Stars and Dogs

[dstgolf]

Another great day of golf shooting 73 with a double bogey brain fart coming home down the stretch was topped off by a wonderful night with or spouses and some great and not so great wines. One thing that we're finding as our cellars are aging is we're all experiencing dying wines and not just from being over the hill. Premox has been a significant issue as well as corked etc. Tonight was no different.

Went out tonight to Beckta rated as one of Ottawa's finest. I wouldn't necessarily agree with most but they do offer corkage on Sunday and Monday nights which is bonus. Food and service tonight was attentive friendly with the server being very comfortable with wines.

Started with 96 Winston Churchill by Paul Roger. Has been a favourite. I must say this is going through an awkward phase. 2-3 years ago the green apple citrus and acidity was vibrant. We had a bottle in the Spring that we questioned and tonights was more pronounced. The champagne is now starting to show strong yeasty/bread dough notes and the fruit is lost. I certainly don't have great experience with older Champagne but I remember the 1990 Winnie that we had in Washington 1 was stellar. I'm hoping this is just a phase that the wine is going through rather than falling off the map. Overall this was good but not great. 86 pts.

The next two wines were dead. 99 Pavillion Blanc Margaux was horribly oxidized and the second a 97 Drouhin Clos des Mouches was moderately oxidized,both undrinkable.

Next came a Grand Cru Chablis 2006 Les Clos by Domaines des Malandes. Now there was no premox here. Intially slow out of the blocks ,nose closed but within 30-40 minutes it openned up showing flinty mineral notes with wonderful balance and length.Still young and will hopefully tame down some acidity with age but still drinking very well now. Don't know if premox will attack and I've stopped trying to wait for these young Burgs to devolop so I drink them young.

Next up was a real treat 99 Pingus. Amazing! Initially strange out of the bottle. Not decanted prior to dinner as it was being held in reserve but with all of the oxidized wines we decided to pop and pour. Unsettling acetone and bandaid very strong on the nose along with alcohol 14% whiich all blew off with an hour or two after openning. Powerful extracted wine in perfect balance with wonderful mid palate and 60 second length at least. Deep black fruit but not overdone. Very good but not worth the money. Glad to be able to drink this wine and Rick if you like Numanthia then you"d be blown away by this but for 10-15 times the price I'm not sure. Certainly first growth pricing but give me first growth anytime. Only 400 cases per year produced so not readily available. 94 pts.

Last but not least ]99 Pavie. Decanted before leaving and then poured back. Tannins initially firm and wine disjointed out of bottle.By the time we got to this 4 hours later I don't understand where there has been any controversy.This wine is stellar! Cedar,kirsch and cassis on the nose with wonderful smoked cedar with dark fruits going down. High glycerin but lovely balance. This was a real crowd pleaser with the women loving it probably a touch more than the men but I guess my feminine side was showing tonight and I thought this was wonderful. Don't know how it will evolve but who cares it's luscious and yummy now. 96+pts.

No dessert wines but we'd had enough. Another fabulous golf and wine event under our belts. The only thing better than a great wine is the great friends that you share it with!We're so blessed to have a few close friends to shares these special capsules in time with. What could be better!

Danny
.

[Tom In DC]

Thanks, Danny.

'Tis a brave tasting group that holds a Spanish wine in reserve to replace a corked bottle.

[dstgolf]

Tom,

I wouldn't have any problem placing some of the Spanish wines against any of the great growths. Many of them have limited availability and are priced beyond first growths but are still worth a try even if are beyond most peoples price range.Pingus is right up there with Vega Sicilia but I favour the latter. I am still pursuing my quest to enjoy all of the worlds greatest wines before checking out and certainly I've been fortunate to spread my horizons outside of Bordeaux,Italy into Spain dabbling more than claiming expertise. I certainly have had some outstanding Spanish wines and granted a lot of crap that I try to stay away from.

Danny

[DavidG]

IIRC, Tom got a group of BWEs to guess a certain Spanish wine as Petrus not that long ago...

[Tom In DC]

I was more thinking of the absurdly high percentage of corked and/or oxidized Spanish wines that I and many others have encountered. I was at one tasting/dinner where the most-generous host opened four bottles of an old vintage of Vega-Sicilia ('68? '70?) to get a sound one!

[DavidG]

Where's that lightbulb-over-head smiley? Tom, I misunderstood your post. Cork quality on Spanish wines is a whole 'nother can of worms. Why is that? Rivalry with Portugal?