of the cellar - specially marked wines to make sure that first growth doesn't end up in a steak marinade. So tonight's wine, D'Arenberg's 2004 "The Olive Grove" Chardonnay, was her choice to match a mediterranean style shrimp dish (tomatoes, feta).

This wine found its way into my cellar because of D'Arenberg's reliability - I have never had a bad D'Arenberg wine, so why not the chardonnay? This wine surprised me at first, as it was quite different from other Aussie chardonnays - slightly lighter in colour, more subtle. On the nose it was also delicate, with citrus scents and hints of apricot, wild clover, hay, oak, and a strong aroma of buttered toast. Very nice, not overpowering, dare I say very French?

On the palate it did not have the buttery taste of so many new world chardonnays. Light bodied with a soft texture and mild acidity, I described it as refreshing and minerally, Chablis-like, but a little softer on the palate on account of the alcohol. Overall, a nice wine that went well with this seafood and tomato dish.
Score: 15.5/20
Cost: C$16

2000 Masi Costasera Amarone

Well, well, well, it has been a long time since I had an Amarone! The 2000 Masi Costasera Amarone Classico is not considered to be one of the top flight Amarones, but it is widely available and I have had pretty good experiences in the past. On the nose, nice scents of chocolate, coffee, mushroom, black cherries, but the high alcohol level was very apparent - I could swear it smelled like a fine single malt scotch! On the palate it was medium-bodied with nice balance. It had a short finish, and is definitely for drinking now. I have rarely had the finer Amarones, but I think this is a reasonable facsimile at half the price. Don't plan on driving - with this 15% alcohol you will quickly have trouble touching your nose. This wine was nicely paired with a lightly marinated grilled lamb.
15% alcohol
Cost: ~C$35

I find all of the Masi wines are generally nice values at the low end of the price range - good to know while perusing the wine list at an Italian resto. Even the Tupungato (Argentina meets Verona in a Malbec Ripassa) is nice wine for the price.

Note: Allegrini's Pallazo della Torre and La Grola are made in the Ripassa method, similar to an Amarone, and they are better wines in my opinion.

2001 Clerico Trevigne Barbera d'Alba

I kinda have a system right now - Steak (Bordeaux, Tempranillo), Lamb (Shiraz), Pasta/Italian food (red sauce-Tuscany and other Italy, white sauce-Italian chardonnay), pork (Bordeaux, pinot noir, Alsace white), chicken (pinot noir, Beaujolais 1er cru, chardonnay), salmon (chardonnay, rose, pinot noir), whitefish/shellfish (pinot gris, sauvignon blanc), sushi (sake, beer, Alsace white), Indian food (beer), and various other pairing philosophy. This is based on experience, rather than some bookish study. I find this system works pretty well for me, so I don't mess with it too much. But what the heck do I serve with a Barbera? Hmmm

The 2001 Clerico Barbera d'Alba "Trevigne" is a wonderful drinking wine. The nose was subtle, but with lots of interesting aromas - raspberries, blueberries, floral (violet/rose), and some spicy pepper and licorice scents. Lovely fruit, but the high alcohol level was noticeable. On the palate, this wine was very nice - medium-bodied with supple tannins, fresh acidity and very nice balance. This went down really well both with, and after, dinner. Fruity, with a nice tannic bite, and very nice length implying a few more years in the cellar. Tonight I had the wine with a BBQ pork tenderloin. It paired very well with this, but I think the great strenght of this wine is that it would pair very well with a wide variety of dishes - there are not many wines that I would describe that way. Overall, nice quality, ready to drink (will keep for some time, but I don't will get any better), and a great price for the quality.
14.5% alcohol
Score: 16/20
Cost: C$23.95 (LCBO)

2000 Ghiaie Della Furba

Capezzana's Ghiaie della Furba is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah from Tuscany. A previous vintage of this wine came in third at one of our tastings, but I was so enamoured with this wine I ran out and bought as much of the 2000 as I could find when it was released locally. Tonight was my first opportunity to taste the 2000...

The wine had a beautiful, rustic, Bordeaux-like nose. Smokey up front, followed by sumptious scents of violet and blackberry, and earthy scents of pine, undergrowth, mushrooms, green pepper, and leather. Upon more reflection, the fruitier presence gave it an almost "Californian" nose - very earthy, fruity, very nice. On the palate this wine was "Extremely well balanced, elegant, with a slight Italian edge". Very full bodied with smooth tannins, this was a fine wine. While this wine had copious tannins and high alcohol, neither threw this wine off balance, and the length was deceptively long.

Overall, a fabulous wine that paired very well with food (BBQ steak in this instance). My only disappointment was not with the quality, but just how ready this wine is today - I stocked up on this wine, expecting it to take a few years to be ready. This wine is ready now - I will have to drink fast! Cost C$41. WS 94
Score: 17.5/20

It would be interesting to throw this wine into a Bordeaux vs. California tasting - I wonder where the the tasters would think it came from?